One of the most prolific deconstructions of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is Friendship is Failure by Dakari-King Mykan. However, due to the fanfiction itself being heavily criticized, it got a deconstruction itself.
Friendship Prevails is the counterpart of Fall of Starfleet, Rebirth of Friendship, except for Friendship is Failure instead of My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic. The two recursive deconstructions even share the same universe, but not the same author. It can be read here
.
This story contains examples of:
- Action Prologue: The story starts with zombies attacking the Crystal Empire.
- Adaptational Villainy: While the protagonists of the original stories are jerks, here, they are outright villainous, except one case, Talon Ted, who is merely stripped of his Protagonist-Centered Morality.
- Miser Stash goes from a petty, but generous, hater of Hearth's Warming to a thief who attempts to buy a country.
- Strings's obsession with Cadance makes him a threat not only to himself this time, but to Cadance and her family as well.
- Manny Collars gets it the worst of all. From someone who acts petty because Rarity took credit for a dress, he's made to be a serial rapist.
- Badass in Distress: Shining Armor is captured by the villains. He still shows more dignity and competence than all of his captors.
- Chekhov's Skill: Talon Ted effectively used his acting skills to act as the Three Spirits that tormented Twilight for opposing Miser.
- Entitled to Have You: Strings is obsessed with Cadance to such an unhealthy degree that he not only believes that Shining Armor "stole her from him" (when, in actuality, she chose to date Shining), but also believes that Flurry Heart should have been his child instead.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Talon Ted isn't respected even by his like-minded peers, especially Miser.
- Hanging Judge: Manny's father favors his son for his framing of Rarity more than the prosecutor himself does.
- Impostor Forgot One Detail: Strings makes several slip-ups while pretending to be one of Shining Armor's soldiers. Shining notices too late and beats himself for it.
- Loving a Shadow: Strings only loved the idea of Cadance, not her as a person.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain:
- Miser Stash is a tad more competent than the other antagonists. He even nearly conquers a country.
- Strings might be a wimp, but because of some good acting, he succeeds at capturing Shining Armor with a cheap shot.
- Manny Collars is a serial rapist, who has traumatized many ponies, with connections that include his father being a judge, who nearly gets him acquitted of his severe crimes.
- Even the most pathetic of all antagonists, Talon Ted, could torment Twilight by posing as the Three Spirits of Hearth's Warming.
- Ruthless Modern Pirates: Pirates that are based on the modern pirates of Somalia plague the Crossing and Miser plans to buy them off to gain power.
- Skewed Priorities: Applejack asks Talon Ted if his pride takes priority over not getting imprisoned. Talon merely replies yes.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Talon Ted is on the receiving end of one, about how his pride in nothing matters to him more than the pride he could have in
something. - Token Heroic Orc: A heroic caribou was once Miser's partner in crime before he betrayed her. Now she works to bring him to justice.
- Would Hurt a Child: Neo-Starfleet's ultimate goal is to resurrect the Grand Ruler, a task which can only be accomplished by killing an alicorn. Therefore, they kidnap Flurry Heart to use her as a sacrifice.Strings: "It takes the death of an alicorn to make one... at least that's how it should work. Your daughter will die here, slowly, painfully, and you'll watch every minute!"
- Yandere: Strings. He is the one who captures Shining Armor and plans to kill Flurry because, in his head, she should be his daughter.
