The "brave knight" Nuance has set his sights on the lovely Quiet Dark, and intends to court her, and therefore besieges the dark tower in which she is imprisoned. Or to put it another way, Equestria's Prat Prince has decided to court the only daughter of its most unpleasantly lethal wizard, despite said Vizard'snote objections, and after getting the door slammed in his face, decides to camp out in the garden until Dim Dark relents.
Despite Blackbird's attempts to dissuade him from further provoking her husband's fury, Nuance persists, with the sisters Skyla and Flurry Heart showing up to aid him, despite their misgivings (and endless arguments), in Skyla's case, to make Quiet happy, and in Flurry's because Skyla convinces her to. As the siege progresses, advice comes from many sources to help Nuance and Quiet Earn Their Happy Ending.
A story in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic 'verse The Weedverse by Kudzuhaiku, it can be read here
.
The tropes in this story are:
- Aesop Amnesia: Possibly. Nuance reckons that Radiance has slipped back into old habits after Foalsitting Follies, but as Radiance does not appear, we don't know if this is true.
- Affectionate Nickname: Quiet calls Nuance "Nooncy".
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Dim Dark is a powerful Vizard and does not approve of Nuance courting his daughter, and has no problem leveraging his (justified) reputation to intimidate Nuance. He's not as bad as he could be though, as evidenced by the fact that Nuance is left (physically) unharmed. He's playing it up as part of a Plan to redeem Nuance.* Call-Back:
- The encounter with the Perspective Shift Stick are mentioned, including the lessons learned. Nuance is convinced that Radiance has slipped back into old ways, although even he must admit he's not as bad.
- Nuance is confused by Blueblood and Raven's Brains and Bondage relationship, which is why he's yet to ask for relationship advice.
- The events of Crystal Cotillion are mentioned as having ongoing consequences for Skyla.
- The Chains of Commanding: Discussed. Part of Dim's dislike of Nuance is believing him too weak for the duties of his station.
- Control Freak: Part of Luna and Dim's plan is addressing this trait of Nuance. By giving Nuance a threat he can overcomenote , but only and completely through his own actions, it gives him the control he needs to let him let the things he can't control go. It was Twilight and Cadance's idea, though both are unsure.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Discussed, Nuance asks if Dim Dark, who's darkness is more than his name, is evil, at which point he gets berated by both Skyla and Flurry who point out that Dim would not be the Court Mage of the Crystal Empire if he was evil.
- Deal with the Devil: Dim offers to release the potential of Nuance in exchange for Nuance leaving Quiet alone. Blackbird banishes his avatar before Nuance can respond.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Discussed, as Sinister explains that Nuance will have to work to improve himself and atone for past misdeeds if he wishes to court Quiet Dark. This is hardly a surprise, it's a core theme of The Weedverse.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Nuance is a bedwetter, and both Flurry and Skyla make cracks at him for it.
- The Ending Changes Everything: The Entirely Optional Epilogue reveals Dim's antagonism is part of a Plan concocted by Luna and Dim on the advice of Twilight and Cadance to try and help Nuance overcome his Control Freak nature and facilitate his relationship with a scion of a lineage prone to causing Love Redeems. The actual events as they play out are almost entirely what they intended.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Zig-Zagged. Dim has forbidden Quiet from seeing Nuance, to her distress, but for good reason, but when Nuance says he's been inspired to daydream by tales of chivalry, Dim insists he not stop daydreaming, despite his weakness, even interceding with Nuance's own parents on the matter.
- Fantastic Racism: Nuance's misdeeds include this kind of attitude, including a rant about half-breeds. Given that Quiet is hardly "pure-blooded", this was what caused Dim to draw the line and forbid further contact.
- Garden of Evil: The garden around Dim's tower. Because it's Dim's tower, of course the Vizard has a lethal garden, complicating Nuance's "siege".
- Girl in the Tower: The trope is evoked (and Invoked by the Nuance-centric narration), but there isn't actually an example, as the reason she's there is because she's still living with her parents, including Dim Dark, and so lives in his Mage Tower.
- The Glomp: Nuance is not impressed with Quiet's sudden ambush, though its outcome is not one he complains about.
- Gratuitous German: As is standard for Dim stories. Nuance, who does not speak the language, is lost.
- The Grovel: Step 1 of The Plan, apologise to Dim. With a brief aside to apologise to Quiet for going on a tear about half-breeds.
- Hate Sink: Blueblood's role as this In-Universe is Discussed, as Nuance's previous misdeeds derive from taking his unpleasant act, assuming it was real and considering it as the ideal of unicornhood, and trying to emulate it.
- An Ice Person: Flurry uses her powers to try and make Dim's firey avatars leave them alone.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Implied by Blackbird's dramatic exit after Quiet does something very, very noble.Blackbird: I’m gonna go bawl my eyes out now!
- Knight In Shining Armour: Nuance thinks of himself as this in the narration. He is a little lacking.
- Misaimed Fandom: In-Universe, Nuance was a victim of this, trying to emulate Blueblood's Hate Sink persona as the ideal of what a unicorn should be, with unpleasant results.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Quiet likes all sorts of icky things. This may or may not link to her liking of Nuance. Luna's own tendencies in this direction are also noted.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Sinister Dark says that Nuance and Dim are far too much alike, but uses it to teach Nuance how he might appease the dread Vizard. The concept is initially perplexing to Nuance, but he later Exploits it, comparing his relationship with Quiet to Dim's relationship with Blackbird, and mentioning that he's trying to be a knight, inspired by the same books as Dimnote . It runs much deeper than it initially appears. Dim has become invested in helping Nuance because he's been there, although his and Luna's Plan to save him relies on Nuance not realise that Dim actually does care about him.
- The Plan: Quiet and Blackbird (mostly Quiet) have one to help Nuance appease Dim (him, Flurry and Skyla were getting there, but much slower). The particulars are relayed by Blackbird to the besiegers. Dim and Luna were also running one for Nuance's redemption, apparently very close to the one that Quiet ultimately enacts.
- Playing with Fire: Dim, as always, has a facility for fire magic. In this case, he uses it to ignite a bird bath and form an avatar with which to intimidate his besiegers. After it's revealed he can scry through flames, Nuance becomes very paranoid. It's heavily implied in the main story, and stated in the Optional Epilogue, that this is far more than normal unicorn pyromancy. He's become one with the flame, and doesn't even need his body anymore.
- Pride: The core sin of both Dim and Nuance, and overcoming it is the core of Sinister's self-improvement speech to Nuance.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Nuance has not always been the best behaved of ponies (as seen in Foalsitting Follies), but is trying to improve. Despite this, many other ponies (including Dim) are unwilling to give another chance, at least, according to him. Flurry is having similar (though toned-down) problems atoning for her actions during the Crystal Cotillion.
- Shipper on Deck: Skyla supports Nuance/Quiet. Not because she thinks it's a good idea, but because Quiet is her best friend and she can't bear to see her sad. That and if she can't somehow work with Nuance, Equestria is doomed.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Sinister Dark uses both ends of this trope, showing up unexpectedly, dispensing much needed (but unpleasant) advice, and disappearing with similar aplomb. Later, Blackbird gets a three-part harmony of screams by dropping in on the trio of besiegers.
- Stern Teacher: Dim is always this, but when he discovers that Flurry and Sklya have decided to aid Nuance, he threatens to bury them in schoolwork.
- Single Tear: The last thing in the story is a Tear Of Joy from Luna, due the success of her and Dim's plan to help Nuance.
- Unreliable Narrator: Narrated from Nuance's perspective, making it more than a little biased. Lampshaded in The Rant of the first chapter.
- Volleying Insults: Sklya and Flurry Heart, with somewhat alarming regularity.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Nuance spends a couple of paragraphs griping that Luna didn't commend him for listening when she told him to fix his own problems rather than doing it herself.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Skyla despises Nuance, and has several rounds of Volleying Insults with her sister, but they work together to help Nuance with Dim.
- What Does She See in Him?: Many ponies cannot understand why Quiet could possibly like Nuance, including Skyla.
