History Fanfic / EarthAndSky

''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/34622 Earth and Sky]]'' is the sequel to the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Windfall}}'', and takes place about three years after the events of that story.

* TheCameo: Wisteria (from G3) and an aged [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends Firefly]] both show up at the Pegathalon contestants' party in chapter 24.

* ChickMagnet: Pip, to Apple Bloom's frustration.

* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Big Brother]]: Despite Applejack being 30, and Apple Bloom being somewhere in the low twenties with her own business, Big Mac is there to threaten potential suitors and prevent Apple Bloom from being alone with Pipsqueak, and generally disapprove of his sisters having relationships at all, while being married with two daughters himself.

* BelligerentSexualTension: Seems to be developing between Applejack and Soarin. They settle their differences in chapter 10, and shift into UnresolvedSexualTension instead -- and [[spoiler:it's [[TheyDo resolved]] in chapter 13]]

* InflatingBodyGag: The Wrong Brothers escape from a battalion of Royal Guards by dosing them with [[BalefulPolymorph poison joke]]. The commander, Sir Concord, turns purple and inflates with juice until he resembles [[StealthPun a giant grape]].

* PyrrhicVillainy: [[spoiler: Flim and Flam [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat constantly stopping to set up traps for the other racers]], and said traps often causing every set of escorts that Princess Celestia sends them to end up in some rather unpleasant situations, ultimately ends up getting them disqualified from the race.]]

* AdultFear:
** In Chapter 1, Pinkie Pie gets a dose of this when her daughter Tootsie wanders off, and she expresses worry to Twilight that being an Earth Pony with a Pegasus daughter will cause them to drift apart.
** On a lighter note, Twilight has to deal with Spike constantly throwing himself off of tall buildings because he wants to test his new wings. She knows Spike is practically impervious to harm, being a dragon, but she can't help but fear for his safety. [[spoiler:In chapter 17 she reveals that she is also afraid that she and Spike are drifting apart.]]

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating:
** Diamond Tiara is hated by ''everyone'', from her employees to her husband. Even her former best friend Silver Spoon, along with ''every other pony in their high school'', turned their backs on her after she engineered some form of public humiliation for her…[[EvilIsPetty all because she didn't get prom princess.]] [[spoiler: When Chrysalis replaces her, the best she can feel is tolerance, which is as edible to her as Styrofoam.]]
** In the end, [[spoiler: Diamond resolves to fix this and find somepony who will truly love her and whom she can truly love in return.]]

** Then his brother eventually snaps and joins him. Apple Bloom speculates it's InTheBlood.

* IAintGotTimeToBleed: Soarin' doesn't even realize he's been hurt in the fight with the [=LaFish=] brothers until after it's over and his rescuers start patching him up.

* NeverLiveItDown: InUniverse, Twilight refuses to let Trixie forget about the Ursa incident.

* {{Determinator}}: See ThePowerOfHate. [[spoiler: Diamond Tiara]] absolutely ''refuses'' to give up, even as her body is on the brink of shutting down from pain and exhaustion. She only collapses when she's found civilization and safety.

** Nicely averted with Trixie. Oh, she's still... herself, and there's definite animosity between her and Twilight, but over the years she's found her niche--entertainment, natch--and has been just as groundbreaking in that niche as Twilight is in hers. Also, it's Trixie that brings the two to a truce.

* PapaWolf: During his [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer talk]] with Soarin and Pipsqueak, Big mac mentions that the only thing that would anger him more than somepony breaking his sisters' hearts would be somepony upsetting his wife and kids.

* AdultFear: In Chapter 1, Pinkie Pie gets a dose of this when her daughter Tootsie wanders off, and she expresses worry to Twilight that being an Earth Pony with a Pegasus daughter will cause them to drift apart.

* AttentionWhore: Diamond Tiara still hasn't outgrown this. On the contrary, she's gotten worse. Her entire reason for hating Apple Bloom is Apple Bloom's uncanny ability to take attention away from Diamond Tiara.

* BeleagueredAssistant: The Flim-Flam brothers' assistant Otto has the unenviable task of doing the grunt work for two lunatics. When someone comments on the brothers' insanity, he mutters "you have ''no'' idea".
** [[spoiler: He finally has enough in chapter 37 and ditches the brothers to [[RunForTheBorder run for Mexicolt]].]]
* BelligerentSexualTension: Seems to be developing between Applejack and Soarin.
** They settle their differences in chapter 10, and shift into UnresolvedSexualTension instead.
** [[spoiler: And it's [[TheyDo resolved]] in chapter 13]]
* BerserkButton: Insulting Pumpkin is one for Pound; his friends did it, and he beat them to pulps for it.

* TheBigRace: The Grand Pegathalon.
* BigWhat: Celestia's reaction when she hears that a ''third'' member of her Royal Guard assigned to monitor Doctor Insanity and Professor Destiny has been incapacitated. It's loud enough that it not only wakes up Luna, but also momentarily shocks her out of modern speech (which she's been using flawlessly) and back into YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.

* BrickJoke: When Pinkie is worrying about where Tootsie is after she runs off, she wonders if maybe she's running an illegal gambling operation. After Pinkie's new baby is born, Tootsie lists all the things she can't wait to teach her new little sister, which apparently includes three-card Monte.
** Also, Twilight comments on a number of things Rarity is going to be angry she missed: Applejack and Soarin hooking up, Pinkie Pie getting to test the flight harness and have fun with her kids, etc. In chapter 18, Sweetie Belle reports that Rarity really ''is'' angry she missed all those things, mainly because Twilight didn't tell her about them personally.

** In chapter 12, [[spoiler: Luna makes reference to a joke about a changeling trying to infiltrate Blueblood and Diamond Tiara's household, and turning itself in to the authorities after it nearly starved to death. In Chapter 29, Diamond Tiara ''does'' get replaced by a changeling…Queen Chrysalis herself, who has been starved for love ever since her expulsion from Canterlot, to the point of physically shrinking down to Tiara's size. She complains that since Diamond Tiara is, at best, tolerated, she's STILL starving. Also, Diamond Tiara gets taken to the hive and imprisoned... for about an hour, after which the changelings kick her out due to being, essentially, inedible.]]
*** [[spoiler: She eventually grows so sick of the charade that she actually ''does'' turn herself in to the authorities. The Guard come hoping to ask Diamond Tiara a few questions about some recent legally questionable acts on her part; Chrysalis reveals herself and ''demands'' that no one mistake her for Diamond Tiara anymore.]]

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Pip ''completely'' misses the point of [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer Big Macintosh's little heart to heart.]]
** According to WordOfGod, this is because Pip is such a gentlecolt that the idea of ''intentionally'' [[GoodCannotComprehendEvil upsetting a mare is completely beyond his comprehension.]]

* CruelToBeKind: Applejack berates Soarin for his self-pity and gluttony…so that he can shape up.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: At the end of the story, Fancy Pants [[spoiler: (having taken over Royal Blue Airlines)]] decides to enter into a profitable partnership with Harmony Aeronautics, something neither Blueblood or Diamond Tiara ever considered.
** Likewise, in the very last chapter Twilight Sparkle recognizes the genius of the Flim-Flam brothers (even noting they probably could have won the Pegathalon if they [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat hadn't cheated like crazy]]), and offers to get them a parole in exchange for coming to work for Harmony Aeronautics.

* DistractedByTheSexy: Happens to Apple Bloom repeatedly when she's pinning over Pip. Then they hook up and it starts happening to ''him''.

* TheDragAlong: Applejack is not sold on the artificial wings and is most definitely not an opera pony, but in Chapter 5 she agrees to accompany the other ponies when they go present the idea to the princesses. Rarity argues that her skepticism about the wings would be a bonus in the princesses' eyes. [[spoiler:Over as of chapter 17 when she uses the harness herself and flies alongside her new beau Soarin.]]

* HumiliationConga: After [[spoiler: Chrysalis is exposed and arrested]], Blueblood looks like he's in the clear... only for Fancy Pants to end up forcing him to hand over majority shareholding in his own company at risk of his involvement being uncovered, followed by Diamond Tiara's lawyers blocking his access to her money. And then on top of that, [[spoiler: his airship gets blown up by the Wrong Brothers' errant rockets.]]
** And things just get worse for him in the final chapter, as [[spoiler: Diamond returns, divorces him, and leaves him with so little that he'll have to move back in with his mother (an apparent FateWorseThanDeath).]]

* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: Big Macintosh wants Pip and Soarin' to know that he can easily crush a stallion head sized rock and hates it when anypony upsets his sisters.
** Soarin' gets the message loud and clear; he may have developed a complex as a result. Pipsqueak eventually catches on as well... [[BrickJoke twenty chapters later]].

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Diamond Tiara, when Professor Destiny blows her plan to tie up the Harmony Harness in a duel over patent rights by instead staking the royal charter on a race.

* {{Kirin}}: One of the racers in the Grand Pegathalon is a kirin named Lulong. Unlike the other contestants, who fly by means of wings or mechanical aid, the wingless Lulong flies by means of his innate magic. He hovers, even if just off the ground, all the time -- if his hooves so much as touch the soil, he loses his ability to fly for a thousand and one days. After he's [[spoiler:tossed to the ground and deprived of his ability to continue the race]], he takes to traveling across Equestria as a wandering hero, helping strangers and righting wrongs.
* KnightOfCerebus: A mild example, all things considered, but Diamond Tiara's entrance into the story (followed shortly after by the Flim-Flams) not only brought in actual antagonists, but also an overall darker tone to the story.

* [[TheManBehindTheMan The Mare Behind the Stallions]]: Diamond Tiara to the Flim-Flams. She has next to no control over them, but she's the one who sent them after Harmony Aeronautics in the first place, and she's covering for them the best she can during the Pegathalon, all to insure she gets away with her petty schemes.
** She's also the one who paid off the [=LaFish=] brothers to attack Soarin' and Pip.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: If Diamond Tiara (who runs the airship company Pipsqueak used to work for) hasn't downsized the staff, Pipsqueak wouldn't have been free to become the test pony for Harmony Aeronautics.
** Also, in chapter 38 [[spoiler: Chrysalis]] manages to throw ponies off her trail, only to end up shooting herself in the hoof when she tries to avoid getting arrested for crimes committed by Diamond Tiara.

--> "That's a fine bucket o' cranberries, prime minister. Have a baked accordion with yer sandwich, compliments o' the fire department."

* PaintingTheMedium: The story uses a lot of tropes from cartoon animation, even though they aren’t necessary in a written work. See the list of uses in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=3eyv2n9gasw90gzjdg226rfh this discarded YKTTW]], which includes “[Soarin’s] eyes faded out to X's”, description of “a grin, accompanied by a deep bass squeaky noise”, a PersonalRaincloud, and CirclingBirdies.

* PersonalRaincloud: Applejack gets one when she's brooding after an argument with Soarin.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In chapter 26, Twilight Sparkle calls out Apple Bloom on her bad temper over [[spoiler: her break-up with Pipsqueak]]:
-->"Maybe I don't have the deep understanding of romantic love that my sister in law does, but I've experienced it in other forms. Love between siblings, love between parent and child, love between friends. I think I've seen enough to draw some conclusions and be able to make some comparisons. All I see out of you now is jealousy and anger and selfishness. The last time I saw anything like that from you was on that terrible day when I inflicted that Want It Need It spell on you and your friends. You describe what attracted you to Pip in the most superficial terms. His looks, his charm, his teeth, his flanks. Here you are a full grown mare and you're still throwing a tantrum over a doll."

-->"I'm hopin' yer just addled a bit in th' head from th' desert sun, 'cos if'n ya really think everypony's out t' git ya like that then yer a lot more pitiful than I thought."

* RunningGag: Pipsqueak's TwinkleSmile.

-->'''Pip''': …Good heavens, Miss Apple Bloom, you're ''beautiful''.
* ShipperOnDeck: Chapter 10 reveals that Fluttershy ships Apple Bloom and Pipsqueak.

* SpitTake: Soarin's reaction to reading about Twilight entering the Harmony Harness in the Grand Pegathalon in chapter 21.

-->"Um…blue?"

* TooDumbToLive: Flam tries to bring down Harmony Aeronautics with a magic-seeking rocket. Then seconds later he ''uses magic'' to levitate a telescope so he can see the explosion. Suffice to say he gets a very good view of the explosion.

* TwinkleSmile: Seems to be a RunningGag with Pipsqueak.

* VillainousBreakdown: Diamond Tiara's reaction to all of her schemes falling apart, [[spoiler:being kidnapped by Changelings, and being left to die in the badlands after even the Changelings can't stand her]]. She is so broken down at the end of it that the only thing keeping her from succumbing to death is her hatred of Apple Bloom and her stubborn refusal to let her rival win by default. [[spoiler: She starts to get somewhat better after her life's saved.]]

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Used by Sweetie Belle in Chapter 2 to get Bobbin (one of Rarity's hired help) to help her down to the ground, as she was dressed up as Princess Celestia and hanging in the air by harnesses.
** Luna's learned how ''not'' to do this, but still slips into it on occasion: first, when she's so touched by Harmony Aeronautics renaming the flight harness after her, second, when she's shocked awake by Celestia's BigWhat listed above, and third, during Celestia's second FreakOut. Basically, it seems it's still how she would talk naturally, but she's developed a more modern--if still off by a couple decades--form of speech in to fit in.

* YoureInsane: Apple Bloom's commentary upon running into the Flim-Flam brothers again. This is what inspires Flim to rename himself "Doctor Insanity".
** Apple Bloom delivered a similar judgement in a more lighthearted tone when Twilight and Rarity presented her with the flight harness prototype[=/=]blueprints in Chapter 3, followed by a cheerful "I can't wait t' get started!"
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Diamond Tiara is hated by ''everyone'', from her employees to her husband. Even her former best friend Silver Spoon, along with ''every other pony in their high school'', turned their backs on her after she engineered some form of public humiliation for her…[[EvilIsPetty all because she didn't get prom princess.]] [[spoiler: When Chrysalis replaces her, the best she can feel is tolerance, which is as edible to her as Styrofoam.]]

* BloodKnight: Baron Redtail has shades of this; he has no problem with dying, so long as it's in a fight.
** Until he realizes he's in love with Greta, which causes him to fear dying and leaving her alone.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] Rainbow Dash uses this in the second person in Chapter 4 [[spoiler: after Spitfire had to cut a fading Soarin' from the Wonderbolts. The decision clearly tore Spitfire up:]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: According to Spitfire, this is the biggest reason Shootin' Star is a {{Jerkass}}. (He gets better.)

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Otto evades the law and escapes to Mexicolt, where he's last seen in the company of a beautiful mare.]]

* [[spoiler:PyrrhicVictory]]: [[spoiler:Flim and Flam ultimately cross the finish line first. But by that point, they'd already been disqualified from the race, rendering their win meaningless.]]
* [[spoiler:PyrrhicVillainy]]: [[spoiler: Flim and Flam [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat constantly stopping to set up traps for the other racers]], and said traps often causing every set of escorts that Princess Celestia sends them to end up in some rather unpleasant situations, ultimately ends up getting them disqualified from the race.]]

** When she and Silver Spoon were in high school, Diamond Tiara pulled a humiliating prank on Silver Spoon to get back at her for being elected prom queen instead of her. [[NoodleIncident We never find out what the prank was]], but Diamond Tiara's popularity took a nosedive as a result.

** When she and Silver Spoon were in high school, Diamond Tiara pulled a humiliating prank on Silver Spoon to get back at her for being elected prom queen instead of her. [[NoodleIncident We never find out what the prank was, but]] Diamond Tiara's popularity took a nosedive as a result.

** Diamond Tiara apparently pulled a really nasty prank on Silver Spoon at their senior prom, out of jealousy for Silver getting elected prom queen over her. According to Chapter 40, it was apparently so horrible and humiliating that it drove Silver Spoon to [[DrivenToSuicide try and drown herself in the river]]. [[spoiler:Thankfully for Silver Spoon, Snails had skipped the prom to go noodling in that very river, and rescued her. They're now married]]. As for Diamond Tiara, well, pulling that prank pretty much made her the most hated mare in school.

* [[spoiler:PyrrhicVillainy]]: [[spoiler: Flim and Flam [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat constantly stopping to set up traps for the other racers]], and said traps often causing every set of escorts Princess Celestia sends them in some rather unpleasant situations, ultimately ends up getting them disqualified from the race.]]

* [[spoiler:PyrrhicVillainy]]: [[spoiler: Flim and Flam [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat constantly stopping to set up traps for the other racers]], and said traps often getting every set of escorts Princess Celestia sends them, ultimately ends up getting them disqualified from the race.]]

* [[spoiler:PyrrhicVictory]]: [[spoiler:Flim and Flam ultimately cross the finish line first. But by that point, they'd already been disqualified from the race, rendering their win meaningless.]]
* [[spoiler:PyrrhicVillainy]]: [[spoiler: Flim and Flam [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat constantly stopping to set up traps for the other racers]], and said traps often getting every set of escorts Princess Celestia sends them, ultimately ends up getting them disqualified from the race.]]

* [[spoiler:PhyrricVictory]]: [[spoiler:Flim and Flam ultimately cross the finish line first. But by that point, they'd already been disqualified from the race, rendering their win meaningless.]]
* [[spoiler:PhyrricVillainy]]: [[spoiler: Flim and Flam [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat constantly stopping to set up traps for the other racers]], and said traps often getting every set of escorts Princess Celestia sends them, ultimately ends up getting them disqualified from the race.]]

** Diamond Tiara apparently pulled a really nasty prank on Silver Spoon at their senior prom, out of jealousy for Silver getting elected prom queen over her. According to Chapter 40, it was apparently so horrible and humiliating that it drove Silver Spoon to [[DrivenToSuicide try and drown herself in the river]].