Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Fanfic / Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rfe_4160.jpg

I am equine and I need to be loved, just like everypony else does...

Romance and the Fate of Equestria, or RFE, is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic written by Supa Supa Bad Truly Mad Moves. First published on June 2, 2012, and picking up where the second season ended, it has an elaborate continuity which ignores all post-season 2 canon, (though occasionally runs into eerie parallels with later official content) making it something of an Alternate Universe Fic due to its continued progress, much like The Nuptialverse.

The story begins with the Mane Six having a sleepover shortly after the events of the Season 2 finale, where Twilight reveals that her experiences at the wedding have gotten her interested in The Power of Love, which she intends to start studying the same way she studies friendship. What follows is a massive ensemble piece which weaves together many storylines, with all characters receiving a fair bit of the spotlight. While predominantly a Romantic Comedy, the flavor of its many plots varies enough to qualify it as a Gen Fic.

It can be found on fanfiction.net here. An illustrated version, featuring special features such as fantasy cast lists and song lyrics, is slowly being produced on DeviantArt and can be found here.

The series is divided into segments; Part One consists of chapters 1-36, while the much-longer Part Two ran from chapters 37-110. Part Three began on August 3, 2014 and is in progress.

Also has a prequel, Legend of the Goddesses, which serves as an Origins Episode for the RFE version of Celestia, Luna, Discord, and several OCs.

Romance and the Fate of Equestria and Legend of the Goddesses contain examples of the following tropes:

    open/close all folders 

    General 
  • Acceptable Breaks from Canon: Most canon from after Season 2 is ignored, save for minor strokes of inspiration and a whole lot of weird coincidences.
    • Snowdrop (2013) took place on the one hundredth anniversary of Celestia and Luna's rule. Before Snowdrop came out, RFE had already stated that the sisters only ruled together for nine years, so in Snowdrop's scenes in Legend, the events of her film are said to have happened on the first anniversary instead.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade
    • Rarity, from the beginning of the story, defaults to being gloomy and depressed; it's eventually revealed that she's been suffering from depression and self-loathing.
    • Celestia. It's implied that she's been a Stepford Smiler over the course of seasons 1 and 2 and has only now begun opening up, mostly just to Luna and Twilight.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
  • Affably Evil: Vorpal Blade, to the point where he's said to be too nice to use The Power of Hate properly.
  • Affectionate Nickname: A few characters get nicknames not seen in canon or fanon. Zecora is occasionally called "Z", Apple Bloom calls Silver Spoon "Silv"; Applejack calls Discord "Dis". "Tia", Luna's Fanon nickname for Celestia, is mentioned, but explicitly stated to have never been used by Luna. Luna herself is called "Lulu" by Princess Annihilara, who Luna in turn calls "Lara". Snicker-Snack calls Twilight "Smiley", even when they're not on the best of terms. Fluttershy and Big Mac call each other "Shy" and "Macky".
  • All Love Is Unrequited: Rarity likes Spike, who likes Sweetie Belle, who likes Featherweight, who likes Diamond Tiara.
  • All Women Are Lustful: Played increasingly straight as the story goes on.
  • Art Evolution: The illustrated version is being worked on by two artists, one of them the author. While their art is far from being great, the improvements they make with each successive piece are truly something to behold. KnitzyArtista95 is steadily phasing out her borderline-Chibi style for more appropriate proportions, while Truly Mad Moves is experimenting with getting more mileage out of his crayon-and-marker technique.
  • Author Appeal: The fanfiction term for this trope, "pepperjack cheese", is name-dropped by Spike when Twilight expresses her fondness for soft pretzels.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: Subverted, and defied by the author. While Part One ended on an extremely dramatic note, the author reminded us that the story's genre is listed as Romantic Comedy and that it would soon be returning to its Slice of Life roots, just like the show often does after big story arcs. Part Three has similarly gone back to comedy after the Darkest Hour that was the end of Part Two.
  • Character Catchphrase:
  • Character Development: Pretty much every character starts out with a T-rated version of their canon personality, and evolves over the course of the story.
    • Princess Luna's adjusting to the modern world can be tracked by her speech; her language becomes more and more modern with successive appearances, until Chapter 78, when she can be seen correcting herself every time she uses an antiquated word, and subsequently speaks normally.
    • The Cutie Mark Crusaders start to actually become noncommittal about earning their cutie marks, enjoying life as it is and pursuing projects for the sake of pursuing them. Apple Bloom gets her cutie mark from a simple moment of self-reflection, and actually has trouble getting used to the idea.
    • Much of the point of Legend of the Goddesses. It's a Foregone Conclusion for Celestia, who's a massive Jerkass for most of the prequel. Kopé is a good example as well; she goes from being willing to put up with an abusive companion so she doesn't Go Mad from the Isolation, to embracing the silence that follows her escape from that situation.
  • The Chosen One: Villainous example. Vorpal Blade is the chosen champion of Sørmur dï Mitgaeard.
  • Composite Character: Octavia is also Pinkie Pie's sister Inkie Pie, based on a fan theory long since Jossed.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: Oh, Pinkie Pie...
    Fluttershy: Hmm. I don't get it.
    Pinkie Pie: Well, it's funny 'cause the whole letter talks about Iron Will in the third person, and then it's signed Iron Will.
    Fluttershy: No, I got that...
  • Doorstopper: Both stories equal over 500,000 words.
  • Failed Attempt at Drama
    • Twilight triumphantly throws all of her books about romance into a trash can and decides to proceed intuitively... then remembers that the books belong to the library.
    • Derpy attempts to dramatically remove her wedding dress, only to get stuck inside it and need help getting out.
  • Flowery Elizabethan English: Luna's is mostly authentic, with an element of Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe for Rule of Cool purposes. She steadily outgrows it as the story progresses.
  • Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: Silver Spoon starts distancing herself from Diamond Tiara from their very first appearance, and they officially "break up" in Chapter 90.
  • Four Lines, All Waiting: There's a lot going on in this fic. Lampshaded by Discord:
    Discord: Some days, it feels like you ponies live in a story with about three hundred percent too many subplots.
    • Legend of the Goddesses has six distinct stories taking place in different time periods. As of Chapter 31, four of the stories have mostly blended together.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: The Cutie Mark Crusaders. With only a few months' education on magic and mechanical engineering, they are able to build machines that can turn anypony into a cyborg alicorn.
  • Genre-Busting: A Romantic Comedy on the surface, it has an easy time switching to mystery, drama, action, horror, or high fantasy depending on the situation.
  • God of Order: Sørmur dï Mitgaeard is obsessed with order, symmetry and geometric perfection. She finds the chaotic and disordered nature of life and the world loathsome and repellent, and seeks to remake existence into a world of smooth surfaces, metallic reflectiveness and perfect geometric shapes; her end goal involves turning the planet into a perfect, lifeless sphere, thus eliminating all disorder and irregularity from it.
  • Good All Along: Both Venni and Annihilara, at different times, turn out to be more than what they appear.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: The language is identified as Epoña, and Spike is fond of using it, whipping out every Gratuitous Spanish trope in the book, such as El Spanish "-o" and "El Niño" Is Spanish for "The Niño". For bonus points, the author actually uses the phrase español gratuito.
  • Greater-Scope Villain
    • Sørmur dï Mitgaeard fills this role, existing only as vague notions of something bigger and worse than Vorpal Blade, until her proper debut in Chapter 74, whereupon she takes the position of Big Bad.
    • There are implications the Beast is this.
  • Grey Goo: Sørmur dï Mitgaeard's original MO. Instead of nanobots, she uses actual gray goo.
  • Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Inverted with Rainbow Dash, who brings up the fact that she's bisexual as often as possible.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Gilda and Silver Spoon both have Character Development which leads them to this at a gradual pace. They both voluntarily befriend the Mane Six and the CMC, respectively, starting out as a Token Evil Teammate before becoming core members of their social groups.
    • Discord endlessly zig-zags this trope. As of the end of Part Two, he's allied with Queen Chrysalis but is having a horrible time of it, and who he is loyal to, if it's anyone but himself, is unclear.
  • Hellish Pupils: The trope is taken to its logical extreme by the Beast's pupils: they're pentagram-shaped. In addition, Cocoon's pupils are diamond-shaped and white; Queen Soledad's eyes have purple scleras, red irises, and yellow pupils; and Iron Throne's Supernatural Gold Eyes include his glowing pupils.
  • Hotter and Sexier: Than My Little Pony, as one might expect. Bawdy jokes and sexy situations abound, though the story seldom pushes the limit of its T rating. This receives a Lampshade Hanging in Chapter 117, which does push the limit quite a bit, when Twilight calls back to the events of Chapter 1:
    Twilight: Funny thing, isn't it? Before that night, we'd all known each other for over two years and I feel like we never once discussed sex or dating. But then I brought it up at that party, and ever since then it's practically all we ever talk about.
  • I Have Many Names: Venni. She's gone by the alias of Gewgaw, the stage name of Loli Pop, and currently calls herself Vengeance Lash. She hasn't yet revealed her birth name.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: A Running Gag, as in most FIM fics. Starts with Applejack in the first chapter, after discovering Big Mac's Chick Magnet status. Played as as a Running Funny Background Event in Chapter 87; as more bombshells are dropped about the Rainbow-Fluttershy-Mac Love Triangle, first Pinkie then Rarity then Applejack take big gulps of a drink Pinkie has behind the counter, despite the drink turning out to be salad dressing.
  • Incoming Ham: Annihilara tends to announce herself with huge musical fanfare and displays of her powers.
  • Interspecies Romance: A Discussed Trope in Chapter 52, first by the characters and then by the author, who goes into detail about the implications of the trope in all settings where it's possible.
  • Kaiju: Sørmur dï Mitgaeard, Lady Kolassa, and occasionally Annihilara.
  • Living Shadow: Annihilara.
  • Love Triangle: Spike gets over Rarity and starts pursuing Sweetie Belle at the same time Rarity considers accepting Spike's advances. Once the triangle actually becomes an issue, the conflict leads to Rarity becoming Shipper on Deck for Spike/Sweetie.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Queen Okapiopteryx appears to be a cross between an okapi and a Microraptor. Legend confirms that that's exactly what she is.
  • Mobile City: The Bazaar, which serves as the centerpiece for a fairly large portion of the story, is a floating city that travels the world as a mobile mercantile hub, returning to Equestria every few years.
  • The Nicknamer: Gilda. Twilight is "Bangs", Pinkie is "Party Girl", and Fluttershy is "Peeper" or "Ducky".
  • Nothing Is Scarier: The Beast is only seen in bits and pieces—literally, as he's been chopped up and only some of his parts found. When seen alive in Legend of the Goddesses, he is shrouded in darkness and we see no part of him we haven't seen before. When Discord conjures up an illusion of him, his appearance is barely described.
  • Oh, Crap!
    • Twilight has a huge one early on in Part Two, when Celestia mentions that the previous story arc's use of Vagueness Is Coming did not refer to the heist of the castle that served as Part One's climax, but to something even bigger.
    • In Legend, Discord's "Ohhhhh no" when his Kaiju of a mother unexpectedly attacks him; and, in an extremely similar vein, Celestia's "Holy shit" when being chased down by Lady Kolassa.
  • Oh, My Gods!: Variants on the common "oh my Celestia" are used. Celestia herself, meanwhile, has responded to a shock by saying "Oh my Hasbro!"
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Fluttershy's agitation at wanting to ask out Big Mac expresses itself as highly un-Fluttershy-like ranting and cursing. The author cites the use of this trope in Chapter 2 as one of his biggest failings, as the readers took it as a simple Out-of-Character Moment, having not learned yet whether he could write the characters properly.
    • Used again by Fluttershy and lampshaded here:
      Fluttershy: So, this was all some kind of petty tit-for-tat? Damn it, Rainbow, I don't DO that!
      Rainbow Dash: Not to nitpick, but you don't normally yell at me or swear, either.
    • After the first battle against Sørmur dï Mitgaeard, Discord seems to go into mild shock, and is remarkably subdued.
    • Cheerilee goes into Unstoppable Rage at the sight of a schoolyard brawl, a moment OOC enough to prompt Sweetie Belle into having a Heel Realization for participating in the brawl in the first place.
  • Order Versus Chaos: Mitgaeard serves as a representative of "evil order", being the Anthropomorphic Personification of logic. She makes two attempts at a Grey Goo scenario; after those failures, she switches tactics to creating worldwide, regimented tyranny. Discord points out that her introduction shakes up the ponies' worldview quite a bit, especially since the Elements of Harmony would be worse than useless against her.
  • Perky Goth: Apple Bloom of all ponies becomes this. Though it's her angst and depression that lead to the decision to become goth, the makeover itself seems to lead directly to regaining her original, perky personality.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: Skippmud is racist against griffons and has called Rainbow Dash a dyke. Word of God calls her "just plain hateful".
  • Powered Armor: Empress Song Li.
  • The Power of Hate: Vorpal Blade's magic runs on this; his whole purpose in getting to know Twilight was to betray her and get her to hate him, and he continues to make contact with her to kindle her hate even further.
  • The Power of Love: As the title indicates, Twilight starts studying this as a supplement to learning about The Power of Friendship.
  • Precision F-Strike: Cursing in the story is frequent but fairly mild; serious words are reserved for serious moments:
    • Twilight experiences a severe frightful moment and remarks, "Oh, shit."
    • Discord drops the F-word during a rant about his mother.
    • The author has one when "Twilight's Kingdom" promises to be yet another episode with eerie parallels to the events of the fic.
    • Anytime Fluttershy curses is this. Though she was the first character in the story to technically use bad language, it's definitely only under serious duress that she does so.
  • Prophet Eyes: Snicker-Snack, aka Vorpal Blade, has blank white eyes.
  • Psychic Link: Discord and Celestia have been mentally linked for a thousand years.
  • The Rant: Both versions contain some pretty lengthy ones, with those on DeviantArt serving as something of a look back.
    • Averted in Legend of the Goddesses. While RFE contains many rants, Legend has only one, at the end of the prologue, which explains that there will be no further rants in order to provide the readers with complete immersion.
  • Really 700 Years Old: The goddesses. Vorpal Blade reveals that he and his friends are also immortal, he being this trope and Skippmud and Crazyface merely being Older Than They Look.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech
    • Twilight gives one to Vorpal Blade at the climax of Part One, all while pelting him with magic spells.
    • Rainbow Dash really digs into Big Macintosh after they spent the first few minutes of their date in total silence, and she demands to know why he ever broke up with Fluttershy.
    • Legend examples: Jolly gives one to Soledad via a doo-wop harmony sung by her three young daughters, and it's one of only many that Soledad gets. Ragnarok gives one to Celestia and Luna about their constant fighting.
  • Recursive Fanfiction: To Snowdrop 2013. Luna spends much of Part Two attempting to make a Bio Pic of Snowdrop's life. Also to Cupcakes (Sergeant Sprinkles), in an Alternate Continuity sort of way; in RFE, Cupcakes is a book series which has recently been adapted to film.
  • Red Baron: Kolassa is "Titaness of the Whispering Desert", and Okapiopteryx is "the Four-Winged Queen". Legend of the Goddesses also features repeated use of "vampire queen of the seaponies" and "lords of flames and terror", though these titles aren't capitalized. Sørmur dï Mitgaeard is also called "Serpent of the Matrix", though this is said to be a translation of her name rather than a title. The trope is lampshaded by Annihilara.
    Annihilara: I'm Annihilara. No title, no "of" anything, just Annihilara.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Crazyface seems to avert this at first—red eyes aren't unheard of in ponies—but it's quickly revealed that he came to deserve those eyes by being one of the most savage and unforgivable characters in the story. Annihilara fits the "dangerous" aspect of the trope, but not the evil part.
  • The Reveal: Many:
    • A couple of bombshells are dropped at the climax of Part One, first that Twilight's boyfriend is a master criminal at large and is even now on his way to steal the crown jewels of Equestria—with more and more Reveals about his true nature coming as the story continues. Part One's denouement gives us another: Gilda has a bloodthirsty changeling imprisoned in her basement, and it's he who produces Golden Thread.
    • Part Two's biggest ones are the unveiling of the real Big Bad, Sørmur dï Mitgaeard, Discord being returned to life to protect the Elements of Harmony from her, and the exact relationship that exists between the two.
  • Reveal Shot: The literary equivalent is pulled a couple of times.
    • In Chapter 17, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh have a conversation which is eventually revealed to be taking place in bed, just before they were about to have sex for the first time.
    • Done again to a lesser extent in Chapter 37, which appears to be a private Freudian Couch scene between Twilight and Rarity, until Rarity casually asks why Rainbow Dash is there as well.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: Queen Okapiopteryx speaks entirely in limericks as an example to her followers, including Zecora.
  • Running Gag: Several, most notably the one in which Rainbow Dash baits Applejack with a comment about the latter being a hillbilly—usually but not always related to inbreeding—to which Applejack responds with a Pie in the Face.
  • Said Bookism: Brought up by the author:
    Like any young writer, I've been told a couple of times that I overuse the word "said", and should try replacing it with more colorful alternatives. As I write this story, I'm starting to realize that I'm finally running into the opposite problem: using the "colorful alternatives" too often to the point that it's douchey and pretentious. Pretty cool, huh? I've never been douchey and pretentious before. That's what they call growth as a writer.
  • Second Love: Joe.
  • Self-Deprecation: Scootaloo frequently makes jokes that disparage her own intelligence. Played for Drama, meanwhile, with Rarity, whose depression makes her unable to see the good in herself.
    • Then there's the author, whose rants are sometimes light-hearted and sometimes outright suicidal but almost always self-deprecating in some way.
  • Shameless Self-Promoter: The author has proved himself willing to try some pretty extreme, desperate, and pathetic things to get people talking about the story. Including creating this page.
  • Shout-Out: The cover art for Chapter 6 is a reference to the cover art to the famous fic The Vinyl Scratch Tapes.
  • The Snark Knight: Skippmud.
  • Sophisticated as Hell: Princess Luna, as she adapts to modern language.
    Unsurprising, sister. 'Tis well-known that thou canst not see in the dark worth crap.
    Well met by moonlight, home-slice.
    • Annihilara as well, who concludes an ominous farewell with "Lates, yo" and enters the Gathering of the Goddesses with "What up, my immortal bitches?" Crosses over with Totally Radical.
  • Spell My Name With An S: A few characters fall victim to common misspellings of their names: Big Macintosh instead of Big McIntosh, Fancypants instead of Fancy Pants, Owloysius instead of Owlowiscious. At least Princess Cadance was spared.
  • Sssssnake Talk: Sørmur dï Mitgaeard.
  • Steven Ulysses Perhero: Such a thing is a genuine force in the story, dubbed "name science", and is a frequent topic of discussion.
  • Strange-Syntax Speaker: Cocoon. His sentences are constructed backwards, one word at a time, and even reading them backwards produces a few strange quirks.
  • Sudden Name Change: Alicorns are identified as "immortals" in the story. The term "alicorn" had not yet become canon when the story started using "immortal", but it had always been Fanon, making this a somewhat odd decision. Word of God admits a few times that it wasn't the best idea, and Legend of the Goddesses uses "alicorn" on occasion.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Iron Throne and Soledad both have yellow pupils.
  • Terrible Trio: Vorpal Blade, Skippmud, and Crazyface are both the story's most prominent villains and an inseparable trio of True Companions.
  • There Are No Therapists: Sort of. In a few situations where a therapist would be called for, Twilight is used. Otherwise, therapy doesn't seem to be needed, since characters are able to simply talk out their feelings with whatever friends are available.
  • Those Two Guys: DJ P0n-3 and Octavia in RFE, Ragnarok and Xanadu in Legend.
  • Vagueness Is Coming: Celestia spends much of the story plagued by ominous predictions, but has trouble getting any more specific than A Storm Is Coming, much to her frustration.
  • Verbal Tic: DJ P0n-3, ahhh yeah. Also Celestia whenever she's addressing Twilight; her statements are peppered with various pet names, "darling" and "dearest" being the most common.
  • Walking Spoiler: It's immensely hard to talk about Snicker-Snack without mentioning that he's a villain whose name is actually Vorpal Blade. Even a single mention of the latter's name gives away the connection for anyone who's familiar with Jabberwocky.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Skippmud has a very deep resentment for her special talent of catching fish, regarding it as useless. Silver Spoon is similarly insecure about her own cutie mark: it symbolizes that she's meant to be a servant or sidekick to a friend. Annihilara, though she has impressive Casting a Shadow powers, is definitely in the same boat as the first two as far as her cutie mark talent, suicide.
  • The Worf Effect:
    • Vorpal Blade effortlessly takes out three royal guards, Luna, Shining Armor, and Celestia, in that order, before being almost defeated by Twilight.
    • In Annihilara's first appearance, she appears to be sent packing by Trixie and her adventuring team, then proves that she's been Just Toying with Them when she runs into an Ursa Major on her way out and kills it instantly.
  • Worldbuilding: Begins near the end of Part One, with a few veiled references to the world's history. Starts hitting its stride in Part Two, with the exploration of the past and the numerous countries and cultures outside of Equestria. Legend of the Goddesses is almost entirely about this.

    Part One 

    Part Two 
  • A Million Is a Statistic: Averted. Twilight implements a plan to destroy the changeling hive, which will kill what she estimates to be three thousand changelings, and all of the Mane Six are disturbed by the notion, but agree to do what they must. When Twilight is revealed to have underestimated the population of the hive by about twenty-two thousand, the Mane Six have a joint Heroic BSoD.
  • Bee People: The changelings are explicitly compared to social insects, and the full extent of the comparison zig-zags. First, they live in a hive and have three genders — male, female, and queen — however, there appear to exist social complexities and hierarchies beyond that. Males are used as slave labor until sexually viable, at which point they mate until they die, but rather than with the queen, this happens with "as many females as possible", so Chrysalis is not the mother of the entire colony. Finally, Chrysalis being the colony's lone queen is theorized to be a matter of personal preference rather than the race's social structure.
  • Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Changelings, crossing over with Bee People, have sexual trimorphism. "Queen" isn't merely Queen Chrysalis's title, but also her gender; all the other changelings seen in the show were females, and males are a creation of the author. They are smaller than queens but much larger than females, have comically oversized wings, bull horns which work magic in the same way as a unicorn horn, and produce magical silk from their nostrils.
  • Broken Bird: Twilight after her experience with Vorpal Blade. She refers to the trope by name.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: Chrysalis admits to as much:
    Rainbow Dash: Wait, did you just admit that you're evil?
    Queen Chrysalis: Hmm? Oh, yes, I suppose so. It's been said that my ultimate goal of collecting food for my people is, in fact, a righteous and heroic cause for a queen to take, but if I'm being honest with myself, I have to admit that that's not my motivation at all. I just like undermining the dignity of every sentient creature I come across. I like to see them writhe in pain. I like to hear their screams. I like to see the look on a creature's face when they know there's no hope left in the world. If all of that qualifies as evil, then fine, I'm certifiably evil and immensely proud of it.
  • Cerebus Retcon: Gilda reveals that, in "Griffon the Brush Off", she was fleeing her country and came to Rainbow Dash looking for a place to stay. When that episode ended badly, she was left with nowhere to go.
  • Cliché Storm: In-Universe.
    Twilight: …This may hurt. And not the least bit because it's going to be a huge pack of clichés…
    Joe: Um, okay…
    Twilight: I'm still a bit of a broken bird after what happened with Vorpal Blade. I had a great time tonight, but I'm not ready for another relationship. I think we should just be friends.
    Joe: That wasn't too many clichés. At least you didn't say you had a fear of intimacy…
  • Darkest Hour: The final arc of Part Two has the Mane Six going on a mission to stop the changelings. Cocoon captures them and Discord abandons them to their fate. The following chapter gets even darker, with Discord joining Chrysalis and giving her a plan for taking over Equestria. Even after this plot is over, Chrysalis and Discord are still out there, the six are in a Heroic BSoD from all the death they caused, and on top of that they find out that Celestia and Luna have left Equestria on a dangerous mission. Thus ends Part Two.
  • Evil Tastes Good: Chrysalis savors the smell and taste of Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow—since, unlike the last time they met, those three are in love.
  • Exact Words: Discord can't lie and must obey all orders from Celestia and Twilight. Being Discord, this trope naturally comes into play.
  • Flanderization: Invoked with Rarity's impersonation of Rainbow Dash:
    Rarity: In ten seconds flat this will be twenty percent cooler and I'll take forty winks... bitches.
  • Floating Continent: The Bazaar.
  • Funetik Aksent: DJ P0n-3 is given a Cockney accent, which is written out phonetically starting in Part Two. Exaggerated with minor character Ryu, whose unspecified British accent is so thick that Funetik Aksent is applied to every single word he says.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Cheerilee breaks up the fight between Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara by angrily chewing them out for stooping to name-calling and physical violence, before calling the blockheads and smashing their heads together.
    Cheerilee: There will be no name-calling and certainly no physical violence on school grounds, you blockheads! (smashes their heads together)
    • Lampshaded by Scootaloo:
      Scootaloo: I never knew hypocrisy could be so awesome.
  • Knight of Cerebus
    • Sørmur dï Mitgaeard is pure Nightmare Fuel, who nearly TPKs the Mane Six and Discord in her first in-person appearance. One Godzilla Threshold after another gets crossed because of her.
    • Queen Chrysalis makes her in-story debut during Part Two's climax, and things get very bleak during that segment.
  • Malicious Misnaming: Sweetie Belle's affectionate Fan Nickname of "Squeaky Belle" gets put in Diamond Tiara's mouth and suddenly becomes a harsh insult. Gilda calls Discord "Zipcord", though as she had previously been established as having trouble with names this one could just as easily have been Accidental Misnaming.
  • Romantic False Lead: Pierce.
  • Runaway Bride: Derpy runs out on her wedding to be with Rainbow Dash.
  • Sex Equals Love: Twilight sets the parameters of her relationship with Donut Joe as Friends with Benefits; by the time they have to part ways, she's changed her mind, even though it's fairly clear they haven't done much together besides have sex.
  • She Is All Grown Up: Mildly; Scootaloo hits a growth spurt early in Part Two, gaining a physique matching the description of young Fluttershy.
  • Stalker Shrine: Downplayed. Joe openly displays a bulletin board in his shop depicting memorabilia from times he's spent with Twilight.
  • Tragic Villain: Vorpal Blade, Skippmud, and Crazyface visit Twilight in her dreams and attempt to paint themselves as this. As sympathetic as their backstories may be, Twilight doesn't buy into their Freudian Excuse, and ends up simply hating them more, which may have been their intent all along.
  • Truly Single Parent: Discord says this about his mother, even acknowledging the pun.
  • Vegetarian Carnivore: Gilda explains that she's made an effort to become such, which had detrimental effects to her health. Fluttershy is accepting of her carnivorism.
    • Inverted with Skippmud, who tells of her attempts to eat fish, to the same result.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: It is stated in a few early chapters that Twilight has known Donut Joe since childhood.
  • Villainous Incest: Lyra and Bon Bon are revealed to be not only a couple, but cousins as well. Queen Chrysalis and Cocoon are first revealed to be siblings, then lovers.
  • Waxing Lyrical:
  • Wham Line: Mitgaeard to Discord:
    Sørmur dï Mitgaeard: Not even you could ssssssink sssssso low as to kill your own mother.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Pinkie's relationship with Fancypants goes unmentioned for over thirty chapters. Chapter 108 implies that Pinkie has completely forgotten that she's dating him, and the subject gets changed before she can be reminded.
  • Wrong-Name Outburst: Twilight accidentally addresses Joe as "Snick" during a tender moment. He's more accepting of it than she is.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: When Rarity encounters Fancypants at the Bazaar, there's an implicit Hope Spot of her getting into a relationship and starting to recover from her depression. He ends up dating Pinkie Pie instead.

    Part Three 

    Legend of the Goddesses 
  • Alpha Bitch: Ragnarok at first, but she is quickly Demoted To Beta Bitch by Celestia.
  • Alternate Universe Fic: Being a prequel of RFE, which uses a Season 2-based continuity, nearly all backstory introduced after Season 2 is ignored. In particular, the Season 4 premiere rendered nearly the entire story obsolete. A lot of Fanon from early in the show's run is used: in particular, Celestia is uniformly pink and Luna has her de-powered Season 1 appearance.
  • Anachronic Order: Jumps between six different stories, each taking place in a different time period.
  • Appropriated Appellation: Defied by Kopé, who refuses to let Bogglesby come up with her name, knowing she'll be stuck with it. Played straight by Kolassa; "Lady Kolassa" and "Titaness of the Whispering Desert" are nicknames she received from her community.
  • Awesome McCoolname: Discord compliments Thunderblast on his impressive name.
  • Bad Boss: Khan, the king of the serpents, is also a king of this trope. In the space of two paragraphs, he uses two of his closest subordinates as a shield against a Breath Weapon, uses handfuls of smaller serpents as knuckle-dusters, and shoves another handful of his subjects down his opponent's throat.
  • Battle Aura: Alicorns are surrounded by one of these at all times. This trait of the race, which goes back to when the entire pony species was young, seems to vanish during the generations that pass during Celestia and Luna's story. By the time Celestia and Luna gain the throne of Equestria, they no longer have their auras.
  • Blasphemous Boast: Celestia goads Luna into declaring "We rule the sun and moon." The actual being in charge of that, Queen Stellaris, immediately appears before them, and punishes them for it.
  • Blind Mistake: Mocked by Snowdrop, who reveals that she recognized Celestia from a distance, then pretends to be unaware that she's now talking to Celestia herself.
  • Blind Seer: Carto. She has scars where her eyes should be, but is said to have a "dreaming eye", and often analyzes the personalities and the futures of new gods.
  • Broken Ace: Celestia. Admitting as much puts her on the path to a Heel–Face Turn.
  • The Caligula: Queen Soledad, mildly. Rather than being insane or violent, the most common statement about her is that she never does anything. Princess Bubbles is a straighter example, spending all of her time staring at the crown jewels and killing anypony who causes her to look away. In RFE, Discord claims that Bubbles' mother and predecessor Princess Platinum was this as well—and then, needless to say, there's Discord himself when he takes Bubbles' throne. With Celestia, it's not made clear if her horrible behavior extends to her governing policies as well, though she seems to have good publicity. Then there are the Old Gods, who are a bit unhinged and have a massive sense of entitlement—basically, there are a whole lot of Caligulas in this story.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Spyder trains Kolassa in this practice. As a very young filly, Kolassa is able to shatter incoming weapons with her head, and as an adult can engage an opponent fifty feet tall in Good Old Fisticuffs, all through sheer willpower. Being a demigod might have something to do with it, but Spyder appears to be capable of similar feats.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Chapter 17 opens with a warning that that lone chapter is rated M. This turns out to be why.
  • Companion Cube: Fork regularly talks to the sapphire on his charm bracelet.
  • Continuity Nod: Many events and bits of world-building, referenced in RFE, are seen in their entirety here.
  • Curse Escape Clause: Mitgaeard curses Discord to lose all of his magical powers until he becomes a king.
  • Darker and Edgier: Consistently as dark as the absolute darkest parts of RFE.
  • Double Standard: Rape, Divine on Mortal: Averted; Kane and Boll pulling this trope on Rhea Strait is treated as an appropriately horrible deed. They first change shape to pose as Rhea's husband, and when she doesn't fall for it they outright Mind Rape her into believing it for long enough to let them impregnate her.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Numerous characters and events from this story were mentioned briefly in RFE before being seen in their entirety in this story.
  • Eldritch Abomination
    • The Old Gods seem to fit this trope more than Physical God. Stellaris is the only one whose appearance can be easily defined, and the twins Hukwurm and Shifter don't even have a consistent appearance.
    • Spectatus, who is an alien being consisting of nothing but floating eyeballs and a dagger-toothed smile.
  • Eldritch Location: The Sea of Stars, homeworld of Song Li and the changelings, is seen briefly.
  • End of an Age: During Celestia and Luna's childhood, they live in a village populated entirely by alicorns, and all alicorns possess a Battle Aura which surrounds them at all times. Four hundred years later, for no explained reason, alicorns are nearly extinct and those who do live no longer have auras.
  • Everything's Better with Rainbows: The Old Gods often vanish in a pillar of rainbow sparkles.
  • Evil Chancellor: The powerless Discord becomes this to Prince Dragonglass in an effort to take the throne.
  • Expy: Kane and Boll are essentially Discord if he had two heads. Their body implements Fashionable Asymmetry (in particular, note their feet: one hoof and one talon, just like Discord), and their Mind Rape of Kolassa's mother is very similar to what Discord did to Fluttershy in "The Return of Harmony Part 1", and their overall playful, theatrical, Affably Evil demeanor matches Discord's to a tee. In-Universe, Discord admits that he may have made himself an expy of them.
  • Family Theme Naming: Jolly's children: the triplet daughters Siren, Selkie, and Merrow, and son Apkallu, all named for mermaid-like creatures of various mythologies.
  • Fertile Feet: Celestia and Luna's mother, Gaia, leaves a trail of grass, flowers, and pollen wherever she goes.
  • Freudian Excuse: Luna cites their Disappeared Dad as the reason for Celestia's Alpha Bitch attitude which stays with her well into adulthood.
  • Furry Confusion: Song Li's country is inhabited by deer. This was before Season 4 added deer to the FIM canon as animals, not people.
  • Giant Flyer: Corvid, to borderline-Kaiju levels. Also a villainous example of the Noble Bird of Prey.
  • The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Celestia and Luna, though the conflict is far from light-hearted.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Soledad.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Scraggle is reduced to this after being hit by the Elements of Harmony.
  • Hidden Depths: Ragnarok and Xanadu appear to be your basic Alpha Bitch with The Ditz sidekick, but they actually seem to grow more mature as they get older, which is more than can be said for Celestia, Luna, and Annihilara.
  • How We Got Here: The prologue features snippets of various scenes from the goddesses' (and Discord's) lives, and the rest of the story serves to contextualize those moments, some at the very beginnings of their stories and others much later.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Celestia, repeatedly. She obviously sincerely bonds with Luna—otherwise the Elements of Harmony wouldn't work—but once their mission is over she pretends it was all an act and resumes treating Luna like dirt. Hundreds of years later, Discord's Mind Rape and Breaking Lecture give her a pretty clear and traumatic look at herself, but once he's defeated she acts as if she was entirely unaffected. Discord later lampshades it:
    Discord: Oh, how moving. Yet another epiphany for you to completely ignore once the moment is gone.
  • Kick the Dog: Celestia does this constantly, and the "dog" tends to be Luna.
  • Kissing Cousins: Princess Bubbles and Prince Dragonglass. Understandable, as they're royalty who live a thousand years before the present timeline. Discord's dialogue indicates that such a thing is perfectly normal in their society, but his personal recommendation is to avoid it.
  • Kraken and Leviathan: Evade identifies himself as a leviathan, though Soledad insists on calling him a Sharktopus.
  • Last of His Kind: Evade is the last leviathan. Minister Giorgi is the last Megaloceros, being the only child of the last pair.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: Depending on whether you read RFE or Legend first, a few surprises from the other story will be spoiled for you.
  • Multiple Head Case: Kane and Boll. Unusually, they get along with each other perfectly.
  • O.C. Stand-in: Princess Bubbles and Prince Dragonglass are the couple from the history book in "Hearts and Hooves Day".
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Princess Amethyst Abjurer Dweomer is better known as Princess Bubbles.
  • Parental Abandonment: Celestia and Luna's father, Helium, has abandoned the family at some point prior to the beginning of the story.
  • Race Lift: The prince in the "Hearts and Hooves Day" book was an earth pony; Prince Dragonglass is a unicorn instead. Similarly, Princess Bubbles is an alicorn, while the princess she's based on was an earth pony in one shot and an alicorn in another.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: In a story containing almost no obscene language, Scraggle curses harshly and constantly. Take a look at his Establishing Character Moment:
    Scraggle: Shiiiiit, man. It's been a long-ass fuckin' time since bitches fuckin' dared to challenge my shit. Fuck yeah!
  • Square-Cube Law: Actually mentioned by name during Kolassa's story. Indeed, growing her to an enormous size is explicitly used as a method to kill her.
  • Stop Being Stereotypical: Khan snaps at Mitgaeard about her Sssssnake Talk; indeed, Mitgaeard is the only serpent in the story to talk like that.
  • Third-Person Person: Spyder.
  • Time Abyss: The Old Gods. Stellaris states that some of them predate the world itself. It takes them seven million years to notice that Mitgaeard exists, and when Discord mentions he's almost a million years old, they laugh him off as young and stupid.
  • The Unreveal: Bogglesby's cutie mark. Okapiopteryx considers sneaking a peek at it, but decides she doesn't care.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Hukwurm is The Swarm, but what exactly he's a swarm of changes wildly with his mood; seemingly, any sort of invertebrate is up for grabs. His sister Shifter's constant shapeshifting is less voluntary.
  • We Can Rule Together: Nightmare Moon offers this to Annihilara.
  • You Already Changed the Past: Fork quickly realizes that this trope applies to him, and begins to take sadistic glee in manipulating events however he likes, knowing it's all predetermined.

I'm Rainbow Dash, bitch.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top