History Fanfic / JustBeforeTheDawn

* DudeWheresMyRespect: A minor example, where after becoming a Praetorian, several of Tercio's new colleagues don't salute or use honorifics even though he outranks them. He isn't too fussed by this, since he recognises that the PraetorianGuard do things a little differently.

* DramaticIrony: As the narrative switches beween characters, this leads to plenty of cases where the reader is aware of events that the main cast are not.

** ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is referenced in an exchange between soldiers in the opening chapter.

* NotSoDifferent: One of the things Celestia and Tercio manage to bond over is their feelings of isolation from the rest of Equestria, owing to their status as princess and Equestria's sole human respectively.
-->'''Celestia''': Maybe we're not so different, you and I. It's rare I meet someone who can share the feeling of being a stranger in their own land.

* BadDreams: Celestia constantly falls victim to these, having banished Luna.

** Celestia jokingly references Galadriel's "All shall love me and despair" speech from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', when [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen discussing how intimidating]] some ponies view her as being.

** In one chapter the [[Franchise/DungeonsAndDragons Nine Hells]] are mentioned. Granted, they're not called Baator, but can ''you'' think of another work of fiction that uses that name?

* XMeetsY: [[WordofGod The author himself]] has explicitly gone on the record as saying the story is intended to be ''Series/{{Rome}}'' meets Equestria. Several comparisons to ''Series/GameOfThrones'' have been made as well.