History Fanfic / UnderTheNorthernLights

* FantasyCounterPartCulture: Tarandroland is a mix of modern and medieval Scandinavia. The nomadic "Grazer" reindeer are obviously a counterpart to the Sami people, though with much more power and influence. Unlike modern Scandinavia, Tarandroland is pretty much a third world country, however.

* CarryABigStick: Kvalhissir keeps a huge mace which looks like a small tree whose roots grab a huge rock.

[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/877/Under-The-Northern-Lights ''Under The Northern Lights'']] is a MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic fanfic written by sieurin (who calls himself Nattam on fanfiction.net). Princess Luna travels on a diplomatic journey to the cold reindeer kingdom Tarandroland, since reindeer pirates use it as a base to plunder northern Equestria. She brings with her Twilight Sparkle and Spike for help and companionship. The mission turn out to involve more action that politics, and, to quote the descriptive summary, Luna & Co have to deal with: "scheming unicorn courtiers, unfriendly surly reindeer, bloodthirsty pirates, ancient sorcery and dangerous monsters", not to mention old magic and beings born before Luna and Celestia. Every year, the reindeer have to ''fight'' Winter to make it go away - but this year it seems the battle is lost already in autumn... Is it possible that this time Winter might win for good?

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Luna (as well as Celestia, but we se very little of her). Princess Ljufa, though her work is equally off-stage. Prince Vigg ''wants'' to be one, but his family thinks he should grow up and get an education first (he's only fifteen). The only titled person we see who doesn't work much is King Ukko, and that's because he is [[spoiler: an alcoholic who spends his days either drunk or hungover. He sharpens up later in the story, when his life and throne are directly threatened. ]]

* CultureClash: Reindeer have a very negative view of magic and has problems with unicorn-heavy Equestria. Equestrians get nervous with both casual violence and the use of animal products, both common in Tarandroland.

* SimilarSquad: King Ukko and his five companions are pretty similar to the Six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, though Ukko & Co are male, reindeer and old enough to be grandparents, of course. Twilight and Spike wonder about it. The equivalents seem to be King Ukko the Piercer = Applejack (honest, stubborn, family stag/mare), Mustikka the Tracker = Twilight Sparkle (sharpminded, NoSocialSkills, master organizer), Skiold the Bold = Rainbow Dash (brave, loyal, impulsive), Kol the Singer = Rarity (artistic, LargeHam), Galderhorn the Sorcerer (shy, softspoken, caring) and Heikko the Humongous = Pinkie Pie (constantly happy, hedonistic, CloudCuckoolander)

* FantasticRacism: Ubiqutous. Ponies about reindeer, reindeer about ponies, the zebra Paki abouth both cathegories, etc. In many cases it is not just mutual prejudice, it is also relatively low-key and consists of misunderstanding and underestimating the Other rather than outright oppression. The latter happens, though. Reindeer treat the Russ (immigrant dwarf Earth ponies) and the Urox (native aurochs) as second-class citizens, and we learn that ponies used to do the same to cattle, sheep and so on, who used to be slaves. Not everyone is racist over the board, either: the pirates of the Crimson Kraken are happily multi-cultural, but have a very negative view of "primitives" as the reindeer and the ponies from Tropical Island.

''Under The Northern Lights'' is a MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic fanfic written by sieurin (who calls himself Nattam on fanfiction.net). Princess Luna travels on a diplomatic journey to the cold reindeer kingdom Tarandroland, since reindeer pirates use it as a base to plunder northern Equestria. She brings with her Twilight Sparkle and Spike for help and companionship. The mission turn out to involve more action that politics, and, to quote the descriptive summary, Luna & Co have to deal with: "scheming unicorn courtiers, unfriendly surly reindeer, bloodthirsty pirates, ancient sorcery and dangerous monsters", not to mention old magic and beings born before Luna and Celestia. Every year, the reindeer have to ''fight'' Winter to make it go away - but this year it seems the battle is lost already in autumn... Is it possible that this time Winter might win for good?

* BlindSeer: Averted. Reindeer Sight is dependent on the eyes working. Eira is slowly going blind, and hence ''losing'' her clairvoyant ability.

The story is a rather episodic fantasy story of the epic sort, with much worldbuilding, not just for the country of Tarandroland but for everything from Equestrian comic books to the elder relatives of Luna and Celestia. It is ongoing, and until then this page represents the unfinished story.

* CultureClash: Reindeer have a very negative view of magic and has problems with unicorn-heavy Equestria. Equestrians get nervous with both violence and the use of animal product, both common in Tarandroland.

* TalkLikeAPirate: Mr Moccus, first mate on ''The Crimson Kraken''. He is the ''only'' pirate to speak like that, [[LampshadeHanging which Spike points out]]. He claims the pegasi he learnt Equestrian from long ago just happened to have that accent.

* PerkyGoth: Saga is a NightmareFetishist with a love for dark heavy makeup and macabre jewelry who works as a temple maiden in a temple to a goddess of night and darkness. She is also chirpy, happy and carefree most of the time. She claims that "goths are posers" she she probably wouldn't like the moniker herself.

* OurTitansAreDifferent: Luna's and Celestia's "aunts" and "uncles" (and presumably, parents). They are vast elemental beings which created the world and its intelligent species (learning the latter from the much younger Luna and Celestia [[spoiler: when their toys turned into the first ponies because the sisters loved them so much - so yeah, ponies originated as toys of two little girls]]). The one we have seen in the fic is the water being called Karhu-Akka by reindeer. She combines traits of bear, cow, squid and whale and now sleeps in the shape of a huge glacier. If she awakes, horrible things will happen. [[spoiler: Her rolling over in her sleep when Discord got free is one of the causes for the crisis in the fic, one which might kill all life in a country.]] Luna, however, remembers her as a kind aunt who played with her and Celestia by the sea and gave them wonderful toys.

* NorseMythology: Ruthlessly plundered for names and concepts such as forest-eating wyrms called ''nidhoggs'', squirrel-like gossip-spirits called ''ratatosks'' and hostile wolf-people tribes known as ''Skolls''.

* GrimUpNorth: Tarandroland is cold and gloomy and the inhabitants are (at least stereotypically) gloomy and violent with tendencies to alcoholism.

The story is a rather episodic fantasy story of the epic sort, with much worldbuilding, not just for the country of Tarandroland but for everything from Equestrian comic books to the elder relatives of Luna and Celestia. It is ongoing, and until then this page represents the unfinished story.