Princess Luna assembles a team of Equestria's most undesirable inhabitants in order to deal with the problems too dangerous or too insignificant to risk the lives of the Elements of Harmony.
The Undesirables
is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic written by DEI Caboose and published on Fimfiction.net.
The story revolves around Princess Luna's attempts to provide a better source of protection for Equestria than the frequently used Elements of Harmony, which she comes to see as being relied upon too heavily in the wake of so many attacks against Equestria.
Luna acts by recruiting several outcasts and dissidents from all over the land to stand together when a new danger strikes.
This Ragtag Bunch of Misfits includes:
- Starlight Glimmer: Princess Twilight Sparkle's personal pupil and reformed villain.
- The Great and Powerful Trixie: A cunning stage magician who longs for approval.
- Lightning Dust: A former Wonderbolt trainee whose life has taken a downward spiral.
- Sonata Dusk: A once magical Siren, now stranded Earth pony teenager.
- Agent Sweetie Drops: A disgruntled government operative who has retired under the name "Bon Bon".
- Dragon Lord Ember: The youthful but inexperienced Princess of the Dragon Lands.
- Therapsid the Changeling: A former prisoner who took part in the Invasion of Canterlot.
The Undesirables provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Sonata constantly uses human terminology, even after she becomes a pony.
- The Alcoholic: Lightning Dust has turned to the bottle ever since she dropped out of Wonderbolt Academy. She starts to get better about her drinking after Luna recruits her.
- Animorphism: Sonata is turned into a pony upon returning to Equestria after the events of Rainbow Rocks rendered her fully human.
- Armor-Piercing Question: It doesn't have much of an effect the first time she's asked, but later on Starlight reconsiders and joins Luna's team after she remembers the question under different circumstance.Princess Luna: Does it ever occur to you what might happen if the Elements of Harmony, your friends, don't return one day? If they venture out to combat a threat and end up failing? What will you do if that day comes, Starlight?
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Sonata's rehabilitation by Luna requires her to attend friendship lessons, be a generally good pony, to stop trying to take over the world and to stop defacing Starswirl The Bearded's statue.
- Ascended Extra: The stars of the story are all relatively minor characters in the show itself.
- Avengers Assemble: Luna gathers a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits to defend Equestria.
- Big Good: While Princess Celestia can be considered as this in the main series, Luna takes up the role here due to the story's focus on her.
- Blindfolded Trip: How Starlight is introduced.
- Call-Back: Several concerning each character during their introductions.
- The Bugbear attack serves as the catalyst for the team's formation by Luna.
- Trixie is in the middle of The Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Applogy Tour when she's first introduced.
- Bon Bon's past as a secret agent comes back to haunt her.
- Lightning Dust is dealing with the aftermath of Wonderbolts Academy.
- Sonata Dusk, while she and the Sirens are seeking revenge for the events of Rainbow Rocks, inadvertently finds herself back in Equestria after falling through one of the portals depicted in Friendship Games.
- Ember is struggling as the new Dragon Lord.
- Therapsid played a role in the invasion of Canterlot.
- Starlight initially refuses to join the team since she feels guilty for destroying Equestria several times over and doesn't consider herself worthy.
- Culture Clash: Ember has a bit of trouble getting used to pony culture.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Luna states this is the case regarding her feelings towards Therapsid.
- Gilded Cage: Therapsid's prison cell, while not luxurious, is very comfortable, and he's kept supplied with his every need.
- More Expendable Than You: This is essentially Starlight's reason for joining the team, she considers the Elements of Harmony too important to lose compared with herself.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Therapsid is happy to betray his species, having realized that what they did was wrong. Plus, they abandoned him after the invasion.
- Noodle Incident: Luna's solo exploits against various threats prior to forming the team, one of which led to her finding her opossum companion, Tiberius.
- Proud Warrior Race: The Dragons. The fact that the Dragon Lord is only considered the most supreme member of their race as long as they continue to show just how powerful they are is what drives Ember to join Luna's cause.
- Recruiting the Criminal: Therapsid, whose been a prisoner in Canterlot since the changeling invasion in A Canterlot Wedding, joins Luna's team in order to be released.
- Refusal of the Call: Starlight is the only pony who flat-out refuses to be a part of Luna's plan, since she feels unworthy of protecting Equestria after destroying it in countless timelines. This lasts all of four chapters.
- Secret Test of Character: To test Trixie's worth, Luna puts her into a dream where she is attacked by an inexplicably evil Twilight Sparkle. Trixie not only realizes she's outmatched from the start (which is all Luna was testing her for), she instinctively runs to get Twilight's friends for a solution.
- Shout-Out: A ponified Agent Coulson kidnaps Starlight Glimmer. And later, Trixie does a variant on his famous Stealth Hi/Bye entrance from the show's pilot.
- Spy Speak: The sign/countersign variant is utilised by Bon Bon at one point.
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: Sonata returns back to Equestria after a thousand years absence and has trouble adjusting to Equestrian society.
- That Came Out Wrong: Flash Sentry realizes he accidentally engaged in Fantastic Racism when he said that nothing good came from outside Equestria, and Shining pointed out that both the Crystal Empire and Thorax are from outside Equestria.
- Third-Person Person: Trixie, naturally. Lightning Dust calls her out on it when they meet.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Lightning has since realized that throwing away her chance at joining the Wonderbolts just for petty revenge for getting demoted wasn't really worth it.
- Who's on First?: Luna briefly gets into this with Lightning Dust due to a combination of Lightning Dust's drunkenness and Luna's use of the Royal "We", leading to the following exchange.Princess Luna: As We were saying, I—
Lightning Dust: Who's We?
Princess Luna: Me.
Lightning Dust: You?
Princess Luna: Aye!
Lightning Dust: I?
Princess Luna: Yes!
Lightning Dust: Me?
Princess Luna: SILENCE!
