Earn Your Happy Ending in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Children of an Elder God: The main characters got to fight and slay Cthulhu Mythos Eldritch Abominations to have a chance to lead a mostly happy life. this is most evident for Ritsuko and Maya. The former awakens from a 500-year-long coma, where she has been watched over by the latter all that time. Ritsuko is still a mermaid of sorts who can't breathe air, but Maya assures her that it might be possible to make her human again. Regardless, they can finally live their lives together again.
- Beth Lestrade in Children of Time has to work very hard, up to and including dying before she can get her happy ending. Even once she marries the man she loves, she has to wait eight more years before she can reunite with him, and then she has to be the one to bring him back. Earn Your Happy Ending? More like... Work Your Tail Off And Is It Even Coming In The First Place?
- Coccinea: The first phase is filled with deception, betrayal, and spilled blood. Over time, however, Kit and Kyouko are able to reconcile, and both give up their powers in order to live together. Meanwhile, Sayaka is revived and gets her own happy ending by seeing Kyosuke fully healed while putting her jealousy behind her.
- Code Prime: R2 ends on this note. After over a year of war and and struggle, losing comrades and having their homes decimated and threatened, the Black Knight/Autobot alliance finally triumphs over both Britannia and The Decepticons. Some from the start of the series found their redemption. Some found peace they never knew they needed. Some experienced heartbreak and loss in the process along with An Arm and a Leg for some. But as they world begins to pick itself back up, the future looks bright with a grand and glorious future in store for everyone.
- The Dragon and the Bow: The Vendals are defeated, Vikings and Scots are at peace, Dragons are now part of their community, and Berk now has a team of Dragon Riders to help defend them. But man it took a while to get there, even costing Hiccup and Merida his leg and most of her hair. And Angus still died in the process.
- The God Empress of Ponykind; after a brutal civil war that leaves thousands dead, Equestria is healing, the forces of Chaos have been driven back once again, Celestia has reunited and made peace with Horus, and there is a possibility that Luna will return to make the nation whole again.
- Last Child of Krypton: Though there is a great deal of hardship, ultimately the story ends a whole lot better than canon.
- Mad World (Invader Zim): Dib goes through a lot of dark crap over the course of this story, but in the end, he's recognized as a hero, he and Zim are friends now, he's got Squee as a surrogate little brother, and he's got a friend in Nny, who's getting the mental help he needs. And the Thing in the Wall is resealed, with Zim and Dib planning to replace the Wastelocks with a sealing mechanism that won't require hosts that get driven insane by the power.
- In My Little Borg
, all Earth ponies and Pegasus ponies throughout Equestria are assimilated. All the Unicorn ponies have to scrounge through the Borg's library of technology and learn how to build a fully functioning starship in under a week, in order to have any chance of saving them at all — and Twilight is the only one with access to the Borg library. - Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton: Asuka must go through many hardships, face giant monsters, aliens, super-powered beings, criminals, an evil cult, an Ancient Conspiracy, mature and learn the true meaning of the word "hero" to have a happy end.
- The film Chronicle didn't end too happily for Matt, as he'd lost his two best friends, was on the run from the government, and could probably never safely see his family or girlfriend again. In the fanfic The New Recruit, however, he's found by Agent Coulson, who convinces him to join SHIELD (who could help him learn about his powers while he helps them protect the world). He accepts the job after taking a trip to Tibet to honor the agreement he made with his friends and finally accepts what happened between him, Steve, and Andrew.
- The Boys: Real Justice: The final chapter.
- Billy finally kills Homelander. Years of wanting his death had come to fruition, at the cost of his own life. Despite that, they all remark that at least Billy died without any regrets and had fulfilled what he had wanted for years.
- Annie and Hughie both decide to remain on Earth-1, are now engaged, and have a child. After everything the Seven put them through, they earned this.
- The rest of the Boys have the green light to take down Vought. Judging by their reactions, they are raring to go.
- Maeve being able to rebuild her life. After years of feeling extreme guilt and loathing, she was able to start fresh. She even got to see Professor Brink get manhandled by Mallory.
- Becca has met up with her family and begun to rebuild her life.
- Mother's Milk finally rebuilds his relationship with his wife.
- All Assorted Animorphs AUs:
- "What if Jake was stuck in morph?" is even harsher than canon at first — being a tiger means that Jake is too conspicuous to go on missions until he gets his morphing ability back, Rachel has to fake his death for him, and both of his parents become Controllers shortly after the events of #31. But then he meets fellow nothlit Arbron, who gives him the idea to give morphing technology to Yeerks so they can mode-lock themselves into any body they want without having to take over someone else's. As a result, the war ends with the Yeerk Empire being peacefully decimated, and several characters who died in canon are alive.
- In "What if they were caught during their first mission?", the Animorphs are made Controllers shortly after they're found out. Tobias lets himself be killed, and Jake, Rachel, and Marco have to suffer for months, but they're ultimately able to escape and free many other hosts from the Yeerk Pool with the help of Cassie, some Andalites, and the Yeerk Peace Movement.
- In "What if they were telepathic throughout the series?", when the other Animorphs realise that Jake sent Rachel on a suicide mission, they decide to send all of their emotions to her to give her strength. As a result, both she and Tom are Spared by the Adaptation, and the Blade Ship doesn't escape.
- Surprisingly, the Dark Fic Camp Nightmare has one of these. Calvin and Hobbes get out of a child-eating Monster Clown cult, disbanding it in the process, and have managed to save the children there as well, and they seem mentally stable as well!
- Crossing Lines, Small Crimes: Rudy and Penny's friendship is nearly destroyed by her pretending to be the Chalk Queen, as he calls her out on endangering her friends' lives. After a massive misunderstanding leading to a huge fight, they're able to piece their bond back together.
- The epic fancomic Of Mice and Mayhem puts the characters through about as many hardships as would be possible without betraying the essence of the original show and characters. Against all odds, things work out for the best.
- Happens in "Cagney Is a Carnation" by fuyuflowga. Cagney Carnation has gone through all the trouble of watching his adoptive flower children lose a casino game and get tortured by the Devil and being forced to sign his Soul Contract and offer his soul in exchange for their lives; being shunned by his peers and forced to scare them and his flower children away to have them find someone else to take care of them; losing everything he's had and almost losing his will to live; having to become a Necessarily Evil Death Seeker in order to have the sibling protagonists Cuphead and Mugman battle him for the Soul Contract and then reluctantly killing Mugman to spur on his brother's rage (both Mugman and Cagney get better, though); and crossing the Despair Event Horizon when he tells Elder Kettle he's an irredeemable villain (before Elder Kettle snaps him out of it by telling him that the boys have the potential to fight the Devil). After all of this, however, the ending gets happier when, after the boys return in their victory over the Devil, and the inhabitants throw in a party in their honor, Cagney gets his friends and the flower children back, in which he has finally found love and his will to live again.
- Danganronpa 2/3 Redux: Return Unto Death: Along with the surviving participants, this also applies to the original Rantaro. The final Interlude features them watching the aftermath of the final trial before returning to bed with Rie Ozawa, his lover from the Monolook Hotel Killing Game.
- Extra Life: Chiaki spends three years fighting through therapy, trauma, and putting herself in danger for the sake of reclaiming some of what she lost. And ultimately, her reward for all this is being reunited with everyone she loves on Jabberwock Island.
- Kazuichi Strangelove: It takes countless loops, plenty of trauma, and several bouts of depression, but ultimately, Kazuichi manages to engineer an outcome where Everybody Lives, breaking the loops and curing everyone of being the Ultimate Despair.
- The Naekawa Project has Toko suffering severe parental abuse and mockery from other students, causing her to not only develop severe social anxiety and self-loathing but create a serial killer split personality in Genocider Syo. One of the biggest threads throughout the series is her boyfriend Makoto working to dispel a lot of her negative feelings about herself, assuring her that she's beautiful in his eyes. Fortunately, she ultimately ends up marrying Makoto, feeling more confident about herself and gaining better in-laws in the form of the Naegis, while also having two kids that utterly adore both her and Syo, with the latter stopping her serial killing.
- The Bolt Chronicles: Depicted literally for the three pets in "The Gift," when they are reunited after death in Nirvana. Beings cannot enter until they have learned all their life lessons, thereby becoming complete and breaking free of the Karmic Wheel.
- Light of the Moon: After the emotional abuse Gothel put her through her whole life, Rapunzel is finally safe with her parents. Varian gets this, too; he spent six years as a hostage who knew that his father would die if he tried to escape. Now, he's finally back with Quirin and can resume a semi-normal life.
- Scar's Samsara: Pretty much the entire story is about Scar having to earn his redemption after he murders his brother, with a large part of the tension coming from the question of whether or not this will actually happen.
- Another Day in Bluffington Duology: After living his life in abject poverty due to poor financial decisions he made in his youth, Roger Klotz finally has a new lease on life in The Convert. He feels genuinely happy with his life, and he never has through his struggles alone, as he found a girlfriend in Annie.
- Dear Journal: I'm Crazy: Doug spent many months recovering in the psych ward, to the point where he has missed the rest of his school year. By the time he completes his therapy, coupled with a refill of his prescription, he is a completely changed person, finally at ease with himself, and in a relationship with Patti.
- The ending of Beyond Heroes: Of Sunshine and Red Lyrium indicates that, after all the chaos of Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition, both Varric and Bethany will finally get to return to Kirkwall for good. Bethany, who here is the Inquisitor, has disbanded her organization and wants nothing more than to go home. Varric is the Viscount of Kirkwall, so they're not expecting to do much relaxing, but they have each other and most of their loved ones, and that's really all they need.
- Cul-de-Sac (Ed, Edd 'n Eddy): After the events of Big Picture Show, the kids are allowed to ascend to heaven at last, while Eddy's brother descends into Hell and is tortured by the demonic Kankers.
- The Blessed Disaster makes it abundantly clear how much this trope applies to the Seven Dwarves.
- The Hill of Swords ending has Shirou, after 5 separate resummonings, and who knows how many years finally reuniting with Saber in Avalon.
- After much work and strife, the ending of The Man with No Name has the crew even managing to earn some much-needed cash. With how things usually end up, Mal is stunned by this turn of events.
- The New Retcons have Elizabeth and Anthony go through this, working through an insane mother(in-law), then realizing who they married is not who they thought they married, Elizabeth cheating on Anthony and foisting a bastard son on him, Anthony's undiagnosed Asperger's, Elizabeth's feelings of inadequacy as a woman but unwillingness to change it, and the death of Elizabeth's mother as well as discovering that Anthony's father killed his mother. They eventually find happiness with them staying together and settling in Vancouver. Especially interesting in that early foreshadowing hinted that they would divorce, when in fact it was her brother and sister-in-law who divorced.
- Speaking of said brother, Michael had to do his own happy ending earning: working through the same insane mother (who more directly affected his family since she terrorized them), his workaholic tendencies, two miscarriages, an autistic son, a marriage on the rocks, finding out the man that raised him isn't his biological father, and repressing his bisexuality, culminating in him attempting suicide when his mother died. He ended up divorcing his wife, but he managed to find an inner happiness with a balance of teaching and writing and find new love.
- i'm giving you a nightcall: Ed loses his boyfriend due to mistrust, the military goes after his hero persona, forced to work with his ex, forced to deal with people mistreating him due to the circumstances of his break-up, watch the woman he viewed as a grandmother get shot and killed in front of him, gets kidnapped and his automail painfully ripped off. But he manages to take down the new Homunculus gang, gets his reputation cleared and makes amends with Roy and gets back together with him.
- Pray for Us, Icarus gets so heart-wrenchingly sad in its middle parts in showing how Aziraphale's encounters with Crowley's human reincarnations keep ending in misery and heartbreak for the two of them over and over again that the author had to repeatedly reassure readers that the series would have a happy ending. The entire series can pretty much be summed up as: "Aziraphale and Crowley go through emotional hell for the first three parts, then very slowly climb out of that emotional pit over the next four parts until they're finally allowed to be happy together for good."
- Severus Snape had a hard road without a happy ending in canon, but has a second chance in The Peace Not Promised. However, his second road is full of bumps and thorns, too, from Lily's mistrust of his motives in uniting Slytherin House, to her discovery of his second chance which brings them much closer together, except that then he has no choice but to remove her memories of it lest Voldemort learn of the future, setting them almost back to square one, her friends' distrust and ridicule of him, her father's disapproval, and then, when her father begins to come around and approve of him, their planned family Christmas is interrupted by the father's death of heart failure. Snape is desperately poor and when Lily inherits her father's house, it's burdened by a mortgage due to earlier legal debts, and its sale doesn't turn much profit; they have a pauper's wedding and there's really no choice but to accept Dumbledore's offer of employment as a professor, even though Severus never liked teaching Potions and can only take a one-year contract teaching Defence - especially after Voldemort kidnaps Lily, and Snape loses his wand hand in the course of barely rescuing her, leaving him unemployable in most non-teaching roles, even greatly hindered in teaching, and they also need to be at Hogwarts for their security. With everything that happens, though, Snape is happier than he's ever been because Lily loves him back.
- The Sun Will Come Up And The Seasons Will Change: Mary is reunited with her father and sister, heals from her mother’s abuse with the help of therapy, and gains new friends and hangs onto her old ones throughout middle school and high school (including Greg and Julius). Furthermore, she’s pursuing her dreams as an author as a fifteen-year-old, writing fanfictions and having the short story about her adventures on the Infinity Train published in a short story anthology as part of her winning a contest. The latter earns her several fans from readers, who all sent her emails telling her how her story helped them feel seen and accepted, especially from the ones who are autistic themselves.
- Even with all the madness and downright cruelty in All He Ever Wanted, Austria was at the receiving end of some of the worst abuse to the point of being forced to see his beloved Hungary raped by Prussia. He also happens to have one of the better endings compared to the other characters.
- Cheating Death: Those That Lived: Applies to every surviving Victor of their Games. Of particular note is Crimson: After decades of being exploited by the Capitol (and Bronze) as a Sex Slave in order to protect her family, she gives Bronze a well-deserved Cruel and Unusual Death, survives the rebellion, gets revenge on the Capitol, and spends the rest of her life reconnecting with her remaining family.
- In I Am Not a Victim, Glimmer basically operates on this philosophy when she explains why she wouldn't let Peeta win the games even if it came down to just the two of them; after Glimmer's other allies died fighting, she explicitly tells Peeta that she dislikes the idea that he would get to go home despite having done nothing to earn victory beyond telling bad lies to the Careers and suffering a serious leg wound rather than making an actual difference to anybody.
- Lucy's Secret ends with a note that after all her struggles trying to deal with wetting the bed and trying to keep it secret, Lucy is finally getting a good night's sleep.
- Game Theory is a Deconstruction Fic where good intentions, a strong will, and liberal application of offensive magic does not solve all your problems and can in fact make them worse. And despite this, it ends with Precia successfully bringing her daughter back to life.
- A Series of Fortunate Events: By the start of the story, Saki Yoshida is able to make a good life for herself and her daughter Hana. Saki was able to clean herself up from her drug addiction, got a nice apartment for herself and her daughter, got herself a job, and her daughter is going to school, and it appears that she's making enough money to support herself. Saki is generally happy raising her Hana daughter, ensuring that she has a good childhood. Saki even made a friend with another single mother at her apartment complex, Chinami, with who she bonded over being single mothers that their parents abandoned. What makes Saki's friendship with Chinami better for her is the fact that all Saki's wanted was a friend in the original series, and now she has a genuine friend who cares about her.
- CONSEQUENCES: In SINS OF THE PAST, Frederick finds his old tormentor at his new school, sending him into a traumatized spiral that Hawk Moth exploits, akumatizing him into Inquisitor. After revealing everything she put him through and discovering that she has absolutely no remorse, then being purified by Ladybug, he's able to see her finally face proper punishment for her crimes and is able to make new friends, turning his life back around after he nearly gave up on it.
- The Karma of Lies:
- After being socially isolated and humiliated by Lila, abandoned by all her Fair-Weather Friends and dealing with Adrien refusing to help because he wasn't personally affected by Lila's scams, Marinette finds True Companions willing to stand by her side while she sets a trap for Hawkmoth. They Run the Gauntlet, enduring a Near-Villain Victory before she manages to unmask him at the cost of her own Secret Identity. All her efforts pay off, as she finds herself lauded as a hero by all of Paris... and much happier with her False Friends cut out of her life.
- Chloé also earns a karmic reward by proving that she's capable of putting others first. She works hard on her personal atonement, without demanding attention, regard or reward; learning of this leads Marinette to offer her the chance to prove herself as a heroine, provided she keeps her Secret Identity under wraps rather than seeking glory.
- Inverted by Adrien, who is thoroughly convinced that his 'Happily Ever After' was locked in the moment he was given the Black Cat Ring. Throughout the entire work, he repeatedly reassures Plagg that everything will work out without him having to lift a single finger to secure his reward...and indeed, his inaction does help ensure that he gets what he deserves; it's just not what he expected to have handed to him.
- This general dynamic is seen with the rest of their classmates as well. The majority expect to have everything they want handed to them without having to do anything in return. The only ones who get a happy ending are those who recognize their mistakes and work to amend them without expecting anything in return; the rest demand to be Easily Forgiven and get nothing of the sort, only succeeding in digging themselves deeper.
- Leave for Mendeleiev: Despite being saddled with a 'partner' who refuses to take things seriously and spends more time flirting than fighting, along with being continuously harassed by her long-time bully and clueless former teacher, Marinette finds new friends, learns how to stand up for herself, and ultimately defeats Hawkmoth. Afterwards, she's able to retire her Ladybug persona and continue on as Marigold, without the pressure of the Miraculous Cure, and with Oudragon/Aurore by her side.
- Of Patience and Pettiness:
- While deeply hurt by her classmates' betrayal, and how the majority refuse to acknowledge how they hurt her, over time, Marinette is able to rebuild her relationships with the ones who realize the error of their ways. These new bonds turn out stronger and healthier, with her friends volunteering to help her out and appreciating her efforts more.
- Ladybug faces backlash from Chat Noir and Alya after retiring and replacing the temporary heroes and eventually Chat Noir. In the long run, these changes make Team Miraculous much more effective, as the new heroes are able to work together and take the pressure off her shoulders, since she's no longer forced to handle the bulk of the fighting/responsibility against akumas.
- After seeing Luka, Kagami, and Felix receive the same ice cream from Andre, Marinette is downcast over the notion that they all like each other, before eventually learning that they all like her and are willing to let her choose who she wants to date. She picks them all.
- Zig-Zagged and Deconstructed in Truth and Consequences: After everything she's endured, Marinette believes that she's earned the right to retire and have a more peaceful life...something that would be threatened if it came out that Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth. Tikki informs her that being a hero does not guarantee she'll get a Happy Ending, nor is she entitled, regardless of all she's done. Her desire for happiness also gets exploited when Gabriel uses her dreams of becoming a fashion designer to manipulate her into leaving Paris long enough for him to kidnap Kagami.
- Two Letters plays with and discusses this when Bunnyx berates Marinette for deciding to retire. According to the time-travelling heroine, Marinette only needed to hold out for a few more months before Hawkmoth would have stopped being an issue thanks to how he was Secretly Dying from a Cataclysmic wound. But Marinette Gave Up Too Soon and Bunnyx mocks her for letting Paris deal with her Sketchy Successor while she's "canoodling with her boy-toy". However, Marinette doubts that anything would have actually gotten better; people were far too used to expecting her to solve all their problems, and she likely would've been forced to fight other villains who popped up after Hawkmoth.
- Weight Off Your Shoulder, a Recursive Fanfic for Two Letters, also uses this:
- The central conflict of the story is between Marinette and Future!Alix/Bunnyx, who has become a Time-Traveling Jerkass trying to force events to play out the same way they did as in canon after accidentally Saying Too Much and revealing just how bad things were going to get. Thus, Marinette retires and selects a Superior Successor, with Future!Alix hellbent upon undoing everything for the sake of her own agendas. Ultimately, all of Marinette's efforts pay off, creating a much better timeline.
- This also applies to Marinette's chosen successor, Sentibug, whose efforts as the new Ladybug enable her to live a much happier life, especially after she's adopted by Marinette's family, becoming her sister Bridgette. She even finds love with Zoe!
- Ironically, this is also Future!Alix's main motivation. After being forced to hide out in the Time Burrow, she convinced herself that she needed to do this by meddling with the timeline. Unfortunately, she Became Her Own Antithesis along the way, developing some seriously Skewed Priorities to the point where she no longer empathized with anyone, insisting that their suffering was simply the price they'd all have to pay so she could craft her 'perfect world'.
- This also appears in the Bad Future alternate timelines during the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue showing what happens in several of these 'verses after Bunnyx is taken out of the equation. In one timeline, Adrien was All Take and No Give, leading to his marriage with Marinette failing; however, losing her motivates him to get his act together and pull his life back together. This contrasts sharply with other timelines, where he never matures and suffers Laser-Guided Karma instead.
- Whispered Tribulation: Izuku is found innocent of all charges, with Nedzu more than happy to compensate for the damages, even bumping him up to the hero course. Aizawa's teaching license is revoked and he is sent to OLYMPUS with the threat of his hero license being revoked, but eight months' therapy later and he realizes the gravity of what he has done and wishes Izuku well, implying that OLYMPUS' program is helping.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- The epilogue of Ace Combat: The Equestrian War ends the story on a bright note. Equestria is slowly being rejuvenated by the power of the Elements of Harmony and the magic of Princesses Celestia and Luna to a state before the war. Rainbow Dash becomes an honorary member of the Wonderbolts. Derpy adopts Pipsqueak and Firefly stays in Equestria. She also becomes Rainbow's older twin sister (though they are actually cousins).
- A Canterlot Wedding: Aftermath: By the end, Twilight's nightmares have subsided, and while she's still grappling with PSTD, she ultimately chooses to stay with her loved ones in Ponyville, who have all promised to help her continue working through it.
- A Delicate Balance: Twilight and Applejack's relationship hits a lot of bumps along the way, but ultimately, they get married.
- The Lemony Narrator of Equestria: A History Revealed manages to do so after letting go of her envy and irrational hatred of Celestia. Of course, she's nowhere near perfect yet, and she still has a lot more to go, but in her own words, for now at least, she's happy with what she has.
- Equestria's First Human: Connor has to battle prejudice, isolation from the few friends he's made and a crazy terrorist before he can earn Ponyville's love and trust.
- Princess Celestia herself decides he's earned a second one, and puts a sign on him that allows his spirit to return to Equestria, so he can have a new life, but also because of her crush on him.
- Faith and Doubt: The Dark Abstract Doubt. Originally the lost 6th Element of Harmony (covered up as being merely "magic"), he lost his memories, was betrayed by Luna when she became mad with power, spent thousands of years trying to find someone to help him, watched as Twilight was abandoned by her friends, nearly died only to finally remember his name (Faith), only for his fellow Element Abstracts to decide to take over Equestria and is forced to kill two of them. By the end of the sequel, though, he has regained his memories; his brother Honesty and sister Kindness have been redeemed; other beings (Scootaloo, Pinkie, and Discord) have become the new Element Abstracts; he has gained a crew of loyal friends; and he is in a triad with Twilight and Trixie, the latter having given birth to his son, whom he named after his first friend Clockwork.
- Fallout: Equestria is much darker in tone than the Fallout games are. While the story can be extremely depressing it does make the end that much better.
- The Immortal Game, being a War Fic, has the Mane Cast going through hell, some of them nearly going crazy and all of them losing their innocence, all to defeat Titan and save their world. In the end, they're successful and Twilight even becomes an alicorn in the process.
- Inner Demons: Since the basic premise is Twilight Sparkle being consumed by her inner Darkness and becoming Ax-Crazy and mentally and physically tormenting her former friends as part of her quest to become Equestria's Evil Overlord, it figures that the protagonists have to go through Tartarus (literally, during the Final Battle) to stop their friend and save her from herself. In the end, Twilight is not only saved but even becomes a Princess alongside Celestia and Luna. Plus, ultimately the only death in the story is Trixie, and even then, her spirit assures Apple Bloom that she died content.
- Loved and Lost, an extended retelling of "A Canterlot Wedding", takes this further with everyone involved; right after the Changelings are stopped by Twilight herself, Prince Jewelius usurps Equestria's throne by turning the entire city of Canterlot against the princesses, Shining Armor and Twilight's friends by exposing their mistakes and framing them as traitors, even manipulating Twilight into forsaking them. Exiled and/or sentenced to slavery, the now hated heroes must go through extended pain — physical and emotional — as they try to atone for their failings and expose the truth of Jewelius' true nature and role in the events that took place. The truth is particularly hard for Celestia and Cadance because their beloved nephew/cousin Jewelius turns out to be an irredeemable psychopath who worked with the Changelings before double-crossing them and desires to have his aunt and cousin killed so that he can overshadow their memory. Twilight also has this as she gradually realizes how her mind's being poisoned, prompting her to let go of her resentment toward the loved ones she disowned and reconcile with them. Eventually, the heroes reunite, bring the usurper down, prove their innocence, regain their lives, and finally get to enjoy Shining Armor and Cadance's delayed wedding in the epilogue.
- A Mad Glimmer: While passing through the time-stream, Starlight catches sight of a future where she pulled off a Heel–Face Turn, became an alicorn princess, and married Sunburst. Unfortunately for her, Discord is leading her to a much grimmer timeline.
- The Monster Mash is a collection of horror-themed stories in which the ponies cross paths with the supernatural. Earn Your Happy Ending is in full effect and in most cases the characters are left marked by their experiences.
- The official sequel to My Little Dashie (written by a different author) qualifies. Rainbow Dash wakes up in Equestria, only remembering her life with her human father on Earth. She acts recklessly with the magic inside her and starts ripping holes in reality just to have her father back. When faced with a choice, her father leaves everything behind just to have Rainbow Dash back (as well as gaining a new friend in Pinkie Pie).
- This trope is essentially the central point of the Pony POV Series. While it hasn't ended, even the ends of story arcs tend to lean this way. The two Sixth Rangers especially had to go through Pony Hell to get to the point where they're genuinely happy with their lives. In the case of Fluttercruel, she literally went through Pony Hell!
- This is especially a plot point in the Dark World Series, where the heroes not only have to defeat Discord, but also redeem themselves after a thousand years as his minions and defeat Nightmare Paradox, who's worse than Discord in every way. Ultimately, they are successful, though they get a Bittersweet Ending: Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy die, and refuse the one-time offer to come Back from the Dead, while Twilight becomes the Concept of Happy Endings and has to move on to aid other worlds.
- Happens during the last chapters of Rainbow in the Dark.
- To Serve In Hell: Equestria suffers a lot under Nightmare Moon's reign, and a lot of friends and heroic characters die to put an end to it, but by the epilogue, all three main characters are still alive and either happy or at least safe and in a place where they might recover from their trauma, and Equestria is under the rule of a new princess who promises to be far more benevolent than Nightmare Moon ever was.
- The Wedding is Off!: Shining Armor, Twilight's friends, and Celestia become disgraced and hated due to their irresponsible actions in the failed Canterlot Wedding, particularly when they coldly turned on Twilight at the rehearsal which caused her, along with Spike and Cadence, to abandon them in anger right after the Changelings' defeat. Not only do they eventually earn the forgiveness of Twilight and everyone else upon correcting their mistakes, but Cadence rekindles her love for Shining and they have a successful wedding.
- The premise for Blind shows how much work Naruto and Hinata have to do to end up happy. Naruto almost watched his best friend (Hinata) get her eyes gouged out at the age of 3 and has made it his mission in life (second being to become Hokage) to getting them back. He, unfortunately, is only a genin and has 4 years to do so or Hinata is either A) branded with the Caged Bird seal or B) disowned and exiled from the clan. To compound the problem, he ends up a missing-nin with kill-on-sight orders for 3 years. Hinata has to deal with what's mentioned above but gets put in a coma where she's slowly dying but saved in the nick of time only to hear your best friend has just gone AWOL and the Hyuuga elders are preparing to seal you and time's running out to get your eyes back. Man do they have it rough.
- Advice and Trust: Although Shinji and Asuka hooked up at the beginning of the story, and their relationship gave them an emotional anchor to cling to when things got too tough, the story made clear that they would have to fight and struggle to get a happy ending. And it was made clear as soon as Leliel absorbed Asuka in lieu of Shinji in the next chapter. Moreover, now they have a deep bond with Rei and have a better relationship with their friends, they have to protect more people.
- Asuka & Shinji's Infinite Playlist: Shinji reflects on the need of going through rough times in order to find true happiness as walking towards the Myojo Academy to take his exams.I will do my best. I will find my own path. It may be rough and winding, with driving wind and rain, and some days may be freezing cold. But, I know the sun will light the way, Shinji philosophized to himself. The road to here was long and arduous, but he had made a promise that he'd give his all for this exam.
- The Child of Love: Shinji and Asuka had to work hard to get their happy ending. First of all they had to learn to stop fighting and reach each other out. Then they had to go through Asuka’s pregnancy. Then they had to stop Gendo’s plans which might mean Asuka’s death and Teri being turned into a living tool of war. THEN they had to beat the remnant Angels AND SEELE and at the same time raising their baby.
- A Crown of Stars: Shinji and Asuka are literally granted divine intervention to help them, but they still have to work to fix their troubles. Your relationship is a mess? Talk and open up to reach each other out, to try to understand and forgive each other and work on rebuilding bridges. Your world is a hellish, post-apocalyptic wasteland? You will have to fight the tyrants lording over the starving masses and then help to rebuild.
- HERZ: Despite everything that they had to endure during the Angel War the main characters still are forced to defeat SEELE once and for all if they want to lead happy lives.
- Evangelion 303: The history seems to be going for this. The characters suffer traumas and struggle to overcome them and fix their troubles throughout the fic.
- Shinji and Asuka's relationship goes through many troubles while they try to figure it out. Right when it looks like it is getting somewhere, some disaster happens and it gets worse. However, they ultimately manage to solve their troubles, connect with each other and get engaged.
- Commented by Kaworu in one scene. He told Shinji that everyone goes through trials in order to achieve happiness.
- In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide, Shinji and Asuka had to get over their issues, fight new battles, survive another war, and leave their homeland together with their family and friends in order to get their “happily ever after”.
- Scar Tissue: This fic is very dark, with all characters (Shinji, Asuka, Misato, Ritsuko...) making awful things or grave judgement lapses and then regretting them and seeking atonement and expiation for them. However, it looks like there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
- The Second Try: After the End, Shinji and Asuka had to fend for themselves in an empty world and lean on each other to heal their deep-rooted emotional wounds. It took them a great deal of effort, but they eventually managed to build themselves a nice and functional household (both in terms of living conditions and emotional bonds) and even to successfully raise a daughter, allowing them to live happy together at last. Then they were unexpectedly brought back six years in the past before all went From Bad to Worse, having to cope with the additional trauma of losing their daughter in the process, had to pretend to the world that everything was normal about them (which forbade them any public display of affection or mourning) while subtly working to prevent The End of the World as We Know It. They sometimes stumble and suffer many a heartache along the way, but the final result is that...
- You Are (Not) At Fault: After surviving the Apocalypse, Shinji and Asuka must protect the returning humans from the next batch of eldritch abominations as trying to overcome their traumas and figuring their relationship out.The sad teenager she had met almost ten years ago was now a fine young man. The angry German girl was now a beautiful young woman. Shinji and Asuka had been through the worst the universe could throw at them, and while there had been stumbling blocks, they had managed to overcome them.
- Whispers of the Abyss, after experiencing many tearful confessions and the horrors of the Whispering Abyss, Team Skystreaker are able to escape and inspire a new generation of explorers.
- Blasting Off!: Blue spends the first decade of his life being compared to Red, a woman who's both nearly a decade his senior and a ridiculous prodigy while being completely ignored by his grandfather and raised by his older sister Daisy since their parents are dead. Even his raticate being accidentally killed by Red earns him no sympathy, with Oak just telling him to catch a stronger one next time. And when he finally becomes champion, Red defeats him less than an hour later and Oak derides him as a failure. But in the end, Blue is once more the champion of the region (and thus its leader), not only successfully defending his title for years, but leading Kanto into a golden age. His relationship with Daisy is better than ever after she finally admits to being his mother; he no longer needs his grandfather's approval and has gotten a Big Brother Mentor in Cam, the new leader of Team Rocket. At the end of the story, he ends up in a three-way relationship with Lyra and Lillie.
- Blue Sky (Waffles): Wheatley's road to redemption comes at a heavy cost, but his willingness to face death and separation from Chell helps ensure the safety of Eaden, and Caroline restores his original human body
- Time Resetting Relationships And Other Shenanigans: After the events of "The Vat of Acid Episode", both Morty Smith and his girlfriend Jane Nguyen were put through a lot of heartache and pain. After six months in a relationship with their ups and downs, they barely survive a plane crash; then, because Morty's father accidentally presses the reset button, their relationship is erased from Jane's mind, too, Morty's heartbreak. When Jane gets her memories back and goes to Morty's house to talk with him, she sees him jumping and event of acid to fake his death to her heartbreak. Morty was broken by the events of the episode and heartbroken that Jane was gone; however, looking through his room, he realized the gifts that she gave him were there; realizing that the timeline had been reset, he checked his phone and found that Jane I tried to call him. Morty called Jane; Jane was happy that Morty was ok but was confused about what happened. Morty meets Jane at a hill they spend time together when they date; after Morty explains what happened and they talk about their relationship, with Morty regarding that he was not a better boyfriend, Jane tells him that he saved her life and not to focus on the past. The story ends with Jane happy that she's with someone like Morty.
- I Hope You're Prepared For An Unforgettable Wedding!: Seymour Skinner has seen the horrors of war firsthand, spent three torturous years in a Vietnamese POW camp, been on the receiving end of countless pranks from his students, been kept under the thumb of his beloved smother, and been dumped by his girlfriend on what was supposed to be their wedding day. But now that he's with Gary Chalmers, a man whom he truly loves and who loves him back, that lifetime of suffering no longer matters, as it has reached a satisfying payoff.
- Ending D of Sonic X: Dark Chaos: Tails survives the final battle and manages to cripple Dark Tails by successfully destroying the Dark Planet Egg, allowing Maledict and Jesus to depower him and seal him in Warpspace forever. Maledict and Jesus agree to a temporary ceasefire and Maledict gives Sonic his Planet Egg back. The galaxy slowly starts to rebuild and Sonic and friends return home.
- My Super Best Friend: Several characters go through a lot of grief before they receive their happy ending.
- Kyle is able to find solace that his actions helped Canada recover and has returned to his circle of friends, while also gaining a new friend in Nichole.
- Stan is able to repair his friendship with Kyle while starting to be on friendlier terms with his ex Wendy
- Heidi is able to earn Kyle's forgiveness and Cartman is no longer harassing her while also earning the apologies of all her girlfriends who insulted her and is last seen happily laughing and chatting with all of her friends.
- The girls have decided to end The Gender Wars at Heidi's request, which leads to various girls starting hanging out with the boys, with some couples slowly getting back together.
- Inverted with Cartman who is probably the only person who doesn't receive a happy ending, thanks to his toxic and selfish behaviour. That said, he is convinced by Butters to move on from Heidi.
- By the Sea: After Cody's slow recovery from the brink of death and Obi-Wan discovering true happiness, a tearful departure, attempts on Obi-Wan's life, some merfolk politics, and the defeat and surrender of the shark-riders, Cody is finally able to return and take Obi-Wan as his husband and royal consort, and move Obi-Wan to a remote island very near to Sundari. They live many more happy decades together as married men.
- Vode An ends with all the heroes, particularly the most sympathetic, in a far better position than they were before. Fives and Echo have reunited and rejoined the 501st Legion, Fox has made good headway into recovering from being reconditioned, Ahsoka has joined back up with the 501st, Rex has reconciled with Anakin, Ventress has attained some measure of redemption in her own eyes, Cody and Obi-Wan's bond has been strengthened, and Anakin has not turned evil like in canon. Plus, Palpatine is dead, the Clone Trooper's biochips have been deactivated so Order 66 can never be executed, and the Separatists have been dealt a critical blow during the Battle of Coruscant, with the implication that the Republic is going to win the Clone Wars.
- Little Rebellions: While a great deal of work will be required to deal with the toxic aftereffects of their old society's beliefs and restraints, the series ends with the Crystal Gems/New Rebellion triumphing, the Diamonds imprisoned/bubbled, Earth safe, and hope for the Gems to move past the Authority's imperialism.
- Steven Universe: Alternate Future and its followups have endings like this where the heroes all get a happy ending as a reward for surviving so much strife.
- The original story ends with Steven having overcome his mental struggles, Black Rutile finally defeated and forced to join Little Homeschool for her crimes, and the Crystal Gems being hailed as heroes of Earth.
- The Black Pearl Brigade [[spoilers: ends with the titular team defeating Cinnabar and freeing Homeworld from her grasp at around the same time as the climax of the previous story. They also gain a new member in the form of Nacre, aka Shell, who gains a new body after helping to free the Black Pearls from their reprogramming.]]
- Little Homeworld Life shows the Crystal Gems imprisoning Black Rutile on Revanche-666 once and for all after her attempted takeover of Little Homeworld and becoming stronger together as a team with help from the people of Beach City.
- Snake Eyes has Black Rutile making a Heel–Face Turn and helping Steven save the universe from an Eldritch Abomination bent on consuming everything, after which the Slytherophidians decide to open up relationships with Earth and allow new alien species to inhabit their planet.
- A BFG's World Tour: No matter who wins World Tour, this is in effect for both finalists.
- "Official" ending: After spending much of the first half of the season being tormented by his animal curse while simultaneously watching his original team get eliminated one-by-one thanks to Alejandro's scheming, DJ ends up making the most of his second chance and ends up winning the season.
- "Alternate" ending: After two and a half seasons of trying and failing to get together with Gwen, Cody not only finally enters a relationship with her, but ends up winning the season as well.
- Despair Island reimagines the series as a Deadly Game Immoral Reality Show where anyone eliminated is Killed Off for Real. When it's all said and done, the survivors Bridgette, Noah, Duncan, Geoff, and Justin all recover from their ordeal and go on to live largely happy lives. Aside from Justin, who goes on the run from the Gavrilovic family.
- Total Drama Legacy: Katherine. Having spent most of her life as a Hikikomori, she arrives on Pahkitew Island terrified, nervous, and wishing she was back home. However, as she spends more time on the island, she makes friends, falls in love with Link, and slowly comes out of her shell. During her time on the island, she's forced to do things she wouldn't even think of doing before (such as performing on stage, conquering her fear of crowds, reverting to her long-suppressed "feral" state, and wearing an outfit that doesn't look flattering on someone with her cup size), but being pushed out of her comfort zone helps her grow as a person. And eventually, after seeing her boyfriend and both of her alliance partners face elimination, she not only lasts all the way to the final two but ends up winning the million dollars, something that her father Ezekiel could never do.
- In I Will Survive, Nick and Judy break up after a vicious debate over the morality of abortion. Its sequel, Born To Be Alive, then shows that Judy suffered severe complications from the abortion, which she had to endure alone, while Nick has been ravaged by regret since his breakup, leaving a void he tried and failed to fill with alcohol and casual sex, and the comic ends with Judy kicking Nick out of her life forever. The ending to the trilogy, Never Say Goodbye, however, shows that both Nick and Judy have managed to move on and recover from the pain and heartbreak they've endured. Both have gone on to accomplish their dreams and are now raising families on their own. They also manage to reconcile and become Amicable Exes. Even the apparent Sudden Downer Ending turns out to be a Bait-and-Switch.
