Fanfic / Sleepless

Strange things happen in Ponyville. Foals start to disappear; their parents and siblings, struck by grief, will resort to every means to find the cause. Some of them blame timberwolves; some blame the zebra living in the forest. Some of them even blame their fellow ponies. None of them, however, suspects a little filly suffering from insomnia...

Sleepless is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction by Samey90. It tells the story of Diamond Tiara who struggles with severe insomnia causing her to lose control over her body. To make things worse, it causes her to unconsciously murder other foals.

The fanfic has four sequels, Thirsty, which continues the Berry Punch arc from the first story, Manehattan Blues, which is set in the same universe, seven years after the original story and is focused on Babs Seed's life in Manehattan, filled with crime and poverty, and Children of Equestria, which takes place ten years after the end of Sleepless and connects this story to ''Manehattan Blues''. An Interquel called Elektrichka was written as an introduction to Manehattan Blues. The sixth story called Moonwing and focusing on Scootaloo and Archer is in the works.

Not to be confused with the 2017 film Sleepless.

The series contains examples of the following tropes:

Sleepless

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Averted. The knife Diamond Tiara uses is too small to sever Alula’s wing.
• The Alcoholic: Berry Punch and Vinyl Scratch.
• Alcoholic Parent: Berry Punch to her daughter, Ruby.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Cloud Kicker in chapter 10.
• Arc Words: “There’s no pageant”.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Sunshine Rainbows invokes this trope when she suggests that Twilight Sparkle is the killer.
• Asshole Victim: Subverted. It seemed that it’ll be Scootaloo’s fate, but Diamond Tiara ended up killing Alula instead of her.
• The Atoner: Diamond Tiara at the end of the fic.
• Berserk Button: Hurting her daughter is Berry Punch's one. It doesn't end well for Vinyl.
  • Also, suggesting Berry that Ruby hates her.
• Beware of the Nice Ones: Diamond Tiara isn’t exactly nice, but she’s still a 9-year-old filly. Also, Curtain Call seems rather nice at first.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Scootaloo/Alula delivers one, complete with This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!.
  • Also, Berry Punch to Vinyl Scratch in chapter 7, punctuated with a Groin Attack.
• Break the Cutie: Zippoorwhill. Also, Diamond Tiara.
• Breather Episode: Chapter 4, appropriately named “Sunny Day”.
• The Bully: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Sunshine Rainbows also qualifies.
• The Butler Did It: Discussed and lampshaded by Silver Spoon.
• Chekhov's Gun: Pepper’s pills.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Curtain Call, or rather her hallucination.
• Cooldown Hug: Octavia and Dr. Stable in chapter 9.
• Creepy Child: A couple of those appear in chapter 6. First we have Curtain Call, who killed her parents and went to Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant rehearsal, Pepper, a paranoic who’s off his meds, and Emo Teen Sunshine Rainbows.
• Creepy Monotone: Diamond Tiara in chapter 11.
• Deadpan Snarker: Diamond Tiara, especially when she’s about to kill someone:
  “No need to hurry? Listen, there’s no time for your games! I can die here!” Scootaloo hissed and rubbed her leg.
  “Funny you mention that…”
• Demoted to Extra: Mane 6. Rainbow Dash has a few lines, Twilight is mentioned, Applejack and Rarity make cameo appearances, and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy don’t appear at all.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Silver Spoon in Diamond Tiara’s arms.
• Disappeared Dad: Silver Spoon's father. There are hints suggesting that it's better that way.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Vinyl Scratch after Zippoorwhill finds the bodies of Alula and Twist.
• Emo Teen: Sunshine Rainbows isn’t exactly a teen, but she certainly qualifies.
• Exact Words: From chapter 5:
  Once again, Diamond Tiara thought about Silver Spoon – it was her mother whom she’d heard complaining about making storms a “bloody picnic”.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Berry Punch in chapter 7.
• Fantastic Racism: Against zebras and bat ponies. Cloud Kicker is the best example.
• Fingore: Or rather wingore.
• Flies Equals Evil: Zippoorwhill’s nightmares at the beginning of chapter 8.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten. The ending. Overlaps with Reformed, but Rejected.
• Freudian Excuse: Why Silver Spoon became a bully:
  She [Diamond Tiara] was so used to happy, mischievous Silver Spoon that she’d almost forgotten how vulnerable she could be. Deep inside, she’d always known that her friend’s usual behaviour was merely a mask; she was hanging out with Diamond, agreeing with every her word, to forget how she used to be bullied herself.
• A God Am I: Diamond Tiara briefly in chapter 6, after killing Alula and Twist.
• Going Cold Turkey: Berry Punch tries this after Ruby's death. The subsequent delirium almost kills her.
• Gossipy Hens: Some of Ponyville dwellers, including Nurse Redheart, Lily, and Cherry Berry.
• Gratuitous Spanish: The title of the first chapter. It's also a homage to an etching by Francisco de Goya The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters (Spanish: El sueño de la razón produce monstruos)
• Hallucinations: They’re getting creepier as Diamond’s condition progresses.
• Hearing Voices: Diamond Tiara, of course.
• Heel Realisation: Briefly in chapter 2:
  Silver, Babs Seed… Do I even have real friends or just followers?
• Hell Is That Noise: Diamond Tiara hears a high-pitched noise just before she kills Pipsqueak.
• Hikikomori: Downplayed; Silver Spoon rarely leaves her room and is socially awkward, but she still leaves her room from time to time and is a good friend with Diamond Tiara.
• Imagine Spot: Diamond Tiara has one during Pipsqueak's funeral, when she imagines Ponyville citizens lynching her.
  • There’s also one at the beginning of chapter 10.
• I’m an Equinitarian: Pepper believes that the doctors added Sunshine Rainbows’ brain to his food. Since Sunshine is alive, it’s probably just one of his delusions.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Silver Spoon.
• Inspired by…: Bootsy Slickmane's short story Insomnia.
• Instant Sedation: Subverted. It takes some time before Zippoorwhill goes down, and even then she’s weakened rather than knocked out cold.
• Interrupted Suicide: Diamond Tiara tries to hang herself in chapter 11, but is stopped by Apple Bloom. She promptly tries to kill her instead.
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Chapter 5 is called “Stormy Night” as a reference to this trope.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Minuette gets increasingly more cynical over the course of the fic:
  Cherry Berry glared at her angrily. “I thought you were helping my cousin…” she said.
  Minuette levitated a mug of cider in front of her, drank the rest of the beverage and threw the mug back on the table, making all the glasses jangle. “I’m helping her, but I still think she’s an idiot,” she replied, trying to focus her gaze on Cherry Berry.
• Lethally Stupid: Cloud Kicker.
  ’’’Riot Control:’’’ If I recall correctly, she’s kinda dense… You’ve mentioned she said that she wanted to burn some bat pony’s house but then someone stole her kerosene, right?
• Lovable Nerd: Silver Spoon and Twist.
• Macabre Moth Motif: Anytime a moth appears, someone will surely die.
• Madness Mantra: “There’s no pageant”.
• Meaningful Name: Played with in Sunshine Rainbows’ case. She’s a brightly-coloured filly with depression and suicidal tendencies.
• Mind Screw: chapter 6. Diamond Tiara hallucinates about killing Scootaloo and Silver Spoon, killing Alula and Twist instead.
  • The ending, consisting of various pieces of incoherent narration, parts of conversations between doctors, and Diamond Tiara’s thoughts, punctuated by the words “Happy Birthday, Diamond Tiara”, repeated ten times.
• Missing Mom: Diamond Tiara's mother. The circumstances of her death suggest that she suffered of similar condition as her daughter.
• Mood Whiplash: The ending of chapter 2. Vinyl, Octavia, Lyra, and Bon Bon are joking while going home from the pub and then they find Ruby's body.

• Neat Freak: Diamond Tiara washes herself very carefully after she kills Pipsqueak.
• Never Suicide: Downplayed, then played straight: Dr. Stable thinks about the reasons why a seven-year-old would commit suicide, but doesn’t suspect anything. For Riot Control, however, the case stinks.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Poor Pipsqueak. He just tried to be nice to Diamond Tiara and walk her home when she smashed his head with a rock.
  • Vinyl Scratch. She helps Silver Spoon after Scootaloo beats her, establishes the Neighbourhood Watch and later is beaten to death by Berry Punch.
  • Twist. She does everything to cheer Silver Spoon up. Few hours later she's dead.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Berry Punch gives one to Vinyl at the beginning of chapter 7 and ends up killing her.
• Obsessively Organized: Diamond Tiara cleans her room and puts her things in order during the nights, out of boredom.
• Old Cop, Young Cop: Riot Control and Front Kick.
• Orphaned Punchline: Vinyl Scratch's story in chapter 2. Overlaps with Curse Cut Short.
  ...and then I said "Honey, that's not my horn, it's that guy's–"
• Or Was It a Dream? Briefly in chapter 5. It was and wasn’t at the same time.
• Parental Neglect: Sunshine Rainbows’ parents are more interested in their funeral parlour that their daughter.
• Passed in Their Sleep: In contrast to other deaths in the fic, Vinyl passes away quietly: she dies off-screen, never waking up from the coma.
• Playing with Fire: Curtain Call in Diamond Tiara’s vision in chapter 10.
• Police Are Useless: Justified, since there’s only two of them.
• Polyamory: Vinyl, Octavia, and Neon Lights live in, as Vinyl puts it “fancy Prench thingy”. It doesn’t last.
• Precision F-Strike: The fic is rather tame when it comes to F-bombs, but the one delivered by Scootaloo/Alula in chapter 6 is really precise.
  • Also, Octavia calling Neon Lights “son of a bitch” in chapter 8.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: During Vinyl and Berry argument in chapter 2:
  Look at my mouth. I. Didn’t. Touch. Your. Daughter. Got it? Now, get out.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Scootaloo delivers one to Silver Spoon, complete with punching her.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Diamond Tiara is red to Silver Spoon’s blue.
• Room101: The secure ward of the mental hospital Diamond Tiara is in.
• Sanity Slippage: Diamond Tiara over the course of the fic. Also, Ponyville citizens in general.
• The Scapegoat: Vinyl thinks that of herself:
  I don’t know why, but ponies in this town treat me like a fucking zebra! Too much noise? Scratch’s fault. Vomit on your doormat? Scratch was there. You can’t raise your kid? Scratch came and ate it…
• The Schizophrenia Conspiracy: Pepper, Diamond Tiara’s paranoid friend from the asylum.
• Sherlock Scan: Diamond Tiara “scans” Silver Spoon spare pair of glasses in chapter four.
• Shrinking Violet: Silver Spoon.
• Side Bet: Front Kick and the laboratory technicians make bets about who was the killer. Riot Control finds it inappropriate.
• Stock British Phrases: Sunshine Rainbows and Minuette use “tosser” occasionally.
• Stress Vomit: Diamond Tiara in chapter 10 after she realises that she burned down the filly scouts camp.
• Talking in Your Sleep: Sunshine Rainbows:
  Diamond Tiara glared at Sunshine Rainbows angrily. Her roommate had just turned in her bed and began muttering some random words. She was doing that from time to time; sometimes they weren’t even words, just some nonsensical blends of syllables. On other occasions, Sunshine was having long conversations with Diamond Tiara in her sleep. They were usually absurd – for example, two nights before she’d spent fifteen minutes talking about some colt Diamond Tiara didn’t know and how good he’d look in the coffin.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted; Diamond Tiara consults a doctor about her insomnia. She also goes to a mental hospital because of it.
• Title Drop: Occurs quite often in later chapters.
• Too Dumb to Live: Silver Spoon. When she finds out who was the killer, she goes to Diamond Tiara herself instead of telling anyone.
• Trauma Button: Zippoorwhill has several after she found Alula and Twist’s bodies, including barking of the dog and buzzing of insects.
• Twist Ending: Diamond Tiara still has hallucinations.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Diamond Tiara. She suffered weeks of no sleep and that caused her to lose control of her actions and multiple foals against her will.
• Word, Schmord!: Minuette in chapter 9:
  “Watch-shmatch!” Minuette exclaimed. The bar immediately silenced. “There’s no watch since Vinyl kicked the bucket… Just a bunch of assholes who’ll believe in every gossip…” She stood up, staggering. “Goodnight, paranoid tossers.”

Thirsty

• The Alcoholic: The premise of the fic is Berry Punch struggling with her alcoholism.
• Ass Shove: Implied Trope.
  Minuette chuckled. “Please…” she said. “Berry told me that she drank anything she could get… They either smuggle it in–” She made a wide gesture showing exactly where.
• Attention Deficit OOHSHINY: Pinkie Pie, according to Dr. Stable:
  Ms. Pie doesn’t remember the whole conversation exactly, claiming to be distracted by a particularly shiny crystal in the wall
• Author Catchphrase: Minuette telling Dr. Stable that Berry “will be even better soon” echoes Lyra Heartstrings’ words from author’s other story. Doubles as Meaningful Echo, since Lyra in that story shot herself a few seconds later.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Berry Punch, as a result of Minuette’s failed spell.
• Call-Forward: Guess what the next sequel is about…
  Unlike some other towns in Equestria, Canterlot is quite safe after the sunset. It’s not Manehattan, torn by the fights between gangs consisting of underage colts or even fillies.
• Canon Immigrant: Schwalbe, one of the bat ponies searching for Berry Punch actually appeared in the author’s earlier story, The Sharpest Tool.
• Creepy Monotone: possessed!Berry Punch.
• Easter Egg: There’s Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn hidden in the coverart.
• Either/Or Title: The actual title of the story is Thirsty, or The Curious Case of Berryshine Punch as told by Dr. Stable from Canterlot.
• Eldritch Abomination: One lives beneath Canterlot.
• The Evils of Free Will: discussed.
  Minuette: Her free will is what's killing her!
• From Bad to Worse: A pony turned into a bloodthirsty monster by a botched spell? Bad. The same pony hiding in the caves only to be possessed by an Eldritch Abomination? Worse.
• Genre Shift: In contrast to more psychological ‘’Sleepless’’, this one is a cosmic horror.
• Hardboiled Detective: Dr. Stable’s narration is a mix between this and Lovecraftian narration.
• Hell Is That Noise: various background noises in the caves.
• Interquel: It’s chronologically second, but it was published after ‘’Manehattan Blues’’.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Dr. Stable, in a way similar to Minuette in the first part.
  Of course, it’s not like there’s no crime here. It exists – but since it’s usually committed by the rich ponies, it’s often called “diplomacy”, “business”, or “an effect of being eccentric”.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Happens to Dusk Dancer when she translates Schwalbe:
  Dusk Dancer: She said that she wants to get out of here with her… With her flank unscratched.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Focused on minor characters from Sleepless, like Dr. Stable, Octavia, Minuette, Dusk Dancer, and Berry Punch.
• Magic A Is Magic A: the spell Minuette uses is similar to the one Twilight Sparkle used in Swarm of The Century and goes wrong in a similar way.
• My Greatest Failure: According to Dr. Stable, Twilight Sparkle was never the same after she had to kill Berry Punch.
• Nothing Is Scarier: We never get to see the monster that possessed Berry.
• Off the Wagon: Berry Punch, since she landed in prison.
• Relationship Upgrade: Three years after the events of ‘’Sleepless’’, Octavia and Dr. Stable are married.
• Purple Prose: In a shout out to H.P. Lovecraft, the narrator starts to use adjectives such as “abysmal”, “otherworldly”, “ominous”, or “excruciating”.
• Shout-Out: Many to the H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, most notably ‘’Re-animator’’ (Berry Punch’s behaviour) and ‘’The Case of Charles Dexter Ward’’ (underground laboratory). The Eldritch Abomination in the end is based on the monster from Andrey Dyakov's Metro 2033 expanded universe novel Towards The Light.
• Sickly Green Glow: Berry Punch when the party meets her in the caves.
• Super-Strength: Berry Punch after the spell is cast on her.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: Found in the caves by the search party. Even Twilight Sparkle didn’t want to hold it for long.

Elektrichka

• Interquel: According to Word of God, the story is set few days before Manehattan Blues.

Manehattan Blues

• Accidental Murder: Poor Golden Sunset. Babs’ automatic reply to being attacked is to stab the attacker with a knife, making her prone to such situations.
• Action Fic, Quiet Drama Scene: Beginning of chapter 10.
• Adults Are Useless: Babs’ parents don’t really care what Babs is doing for entire weeks as long as she brings money home.

• Armor-Piercing Question: Nightcap asks one at the end of chapter 10:
  Ms. Seed… How well do ya know Babs?
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: From chapter 3:
  Babs was running through the crowd, bumping into scared tourists, beggars, prostitutes, insane prophets and street musicians.
  • During the foreplay in chapter 8, Nightcap calls Babs “a slut”, “a thief”, and “a dirty murderer”. Then she adds “and a fat one”.
• Artistic Licence – Gun Safety: Babs aims a loaded gun at Lightning Dust. Though she gets chewed for that.
• Asshole Victim: Golden Sunset and White Dove, if we interpret her killing Raspberry as crossing the Moral Event Horizon.
• The Big Rotten Apple: Where streets are ruled by gangs of teenagers.
• Bilingual Bonus: Raz’s full name is Razgovor, which means “conversation” in Russian.
• Book Ends: In both the first chapter and the epilogue the gangs are compared to cancer; Also, both end with Babs muttering threats to Manehattan.
• Break the Cutie: Babs isn’t exactly a cutie, but still, at the end of chapter 9 she’s utterly broken.

• Bubblegum Popping: Babs does that from time to time.
• Call-Back: Chapter 2 is full of call backs to Sleepless. We also learn that Diamond Tiara was nicknamed “The Sleepless Killer” by the press and Neon Lights became a drug addict as a result of Vinyl’s death.
  • It turns out Berry Punch became known as Canterlot Vampire.
  • Apple Bloom had violent headaches after she was nearly killed by Diamond Tiara.
  • In Sleepless, Sunshine Rainbows mentions that she owns an autographed photo of Vinyl Scratch. Seven years later, the photo is still on her wall.
• Calling Your Bathroom Breaks:
  Babs: I’m too tired and too drunk to give a fuck about ideology. I’m gonna just take a leak and go to sleep. Tomorrow will be a busy day.
• The Cameo: Diamond Tiara’s roommate from Sleepless, Sunshine Rainbows, makes another appearance when she helps Babs get rid of the bodies of griffons she’d killed.
• Camp Straight: Babs thinks Rumble is gay, since he doesn’t drink and spends too much time taking care of his appearance. It turns out he’s Scootaloo’s coltfriend.
• Canon Immigrant: Bacio della Morte, a gangster from Las Pegasus, who first appeared in Samey 90’s story Way To Go, Minuette, Way To Go!.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: When Babs and co. come to save White Dove it turns out she’s been already raped to death.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Grace Manewitz is mentioned as Coco’s friends in the first chapter. In the penultimate chapter she’s revealed to be the prosecutor’s secretary.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Babs when she’s angry. Other characters also lapse into this from time to time.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Babs gets a little flowery from time to time:
  Babs: I’ll stick that cunt’s horn into her ass! While still attached to the forehead!
  • From chapter 6:
  Babs: Get lost, or ya’ll carry your balls to a hospital in a cardboard box…
• Country Matters: Pop-ups in dialogues from time to time.
• Darker and Edgier: The only fic in the series rated mature.
• Dead Man Writing: Lightning Dust’s recorded message, though her fate isn’t explained.
• Deadpan Snarker: Babs, Cracker, and Raz, in the rare moments when he actually speaks.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Babs at the beginning of chapter 4. With Raspberry watching.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Lightning Dust first appears in chapter 3, but it’s not until chapter 7 when she starts to play a major role.
  • Nightcap’s letter to Babs appears in the coverart.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Babs prefers mugging to prostitution, since it’s “more honest”.
• Exact Words: Lightning Dust says to the mafia boss that she’ll help him avoid getting caught by the guards. Then she kills him.
• Eye Scream: Babs does this to one of the griffons who raped White Dove.
• Failed a Spot Check: Trenderhoof in chapter 6. He was too focused on interviewing Babs and Nightcap to notice that a shootout is about to start behind him.
• Fictional Sport: Pegasi racing in chapter 6. Though it’s heavily based on motorcycle speedway.
• Foreshadowing: Babs’ reaction when White Dove proposes to steal the drugs from the mafia:
  Babs: Are ya dumb? Didn’t ya hear him? If ya want a dozen of dicks in your ass, ya may try. But don’t cry for help then…
  • The guard mistaking Babs for a prostitute. Few chapters later…
  • The Boss’ bodyguard’s line from chapter 3 “We’re not gonna hurt you… yet.” becomes much harsher after chapter 9.
  • Hedgehog calling Nightcap “Babs’ new marefriend”.
• Friend with Benefits: Babs and Nightcap after chapter 8. As Nightcap puts it:
  I wouldn’t call it ‘love’. We hang out together, we fuck – that’s all.
• Genre Shift: Yet another. This installment is stripped of horror elements, instead being a dark, brutal slice of life story.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Hope is a good cop, Tricky Case is a bad cop.
• Gory Discretion Shot: The scene of Lightning Dust’s meeting with the mafia boss cuts as soon as she cuts off his penis with a pair of shears.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Babs is a manipulative sociopath; the rest of the characters isn’t any better.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Babs is extremely short-fused and ready to beat anyone who pisses her off.
• Heroic BSoD: Babs has one after mercilessly slaying the griffons who raped White Dove.
• Hidden Depths: Babs is actually quite good at maths and has photographic memory.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Nightcap.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Almost everyone. Lightning Dust lampshades this at some point.
• Hypocritical Humor: Babs laughs at Rumble, calling him a faggot at least a couple of times, while she’s bisexual herself.
• Immodest Orgasm: Babs fakes orgasms to make Jet Set finish quicker. It’s, however, interrupted by her breakdown when she remembers killing Golden Sunset and kidnapping Raspberry.
• Indy Ploy: Lightning Dust has to make a plan to save Babs practically on a spot. It involves killing a mafia boss and taking a blame for killing the griffons.
  I think I have a plan. It’s crazy and it’ll send us all up a shit creek without a paddle, but it’s the best thing I could come up with… Listen to me carefully…
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Babs is prone to falling for that trick.
  • From chapter 9:
  Guard: Do you know that her father also recognised one of her friends as the guy who killed Golden Sunset? His name is Cracker or something like that…
  Babs: I don’t know him.
  Guard: Strange, because judging by his talks with other inmates he knows you…
  Babs: He’s a pervert, he talk bullsh–
  Guard: So you know him?
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: the sex scene between Babs and Nightcap.
• Intimate Psychotherapy: Babs recovers from her Heroic BSoD after killing the griiffons when she has sex with Nightcap.
• Intro-Only Point of View: The first chapter starts from the perspective of Coco Pommel, who’s later mugged by Babs and her companions.

• Manipulative Bastard: Babs in chapter 5, when she tricks Jet Set into letting her stay with him for night so she can steal his wallet. Not that the guy who hires underage prostitutes is any better.

• Mood Whiplash: Chapter 9. Babs and Nightcap talk about their relationship, they part, Babs reads some bizarre graffiti on her way home, and then she’s suddenly abducted and raped by the mafia boss.
• Must Have Nicotine: Babs smokes from time to time but when she’s stressed, she becomes a chainsmoker.
  • She smokes four cigarettes in a quick succession in chapter 3, and only stops because she runs out of them.
• Naïve Newcomer: White Dove.
• The Nicknamer: The Big Guy calls Babs and her friends “filly scouts”.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Babs gives one to White Dove when she admits that she’d killed Raspberry.
• Noodle Incident: Babs tells a story of a mafia client, who kidnapped a filly who was delivering drugs to him. When asked what happened to him, she says “the usual”.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: the mafia boss, aka The Big Guy. his real name is Caballo Estrangulador.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Raz starts to talk it’s when Cracker gets caught and White Dove burns down a warehouse with Raspberry inside.
• Out with a Bang: The mafia boss, killed by Lightning Dust during a BDSM session.
• Police Are Useless: Downplayed. Some of them are corrupted, some just don’t care, but from time to time they can catch someone.
• Precision F-Strike: Raz’s first (and only) words in chapter 1 are “Fuck it.”
• The Quiet One: Raz.
• Rape as Drama: White Dove and, later, Babs.
• Reliably Unreliable Guns: the submachine Babs is given is a cheap piece of junk that can explode at any moment.
• Sex Is Violence: Babs and Nightcap’s foreplay includes beating the crap out of each other.
• Sherlock Scan: Babs does one in chapter 3, to evaluate the value of their future victims’ clothes.
  • She does it again in chapter 5, before the fight with Hedgehog and White Dove.
• Shout-Out: Babs likes classical music, similarly to Alex from A Clockwork Orange.
  • Chapter 3 is called Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
  • “It’s a bomb! The zebras attacked!”.
  • This filly is like a box of chocolates… You never know what you’re gonna get.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: the whole fic, just like the rest of the series, is rather on cynical side of the scale; the conversation between the gang members in the first chapter reveals Hedgehog as The Idealist and Cracker as The Cynic.
• The Teetotaler: Rumble. Technically, all characters are underaged, but Babs drinks and smokes anyway.
• Three Chords and the Truth: Hedgehog’s song.
• Too Dumb to Live: Seriously, White Dove? Stealing a wallet from the guy who buys drugs from you?
• Trauma Conga Line: Poor Babs. Over the course of the fic, she accidentally stabs someone, leaves her friends, finds White Dove’s body after she’d been raped to death, shoots the rapists, is raped herself, and then is arrested and put in a boot camp.
• Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: Hedgehog. It’s mentioned several times that he doesn’t bathe even when he has sex with Babs.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: In chapter 10, Babs revises whole her plan in her head first. In contrast, Lightning Dust tells Nightcap only about her role in her plan. Guess which plan succeeds...
• Unstoppable Rage: Babs after she discovers that White Dove was killed.
• We Have Reserves: The Big Guy in chapter 9 yells that his ‘filly scouts’ are disposable.
• What If?: Nightcap’s backstory is basically “What if Coco Pommel didn’t find a job in the fashion industry?”
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: White Dove. Also Hedgehog, to some extent.
• Wretched Hive: Manehattan.
  Now, she was right in the middle of it; a labyrinth of narrow paths surrounding blocks of cheap, small flats towering over Coco. There was nopony around, but she thanked Celestia for that; seeing the grim, emaciated ponies looking at her with strange sparks in their hungry eyes would be even worse.
• Wrong Side of the Tracks: Babs’ neighbourhood.
  Crazy pony on the subway: There will be the day when the sister will turn against the sister! A ponykind will drown in the blood of their siblings, parents and neighbours! A pony will kill another pony…
  Babs: Sounds like every weekend in my neighbourhood.

Children of Equestria

• Abusive Parents: Carnation’s father.
• Alcohol-Induced Stupidity: Cherry Berry. Partially the reason of her death.
• Apologises a Lot: Diamond Tiara. Lampshaded by Silver Spoon in chapter 3.
• The Atoner: Diamond Tiara.
• Autopsy Snack Time: Scootaloo during the autopsy in the police academy.
• Babies Ever After: Nightcap and Raz.
• Blatant Lies: Babs’ promises to improve.
• Brick Joke: Back in ''Sleepless’’, Sapphire Shores was mentioned as a suspect after Vinyl was beaten. After Featherweight is murdered, she’s again considered a suspect.
  • Another example from chapter 4: “The Sleepless Killer Will Be Back” graffiti from ‘’Manehattan Blues’’ was updated to ‘’The Sleepless Killer Is Back”.
• Call-Back: Scootaloo trains to be a Royal Guard, just like she planned in ‘’Manehattan Blues’’.
• Captain Obvious: Diamond Tiara thinks that about hallucination!Silver Spoon. Justified, since Silver is a part of her mind, so she doesn’t know anything except of things Diamond knows herself.
• Chekhov's Skill: the situation Archer trains with Apple Bloom, snowpony, and a nerf crossbow in chapter 10 comes in handy later.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Scootaloo’s cousin, Archer.
• Connected All Along: It turns out Gilda was among the griffons who raped and killed White Dove. Hardly surprising, knowing the author's appeal to Continuity Porn.
• Crapsack World: Manehattan, even more than in the previous installment.
• Creepy Child: Silver Spoon, especially since she sometimes changes into Curtain Call.
• Dead Guy Junior: Nightcap and Raz’s daughter, Vinyl.
• Death by Childbirth: Carnation’s mother.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After being interrogated by the guards, Diamond Tiara snaps while talking to Scootaloo.
  Diamond Tiara: And those who don’t see me as a murderer, constantly remind me how weak I am! For you, I’m either a killer, or a sick pony! Y-you speak to me as if I had cancer… No bad news... I live in a glass bubble filled with compassion…
  Scootaloo: Chill out, Diamond… It’s just because of Donut… Rethink it when you’re calmer. Everything will be okay…
  Diamond Tiara: ’Everything will be okay’?! You’re doing this again!
• Dope Slap: Old Celly, constantly. Her usual victim is Carnation.
• Double Entendre: Rumble talking about Apple Bloom letting Diamond Tiara “taste her cider”.
• Double Tap: Babs attempts that on Jet Set. She fails miserably, but still kills him.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Babs after an argument with her sister.
• Excrement Statement: Carnation does that to her abusive father after Babs throws him down the flight of stairs. It shocks even Babs.
• Every Scar Has a Story: Minuette likes to talk about the scars she'd acquired in Thirsty.
• Genki Girl: Archer.
• Going Cold Turkey: That’s how Babs quit smoking between Manehattan Blues and this story.
• Gun Nut: Archer. Or, more exactly, gun, crossbow, and bow nut.
• Hearing Voices: Of insane variety. However, thanks to her medicines, Diamond knows that they aren’t real.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each chapter’s name uses (possessive pronoun)(noun) scheme, for example Her Issues, My Reflection, Our Addictions, and so on.
• I'm Standing Right Here: this exchange from chapter 5:
  Scootaloo: Sorry, Diamond. Archer is sometimes a bit too direct.
  Archer: I’m still here, cousin…
• Insistent Terminology: Silver Spoon calls Filthy Rich “our dad” since she learns that he got together with her mother. Diamond Tiara corrects her to “my dad”.
  • Archer gets mad when Diamond Tiara calls a bolt “an arrow”.
• Lighter and Softer: In comparison to Manehattan Blues, though it’s also more of a slice of life than Sleepless.
• Lethal Chef: Archer apparently finds cooking recipes in a toxicology textbook.
• Lethally Stupid: Archer. During her introduction, she accidentally shoots the door with a crossbow, barely avoiding I Just Shot Marvin in the Face. Judging by the dents, it’s not the first time.
• Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Carnation’s father regularly beats her for that.
• Narrative Profanity Filter: Used in the first chapter, when Babs intentionally provokes Cherry Berry. Narration mentions that Cherry unleashed a stream of abuse to which Babs says that she’ll surely tell her mother what Cherry thinks about her.
• The Nicknamer: Babs nicknames Rumble “Mr. Quick Finish”, and Button Mash “Mr. Dorky Loser”.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Archer's modus operandi, especially visible when she interrogates Button Mash. Also, how Lightning Dust hides her identity.
• Oop North: Old Celly speaks with that accent.
• Paparazzi: Featherweight.
• Playing the Victim Card: Babs uses it when she’s accused of something.
  “So, that’s what it’s about?” Babs asked, approaching her sister. “I knew it… Ya’re afraid that a sister like me would ruin your oh-so-perfect reputation?! I’d like to remind ya that ya taught me to steal in shops!”
• Pregnant Badass: Octavia.
• Punch a Wall: A variant of. After she finds Carnation’s body, Babs trashes the bathroom stall door.
• Pungeon Master: Octavia, according to Minuette and Sweetie Belle. Also, Scootaloo in chapter 2.
• Rage Against the Reflection: Diamond Tiara does that when she sees Curtain Call in the mirror.
• Rape as Backstory: Babs. She reminds other characters about this when they accuse her of something, effectively Playing the Victim Card.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Diamond Tiara. Also, Babs Seed though she’s not quite reformed.
• Reliably Unreliable Guns: Souvenir from Manehattan.
• Revenge Before Reason: Babs Seed. Again. Also, Cherry Berry.
• Run Away Hide Away: Various magazines and barns Babs and Diamond Tiara hide after Babs kills Cherry Berry.
• Self-Deprecation: Since Thirsty is also known in-universe, several characters waste no chance to mock it.
• Ship Level: On the run, Diamond and Babs hide in a steamboat.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: During her visit to Manehattan Babs helps an underaged prostitute called Carnation: she beats her abusive father and gives her some money Later she finds Carnation dead after she overdosed heroin.
• Shout-Out:
  • “So, how’s Canterlot, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked. “And Ah swear, if ya say that it’s a silly place, I’m gonna throw that cider at ya…”
  • At some point Button Mash refers to Babs’ deeds as “her past sins”.
  • Babs’ “Missed me?” at the end of chapter 3 resembles Moriarty.
  • Babs’ fellow inmate called Ice Nine. According to Word of God, she had three names, all derived from Kurt Vonnegut’s novels.
• Split-Personality Takeover: Happens to Diamond Tiara when she's off her meds.
• The Teetotaler: Diamond Tiara decides to become one, since alcohol triggers her psychotic attacks.
• Time Skip: About a month passes between chapter 4 and 5.
• Vomiting Cop: Played with. After Featherweight is murdered, Scootaloo braces herself before entering the crime scene in order to not be one.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Diamond Tiara is disgusted when she finds out that Archer is her fan.