Fanfic / The Dark Side of the Mirror Verse

The Dark Side of the Mirror Verse is a fanfic universe written by Godzillawolf with ideas by GrimWolf. At present it will consist of two parts, both of which are set in the Mirror Universe depicted in the Reflections Arc of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW).

• Tales from the Dark Side of the Mirror: These are the origins and the everyday life of the Mane 6 AKA The Malcontent Mavericks, a group of low level crooks and ne'er-do-wells living on the outskirts of Canterlot. However, due to recent events, things may change in ways no pony could have expected.
• Legends of the Dark Side of the Mirror: Come and hear the origins of adventures of Equestria's greatest heroes and champions.

The first story, Tales is already complete and the second story has been announced.

The story as a whole is inspired by the comic Of Kings and Changelings

This Fan Fic verse contains examples of the following tropes:

General

• Alternate Self: The characters are all Mirror Universe versions of their prime selves.
• Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: This is shown with several of the villains if they'd been heroic. While some were shown in the Reflections Arc the fic draws from (such as Discord being a superhero named Captain Good Guy, Queen Chrysalis being a benevolent High Queen, and Trixie being an Alicorn Princess), several others are shown:
  • Instead of a horrible evil sealed in Tartarus, Tirek is a benevolent and just ruler known as King Tirek the Selfless whose people are using his Mana Drain spell to transfuse mana from their land to Equestria to help it recover from the evil Princesses' rampage.
  • Mirror Gilda is the Captain of the Royal Guard.
  • Mirror Starlight Glimmer is not only a very well respected Badass Teacher, but much stronger than her canon counterpart. According to Word of God the reason for this is that prime Starlight never learned more about her Special Talent than she needed for her plans, while Mirror Starlight actively cultivated her power and seeks to aid others in doing the same. So being possibly the most straight example, the only difference is Mirror!Starlight reached her true potential.
  • The Sports Trio are intelligent tacticians at sports rather than the Dumb Jocks they are in the main universe.
  • The Flim Flam Brothers are the high justices in the entire kingdom.
• Berserk Button: Don't demean someone's Cutie Mark or Special Talent around Starlight Glimmer, as in an inversion of her prime self's mentality, she believes Heart Is an Awesome Power in all cases.
• Dragon Their Feet: Mirror Spitfire was one of Mirror Celestia's high ranking minions when was still evil. She's still at large after Celestia and Luna's purification, with Mirror Gilda departing from her time with Rainbow Crash to hunt down a lead on her whereabouts.
• The Ghost: The Muse Sisters (the Mirror Sirens) are mentioned several times but nothing much is revealed about them.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • The Evil Princesses, while having been defeated by the beginning the story, were indirectly responsible for most of the problems that build up to the story.
  • Empress Cadenza is the largest threat to Equestria still remaining but isn't involved too much in the current plot.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: For the Reflections Arc, given it takes place mostly after it.
• Mirror Universe: Continues from the Reflections arc. As with the original arc, not all characters are moral inversions of their prime selves, but have personality traits inverted. For example, instead of being evil, Derpy is a super genius instead of a ditz. One exception is Mirror Spike, who's merely had his relationship with Twilight inverted because Spike's personality was fairly balanced as is. Fiction also seems to be inverted, for example apparently the King Ghidorah Expy is the hero of the Godzilla series equivalent.
• "Rashomon"-Style: The two stories will act as this to each other and themselves, each filling in blanks in the others.
• Take That!: According to Word of God, Mirror Spitfire being a sadistic Alpha Bitch is one of these to the Ron the Death Eater treatment the character's prime self has gotten by the fandom.
• Warrior Therapist: Starlight Glimmer's mirror self is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) unicorns in Equestria, but also a Badass Teacher who's good at helping others through their problems.

Tales from the Dark Side of the Mirror

• Alpha Bitch: Mirror Spitfire.
• Archenemy: Twilight considers Trixie hers, but Trixie doesn't return this mentality. Becomes much straighter after Twilight becomes Nightmare Spotlight.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara fire back and forth about each other's accent. Diamond brushes off Apple Bloom's question about why she has the canon Apple family's signature accent but manages to stop Apple Bloom cold with her rebuttal of "Why don't you?"
• Berserk Button:
  • Anything she views as unhealthy or sweet or fun is this for Pinkamena.
  • Bringing up the time her aggressive tactics got her sprayed by a skunk is one of the few things that can make Fluttershy angry instead of her just apathetically brushing it off.
• Big Bad
  • Spitfire is the closest thing there is to one, being the entire reason for everything bad that's happened to Rainbow Crash, Fluttershy, and Gilda.
  • Nightmare Spotlight, Twilight's Superpowered Evil Side is a Villain Protagonist version for the final chapter.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Fluttershy is genuinely talented and a good Manipulative Bitch, but never puts any more effort into anything than she needs to.
• Broken Bird: Rainbow Crash turns out to be one due to Spitfire.
• Bystander Syndrome: Fluttershy's general philosophy. Captain Goodguy implies he used to have it as well, until it cost him somepony he genuinely cared for. He manages to shake her out of it.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Rarity. Her misunderstanding of social rules and fashion ideas in general is so mixed up, she genuinely thinks her bizarre fashion tastes are completely normal and following the rules, and that her vandalism is simply improving things. Justified, as her parents stuffed her head so full of contradictory ideas and rules, she ended up not entirely sane trying to apply ALL of them at once instead of applying different ones to different situations. She gets a bit better thanks to Mirror Flim and Flam, but still remains a bit out there, such as trying to apply fashion to Twilight's Superpowered Evil Side.
• Curbstomp Battle: Blackbelt decides to keep going after Rainbow Crash when Starlight Glimmer orders him to stand down, then attack her when she gets in the way. Blackbelt doesn't stand a chance.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Nightmare Spotlight hijacks the the televisions to broadcast her Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Freudian Excuse: Each of the Mirror Mane Six have one:
  • Applejack's suffered Parental Neglect from Granny Smith and is lashing out to get attention. Apple Bloom has the same one due to them being siblings.
  • Pinkamena is health obsessed due in part to the constant threat of the Evil Princesses over her head and being rendered bed ridden due to going on a binge eating spree during a party and having very bad luck with her attempts to have fun afterwards, leaving her very anti-fun.
  • Rainbow Crash is The Klutz and has difficulty doing anything right. And was brutally and ruthlessly bullied by Spitfire to the point of being an emotionally broken wreck.
  • Fluttershy is an apathetic Jerkass with Bystander Syndrome because Spitfire bullied and tormented anyone who tried to help Rainbow Crash as kids.
  • Rarity is a mess because her parents tried to pull her in so many different directions and overloaded her with so much info it screwed up her head. Sweetie Belle has the same one for why she's a rebellious brat.
  • Twilight Sparkle has by far the most serious one. She's an Attention Whore obsessed with becoming popular because the School for Gifted Unicorns kicked her out for being too Unskilled, but Strong for them to want to deal with after her magic surge...then her brother betrayed Equestria to marry Empress Cadenza. Her grudge on Trixie stems from the fact that Trixie accidentally caused the Magic Surge and got in despite the two being just as strong. Trixie admits she has a right to be bitter.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Applejack wants to do this very badly so her Grandmother will pay attention to her. Twilight actually does, and nearly obliterates Canterlot.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: The Mirror Mean Six are more or less a nuisance, causing trouble but generally just being annoying. Until Twilight transforms into Nightmare Spotlight.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Twilight is incredibly jealous of Trixie. and not without reason.
• Heel Realization: Rarity and Fluttershy have them due to their interactions with Captain Goodguy and the Flim Flam Brothers.
• Heel–Face Turn: Implied to happen to all six at the end.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Turns out Rainbow Crash is this to herself. She's very talented, but too much of an emotional wreck to actually use any of it. When she 'forgets she's supposed to fail' as Starlight puts it she ends up performing a Sonic Rainboom.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: As Applejack puts it: no one messes with one of the Mane Six except the rest of the Mane Six. This is especially true of Rainbow Crash, as finding out someone hurt her prompts Applejack to instantly want to beat them up, even if they banished her to the roof.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: All of the Mirror Mane Six are this trope, being nuisances at best and generally having some serious issues. Twilight upgrades to Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds when she transforms into Nightmare Spotlight.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • Whenever Spitfire is mentioned in the backstory, things get very serious very quickly, and her actions have a lasting impact on a lot of things.
  • Nightmare Spotlight, who is treated very seriously and nearly kills several characters.
• Mad Scientist: Twilight is this trope in her attempts to get the fame she thinks she deserves. Though a mostly harmless example.
• Morality Pet: The rest of the Mane Six might still mistreat her, but they all have a soft spot for Rainbow Crash and don't take it well when someone else is mean to her. Applejack instantly wants to beat up someone who hit her and Pinkamena always patches her up when she's hurt out of concern for her well being.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Rainbow Crash feels this about anything she screws up.
  • Captain Goodguy manages to break through Fluttershy's Bystander Syndrome, resulting in her having a moment of this. She has another, bigger one when she realizes that the things she considered not her problem in regards to Twilight have become a huge one now.
• My Greatest Failure: Captain Goodguy implies such an event is what shattered his Bystander Syndrome.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Fluttershy tried her aggressive tactics on a skunk living under the club house and got sprayed for it. Applejack won't let it die and takes great joy in mocking her for it.
• One-Winged Angel: Twilight becoming Nightmare Spotlight.
• Parental Neglect: Applejack and Apple Bloom's Freudian Excuse: Granny Smith was a very neglectful parent.
• Parental Substitute: Filthy Rich and his wife to Applejack as a foal. It's part of the reason she's so bitter about going to live with Granny Smith since she was happy where she was.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Nightmare Spotlight nearly destroys all of Canterlot.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: Captain Goodguy remarks that Nightmare Spotlight's chaos readings are off the charts. And that he might need some bigger charts.
• The Quisling: Spitfire was this, and it resulted in the destruction of Cloudsdale.
• Shout-Out: Twilight's transformation into Nightmare Spotlight is inspired by Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion
• Spoiled Brat: Apple Bloom more or less admits she's spoiled rotten.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Nightmare Spotlight is this for Twilight, having been born from her overloading mana collector exploding and her envy, bitterness, and jealousy.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Poor Rainbow Crash manages to get Starlight to come to her aid. And performs a Sonic Rainboom to get back to Canterlot to aid her friends.
• Token Good Teammate: Rainbow Crash. She's not evil in the slightest and in general only does anything evil if her friends convince her to.
  • Scootaloo is this as well. Her friends are a Spoiled Brat and a rebellious bad girl, but she has to be talked into doing anything wrong and genuinely enjoys being the hero of her show.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mirror Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle have this dynamic like their main verse counterparts, just inverted. Scootaloo is also the Girly Girl to Apple Bloom's Tomboy.
• Turn the Other Cheek: Diamond's attitude towards Apple Bloom's Spoiled Brat sneering at her is to treat her politely and calmly respond to her snarky Armor-Piercing Question attempt with a calm rebuttal.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: The Mirror Mane Six may take shots at each other and not get along very much, but they do genuinely care for each other.
  • Similarly with the Mirror CMC, they mess with each other and snark back and forth but they're all eager to get similar Cutie Marks and are devastated when the ending of Scootaloo's show (the reason they're friends in this verse) potentially permanently splits them up.
• Villain Has a Point: Trixie admits that Twilight has every reason to be angry and bitter for how the School for Gifted Unicorns, and life in general, has treated her.
• Villain Protagonist: Except for Rainbow Crash, who's the Token Good Teammate, the Mirror Mane Cast are the protagonists. Straighter example is Nightmare Spotlight.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Pinkamena just wants people to be healthier and safer. She just takes it way too far.
• Who's Laughing Now?: Twilight has her fantasies of doing this. She goes full on this trope after transforming into Nightmare Spotlight and nearly killing Trixie. She even admits after being purified that Nightmare Spotlight was acting on her power fantasies.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Nightmare Spotlight, Twilight's Superpowered Evil Side born from her bitterness and jealously that stems from her admittedly very painful backstory.

Legends of the Dark Side of the Mirror

• All-Loving Hero: Duchess Chrysalis is this, loving everyone, including her enemies. The only ones she shows outright dislike of is Cadence, and even then she has some compassion for her.
• Arc Villain:
  • Mirror Spitfire is this for Gilda's story, having become a terrorist after Mirror Celestia's redemption to continue being feared.
  • Mirror Thorax is this for Chrysalis's story, making an attempt to kill her and take over as the Changeling monarch.
  • Mirror Zecora serves as this for Trixie's story, desiring to use the mirror Alicorn Amulet to become strong enough to engage in her take over.
• Artifact of Doom: Mirror Zecora seeks the Alicorn Amulet to launch her attack. Inverted in that the mirror Amulet has the opposite effect of its prime counterpart: the longer its worn, the more it gives its users empathy and compassion, so she has to use a second artifact to block that effect. Trixie and company swipe the second artifact early in the battle, and spend the rest letting its power take effect.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Thorax's mutated form turns out to be this. It makes him extremely powerful, to the point he's much stronger than Chrysalis, but because it's created from stolen love, it burns through his reserves extremely fast to the point Chrysalis ultimately wins simply by dodging and evading until he runs out.
• Brought Down to Badass: Mirror Spitfire's pyrokinesis was lost when Celestia was redeemed, but she's still capable of giving Gilda a serious fight.
• Chekhov's Gun: One from the previous story: the wild storm that Rainbow Crash accidentally caused in her chapter ends up hitting in the middle of Gilda and Spitfire's fight, cutting off Spitfire from running away while Gilda's still recovering.
• Curbstomp Battle: The Muse Sisters delivered one to Chrysalis and her army when she was a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • The Muse Sisters look and have the exact same powers as their prime counterparts, but are benevolent heroines who use their feeding off negative emotions to help ponies clear their minds.
  • Mirror Chrysalis and the Changelings were born the exact same way as their prime counterparts: from a hideously mutated tree growing out of a dark magic pool. Now Mirror Chrysalis is one of the beloved protectors of the mirror Equestria and her people live in symbiosis with Equestria.
• Dual Wielding: Thorax uses two large swords as his weapons that can be combined into a scissor weapon. Chrysalis duel wields shields during the final part of the fight.
• Emotion Eater: The Changelings feed off of love and the Muse Sisters feed off negative emotions. Sonata refers to them as 'emotovores'. They've both figured out how to feed symbiotically with ponies rather than as parasites.
• Falling-in-Love Montage: Chrysalis and Chivalrous have one in her chapter.
• For Want Of A Nail: The nail between Prime Chrysalis and Mirror Chrysalis is actually shown: both were identical when born and had two mutually exclusive instincts. Prime Chrysalis chose the 'survival of the fittest' instinct while Mirror Chrysalis chose to embrace her material instincts.
• Freak Lab Accident: Essentially what happened to Mirror Gilda: Starlight tried to perform a difficult spell to supercharge her badly weakened immune system in hopes of helping her. A lightning bolt from the storm currently happening struck the room, causing a Magic Surge that made the spell go out of control. The result is a 'temporarily boost her immune system' spell becoming a 'permanently boost everything to peak griffin ability' spell.
• Groin Attack: Spitfire gives one to Gilda during their fight, even lampshading the fact that most forget it hurts females too. Played for Drama, as it almost gave her the opening to kill her.
• Happily Adopted: Noble Heart after her father marries Chrysalis.
• Happily Married: Chrysalis with Chivalrous Heart, so much so that she refused to remarry after his death.
• Heel–Face Turn: Duchess Chrysalis was never as bad as Queen Chrysalis, but she was originally a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to feed her people. After Sombra and the Muse Sisters defeated her, she gradually reformed and became the All-Loving Hero she is now.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Duchess Chrysalis uses a shield and sword as her weapons. She produces a second one that belonged to her late husband and uses both of them to outlast Thorax until his energy runs out.
• One-Winged Angel: Thorax transforms into a powerful mutated form after stealing enough love, becoming a dark copy of his prime self's king form.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Despite her kind, friendly look, and generally being more nonthreatening than her prime self, when she fights, Chrysalis is one heck of a warrior.
• Perspective Flip: Focuses more on the heroes' side of the story.
• Playing with Fire: Mirror Spitfire got this power from Celestia as part of her Deal with the Devil. She lost it when Celestia was redeemed, and compensates with a pair of foreleg mounted flamethrowers.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking:
  • Mirror Gilda is Captain of the Royal Guard, and is considered Equestria's greatest warrior.
  • Mirror Spitfire was the leader of the Firebolts and one of Celestia's top enforcers. She's the only Firebolt who's capable of standing a chance against Gilda.
  • Duchess Chrysalis might look like a kindly grandma figure, but she's also canonically powerful enough to be entrusted with holding off both evil Princesses at once by herself.
• Shear Menace: Thorax's swords can be combined into a scissor weapon.
• Sheathe Your Sword: How Chrysalis defeats Thorax: she realizes his method of feeding doesn't cure their race's hunger and therefore he's running on limited power. So she stops fighting back and focuses on defense and dodging his attacks until he burns out.
• Shout-Out: Gilda's story contains several to Captain America.
• Take That!: Word of God says that Mirror Spitfire is meant to be one of these to Spitfire's Ron the Death Eater treatment by the fandom, showing how opposite that behavior is for Spitfire and playing it for drama.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Carrying over from Tales, Rainbow Crash's lifelong tormentor Spitfire is finally defeated and arrested, which she's informed of in the end.
• Vampiric Draining: Changelings can do this to feed, but Chrysalis and her hive have long since abandoned it for symbiosis. Thorax, on the other hand, has reverted to it, and acts a bit like a classical vampire.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Chrysalis was originally one. She only attacked ponies to feed her people and always put their needs ahead of her own, and even targeted evil ponies first to avoid hurting anyone innocent.
• Wicked Stepmother: Averted with Chrysalis when she marries Chivalrous Heart, who has a daughter named Noble Heart. Noble Heart actually is the one who asked Chrysalis out on her dad's behalf and utterly adored Chrysalis her entire life and Chrysalis was an insatiable dote for her stepdaughter.
• World's Best Warrior: Gilda has this reputation. She lives up to it.