"Imagine an Equestria taken over by forces beyond their control. Where free love is forbidden, catastrophe is constant, and one of the Mane Six has died, fracturing the group. Somewhere within, hope dwells, but it'll take a bunch of freak occurrences for that to happen. For now, let us look through the travesty that is "United Equestria"...in the final day before a reckoning from the stars begins."
- Actually Pretty Funny: Every one, even the construction crew that Manny hired, can barely hold in their laughter upon witnessing him and Starla get several mounds of dirt dumped on them.
- Artie and Buddy end up giggling when Pinkie puts a band-aid over Starla’s mouth after she complains about Rarity not following Starfleet protocol.
- Adaptational Heroism: Demolisher, the brutal Decepticon from Revenge of the Fallen, is turned into a Kind Hearted Simpleton and a potential partner for Rarity. Helps that, even before in canon, he had Pet the Dog moments indicated by his bio.
- Adaptational Sexuality: In addition to Rainbow Dash and Applejack dating, Rarity is now Friends with Benefits with AJ due to Rainbow vanishing.
- Scootaloo mentions that she's gay and Sweetie's bi to Applejack when they complain that Starfleet won't let people love who they want to love.
- Spike, having previously pined for Rarity in the original show, is now in a relationship with Thorax. It's explained that he simply grew out of that schoolboy crush and discovered new things about himself, making this more Character Development.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Rainbow Dash and Applejack are a couple, but the relationship has been put on hold due to Rainbow's self-imposed exile.
- Because of Chrysalis's ovipositor, she's the actual "father" of Celestia's twins.
- An Arm and a Leg: Tricking Rhymey with an illusion of Fluttershy, Mokushiroku slices off Rhymey's sword-arm.
- Ascended Meme: In-Universe. Rainbow Dash claims that hydra meat Tastes Like Chicken, only to notice Scootaloo is behind her, doing a Verbal Backspace. Probably in reference to the chicken-related jokes to the mare.
- Asshole Victim: Sure, what Mokushiroku does is horrifying, but it's mostly Lightning Dawn and his team that get the brunt of his attack. Given that they're a bunch of fascist dictatorial grandstanding assholes...well...
- Avengers Assemble: After Mokushiroku awakens and begins his rampage, there's a montage of every member of Starfleet receiving a call about him and suiting up to stop him.
- Awful Wedded Life: The marriage between Celesto and Celestia has deteriorated to the point that Celestia clocks in how long their arguments go on for. She's even having an affair with Chrysalis, of all people. Rhymey and Fluttershy is another case, with the latter clearly uncomfortable with being essentially caged by her husband.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: One of Grand Ruler's lies, referencing the bizarre claim in the original fic that the space around Unicornicopia was breathable.
- Big Brother Instinct: Myte tries desperately to save his reanimated brother by taking the crystal out of Dyno's head. This only results in his death when the crystal explodes.
- Big Damn Heroes: Rainbow Dash rescues Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo from being eaten by some Cragodiles and a Hydra.
- Upon activating, Demolisher also saves the two from them.
- Discord comes in during Mokushiroku's attack to lay the smackdown on the kaiju after he accidentally harms Fluttershy. It doesn't last long, however.
- Big "NO!": Myte has this reaction over witnessing his brother’s death.
- Blatant Lies: Celesto, in order to keep the peace, states that Horn Kong is completely fine, even after it just got glassed by Mokushiroku. Everyone calls him out of this, but he doesn't listen.
- Breaking the Fellowship: What Pinkie Pie worries is happening to the Mane 6. To recap, she and Rarity are facing business problems, Rainbow Dash has already left, Applejack is greatly affected by said leaving, Fluttershy is always kept at home by Rhymey, and Twilight Sparkle is dead.
- By the end of the fic, it might seem like this fate will befall Starfleet's group...
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The statue of Goldwin directly looks at the readers when he transforms into who he actually is, Discord.
- Broken Ace: Losing to HADES in the April 2022 Arena has clearly left a mark on Lightning Dawn's psyche. Not helped by what follows with Mokushiroku, which causes him to train non-stop, much to the sadness of his neglected wife. It's also implied Twilight's death affected him more than he lets on, possibly suffering from Imposter Syndrome.
- Buried in a Pile of Corpses: Near the end of the battle, Mokushiroku uses the corpses of everybody in Horn Kong as waves to bury his foes, understandably freaking them out and nearly suffocating them.
- Call-Back: The destruction of the Allspark, a staple of the Silverscale Arena's canon of Transformers, is referenced as to what caused its shards to fall forth upon several vehicles.
- When Wreck-Gar performs with Pinkie in the middle of the street, the Space Ponies panic, thinking Fratello (the Starfleet Season 2 Antagonist) has returned.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: Discord ends up peeping in on Celestio masturbating to some human porn. It's implied that the two humans in it are underage.
- Canon Immigrant: Manny Collars/Needle Stitch was originally from one of Dakari King Mykan's sub-works, Friendship is Failure. Here, he's a Starfleet Equestrian ally, his grudge against Rarity shown for what it is. Namely, cruel and petty.
- Chekhov S Gun: Just before Discord’s taken to the Prison Planet Conva, Pinkie spits a paper clip into his chest-fur for luck. The purpose for this paperclip is yet to be seen, though it could aid in escape.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Upon seeing the destruction of Horn Kong caused by Mokushiroku, Rainbow Dash almost doesn’t want to help since she thinks Starfleet has it under control, but seeing all the ponies trapped in some buildings that are about to collapse makes her change her mind.
- Clothing Damage: When the crystalized zombies get a hold of Starla, they tear apart her armor.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Valkyries of Harmony and Lightning Dawn's squad, as well as Discord, Vs. Mokushiroku. The latter wins in a spectacle to behold.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: When Discord DOES show up, the beast starts getting put in the corner, but he keeps on going.
- Darker and Edgier: To both Friendship is Magic AND Starfleet Magic.
- Death of a Child: While it's not shown, Cookie Dough's son is among the casualties from Horn Kong's destruction, along with what is heavily implied to be MANY more caught in the crossfire.
- Deconstruction Crossover: Transformers and Godzilla characters show up here, with the latter being the most major.
- Deconstruction Fic: Where do we BEGIN with this fic?! Let's just say almost everything to do with Starfleet's philosophy is picked apart and put through the wringer through the course of this fic.
- Starfleet's Utopian philosophy of having a "benevolent police state" is shown as complete dystopia. Surveillance is intrusive, clothing must be conservative, non-hetero relationships are illegal, propaganda is at an all-time high (with education getting budget slashes the most), and mandatory exercise sessions sap away at the will of the populace. Goes hand-in-hand with another issue from the original fic, such as the changing of Equestria's lexicon to suite Starfleet and the aforementioned clothing thing.
- Character Shilling is completely gone, as everybody is now allowed to act as in canon...and they're not happy with the fact that Starfleet basically took over their world, re-writing everything to THEIR specifications. Now, Starfleet is treated with scorn and fear by the general populace.
- The uniforms that have to be worn by everybody are considered uncomfortable and impractical. Not to mention, gaudy.
- The He-Man Woman Hater tendencies that Starfleet has shown in the past are presented as how they should be. Namely, not very flattering. Them treating Rarity like a snooty diva when she's anything but doesn't go unnoticed.
- Several couples in Starfleet Magic were infamously
Strangled by the Red String, like Rarity/Spike, Fluttershy/Rhymey, and Celestia/Celesto. Not so much here, as the latter two relationships are plagued by internal strife, while the aformentioned trope is ruthlessly enforced by Starfleet officials that want to see Rarity/Spike happen, while both of those characters know that it's loaded with Squick, given the sizable age-gap that they had and still do. - Rarity, Pinkie, and Cadence do NOT let the In-Universe Designated Monkey trope get to them too much, with Rarity outright taking it with a grain of salt and continuing to be her own self.
- Everything that made the villains so generic and rather easy to beat (including such tropes as Orcus on His Throne, Evil Gloating, Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?, Explaining Your Powers to the Enemy, and so forth) is pretty much GONE with Mokushiroku. And while Starfleet is no stranger to getting upstaged at first by a villain, rarely does it every start with said villain taking the time and effort to leave some DEVASTATING mental/physical scars.
- Starfleet's main strategy of always attacking the creature first leaves the evacuation crew of Horn Kong understaffed, with Rainbow lamenting how more lives could have been saved if Starfleet focused on evacuation efforts first.
- Starfleet insisting on using the same strategy every time (Calling Your Attacks, The Worf Barrage, etc) lands them in serious trouble in the fight with Mokushiroku. Heck, he even WEAPONIZES the Smoke Shield trope, not sticking around and using it to hide and launch a sneak attack. Not helping is that Grand Ruler enforces the sterility, having his forces harshly punish Pinkie Pie for daring to keep the Party Cannon on standby, rather than just punch and kick randomly.
- Starfleet's "more than enough proof" judicial practice causes their cases to turn into a serious miscarriages of justice, leading to Discord's wrongful arrest.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Mokushiroku pulls this off by fighting Discord to a stand-still, though he's taken off-guard by him at first.
- Dream-Crushing Handicap: Artie Bristles' hands are crushed by Mokushiroku's foot, ruining his ability at art. His Heroic BSoD is rather heartbreaking to watch afterward.
- Downer Ending: The story ends with a decent amount of the cast either injured or dead, and those that aren’t have a lot of emotional baggage they still have to deal with.
- Even Evil Has Standards: When Mokushiroku accidentally fires a Corona Blast at Fluttershy, he's shocked. It's one of the few hints shown in this fic he's not totally evil.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: Wreck-Gar's activation is, at first, quite dramatic, with him almost making an imposing declarative statement...before he wonders just what the heck he is.
- Fantastic Racism: Starfleet treats Equestrians as inferior to them and it’s heavily implied that they treat the other species far worse.
- Foreshadowing: When Celestia asks Luna how she’s doing, she mentions that she’s been doing some light traveling and being more social, to which Celestia knows she’s hiding but doesn’t press any further. During the epilogue, it turns out she’s secretly making a resistance to Starfleet.
- Four Is Death: The fourth chapter has most of the characters fight Mokushiroku, which not only ends in the destruction of an entire city, but also the deaths of two of Starfleet's own members.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Starfleet and its citizens really dislike Pinkie Pie and Rarity. The former for her Fun Personified personality, and the latter for being perceived as "shallow" and "overdramatic" just by being a proper lady.
- Gender Bender: Cadence had experimented with some magic and had turned Shining Armor into a mare, with the female form being called “Gleaming Shield”.
- Genre Savvy: When Mokushiroku gets caught in an explosion with nothing seemingly in the center of where he was standing, Rainbow Dash points out that this is the part where the villain shows he’s not hurt at all. To which Starla states that it usually doesn’t happen. Turns out, Rainbow Dash is half-right, as not only did the attack do jack-squat, but he's not sticking around to show it. Rather, he uses it as cover to launch a surprise attack.
- Groin Attack: Rarity threatens to do SOMETHING to the manhoods of any Starfleet personnel who dares to lay a hand on Spike again, but Applebloom enters the room before she could finish her threat.
- God's Hands Are Tied: Celestia is unable to do much to stop her husband's actions on account of not wanting to start a war between the Unicornicopians and the Equestria. Luna, however, isn't as willing to let this all slide, forming a rebellion on the side. Discord has also been depowered since re-materializing, preventing him from doing anything lasting.
- Gray-and-Gray Morality: The Equestrians (and Cybertronians) featured here are of the White morality, but in the grand scheme of things, we have Starfleet (xenophobic and very dystopian, yet gravitated towards law) against Mokushiroku (a vengeful hyper-destructive monster with soon-revealed altruistic intentions).
- Grievous Harm with a Body: Early in the fight, Mokushiroku grabs Lightning Dawn and Rainbow Dash and uses them to pummel the other members of Starfleet.
- Heel–Face Turn: Discord retains this, to the point where he's an unambiguous good guy and VERY fond of Fluttershy. Still a wily sort that's not pulling any punches.
- (Formerly Queen) Chrysalis is now living under Celestia's roof as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, having lost her kingdom and having formed a relationship with Celestia. She even sired Castor and Leliana in this continuity! She tries to claim she's still has sinister motives, but she's not fooling anybody.
- Heteronormative Crusader: As part of Starfleet's Uptopian mindset, they view any relationship that isn't male/female as illegal. It's one of the reasons behind Rainbow Dash leaving, as well as strife for other couples.
- Hope Spot: Cookie Dough gets so close to rescuing his trapped family, only for Artie to grab him to get him away from Mokushiroku and ignoring his pleas about his family.
- Impaled With Extremeprejudice: Dyno gets killed when a crystal gets speared through his head, turning him into a mindless drone for Mokushiroku.
- Insane Troll Logic: Discord calls out Celesto for thinking that the Draconoques created Mokushiroku just to look good despite knowing that he lost most of his powers.
- Interspecies Romance: Aside from the ship-tease below (involving Equestrians and Cybertronians), there's also Fluttershy and Discord (Pegasus and Draconoques), Celestia and Chrysalis (Alicorn and Changeling), and Big Macintosh and Zecora (Earth Pony and Zebra).
- Interrupted Cooldown Hug: Fluttershy tries to get Mokushiroku to calm down by talking to him. Unfortunately for her, the Starfleet characters think she’s gone crazy and in their infinite wisdom, attack the creature anyways, which results in him resuming his destruction of Horn Kong.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Apple Bloom barges in on Applejack and Rarity after they finished having sex.
- As soon as Rarity walks back into her home, she barges in on Spike having sex with Thorax.
- Kangaroo Court: Discord is subjected to this at the every end, thrown into Planet Conva without a fair trial. In fact, most of the trial is Celesto trying to save face after the disasterous Horn Kong incident.
- Kick the Dog: After one of the soldiers says that a physical exam from everyone is due tomorrow, he calls out a random Equestrian as 'tubby'.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Dyno gets a crystal lodged into his head while saying adios to Mokushiroku, who he thought was defeated
- Killed Off for Real: During Mokushiroku's destruction of Horn Kong, he kills Dyno and Myte, as well as Cookie Dough's family.
- Knight of Cerebus: Mokushiroku's very awakening is a sign this fic is making a turn for the darker. In fact, he's this for Starfleet Magic as a whole. A No-Nonsense Nemesis that manages to KILL two of their members and cripple the rest physically and/or mentally. All in one fight before he leaves on his own accord.
- Lack of Empathy: One of the soldiers takes a drawing that Pinkie had made of her friends, which included the deceased Twilight, and rips it in half and yells at Pinkie to get over her death.
- Laser-Guided Karma: What Manny believes demolishing Rarity’s Carousel Boutique will be, considering it poetic justice.
- Lazy Alias: As part of Chrysalis’ disguise as a handmaiden, she goes by the name "Nurmal Mahre". Celestia is left amused at how bad the name is.
- Militaries Are Useless: The Starfleet rank-and-file are utterly helpless before Mokushiroku, even before he truly awakens.
- Mind Rape: Mokushiroku, near the end of the battle, traps everybody in an illusion where the deceased Twilight as well as the deceased citizens askes them why didn't any of save them.
- Also, it's implied Rhymey hypnotizes Fluttershy to keep her in line.
- Mythology Gag: Wreck-Gar is his Animated self, who is voiced by Weird Al Yankovic, as well as gets into a friendship/potential relationship with Pinkie Pie in the fic. In other words? Cheese Sandwhich's role, but with a giant robot.
- Cadence is considering the name "Flurry Heart" for her unborn child. Doubles as a Call-Forward.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Starfleet cast gets a MAJOR case of this in the fourth chapter, with all of their efforts to stop Mokushiroku either not working or making everything worse.
- Non-Indicative Name: As the narration points out, the militaristic force called Starfleet Magic...doesn't actually have a fleet of starships.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: As Rarity points out, Mokushiroku is unlike every other villain they faced, as he didn’t gloat, didn’t speak, and wasted no time brutalizing everyone.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: By the time Mokushiroku leaves, Dyno and Myte are dead, the rest of Starfleet has been crippled in more ways than one, Fluttershy is in a coma, Luna is leading a secret rebellion unknown to even her sister, said sister is in a secret relationship with Chrysalis, and Mokushiroku is VERY much alive, his return all-but-inevitable. The rest of the Mane 5 can only pick up the pieces and steel their resolves.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Manny Collars refuses to let go of the incident that happened when Rarity tried to use the gift he gave her as a tribute to him.
- Pass the Popcorn: Discord magics up some popcorn to watch how well the Valkyries, Starfleet, and the Equestrians do against Mokushiroku.
- Percussive Therapy: How Lightning Dawn is handling his recent string of losses, especially at the end. An entire forest is nearly destroyed from his rage-fueled training!
- Politically Incorrect Hero: "Hero" is a strong term for Starfleet, but they ARE dedicated to protecting their home. That said, they despise any relationship that isn't heteronormative and the mentally disabled are looked down upon. It's one of the reasons Ditzy Doo is in danger of losing custody of her child, Dinky. Even worse, it's heavily implies that they turn certain 'unfit' people into unpersons.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: As the narration states several times, Celesto’s name is pronounced "Che-les-to".
- Propaganda Machine: From trying to maintain that 'Equestrians are inferior and Space Ponies are superior', as well as that Horn Kong is totally fine (despite some VERY obvious news to the contrary), Celesto's regime runs on this.
- Punch Catch: At one point, Lightning Dawn tries punching Mokushiroku, only for him to catch Lightning’s fist.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Rainbow Dash has left behind her friends and Starfleet as a whole, mostly due to the strain Starfleet put on her relationship with Applejack and, most of all, being unable to save Twilight.
- Screw You, Elves!: The fanfic, when you get down to it. Replace "Elves" with "Starfleet" and you're good to go.
- Self-Imposed Exile: Rainbow Dash admits she chose to become one after Twilight's death and because of Starfleet looking down on her relationship with Applejack.
- Sequel Hook: Discord, on-route to Conva, catches sight of Mokushiroku leaving...and the narration states that he's headed for Pentagram City for unknown reasons. Sure enough, a sequel fic did follow.
- Sex for Solace: Rarity has regular sex sessions with Applejack to help comfort her over Rainbow Dash’s disappearance.
- Ship Tease: Between Wreck-Gar and Pinkie Pie, as well as Rarity and Demolisher.
- It's all but stated that Discord and Fluttershy felt the same way about each-other, but never got to confess.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Discord and Chrysalis managed to survive/not be arrested from their fights against Starfleet, with Discord being Not Quite Dead and the Chrysalis they fought being a pretender, with the actual Chrysalis in hiding.
- Stay in the Kitchen: What Fluttershy is worried Rhymey is trying to instill in her, treating her as a fragile thing that can't do anything but be a good housewife. She has to trick him into bringing her along so she can help.
- "Stop Having Fun" Guys: One of Starfleet's issues and one of the reasons they don't like Pinkie Pie in particular. An example is when she creates an elaborate and zany cake design...and is immediately met with eye rolls and harsh glares, as well as heckling.
- Struggling Single Mother: Ditzy Doo, who's in danger of losing Dinky due to her coordination issues. Her other daughter, Amethyst, is also being conscripted into Starfleet's ranks, despite being 17.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Celestia had to veto giving every Equestrian wings after MANY accidents happened with ponies that weren’t used to having them.
- Take That!: It's a Deconstruction Fic of My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic. This was bound to happen.
- The 'Sparity' ship is also reacted to with disgust by not only both members of the ship, but also Applejack. After all, Spike was below the age of consent when that crush started. Something everybody is aware of, yet Starfleet continues to do In-Universe Die for Our Ship protocol.
- That Man Is Dead: After Manny’s incident with Rarity, he stopped calling himself Needle Stitch and now calls himself Manny Collars. Presumably like the original fic, he even changed his Cutie Mark.
- This Explains So Much: When Discord witnesses Rhymey seemingly hypnotizing Fluttershy into getting her to stand down, he realizes that it explains a lot about their relationship.
- Trash the Set: By the time Mokushiroku is done with Horn Kong, it's left a smoldering ruin. We get to see the complete annihilation overall, especially when Discord and him do battle.
- Unperson: What's heavily implied to have happened to Button Mash and his family, simply because he had mild autism.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Despite everyone trying to fight Mokushiroku as a team, the members of Starfleet (mainly Lightning Dawn and Starla Shine) are willing to physically attack the Equestrian characters for doing or suggesting something that's against Starfleet Protocol.
- Wham Line: As if the reference image for him wasn't enough, we get this line to confirm that Mokushiroku is a very familiar beast at the very end.
- But his true creator had named himself something else. Something that had been made from a literal black hole, bits of a forgotten object from Equestria's past...and the cells of Godzilla a powerful creature that had won one of the Silverscale Arenas. This beast was to be named something else before he killed the one that created him for its cruel purposes.
That name...was SpaceGodzilla.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The story gives one last look into what each character's doing after Discord's "trial", with all of them being somber with the exceptions being Pinkie and Rarity.
- The Worf Barrage: All of Starfleet fires everything they can at Mokushiroku, which causes a big explosion that seemingly defeated him, only for it to be revealed that it didn’t do anything at all.
- The Worf Effect: NONE of the characters that fought Mokushiroku, not even Lightning Dawn in his Enticorn form, could even make a dent on him.
- Worf Had the Flu: Discord may still be a powerhouse capable of reality warping, but he's been depowered since re-materializing, allowing him to be imprisoned on Conva at the end.
- Would Hurt a Child: Children aren't safe from Starfleet's scrutiny, as either they're forcibly conscripted into their forces before they reach young adult age or, even worse, are turned into unpersons.
- Mokushiroku had no qualms about the possibility of child deaths while destroying Horn Kong, with there being a minimum of one child death during its destruction.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Starfleet as a whole thinks they're ready for what the mysterious crystalline mass that rose from the Crystal Empire has to offer. They don't learn their lesson even after the damage is done.
- "You!" Exclamation: When Cookie Dough barges into Discord's trial, he exclaims "YOU!!!" while pointing at Lighting Dawn, before yelling at him for failing to save his family.
- Zombie Apocalypse: Mokushiroku causes a minor one to attack his foes in Horn Kong, using his crystals to revive of the corpses of those around them, even using them as literal waves of bodies!
