Despite being built up as The Man Behind the Man for Dark Conquest, who gets an epic, drawn-out fight with Twilight, the Necromancer gets taken out like a chump. Somewhat justified in that the Elements are at their absolute peak during their brief encounter and are drawing from the Tree of Harmony directly, but still.
King Sombra is built up as a massive, Crystal-Empire-threatening foe that goes all One-Winged Angel to fight the Element bearers and is borderline untouchable with his ability to drain magic. He goes down in roughly two minutes to Belle Amie, of all ponies (wielding one of Meadowbrook's artifacts that's pretty much tailor-made to counter him, but still). He returns some chapters later, and Celestia has to fight him herself, but he gives her only a moderate fight before getting defeated.
Played with with Celesto. In his final fight against Dark Conquest, he doesn't even stand a chance or land a single hit, having been stripped of his power. However, Conquest does take his sweet time making it cathartic enough to overlook that it was a slaughter, and Celesto did have a proper fight against Lightning right before, where he barely lost with the time on his side.
Ass Pull: Titan heading off to deal with Tirek. It has no foreshadowing, doesn't contribute to the plot, doesn't really lead anywhere, and overall feels like a flimsy excuse to keep him out of the story. At best it foreshadows that Twilight will use three moves to beat Conquest.
Captain Obvious Reveal: Belle and Spark look like Twilight Sparkle and have her personality, abilities, and color palette split between them. Them somehow not being Twilight's Literal Split Personality would be one hell of an Ass Pull, although Spark holding onto the Twilight identity might be a bit of a surprise.
Catharsis Factor: Probably the main reason to read this. Seeing Lightning and company getting utterly curb-stomped and Starfleet Magic'schanges to canon getting torn apart at the seams can be very satisfying. Also the Elements of Harmony and Cadance getting respect, and in the end, Starfleet becoming good people.
Crosses the Line Twice: There might as well not be a line as far as Dark Conquest is concerned. This is a major reason why he comes off as being more likable than Celesto: he goes so far with his Card Carrying Villainy that it becomes hard to take him seriously after a while.
Evil Is Cool: Dark Conquest wouldn't be half as entertaining if he wasn't such a gleefully unrepentant bastard. His thoroughly twisted sense of humor also leads to a lot of amusing moments that don't downplay his evilness at all.
Changelings in Starfleet Magic can't impersonate anyone well because the imposters act like complete jerks. A Changeling impersonating Grand Ruler is completely in-character.
Lightning gives all the credit for foiling Board Wipe to the Equestrians, even though he actually helped by beating the enemy leader. It's not just his Character Development, not just his newfound humility. He acknowledges his feat was with Equestrian means.
In the FIM series, there is a city ruled with values no different from Starfleet's. The evil leader is Starlight Glimmer, who is also obsessed with order. So, of course, here, she is Grand Ruler's ally.
Also, two villains in this story had once worked for Grand Ruler, not counting Rhymey.These are Raven and Emil Kudos, villains whom Mykan created just to spite the Equestrians.
Growing the Beard: Starts off as a spitefic where Starfleet members are beat up and raped, but over time, every single character is developed and given personality and backstories. It ends up being more morally complex and engaging than the fic it deconstructs, and its turning point is Chapter 8 with Dyno's retirement and the others getting development.
Harsher in Hindsight: Initially, in Fall of Starfleet, Lightning blamed Starla for being kidnapped and raped, though he regrets it later. Come Season VIII of Starfleet Magic, and the whole of Starfleet blames Swift Star for being kidnapped and near-raped because he disobeyed orders, even though he saved everyone.
In "Adieu Plant Star", Den Mother Zirconia states that the reason why her Diamond Dogs were able to beat Starfleet in spite of their supposed superiority in the original fic was because they were wearing diamond armour that increased their strength ten-fold. A few years later, Mykan would say that the Diamond Dogs indeed had strong armour!
In the fight against Raven, Twilight Sparkle actually had the upper hand against her before Celesto had Lightning Dawn unknowingly cost her the fight and her own life. In DEATH BATTLE!, we see Twilight going up against the actualRaven and even though she lost, she still put up a decent fight magic-wise. Thus making this Raven weaker than DC's own half-demoness, and there's no more question as to who would have won the fight proper in this fic.
Dark Conquest and the Necromancer's plan basically involves forming a villain crew composed of Starfleet's enemies that were defeated in the past. The hilarious part is that the Necromancer is revealed to be Grogar; when Grogar became part of the FiM canon in season 9, his plan was almost exactly the same.
A villain from a different time taunting a hero with the line "I am inevitable" shortly before said hero erases him from existence? You almost expect the response "And I... am Shining Armor" (which actually would make sense in this context) even though the fight with the Dark King was written about two years too early to be an Avengers: Endgame reference.
Some ideas from Dark Conquest actually found their way towards Starfleet Magic itself in Season 9. Von Devilor is a demon deity powered by hate, like Conquest. Also like Conquest, the Starfleet forces prove unable to stop him by themselves, though they perform far better, and he has to be defeated by The Power of Love and, in a way, friendship, though still having to get killed in a fight.
Starlight Glimmer appears in this fic as a Starfleet loyalist. In Starfleet Magic Season X, she works for Titan instead. Not just that, but she turns Celesto into a child. Which is his final fate in Fall of Starfleet.
Moral Event Horizon: If Dark Conquest didn't cross it by forcibly turning Starla into a Sex Slave, then he probably did with the massacre of countless innocents. And if he didn't cross it with that, there's forcing Starfleet to watch as he disembowels Cookie Dough. Really, Conquest spends most of his time tap-dancing on the MEH. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that he's the Moral Event Horizon personified.
Grand Ruler crosses it in chapter 11, when he completely brushes off the Elements' efforts in Fillydelphia - their first major victory - and instead just plots to regain his influence over United Equestria, which was severely shaken by the feat. This moment, more than any other, cements him as a despotic, power-hungry tyrant who barely gives a rat's ass about his own people.
Rhymey crosses it by abusing Fluttershy and brainwashing her. The abuse was the reason Legendbringer could not redeem him.
The Necromancer crosses it with the genocide of the fairies.
Emil Kudos crosses it by killing Applejack's parents.
My Real Daddy: Legendbringer's portrayals of Mykan's "original" characters are much better received, mainly due to them actually having character.
Rooting for the Empire: Given the source material, where the heroes are arrogant white saviors, is it really surprising to want to cheer for the bad guys? Downplayed severely later on when the sympathetic characters in Conquest's ranks have all ditched and the Starfleet cast become more likeable.
Trapped by Mountain Lions: The subplot with the Equestrian magic drain ultimately doesn't amount to anything in the long run despite Moondancer's scheme potentially being able to tie in with Twilight's resurrection as Belle and Spark. After it's dealt with, the culprit is sent off to the Crystal Empire and that's the last we hear of the whole affair (although, unlike the subplots in the source material, it only takes up one chapter rather than half the story).
Lightning Dawn, surprisingly enough. He's portrayed here as an Unwitting Pawn blindly following the ideals of a megalomaniac that he sees as a father, but who does not care for him at all on a personal level. Over time, he becomes increasingly aware of this, even while still trying to be the ideal soldier in a fruitless attempt to make Grand Ruler proud while simultaneously wanting to break free of it. Eventually, he breaks down completely when confronted with just how powerless he really is.
Despite hurting over Twilight's death, Pinkie Pie still insists on putting on her usual smile and trying to make others happy. But on occasion, her mask slips, and how fragile she can be is put on full display.
Rhymey's mother Mary. Her husband beats her anytime she opens her mouth and cheats on her with countless women. Her son Rhymey is just as abusive towards her. She was also forced to disown her own daughter, due to her having a birth defect.
