A comment-driven My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction by Down With Chrysalis (Season 1-3) and Brown Dog 77 (Season 4) where you are Bugze, a clumsy, unlucky, and not that bright changeling who get separated from Queen Chrysalis's Hive in the aftermath of her failed invasion of Canterlot. You decide to make a Heel–Face Turn to be good. Hilarity Ensues.
Season 1 is here
and the completed Season 2 and 3 are here and here.The ongoing Season 4 is here.
Tropes:
- Artificial Limbs: Pinkemena has a prosthetic arm that can turn into a chainsaw after Nightmare Bugze tore off her original arm.
- The Atoner: Luna is this in Season 2 as she blames her impulsive fear-driven threatening of Nightshade for creating the Hooded Offender.
- Badass Longcoat: Bugze's hooded black coat that is not only fireproof, but it also completely hides his face in darkness. He also gets a tan overcoat from the Doctor to help conceal his identity in Season 2. He then acquires a long red one a la Vash the Stampede in Season 3 from his first bounty.
- Bag of Holding: Bugze's saddlebag which he calls "The Inventory" has almost limitless space and he can access anything inside of it as long as he can calmly think about what he wants.
- Berserk Button: Don't ever even think about harming Nightshade in Bugze's presence.
- Book Dumb: Bugze and his daughter Nightshade (unsurprising since she was home-schooled by him) who believe that the square root of 16 is boysenberry pie (it's actually 4).
- The Chessmaster: The Doctor is a benevolent example, but his vague messages makes him come off as The Svengali to Bugze.
- Chick Magnet: Bugze is shaping up to be this as between his Hooded Offender and "Baker Sylvester Tennant" personas, he has an Unwanted Harem of Fluttershy, Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Aloe, Coco Pommel, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and even Chrysalis had a thing for him, along with several Horde fanfillies after him.
- Cooldown Hug: Nightshade usually provides these when Bugze is using the Nightmare Cloak.
- Cool Old Guy: Bugze's grandbuggy being a changeling sabotage specialist and a Casanova who's never without his Bowler.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Bugze is normally clumsy, unlucky, and even a bit of a coward, but when Nightshade is in danger, his Papa Wolf feats are something to behold and fear.
- Deadpan Snarker: Bugze, Selena, Sombra.
- Duct Tape for Everything: Bugze's main job is a "Patcher" to which he uses WD-40, vise-grips, and of course duct tape.
- The Faceless: Bugze's hooded coat completely hides his face in darkness when the hood is up.
- Fake Memories: Discord does this to all of Equestria (which exceptions like Nightshade, Fluttershy, etc.) after getting defeated.
- Fanfillies: The Hooded Offender has a Fan Club named "The Horde" which is mainly made up of self-proclaimed "Waifus" due to All Girls Want Bad Boys.
- Flashback Nightmare: Bugze is having these at the beginning of Season 3 due to the trauma of the "Nightmare Bugze" arc.
- Gamebooks: Seeing how it's a comment driven story, it's essentially one.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When Nightshade is threatened, Bugze's eyes go from changeling blue to glowing orange as signalled by a *snap*
- Groin Attack: In addition to being on the receiving end of a few of these, Bugze inflicts what is called The Ultimate Nutshot on Prince Blueblood during the melee at the Grand Galloping Gala. In Season 2, Nightshade has a Running Gag of inflicting these with her "Falcon Kick".
- Happy-Ending Massage: Bugze thinks he's getting this when he goes to the Ponyville spa (and Aloe's flirting does nothing to discourage these thoughts), but he instead receives a painfully relaxing massage.
- Hero Antagonist: The Mane 6 due to Bugze's bad luck and Poor Communication Kills leads to them thinking Bugze is a no-good villain. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are the most aggressively anti-Bugze. Princess Luna can even be considered the de facto Big Bad Hero Antagonist of Season 1 due to the fact that she at first is determined to destroy Nightshade due to her seemly being the reincarnation of Nightmare Moon.
- Heroic Host: Bugze draws his powers from having Nightmare Moon in his head.
- Symbiotic Possession: Nightmare Moon eventually mellows out and does a Heel–Face Turn due to her Mama Bear instincts towards Nightshade. Even changing her name to Selena.
- The Juggernaut: Seeing how Nightmare Bugze can shrug off a BFG created by Flim and Flam, tear through Platoons of guards, Sombra, Discord, Tirek, the Princesses, a Dalek fleet and even entire cities, he qualifies.
- Lemony Narrator: The narration can often get snarky at the misadventures in the story.
- Le Parkour: Bugze picked this up from playing an Expy of Assassin's Creed. Nightshade also picks up these parkour skills from his as well.
- Little Miss Badass: Nightshade starting in Season 2 as she sprays WD-40 into Discord's eyes, curses alot, has strength beyond that of most adult ponies, thinks of Cerberus as a 'giant puppy' and hugged it hard enough to make it whimper, Falcon Kicked a Hydra and SCP-173 in the nards, manages to hold her own against Sombra and completely destroys the Everfree Forest's vines
- Look Behind You: His most common diversion tactic is to point and shout in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "LOOK, A DISTRACTION!"
- Made of Iron: Bugze takes so much punishment that he even lampshades his Healing Factor.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Bugze before his Heel–Face Turn at the beginning of the story.
- Morality Chain: Nightshade is this to Bugze as she calms him down when he "gets scary" and her death in an alternate universe turns Bugze into the Ax-Crazy Juggernaut, Nightmare Bugze
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The whole "Die Hoard" arc ends up being this for Bugze as The Doctor confirms Bugze's direct involvement actually made things worse as he already arranged for everything to end peacefully. Instead, Bugze involvement as the "Hooded Offender" results in a riot, widespread devastation to Fillydelphia and the royal guard taking Bugze more seriously.
- No-Sell: Discord's Reality Warper status allows him to do this with Bugze's attacks in multiple ways like flash-frying him with a giant magnifying glass when Bugze attempts a No Shadow Kick.
- Nosebleed: Bugze gets these kinda frequently.
- Papa Wolf: When Nightshade is threatened, Bugze is capable of delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle to almost anypony. Smaug is also this towards Garble
- Pop-Cultured Badass: Bugze plays alot of video games and watched almost as many movies so he makes alot of references. Nightshade also picks up on this, but mainly to old black-and-white movies or Neighponese animated serials.
- The Prankster: Bugze mentions being the only one in his hive. Nightshade takes after him in this trope.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: The Crimson Knights are this to The Horde as they are a terrorist group that follows the radical ideas of Flag Burner.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Bugze thinks that Nightshade is killed by an Ursa Minor, he uses the first appearance of his "Nightmare Cloak" to deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the Ursa before taking down 5 of the Mane 6 in a Curb-Stomp Battle.
- Running Gag: Quite a few,
- LOOK, A DISTRACTION!
- Bugze admonishing himself with a "NO! BAD BUG!" whenever he thinks something perverted.
- Nightshade Falcon Kicking ponies in the nards.
- Secret Identity: Bugze is also "The Hooded Offender", a superhero/supervillain who due to unfortunate circumstances became Equestria's most wanted.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: When Doctor Hooves rescues Bugze from Princess Luna, he gives him a huge bill due to Nightshade's appetite and the damage Bugze indirectly did to the TARDIS. The plot of Season 2 is kicked off when the Doctor calls on him to Work Off the Debt.
- Sink or Swim Fatherhood: Bugze was just a unlucky, clumsy changeling, but one day a filly named Nightshade (who may or may not be the reincarnation of Nightmare Moon) pops out of "The Inventory" and calls Bugze her daddy.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Bugze is occasionally this, although it's unsurprising given his bad luck and habit of being by himself alot. Even then it's Gosh Dang It to Heck! "swears" like "horseapples", "buck", "gorram", and "hay". Nightshade is beginning to pick up on this.
- Spiky Hair: Bugze has an orange spiky mane which is highly unusual for changelings It's later revealed that he's part-Earth Pony.
- Springtime for Hitler: Bugze tries to get some recently-acquired Diamond Dogs minions to think for themselves by giving purposefully stupid orders in hopes that they will suggest something smarter, but the Dogs blindly obey and often succeed much to Bugze's annoyance.
- Superpowered Evil Side: When Bugze uses the "Nightmare Cloak", he hears a dark whisper (who he dubs the Dark Female Voice or DFV, but is actually Nightmare Moon) that encourages him to be more violent and brutal. She eventually becomes more benevolent to him and even changes her name to Selena.
- Tricked-Out Gloves: Bugze's Power Glove (acquired from a Big Daddy costume) allows him to utilize and channel plasmids and vigors to use abilities like setting targets on fire, casting electric bolts, freezing targets, and summoning a murder of crows to assist him.
- We Can Rule Together: Discord offers Bugze the opportunity to be his "partner-in-chaos".
- Worf Barrage: Bugze is on the receiving end of this during the Grand Galloping Gala melee before turning the tables.
- Worf Had the Flu: While Bugze delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to Princess Celestia at the Grand Galloping Gala, it is repeatedly mentioned that the solar monarch was holding back because their were too many civilians around for her to go full power without harming them.
- Xanatos Gambit: Flag Burner pulls this off during the "Die Horde" arc the bomb goes off at the stadium; good. Bomb is disarmed? Just a distraction to allow the real bombs to go off.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Bugze can't return to Appleloosa at the end of Season 2 due to fear of the Nightmare Bugze prophecy happening and thus is induced into Walking the Earth with Nightshade in Season 3.
- Zero-Approval Gambit: Bugze successfully pulls one off to prevent the Appleloosans and the Buffalo tribe from going to war by making both sides unite against him, The Hooded Offender.
