Webcomic / Rogue Diamond

Cut loose the tyrant's chains, and set yourself free.

"This cesspool of debauchery and poverty would make even a homeless mare cringe... and most of them do."

— Spike, Chapter 1: Slum Dreams

Rogue Diamond is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan comic (with a bit of Black Lagoon thrown into the mixture), written by TheFlimFlamBros, and drawn by Pia-Sama, with backgrounds done by HeimoBauss. The characters are in the anthropomorphic style.

In an alternate timeline of Equestria, a set of events completely diverted everything we know from the show and have taken a dark turn. Princess Celestia becomes troubled that her sister Princess Luna is still under the influence of Nightmare Moon and turning the citizens against her. With her paranoia festering like a disease, she uses the sun to melt the polar ice caps and flood the world, killing a lot of innocents and destroying countless cities as a result, and imprisons Luna, sending her to the bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean. Now Celestia rules Equestria through fear, and the majority of the survivors from the great flood are forced to live in poverty.

Several years later, Spike is fully grown up and living in one of the poorer districts of Canterlot, working a meaningless desk job just to make ends meet. However, one fateful day, he is given a mysterious task of transporting a briefcase of unknown contents across the seas for a hefty sum. This plan becomes derailed when his transport is suddenly attacked by a group of pirates, led by the trigger happy Rainbow Dash and the ever so beautiful Rarity.

Now whisked away into a life so foreign and yet so free, Spike is thrown into an adventure unlike anything he had ever imagined, full of peril, mystery, and quite possibly something meaningful with his crush.

Although arguably a "What if Celestia turned evil?" setting, there is still a lot of the current plot that is yet to be revealed to truly analyse what kind of scenario the characters are really in. Nevertheless, the comic puts a lot of focus on the cast's development, making each moment memorable, and providing plenty of humour despite (or perhaps because of) its dark setting.

Now has a Character page that needs love.

Due to the spoileriffic nature of this comic, be warned of unavoidable spoilers.

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This comic contains examples of the following tropes:

• Adaptational Villainy: Aside from Celestia, Fancy Pants while remaining friendly and noble has a sinister side to him in this story.
• Admiring the Abomination: Spike inadvertently earns Rainbow Dash's respect after she witnesses the carnage he invoked in his primal form.
• After the End: Aside from the prologue, the main story takes place a few years after most of Equestria has been completely submerged in water.
• Affably Evil: Fancy Pants, he's a polite gentleman who also wants to firebomb the poorest survivors of Celestia's floods.
• Anger Born of Worry: Twilight angrily refuses to let Spike join the Rogue Diamond crew because she doesn't want to risk him getting hurt. Even though Spike's already proven his worth by surviving what a would be a fatal wound for any of the others.
• Animesque: The character expressions sometimes dip into this territory usually for comedic effect such as when Spike falls out of bed.
• The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Averted as almost every character has a darker shade to their personality (to varying extremes) as a result of the floods.
• Apologetic Attacker: Fluttershy after instinctively spraying Spike with mace.
• Berserk Button:
  • Paying more attention to Nihashi's chest than her eyes is a good way to get a black eye.
  • It's a bad idea to ruin Rarity's boots, unless you want your boat capsized.
• Big Bad: Princess Celestia, who flooded Equestria years ago, apparently out of jealousy for the attention her younger sister was getting.
• Boom, Headshot!: Spike is on the receiving end of this in Chapter 4. He gets better, thanks to his scales being more durable than the pony flesh.
• Bullying a Dragon: A literal example occurs when Nihashi beats the already wounded Spike to near death, threatens to kill all his friends and insults his species while she's at it. Unfortunately for her this causes Spike to finally snap, transforming into a giant dragon that effortlessly wipes them out.
• The Cameo: Moondancer makes an appearance (albeit with a different appearance due to the fact she had yet to debut in the official series) in Page 10 of Chapter 1.
• Canon Foreigner: Fancy Pants' Secretary "00284" a.k.a "Nihashi" ^note  It’s a pun from Japanese numbers, made from her cheek tattoo. Ni: 2, Hachi: 8, Shi: 4 = Nihashi. is the only major character that's not adapted from the original show.
• The Captain: In this universe Rarity is The Leader of the Mane 6 rather than Twilight. Justified, as Twilight is confined to hiding in her room so Celestia won't realize she's still alive.
• Cast of Snowflakes: Every background pony is given a distinct design. Some are even cameos of original characters requested by their owners. Others are homages to other series. See Lawyer-Friendly Cameo below.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Spike. At one point he can't help but fantasize at Pinkie's suggestion of them all stripping naked but he immediately imagines Applejack kicking him for thinking such thoughts. Plus he even apologizes to Nihashi for staring at her assets or at least tries to.
  Spike: S-Sorry aboob-about that!
  • RD and Applejack too, considering the way they fantasize about Soarin, who is a male stripper in this universe.
• City on the Water: With Ponyville destroyed in the floods, Spike now lives in a place called "The Docks", a slum city that rests upon artificial land.
• Clingy Macguffin: Invoked by Fancy Pants, who handcuffs a briefcase of unknown worth to Spike's wrist.
• Crapsack World: Most of Equestria is covered in ocean, and what land remains is surrounded by artificial land built to support cities on water, and these don't always stay up. The comic has yet to reveal what has happened to the rest of the world as a result.
• Darker and Edgier: Well for starters, Celestia kills off a good chunk of Equestria's population via flooding, tyrannically rules over the survivors with an iron fist, and subjects her sister to a Fate Worse than Death. And that's all just the Prologue.
• D-Cup Distress: Fancy Pants' Secretary hates all the attention her large endowments bring. When Spike dares to suggest the positive side, she threatens him with a Neck Lift. Applejack even comments on how the poor girl's back must hurt as a result.
  Rainbow Dash: Holy crap! That chick has bigger cans than Fluttershy!
  Applejack: Wow... I'm not sure if I should be jealous or concerned. I mean her back must be killing her.
  Nihashi: Morons... I'm surrounded by morons.
• Deadpan Snarker: Rainbow Dash retains this trait from her canon counterpart, but the entire crew of the Rogue Diamond appear to be Snark Knights, even if they weren't before.
• Defiant to the End: Even after Applejack has him cornered, the villainous Captain's last act of defiance is to spit in her face.
  Applejack: Now why would you do a thing like that?
• Easily Forgiven: The ponies of Equestria are said to have "welcomed Luna back with open arms" after her banishment. Celestia however remains an aversion; she's thought of as a merciless monster for flooding the planet.
• Elemental Absorption: A "mage" pony tries to zap Rainbow Dash with lightning, but being a weather pony it only makes her stronger.
• Establishing Character Moment: One of the first things we see Spike do is give up his only bit to a homeless family, even though he hadn't eaten in two days himself.
• Expy: Rainbow Dash's outfit is clearly based off of Revy.
• Face–Heel Turn: Between flooding the world and imprisoning her sister in the deepest parts of the ocean, the formerly benevolent Celestia has gone off the deep end.
• Fake Special Attack: The Rogue Diamond's giant cannons are actually fake. Applejack created them to look intimidating because "real ones are too expensive."
• Fantastic Racism: Most ponies aren't exactly fond of Spike due to him being a dragon, even referring to him by his species rather than his name.
• Forceful Kiss: Pinkie Pie gives one to Spike as a way of greeting him for the first time. She even admits it was nice but isn't sure if she would ship it.
• Future Badass: Spike becomes one having to grow up without Twilight in a cold world.
• Futureshadowing: Discord's severed hand is seen in Celestia's grasp during one of Spike's flashbacks.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: With Luna gone, Celestia is the sole governing body in Canterlot again. She's also the one responsible for melting the ice caps and flooding the world, and the populace consider her an oppressive tyrant.
• Groin Attack: Rainbow threatened Spike with this, with a gun. Thankfully, Rarity arrived on the scene in the nick of time.
• Handcuffed Briefcase: Spike is given one by Fancy Pants, which he's told to deliver without opening it. Spike peeks inside anyway, and finds that the briefcase contains spells to firebomb the remaining pony population into oblivion. Spike ends up aboard the pirate's ship because they can't get the briefcase off, and because Spike's dragon scales are too tough to cut through his arm, so they have to take him along.
• Hates Baths: As part of her tendency to never leave her room, Twilight smells pretty bad. Rarity even comments on this.
• He Is All Grown Up: Twilight was in for quite a surprise when reuniting with Spike.
  Twilight Sparkle: Wow, you've gotten big Spike.
  Spike: (grins) Or maybe you've gotten smaller!
• Hikikomori: Twilight rarely, if ever, leaves her room on the ship.
• Hulking Out: When Spike let his rage take over, none of the attacking force survived.
• Immune to Bullets: Subverted with Spike's normal form; his thick scales allow him to survive shots that would be fatal to ponies, however they still cause him pain and minor injury. Played straight with his One-Winged Angel form; bullets bounce off his skin harmlessly, and he can even shrug off grenades and bazooka shells.
• Insistent Terminology: Twilight doesn't like the Rogue Diamond crew to be referred as "pirates" or "mercenaries" even though Spike points out the latter is what they technically are.
• Intimate Lotion Application: Fluttershy has a hard time concentrating when she has to rub down lotion on Spike, due to him being "all muscly".
• Kill the Poor: Fancy Pants had spells for firebombing poor people in the briefcase he attached to Spike's wrist. His hired guns say it's to save the population from themselves; Spike doesn't buy it.
• Large Ham: Rarity retains this from her canon counterpart. In-universe, she once cared more about having her favorite boots ruined than being shot in the leg.
• Last of His Kind: It's possible Spike is the very last dragon in all of Equestria, because no one has seen any since the world was flooded.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The designs of background ponies are sometimes based on iconic characters from other franchises.
  • In the very first page of the Prologue, there are two ponies holding hands, who look very much like Naruto and Hinata.
  • Page 2 of the Prologue features two ponies based on Ruika and Sasuke respectively.
  • Pages 8 and 9 of Chapter 1 feature a pony that looks suspiciously similar to Edward Elric.
  • Page 8 of Chapter 1 also features two ponies based on Sango and Rick Grimes respectively.
• Like Brother and Sister: Spike and Twilight Sparkle.
• Magitek: In this universe magic and technology go hand in hand.
• Machiavelli Was Wrong: Considering Celestia's best student and her adopted son are now out to kill her it's safe to assume this.
• Male Gaze: Several times with Fancy Pants' Secretary. It's implied that he invokes this trope to throw people off.
• The Medic: Fluttershy is the medic of the Rogue Diamond crew with Angel Bunny as her assistant.
• Medium Awareness: Page 4 has Spike struggle to push away the speech bubbles of the numerous questions Fluttershy asks him.
• Mercy Kill: "Nihashi" argues that Fancy Pants' plan to Kill the Poor is this, since with not enough clean water to go around, those who can't afford the water will likely die slowly of thirst anyway. Spike still thinks it's monstrous.
• My Greatest Failure: Spike blames himself for breaking ties with Twilight (feeling she didn't need him anymore) after she made friends in Ponyville, as the situation with Celestia could've turned out differently with her presence.
• My Master, Right or Wrong:
  • "Moonlit" a Royal guard tries to convince Celestia that perhaps Luna has really changed but once Celestia gives her orders he reluctantly stands by and does nothing as she disposes of Luna's body.
  • For the same reason, Twilight can't trust her parents anymore, believing they'll stay loyal to Celestia no matter what.
• Naked Apron: When Spike first meets her, he finds out Pinkie Pie's outfit in her kitchen is a large apron... and nothing else. She deems it necessary so she can turn the heat up really high for cooking.
• No Range Like Point-Blank Range: In Chapter 7, Nihashi shoots Spike at point blank range so she can retrieve the brief case from him. Spike survives it by deflecting the shot slightly by nudging the gun barrel with his tail, and the rest of the damage is minimal thanks to his Super-Toughness.
• No Sense of Humor: So when Nihashi threatens to throw Spike out the window, she means every word of it.
• Omake: Pia-Sama has released supplementary content that expands on the lore of the comic.
• Oh, Crap!: Spike, twice. Once after he's handcuffed to the briefcase, and another when Rainbow Dash points a gun at his crotch.
• Out-of-Clothes Experience: In Chapter 13, Spike is contacted by his deceased father and grandmother in the dream world, and they are all naked.
• Parental Substitute: Celestia to Spike. Which makes her betrayal all the more heart wrenching for him.
• Precious Photo: Fancy Pants keeps one of himself and Fleur Dis Lee on his desk.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Subverted in Luna's case as the citizens do accept her reformation but since Celestia doesn't buy it, they are forced to reject her on orders of the Princess.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl:
  • Although Pinkie Pie wears a naked apron to deal with the hot temperatures of her kitchen, she is also aware of how attractive she is and teases Spike out of amusement the moment they are alone.
  • Apple Bloom grows up into a very curvy gal with a love for tank tops that expose her waist and a bare shoulder, shorttails overalls cut into shorts, and a very forward personally towards guys she’s interested in, like Spike.
• Shout-Out:
  • To Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy in Chapter 3.
  Rainbow Dash: It works twenty percent of the time...every time.
  Spike: That doesn't make any sense...
  • Also one to the series on which it's based: "Luna is best princess!" in the prologue.
  • In Chapter 5 Spike echoes "The Preacher" when he screams "IT BURNS! WHY DOES IT BURN!?"
  • In Chapter 7 when Rainbow Dash powers up with lightning, she gains a bright aura, her hair becomes spiky, her eyes go pure white and she boasts very maniacal demeanor; which is all highly reminiscent of a certain Legendary Super Saiyan who often screams "Kakarot!"
• Skewed Priorities: Rarity is more annoyed about her boot getting ruined by a gunshot rather than the gunshot wound itself as she believes it's a "crime against fashion". Rarity later justifies it by saying that she's been shot so many times that it hardly bothers her anymore.
• Symbol Swearing: Invoked from time to time such as "Well @#$%" ~Applejack (Page 20 of Chapter 7)
• Team Chef: Pinkie Pie and a Supreme Chef at that!
• Tears of Joy: Twilight Sparkle and Spike when they're reunited, and Twilight Sparkle again after Spike wakes up following the battle.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Out of paranoia, Celestia comes to the conclusion that if everyone loves Luna more despite her actions, then she herself must rule through fear.
• Tinfoil Hat: A variant, Twilight uses tin foil in her room because she believes it will help prevent Celestia from finding her, though Rarity has her doubts about its effectiveness.
• Token Evil Teammate: Rainbow Dash, reaches downright Jerkass levels in this story. She shows little remorse or concern in spite of the Dirty Business the Rogue Diamond Crew regularly have to carry out, enjoys the thrill of the hunt and often picks on Spike just for the fun of it. Although she does give him ''some'' praise when he pulls his weight.
• Token Good Teammate: Fluttershy, she remains to be the closest to her original characterization in spite of all the horrible things that have caused the Mane 6 to become quite jaded and cynical. Even Pinkie despite keeping up her happy demeanor has hinted to have more sinister side when angered.
• Unstoppable Rage: Spike enters one while Hulking Out to recover from the verge of death while battling Nihashi.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Which is why Nihashi is totally on board with Fancy Pants' plan.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Spike is willing to admit Fancy Pants is held in high regard for rescuing so many people during the floods.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Luna shows up very briefly in the prologue and is quickly overpowered by Celestia before being boxed up and sent to the bottom of the sea. Whether she is dead or not remains to be seen.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Fancy Pants' plan to ensure enough clean water for everyone involves wiping out areas with ponies that couldn't afford the water.
• Wham Shot: One of the final panels of the opening arc puts a lot of Celestia's motivations into a new light. What appears to be the real Celestia is bound beneath the throne room, implying that the Celestia currently sitting on the throne is a fake.
• Would Hit a Girl: Spike, who gives Nihashi a piece of his mind when she tries to fire him. Much to the surprise of Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
• Wretched Hive: The island city of Harbour, the Rogue Diamond crew live, is an outlaw town for various criminal organizations and guns for hire.
• You Are Number 6: Fancy Pants' Secretary is marked as "00284".
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Quoted by Pinkie as she dips into her "Pinkamena" personality.