History FandomSpecificPlot / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic

* When Twilight tries out ''any'' new spell in fanfic, [[{{Flanderization}} things will go south]]. One fanfic involving Twilight visiting a darker parallel universe had Equestria Daily note that the universe's existence isn't her fault: "Is that even ''allowed''?"

* "Character X becomes an alicorn" has always been a popular plot, as it allowed exploration of what it ''meant'' to be an alicorn, having to deal with power and immortality, and what the Canterlot royalty was like. While all of the Mane Six have undergone it at some point, Twilight was by far the most common. And then [[IKnewIt it actually happened]]. A popular theme in these has Twilight Sparkle (and possibly the other members of the mane six as well) turning into alicorns and taking over the rule of Equestria from Celestia and Luna, who have [[WhoWantsToLiveForever grown tired of immortality]]. Now the show appears to be doing ''that'' [[IKnewIt for the final season]].
* In Derpy fics where she's the mother of Dinky, it'll often center around the hardships of being a single mother, and Dinky would either be embarrassed of her mom but learn to accept her by the end, or would be the helpful daughter.

* There's a surprisingly large number of fanfics about the background ponies Vinyl Scratch and Octavia - a modern techno DJ and classical musician, respectively - somehow having to work together, whether they go to the same university, get assigned the same radio show, or become roommates. HilarityEnsues. {{Shipping}} also frequently ensues. This has also become canon as of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife Slice of Life]]".

* Ever since "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" and "Party of One", Pinkie's straight-haired emo hairstyle has been something of a fixture of the fandom, with the change of Pinkie's mane and tail from fuzzy to straight indicating some form of emotional trauma. Equally frequently is the tendency of writers to refer to her straight-haired form as "Pinkamena" to distinguish it from the puffy-maned Pinkie. Combine it with the popularity of {{Fanfic/Cupcakes}} and you have Pinkamena being less depressed and more AxCrazy.

* After ''A Canterlot Wedding'' aired, a lot of people were disappointed with how the inevitable fallout from Twilight's outburst at the wedding rehearsal was [[AngstWhatAngst just casually brushed aside by all involved as if it never happened]]. Deconstructions of the episode, [[Fanfic/TheNuptialverse ranging from the rest of the cast (and occasionally Twilight as well) still feeling incredibly guilty about the whole thing]] to [[Fanfic/FaithAndDoubt Twilight going completely nuts about it]] cropped up almost immediately. A subplot would usually include mention that the kingdom nearly getting conquered would serve as a black mark on Celestia and Shining Armor's reputation, especially when they were both warned beforehand and heavily prepared for a threat, usually leading to rebellions or a call for Celestia to step down, with some more darker stories having Celestia tried for treason (with or without a guilty verdict and/or an execution). Regardless of what will happen, you can ''always'' expect [[LoveGoddess Cadance]] to lay the [[WhatTheHellHero verbal smackdown]] on the ponies, and/or Twilight's parents to take her side on the issue. To get an idea of how huge this plot is, the Fimfiction group "The Accusation Fic collection" has an ''entire'' subfolder aimed at ACW. It were actually created as the "ACW Callout Group" before expanding their pallet.

* Alternate Universe fanfics are quite popular. Either the circumstances of Rainbow Dash's first sonic rainboom (which lead to mane 6 earning their cutie marks), the beginning of Twilight's magic studies (and her relationship is Celestia) or the plot of the pilot episode (how they all became friends and defeated Nightmare Moon) play out rather differently.

* The topic of Spike aging comes up often in familial Twilight/Spike fics. On one side he grows up naturally and on the other he is forever a baby until he becomes greedy. If he grows up he'll likely fly off to start his own life eventually. The series finale eventually jossed the latter option, showing Spike years later as Twilight's "Royal Advisor" and a Friendship Ambassador.

* Celestia giving a someone a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown while delivering a WorldOfCardboardSpeech.

* There are a ''ton'' of {{Accusation Fic}}s and {{Betrayal Fic}}s based on the Anon-A-Miss incident from the ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWHolidays2014 Equestria Girls Holiday Special]]'', focusing on either calling out the Humane Five for being so quick to blame Sunset on flimsy evidence, or the CMC for being so petty and spiteful to frame her in the first place. To put it into perspective, by May 2019, the aforementioned "[[https://www.fimfiction.net/group/198187/the-accusation-fic-collection/folders Accusation Fic Collection]]" group on [=FiMFiction=] had around 800 stories, with fics specific to "A Canterlot Wedding" being 100 of those. A [[https://www.fimfiction.net/group/209880/anon-a-miss separate group]] dedicated solely to "Anon-A-Miss"-based stories, on the other hand? Over ''500 stories'' with all the [[FixFic fixing]], [[AccusationFic accusing]], and [[BetrayalFic betrayal]] you could ask for. The darker ones tend to go the extra mile in TheWoobie department, with it being popular to either have Sunset get beaten down physically or make her suicidal, in order to pile on the guilt for both the CMC (for starting everything) and the Humane Five (for abandoning her). Even a good chunk of the lighter ones shift into BetrayalFic territory and have Sunset break ties with the others, before finding new friends at CHS (usually a popular background character like Derpy) and/or transferring to Crystal Prep (where she's likely to re-encounter and befriend the Dazzlings), if she doesn't decide to return to Equestria.

* It's popular to pit the gang from ''Friendship is Magic'' against updated versions of G1 villains, such as Tirek from [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials "Rescue at Midnight Castle"]], and the Smooze from [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie1986 the movie]]. The show would eventually come to make use of all these villains to varying degrees.

* A seventh Element of Harmony being revealed. If an OC is involved, it usually requires a retcon of what happened when they were first used. When an OC wasn't involved, Trixie was a common candidate. After the Tree of Harmony was introduced, these stories died out for the most part.

* A seventh Element of Harmony being revealed. If an OC is involved, it usually requires a retcon of what happened when they were first used. When an OC wasn't involved, Trixie was a common candidate. Then it was implied that Sunset Shimmer is the seventh element at the end of ''Rainbow Rocks'' (later confirmed by WordOfGod, with the element in question being Empathy), and these stories died out for the most part.

* "Luna reintegrates into Equestrian society" stories became endemic in the fandom almost since day one, even after the actual episode which featured it, with ''FanFic/{{Progress}}'' only being the most well known. Almost all contain some form of TheAtoner mixed with {{Adorkable}}, NoSocialSkills and FishOutOfTemporalWater, and most draw some sort of parallel to Twilight's situation, if not outright having Twilight help her adjust. "Luna Eclipsed" [[IKnewIt confirmed all of these]] and further strengthened their prevalence, although later ones drop the fan-made ShrinkingViolet portrayal and adopt the official LargeHam portrayal.

* {{Alternate Universe}}s where the Elements of Harmony are assigned to different bearers. This may entail switching them around between the Mane Six, with different aspects of their personality coming to the fore (or else having different personalities ''entirely''), or having other ponies answer the call in this 'verse. Partial replacements or combinations of the above are also possible. Yet another Fandom Specific Plot that became canon (although it was a result of a magical mishap which nearly destroyed the characters' livelihoods).

* Due to the lack of visible family, "Scootaloo is discovered to be orphaned/abused/etc. and gets adopted" is practically a genre unto itself by now. Rainbow Dash is popular of course, but there are adoption stories with each of the Mane Six, pairings among the Main Six, Ms. Cheerilee (it helps that in G3, Scootaloo is Cheerilee's little sister and their personalities don't change overly much for FIM) Lyra and Bon Bon, OriginalCharacters, ''fellow classmates'' of hers who are aged up for the story, Celestia, Luna, and even '''Discord.''' These fanworks became less common when a book revealed that Scootaloo's parents are around but [[WhenYouComingHomeDad busy]], with Scootaloo being predominantly reared by her [[HasTwoMommies two]] [[{{Nephewism}} aunts]]. An episode in the final season would reconfirm this information, killing these stories for good.

** Going off of the Freudian excuse angle, most fanfic writers operate under the assumption that Sunset was orphaned as a filly and raised by Celestia, with whom she developed a close daughter/mother relationship (hence why she desired so much to become an alicorn herself). Of course, there are also fanfics where she just plain is Celestia's biological daughter. Either way, there's a bevy of fics where both Sunset and Celestia display a lot of remorse for how things ended between them, with Sunset being terrified of talking to her old mentor out of guilt and Celestia just wanting to see her student again and let her know she's loved.

* An powerful evil shows up for the Mane Six to thwart, most commonly yet another SealedEvilInACan that Celestia and Luna dealt with millennia ago. Though considering this is how Seasons 1, 2, 3, ''and'' 4 began (''and'' how 4 ended), it might just qualify as standard series narrative at this point. This specific plot is Lampshaded by Pinkie Pie in [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/73019/as-twilight-fades at least one fanfic (now defunct)]], asking after yet another threat from a thousand years ago reared its head, "Was that just a really bad year for you?" Celestia noted that the actual reason for this is rounding.

* There are a ''ton'' of {{Accusation Fic}}s and {{Betrayal Fic}}s based on the Anon-A-Miss incident from the ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWHolidays2014 Equestria Girls Holiday Special]]'', focusing on either calling out the Humane Five for being so quick to blame Sunset on flimsy evidence, or the CMC for being so petty and spiteful to frame her in the first place. To put it into perspective, the aforementioned "[[https://www.fimfiction.net/group/198187/the-accusation-fic-collection/folders Accusation Fic Collection]]" group on [=FiMFiction=] has almost 800 stories, with fics specific to "A Canterlot Wedding" being 100 of those. A [[https://www.fimfiction.net/group/209880/anon-a-miss separate group]] dedicated solely to "Anon-A-Miss"-based stories, on the other hand? Almost ''500 stories'' with all the [[FixFic fixing]], [[AccusationFic accusing]], and [[BetrayalFic betrayal]] you could ask for. The darker ones tend to go the extra mile in TheWoobie department, with it being popular to either have Sunset get beaten down physically or make her suicidal, in order to pile on the guilt for both the CMC (for starting everything) and the Humane Five (for abandoning her). Even a good chunk of the lighter ones shift into BetrayalFic territory and have Sunset break ties with the others, before finding new friends at CHS (usually a popular background character like Derpy) and/or transferring to Crystal Prep (where she's likely to re-encounter and befriend the Dazzlings), if she doesn't decide to return to Equestria.

* An powerful evil shows up for the Mane Six to thwart, most commonly yet another SealedEvilInACan that Celestia and Luna dealt with millennia ago. Though considering this is how Seasons 1, 2, 3, ''and'' 4 began (''and'' how 4 ended), it might just qualify as standard series narrative at this point. This specific plot is Lampshaded by Pinkie Pie in [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/73019/as-twilight-fades at least one fanfic]], asking after yet another threat from a thousand years ago reared its head, "Was that just a really bad year for you?" Celestia noted that the actual reason for this is rounding.

* The topic of Spike aging comes up often in familial Twilight/Spike fics. On one side he grows up naturally and on the other he is forever a baby until he becomes greedy. If he grows up he'll likely fly off to start his own life eventually.

* It used to be common for [[MemeticBystander Derpy]] (now officially named Muffins) to be TheWoobie, having a speaking disorder that typically made her [[TalkativeLoon speak gibberish]] and being TheKlutz, which caused her to be ostracized by other ponies. This plot has since faded out, with more fans ([[AscendedFanon and the show itself]]) preferring Muffins as just being a klutz with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabismus strabismus] (with optional vision problems) instead of being mentally disabled, and the [[TheArtifact only remainder]] of it is her new name and calling Dinky "muffin."

* It used to be common for [[MemeticBystander Derpy]] to be TheWoobie, having a speaking disorder that typically made her [[TalkativeLoon speak gibberish]] and being TheKlutz, which caused her to be ostracized by other ponies. This plot has since faded out, with more fans ([[AscendedFanon and the show itself]]) preferring Derpy as just being a klutz with a lazy eye (with optional vision problems) instead of disabled, and the [[TheArtifact only remainder]] of it is Derpy calling Dinky "muffin."

* Twilight Sparkle grows old. This is a common topic as both her mentor and her little brother/assistant can [[WeAreAsMayflies expect to outlive her by centuries]]. Then she became an alicorn at the end of Season 3, and the stories shifted to how Twilight will outlive her friends, and sometimes even Spike, Luna, and Celestia. However, the latter got {{Jossed}} by WordOfGod shortly afterwards stating that "Twilight will not outlive her friends". And then the "The Last Problem" aired and despite WordOfGod stating that VagueAge is in play, the sight of Twilight’s new body reopened the question as to whether or not she will once again outlive her friends or even grow old at all.

These plots used to be popular before [[OutdatedByCanon events in canon completely invalided them]] or provided a more interesting piece of FanficFuel to play with. Either way, after the show told a certain story, fans stopped writing these stories:

* ''Ton'' of Tempest Shadow [[MustMakeAmends atonement]] fics after the movie ending. Most of them have her be Twilight's new student and/or personal guard captain, while facing scrutiny and angry mobs from the ponies thanks to her causing the events of the movie in the first place. Bonus points if the ponies never let her live down the events of the movie ''even'' more than Starlight Glimmer thanks to the whole slavery thing.

* Twilight Sparkle grows old. This is a common topic as both her mentor and her little brother/assistant can [[WeAreAsMayflies expect to outlive her by centuries]]. Then she became an alicorn, and the stories shifted to how Twilight will outlive her friends, and sometimes even Spike, Luna, and Celestia.

* The season five finale actually had the arc villain going back and deliberately stopping Rainbow's Rainboom, spinning off no less than seven alternate universes ''in canon'', all of which are fairly grimdark (The Mane Six never becoming the Elements of Harmony mean that all the major villains they faced ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and the Flim-Flam brothers]]) won). Fics which explored these specific alternate worlds exploded; the Crystal War timeline, being the first visited, is quite popular due to Rainbow having a metal wing, the second and third timelines have some focus since they bring forth old fandom favorites the Changelings and Nightmare Moon, and most of the others are fairly lightly touched upon. The final timeline, though, has inspired quite a few attempted explanations for it being a total wasteland.

* Fanworks where Celestia and Luna are [[NatureSpirit physically embodiments of the sun and moon]] or are otherwise long-lived god-like beings who take the shape of ponies. This was most common within the first two seasons as later info implies that they're relatively normal flesh-and-blood ponies outside of the immortality thing.

* Due to the lack of visible family, "Scootaloo is discovered to be orphaned/abused/etc. and gets adopted" is practically a genre unto itself by now. Rainbow Dash is popular of course, but there are adoption stories with each of the Mane Six, pairings among the Main Six, Ms. Cheerilee (it helps that in G3, Scootaloo is Cheerilee's little sister and their personalities don't change overly much for FIM) Lyra and Bon Bon, OriginalCharacters, ''fellow classmates'' of hers who are aged up for the story, Celestia, Luna, and even '''Discord.''' These fanworks became less common when a book revealed that Scootaloo's parents are around but [[WhenYouComingHomeDad busy]], with Scootaloo being predominantly reared by her [[HasTwoMommies two]] [[{{Nephewism}} aunts]].

* Many a [[FanPreferredCouple Bonbon and Lyra]] fic are about Lyra being unable to get a job, as she's a musician in {{Fanon}}. [=LyraBon=] itself is a very common ship, and the pair is frequently presented as together or married even in random stories that aren't even about them. Then, as you're probably expecting by now, it ([[GettingCrapPastTheRadar kinda]]) happened, with both the ''[=FiM=]'' and ''[=EG=]'' version heavily implied to be couples.

* Prior to his reformation, Discord was a prime choice for an UltimateEvil-type entity when one was needed to act as the BigBad of a story, due to his nature as a god of chaos and disharmony and even now being one of the most powerful characters in the series. A key part of this was how, in terms of sheer power, he was shown outclassing even Celestia and Luna, who had been the most powerful beings in the show (and by extension in most or all fanons) before he appeared.

* Fanworks where Celestia and Luna are [[NatureSpirit physically embodiments of the sun and moon]] or are otherwise long-lived god-like beings who take the shape of ponies. This was most common within the first two seasons as later info implies that they're relatively normal flesh-and-blood ponies.

* ''The'' standard plot for getting the ponies themselves into [[AlternateUniverseFic another]] CrossOver universe is famously "Twilight Sparkle tests out a new teleport spell, and it goes wrong". It's gotten to where Blog/EquestriaDaily [[LampshadeHanging explicitly points it out]] when a fic ''doesn't'' do this before they started banning such stories. Following ''Equestria Girls'', the mirror portal became the to-go method of pulling this off.
* It's very common for Equestria to serve as a sort of afterlife, with a character finding themselves in Equestria after they died in their original story. In particular, ''Videogame/{{Portal}}'' and ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' crossovers are ''extremely'' common, largely because Valve's games really helped spread the fandom in the early days. Or Wheatley and the Space Sphere meet Luna out in space.

* There's a common fanon assumption that any pony with an hourglass cutie mark (there are a few among the background ponies, like Minuette and Time Turner) is a [[Franchise/DoctorWho Time Lord]]. It all started when people noticed that an unnamed male pony looked kinda like Creator/DavidTennant (the pony in question was later named Time Turner), and it spiraled out from there.
* CrossOver fics dealing with other characters getting transported to Equestria, almost always getting inexplicably "ponified" in the process. ''Series/DoctorWho'' is the most common victim of this, thanks to a background character who looks like a pony version of the Tenth Doctor known as Doctor Whooves.

* Many a [[FanPreferredCouple Bonbon and Lyra]] fic are about Lyra being unable to get a job, as she's a musician in {{Fanon}}. [=LyraBon=] itself is a very common ship, and the pair is frequently presented as together or married even in random stories that aren't even about them. Then, as you're probably expecting by now, it ([[GettingCrapPastTheRadar kinda]]) happened, with both the [=FiM=] and [=EG=] version heavily implied to be couples.

* Since "Grannies Gone Wild" implied that Trixie's father is Jack Pot and WordOfGod suggested that Trixie was raised by a single mother, many fan works have sprung up about Jack and Trixie meeting her estranged dad.

* ''The'' standard plot for getting the ponies themselves into [[AlternateUniverseFic another]] CrossOver universe is famously "Twilight Sparkle tests out a new teleport spell, and it goes wrong". It's gotten to where Blog/EquestriaDaily [[LampshadeHanging explicitly points it out]] when a fic ''doesn't'' do this before they started banning such stories.