History Fanfic / TheFlightOfTheAlicorn

* Unkempt Beauty: Rarity spends most of the fic minus her makeup, and still no one casts doubts upon her beauty.

* ShowerScene: Rarity has multiple of those.

* EvilMatriarch: Blueblood's mother, Palladium.

* FantasticRacism: When Blueblood hosts a dinner for the various racing teams participating in the Alicorn’s Cup, his unicorn mother insults not only the griffons, three zebras, and one camel attending but also the pegasi and earth ponies present.

* SecretlyWealthy: [[spoiler Rainbow Dash]].

* InsufferableGenius: Blueblood.

* TheExile: Prince Khufu.

* ThemeNaming: We are introduced to three more zebra characters: Zolo, Zinzi and Zips. Much like Zecora from the show their names all begin with "Z"

* UnObtainium: Although pegasi can manufacture cumulus clouds for producing weather, the stratus clouds used in constructing their homes are actually quarried. Rainbow Dash's father found a massive deposit of stratus clouds in the mountains along the Equestrian-Griffon border. The pegasi are now almost entirely dependent on this deposit of stratus to build cities like Cloudsdale. However the griffons claim the Equestrian cloudmining amounts to little more than stealing their resources and is also scaring away the wildlife they hunt. This leads them to lay claim to the area the ponies are settling on and threaten to expel them from what they say is rightfully their land. To further complicate matters, Rainbow's father has recently passed away and without his mediation, contentions between the pegasi and griffons rise. [[spoiler: The conspirators take advantage of the tinderbox between Equestria and the griffon eyries over this contested region to try and trigger open war between the two nations]]

* Unobtainium: Although pegasi can manufacture cumulus clouds for producing weather, the stratus clouds used in constructing their homes are actually quarried. Rainbow Dash's father found a massive deposit of stratus clouds in the mountains along the Equestrian-Griffon border. The pegasi are now almost entirely dependent on this deposit of stratus to build cities like Cloudsdale. However the griffons claim the Equestrian cloudmining amounts to little more than stealing their resources and is also scaring away the wildlife they hunt. This leads them to lay claim to the area the ponies are settling on and threaten to expel them from what they say is rightfully their land. To further complicate matters, Rainbow's father has recently passed away and without his mediation, contentions between the pegasi and griffons rise. [[spoiler: The conspirators take advantage of the tinderbox between Equestria and the griffon eyries over this contested region to try and trigger open war between the two nations]]

* ChekhovsGun: To prove that the different airship racers have stuck to the assigned path, each team must stop at specific waystations and pick up a special marker from each site. The first is an apple from Sweet Apples Acres in Ponyville. The second is a string of pearls from the coastal city of Gallopoli. The pearls said to be have a little magic that makes them good luck charms for those at sea. The third is a flower called the Badge of Courage to be retrieved from the jungles of the Impenetrable Lands. [[spoiler: When Rarity and Blueblood are left stranded in the jungle together, the pearls save Rarity’s life by warding away various waterborne predators while the Badge of Courage flower turns out to have potent medicinal properties that save Blueblood’s life from a potentially lethal infection. Even the apple turns out to have some significance as Blueblood uses it to say farewell to his crashed airship and his failed revival of the Alicorn's Cup]]

* BettyAndVeronica: Sort of for Rarity, in the form of Blueblood and [[spoiler: Buckaroo.]] Blueblood is arrogant, abrasive, and insecure but at the same time intelligent, inventive, occasionally courageous, and is aware of his character flaws. [[spoiler: Buckaroo is a former bounty hunter who has done questionable things but is described as “ruggedly handsome”, has shown a compassionate heart and is quite a charmer himself.]] This plot element has not really come to the fore since the ongoing crises Rarity finds herself in make romance the least of her worries.

Spinning off from the events seen in "Sweet and Elite", Rarity's friendship with Fancypants earns her a space on his team in the upcoming Alicorn's Cup, an airship race across the length and breadth of the known world. However it soon becomes clear that the stakes are much higher than winning and losing a race as Rarity stumbles upon a plot against Equestria. And if being left stranded beyond Equestria's borders with no means of getting home were not difficult enough, Rarity finds herself forced to cooperate with the arrogant Prince Blueblood if she is to have any hope of surviving to warn Equestria of the imminent threat...

* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: Rarity notes early on that Fancypants’ engineer Windlass seems to be quite enamored of him. Later it is revealed that not only is Windlass collaborating with General Karroc, Commander Tempest and Lord Procyon to drive Equestria to open war with the griffons, not only is she using the Heavenstone as a superweapon to help overthrow the Royal Sisters and install Procyon as the new monarch, but she is using the entire conspiracy as a means to realize Fancypants’ vision of a democratic Equestria in the hopes it will make him love her. Even making Procyon king is only a stepping stone for her as he will only be a figurehead to be used to ease the transition from monarchy to democracy. ]]

* Antihero: Blueblood.

* ThemeNaming: We are introduced to three more zebra characters: Zolo, Zinzi and Zips. Much like Zecora from the show their names all begin with "Z"

* SteamPunk: There are prominent elements of steam-driven technology, not the least of which are the zeppelin-style airships involved in the race. Besides owning a personal airship, Fancypants also possesses a steam-powered carriage. Fancypants mentions investing heavily in steam engines as he considers them to be a necessity for expanding Equestria since distant settlements will be deprived of the magilectric grid (see “MagiTek”)

* AncientArtifact: The Heavenstone.

* FantasticRacism: When Blueblood hosts a dinner for the various racing teams participating in the Alicorn’s Cup, his unicorn mother insults not only for the griffons, two zebras, and one camel attending but also the pegasi and earth ponies present.
* FamilyThemenaming: Blueblood’s family are descendants of Princess Platinum (one of the founders of Equestria) and in her honor the female members are all named after platinum group metals such as his mother Palladium and his sisters Ruthenium and Iridium. Males of the family are named after stars such Blueblood’s brother Procyon. Even Blueblood’s true name is revealed to be Polaris.

* Magitek: Building on Lauren Faust's explanation for how technology in Equestria is powered, reference is made to a "magilectric grid" that apparently wirelessly supplies energy to any appliance within a certain radius, such as Pinkie Pie's phonographs or Rarity's sewing machine. Border towns like Appleloosa however are too far to receive energy from the grid, hence the differing levels of technology in different parts of Equestria. Interestingly the "magilectricity" is generated by the dam seen in Ponyville, like a modern hydroelectric dam.

* ActionGirl: Rarity.

* JustBetweenYouAndMe: [[spoiler: Windlass and Tempest, when they're about to drop Rarity of the airship]]. And [[spoiler: Windlass]] again [[spoiler: when Rarity meets her in magic plane of the Heavenstone. She threatens to kill Rarity more than once only to continue talking]].
* TheExile: Prince Khufu.

* ActionGirl: Rarity.