History Fanfic / TheGreatAlicornHunt

** Malfunziona using his powers to break any advanced machine that he could find not only kept Equestria in MedievalStasis for centuries because ponies were scared to invent things that seemed to always go wrong and thus prevented him from breaking anything more complex and limited his power, but it caused him to tick of Bold Lion, who was smart enough to realize what was going on and trap him for centuries.

* {{Bishounen}}: Breezy Shy. His nickname is ''Bishi'', for Celestia's sake! He even comes with {{Bishie Sparkle}}s!

** Chapter 2 originally had Celestia saying that Cadance had been born an Alicorn and that she hadn't known before Cadance's birth that ponies could be born as Alicorns. But sometime after Chapter 27 was posted, Chapter 2 was edited to say that Cadance had been born a Pegasus, ascending shortly after being born, and that Celestia hadn't known before that that normal ponies could ''become'' Alicorns, thus bringing the story into compliance with ''Parting Words'', which, in Chapter 4, has Celestia say that she and Luna were born as Alicorns.

** Mach One accuses the Princesses of this in regards to the ascension plan, stating that there are bleeding heart liberal groups that will deride the plan on principle of not being sensitive to the disabled community's SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome, and power hungry nobles who won't want to upend the status quo. Rainbow counters by stating that Mach has not taken into account two things: 1) Celestia is an expert [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] who has dealt with these people before (if [[Fanfic/RealityChecksNyxverse Alicornundrum]] is any indication) and 2) It's WorthIt anyway.

* TheAhnold: Pinkie Pie's guards, former bouncers, intentionally act like this. The sight of them sends Luna to a series of cold showers and a raid on the ship's stockpile of double fudge ripple ice cream - somehow eating all of the fudge ripple (Not the fudge ripple ice cream; just the fudge ripple).
* AintTooProudToBeg: After being confronted by an alicorn princess ([[spoiler:Sunset Shimmer]]), Trixie attempts to flee. Finding her escape route blocked, she throws herself at the princess's hooves and begs (In the [[LargeHam hammiest]] way possible) for mercy. On Jasper's behalf, if not her own.

-->Mach looked down at her for a minute; then his expression changed. “Huh. Guess you are a princess fangirl, aren't you,” he said after a moment. “Okay, Guys. Let's list off their crimes. These guys are makin' a ruckus in our town."\\
“They're saying mean things about ponies,” Softy said, looking hurt on the absent princesses' behalf.\\
“They busted up our race!” Crackerjack said, stamping a hoof.\\
“And they smell bad,” Bowser said, wrinkling his nose. “On purpose.” He'd passed by a couple of the patchouli-drenched protesters on the way. The others snorted and snickered.\\
“--And the most heinous crime of all,” Bananas Foster said, his voice all but rolling in sarcasm, “They're hipsters, and hipsters suck.”

--> "The [[spoiler: Nobody's Fools]] are walking out of here, and they're walking out of here with a clean slate. You give me even a moment's hassle on releasing these children and I will make you think you have your man-tackle in a pencil sharpener. I'm from the government, Mister Mayor, and ''I eat my own kind.''”

* BigBadEnsemble: So far, there have been multiple major threats, all in one specific area (since the mere presence of the new alicorns [[SpannerInTheWorks tend to upend their plans]])- Applejack, Apple Bloom and Babs have gone up against [[GripingAboutGremlins Malfunziona]], Sweetie Belle and Mudpuppy encountered [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lord Malifec]], and Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Mach One have been dealing with Fussbudget and the Crownbreaker terrorists.
* BigBrotherInstinct:

Flute let out a mote that could best be described as “?”

* BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce: Pinkie's mother has a special cupcake recipe - dark chocolate with Tabasco frosting. One bite sends Twilight racing to the nearest ice cream parlor, where she eats her way through an entire tub of vanilla for relief.

* CallingTheOldManOut: Bananas Foster does this to his parents, pointing out that all they ever treated him as was the successor to the family fruit business, and if they'd ever tried getting to know him as a person, they'd have realized that he was so unsuited for the business world that he wasn't fit to run a lemonade stand - literally, he found that out through firsthand experience.

* CombatPragmatist: Most members of Rarity's Radiant Guard are "Black Flag specialists" - trained in plainclothes security work. Since they don't openly carry armor or weapons when on duty as the standard Royal Guards do, they have to be ready to take out targets hard, fast, and if need be, ''permanently''.

** When Twilight, Flash, and Spike set out for Hollow Shades in Chapter 33, Flash ditches most of Twilight's gear in favor of weapons and items they can use against the supernatural creatures rumored to live in the area - including spices and herbs Spike can use for cooking. He even packs a repeating crossbow and hides a retractable blade under his athletic jersey.

* EideticMemory: Wheezer has one, and even got his cutie mark for it - a brain floating over a book. The other Fools call him a walking reference library.

---> "Hush up that nonsense!" Granny snapped, making them jump. "We didn't bring you younguns to Sweet Apple Acres to get revenge on you! We brought you here 'acause you six messed up, and you needed to learn a lesson or two!" ... The expression on Granny Smith's face was a mix of anger, frustration, disappointment... and regret. "But it seems you-all learned all the wrong ones afore you even got here,"

** A potioneer dismisses Apple Bloom's warnings about how to prepare a potion, both because of her age and because Apple Bloom mentions Zecora's teachings; she considers herself way superior to any zebra shaman. Cue the explosion - not from Apple Bloom, but from said potion; both Apple Bloom and Zecora clearly know what they're talking about.
** Diamond Dogs [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue struggle with speaking Equestrian]] so everyone thinks they're stupid brutes. Bowser got cans tied to his tail for being HappilyAdopted by a pair of Diamond Dogs.

-->“Okay, fine, just let him live?” Mach squeaked. He found himself seriously starting to pity his selfish vote-grubbing uncle.\\
“Oh don't be silly,” Pinkie said, suddenly her bubbly self again. Then just as suddenly she was back to scary mode. “He'll live.”\\

** Happens to Rarity twice when she's dragged by her locator spell across Neigh Orleans: once when she's first dragged off the ship (thankfully, her flailing her wings helped soften the landing), and later when she's about to crash into some road work (she ''does'' remember this time, unfortunately her earlier flailing has gotten her wings tangled in her dress-''fortunately'' her guards are on hand to giver her a lift).

** Bowser, by a family of Diamond Dogs - though it's left him with some very canine mannerisms as a result (chapter 44).
* HappyDance:

** A young unicorn who was trying to market his newest invention - the fountain pen - keeps breaking out in giddy hysterics after Apple Bloom introduces him to Twilight Sparkle and Twilight promptly ordered a thousand of them, a lifetime's worth of ink refill and replacement nibs, and gave his product a royal seal of approval.

** Happens to poor Apple Bloom twice, and in the presence of the same colt, Fancy Toff. The first time, at the Junior Gala, he tells her she's been eating caviar, goose liver pate, and shrimp toast, the last of which she knows as "mud bugs." The second time, at the Cherry Jubilee in Dodge Junction, she learns that the honey she's been sampling is essentially recycled bee vomit. Both instances end with Apple Bloom losing her lunch and ruining some expensive clothing - first her own gown and those of two other fillies, then Fancy Toff's pageboy hat.

--> “So....''maybe'' involved with group that ''maybe'' connected to other group that ''maybe'' have plans that ''maybe'' terrorist...” He held up a paw. “Four maybes. You get one more maybe, you reach 'once upon a time.' “ His eyelids drooped further. “We know ponies think Diamond Dogs stupid, but ROCKS not THAT dumb.”
* InternalReveal: Chapter 51 has the "Big Sisters" introduce the freshly ascended [=CMCs=] simultaneously. Their collective [[{{Squee}} squeeing]] is described as ear splitting.

** In chapter 38, Apple Bloom devises an epic mechanical version to contain Malfunziona, whose power only allows him to break things. It's a 3-D arrangement of gears meshed so that none of them can turn, with him trapped inside. Breaking any of the gears will allow the others to turn freely, effectively fixing the device - something Malfunziona absolutely can't do, fixing something being lethally anathema to his being. [[spoiler: She ends up getting her cutie mark and ascending to Alicornhood as a result.]]
*** Bold Lion's original prison for him worked on a similar principle; a bronze container with a screw-on lid that would tighten the more you tried to unscrew it.
* LoopholeAbuse: Malfunziona can't directly affect any of the livestock at the expo in Ch 38. So he breaks their enclosures and sets off a string of loud firecrackers, causing a mass livestock panic / stampede, thus distracting the opposition.

* MageTower: It's noted that unicorns, especially those who were involved in arcane research, are susceptible to "Rincewind Arcology Syndrome", a sort of overpowering nesting instinct to find a location to do all their magic in, fortify it, and build vertically - the higher the better. Examples cited include castles on mountaintops, tower observatories, tree libraries, book forts and even Rarity's Carousel Boutique (her bedroom is in the cupola, the highest point of the building). Twilight explains that the going theory for this behavior is that their ancestors got tired of the other tribes sneaking up behind them and popping paper bags while they were trying to study the workings of the universe.

* MaternityCrisis: Played with, the labor starts before the crisis does instead of the other way around. The mother is already in labor when the kappa shows up and demands a toll. What makes this a crisis is that [[SadisticChoice the family only has enough cucumbers for two out of the three family members]] - the kappa is planning to delay the family until the baby is born, then eat both cucumbers and whoever didn't get their name carved on a cucumber.

* MeeknessIsWeakness: Discussed and subverted - Iron Will explains how his previous encounters with Fluttershy set him on the path to learning that "Meekness is not weakness, it is strength under control."

-->“I'm sorry, Your Highness,” he said with a weary sigh to Prince Ajax. “We would love to fill your order, especially with all you and the young fellow here have done, but the Mayor's “Good Health For Your Own Good” ordinances mean we would get hit with all sorts of fines if we served you any meal larger than a certain size, or sold you more than a certain number of orders at once--- ''filthy little control freak closed THAT loophole fast enough''--” he muttered under his breath, seething briefly-- “ and yes, I know it's ridiculous and it's none of the Mayor's business and everything else I'm sure you want to say, but--”

** Pinkie Pie's family sent her to Ponyville and have barely talked to her since - not out of malice, but because they wanted her to have a life free of persecution due to her unusual abilities.

--> They held that {{tableau}} for a heartbeat. "Very well," Trixie said, grimly. "You leave me no choice." With that she flung herself at Sunset Shimmer's hooves, wrapping her forelegs around Sunset's ankle and began howling like a distraught diamond dog. ''"Oh please have mercy your great and anonymous highness we swear to you it was unintentional Trixie pleads for mercy or at least for you to not send the colt to the moon he's only a child and---"''
* {{Retcon}}:

* SpannerInTheWorks: The alicorns and their friends/relatives are becoming this for whatever threat they run into-- it seems that with more alicorns crawling out of the woodwork, they tend to upset or derail any antagonist's plans by a good margin.

** The whole idea of a "[[SomethingElseAlsoRises wingboner]]" gets called out as a ridiculous myth spread by unicorns and Earth ponies. The idea of a unicorn's horn being "Sensitive" is called equally silly[[note]]Later chapters state that Pegasus wings ''are'' sensitive, in the sense that they are a sensory organ - Pegasi wings are associated with the extra sense they use to track wind currents, which they need to use to be able to fly. But that doesn't make them a source of FantasticArousal any more than the average person's nose is[[/note]].

** Later in the same chapter, she also takes a dig at the idea of Celestia [[DisproportionateRetribution Petrifying and banishing Ponies to the moon for the most minor of offenses]], pointing out the two known cases of these punishments-Nightmare Moon and Discord- were literal God-tier threats.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus Malthus]] gets one in chapter 4 via having a pony counterpart who Luna dismisses as "an ignorant idiot, a misanthropist and a fool" who had predicted that Pony-kind should have starved to death ''eight hundred years ago''.

** In Chapter 31, Celestia gets tired of being on the ''receiving end'' of this trope with respect to the mystery box, the Tree of Harmony, and whoever made them. She decides that rather than wait for the Mane Six to pass whatever SecretTestOfCharacter the box represents, she'll simply find another way in - and she hires Daring Do for the job.

* {{Uberwald}}: Hollow Shades and surroundings. The forest is full of TheUndead and Timberwolves, there's an EldritchAbomination sleeping in the lake, and everyone builds their houses out of Oak and ColdIron to keep the beasties out. Ponies are warned not to go out after dark - and it's ''always'' dark in Hollow Shades. The crew that works the dock is made up of Deep Ones too.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: According to Celestia, Twilight toward Spike:
-->"But more to the point, dear Twilight, he's a baby ''DRAGON''. He's magic resistant, has scales like armor plating, can bite through diamonds, wade through molten rock and ''breathes fire''. You really do underestimate him."

* VocalDissonance: Jade Blossom, one of Rarity's Radiant Guard. Neighponese descent, coloration and angled features to show for it, has the air of an exotic kunoichi - and a heavy Appleloosan accent that she loves to use to completely destroy that mystique.

** After Rarity discovers how the Element of Generosity works for her - allowing her to look at a pony and let her magic guide her to exactly what they need at that moment - she has fun testing it out here and there. The first things she intentionally procures? A tissue and a piece of gum, a bit coin, a book, a hard kick in the pants (for Prince Blueblood), and a raid on the airship's wet bar (for herself).

* WolvesAlwaysHowlAtTheMoon: Played with. Timberwolves howl at lightning, which means that they howl exclusively during storms - and end up gargling through a mouthful of rainwater. Woodcutter the timberjack hasn't found any of them drowned yet, but he figures it's just a matter of time because they're not too bright.

** The Crownbreaker infiltrators at the Thunderdome have no qualms about setting bombs to disintegrate the whole facility and potentially drop all the non-Pegasi - and the crippled foals attending at Rainbow Dash's invitation - to their deaths.

* MayflyDecemberRomance: Luna had one about 500 years before her banishment; she swore not to try again, but after 1,500 years of not getting any she's feeling a bit ''tense''. And as of chapter 7, Cadence and Shining Armor's marriage is no longer one.

* AintTooProudToBeg: After being confronted by an alicorn princess, [[spoiler: (Sunset Shimmer)]] Trixie attempts to flee. Finding her escape route blocked, she throws herself at the princess's feet and begs (In the [[LargeHam hammiest]] way possible) for mercy. On Jasper's behalf, if not her own.

--> They held that tableau for a heartbeat. "Very well," Trixie said, grimly. "You leave me no choice." With that she flung herself at Sunset Shimmer's hooves, wrapping her forelegs around Sunset's ankle and began howling like a distraught diamond dog. ''"Oh please have mercy your great and anonymous highness we swear to you it was unintentional Trixie pleads for mercy or at least for you to not send the colt to the moon he's only a child and---"''

* BelligerentSexualTension: Twilight and Flash Sentry's relationship starts turning into this, due to her annoyance at his general IndyPloy nature, and his at her SuperOCD matched with their mutual attraction.

* TemptingFate: Twilight Sparkle's first impression of Flash Sentry, his graduation from Wing Point, and his quick thinking in the field, is that "We are going to work so well together!" And then she finds out the hard way that his IndyPloy tendencies clash with her SuperOCD.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Sunset Shimmer, thanks to a combination of Celestia's apology, being told of the Panacea, and being ascended herself, reconciles with Celestia and become a truly heroic character.]]

** Spike carries at least two emergency bananas, one of which he uses to escape from what he describes as a "FrankenMonkey" in chapter 63.

** [[BadassAdorable|Bishi's]] fights turn into this because his opponents habitually underestimate him.

** One of Applejack's batpony guards makes mention of vampire melons, melons and gourds left out under the moon which bleed from the stem and roll around thirsting for blood. According to one of the footnotes, [[AluminumChristmasTrees this is based on real Romanian folklore]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* CorruptHick: Sheriff Brass, an Earth Pony supremacist who basically abandoned a filly and a colt to die, just for the crime of being unicorns. He blackmailed Trixie into finding them, and when Trixie tried to adopt the colt (Jasper), Brass tried to lock her up to cover up his crime, and then later tried to charge both of them with impersonating royalty. [[spoiler: It eventually backfired on him because by that time, Trixie and Jasper actually ''were'' royalty, having accidentally triggered their own ascension.]]

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Fluttershy's entire family is just as shy ([[TastesLikeDiabetes and]] [[CutenessOverload adorable]]) as she is. Complete, down to the color schemes.

** Fluttershy gets this taken UpToEleven:

* BerserkButton: [[spoiler: Spitfire]] stomps on Rainbow Dash's in Chapter 15 when she claims RD needs to be "taken down a peg" – the same words used by Applejack during the Mare-Do-Well incident. Crosses over with RantInducingSlight, as this is what sets off Dash's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[spoiler: Spitfire]].

* ShownTheirWork: The scouts yell 'Fire' when needing help, even if the emergency is way different. This is usual advice for self-protection; as the scouts say themselves, most people tend to run away or ignore calls for help, but pretty much everyone goes to take a look when hearing 'Fire'.

* AdultFear:
** In Chapter 29, [[spoiler: Jasper and Trixie spent the past year as fugitives. Sheriff Brass, wanting to cover up his corrupt actions, conspired with his cronies at Filli Terram to capture them and bring them back to Promise, by calling every law enforcement agency possible, [[DirtyCop some of them staffed by Filli Terram]], and claiming them to be horrible criminals. It is a small wonder that when Sunset Shimmer finds them (having discovered their ascension), they are living in fear of their lives, paranoid, and hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier of countless illusion spells]].
** In chapter 40, zombies attack the Maredi Gras parade and in the confusion, Sweetie and Mudpuppy are kidnapped [[spoiler: by Cotton Mouth, the stallion responsible for Twig's deformities and the deaths of all of Mudpuppy and Twig's would have been age-mates]].
** Chapter 50 features [[spoiler: the Crownbreakers planning to destroy the Thunderdome, during a Wonderbolts performance, with a crowd made up of at least half flightless patrons, many of whom are children. As the Thunderdome is a (formerly) stable storm, the collapse would cause a massive tornado would tear its way through the farming community of Lee Valley below. To rub salt in the wound, several of the flightless patrons are handicapped children]].
** At one point, a Kappa tries to make a meal out of a couple, made worse by the fact that the mare in question is pregnant. Not helped by the fact that kappas in mythology are known to hunt and feed on human children regularly.
** The Windy City Children's Hospital considers the idea of helping cure or at least improve the conditions of their handicapped patients to be a hate crime. Many readers found the concept unnerving and one reader who was a medical professional admitted to outright disgust at their blatant disregard for not just their patients' well-being but the code of ethics that govern the medical profession. And this is something that is actually happening in real life.

** Chapter 48 has a doctor at a Flightless Foal's Hospital, Hospice Care, deliver a ''brutal'' body slam to PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad and "social justice warriors" while speaking to Rainbow Dash. Similarly, one of the Nobody's Fools tells his family off about constantly pushing him towards business, stating that the university was full of hipsters and PC warriors, and the professors were either [[SadistTeacher slave drivers]] or delusional ex-hippies.

* UniquenessDecay: For close to a thousand years, there was only one Alicorn in Equestria. By the start of the story, they were up to three. By chapter 50, there are eighteen, and that number could still be growing. Celestia and Luna have explicitly stated that they consider this to be a good thing because it will enable them to have closer relationships with others.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: After her short arc in Neigh Orleans, which involves getting dragged through the bayou and having to sleep on a lice-infested bed, among other things, Rarity decides to get "smashed off [her] freaking plot" (her words) once back on her airship. Her servants eventually switch the champagne in her mimosas for ginger ale in an attempt to keep her from doing too much damage to herself, but that that point she's had so many that she passes out.

** In Chapter 45, Mach One shows no mercy in his criticism of the story of {{WebAnimation/Snowdrop}}, seeing it as evidence that Equestria's royalty and upper class are more interested in maintaining their own position than helping the less fortunate. Previously, his group also criticizes the {{Hipster}} attitude, making emphasis on their condescension, arrogance and hypocrisy.

** Twilight designs the group's communicator compacts to be as indestructible as she can make them, bragging that they'll still work even after being hit with a sledgehammer. They get put to the test right away when Apple Bloom drops hers on a stone floor, then later when Rarity briefly loses hers while being dragged through the Neigh Orleans swamps. Later still, Celestia modifies hers to hang around her neck and act as a video camera.

** Alicorn Academy, named in honor of the Princesses, pretty much runs on everything the Princesses can't stand, from preventing ponies from reaching their full potential to allowing professors to fail students just because they don't like them, often for petty reasons like "not agreeing with every word I say".

* NotSoHarmlessPunishment: For all their failings as an academic institution and being a breeding ground for the likes of the Crownbreakers, The Alicorn Academy gets... matched donations. Instead of the government giving them grants or loans, it will instead match whatever donations they receive from alumni and fundraisers and so on. This doesn't sound like much of a punishment, until Dash tells them that because the university has been doing so poorly in recent years, virtually no one has been making donations and they've been relying almost exclusively on the crown funds which have now been cut off.

** Chapter 51 has Rainbow Dash lecturing Alicorn Academy (the university mentioned above) for letting their standards fall so far that you can fail a class just because you don't slavishly agree with everything the professor says, it's against the rules to state certain opinions (and which ones those are change weekly), you get bilked out of tons of bits and then your money gets wasted no matter what you're paying for and that the school ''breeds'' ponies like the Social Justice Warriors spreading the attitude called out by Hospice Care in Chapter 48 and the Crownbreakers.