Diaries Of A Madman / Tropes O to Z

Main Page | Tropes A-F | Tropes G-N | Tropes O-Z

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Diaries of a Madman contains examples of the following tropes:

O

• Obfuscating Stupidity: Discord admits to doing this in his narration, not only because he finds it amusing, but also because it catches others off guard.
• Oblivious to Love: Early on in Chapter 10, Nav is completely and utterly oblivious to Luna's interest in him, though he catches on a little later in the story.
• Odd Friendship: Odd doesn't even begin to describe the friendship between Nav and Celestia. While several elements of their personality are similar, she's a pony princess and the most politically powerful ruler on the planet, he's a fairly average snarky human — though he manages to obtain a surprisingly large amount of political power and wealth — and often gets used as a pawn in Celestia's many schemes. Half of their interactions find them on opposing ends of an argument, or dealing with the fallout of something or another. Even the definition of friendship you'd use to describe all this would be rather warped.
• Offered the Crown: Nav isn't so much offered the crown as forced into it, when he has to take on the role of queen for the monkey tribe in South America, at Brook's behest.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Fancy Pants.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Pelt, a crazy unicorn who believes Nav is a monster, gets an extremely strong case of this when Celestia tells him that Nav is a friend of hers. He has a similar reaction later on when he tries to interrupt Lyra and Bon-Bon's wedding, only to notice the princesses sitting in the crowd.
  • The thugs attacking Nav in Chapter 55 give this upon finding their target is armed.
  • Celestia, upon finding out that thanks to Nav, changeling technology has rapidly advanced ahead of Equestrian technology.
• Ominous Crack: Shortly before Nav falls down a mine shaft in Antarctica, after the rusted metal he's standing on gives way.
• 1-Dimensional Thinking: Nav at one point explicitly tells Rainbow Dash that her ineffective use of the Z axis is the reason why her attempts to escape from Pinkie often fail. He doesn't make the same mistake.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted with the two Gildas. Nav at one point takes to calling them "OG" (Original Gilda) and "PG" (Princess Gilda) to differentiate between them.
• Only in It for the Money: Kumani, being a dragoness, is quite willing to take jobs providing the pay is good. Nav sometimes shows this attitude, but flips between this and being altruistic for its own sake, even if he tends to focus more on payment as the story progresses.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Navarone, who refuses to give out his real name, though he does mention a fake name in his journals.
• Only Sane Man: Given the amount of craziness in the world, you could be forgiven for thinking Nav is the only one, and judging by his narration, he certainly seems to think so, even if he's not the most impartial judge. Celestia might give him a run for his money most of the time, but otherwise, there's a lot of crazy about.
• Old Soldier: Fancy Pants is one of Celestia's knights, and shows signs of being an effective commander in the field during a war games exercise.
• Older Than They Look: Spike is a variant of this. Since dragons age differently from ponies, Spike matures more quickly in certain areas than others as the story goes on. He still does retain a few childish characteristics and innocence in certain areas, however.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Celestia generally keeps her emotions under control and puts on a stoic front in her role as princess. If you see her display any vast levels of emotion, then you've seriously provoked her.
• "Open!" Says Me:
  • Nav orders an earth pony guard to kick a door down in Chapter 36, which is Subverted when it doesn't work. Then Nav manages to open it by politely knocking on the door.
  • One of the Day Guard tries this on the front door of Nav’s fortress in Chapter 87. It ends badly.
• Orphan's Ordeal: The details given in Taya's backstory show this in spades. Even Chrysalis is disgusted and shocked by what she's had to live through.
• Internal Retcon: Luna and particularly Celestia admit to Nav that they've censored large amounts of history, and that the past few thousand years have been far more bloody and violent than ponies are aware of.
• Other Me Annoys Me: When Nav runs into his (far older) past self, both end up getting under the skins of the other.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Vamponies follow many of the standard vampire tropes, but are capable of going out in sunlight if they're sufficiently young and have built up a tolerance, albeit at the expense of being weakened and getting terrible headaches.
• Overly Narrow Superlative: In Chapter 107, Nav notes in his narration that the person interrupting him "just happened to be the sexiest maid I had". Doppel is the only maid he's ever had.
• Overnight Age-Up: Spike gets turned into a grown dragon after being blasted by an entropy spell by the Dracolich in Chapter 112. Thankfully, Zecora is on hand to restore him back to normal, after he defeats it with his increased strength.

P

• Painful Transformation:
  • Moonbeam's transformation from an alicorn into Chrysalis at the hands of Discord, which was agonising for no other reason other than because he found it funny.
  • The first time anyone uses Nav's gender stones is extremely painful.
• Papa Wolf: Nav notes in his narration that anyone hurting Taya would end up being beaten to death with various parts of their anatomy, and later tells Fluttershy that he'd kill Gilda if she ever injured Taya in a rage.
  Fluttershy: What if Gilda hurts her?
  Navarone: Then they would never find the body.
• Parental Abandonment: Taya ended up as an orphan on the streets of Catro, after her parents were murdered by thieves.
• Parental Neglect: Part of Nav's backstory, and responsible for several of his issues.
• Parlor Games: Truth or Dare ends up being played at the Slumber Party in Chapter 115. Some highlights include Cadance being forced to reveal embarrassing details about her and Shining Armor's sex life and having to tell him about the fan fiction she wrote of him, and Celestia having to publically date someone (and quickly extending an invitation to Nav). Meanwhile, Nav manages to make it through without punishment... mostly...
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Nav chooses "password" in Chapter 44 for the new codeword between him and Taya.
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • Nav narrowly averts doing this to Kat in Chapter 16, because no matter how karmic it would be, he's well aware of what it does to a person and refuses to stoop down to her level.
  Navarone: You’re very lucky in one regard, Kat. I. Am not. You.
  • The policy for severe crimes under draconic law.
• Photographic Memory: Nav gains this while Flo shares his body, since she has this and can recall anything he's forgotten for him. Not that his memory was bad to begin with.
• Ping Pong Naïveté: Nav pretends to this at times to get a rise out of others, resulting in Twilight questioning him on whether he's really playing the fool, or just occasionally acts smart instead.
• Pink Means Feminine: Watcher prefers to retain his Night Guard appearance even after retiring, since he despises his original pink coat.
• Pity Sex: Nav sleeps with both princesses due to their loneliness and desire for some companionship. It ends up leading to Nav and Luna's pseudo-romantic relationship, and when that fails, a Friends with Benefits relationship with Celestia, though she attempts several times to go for a Relationship Upgrade.
• Plagiarism in Fiction: Nav makes a pretty decent sum of money by transcribing various human works from memory and selling them.
• Plant Person: Nav turns into one after his Emergency Transformation, gaining several plant characteristics. He's still mostly human externally (aside from his hair changing colour), but his internal organs and biochemistry become far more plant-like, allowing him to use sunlight as a replacement for food, as well as slowing down his ageing and granting a limited Healing Factor.
• Plausible Deniability: Nav uses this several times in his schemes, notably with his plan to leave Equestria, but also with some of humanity's inventions that he doesn't want being linked back to him.
  Navarone: Assumptions aren’t the same as the truth.
• Playing Possum:
  • Kat tries this by pretending to be knocked out after being caught stealing from Nav's room. Nav's smart enough not to fall for it.
  Kat: You know me too well, Nav.
  • Nav fakes being asleep in order to get the drop on a griffon assassin in Chapter 46.
• Pocket Protector: Nav has a throwing knife randomly deflected after it hits an iron stud in his clothing and bounces off in Chapter 24. Not that it does much to stop the next two aimed at his wing.
• Portal Book: Twilight and Nav get sucked into one at the end of Chapter 98.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Nav collapses after his Knife Fight with a griffon assassin in Chapter 46.
• Powered Armor: Nav summons a set while in the dream world with Luna in Chapter 36, which makes the quest to reactivate the dream machine ridiculously trivial. It takes hours to achieve what had previously taken Luna weeks, though admittedly Luna didn't know what she was doing the first time around.
  Navarone: Thank you, Warhammer 40k.
• Power Incontinence:
  • Trixie's attempts to cast a spell on Twilight and Nav backfire completely, destroying her horn, setting the stonework on fire, and transforming Nav and Twilight.
  • Taya almost accidentally kills Nav with a case of this when she gets overly stressed by Pinkie's sisters bothering her. It almost puts her off magic entirely, but Nav tells her that her abilities are a gift, and that she simply needs to learn proper control.
• The Power of the Sun: Owing to his modified physiology, Nav is at his strongest in daylight, with prolonged exposure to darkness having similar effects to starvation.
• Power Perversion Potential: Telekinetic and shapeshifting spells prove particularly useful in this regard. Nav's gender switching stones also tend to be used for this... at least until they break...
• Prank Date: After Celestia and Luna undergo a "Freaky Friday" Flip, Nav sets up a date with Celestia!Luna in order to get back at Luna. When he finds out that the two have switched back to their normal bodies without telling him, he then plans on no-showing, but he's convinced by Flo not to do something so heartless and spiteful.
• Precision F-Strike: Flo hits Nav with one, after he finally exhausts her near-infinite patience.
  Flo: So you were mistreated a few times, so you were abused. That doesn’t give you the right to act like a fucking asshole to everyone you meet and yourself!
• Prince Charmless: Blueblood, though more so than his show counterpart.
• Promotion to Parent: Celestia ended up having to act as a parent for Luna, after Discord wiped out most of the alicorns, including their parents.
• Properly Paranoid: Nav is often accused of being paranoid, but in many cases — particularly during his time in Egypt — he’s completely right and usually proven so in short order.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Played with in the case of Nav murdering Calix. While Nav does question his actions afterwards, and there is at least partial justification, the fact remains that he murders someone in cold blood, and it's not presented as a particularly bad thing by the narrative.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Naga and griffins. While they both come to respect Nav's fighting skills, they also complain about his lack of honour.
• Psycho for Hire: Miguel cares for little else other than killing and bloodshed.
• Public Domain Artifact: Nav's Infinity +1 Sword is Excalibur.
• Pulling Themselves Together: Several of the skeletons Nav fights in Chapter 110 do this after he smashes them to pieces.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • Discord does it to Celestia during the prologue, and any time he's particularly provoked and wishes to get his point across.
  • Nav uses it on multiple occasions.
• Punny Name:
  • Kat is... well... I'm sure you can see where this one is going.
  • Nav repeatedly lampshades the punny versions of human names.
  • All changeling names mentioned thus far are these.
  Navarone: I’m starting to see a trend here.
  • The elementals all appear to use these. Those named so far include the water elementals Flo and Aqua, and the air elemental Aerie. Also doubles as Family Theme Naming, given that elementals of the same type consider themselves family.
• Puppet Queen: F!Nav is threatened being made into a puppet queen by Brook if she doesn't willingly lead the monkeys in Chapter 104.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Even Nav sometimes has a hard time resisting them, particularly when Pinkie does it. His attempts to invoke this himself aren't quite as successful.
  Luna: Your eyes aren’t large enough to pull off a proper pout.
• Put on a Bus: Kumani vanishes after Nav gets trapped in the Russian bunker. In-universe this is explained away by her having no real ties to the crew beyond Nav, whereas the real reason behind this was due to the character's unfavourable reception among readers.

Q

• The Quest: Nav leaving Equestria to locate and free the elementals, with the hope of gaining allies against Discord.
• The Quisling: Averted with the Night Guard changeling, Quisling. Despite taking on the name (with Nav even commenting on the implications of it), he didn't actively betray his hive, but got tired of the life and left it for another. And while he doesn't flaunt his species, he does have the respect of his fellow guards.
• Quit Your Whining: Nav tells Celestia to do so after her breakdown in his typical blunt fashion. While she dislikes the way he says it, she does concede that he has a point.

R

• Rage Breaking Point: Nav completely loses it upon finding out his gender stones have stopped working, trapping him in female form.
• Ragnarök Proofing: The Human bunker in Antarctica still has some (barely) operational machinery after millions of years, though the extreme cold and being vacuum sealed probably helped.
• Rags to Riches: Nav. Initially starting with nothing, he gains a tidy sum after winning a competition, makes a lot by plagiarising human works, receives a very large reward after helping take down a dog crime boss (though he immediately gives it away), and ends up with a stake in a gem mine after helping the changelings liberate it from the diamond dogs. Despite all this, he doesn't have any real need for the money and lives a fairly frugal lifestyle, though it probably doesn't help that he has a poor grasp of just how much bits are worth.
• Rags to Royalty: Nav gets the option to do this several times, but so far has turned them all down. He plans to give a relationship with Luna a chance before things between them go spectacularly south, declines an offer from Chrysalis to be her husband, gets out of an Arranged Marriage with a griffon noble (both politically motivated), and puts an offer to be Celestia's consort on hold several times.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The team Nav puts together later in the story, which includes ex members of the guard, a dragoness, a cat assassin, Zecora, and more.
• Reality Warper: Anyone capable of using "true magic" can do this. Discord is a master of it, but Celestia, Luna, Taya, and Pinkie Pie have some abilities in the subject. One of the few limits mentioned is that you can't simply will someone dead, though this doesn't stop you from creating a fatal situation.
• Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: "True magic" was banned for this reason by Celestia. See Dangerous Forbidden Technique.
• Really Gets Around:
  • Navarone is a Deconstructed example. He ends up doing this as a coping mechanism for the psychological damage he suffers over the course of the story, and becomes increasingly more depraved as it goes on. However, he does get chastised by other characters over his behaviour, and he realises he's developed an addiction.
  Flo: Do you at least now see that you have a problem?
  Navarone: Nope. I see that I have an addiction, which is not the same as a problem.
  • Doppel, to the point where calling her the village bicycle would be generous. Then again, she is a changeling who prefers feeding on lust...
  • Fleur, Fancy Pants' wife. He's well aware of her behaviour, but tolerates it for several reasons.
  • Lyra also does this, with her marefriend Bon-Bon’s permission.
  • Pinkie as well, though it’s only alluded to rather than stated outright.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Nav gives one to Celestia when she expresses her regret for what she's unwittingly done to him.
• Reassigned to Antarctica:
  • Several of the guards and the two ambassadors sent with Nav for his second trip to Egypt are reassigned there, having earned Celestia's ire.
  • Celestia later sends Shining Armor and Cadance to the Crystal Empire, to avoid them causing trouble for her in the aftermath of Luna's confession. Or at least, that's what they themselves suspect.
• Recognition Failure: When Nav visits the Unicorn Mage Tower in Chapter 63, he's initially believed to be an escaped monster by some of the more clueless members of staff, despite being one of the most famous people in the country by this point.
  Receptionist: Sorry about that. Some of the researchers here don’t get out much.
  Navarone: I’ve been here for more than four years!
  Receptionist: Like I said, they don’t get out much.
• Record Needle Scratch: The results of combining a social function with Nav's intimidating armour.
• Refuge in Audacity: Nav tries and successfully (albeit temporarily) manages to pass off the infamous time he got drugged at a party as "some strange rumors" to Twilight.
• Remembered I Could Fly:
  • Twilight forgets she can teleport when being threatened by the dragons for spying on them in Chapter 22, only doing so after Nav reminds her.
  • Fluttershy forgets she can fly to escape from the Ursa Minor chasing her in Chapter 42.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: Subverted. The air elementals are viewed as traitors by the rest of their brethren for helping Discord imprison them, when they themselves were actually tricked by Discord into doing so.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated:
  • Nav is mistakenly thought to be dead after being kidnapped by the monkeys, though this all occurs off-page, and the reader only finds this out after he contacts Watcher by dream walking.
  • Nav yet again, after being trapped in the Russian bunker and assumed to be dead.
• Rescue Romance: After her previous attempts to woo Nav fail, Luna tries to go for this by secretly causing a dingonek to attack him so she can play the role of saviour. Unfortunately for her (and Nav), Rainbow Dash accidentally knocks her out, resulting in Nav being injured before Fluttershy can calm it.
• Resigned to the Call: Nav is resigned to his fate of being sent to Egypt as a punishment from Celestia in Chapter 15. Unlike Spike, who's excited.
• Retcon: A few of them, as the author modifies anything he's particularly unhappy about in earlier installments. In particular, Chapters 1-12 were extensively rewritten.
• Revealing Cover-Up: Discord manages to convince Blueblood that his poisoning was done by Celestia and Nav.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The campaign in Egypt, which at times practically falls under the label of terrorism.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: Nav probably should have known better from Pinkie...
  Navarone: If Rarity told you to jump off a bridge, would you?
  Pinkie Pie: Of course! If she told me that, I know there’s be candy or something else fun at the bottom! Oooh, or maybe a party!
• Ridiculously Successful Future Self: Or due to Time-Travel Tense Trouble, past self. When Nav gets sent back in time, he finds out that his past (real) self has become a doctor and a successful scientist. His past self is also fairly impressed with how Nav has got on, arguably making them both successful future versions of each other.
• Right Behind Me:
  • Nav goes to see Fluttershy in Chapter 31, only to discover she’s lurking right behind him...
  Fluttershy: I was wondering how long it would take you to knock.
  • Celestia does it to Nav in Chapter 43, though he immediately realises after seeing the way Fancy Pants reacts.
  Celestia: You’re too savvy for your own good, Nav.
• Right Through the Wall:
  • Nav deliberately invokes this in retaliation for Cadance trying to meddle in his love life in Chapter 32. Despite the very poor resulting night's sleep, it still doesn't stop her from trying to interfere yet again later on in the story.
  • Nav again invokes this in Chapter 73, mostly out of a lack of choice. Other than the obvious one of not doing anything, that is.
• Rousing Speech: Nav gives one to himself while being attacked by Angel and the rest of Fluttershy's critters during Nav’s stay at her home...
  Navarone: Humanity conquered nature a long, long time ago. And despite these damnable wings and being forced to live in Namby Pamby Ponyland for several years, I am still a human. (trying to find his way to the bathroom) I will not submit. I will not bow. (opens the wrong door) And this is not the bathroom.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Nav himself ends up doing this after being crowned queen of the monkey tribe he encounters in South America.
• Rule of Funny: Lampshaded and invoked by Nav when Doppel bursts out of a closet to join in a song, resulting in her being blasted by Taya's magic. Since comedy rules are in effect, Doppel is unhurt, other than spitting out a cloud of smoke.
• Running Gag:
  • Navarone repeatedly ends up confused over how old ponies actually are, but no one ever gives him an answer when he asks.
  • Big Mac ends up discovering Navarone several times in highly compromising situations.
  • Nav complains whenever he finds himself in Celestia's sitting room, with it morphing from simple dislike to an almost pathological hatred. At one point, he even refuses to talk with her until they've gone somewhere else.

S

• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Taya develops her magical talents under Twilight's tuition, but at the expense of leaving her social skills even more to be desired.
• Sand In My Eyes: After Nav forgives Rarity in Chapter 68, she starts getting choked up and Nav claims to feel some dust in his eyes. Then he quickly kills the moment a second later
  Rarity: Shh, just let it all out.
  Navarone: Rarity, if you talk to me like a baby again, I’m turning this hug into a smackdown.
• Sanity Slippage: Nav. As the story progresses, he starts becoming increasingly crazy and reckless, and becomes far more depraved.
• Satellite Love Interest: Nav's relationship with Kumani is pretty much limited to crazy bedroom antics, with the two having almost nothing else in common. It does serve as a pleasant distraction, though, and the man probably deserves that much at least.
• Say My Name:
  • Twilight, after Nav beats her to the Crystal Heart.
  Twilight: NAVAROOOOOONE!
  • Pinkie tries to pull this in Chapter 101, only to end up dazed after she gets in the way of Nav and Ames' sparring session.
• The Scapegoat:
  • Passing things off as a magical mishap of Twilight's is often used when a convenient excuse is needed. However, what makes it such a believable excuse is the number of times Twilight has genuinely caused these things.
  • Nav jokingly uses Spike as a fallback excuse at times.
  Navarone: ...I’m going to preemptively blame Spike.
  Celestia: Why Spike?
  Navarone: Because he seems like a good fall-guy.
  • Celestia's plan to unite the three pony tribes involved using Grogar as one. Until it backfired...
• Scary Impractical Armor: Averted, at least with the impractical bit. The set of armour Nav receives is extremely intimidating and scary, but still highly practical, and is mentioned to resemble a slightly less spiky version of that seen in Overlord.
• Science Marches On: An in-universe example. When Nav gets sent back in time, multiple personality disorder is no longer viewed as a mental illness. Or at least, not quite so strictly.
• The Scream:
  • Discord's scream of rage (and the resulting rampage) upon realising he ruined his own plan ends up being heard as far away as Canterlot.
  • After his Rage Breaking Point due to being trapped in female form, Nav lets out a furious scream upon being informed he's about to hit that time of the month.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Nav refuses to say for sure in his narration, but he may have done this when he gets attacked by Fluttershy's animals. Possibly.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:
  • Nav often manages to get away with breaking laws because of his connection with Celestia... and because she finds him far too useful to have him imprisoned. She does, however, often end up using non-standard punishments, usually helping her out with some unpleasant task.
  • The Element-bearers are almost untouchable due to their importance.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: When Nav gets sent back in time, he finds out that Google has become so rich and powerful that they're able to do more or less whatever they want, even if they use this for benevolent purposes.
  "...money opens doors."
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Initially, the princesses themselves are pretty much above the law and can do what they want, given their essential roles in raising the sun and moon, which is both a blessing and curse for Nav. However, events and scandals eventually catch up with them, and they're not quite as above the law as they'd like to believe.
  Celestia: Rules can be rewritten, after all.
• Screw Yourself: After Rainbow taunts Nav for having a French Maid outfit, Doppel scares her off by coming on to her with a variant of this.
  Doppel: (as Rainbow Dash in a maid outfit) Don’t you think I look sexy?
  Rainbow Dash: I-I-IHAVETOGO!
• Sealed Good in a Can: Flo. Most of the surviving elementals are also sealed, but whether they qualify as good is still an unknown.
• Secretly Wealthy: Prior to getting his Cool House, Nav's acquired wealth is not well known. Admittedly, this is partly because Nav's wealth is something of a secret to himself, given his lack of understanding of how much bits are worth.
• Self-Deprecation / Who Writes This Crap?!: Several of the events that were retconned or rewritten survive as fake entries in Nav's journal. Which the cast then proceed to make snarky comments about...
  Navarone: ...and I’m sure Twilight could tell you quickly that there never was such a person called Z that seduced her at the Gala.
  Twilight: Really Nav, your imagination is strange. Why would Princess Celestia ever do that to me?
  Navarone: I made a lot of shit up.
• Sex Slave:
  • Nav gets used as one by Kat for a week while in Egypt due to Spike being held hostage, until he finally snaps.
  • Two changelings being held captive within Atlantis were forced into this in order to survive.
  • Igor kept several women as them in the Russian bunker, as seen in Chapter 110.
• Sexual Karma: Averted with Cadance and Shining Armor, who despite being some of the most unquestionably good characters in the story, have a relatively unsatisfying sex life, owing to Shining's lack of staying power. While Nav's advice helps and the two are still Happily Married, it's clear from Cadance's embarrassing confession in Chapter 115 that things in the bedroom are not as good as she'd like.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Averted on several occasions, but generally played straight.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock:
  • Nav and Twilight temporarily get locked into pony and human form respectively, until a way of reversing the spell's effects is figured out a week later. Once this is done, anyone capable of casting the spell can freely switch someone's appearance.
  • Nav is trapped as a female in Chapter 106 after his gender stones break. He isn't happy, to put it mildly.
• Shapeshifters Do It for a Change: A complicated example. After he discovers them, Nav's gender stones get used for this purpose by a variety of characters. Similarly, the shapeshifting spell is used to switch species to this end on a few occasions. In both cases, however, there's not any real suggestion of confused sexuality for those undergoing this, more that it's being done for variety and/or for a partner's benefit.
• Shapeshifting Lover:
  • The shapeshifting spell gets used for this purpose on a few occasions.
  • Averted when Nav sleeps with Chrysalis, where he explicitly asks her not to use her shapeshifting powers.
• Share the Male Pain: An unusual variant. Nav's gender-switching stones are generally well-received by female users, whereas male victims despise it, seemingly for this reason...
  Shining Armor: (whispering) Throw them in the ocean. Don’t ever let Cadance get them again!
  Navarone: I feel your pain, bro. I feel your fucking pain.
• Sharing a Body:
  • Occurs several times, though mostly it's a case of Split Personality. Flo sharing Nav's body plays it straight, however.
  • Twilight and Pinkie later host Aqua and Aerie respectively.
  • Spike temporarily becomes an unwilling host to Brook.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Nav turns into one after the events of Egypt, and it takes a fairly decent chunk out of his sanity.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Multiple characters repeatedly try to ship Navarone with Fluttershy, as much as he tries to get them to stop.
  • Cadance tries to ship Nav with Luna and later with Fluttershy, which frustrates him immensely.
  • Nav ends up setting Derpy and Doctor Whooves up on a date in Chapter 20. He’s reluctant to provide any further advice, however, and gets quite irritated when the good Doctor repeatedly follows him asking for more.
• Ship Tease:
  • Between Applejack and Rainbow Dash on multiple occasions.
  • Rarity trolls Nav and Rainbow Dash when she claims they make for an adorable couple, after they put on a show in Chapter 72. Nav is not particularly amused.
  • Between Nav and Celestia in Chapter 115. Not only do they both act fairly affectionately with each other, but they also agree to go on a date, after Cadance dares Celestia during Truth or Dare.
• Shirtless Scene: Nav does it on several occasions.
• Shock and Awe: One of the few pieces of combat magic Rarity knows, and how Nav ends up dispatching the governor in Chapter 85, during a "Freaky Friday" Flip.
• Shoot the Messenger: The monkeys' previous attempts for peace with the spiders ended with the ambassadors being murdered, and having the heads sent back as a warning.
• Shout-Out: There's a huge number of them, many of which are in the form of Nav making references to pop culture which fly over the heads of everyone else present. Chapter titles often contain them as well.
  • Nav quotes Obi-Wan's famous line from A New Hope in the Chapter 7, and then laments shortly afterwards that Rainbow Dash didn't take the opportunity to steal a certain line from 300 when she kicks him off a cloud.
  • Nav references Blindsight in his narration within Chapter 75.
  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Wuthering Heights are referenced in the titles of chapters 35 and 59 respectively.
  • Chapter 75's title references the Character Alignment system from Dungeons & Dragons.
  • The infamous fanfic DOOM: Repercussions of Evil is referenced in the title of Chapter 85.
  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is referenced in the title of Chapter 96.
  • One of Nav's favourite quotes is from Dresden Codak
  • Dwarf Fortress is referenced on multiple occasions.
  • Nav references the Team Fortress 2 comic Loose Canon in Chapter 65.
  • The Shady Trough is borrowed from this fanart.
• Shown Their Work: Plenty of it about, particularly when it comes to firearms and crossbows. Much of the medicine and science within, particularly anatomy, is accurate as well.
• "Shut Up" Kiss:
  • Nav gives one to Pinkie in Chapter 47 to quite literally get her to shut up, rather than it being romantic in any way. It also makes a good distraction so he can escape.
  • Nav later gets one off Braeburn.
• Sickening Sweethearts: F!Nav and Spike have to act like this while Undercover as Lovers.
• Sick Episode: Nav ends up bedridden for Chapters 79 and 80 after nearly being killed by Blueblood.
• Sickeningly Sweet: Navarone takes advantage of Taya's ability to invoke this, usually as a way of distracting anyone mad at him.
  Navarone: Taya quick! Use cuteness!
• Sinister Minister: The murderous bishop of the Russian bunker, Igor. He also doubles as a Dirty Old Monk.
• Sir Swearsalot: Nav has a habit of using rather colourful language which he gets chastised for, though ponies don't always understand exactly what he's saying.
• Skeleton Key: Nav finds one as part of a set of magical artificts hidden within the Everfree Forest. It can also be used to 'unlock' someone's mind and force them to tell the truth.
• Skewed Priorities: Having just been sucked into a Portal Book with Nav, how does Twilight react? By focusing on the fact that the books are all in piles instead of neatly stacked on the bookshelves. Nav isn't amused.
  Twilight: But look at them! That’s terrible for them!
• Slasher Smile:
  • Pinkie gives one, upon realising Nav isn’t strong enough to escape her grasp when she wants to hug him. Without resorting to violence, at any rate.
  • Pinkie gives another one in Chapter 57 when she's about to attack some thugs with her Frying Pan of Doom.
• Sleep Cute: Nav does it with a few ponies. Particularly when it comes to Rainbow Dash, where it ends up resulting in a Not What It Looks Like situation.
• Slipping a Mickey:
  • Nav ends up being drugged at a bar and wakes up in a pile of mares. While unhappy about this, he shrugs it off and prefers not to know exactly what happened, and his friends end up being far more upset about this than he is.
  • Some dogs try this on Nav in Chapter 15, but he switches his drink with Spike’s to check for this.
  • Fleur tries it on Nav while he’s modelling for Rarity in his pegagus form in Chapter 21. Yet again, he avoids it by switching his drink for someone else’s.
  • Pinkie does it to Nav and Fluttershy early on to get them to help her with her parents. Apparently it's easier than asking.
  • Pinkie does it again later on to Nav so she can play Russian roulette. With a gun that shoots pies.
• Slumber Party: Celestia cuts a deal with Nav ito get him to join her and Cadance for one in Chapter 115. He soon regrets it.
• Smells Sexy:
  • Ponies pheromones work to devastating effect on other ponies, hence most settlements tend to be heavily skewed towards one gender.
  • The aftermath of Nav's wild night on the town with Spike also ends up invoking this.
• Smug Snake: Discord constantly does it. Given how powerful he is, to the point where he dwarfs Celestia and Luna, he does have some justification for his attitude, and he often uses it to manipulate others into acting how he wants.
• Sneaky Departure: Nav leaves Equestria ahead of schedule in the middle of the night, after Luna confesses her crimes towards him and publicly apologises, since he can't stand the idea of being pitied by others.
• Sociopathic Hero: Nav falls into this territory at times. It is played slightly differently from normal in that he does empathise with others, but buries it deep down as a way of psychologically protecting himself, given the trauma and betrayal he's suffered from.
• Soft Water: Averted; it's noted in Chapter 106 that being tossed overboard would almost certainly be fatal due to the height.
• Something Only They Would Say: When Twilight messes up a spell and body swaps everyone present, Nav (as Taya) is sent to summon Rarity to help. Anyone he runs into refuses to believe his story, until convinced by rather colourful language which only he would use.
• So Proud of You:
  • He might not say it often, but Nav is very proud of having Taya as his daughter, and readily admits it to both Bloodbeak and Taya in Chapter 66.
  • A dark example, when Twilight first kills a monster in Chapter 99, and Nav hugs her out of pride while she's BSODing.
  • Flo admits to being proud of how Nav handled himself in Chapter 104.
  • Celestia tells Spike how proud of him she is in Chapter 106.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Nav becomes increasingly unpleasant to others as the story goes on, in order to drive them away and hide his inner demons. He's also afraid of emotional intimacy, but he does slightly improve on this in a few areas.
• Spanner in the Works:
  • Anton and the dogs end up being a minor one for Discord in Chapter 15, though the plan still manages to proceed, regardless.
  • Nav ends up disrupting several very old plans of Celestia's over the course of the story, which she is not happy about.
  • Blueblood ends up being one for Discord's plan, due to Blueblood deciding to attack Nav directly, rather than provoking him into striking first.
  • Nav's past self ended up being a huge spanner for Discord.
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Crazed monster-hunter Pelt makes an appearance to try and invoke this during Bon-Bon and Lyra's wedding, but no one takes it particularly seriously, and he quickly runs off having drawn the princesses' ire. Not that it would have made any difference, since Nav was Genre Savvy enough to suggest they get married privately the day before, in case anything went wrong.
• Speed Sex: Cadance and Shining Armor experience trouble in paradise after the birth of their daughter, and end up asking Nav for advice. Apparently said advice helps.
• Spikes of Doom: One of the ghosts tries to lure Nav to his death in this way while he's trapped in the Antarctic bunker.
• Spit Take:
  • Cadance sprays her drink over the table when it’s suggested she slept with Nav by Kumani.
  • Spike after finding out Nav swiped Celestia's crown for a prank.
  • Gilda after finding out that Nav “reverse mugged” Rarity.
  • Cadance does this again later on, in response to Nav asking her why she was dancing as herself at Luna's dream party.
• Split Personality: Changelings can occasionally suffer from this, particularly if they feed off certain emotions like anger. Eva is the most prominent example in-story.
• Spotting the Thread: Readers themselves have to do this in order to realise Discord's status as an Unreliable Narrator and that he's deceiving them.
• Squashed Flat: One of the results of dream logic, Nav's dreamwalking, and Celestia Horsing Around.
• Squee:
  • Fluttershy and Rarity's reaction at seeing 'Taya' sitting in Nav's lap.
  • One of the pony nurses in Flankfurt, Blackberry, upon finding out she has Kat for a patient.
  Blackberry: OH CELESTIA YOU’RE A KITTY!
• STD Immunity: Justified with Nav, due to the benefits of going interspecies. Also justified when he goes back in time, since not only can Flo cure him, but he's also likely not human enough at that point.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Nav and Rainbow Dash both suggest banishment or slavery as a possibility when dealing with other mares romantically. Also doubles as a Brick Joke.
  Navarone: Relax. What’s the worst that could happen?
  Rainbow Dash: I could end up banished from her presence or possibly as her eternal slave.
  Navarone: See, I told Spike that could happen! And he didn’t believe me…
• Stuff Blowing Up: AJ's attempt to make more alcohol ends rather badly in Chapter 14.
  Applejack: You didn’t tell me they could explode!
• Suddenly Sober: Flo is capable of rapidly sobering someone up while Sharing a Body, which Nav takes advantage of on a few occasions.
• Supernatural Sensitivity:
  • Humans can see horns glow on unicorns when they're using magic, and can use the colour to identity the caster. Twilight is extremely reluctant to accept this.
  • Unicorns can sense magic being used around them to an extent.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Water elementals grant this ability to their hosts by allowing them to breathe underwater, though the transition between breathing air and water is quite unpleasant.
• Super Window Jump: Given the choice between this and sticking around with an amorous in-heat Celestia, Nav picks the window in Chapter 60. As before, his wings cushion the impact.
• Supporting Leader: Watcher tends to perform most of his leadership duties off-page, while Nav's preoccupied with other tasks.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Chrysalis and Luna view themselves as this at times.
  Chrysalis: Idiots! Incompetents! None of them know how to think, they all require permission! No initiative at all!
• Sweetheart Sipping: Nav and Rainbow Dash are forced into sharing a drink, to both their displeasures, after a lapse of attention in Chapter 72 results in them entering a restaurant for couples and running into Rarity.
• Switching P.O.V.:
  • Aside from the prologue, most of the story is narrated by Navarone but very occasionally Discord will briefly take over.
  • Rarity narrates a small section when she's recounting her experiences to Nav of their "Freaky Friday" Flip.
  • Spike narrates most of Chapter 112.
• Symbiotic Possession: Most of the times an elemental takes control of their host fall under this.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Nav's murder of Calix, who was a xenophobic speciest, and abused his servants.

T

• Tabloid Melodrama: Nav deliberately invokes this to get his revenge on Celestia, by getting her involved in a scandal.
• Take a Third Option: After Nav quits as Luna's knight following the complete breakdown of their relationship, Celestia offers Nav the chance to be an Umbral knight — which comes with some very useful perks — instead of binding himself to either of the Royal Sisters. Nav himself takes a third option by putting the offer on hold, rather than accepting or rejecting it.
• Taken for Granite: Discord partially turns Celestia to stone during the prologue.
• Take That!:
  • Nav's comments over his fake real name can be considered one to the many fics out there where this is used without irony.
  • At Cadance, when Gilda is guessing her name and figures she "looks like a Mary Sue".
  • The Room (2003) is considered to be such a bad film that it's not included on Nav's laptop, which has a library of almost all human art.
  Text file: You ought to be ashamed of even thinking about watching this movie.
  • Several of Nav's conversations with Celestia and Luna on the nature of humanity are directly aimed at misanthropic members of the audience.
  • Nav's comments on being ponified, as well as other characters' thoughts on being shapeshifted for extended periods of time, are aimed at various conversion stories.
  • At Keep Calm and Flutter On.
  Navarone: Dude’s ancient, literally a manifestation of conflict. How the hell do you think you can reform something that by its very nature can’t be good?
  Celestia: Yes, I suppose it would be impossible. But it’s still a nice thought.
  • After Twilight comments on how if she had wings they'd be perfect for cuddling up to someone with, Nav's immediate thought afterwards is how horrifying Alicorn Twilight would be.
• Taking the Bullet:
  • Referenced early on, when Nav mentions how he's not willing to do it for Celestia.
  • After being attacked by Miguel, at Discord's behest, Nav ends up standing his ground and taking a knife in order to stop Taya from being hit instead.

• Talk to the Fist: Nav socks Chrysalis in retaliation for her taking on the form of his sister.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Blueblood is almost assassinated in this way and barely survives, though it ruins his good looks. Subsequently, he vows revenge on Navarone since he holds Nav responsible for failing his duties as a bodyguard.
• Tap on the Head: Averted. After Nav gets knocked out at the end of Chapter 15, he spends the next day passing in and out of consciousness with a severe concussion, and is rendered very ill by the experience.
• Tears of Remorse:
  • Nav has a minor breakdown after making his first sapient kills.
  • Celestia at one point breaks down and admits to Nav how tired she is of being in charge after he places her in an impossible position.
• Teleportation Sickness: Anyone unused to the levels of magic needed to teleport suffers from a fairly mild version this for a few minutes afterwards, with longer distances requiring more magic. It only takes a single exposure to that amount of magic to become immune to this in future, though.
• Tempting Fate: Most of the cast pull this off at some point. Nav does it a lot, and continues to do so even after he realises he shouldn't.
  One of these days I’ll learn, I swear…
• Ten-Second Flashlight: Played with. While trapped in Chapter 110, Nav's flashlight temporarily fails due to ghostly influence, but comes back to life after he escapes.
• Terror Hero: Nav deliberately invokes this to foster his reputation as someone who should not be messed with.
• That Reminds Me of a Song: Repeatedly lampshaded and mocked by Nav. Except for the time where the song is about him, in which case he's horrified...
  Oh my God, she’s bursting into song. Now, I’ve said before that I liked Rarity’s singing voice, but I wasn’t happy about being sung at about how ‘I’m a good person’ and ‘I’ve had love in my heart the entire time.’
• That Was Not a Dream: After Nav gives Rarity a load of gems from his stake in a gem mine, she initially thinks she's dreaming. Only after kissing a nearby changeling with the intent of 'waking up' does she realise it's actually for real. And then promptly screams once she realises what she's just done...
• There Are No Therapists: At least not in Equestria, which is rather unfortunate considering how badly some could use one, especially Luna and Nav. When Nav gets briefly sent back in time, he does end up seeing one.
• There Is Only One Bed:
  • Pinkie and Nav end up sharing one in Chapter 29, mostly as a means of dissuading her sisters from hitting on Nav.
  • Nav ends up having to share his bed with his bodyguard in Chapter 46, though only because there are no other beds available in the barracks, and Nav can't find it within himself to make Smiles sleep on the floor.
• There Was a Door: Nav has fun blowing stuff up while helping Luna reactivate the dream machine:
  (after having destroyed the door with a summoned Bolter)
  Navarone: So much easier than opening them.
  Luna: Lazy. That door was easy to open!
• They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason: Nav firmly believes in this due to his desire not to be perceived as weak.
• Think Nothing of It: Nav flips around between this and Only in It for the Money several times, though the latter becomes more common throughout the story.
• Third Law of Gender-Bending: Nav tries to avert this while switched, but circumstances conspire against him when he's taken captive by the monkeys.
• This Cannot Be!: Celestia's initial reaction, upon discovering the changelings have mastered human technology enough to create a working electric generator.
• This Is Not a Floor: A variant. One of the ghosts in Chapter 110 tries to trick Nav into diving into a swimming pool, which is actually filled with spikes, rather than water as it appears.
• A Threesome Is Hot: Surprisingly enough, the few times this occurs, it's not actually Nav's idea, though he goes along with it.
• Threshold Guardians: Athena’s paper golems and other assorted monsters which guard her domain.
• Time Skip: A bunch of them, as the story takes place over several years, and can skip over months at a time, particularly when Nav travels somewhere, which can take anywhere between weeks and months without teleportation. After realising just how boring this is, he lampshades why authors tend to skip over it in their stories.
• Time Travel: Nav gets sent back in time by a unicorn spell, along with Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fancy Pants, though he winds up 35 years into the future from his intended destination. The resulting Stable Time Loop created does not go down well with Discord.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Nav ponders this in Chapter 73, after going back through time and encountering his past self. While he comes to the conclusion that he's real (and thinks and feels like anyone else), the lack of knowledge over the precise nature of his existence, coupled with the revelation that he's no longer biologically human enough to qualify, weighs heavily on his mind.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Discord dismisses several of his Mooks deaths as this, on the grounds that if they were too stupid to ignore his instructions, then they deserved what they got.
  • According to Nav, the dogs as a species tend to show this trait in combat.
  Navarone: They don’t flee. Most of them are too stupid to run away unless ordered to, and most of those that give orders are too stubborn to run away without some manner of ‘fuck you’ plan.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Nav starts fairly low down on the scale, winning his fights out of luck more than anything else.
  • Taya initially begins with almost no magical knowledge, understandably given her background. As the story progresses, she becomes an extremely powerful mage, with her abilities in battle magic — which turns out to be her talent — edging out Twilight's. Twilight is still far superior across the board, however.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Nav wasn't exactly the nicest person around to begin with, but becomes more and more of one over the course of the story as a result of bad stuff happening to him.
• Too Much Information: Nav's reaction upon being told by Spike that he slept with Gilda. Particularly the details Spike planned on giving before being cut off.
• The Tooth Hurts: Nav starts prying out the teeth of an assassin in an effort to convince him to talk. Onlooking guards accompanying him almost throw up at the sight of it.
• To the Pain:
  • Nav threatens an assassin with this in Chapter 24, and then makes good on it.
  Navarone: Look, I don’t like hurting people. I really don’t. But if you keep this up, I will keep hurting you. I will remove all your teeth, I will remove your fingers joint by joint, I will remove your toes, and then I’ll just get creative.
  • Nav's threat to anyone who tries to assassinate Cadance under his watch...
  Navarone: Ladies and gentlemen and Jocasta. This is Princess Cadance. She is the new representative for Princess Celestia. If anyone dares attack her, I will not kill you. I will do everything to you but kill you. Your screams will be heard across the fucking planet. The dog that poisoned Blueblood was sentenced to Tartarus. What you will get will make you wish you were him.
• To Win Without Fighting: Celestia merely making an appearance on the field in Chapter 16 is enough to cause the army to stand down, allowing the slaves to leave with no bloodshed.
• Tragic Monster: Moonbeam's corruption into Chrysalis. A kind-hearted midwife who was tricked by Discord and warped into her current form, and who readily admits to being a monster.
• Transformation of the Possessed: A benevolent, if somewhat minor example. When Flo takes over Nav's body, she puts an inflection on his voice to make it clear when she's speaking.
• Translation Convention:
  • Much of the dialogue in the story is in the Equestrian language, but rendered into English for the reader by Nav. It can also be assumed that he's mostly writing in the Equestrian script, since no one else understands written English without the use of a translation spell.
  • This also applies in-universe, as Nav thinks in English, but speaks in Equestrian without consciously realising it.
• Trauma Conga Line: Nav gets sent through a hell of a one. After being brought to Equestria by Discord and losing everything he's ever known, he ends up being forced to kill, pressed into service, raped, tortured, nearly killed, having his body mutated by magic, mind raped, and trapped in female form. And it's far from over!
• Treachery Cover Up: The "treachery" is rather more abstract, as several of Luna's crimes are more betrayals of the ideals Equestria ostensibly stands for. In any case, Celestia still helps to cover up Luna's more insane actions to avoid shaking the system, and ensures she's punished discreetly.
• Trophy Wife: Fairly common among the Canterlot nobility across both genders, and it's a semi-standard practice for Celestia to take a stallion as a platonic date to the Gala for this purpose.
• Troubled Backstory Flashback: The vast majority of the flashbacks Nav undergoes in Chapters 110 and 111 are these. Both from his own life, and that of Ava and Artyom's.
• Trust Password:
  • Nav and Taya use these whenever they're around changelings, though some of the passwords Nav uses aren't always particularly imaginative.
  • When he's sent back in time and encounters his past self, Nav proves his identity by listing a bunch of details about his life that no one else could know.
• Truth Serums: Nav's Skeleton Key can be used in this way by 'unlocking' a person's mind, briefly sending them into a trance and forcing them to speak the truth, however unwilling they might be.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Nav collects all sorts of titles over the course of his adventures, which he has to try to persuade others not to use. At one point, he could claim to call himself as Sir Navarone, Knight of the Lunar Order, Defender of Harmony, Royal Savior, Hero of the Changelings, and Liberator of Egypt.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: Nav ends up 35 years further ahead in time than he intended, after being sent back in time by a unicorn spell in Chapter 72. While there's some futuristic technology and some cultural changes, human society is mostly the same.

U

• Undercover as Lovers: F!Nav and Spike pretend to be this while forced to remain with the monkeys, due to it being better than the alternative of having to accept a monkey suitor.
• The Unfair Sex: Played for comedy by Nav in Chapter 113.
  Navarone: I’m a woman now, Ice. I don’t have to make sense.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After Nav infiltrates a slave ship and helps free them, he's almost killed by an overly cautious unicorn, though the remaining slaves immediately stop her and are very grateful to him.
• Unreliable Narrator:
  • Discord.
  • Nav is an in-universe example, since he leaves stuff out of his journals or puts misleading information in, such as his real name.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: While everyone else present reacts to Pinkie wearing dominatrix gear with a Jaw Drop in Chapter 8, Nav’s response is to look on impassively.
• Unwitting Pawn: Navarone is one for Discord, and occasionally one for Celestia and Luna. Though more often than not, he's a witting pawn for the Royal Sisters.
• Use Your Head: Trixie headbutts Twilight during a duel in Chapter 5, before throwing her at Nav.

V

• Vetinari Job Security: Celestia has cemented her rule by making herself indispensable to the running of Equestria, and upholding the Masquerade that she and Luna raise the sun and moon. Nav at one point asks her why it's necessary, when she could rule on merit alone.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: While gender-switched, Nav hides his/her radio in there in Chapter 105.
• Villain Ball: Sombra's flaws as a villain are mercilessly lampshaded by both Nav and Watcher.
  Watcher: What kind of villain puts their greatest weakness right under them? I swear, doesn’t anyone ever have brains?
• Villainous Breakdown: Discord breaks down and cries for the first time, after he realises he was the cause of failure for his own plan to commit suicide.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Both Luna and Kumani show elements of this. Not a good combination, considering they're both also Clingy Jealous Girls.
• Voice with an Internet Connection: Flo often functions as one for Nav after she makes him one of her hosts, but she is capable of directly taking control of his body if the need or mood arises. The connection is limited by distance however, and the further Nav moves away from Flo's prison near Appleloosa, the weaker the signal gets until the two fall out of contact.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting:
  • Changelings, obviously.
  • The shapeshifting spell that gets discovered allows this, but most casters only have limits on what they can change, with it usually being used to transform from a human to a pony, or vice versa. Celestia, being far more powerful, has much more leeway with shapeshifting.

W

• Wall of Blather: Nav's view of the friendship lessons Twilight sends. It's implied that Celestia occasionally shares this sentiment, despite her fondness for Twilight.
• War Is Glorious: In keeping with her nature as a Blood Knight, Luna seems to think so, and reminisces over past times where she was involved in battles.
• Was Once a Man:
  • Athena states she was once a normal human, but ended up transformed into her current state after exploring the depths of magic.
  • Played straight whenever Nav turns into a pony, though this is only done temporarily. Also applies after he gains his wings and plant-characteristics.
  • While she wasn't ever human, Chrysalis used to be an alicorn by the name of Moonbeam until she was corrupted by Discord into the Queen of the Changelings.
  • Arachne was originally human, until forced into the form of a spider by Athena.
• Weapon Specialization: Knives and his crossbow for Nav. The latter since it requires very little skill and training, and the former since he's not often going toe to toe with opponents. He later on starts to learn how to use his Infinity +1 Sword, but it takes a lot of time and effort before he even begins to become competent in its use.
• We Are Everywhere: Changelings have a few members in disguise throughout most Equestian settlements.
• We Can Rule Together:
  • Chrysalis makes this offer to Navarone, though she may not have been genuine.
  • Similarly, Discord makes such an offer to some of his underlings.
• Wedding Episode:
  • Cadance's marriage to Shining Armor gets postponed due to the changeling invasion, but eventually works out fine.
  • Bon-Bon and Lyra get married in Chapter 83.
• We Need a Distraction: Nav uses himself as one by challenging Sombra to a duel, in order to buy some time for Shining Armor to evacuate Cadance. Since Nav didn't actually expect to win, also doubles as a Heroic Sacrifice.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • While they might not have been friends per se, Chrysalis and Celestia used to have an amicable relationship, prior to the former's corruption from Moonbeam into her current form.
  • Chrysalis and the queen of the giant ants, prior to the attack on the changeling hive in Appaloosa.
  • Nav and Luna start off as fairly good friends, but eventually Luna's issues lead to the complete breakdown of their relationship.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 99 reveals many things, including Twilight and Nav learning how "true magic" works and Celestia's censorship of it, that Merlin attempted to Fling a Light into the Future, what happened to humanity, and why Nav's past self is Discord's most hated enemy. Oh, and that Cadance apparently used to write fanfics about Shining Armor.
• What Beautiful Eyes!:
  • While he generally doesn't have anything complimentary to say about ponies' appearances, even Nav privately finds Celestia — and particularly her eyes — to be beautiful. Not that he'd ever tell her that of course.
  • He also tells Vinyl Scratch that she should stop wearing her glasses because of this.
• What Did I Do Last Night?:
  • Ames is horrified when he finds out exactly what happened. The reader might well agree with this assessment.
  • In Chapter 6, Nav wakes up between Rarity and Pinkie and is rather horrified when he works out what happened.
  • A lighter example later on when Nav wakes up next to Rainbow Dash, after their drunken wrestling, when he's quickly told that nothing untoward happened.
  • And again later on when he wakes up between AJ and Rarity in Zecora's hut, after being knocked out by medication.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Nav isn't just oblivious to it (at first), but has very little understanding of it due to his inexperience on the matter. It certainly doesn't help that due to psychological trauma, he's not even sure if he's capable of feeling it.
• What's Up, King Dude?:
  • Nav claims that the security protecting the princesses is very poor, and proves his point by successfully 'assassinating' them with ease.
  • Nav also tends to play this one quite literally, to the shock and/or horror of others.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Nav often ends up the receiving end of these. He returns the favour on several occasions.
  • Flo leaps on the opportunity to give Celestia a piece of her mind in Chapter 87.
• What Would Celestia Do?: While having to play the part of a royal in Chapter 104, Nav tries to model the regal poses Celestia puts on for the role.
• What Year Is This?: Nav asks his friend this shortly after he gets sent back in time.
• What You Are in the Dark: Fancy Pants refuses to compromise his morals when he travels back in time with Nav, owing to this.
  Fancy Pants: I would know, and that is enough.
• Whispering Ghosts: The bunker in Chapters 110 and 111 is filled with them. Though some do more than whisper...
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Navarone is extremely resentful over his parents' choice of name, even if it's not quite as bad as his fake real name of Anonymous.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: A repeated theme.
  • Discord desperately tries to find an outlet for his boredom having lived for millions of years.
  • Celestia mentions she would rather have lived a normal life and died thousands of years ago, a sentiment it can be assumed Luna shares.
  • When Navarone gains a much increased life expectancy after his accidental Emergency Transformation, he's rather despondent.
• Why Did It Have to Be Spiders?: Nav is not keen when he has to go into a cave infested with Giant Spiders.
  Flo: Nav, this is a bad time for arachnophobia.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted. When some thugs threaten Nav, he immediately nails one with a throwing knife right in the middle of the the guy's sentence.
• Winged Humanoid: Nav ends up as one after a botched spell by Trixie. While he initially hates his wings and finds them very uncomfortable (in part owing to his lack of control over them), he does grow to accept them, though his flying abilities are far weaker than the average pegasus.
• A Unicorn Did It: Lampshaded by Nav in his narration when he admits that there are some things he's completely unable to explain, due to him being in a world that operates on magic.
  Look, even I realize that there are some things that just are never going to make sense to me. Laws of reality are more like suggestions around here. [...] Maybe one day I’ll just start saying ‘because magic.’
• Worldbuilding: There's a lot of it about, as the details of various cultures and the history of this version of Equestria is fleshed out.
• World of Snark: There were already enough snarkers in the original source material. In addition to those, we get Nav, most of the original characters, and Celestia.
• Would Hit a Girl: It's pretty safe to say that no-one has any real compunctions about this, particularly Nav. When Nav does it, there is justification for it, however.
• Would Hurt a Child: Very narrowly averted at the last minute In Chapter 106, when Nav ends up about to murder a spider child stowed away on the ship, following his Rage Breaking Point. He only stops when Kat proves to be a surprising Morality Chain and convinces him to spare the child's life.

X

• Xanatos Gambit: Discord's plan is one giant gambit. Ironically, the only time it goes wrong is due to random chance.

Y

• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Nav generally has a fairly firm grasp of his strengths and flaws, and while his assessment of his behaviour is usually accurate — even if he sometimes ignores it — he can be a little too quick to dismiss the genuinely good things he does, prompting others to remind him. More often, it's the other way around, though.
• You Are Grounded!: Despite his general lack of parenting skills, Nav finally puts his foot down in Chapter 98 and grounds Taya over her recent antics, as well as denying her the use of her magic for a week.
• You Are Not Alone:
  • Twilight and company tell Nav this at the end of Chapter 12, and again during the Christmas Episode. At this point in the story, it actually cheers him up immensely.
  • Celestia also tells Nav this in Chapter 106.
  Celestia: You have friends, Nav. Friends that love you. And others that would love you in other ways. And your guest in your head, she is like a mother to you. You are not as alone as you pretend you are.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Despite being told that he cannot, Nav still tries and actually succeeds despite this. Sort of.
• You Didn't Ask: When Fluttershy finally takes pity on Nav and shows him how to fold his wings, he immediately asks why no one told him before. Turns out they were all waiting for him to ask, and weren't banking on him being so stubborn.
• You Didn't See That: After Nav publicly embarrasses Chrysalis by threatening her in front a crowd, she insists to the changelings that they didn't see anything.
• You Do NOT Want To Know: Nav tries to warn Twilight over this when it comes to the fate of changeling prisoners. After she eventually finds out and that Celestia sanctioned it, Twilight would probably agree with this in hindsight.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Nav and Sombra's duel starts out with them exchanging insults as well as blows, though after trading a few punches they stop in favour of focusing entirely on the fight at hand/hoof.
• You Have Failed Me:
  • Discord uses something of an unusual variant of this, since his minions' screwups usually result in them no longer being useful and getting themselves killed. More like a combination of both, rather than either trope outright.
  • Discussed between Nav and Bloodbeak.
  Navarone: Which would you rather make it back home? A bedraggled infantryman, or the commander leading the force?
  Bloodbeak: The infantry can fight another day. A commander that failed me so would be put to death.
  Navarone: More fool you. No one can win every battle. Some are impossible. Sometimes you fight for a reason other than winning.
  • Among the spiders, failure tends to be harshly punished, depending on the circumstances. Given that a captured spider prefers death over the alternative, A Fate Worse Than Death is certainly on the cards.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Discord uses this. See You Have Failed Me.
• You Just Told Me:
  • Nav attempts to pass Fancy Pants, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity off as mindless creatures during his trip through time, only for Rarity to end up giving the game away by answering a question instead of keeping quiet.
  Navarone: You had one job, Rarity!
  • Twilight tricks Nav in Chapter 101 by pretending to cast the lie detection spell, when she's actually using a light spell instead, resulting in Nav inadvertently confessing. Though, this leads one to question whether or not the detection spell existed in the first place...
• You Need to Get Laid:
  • Navarone suggests this to Twilight on several occasions, and she eventually ends up taking that advice. It does actually work fairly well as a way of stress relief. Of course, Twilight being Twilight, she gets easily stressed.
  • Others believe the same thing about Nav, prior to some of his legendary antics.
  • Vinyl and Nav both come to the same conclusion regarding Fluttershy In Chapter 77.
• Your Head Asplode: After the slave baron is found guilty in Chapter 25, Rock crushes the head of his former owner with his warhammer.
• You're Insane!: Celestia pretty much calls herself (slightly) insane while discussing Arachne and Athena.
  Celestia: Nav, you don’t get to be my age — or their ages — without going slightly insane.
• You Shall Not Pass!: Celestia's guards try to stop Nav from walking into Celestia's room after Luna Mind Rapes him. Nav beats them up, and they deny that they tried to stop him the following morning. They try to stop Nav again later on, only to quickly backpedal when they recognise him.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Any unicorn that is already attuned to someone after having teleported them can do this, though most have a distance limitation due to the magical power required. Celestia threatens Nav with this at one point, telling him that at full power she can teleport him to her from anywhere in the world. It's only when Nav gets his Anti-Magic ring that this threat becomes nullified.

Z

• Zombie Advocate:
  • Rainbow Dash is a downplayed example. While other species aren't exactly mistreated and denied rights in Equestria, she comes to agree with Nav that terms like "anypony" are exclusionary and shouldn't be used.
  • Nav ensures that the constitution he drafts for the griffons ends up including all races, rather than only granting rights to specific species.

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