History FanFic / SplitSecond

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/59650a6c011ce75b2e60ffd0b9962088.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A twist of fate can [[AlternateTimeline split]] a [[AlternateHistory second]].]]
->''Sparkle couldn't stand the concept of fate. She hated those ponies who spoke of it, as if it were this overarching, controlling force that decided what happened in life. She refused to believe in it, not when it meant that she was fated to kill her parents, or that she was fated to have – accidentally – caused her brother to lose that promotion, or... any of the misfortunes that befell her after that fateful day. Not when her sister...''

''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/242635/split-second Split Second]]'' and its sequel, ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/278590/split-second-an-eternity-divided Split Second: An Eternity Divided,]]'' are ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' {{Fanfiction}} by {{Tropers/wille179}}. The story tells the tale of Twilight Sparkle, who, during her entrance examination to get in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, ended up breaking time. Twilight becomes a WhiteMage, an inventor, and the student of Princess Celestia. Meanwhile, Sparkle becomes a {{Necromancer}}, kills her parents, creates an undead {{Dracolich}}, and has been shunned by society for her powers.

ForWantOfANail hits ''[=HARD=]''.

Not to be confused with any [[SplitSecond other work by that title]].

Has an ask blog by the title of [[http://ask-sparkle-and-thorn.tumblr.com Ask Sparkle and Thorn.]]

Has since been unofficially canceled as {{Tropers/wille179}} has left the fandom.

----
!! Both stories provide examples of:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Tropes]]
* AccidentalMurder
** Sparkle threatens to steal a book from a bookstore. The owner chases them, trips on his precariously stacked books, falls, and breaks his neck.
** Later, the Twilight is fighting two of the three Sunset Shimmer clones, who are transformed into their demonic forms. The third clone, who is far more rational, tries to intervene despite all warnings to the contrary. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard She doesn't last long.]]
* AlternateSelf: Twilight and Sparkle to each other.
* AlternateTimeline: Diverges at the moment of the first sonic rainboom, in which Twilight became a WhiteMage and Sparkle became a BlackMage.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Many:
** From the story, there are:
*** [[TheGrimReaper Death]], [[spoiler:Sparkle]].
*** Life, the source of all souls and LifeEnergy, [[spoiler:Twilight]].
*** Princess Celestia (Daybringer), [[ThePowerOfTheSun the sun]].
*** Princess Luna (Nightbringer), the [[TheManInTheMoon moon]].
*** Princess Cadance, [[LoveGoddess love]].
*** The Labyrinth Lord, a minotaur that personifies [[DishingOutDirt earth]].
*** Revealed in ''An Eternity Divided'', the Observers are [[TimeMaster time]].
*** And the Storm Emperor, a griffin that personifies [[BlowYouAway wind]]. (Mentioned only)
** and mentioned on the ask blog, there are:
*** Lady Evrfyr, a dragon that personifies [[PlayingWithFire fire]].
*** and the Dew Queen, a deer that personifies [[MakingASplash water]].
* BlackMagic: Sparkle's body runs on the stuff and is immune[[note]]mostly[[/note]] to its corrupting effects. [[spoiler:(Only the mental aspect. Her body, not so much.)]]
* CoolGuns:
** In the first story, a time traveling Death debuts ''Inevitable'' and ''Demise,'' two handguns that fire pieces of Death's Soul, instantly killing anything they hit.
** In the second story, a younger Death debuts the prototype to ''Inevitable'' and ''Demise:'' the rifle ''Humanity's Salutations,'' the name being a reference to [[spoiler:her trip to the human world, where she met Sci-Twi.]]
* TheDarkArts: Sparkle's necromancy, as if it wasn't obvious.
* DeityOfHumanOrigin: All the gods were once mortal. [[spoiler:Death is revealed to have been Sparkle, as are Life and Twilight.]]
%%* {{Dracolich}}: Thorn.
* MistressAndServantBoy: Played with. Cobalt is magically and irreversably subserviant to Sparkle, his Mistress[[note]]He's her apprentice.[[/note]]. This gets in the way of their romantic feelings.
* {{Necromancer}}:
** Sparkle is this. Her magic is naturally "Dark," or in-spin as it is defined in-story.
** Cobalt becomes a necromancer over the course of the first story.
* PhysicalGod: All of the deities.
* PocketDimension: Several examples so far:
** The Power Ponies comic Book: Sparkle, Thorn, and Cobalt were sucked inside. Sparkle temporarily hijacked its magic to become a RealityWarper, but almost immediately got them ejected. The book has since vanished.
*** Sparkle has since created a working version for herself. Tirek's dead body is currently stored inside. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed to be the afterlife.]]
** The Afterlife, for which [[TheGrimReaper Death]] serves as the DimensionLord.
** There are also some areas that are just BiggerOnTheInside without being as separate.
*** [[HellholePrison Tartarus]]. Only mentioned in the story, but the blog expands upon it, saying that an entire mountain range has been folded into the space of a large building.
*** Upper Canterlot. There's more real estate than there should be for a city perched upon the top of a mountain.
*** The [[DeathWorld Everfree Exclusion Zone (EEZ), among other naturally occurring areas of highly dangerous terrain]] that are all bigger on the inside.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Sparkle accidentally killed her biological parents, and then [[spoiler:in her second life, accidentally killed her second mother and made her second father ''wish'' he was dead.]]
* SoulJar: an odd case. Sparkle and Thorn are this to each other. As they collectively share 1.5 souls (.75 of a soul each), as long as one lives, the other can act as a disembodied spirit until a new body can be created.
* TemporalMutability:
** Immutable, of the YouAlreadyChangedThePast variety. The [[ImmuneToFate gods are the exception,]] but overwrite their own histories in the process.
** In ''An Eternity Divided,'' Death uses his time magic to overwrite the past. Death becomes a mare with no memory of ever having been a stallion. And, to top it off, the author went back and edited ''every'' chapter that even a reference to Death appeared in to switch Death's gender.
* TomeOfEldritchLore: The ''Dread Necroptica,'' the ultimate book on {{Necromancy}}, has seven volumes: ''Soul'', ''Mind'', ''Flesh'', ''Blood'', ''Bone'', ''Pain'', and ''Death''. It's also capable of conversing with its readers, as the whole series is possessed by a single [[OurDemonsAreDifferent information demon]].
* TheUndead: So far, the list includes: a {{Dracolich}}, a [[UndeadChildren self-animating zombie foal]], and several reanimated [[DemBones skeletons]].
* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: Life and two of Death's three forms[[note]]Later revealed to be Twilight, Sparkle, and Thorn, respectively[[/note]] have six limbs. Life and the Reaper have an extra pair of forelegs protruding from the same shoulder as their originals, while the Keeper has a [[CentauroidForm centaur-like configuration.]]
* WhiteMage: Twilight is this. Her magic is naturally "Light," or out-spin as it is defined in-story.
[[/folder]]

----
!! ''Split Second'' provides examples of:

[[folder:A-M]]
* AbortedArc: The chapter ''A Mare and the Sunny Hospital'' went through multiple versions, and the final version includes a link to a deleted scene where Cobalt joins Sparkle in her escape attempt and the seeds of romance are planted.
* AnatomyOfTheSoul: Souls are the absolute definition of identity; if your soul is removed from your body, the corpse that is left is not ''you''. Souls also possess a core (the identity) and an outer shell, which is the source of a pony's magic.
* AntiHero: Sparkle is a stone-cold bitch of a necromancer, but she's ethical about it. She even tells Celestia (her hated warden in this timeline, not her beloved teacher and mentor) that she beleives in harmony and will try to protect it as best she can.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Light and Dark magic have this effect on their casters. Light mages (paladins) start looking like angels after a while, whereas dark mages (necromancers) start looking like undead. In both cases, it's referred to as "[[TheCorruption Corruption]]".
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Sparkle tries to make the best of the fact that her magic is corruptive, most of her knowledge is illegal, and the fact that the son she raised (in multiple ways) is a soul-eating [[EldritchAbomination monster]].
* BetterAsFriends: Sparkle, despite having mutual feelings for Cobalt, decides to stay just a friend/teacher to him due to the highly unbalanced power dynamic between the two.
* BurningWithAnger: Shining Armor after [[spoiler:Sparkle's death.]]
* ChekhovsGun: In chapter 28, "Sparkle and Twilight," Sparkle mentions that her prosthetic hoof is cursed to petrify any that touch it while it's removed from her body. In chapter 45, "Recovering the Stolen Jewels," she [[RocketPunch telekinetically launches her hoof]] at King Sombra, [[TakenForGranite petrifying him.]]
* CoitusEnsues: Implied and deconstructed. Twice, sex happens off screen, and twice, the participants regret it immediately after.
** Rainbow Dash X Rainbow Dash: The discorded doppelgangers have kinky sex, sensored by Pinkie Pie BreakingTheFourthWall.
** Sparkle X Ironwood: Sparkle seduces him with blood wine, but Ironwood is married.
* DontFearTheReaper: Death appears as an EldritchAbomination, an equine being with six legs, six eyes (with multiple pupils/irises in each), a semi-crystalline body, bone wings that act as a portal to the afterlife, vine-like tentacles, way too many teeth, and many other horrifying traits. He saves the lives of the six mares that were going to be sacrificed to him and kills the cult instead, and then lets them see a slice of paradise. While disguising himself as a simple stallion, he also offers up some free advice to Sparkle.
* EldritchLocation: There are five: The Everfree Exclusion Zone[[note]]A.K.A. The heart of Everfree[[/note]], Winter's Clutch, the Forest of Four Seasons, Boneyard Woods, and Death's Oasis. Each warps space and is incredibly hostile to non-native life.
* EvilFeelsGood: Interesting variation: All ponies feel pleasure when performing their special talent, and are driven insane by Cutie-Mark-Failure-Insanity syndrome if they don't practice it. Normally, this would be a good thing, except Sparkle's special talent is necromancy and [[spoiler:Cobalt/Red Fields' special talent is assassination.]]
* ForWantOfANail: A defining trope of the story. The whole premise is that at one moment in time, Twilight Sparkle's entrance test, two different, mutually-exclusive outcomes came true.
** In the "A" timeline, Sparkle gained BlackMagic and didn't become Celestia's student.
** In the "B" timeline, Twilight gained WhiteMagic and ''did'' become Celestia's student.
* FreakyFridayFlip: Half of one. [[GenderBender Sparkle's soul ends up in Tirek's body.]] Tirek's soul ends up dissected and eaten by Sparkle. Sparkle's body is left soulless for a short time. Sparkle eventually returns to her own body.
* TheGrimReaper: Death. He either looks like a gray stallion, or an [[EldritchAbomination an equine being with six legs]], [[ExtraEyes six eyes (with multiple pupils/irises in each)]], a semi-crystalline body, [[GoodWingsEvilWings bone wings that act as a portal to the afterlife]], vine-like tentacles, way too many teeth, and many other horrifying traits.
* HeroicSeductress: Debatably heroic. Sparkle uses her magic ''on herself'' to convince others to give her what she wants, either through illusions portraying unimaginable beauty or through creating a vampire aphrodisiac out of her own blood.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The cult that wanted to sacrifice Sparkle to [[TheGrimReaper Death]] ended up being killed by Death while the six sacrifices, Sparkle included, all lived.
* InstantSeduction: Combined with KissOfTheVampire. Sparkle makes her lips bleed, and then turns the blood into blood wine[[note]] A thousand times more potent than regular blood[[/note]] to seduce a ''married'' vampire. It works.
* KissOfDeath: In the first interlude chapter, ''Class Scheduling'', Sparkle paralyzes a pony through a kiss, citing that she could have done far worse. In ''Mares and Chaos, part 3,'' Sparkle removes the souls of [[spoiler:Trixie and Fluttershy]] by a kiss, technically killing them. Turns out, [[spoiler:they're NotQuiteDead, as their DisneyDeath was staged to fool Discord.]]
* LifeEnergy: [[{{Dracolich}} Thorn]] and Sparkle find it delicious.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: [[spoiler:Sparkle dies this way thanks to the Crystal heart.]]
* ManIFeelLikeAWoman: Sparkle's soul ends up inside and in full control of Tirek's body. She feels her "new" [[note]][[{{Squick}} Tirek's old and shrivelly]][[/note]] junk, and then wonders how to "turn it off." She jumps back to her old body before the chapter is done.
* MentorShip: Averted. Sparkle is bothered by the power [[UnequalPairing inequality between her and Cobalt]], and refuses to engage in a mutually romantic relationship.
* MoralityChain: Twilight seems to act as this for Sparkle. Sparkle is driven into a rage when her sister leaves for ponyville without warning, and a month without her sister is driving her crazy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N-Z]]
* NoPreggerSex: Inverted: Sparkle has unexpected (but consensual) sex while pregnant. She points this out to Ironwood when he starts freaking out about possibly impregnating her.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Two different examples:
** Information Demons, which live inside of books and exist only as a nebulous cloud of information, or
** Specters, which are magical constructs that exist somewhere between a demon and a ghost.
%% * OurSoulsAreDifferent
* PolarOppositeTwins: Not in personality, but in magic and talents.
* RideTheLightning: Sheriff Tesla can do this, in the "become lightning" variety.
* RocketPunch: Sparkle fires her cursed prosthetic hoof at [[TakenForGranite King Sombra.]]
* SadisticChoice: Discord gives one to Sparkle: [[spoiler:Kill Fluttershy, and get a book with a spell that ''might'' save her life, kill her sister, and get her leg back so that Sparkle doesn't bleed to death, kill all 12 of them to get both, or do nothing and die.]] She [[TakeAThirdOption takes a fifth option]].
* ShockAndAwe: Sheriff Tesla, as his name suggests, can shoot lightning bolts. Being a natural WhiteMage, he can imbue it with light magic.
* ShoutOut:
** Cobalt's TriggerPhrase is "[[VideoGame/BioShock Would you kindly...]]"
** A dissertation on teleportation states that Luna acheives teleportation by [[TabletopGame/WarHammer40000 travelling through an aetheric dimension containing everyones thoughts, dreams, and emotions while maintaining a bubble of reality,]] and that in 300 years it becomes the basis of FasterThanLightTravel. The next chapter outright calls it "the Warp."
** Sparkle scares rhe living daylights (moonlights?) out of the Red Platoon (Luna's pet vampire coven) by [[WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged popping out of a table and asking "Hey guys, wanna see a dead body?"]]
* SpeakInUnison: When the timelines merge together, both versions of a pony will speak in unison until otherwise halted, and even then may start speaking in unison again at a later time without being prompted. There's nothing magical about it; it's just two ponies so close in thought processes that they happen to react exactly the same way at the same time to the same situations.
* {{Synchronization}}: Whatever permanent magical effects are applied to Twilight/Sparkle, the other gets a similar effect. So far, this includes an unnamed event before the story and Twilight bonding with the Elements of Harmony.
* StartOfDarkness: Sparkle got her powers at age eight, discovered she could kill magically at nine, given a reason to dislike ponies at ten, created zombies by eleven, had her mentor die at twelve, ate her first soul at thirteen, and was abandoned (sort of) by her [[MoralityChain sister]].
* TakenForGranite: King Sombra, when he's hit by Sparkle's cursed [[RocketPunch prosthetic hoof.]]
* ThemeTwinNaming:
** Twilight and Sparkle were born on the same day to the same parents, making them twins in a weird sort of way. They split their original name.
** Spike and Thorn[[note]]Actually Thornecorvitar[[/note]] are two semi-artificial dragons created through different means. They still shared the same mothers (yes, plural) and were born on the same day.
* TimePolice: July, August, and the other Observers seem to be taking this role. They have the ability to move through time and erase paradoxes. Given a [[JustifiedTrope justification]] in the sequel: [[PhysicalGod they embody the very concept of time]].
[[/folder]]

----
!! ''An Eternity Divided'' provides examples of:

[[folder:Tropes]]
* AndThatsTerrible: Parodied/Discussed: Cobalt steals books, and then makes a joke out of it.
** "Super villainy is much more rewarding. See, I just stole and hid forty books. That's as many as four tens, and that's terrible."
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:Twilight and Sparkle both become [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]].]]
* AuthorAvatar: Mod, the author's name from the [[NoFourthWall tumblr blog]] shows up in the story to deliver a message to Death. The message cues Death to overwrite time, effectively erasing that sequence of events from the plot.
* BigEater: AND HOW! After reincarnating, Sparkle needs to regrow her newborn body up to a useable age, but ageing 10-100 times as fast needs a lot of Calories.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Downplayed. Queen Chrysalis was defeated by Shining Armor. Celestia eventually creates a trade agreement with her. They aren't exactly allies, but they aren't enemies anymore.
* DropTheHammer: Twilight's weapon of choice: the Justice Hammer, a [[ConditionalPowers Conditional Magic]] HardLight warhammer larger than her own body that grows stronger the more advantages she gives to her enemy, thus justifying [[ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy Explaining Her Power To The Enemy.]]
* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: Justified. By explaining her power, she gives Sunset a small advantage, which further empowers the [[ConditionalPowers Conditional Magic]] of her [[DropTheHammer warhammer]].
* GenderBender: Sparkle reincarnates herself, but accidentally ends up in a colt body. She later changes it back.
* InterruptedSuicide: Sparkle gains the ability to feel the approaching death of a soul, including when they are about to commit suicide. She scares the victim out of killing herself.
* LivingADoubleLife: Sparkle has now taken up the identity of Rhodium.[[note]]Rody to his friends.[[/note]] Innocent colt who wears sunglasses all the time by day, necromancer by night.
* OrphanageOfLove: Sparkle intentionaly sets up a situation in order to get into Ponyville's orphanage. She ends up rooming with Scootaloo.
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: Ruby, the Crystal Pony whom birthed Sparkle's new body. Unlike Sparkle, this ''tainted'' and wiped her soul, meaning that unlike our "hero", she's well and truly ''gone''.
* TouchOfDeath: Sparkle has always had this ability, but rarely uses it. [[spoiler:Her ascension made it default to "on."]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The final arc of the original story was kicked off by Sparkle looking for a way to return Savior to life after having failed in her initial plan to revive him through an induced surrogate pregnancy; 18 chapters into this story, and the entire thing hasn't come up once.
* YouAllMeetInAnInn: Sparkle, Cobalt, and Thorn reunite at a minotaur bar.
[[/folder]]
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''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/242635/split-second Split Second]]'' and its sequel, ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/278590/split-second-an-eternity-divided Split Second: An Eternity Divided,]]'' are ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' [[FanFiction Fan Fictions]] by {{Tropers/wille179}}. The story tells the tale of Twilight Sparkle, who, during her entrance examination to get in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, ended up breaking time. Twilight becomes a WhiteMage, an inventor, and the student of Princess Celestia. Meanwhile, Sparkle becomes a {{Necromancer}}, kills her parents, creates an undead {{Dracolich}}, and has been shunned by society for her powers.

Has since been unofficially canceled as {{Tropers/wille179}} has left the fandom

** Sparkle scares rhe living daylights (moonlights?) out of the Red Platoon (Luna's pet vampire coven) by [[WebOriginal/HellsingAbridged popping out of a table and asking "Hey guys, wanna see a dead body?"]]

*** [[TheGrimReaper Death]] [[spoiler:Actually Sparkle]]
*** Life, the source of all souls and LifeEnergy. [[spoiler: Actually Twilight]]

*** Revealed in ''An Eternity Divided'', the Observers are [[TimeyWimeyBall time]].

* BlackMagic: Sparkle's body runs on the stuff and is immune[[note]]mostly[[/note]] to it's corrupting effects. [[spoiler:(Only the mental aspect. Her body, not so much.)]]
** TheDarkArts: Sparkle's necromancy, as if it wasn't obvious.

%% * {{Dracolich}}: Thorn.

[[/folder]]

* TimePolice: July, August, and the other Observers seem to be taking this role. They have the ability to move through time and erase paradoxes.

** A dissertation on teleportation states that Luna acheives teleportation by [[TabletopGames/WarHammer40000 travelling through an aetheric dimension containing everyones thoughts, dreams, and emotions while maintaining a bubble of reality,]] and that in 300 years it becomes the basis of FasterThanLightTravel. The next chapter outright calls it "the Warp."