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"We are the Spectacular Seven! Good night!"
Image by HanasakiYunarin. Used with permission.

Spectacular Seven is a My Little Pony: Equestria Girls fanfic, written by The Albinocorn. It's a sequel to Long Road to Friendship.

It is a new year for Sunset Shimmer; a fresh chance at real happiness with her five best friends and her girlfriend. But Sunset is constantly troubled by her uncertain future, and haunted by the consequences of her past. For her battle against Princess Twilight has drawn forth ancient forces with eyes on the last bastion of magic: Canterlot City.

As darkness closes in, Sunset must find her light and guide her friends to defend their world against old rivals and legends best left forgotten, all while dealing with their ever-looming futures. But when graduation comes, what will Sunset Shimmer do? For she is still a stranger in this world, with or without her friends, and the road before her guarantees nothing.

Of course, with the universe conspiring against her, the mysterious Moondancer injecting herself into Sunset's life, and a dark benefactor pulling the strings behind the scenes, it'll be a miracle if she even makes it that far...

Five volumes are planned, with a hiatus after each volume; three have been completed to date.

  1. Volume I: Rainbow Rocks ran from September 2016 to April 2017. It's a very Broad Strokes adaptation of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, with significant changes from the source material and several ties to the previous fic, mostly focusing on the budding romantic relationship between Sunset Shimmer and the human world's Twilight Sparkle.
  2. Volume II: Phantoms Past ran from February to July of 2018. This volume expands more on the dynamic between Twilight and Moondancer, as well as focusing on Sunset coming to terms with her past more directly.
  3. Volume III: Limitless Love ran from December 2018 to August 2020. It is said to be "very much the calmest of the five volumes" with a focus on Character Development for Twilight and the rest of the Spectacular Seven.
  4. Volume IV: Arcane Access began on December 19, 2020. The Albinocorn has said that "halfway into Volume IV, there are no breaks until the end of the story", and that in the finale, "the brakes will be ripped off the train".
  5. Volume V is tentatively announced, intended as the Grand Finale. Nothing else is currently known about it.

WARNING: Spoilers up to the end of Volume I will be unmarked.


Spectacular Seven provides examples of:

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    Tropes A-M 
  • Actionized Sequel: Long Road to Friendship was a high school drama focused on Sunset's Character Development and relationships with the Humane Six. This fic takes more of a Magical Girl angle with a focus on the Lulamoon family and their conflict with the forces of darkness.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: In canon, Moondancer is a Shrinking Violet with rather disheveled, unkempt appearances. In this fic, she's described as "ethereally beautiful" the moment Sunset sees her. The fic based Moondancer on the IDW comic interpretation of the character rather than the version from Friendship is Magic. Comes to a screeching halt at the end of Volume II, when she gets one side of her face scarred in a fight with Sunset, starts wearing a half-mask to cover the damage, and throws all her makeup away.
  • Adaptational Badass:
    • Sunset is a great deal more confident here then she was in Rainbow Rocks, to the point where she threatens her friends when they don't stop bringing up her transformation.
    • As of the end of Volume II, Trixie is showing distinct tendencies in this direction as well, helping during the final battle with a distraction and her increasingly-powerful magic.
    • In canon, Moondancer is a shut-in who rarely goes outside. Here, she proves herself capable of being a Magical Girl like the Spectacular Seven, albeit as a Dark Magical Girl.
  • Adaptational Sexuality: Sunset, Twilight, and Moondancer are all attracted to the same sex in this story. In canon, the former two previously dated Flash Sentry and Timber Spruce, respectively, for at least some time. The canon version of Moondancer's sexuality has never been discussed at all.
  • Affectionate Nickname:
    • "Sparky" (Twilight, used by Sunset)
    • "Twily," "my little star" (Twilight, used by Moondancer)
    • "Moony" (Moondancer, used by Twilight)
    • "Little Moonflower" (Moondancer, used by Artemis)
    • Played for laughs as Twilight keeps trying to come up with one for Sunset, but all of her names are shot down. Sunset eventually settles on "Shim" after being too tired to argue about it any more, though she eventually lets Twilight change it to "Sunnykins."
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Volume IV, Chapter 3 is not at all kind to Moondancer, but it portrays her plight sympathetically. Her mother's body is used for Tirek's vessel, her father takes the bullet for Moondancer when she almost gets pulled into the Soul Lock by Tempest, she becomes CEO of her father's company, and Tirek personally threatens her. Throughout this trauma, Moondancer's thoughts show a combination of fear, disgust, and hatred, all portraying her with some sympathy. At the end of the chapter, all Moondancer can do is just scream in anguish.
  • Alliterative Name: The titles of the volumes follow this pattern. Volume I is "Rainbow Rocks", II is "Phantoms Past", III is "Limitless Love", and IV is "Arcane Access".
  • Almost Kiss: Sunset and Twilight try several times to kiss on Twilight's front porch before the events of the fic started. Something's interrupted it every single time. The example the reader first gets to see is Twilight's father Night Light accidentally eavesdropping on them.
  • Alternate Self: Sunset's human counterpart eventually makes an appearance as Snake Queen Lamia. As noted by Sunset herself, while Lamia is a little taller, a little older, and wears her hair differently, the two are virtually identical.
  • Amplifier Artifact:
    • The Crystal Heart enhances the emotions around it. The Sirens, who feed off of negative emotions, want it in order to have a feast of hate.
    • The Archon Amulet greatly amplifies magical power at the cost of turning its wearer evil. When Moondancer puts it on, she finds herself getting increasingly more dark thoughts, and they become harder to resist the longer she wears it.
  • An Arm and a Leg: The dark benefactor of Moondancer's family is missing one of their arms. However, their control of shadow magic more than makes up for it, using shadows and darkness like tendrils from the stump of their missing arm.
  • Anatomy of the Soul: Souls in the fic's universe are composed of life force, emotions, and memories. If someone loses their soul, their body doesn't die, but instead goes into a comatose state from which there's no waking up without regaining the soul. So while not technically fatal, there's no way to recover from such a state without outside help. Getting only part of one's soul leaves someone without the ability to feel strong emotions, almost like an emotional numbness. Also, memories tied to certain parts of someone's life will be missing until a person regains every piece of their soul.
  • Anger Born of Worry: Shining is not happy at all with Sunset after she, Twilight, and a few other girls briefly go missing. Sunset even catches him muttering "something always happens with you around."
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Downplayed. Twilight admits she loves Sunset while Sunset is unconscious, even though Twilight assumes that Sunset will eventually wake up so she can tell her face-to-face.
  • Attack Reflector: Trixie's cape is capable of reflecting her own magic spells.
  • Bad Powers, Bad People: Tempest Shadow uses dark magic to further her own goals, including using shadow tendrils to attack and intimidate people, and an amulet that can look into a target's soul while causing them physical pain, or outright steal a person's soul to lock them away forever.
  • Bears Are Bad News: Sunset, Twilight, Moondancer, Applejack and Fluttershy all run into a black bear while walking through the forest. It briefly gives chase, but even after the girls lose the bear, they end up lost in the woods.
  • Beneath the Mask:
    • Moondancer does this to Sunset to get under her skin. Sunset does it right back, despite Moondancer making every effort to hide her emotion.
      Sunset: (thinking about Moondancer) Rich girl. Busy dad, absent mom. Comes from a family with unusual abilities and inherited none of it. That's right, two can play at this game. You’re not as great an actress as you think.
    • Volume II examines the extent of Moondancer's mask. She comes home with a headache after the Sirens' concert, and notes how she has to put on a mask almost constantly, "switching from one performance to another and another." Chapter 9 of Volume II examines this more closely with Moondancer and Artemis; after Artemis genuinely dotes on her, buys her a new dress and treats her nicely, Moondancer's mask starts to crack, but doesn't break.
  • Beyond Redemption: During the fight scene in Volume II, Twilight ultimately concedes this about Moondancer after everything that's happened. Moondancer has not only pulled a Face–Heel Turn, but tried to kill the Spectacular Seven, Twilight included, over her jealousy of Sunset and desire to be special. As a result, Twilight outright rejects Moondancer.
  • The Big Bad Shuffle: For the first part of the fic, the Dazzlings are the major antagonists, but Moondancer is causing relationship problems for Sunset and Twilight, and Lamia is causing trouble of her own sort. The Dazzlings exit at the end of Book One, at which time Moondancer steps up to be the Big Bad with her mentor, Tempest Shadow, as the Greater-Scope Villain, and Lamia takes a more active antagonist role when she starts working for them. Then it turns out that Tempest is trying to unleash a Sealed Evil in a Can, Tirek.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Occurs in the finale of Volume III. Just when Tempest starts breaking Twilight with a Mind Rape, Sunset swoops in with her phoenix fire to save her.
  • Big Damn Kiss: Sunset and Twilight share one after the Final Battle of Volume II. They also share a tender Love Confession.
  • Big Fancy House: Moondancer lives in one, complete with servants, multiple bedrooms, and a large backyard. Her father can afford it because he's the head of a company worth some $800 million.
  • Birthday Hater: Sunset's birthday is June 22nd, and tries to avoid telling anyone about it, even Twilight. They remind Sunset too much of Equestria, either getting a tiny cake and an extra hour with her parents, or a lavish cake and hours in the garden with Princess Celestia. It doesn't help that Sunset's eighteenth birthday coincides with the wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
    • Despite being outwardly sweet and friendly, Moondancer has a very spiteful mean streak to her. She verbally deconstructs Sunset, and intentionally does things on their time at the mall to antagonize Sunset once Twilight is out of earshot. Moondancer also is willing to go to extreme lengths for Twilight, even attempting to resort to plotting the murder of Sunset after she almost screws up Tempest Shadow's plans.
    • Sonata Dusk is most certainly NOT misguided or misunderstood, insulting Trixie and her family straight to Trixie's face. At least, at first. By the end of Volume III, Sonata genuinely wants to go straight, but is bullied into being evil by Adagio.
    "Hey, that’s what your dad said!" Sonata chirped. A dark shadow crossed her face as she smiled. “And look where he is.”
  • Blind Without 'Em: In Volume III, Twilight removes her glasses during an argument. The narration notes that all she can see is a color-shaped blurry blob where someone else is standing.
  • Break Them by Talking: Occurs during Rainbow's birthday party in Volume III. Adagio says that Sunset will eventually dump Twilight because Twilight is "boring" and not Sunset's speed. Twilight tries to avoid letting it bother her, but Adagio gets in Twilight's head so badly that she loses the next round of laser tag. Just to rub salt in the wound, Adagio wins by scoring the final hit on Twilight.
  • Broad Strokes:
    • Volume I roughly follows Rainbow Rocks, with several major changes. For instance, the Dazzlings are pop stars that Sunset hears on the radio. Also, Human Twilight takes the role in the story held by Princess Twilight, and Sunset is the one to try and compose a counterspell.
    • Volume II takes parts of Legend of Everfree in how the girls learn about their magic and how it relates to friendship, but otherwise is its own story.
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • Snake Queen Lamia never seems to have anything go right for her. She only gets away with the Crystal Heart because of interference from Shining Armor, she fails to fence it when Selena cuts off part of her hair, ruining Lamia's attempt to pin the blame on Sunset, and her attempts at thievery in Volume II are thwarted on her first attempt. Even when she does manage to steal from the Lulamoons, Lamia ends up nearly choked to death and forcibly recruited by Tempest Shadow. On top of that, during her recruitment, she's subjected to Mind Rape and Forced to Watch as her body acts without her control.
    • Chapter 5 sees Twilight and Sunset getting pummeled while trying to measure magic readings. It's a retelling of the Rainbow Rocks short "The Science of Magic."
  • Call-Back: There are numerous references to Long Road to Friendship sprinkled throughout the story.
    • The picture on the Lulamoons' mantelpiece is referenced here. In Chapter 2, it's revealed that Moondancer was the girl that Sunset couldn't identify in the family photo.
    • The time Twilight "fondled" Sunset by spilling a milkshake on her in the previous fanfic is referenced.
    • Sunset's motorcycle still has a few scratches and spots of pink paint from being vandalized.
    • Sunset plays chess in Chapter 7, and once again wins after her opponent concedes.
    • At the prom, Sunset notes that Rarity probably won't let her get away with ruining another dress, referencing the Winter Ball where Sunset's dress ended up ruined.
    • The bottle of magical spring water that the Lulamoons keep for emergency wound healing comes into play after the Dazzlings attack Sunset, Shimmer, and Selena. It can even fix broken/dislocated fingers and burst eardrums.
    • In Volume III, Chapter 17, after Sunset says she's no different from the Sirens, her friends all assure Sunset that she's better than she thinks she is by referencing moments that Sunset hung out with them all in Long Road to Friendship.
  • Cannot Spit It Out:
    • For as much as Sunset cares for Twilight, she's heavily reluctant to tell Twilight that she loves her, out of fear that it will make their split even harder. Rarity confides in Sunset that she must love Twilight if she thinks of Twilight's feelings that way.
    • Fluttershy is crushing on Rainbow Dash, but doesn't speak up about it, owing to her Shrinking Violet tendencies. When Rainbow Dash brings up her crush on Soarin in spite of Rainbow's obvious attempts to deny her own feelings, Fluttershy dodges any question Rainbow throws at her, and sulks in bed after a phone call with her.
  • Canon Character All Along: Moondancer's mysterious benefactor in Volume II turns out to be Tempest Shadow's human counterpart, who doesn't share her canon counterpart's inability to cast magic.
  • Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: By Volume III, more-or-less all of the central characters know that Sunset and Twilight are dating. However, the heroes love to make good-natured jabs at Sunset about the fact that she clearly wants to sleep with Twilight, but she's intentionally holding herself back because she wants to respect Twilight's boundaries. Any time someone brings up the subject, Sunset immediately becomes a blushing, stammering mess. Lamia in particular loves to troll Sunset like this, but only because Lamia gets very explicit when she does.
  • Casting a Shadow: Moondancer's dark benefactor has the ability to control shadows, using them to darken Moondancer's room in a show of power. Volume II, Chapter 8 also shows that they can use shadows like tendrils when they almost choke the life from Lamia.
  • Catapult Nightmare: A constant source of trouble for Sunset is that she continues to have reoccurring nightmares almost every time she goes to sleep, usually involving her demon side.
    • Defied in the prologue. The fic opens with Sunset having yet another nightmare involving her "raging she-demon" side, but upon jolting awake, Sunset makes it a point to lie still.
    • Played straight in Volume II's opening. Sunset imagines the Sirens turning into ash, and her she-demon side burning her in flames, causing Sunset to jolt awake and sit up.
    • Volume II, Chapter 4 also gives Sunset a nightmare. This one is so vivid that it causes Sunset to shake like a leaf when she wakes up, which worries Twilight.
  • Classy Cat-Burglar: Snake Queen Lamia, who uses a long snake named Jörmungandr to assist her in thievery.
  • Clueless Boss: Moondancer finds herself in this position as CEO of her father's company after Tempest steals his soul and puts Moondancer in charge of the company. When she opens a few documents on her father's computer in order to review numbers before a meeting, she had no idea how to properly interpret what she's looking at. However, Moondancer does acknowledge she's over her head after a few minutes of trying, calling on her father's former assistant for help.
  • Co-Dragons: Occurs in Volume III. The Sirens agree to help Tempest Shadow if it means getting their powers back. It doesn't last, as Aria and Sonata pull a Heel–Face Turn, with Adagio ending up having a Villainous Breakdown when it's clear that Tempest is going to leave Adagio to take the fall for her.
  • Come Alone: Defied. Sunset is told to come alone to meet the Big Bad at the prom. The rest of her friends refuse to let her go alone, with Rarity adding "if they want one of us, they get all of us."
  • Contrived Coincidence: Enforced. In Volume III, Sunset's eighteenth birthday happens to be on the same day as Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding. Sunset tries to avoid this becoming an issue by just not telling this to anyone, but Pinkie Pie won't let a birthday go by without a party.
  • Converse with the Unconscious: Twilight speaks with Sunset a few times while she's unconscious in the hospital, even reading her stories and talking about her day. If it were up to Twilight, she wouldn't leave Sunset's bedside, but her parents and friends insist otherwise, so Twilight compromises with this.
  • Curb Stomp Cushion: In Volume II, Chapter 12, after Sunset is kidnapped by Tempest and Lamia, Tempest attempts to convince Sunset to rejoin her dark side. Sunset refuses, briefly ponying up and launching Tempest into the wall. In response, Tempest "goes to plan B" and just steals Sunset's soul.
  • Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: As seen in "Fathers and Daughters." Night Shade acted cold and distant to Moondancer in the belief that this would (somehow) cause Tempest to let Moondancer out of her insane plans for world domination. Moondancer ends up Calling the Old Man Out, saying that his plan was stupid.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: What is briefly seen through magic of Lamia's memories aren't pleasant. They involve childhood bullying, petty theft, joining a gang, and flunking out of school.
  • Dark Magical Girl: Moondancer has some magical power thanks to the Lulamoon bloodline, but she also has a lot of trouble making friends, admitting her faults, or asking for any help. This begins causing more and more trouble as Moondancer begins letting her jealousy get the better of her.
  • Deal with the Devil: The dark benefactor's deal is this: help them revive Lord Tirek and flood the world with darkness, and Apalla Lulamoon's soul will be returned to her body. However, after Moving the Goalposts a few times through the use of Exact Words, it becomes clear that the dark benefactor has no intention of honoring their end of the bargain.
  • Did They or Didn't They?: invokedPlayed for drama at the end of Volume III. After the very long day that Twilight and Sunset had — Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding, Sunset's birthday, fighting Moondancer and Tempest, almost dying, and having to contend with the Sirens — Twilight's an emotional wreck. Even so, her birthday present to Sunset is to present herself, with Twilight even saying that she wants to. However, Sunset can tell Twilight is clearly not in the right mood for sex, deciding that now is a bad time. The most that happens is the two sleep in the same bed, disrobed, before kissing each other and the scene fading to black. In the postscript for the volume, the author asks the question himself of whether or not Sunset and Twilight slept together, but moves on without an answer. It wasn't until the opening of Volume IV that made it clear that they did not have sex; Twilight fell asleep before anything happened because she was so exhausted. That doesn't stop the rest of the Spectacular Seven from assuming they did, particularly Rainbow Dash.
  • The Ditz: Sonata Dusk, who spills the plans of the Sirens to break into a museum and steal the Crystal Heart to Artemis. Pinkie and Sonata even find some common ground, partly because the two aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.
  • Don't Think, Feel: One of the reasons that Human Twilight has such trouble with understanding magic is she tries calculating it down to the last detail scientifically. Sunset has to explain more than once that it isn't how Equestrian magic works; it relies more on emotion and intuition than scientific logic.
  • Doom Magnet: Sunset believes herself to be this after meeting the wolf spirit Harbinger in Volume II, Chapter 5, since the wolf only shows up to people with darkness in their hearts. It turns out to be incorrect, as Moondancer was exaggerating the local legend.
  • Dramatic Irony: The Spectacular Seven sans Sunset meet her Superpowered Evil Side, Scarlet Inferno, while searching for Sunset at the old factory, after Sunset's soul has been stolen by Tempest Shadow. They make a lot of incorrect assumptions about Sunset's recent behavior as a result. The readers know why Sunset acted the way she did, but the Seven don't.
    • A bit more occurs in Volume IV: Chapter 11 with Twilight meeting Human Starlight Glimmer. Even if you’re not aware of what Pony Starlight did as a villain in Friendship is Magic season five, we already know Human Starlight is a villain in league with Tempest, Moondancer and Tirek following Starlight’s introduction in the epilogue of Volume Three.
  • Driven by Envy: Moondancer's most villainous actions are done out of jealousy of Sunset, whom Moondancer sees as a "succubus". Sunset has friends, Twilight's love, and strong magical potential; Moondancer has none of these things, and her jealousy escalates the further the gap between them grows.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: When Lamia arrives at the prom in "Phoenix Rising," she's wobbling on her feet, her speech is slurred, and she speaks incoherently, heavily implying that she's drunk.
  • Endearingly Dorky: Twilight isn't any better at flirting than she was in Long Road to Friendship, prone to making lame puns at very inappropriate moments. However, just like before, Sunset finds Twilight's nerdy awkwardness endearing instead of off-putting.
    Twilight: So, uh, Sunset... do you like science? Because I've got my ion you.
  • "Eureka!" Moment:
    • After an encounter with a threat at the factory, Twilight rationalizes that her Sunset and Scarlet Inferno can't be the same person, because Sunset said that if she ever went back to evil, she'd pick the name "Vesper Radiance" as her evil side's name. This isn't quite right - it's more like Scarlet is Sunset's Enemy Without - but it's enough to convince Twilight that something else is going on.
    • Subverted with Twilight's Love Confession. While Cadence says there might be one of these, ultimately Twilight will just know if she's in love with Sunset or not. After finding Sunset's malnourished (and unbeknownst to them, soulless) body in the factory, Twilight admits that though there was no such moment, she does truly love Sunset.
  • Even Evil Can Be Loved: Despite believing Adagio to be Beyond Redemption, Aria would rather see Adagio locked up than dead.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted. Adagio claims to love her sisters, but in reality, she uses family loyalty as an excuse to bully and boss them around, seeing them as servants for her own ends. When they get sick of following her, she doesn't hesitate to hurt them.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Lamia won't kill the Spectacular Seven, and says more than once that "I'm not a murderer," even if she hates their guts. She even says it as Scarlet Inferno, and absolutely hates the things that Scarlet says to her.
  • Evil Is Deathly Cold: Moondancer is confronted in her room by her dark benefactor, who lowers the room's temperature by a few degrees, and their sentient shadows feel oily and cold on Moondancer's back.
  • Evil vs. Evil: The battle between Scarlet Inferno and Moondancer. The former is an Ax-Crazy monster who wants to kill the Spectacular Seven, the latter is a deranged Yandere who wants to steal the souls of the Spectacular Seven and kill Sunset.
  • Exact Words: The dark benefactor uses this to twist the deal with Moondancer and Night Shade in Volume IV. Apalla Lulamoon — Moondancer's mother and Night Shade's wife — has her soulless body used as a vessel for Lord Tirek, which Tempest says will last until Tirek gets his real body back. When called out on this, Tempest says that she technically hasn't broken the deal, since all she agreed to was that Apalla's soul would be returned to Moondancer and Night Shade. However, this twisting of words makes it clear that the dark benefactor has no intention of keeping the spirit of the bargain.
  • Fatal Flaw:
    • Moondancer's are Envy and Pride. Her jealousy and self-centered nature are ultimately to blame for her own issues. Even though Tempest is forcing her to commit terrible acts, Moondancer seems all too willing to do them just for the sake of her own personal satisfaction. Even after her brutal defeat at Sunset's hands, Moondancer refuses to acknowledge her mother's sacrifice to protect the world from Tirek. Moondancer is willing to let Tirek be resurrected just to get her mother back and have the spotlight shine on her.
    • Twilight's is low self-esteem. She feels like the only member of the Spectacular Seven who can't contribute because of her lack of magic, experience, or talent. As such, Twilight sometimes worries that Sunset will think of Twilight as "useless" and break up with her. While Twilight begins working on all of these issues in Volume III, her low self-esteem and worry over Sunset gets exploited by the bad guys to make Twilight slip up and stop thinking clearly.
  • The Fellowship Has Ended: Discussed. Sunset doesn't want to address that she and her friends (and, in all likelihood, her girlfriend) will be going off on separate paths as soon as they graduate at the end of the year. These feelings get more intense after all of the girls except for Sunset are accepted into colleges, since Sunset can't go to college due to being from another world.
  • Fighting from the Inside: Scarlet Inferno's flames briefly go out when she fights with the Spectacular Seven and when she tries to kill Twilight in a garbage dump. The second time, she apparently fights with herself, screaming that "I'm not a murderer!" It's a clue to her real identity.
  • Final Battle: Volumes II and III each end with a clash between the heroes and villains.
    • The first two "Phoenix Rising" chapters serve as a clash between the Spectacular Seven and the antagonists, including a battle sequence that lasts through both parts with a break in the middle.
    • "The Longest Day" features another clash between the Spectacular Seven and the antagonists. Sunset, Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy fight the Big Bad; Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Shining Armor and Cadence fight against the Co-Dragons.
  • Foil: Moondancer is one to several characters.
    • To Sunset, first and foremost. Both have incredibly powerful magic, are in love with Twilight Sparkle, and worry about the effect magic has on their lives. But whereas Sunset tries to defy her darkness, has friends that all would do anything for each other and genuinely loves Twilight for who she is, Moondancer embraces the wicked things magic lets her do, lets a mysterious benefactor control her life, and sees Twilight more as a prize to be won for her constant suffering rather than loving her for who she is.
    • The chapter "Fathers and Daughters" draws explicit parallels between Moondancer and Trixie, specifically their relationship with their families. Trixie may screw up, but her father Artemis unconditionally loves Trixie, encourages her in magic, and makes it clear that he'll always be proud of her. This is contrasted by Moondancer's father Night Shade, who pushes Moondancer away because of Tempest's threats, and ends the chapter in a shouting match with Moondancer. Even after Night Shade reveals that he was trying to protect Moondancer by acting cold to her, Moondancer calls him out on how dumb this idea was, and she ends the chapter hating her father's guts.
  • Forced into Evil:
    • The Sirens agree to release Artemis if Trixie sabotages the other bands somehow.
    • Moondancer's family appears to be under the thumb of a mage who uses dark magic to intimidate them into compliance. The way Moondancer's father talks about their supposed benefactor, it appears that the family's choice is "do what I say, or you die." The final scene of Volume II also implies that since Tempest has Apalla Lulamoon's soul in the Soul Lock, she's threatened her life as well. Moondancer wants to free her mother's soul and slay Tirek herself to break a dark cycle, both for her own glory and her mother.
    • Downplayed with Lamia. She's forced to work for Moondancer's family and their dark benefactor, though she does get some catharsis at going after Sunset and the Lulamoons for humiliating her.
    • Sonata Dusk comes to feel this way about the Sirens' schemes, after she starts having more genuine attachments in the human world. She doesn't like doing it, but thinks it's how she and her sisters have to survive.
  • Forgotten Birthday:
    • In dealing with the Sirens, the Spectacular Seven forgot to celebrate Pinkie Pie's birthday. Pinkie didn't mention it because her "party code" says that throwing a party for yourself is selfish. However, the others vow to make it up to Pinkie by surprising her with a party a ski resort. This is cut short when Rainbow Dash breaks her shoulder while snowboarding. Even so, the rest of Pinkie's friends eventually make it up to her by throwing her a surprise party, prompting a few Tender Tears from Pinkie.
    • Because of everything else going on in Volume III, Moondancer forgets her own eighteenth birthday. She's only reminded of it when Lemon Fresh serves her breakfast. It's enough to briefly lift Moondancer's spirits.
  • Gaydar: Discussed. Rainbow Dash asks Sunset if she can tell anyone else is gay, since Sunset is bi. Sunset just sighs, adding "I'm going to pretend that sentence didn't happen".
  • Gayngst: Downplayed.
    • The main romance plot is between three women — Twilight, Sunset, and Moondancer. The fact that they're all the same gender is touched upon briefly a few times, but a homosexual relationship is never treated as any less valid than a heterosexual relationship by anyone, including the villains. The only time any sort of gay-related drama comes up in the main plot is Twilight hiding that Sunset is her girlfriend from Twilight's Racist Grandma, Golden Light; even then, Twilight lets it slip during an unrelated "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Golden Light, and the issue never comes up again.
    • A subplot between two women in Volume III does have some gay-related drama, but it gets resolved in the same volume. Fluttershy Cannot Spit It Out that she's in love with Rainbow Dash, while Rainbow is oblivious to Fluttershy's affections. Fluttershy confides in Sunset that she wants to tell Rainbow the truth, but it's only after Rainbow starts dating Soarin that this comes up. When Rainbow flubs a Two-Timer Date, Fluttershy explodes at Rainbow and Soarin, leading to Rainbow finally figuring this out. Later that same chapter, Rainbow and Fluttershy come to an understanding, with Rainbow saying that she does love Fluttershy and will always be there for her, but Rainbow admits that she's just not romantically attracted to women, a conclusion that Fluttershy accepts.
  • Gilded Cage: Moondancer feels this way about her life as a rich girl. Despite having personal tutors and access to anything she wants, Moondancer isn't allowed to leave her house much of the time as a child. When she screws up Tempest's plans at the end of Volume II, she isn't allowed to leave her house at all, not even for school, causing Moondancer to fail all of her final exams and flunk her senior year.
  • The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Sunset and Trixie still don't get along very well, and they've started getting into arguments over things like who gets to use the bathroom first in the morning. However, Sunset knows that Trixie has at least accepted her into the family.
  • Golden Super Mode: Sunset, once she regains and accepts Scarlet Inferno, manages to transform into her phoenix form from "My Past is Not Today."
  • Graduation for Everyone: The ending to Volume II is the Spectacular Seven graduating from high school, complete with speeches from Twilight and Sunset (valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively). Moondancer doesn't graduate with them, as she's missed the last three weeks of school and failed all her finals in the wake of her beatdown at Sunset's hands. Tempest has basically put her under house arrest until her next assignment, which means Moondancer wasn't allowed to leave the mansion, not even for school.
  • Green-Eyed Monster:
    • Sunset gets jealous almost immediately of the very touchy-feely relationship between Twilight and Moondancer. As much as Sunset tries to deny it at first, she does admit her jealousy to Rarity.
    • Moondancer is quite jealous of Sunset's relationship with Twilight, though she doesn't let this show in front of Twilight herself. Instead, Moondancer chooses to give a Hannibal Lecture to Sunset that makes it very clear how much she hates the idea of them being together. On a broader scale, she's very jealous that Sunset has close friends and strong magical potential, whereas she has neither.
    • While trying out for the Battle of the Bands, Trixie insists on trying to defeat the Dazzlings and save the world by herself, refusing the help of the Spectacular Seven. Selena suspects it's wanting to prove herself over Sunset.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: Sunset distracts several of the arena security guards in Chapter 9 by pretending to be a screeching fan. It works, allowing Trixie to sneak past them.
  • Hannibal Lecture: In Chapter 7, Moondancer reads Sunset's past so eerily well that Sunset is thoroughly unnerved.
  • Hate Plague: The Sirens' music once again causes people to feel hatred and irrational anger at people. At their concerts, this ends up causing several people to start rioting.
  • Hate Sink: Moondancer was designed to be this. She's petty, selfish, rude, stubborn, and has a holier-than-thou contempt for everyone. The moments that Moondancer fails are meant to be cathartic to the readers.
  • Healing Hands: Fluttershy accidentally discovers she has the power to heal when rubbing Rainbow's broken shoulder. It's soon flooded with pink light, and Rainbow's shoulder is perfectly fine a moment later. As a result, Fluttershy ends up as the White Mage of the Spectacular Seven.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Occurs towards the end of Volume III, during "The Longest Day" multi-chapter. Both Sonata and Aria decide to defect from Adagio and Tempest. Sonata defects because she doesn't want to hurt her friends, and Aria defects because she refuses to hurt Sonata, the good guys always win, and she's sick of losing. In the middle of the ensuing shouting match between Adagio and Aria, it's revealed that Adagio's schemes have apparently failed the Sirens for five hundred years.
  • Heel Realization:
    • Subverted with Moondancer. After realizing that Twilight loves Sunset of her own free will and not because of a spell or an enchantment, Moondancer questions how she's been acting. Conversations at home further add guilt upon Moondancer, and she begins to think that everything she's done has been for nothing. She ignores it.
    • Played straight with the Co-Dragons at the end of Volume III. Pinke appeals to Sonata's growing good side, with Rarity appealing to Aria in not wanting to hurt her sisters. Sonata and Aria both come to the realization that they don't want to follow Adagio anymore, the former because she's got a growing attachment to Pinkie and the latter because she's sick of Adagio's schemes always backfiring.
  • Heroic BSoD: After learning that she accidentally helped the Sirens escape captivity when she was blasted by the Elements of Harmony, Sunset just slinks up to her room and lies down without a word.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation:
    • Sunset keeps quiet after Artemis apparently dies as a result of fighting the Sirens, feeling like it's not her place to address the Lulamoons. Sunset's guilt gets even worse when she sneaks out without telling the Lulamoons where she's going.
    • Sunset sinks to her lowest when she realizes that being blasted with the Elements of Harmony created a leyline that allowed the Sirens to escape their prison, effectively causing all of the problems with them. It causes Sunset so much guilt that she goes up to her room and lays down in bed.
    • Sunset has another moment of this in Volume III. Sunset says she's no different from the Sirens, and how it was Sunset's idea to give them a shot at redemption, which they've rejected. Sunset says that "people like us" don't change unless they have to, citing the curse she was placed under in Long Road to Friendship. The Spectacular Seven manage to talk Sunset down before she has a panic attack, and say that Sunset has come further than she gives herself credit for.
    • Twilight gets her own share of it, too. While she's The Heart of the group, she takes steps towards being a Badass Normal because she feels like The Load in the group. She feels like the only member of the Spectacular Seven who can't contribute because of her lack of magic, experience, or talent. As such, Twilight sometimes worries that Sunset will think of Twilight as "useless" and break up with her. In Volume III, she even starts meditating and learning swordplay from Selena. This ends up getting Twilight in trouble in Volume III's sword fight against Moondancer when Twilight can tell that Moondancer isn't fighting at full strength, which leads to Twilight getting sloppy and making mistakes.
  • Heroic Wannabe: Moondancer sees herself as the hero of her story, but her arrogance, need for attention, and jealousy at Sunset for "stealing" Twilight from her clouds her judgment. She is so obsessed with getting her way, she would risk the world and release Tirek for a chance at glory.
  • Honor Before Reason: When Twilight and Moondancer fight, Moondancer goes easy on Twilight, hoping to confess to Tempest's schemes. Twilight, however, demands that Moondancer not go easy on her, wanting to feel important. So Moondancer promptly stops holding back, and Twilight gets disarmed.
  • Hospital Surprise: Sunset gets one after waking up from having her soul briefly locked in the Soul Lock by Tempest Shadow, nearly in a state of panic. Lucky for Sunset that Twilight was waiting by Sunset's beside to calm her down.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: When the Dazzlings return, they are destitute, homeless, starved, and begging the Spectacular Seven for help.
  • Humiliation Conga: The "Phoenix Rising" chapters do not go well at all for Moondancer. She gets her face scarred with phoenix fire and a claw swipe from Sunset's magic, the Lulamoons know she's a traitor, her entire view of being "the lead actress" has been proven wrong, the one thing she wanted more than anything - Twilight's love - is hopelessly out of her reach, and her one chance to get what she wanted has backfired in incredible fashion. She's still alive, but that's hardly comfort to her since her schemes and backstabbing have been All for Nothing.
  • Hypocrisy Nod: Comes up between the Spectacular Seven in Volume III as a big plot point. When the girls agree to give the Sirens a chance to prove they're sincere about wanting to reform, some of them are less enthusiastic about it than others. Sunset says that since she was given the same chance, it wouldn't be right of her to deny the Sirens the same. Twilight also discusses it with Selena, wondering if not wanting to give the Sirens that chance makes them hypocrites.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Moondancer has multiple moments when guilt overtakes her and she briefly reconsiders things, but she ultimately never listens.
    • When her dark benefactor orders that Sunset be captured, Moondancer wonders for just a moment what this would mean if Sunset was innocent. Moondancer dismisses the thought, saying that even if Sunset is innocent, she can handle a little more guilt on her conscience if it means getting Twilight.
    • After Sunset wakes up in the hospital, Moondancer considers the implications of Sunset being awake now. But, due to her own part in Sunset's hospitalization, she ignores the chance to turn back and goes in even deeper. It doesn't help that she ends up threatened with death by Tempest for giving Sunset's soulless body back to the Spectacular Seven, and that Moondancer's thoughts are being twisted by the Archon Amulet. With all of that hitting her almost at once, Moondancer feels like the best solution is to kill Sunset.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Lamia hates all of the things she gets involved with that include magic. By the time "Phoenix Rising" rolls around, she wants to be done with all of it.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Some of the things Moondancer says during a Villainous Breakdown in Volume II heavily imply that Moondancer wants to be seen as more important. At the very least, more important than Sunset.
  • The "I Love You" Stigma: Twilight and Sunset struggle with this in Volume II.
    • Sunset does genuinely love Twilight but, as she confides in Rarity, Sunset doesn't want to leave Twilight with lingering feelings or regrets when she goes away to college.
    • Twilight isn't sure whether her attraction to Sunset is teenage hormones or genuine love. All Cadence can tell her is that there will be a "Eureka!" Moment where Twilight will know for sure. Ultimately, there is no such Eureka Moment for Twilight, but she does come around and admit that she loves Sunset.
  • Incompatible Orientation: Fluttershy likes girls, but Rainbow Dash doesn't. It's only after being Oblivious to Love for six years in-universe that Rainbow Dash finally figures out that Fluttershy has a crush on her. At the end of "Different Kinds of Love", Rainbow Dash even admits to Fluttershy that she does love her, but not romantically. Only by coming to terms with that do the two of them make up after an earlier fight.
  • It's All About Me: Moondancer considers herself entitled to Twilight, friendship, and powerful magic, and claims this for little reason other than she believes she deserves them.
  • It's All My Fault:
    • After being told about the concept of leylines and leygates, Sunset realizes that a leygate was created when a large concentration of magic — her being blasted with the Elements of Harmony — was created. Effectively, Sunset's selfishness caused the Sirens to become a worldwide threat again. Sunset does not take the information well.
    • At the ski resort, after learning of the local legend of Harbinger the wolf spirit only appearing to those with darkness in their hearts, Sunset is led to believe she's a Doom Magnet after she and a few other girls run into the spirit of Harbinger in the woods. Shortly thereafter, Rainbow breaks her shoulder while snowboarding, and Sunset blames herself for it.
    • Defied at the end of Volume II. Lamia laments to Sunset that Tempest made her transform into Scarlet Inferno and not only steal magic power from those who were capable of using it, but kill them by burning their bodies to ash. Lamia, who has repeatedly insisted that she's not a murderer, is traumatized by it. However, Sunset confides in Lamia that, given the circumstances, the villains are ones responsible, not either of them.
    • In Volume III, Chapter 17, Sunset hits herself with this again. The Sirens have made a deal with Tempest Shadow in exchange for power, attacking Sunset and the Lulamoons, stealing a staff from them in the process. Sunset believes it's her fault that her foster family was attacked, going into how she's no different from them, and how it was Sunset's idea to give them a shot at redemption, which they've rejected. The Spectacular Seven manage to talk Sunset down before she has a panic attack.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: Even though the dark benefactor is the Big Bad of the story, Moondancer gets more screentime due to her more personal connection with Twilight and her growing jealousy of Sunset. The scene at prom at the end of Volume II features Moondancer as the central opposing force that needs to be dealt with; the dark benefactor only shows up after the climax of Prom Night has already passed.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
    • Subverted by Moondancer. She was in control of herself through the whole story, and passed her immunity to Twilight to help stop the Sirens. Despite this, after the Sirens have been defeated, Moondancer vows to break up Twilight and Sunset.
    • Sunset intentionally avoids telling Twilight that she loves her because she knows Twilight is going to the best colleges when she graduates at the end of the year.
    • Fluttershy says this when she sees Soarin hitting it off with Rainbow Dash. While Fluttershy has had a crush on Rainbow since they were kids, she Cannot Spit It Out, and tells Sunset that she wants Rainbow to be happy as the reason why. However, Sunset says that nothing good will come of keeping that in, since Sunset almost lost Twilight once for the same reason.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sunset's Fatal Flaw of not asking people for help gets exploited when she refuses any and all help with the counterspell against the Sirens because magic is the one thing she's supposed to be good at. And also, Sunset didn't want to burden her friends with any more issues.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk:
    • The last chapter of Volume I appears to paint Moondancer in a better light after she makes Twilight immune to the Sirens' mind control, giving herself a migraine in the process. However, once it's over, Moondancer curses to herself that she still can't stand the idea of Sunset Shimmer together with Twilight. The start of Volume II even has Moondancer vow to break the two of them up, showing her actions at the end of Volume I were purely selfish after all.
    • Adagio is the most reluctant of her sisters to change her ways, but eventually she manages to come around. Then Tempest offers Adagio her powers back, and she eagerly betrays the heroes. Despite talking about the importance of family, it is clear Adagio sees her younger sisters as pawns for her own glory, even willing to hurt them for more power.
  • Keeping Secrets Sucks: In addition to having to keep quiet about magic popping up, Sunset has to get Twilight and the rest of her friends to lie to people in order to procure tickets to the Sirens' concert. Twilight is especially angry at Sunset for making her lie to Moondancer.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: Played for laughs in Volume III. Despite a few vocal protests, Sunset gives up trying to talk Pinkie out of giving her a birthday party, and also knows that Twilight's going to buy her a gift, no matter what she says.
  • Large Ham: Moondancer, who frequently dances while introducing herself (even backflipping), and uses Purple Prose for just about everything. She considers herself "the leading actress" and Thinks Like a Romance Novel.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: The first chapter spoils the ending of Long Road to Friendship, showing that Sunset breaks the curse placed upon her by the Elements of Harmony, and that she hooks up with Twilight at the end of the story.
  • Light Is Not Good: Moondancer has a clean, outwardly beautiful appearance, and her powers manifest as bright moonlight... but reveals herself to be selfish, nasty piece of work. Using magic, she takes on an angelic form, but in order to do the bad guys' work, and becomes a selfish, unhinged Yandere. Lampshaded.
    Moondancer during her battle with Scarlet Inferno): Rainbow Dash, how dare you interrupt me I’m about to rid the world of this darkness!
    Rainbow Dash: And then, you were gonna steal our souls! Sorry if I’m not in a grateful mood!
  • Lonely Rich Kid: Moondancer's home life is frequently lonely, with apathetic parents and not much support. One of the reasons Moondancer fell for Twilight is that Twilight gave Moondancer the attention and affection she's always wanted.
  • Loophole Abuse: In the "Victory Run" chapter, Rainbow Dash accidentally activates Super-Speed during a track race, running so fast that she turns into a blur, easily crossing the finish line in first place. Since she didn't technically break any rules, Rainbow's victory is allowed to stand.
  • Lotus-Eater Machine: After Sunset's soul is stolen, she ends up in a perfect fantasy world where it's her wedding day to Twilight. She breaks out of it after realizing it's all a fake, where Sunset meets Apalla Lulamoon.
  • Lunacy: Moondancer's magic manifests as moonlight. She's capable of forming wings in the shape of crescent moons in order to fly, and summons a moonlight-laced Royal Rapier as her weapon.
  • Magic Misfire: In Volume III, Chapter 11, Trixie repeatedly casts real magic spells similar to her father Artemis. But because she's not as experienced with magic as Artemis, the effects aren't as powerful, and it causes her no end of trouble. For instance, Trixie tries using a teleportation spell to move past a trap in a temple, but ends up teleporting straight into the center of it.
  • Mark of Shame: After losing to Sunset in "Phoenix Rising," Moondancer ends up with scars on the left side of her face and begins wearing a half-mask to cover them.
  • Missing Time: After Sunset wakes up in the hospital, some of her memories are fuzzy or outright gone. Having her soul stolen and briefly sealed in the Soul Lock, her darkness was taken from her soul and turned into an Enemy Without in Scarlet Inferno. As such, she loses all negative memories, and has to be told about what she did at the Fall Formal.
  • Moment Killer: In Volume II, Chapter 4, Twilight and Sunset almost have sex on the couch of a winter resort, but Sunset's inner demon encourages Sunset to "deflower her precious Twilight," prompting Sunset to suddenly stop.
  • Moral Pragmatist: Aria finally quits working for Adagio because all of her schemes have brought them nothing but pain and loss.
  • Motive Rant: During "Phoenix Rising," one of the antagonists gives a speech about their actions up to this point. Moondancer, under the Archon Amulet's influence, wants to kill Sunset for "stealing [her] life," thinking that she is the hero and Sunset is the villain who stole Twilight from her. Twilight, naturally, doesn't take too kindly to this.
  • Moving the Goalposts: Before the story started, the dark benefactor made a deal with Moondancer and Night Shade: Apalla Lulamoon — Moondancer's mother and Night Shade's wife — will have her soul returned if they help the dark benefactor revive Lord Tirek and flood the world in darkness. However, the dark benefactor repeatedly makes Moondancer do more and more unscrupulous things in order to fulfill the bargain, and even uses Exact Words to do whatever they want, including using Apalla's soulless body as a temporary vessel for Tirek's soul. By the time Volume IV rolls around, both Moondancer and Night Shade have figured out that the dark benefactor is just going to keep changing the standards of the deal to do whatever they want anyways.
  • Mr. Exposition: Sunset meets a woman who explains the significance of the amulet that the dark benefactor of Moondancer's family uses, explaining what it is, what it's capable of, and why it's such a big deal.
  • Muggle Born of Mages: According to Trixie, Moondancer doesn't have the magic that typically comes with the Lulamoon bloodline. This also makes Moondancer susceptible to the Sirens' Mind-Control Music, whereas the rest of the Lulamoons aren't. This turns out to be incorrect when it's revealed that not only is Moondancer immune, she passed that immunity along to Twilight at the last concert. Volume II also reveals Moondancer is capable of casting spells when she fights with Lamia, even taking on a new form when battling Scarlet Inferno.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: In Volume II, Chapter 18, after Sunset wakes up from her soul-induced coma, Moondancer is concerned about what's to be done. Under the Archon Amulet's influence, Moondancer thinks the best solution is to kill Sunset.
  • My God, What Have I Done?:
    • As Selena explains, a leyline is a magical current that people can used to teleport long-range to leygates, places of high concentrations of magic power. Sunset inadvertently helped create one when Princess Twilight and the Humane Six blasted her with the Elements of Harmony. Effectively, Sunset aided the Sirens in their escape, putting the world in danger. As Sunset notes, she can't go a single day without being reminded of how horrible her past self truly was.
    • Lamia feels terrible about killing people, even if she was overtaken by a Superpowered Evil Side of someone else that she couldn't control. Even with Sunset trying to say it wasn't her fault, Lamia doesn't seem to buy it.
    • Rainbow Dash feels terrible about the effects of her Two-Timer Date on Fluttershy's psyche. Especially once Rainbow finally stops being Oblivious to Love and figures out that Fluttershy has a crush on her.
  • My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Just before the battle at prom night, Sunset says "My name is Sunset Shimmer, and on behalf of my friends, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

     Tropes N-Z 
  • Never My Fault: Aria reveals this about Adagio, saying that Adagio comes up with the schemes for the Sirens, but she blames her sisters when the plans inevitably fail or backfire on them. This helps prompts Aria's Heel–Face Turn, as it's a Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal after Adagio orders Aria to drain Sonata's magic.
  • Never the Selves Shall Meet: Discussed. Lamia sees her counterpart from another world on TV, and the two eventually come face to face. When they do, Sunset tries not to touch Lamia out of fear that the universe might explode.
    • They do end up making physical contact in chapter 15. When they do, Lamia sees a vision of Sunset's parents, and Sunset sees Lamia getting bullied on the playground as a child.
  • New Old Flame: Moondancer was Twilight's best friend growing up, and the two had to part ways after a while. Upon returning, Moondancer is still clearly carrying a torch for Twilight.
  • Oblivious to Love:
    • Despite knowing her since childhood, Twilight apparently can't see that Moondancer is head-over-heels in love with her. This is despite Twilight already being in a committed relationship with Sunset. The final chapter of Volume I sees Twilight finally figure it out, with Sunset laying on thick levels of snark about how it took Twilight that long to notice.
    • Rainbow Dash is oblivious to someone who's liked her even longer than Moondancer has liked Twilight. Fluttershy has had a crush on Rainbow for six years, but Rainbow has never noticed. Rainbow only manages to figure this out in "Different Kinds of Love" after she ruins a Two-Timer Date, in which Fluttershy calls Soarin a "homewrecker" and screams at Rainbow for the first time in her life. At the end of the chapter, Rainbow even thinks to herself how much she must have hurt Fluttershy by being unable to see it, calling herself an idiot.
  • Oddball in the Series: "Fathers and Daughters" (Volume III, Chapter 11) is the first chapter in both this story and its predecessor Long Road to Friendship to have no appearance whatsoever of Sunset. The author even lampshaded it.
  • Older Than They Look: Thanks to time dilation when going through the mirror portal, Sunset has the body of a teenager but is actually in her mid-twenties. This explanation gives Twilight serious pause, since she realizes there's a pretty significant age gap between the two of them.
  • The One Thing I Don't Hate About You: Sunset resents Moondancer, but she acknowledges that her tea is excellent.
  • The Only One I Trust: Sunset confides her secrets and worries to Rarity more than any of the other Spectacular Seven, particularly about Sunset's relationship with Twilight. The author says Rarity is the "best friend" type in the Girl Posse for Sunset.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Artemis goes from his Large Ham jovial personality to serious and stoic when he tells Twilight that some things about magic just have to be accepted, even if they can't be intrinsically measured. Later, when Sunset returns home, he's almost panicking when he hears the Sirens escaped, which everyone in the whole family sees as a big cause for alarm.
  • Passionate Sports Girl: Rainbow Dash, who plays on the soccer team, but also Sunset and Fluttershy, the latter of whom gets a sore throat from how loud she ends up screaming. It's Rainbow's passions that end up causing her magic to activate during a track meet against Crystal Prep, racing across the finish line at Super-Speed.
  • Persona Non Grata: Apparently Artemis and Selena are banned from Egypt. Selena explained the details to Sunset, but we don't see the conversation.
  • Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Due to being from the world of ponies, there's a lot of references to Earth media that go over Sunset's head. She does get better about it as time goes on, but only slightly.
    • After Twilight makes numerous references to Star Wars that Sunset fails to catch, Sunset admits she's never seen any of the Star Wars movies before. An incredulous Twilight demands that they binge watch the original trilogy immediately.
    • During the Final Battle of Volume II, Rainbow Dash makes a reference to "going Super Saiyan," which Sunset also doesn't recognize. However, Sunset notes now is a bad time to ask.
    • In Volume III, Lamia refers to Twilight as "the Heart of the Planeteers," because Lamia views Twilight as a useless part of the group. Sunset hasn't seen Captain Planet either, but she figures out that it's an insult.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Lamia doesn't kill people when she commits her crimes. Not just because she's morally opposed to killing innocent people, but because the police would search far harder for a murderer than they would for a thief.
  • Racist Grandma: Volume III introduces Golden Light, Twilight's grandmother from her father's side. In stark contrast to the rest of her family, Golden Light only sees the worst in people, and she has no qualms about voicing her opinions to anyone's face. Golden Light has an exceptionally low opinion of Cadence and Sunset in particular; Golden Light finds the former unworthy of her grandson's hand in marriage due to Cadence's job as a radio DJ, while the latter she believes is a bad influence on Twilight solely on the fact that Sunset drives a motorcycle and wears leather. It isn't until Twilight stands up to Golden Light and gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that Golden Light shuts her mouth and leaves everyone alone.
  • Rage Breaking Point: After being bullied and tormented by Tempest for a long time, Night Shade finally shoots her after the witch steals his wife's body and turns her into a vessel for Tirek. Unfortunately, Tempest manages to deflect the bullets and steal his soul.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Twilight gives one to her grandmother Golden Light at the end of Volume III for how Golden Light is quick to pass judgement on everyone else. Golden Light's response is to be glad that "someone has a backbone in this family" after hearing Twilight yell at her. Since it comes after Twilight just fought against both Moondancer and Tempest, and nearly burned to death as a result, Twilight was in no mood to be nice.
  • Regretful Traitor:
    • Moondancer doesn't want to do the bidding of the dark benefactor and hurt Twilight, but she's in fear of her own life. Also, Tempest has the soul of Moondancer's mother on the line.
    • By the end of Volume III, Sonata starts falling into this. She genuinely seems to like Pinkie Pie and appreciate how nice she is, but Sonata is largely being bullied into it by Adagio, who wants her magic back. This applies to a lesser degree with Aria, who likes Rarity but wants her power back more than she wants to be friends.
  • Rescue Romance: Invoked by Moondancer, defied by Twilight. Moondancer uses magic to save Twilight and Flash Sentry from Sunset's Superpowered Evil Side, Scarlet Inferno. Moondancer hopes to win Twilight's heart by doing so, but Twilight shoots down Moondancer after Scarlet is gone, saying that she knows Moondancer is in love with her, but her heart belongs to Sunset.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can:
    • The Sirens were imprisoned on an island by Artemis and the other Lulamoons. They broke out some time before the fic started thanks to a leyline created by the Elements of Harmony blasting Sunset, turning into pop stars to spread their Hate Plague.
    • The amulet that Tempest wears is one for Tirek. Apalla Lulamoon, Sunset, and multiple other souls end up trapped there in a Lotus-Eater Machine.
  • Sense Loss Sadness: After waking up in the hospital, Sunset loses the ability to feel a lot of strong emotions, and spends a bit worrying about it. The others chalk it up to trauma from undergoing such a treatment. It's actually because she's lost part of her soul as an Enemy Without. After rejoining with her soul, Sunset regains her emotions.
  • Sequel Escalation: Long Road to Friendship was primarily a character and romance-based story following Sunset's redemption arc as she dealt with relationship drama, guilt, the magical geas, and personal problems. This story on the other hand, has a Myth Arc concerning Tirek and the Rainbow of Light, juggles several major villains, has gone full Magical Girl with the titular characters getting magical powers and the Lulamoons being prominent characters, and acts as an Adaptation Distillation of other, separate parts of Equestria Girls canon. As of the end of Volume II, this story has surpassed the original in terms of word length and has the same number of chapters, and the author intends for the complete story to be five Volumes.
  • Shame If Something Happened: After Lamia reveals she stole the Crystal Heart, she warns Sunset to keep quiet. Even if Lamia doesn't physically assault Sunset, Lamia can use the fact that Sunset looks exactly like her to blame everything on her and get away scot-free. Selena neutralizes that threat by slashing off most of Lamia's hair.
  • Sharing a Body: Lamia eventually gets part of Sunset's soul thanks to Tempest. Namely, Scarlet Inferno, which is all of Sunset's bad memories. Lamia is none too happy about this, as hearing Scarlet's voice whispering dark thoughts into Lamia's mind starts to drive her insane.
  • Ship Sinking: Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash, due to Incompatible Orientation.
  • Shout-Out: One of the nicknames Twilight suggests for Sunset is "Vesper Radiance," a reference to Sunset of Time, another fic by the author. Sunset also says she'll use the name "if I ever became a villain again."
  • Showing Off the New Body: In chapter nine, Adagio says "Honestly, I’ve grown to like this body," while running a hand down the curve of her hips.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Lamia is particularly foul-mouthed, using the word "shit" quite often. Rarity finds it hard to believe that Lamia is even more crass than Sunset.
  • Smart People Play Chess: Moondancer can play chess just as well as Twilight. And just like Twilight, she forfeits when she's going to lose, though Sunset suspects it's to intentionally deny Sunset the satisfaction of winning decisively.
  • Snowball Fight:
    • The first chapter opens with one between the Spectacular Seven, and it's stated they've been having them throughout Winter Break.
    • During their trip up to a ski resort, the Spectacular Seven and Moondancer have another snowball fight. Sunset takes special care to aim at Moondancer more than anyone else.
  • Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Moondancer. She starts off telling little white lies, then plots personal vengeance on Sunset Shimmer. As Volume II progresses, Moondancer lies to her uncle, helps kidnap Sunset Shimmer, deceives Twilight by pretending to save her from Scarlet Inferno, taunts Sunset in her hospital bed, and conspires to steal the souls of all of the Spectacular Seven (including Twilight's) to save herself.
  • Soul Jar: The amulet Tempest gets a hold of is the Soul Lock, a prison for Tirek. Tempest Shadow is trying to revive him. After Sunset's soul is stolen, she ends up there, where she meets Apalla Lulamoon.
  • Spanner in the Works:
    • The thief Snake Queen Lamia shows up to the Canterlot Museum to steal the Crystal Heart the same night that the Sirens do. After a brief struggle between Lamia, the Sirens, and the police, Lamia gets away with the Heart.
    • Much later, when Lamia attempts to fence the Crystal Heart and pin the crime on Sunset, Selena proves to be a spanner in that plan by using a sword to cut off part of Lamia's hair. Lamia's plan to fence the Heart without consequence is thus foiled because it's an easy way to tell Sunset and Lamia apart.
    • At the final concert for the Dazzlings, another spanner shows up to stop them. Moondancer, who was thought to be another victim of the Sirens' Mind-Control Music, was immune the whole time. She throws the spanner into the works by making Twilight immune to the same, allowing Twilight to free the Rainbooms from under the stage.
    • One of the Lulamoons proves to be this again for the plans of the Big Bad. Within the Soul Lock prison, Apalla is trying to snap as many souls as she can out of the Lotus-Eater Machine fantasies keeping them docile so they can try to break free. It's caused her to suffer a gradual Sanity Slippage, though.
    • The Big Bad doesn't get much help from within the ranks, either. Out of her misguided love for Twilight, Moondancer steals Sunset's body from the basement of her mansion and returns it to the heroes, under the presumption that Sunset won't wake up. Sunset manages to wake up anyway and later ruins Moondancer's plans, at least for the time being.
  • Spot the Impostor: Enforced by Selena with the two Sunsets. Upon fighting her, Selena uses her sword to cut off most of Lamia's hair, allowing anyone who looks at them to easily spot the difference.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: Sunset's raging she-demon side is presented this way, able to generate large amounts of fire, being resistant to pain, and able to fly. This side is given the name "Scarlet Inferno" when Sunset loses her soul and has her darkness implanted into Lamia.
  • Supreme Chef: Pinkie Pie is quite the cook, as the rest of her friends keep complimenting her. (She admits, though, that even she can't make haggis appealing.) The rest of the Pie family, on the other hand, are such terrible cooks that Pinkie's friends all bail out if they find out that anyone but her is making dinner.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Volume III, Rainbow Dash awkwardly denies she has any feelings at all for Soarin during a phone call with Fluttershy. The only reason Rainbow doesn't notice how obvious she's being is that Fluttershy is dodging the questions Rainbow gives, and because Fluttershy is also crushing on Rainbow Dash.
  • Taking the Bullet: In Volume IV, Night Shade prevents Moondancer's soul from being pulled into the Soul Lock by taking the hit instead, causing his soul to be lost instead.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
    • Sunset and Moondancer voice their dislike for each other, but try to look past it for Twilight's sake.
    • As the finals of the Battle of the Bands approach, the Rainbooms end up like this. Part of it is the stress caused by everyone they know, their sisters included, under the Sirens' spell.
  • Tempting Fate: After being interviewed for a TV spot during the Battle of the Bands, Sunset is sure it's going to come back to haunt her. She turns out to be right when Human Sunset, aka Lamia, sees the interview on TV.
  • This Is Your Brain on Evil: The Archon Amulet, an equivalent to the Alicorn Amulet, corrupts whoever wears it with incredible power but makes their thoughts turn much darker. After Moondancer wears it for too long, she vows to kill Sunset after things go pear-shaped.
  • Touch Telepathy:
    • Sunset and Lamia are able to see each other's memories when they make physical contact with each other's bare skin. In the second part of "Phoenix Rising," this helps Sunset reform with her darkness and fully reclaim her soul.
    • In Volume III's chapter "On the Cusp of Summer", Sunset gains a power similar to her canon counterpart, able to read someone's memory by grabbing onto them. However, she's not looking into their mind; she's looking into their soul. Sunset is able to feel Twilight's love for her when she grabs Twilight's wrist, seeing a vision of Twilight practicing swordplay while feeling determined to succeed for Sunset.
  • Tranquil Fury:
    • The dark benefactor may show their anger by choking people with magic and threatening to steal their souls, but they never raise their voice beyond a stern growl. Even when Moondancer returns Sunset's body to the Spectacular Seven and Tempest finds out, Tempest only growls at Moondancer instead of yelling at her.
    • When Fluttershy sees that Soarin had gotten much closer to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy grows more and more jealous. During the laser tag at Rainbow's birthday party, Fluttershy aims only for Soarin before going for anyone else.
  • Two-Timer Date: Rainbow Dash attempts one in "Different Kinds of Love" with Soarin at a renaissance faire and Fluttershy at a crafts fair, using her Super-Speed to run between the two events. It predictably backfires, with Rainbow getting chewed out by Soarin and Fluttershy for lying to the both of them (as well as Sunset, when Rainbow tells her later). Rainbow even lampshades her idea as a "sitcom plot" that she's sure is going to end badly, but she doesn't want to choose between them. And when it inevitably crashes and burns, both Fluttershy and Soarin lampshade how such a plot always ends badly.
  • Undead Tax Exemption: Averted, just like in the previous fic. Sunset still doesn't have any form of valid ID, proper transcripts, or even a birth certificate on Earth. As a result, Sunset doesn't apply to any colleges in spite of her excellent grades, because she knows that any college who looks into her would naturally get suspicious.
  • Villainous Breakdown:
    • Moondancer gets gradually more unhinged at Canterlot High School's prom. Moondancer especially can't stand it when Sunset not only unlocks her Golden Super Mode, but starts beating her in spite of Moondancer using the boost from the Archon Amulet. This eventually causes Moondancer to give a Motive Rant about how someone has to choose her over Sunset. When Moondancer gets her face burned by Sunset's phoenix flames, all Moondancer can do is sob and shiver.
    • In the last chapters of Volume III, Adagio goes ballistic when Aria and Sonata defect to the heroes, screaming that they're traitors and that she deserves to rule. Adagio gets it even worse when Tempest just leaves Adagio behind, leaving Adagio in Stunned Silence.
  • Villain Song: Moondancer gets one with "Fight For It," set to the tune of "Wait For It" from Hamilton, where she says she'll fight for Twilight, since Moondancer feels she's earned the right to be Twilight's lover.
  • Weeding Out Imperfections: Several chapters involve Moondaner taking care of her garden; in one chapter she even sneaks out to buy seeds, running into and awkwardly talking with Fluttershy. It's one of the few activities keeping her sane after she is restricted to where she can be. Pulling weeds is mentioned several times, and it gives insight into her psyche.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Volume I
      • Chapter 2 reveals that Moondancer is Trixie's cousin. This means that Sunset knows she'll have to deal with her more frequently.
      • Chapter 8. Artemis get attacked by the Sirens in their hotel. As his vision fades out from a hit to the head with a pipe, it's left unclear if Artemis died.
      • Chapter 13 reveals that master thief Lamia the Snake Queen is the human world's Sunset Shimmer, after she sees Equestria's Sunset on TV during the Battle of the Bands tryouts.
      • Chapter 14. Sunset meets her human counterpart, Lamia, when the Rainbooms have to practice in the abandoned factory where Sunset used to live. On top of that, Sunset realizes that she was the cause of the Sirens escaping when Selena explains the magical leylines.
    • Volume II
      • Chapter 4. Sunset finally confesses to Twilight about the nightmares she has about her demonic side, the first time she's told anyone about them.
      • Chapter 6. Fluttershy and Rainbow both pony up without playing music, and Fluttershy discovers she has healing powers. Moondancer reveals that she can use magic, and recruits Human Sunset/Lamia to steal something for her.
      • Chapter 12. Tempest and Lamia kidnap Sunset, and Tempest steals Sunset's soul into her amulet.
      • Chapter 18. Sunset frees herself from the Soul Lock, and returns to her body, waking up. Even so, some of her memories are fuzzy or missing, and she can't feel emotions as strongly as she used to. Tempest discovers that Moondancer took Sunset's body from the basement, and orders her to claim the souls of all of the Spectacular Seven, or else she'll claim Moondancer's. Under the effects of the Archon Amulet, Moodancer vows that she will kill Sunset for Twilight's affection. Also, Twilight tells Sunset that she loves her.
    • Volume III
      • Chapter 4. Fluttershy's crush on Rainbow Dash is briefly explored. In the final scene of the chapter, the Sirens awkwardly show up at Pinkie Pie's house.
      • Chapter 15. Aria and Sonata start actually making friends with the Spectacular Seven, then Tempest shows up with replicas of the Sirens' gemstones.
    • Volume IV
      • Chapter 3. Apalla Lullamoon has her body taken over by Tirek. Tempest gets her arm back. Night Shade prevents Moondancer from getting pulled into the Soul Lock, and Moondancer becomes CEO of his company. Artemis returns, revealing he found the Rainbow of Light.
  • Wham Line:
    • The last few paragraphs of Volume I reveal that Moondancer had been in control of her own mind the entire time, and that she had passed that immunity along to Twilight to help stop the Sirens. Despite this, Moondancer vows that Twilight will be hers one day.
    • Volume II, Chapter 8 reveals the identity of the dark benefactor who can manipulate the darkness around Moondancer when they grab Lamia by the throat. It's Tempest Shadow. And Tempest has an in-universe wham line for Moondancer when Tempest reveals that Lamia is the human world's Sunset Shimmer.
    • Volume II, Chapter 15 has Twilight Sparkle get a text message from an unlikely source. Sunset apparently texts Twilight, which should be impossible because Sunset is either soulless or transformed into Scarlet Inferno. The text tells Twilight to "come to the factory," where Sunset is found.
    • The final lines of "Phoenix Rising III", which serve as the end of Volume II, see Moondancer enter a hitherto unseen room in the mansion. It's where Apalla Lulamoon's still-living body is being kept, hooked up to life support.
    • Volume III, Chapter 17 has Twilight Sparkle end the chapter in a hotel room by herself. The last line of the chapter is "Hello, little star," showing that Moondancer has made it to the hotel.
    • During an argument between Aria Blaze and Adagio Dazzle, Aria complains that Adagio constantly treats her and Sonata like servants. Adagio answers back with "Of course you're my servants! I'm your princess!" which suddenly exposes a lot about Adagio's behavior and nasty attitude.
    • In the final chapter of Volume III, Tempest tells Starlight Glimmer, who is a human magical researcher in this world, to use their "contingency plan" after Tempest loses to Sunset Shimmer.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: At Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding, Sunset wears a tuxedo designed by Rarity instead of a dress. Not only does Sunset think she looks amazing in a tux, but she overhears a few positive murmurs about her looks at the reception. Twilight even grumbles how "it's not fair" that Sunset can pull off both male and female formal wear with equal attractiveness.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Literally. Volume III reveals that Twilight is terrified of snakes because she accidentally fell into a snake pit at a zoo when she was a little girl, nearly bitten by a large snake before she was saved. So Lamia's snake Jorgumandr being transformed into a male lamia-like snake monster from Tempest's dark magic causes Twilight to freeze up in terror when the girls encounter it.
  • Wound That Will Not Heal: After being scorched in the face by Sunset's phoenix flames, Moondancer still has the scars of the attack and still feels like her face is burning. She starts wearing a half-mask to cover the scars. Even after Volume III fast-forwards to a few months after Prom Night, the scar and its burning pain aren't any better. Tempest also gets scorched in the shoulder by Sunset's fire at the end of Volume III, and Tempest's healing magic doesn't work, implying the same thing has happened to her.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Moondancer thinks of herself and Twilight as Star-Crossed Lovers in a Childhood Friend Romance, driven apart by time and reunited as adults. They can finally be together, if only the wicked succubus Sunset Shimmer wasn't in their way, twisting Twilight's mind to make her think she loves Sunset. Too bad for Moondancer this isn't that kind of story; Moondancer's role is more like a Dark Magical Girl who blossoms into a full yandere.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: The Big Bad didn't intend for the Final Battle in "Phoenix Rising" to happen, but it furthered their plans by unleashing a large amount of magic that Tempest can use to help free Tirek. This also leaves the Big Bad to spare their subordinate who attacked the Spectacular Seven because it inadvertently helped.
  • Yandere: Moondancer slowly morphs into one over the course of Volume II. In Volume I, Moondancer was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, at least partially united with the Spectacular Seven in wanting to see the Sirens stopped. In Volume II, her irrational hatred for Sunset and obsession with Twilight lead Moondancer to believe that Murder Is the Best Solution.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
    • Twilight tells Sunset this after a Catapult Nightmare, and that her inner demon is just trying to prey on Sunset's insecurities.
    • In Volume III, Chapter 17, Sunset says she's no different from the Sirens, and that she would have sold out the Spectacular Seven to Tempest like the Sirens did if she hadn't been forced to change in the events of Long Road to Friendship. The Spectacular Seven counter that — Element interference or not — nothing explicitly forced Sunset to become a better person and feel regret for the things she had done.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: The magic journal from the canon doesn't exist, or at least hasn't come into play yet, so the portal to Equestria won't open for two more years. Even if Sunset wanted to go back to Equestria after graduation, she can't for a long while.
  • You Have Failed Me: The dark benefactor of Moondancer gets fed up with Moondancer inadvertently damaging their plans. Just as Moondancer is about to be taken into the Soul Lock and possibly killed so that she can't revive, Moondancer's father begs for her life, which momentarily spares her.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: The Big Bad's amulet appears to have the power to affect souls somehow. Volume II, Chapter 12 also shows that it can be use to steal souls when Tempest captures Sunset's soul. Within it, Apalla Lulamoon reveals that it's a Soul Jar for multiple souls, including Tirek.

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