History Fanfic / TheRiseOfDarthVulcan

* WouldHurtAChild: Despite the WhiteAndGrayMorality of the fic and the good job it does of making [[RootingForTheEmpire Vulcan sympathetic]], it also shows how he's STILL a villain by making him nearly DROWN Diamond Tiara.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Inverted with [[spoiler:Lord Tirek]], who in canon [[spoiler:played Discord like a fiddle to regain his strength and ''only'' turns on him once he was strong enough Discord couldn't do anything about it and was smart enough to actively avoid drawing attention to himself until he was strong enough to defend himself.]] Here? [[spoiler:He walks into Vulcan's lair and just tries to brute force steal Vulcan's strength, getting himself killed.]]

* OutOfSightOutOfMind: Averted and deconstructed. One of Ted's many criticisms of Equestria is that this is how the cast treats everything important: [[SealedEvilInACan Villains]], [[MacGuffin important artifacts]], [[HiddenElfVillage ENTIRE NATIONS]]...

* PrecociousCrush: ''All'' the fillies in Ponyville have a crush on Shining Armor. When Spike points out that he's married, they reply that they know, they just like to ''look''.

* PunchClockVillain: Discussed. When the heroes discuss how Darth Vulcan has the loyalty of his dogs, Rarity points out it's ''only'' because he keeps them well fed. However, Shining rightly points out that ''only'' taking care of a pack that size is no small feat, and that nobody had ever cared about them before.

** Vulcan's forces later do parts two and three to an upper class Pegasus town and an Earth pony village, to avenge a group of pegasi who saved these towns from a rogue tornado and in return lost everything. Ted was much more thorough this time, too - the enchantments holding the cloud town fell apart, and the earth village fell in a sink hole after mining teams destroyed its foundations.

** AvertedTrope: The Tooth Breezies pretty much state that they were left for dead and forgotten, and Cadence not thinking the Tooth Breezies were real means that they were relegated to nothing but myth after several centuries due to their survival/existence being unknown.

** Filthy Rich undergoes this too. He attempts to cheat Vulcan out of his money and sell him out to the authorities. His actions lead to his daughter being kidnapped, forcing him to spend sleepless nights worrying about her, Ponyville being looted by Vulcan's army, and then Vulcan calling him out on this in front of the entire town, destroying his reputation. He is misled into thinking Diamond Tiara is dead, and when he finds her, he breaks down realizing he couldn't save her.

* NoNonsenseMemesis: Ted, has far more of his shit together than all the baddies Equestria faced before he showed up. He's not LaughablyEvil like Discord, and he doesn't care for posturing like Nightmare Moon. Unlike both of them, he knows when to cut and run as well.

* TheArtfulDodger: [[CaptainObvious It's in the name]]. Artful Dodger is a teen pony the protagonist adopted as a personal disciple and second in command. The pony grew up on the roughest streets of Canterlot...

* GoodCopBadCop: Vulcan accused Celestia and Luna on it. It is not clarified if it was true.

** Luna is accused of being one in chapter 44. [[spoiler: When she finds Vulcan in Artful's mind she [[MoralMyopia immediatly accuses him of using forbidden magic and called him a vandal and an invader... even though she has been doing the exact same thing for weeks]]. When Vulcan calls her on this she starts a speech saying that it was her duty to protect ponies' dreams, but Artful was having problem in sleeping because she, the defender of dreams, was spying on his mind. ]]

--> '''Darth Vulcan:''' "That's both [[MundaneSolution surprisingly sensible]] and [[BoringButPractical vaguely disappointing]]."

* PetTheDog: Literally, whenever Vulcan acts kindly to the Diamond Dogs.
** He suggests that the changelings under his command learn to pet [[BunniesForCuteness rabbits]] and other creatures to get the affection they need to survive.

-->'''Luna''': My sister is too kind and soft for her own good. She would parlay with thee, let thee prattle on. I have no such compunctions. Thou hast brought evil upon our ponies, and thou shalt answer us humbly and swiftly, and give us all the truth we ask--- or feel our wrath!
-->'''Vulcan laughs'''
-->'''Luna''': Wh-what art thou laughing at?
-->'''Vulcan''': You. So Celestia sent you in to play 'bad cop,' did she?
-->'''Luna''': Bad.. cop?
-->'''Vulcan''': It means she plays nice, then you get to come in and play all mean and hard... and do the dirty work for her. Like always.
-->'''Luna''': Watch thy tongue, creature. I care not for what thou art implying.
-->'''Vulcan''': And what am I implying? The truth? Things get nasty, she leaves, you come in to rough me up. Pardon me for trusting the evidence of my own eyes.
-->'''Luna''': Celestia, did not need to ASK me to put hoof, horn or wing to thee, wretch. I would have done the same on mine own.
-->'''Vulcan''': If she let you.
-->'''Luna''': Thou shalt show respect, prisoner. '''shoves horn at his face'''
-->'''Vulcan''': Celestia already did the horn-in-your-face thing. She did it better, too. Forget it. I don't speak to Celestia's underling.
-->'''Luna''': I AM NOPONY'S UNDERLING!
-->'''Vulcan''': Oh get over yourself. She rules the sun, the thing that keeps everything on the planet ALIVE. You rule the moon-- a fricking night light. You were so unimportant that she did your job and hers for a thousand years without help.
-->'''Luna''': ('''Hesitant''') My sister and I share the throne. I rule with her...
-->'''Vulcan''': Rule with her? You can't even match her. You tried to stand up for yourself and she spanked your fanny and sent you to your room, and only let you back out when you promised to be a good little filly and obey her. The only reason you're a princess at all is with her permission. And she could take that away any time she wanted. Look at this place. Hell, she built Canterlot while you were gone. It's ALL hers! This is HER castle, HER kingdom, and it has been for a thousand years! You're just the unemployed kid sister she lets sleep on the sofa--
-->'''Luna''': SILENCE! (Zaps him)
-->'''Vulcan''': Whatsamatter, honey? Truth hurt? Oh hey, y'not c'mpletely useless, after all... she lets you do all the stuff that would make her look bad. She gets to be the pretty princess everyone loves... an'... an' you get to skulk around inna dark wi' your batponies, scarin' the naughty ponies straight for her. Thousan' years an nuthin's changed, hazzit?

** PurpleIsTheNewBlack: Vulcan's Magic Aura is dark purple.

--> '''Diamond Tiara''': "My Daddy's coming to get me..."

--> '''Vulcan''': "Skank, I swear, one of these days you're going to pick your nose and your head's gonna cave in."

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: The Princesses and the Mane 6 vs an empowered {{Jerkass}} teenager who, while undoubtedly a criminal, is a NobleDemon with a code of ethics who consciously avoids lines like murder and mind control.
** WhiteAndBlackMorality: His code of ethics is a flimsy laundry list he doesn't understand himself, he avoids taking life not out of basic decency, but [[PragmaticVillainy to avoid enraging the ponies enough to make them attempt killing him in retribution]], and while he doesn't do mind control, he instead manipulates useful pony minions by making them believe that serving him is the only way, by giving them his own twisted assumptions about what the authorities will do to them for dealing with him in the first place (the remedial class pegasi, whom he told Celestia would use as scapegoats to pacify the populace), or witholding information from them to prevent them from making a truly informed choice regarding whether to serve him or leave and inflaming their anger at past misdeeds to make them not consider any other alternatives (Ted knew the new blood supplement was actually real blood with food coloring, and implied it was another attempt at making fake blood again while tossing a few reminders regarding how they were hurt before, all to get them to NOT leave him). He's closer to the black spectrum than he is gray, and getting even closer the more he stays a villain, [[spoiler: as shown when he nearly strangled Artful Dodger, arguably his only friend in Equestria, over a perceived betrayal. While the Alicorn Amulet did have some influence, the way the amulet does things is by coaxing Ted into doing things he feels he wants to do and giving a little push...]].
** GreyAndBlackMorality: Approaches this in a few points when Ted is pitted against the worst spots of the corruption that's crept into Equestria.

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse:
** Vulcan gives one to Remedial Class Pegasi. They got their revenge on the city they hated and people that wronged them, but in the process they became enemies of the state and pretty literally have no reasonable ideas how to make a living in the situation. Vulcan offered them a job, a place to live and a community to fit in... and then explained that they plainly have no reasonable alternative.

** Life of the average Diamond Dog is bad. They live on fringes of civilized societies at best, are bullied by dragons into servitude and are not liked by anyone. They lack magic, live in small and divided tribes and are just above an average caveman in culture.
** Prince Blueblood was shown to be a bad pony in the canon. In the fic, nobles are said to be corrupt, greedy, and abusive of the law.

** Leo expected to have a [[DuelToTheDeath honorable duel]] with Darth Vulcan due to the villains ego not allowing anyone to interfere with him defeating the hero. Ted has no such problem with his ego, can and will exploit every dirty and cowardly trick in the book to get an advantage, and has exactly zero problem with his underlings coming to his aid in this supposed one on one duel.

* Leo expected to have a [[DuelToTheDeath honorable duel]] with Darth Vulcan due to the villains ego not allowing anyone to interfere with him defeating the hero. Ted has no such problem with his ego, can and will exploit every dirty and cowardly trick in the book to get an advantage, and has exactly zero problem with his underlings coming to his aid in this supposed one on one duel.

*** 2. Equestrian Society as a whole. Because of his cynicism and the bad first impressions going all around (which are mostly his fault), he believes Equestria is secretly a [[CrapsaccharineWorld cesspit of corruption hidden behind a veneer of niceness]], instead of a society where things are fine for the most part except for a few things and rough spots that passed under Celestia's notice. It doesn't help that he's convinced himself that because he found ONE township where corruption was the order of the day, and the Princesses didn't notice anything wrong until Ted brought the issues to light, that things are as horrible as he thinks they are.

* AllMenArePerverts[=/=]AllWomenAreLustful: Played straight by Chrysalis, clinging to Ted. Inverted by Ted, repeatedly turning her down (with reasonable justification) despite being a teenage virgin. Inverted by Artful Dodger who also shows some delicacy despite being a teenage virgin.

* AdaptationalIntelligence:
** Inverted with [[spoiler:Lord Tirek]], who in canon [[spoiler:played Discord like a fiddle to regain his strength and ''only'' turns on him once he was strong enough Discord couldn't do anything about it and was smart enough to actively avoid drawing attention to himself until he was strong enough to defend himself.]] Here? [[spoiler:He walks into Vulcan's lair and just tries to brute force steal Vulcan's strength, getting himself killed.]]

** Inverted with the Princesses, who are in canon, while not perfect, showed as wise and intelligent ponies who at least know how to run a country. Here, exploiting their stupidity is one of the major reasons Vulcan is such a major threat and Equestria is a CrapsaccharineWorld purely due to their incompetence.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Inverted with [[spoiler:Lord Tirek]], who in canon [[spoiler:played Discord like a fiddle to regain his strength and ''only'' turns on him once he was strong enough Discord couldn't do anything about it and was smart enough to actively avoid drawing attention to himself until he was strong enough to defend himself.]] Here? [[spoiler:He walks into Vulcan's lair and just tries to brute force steal Vulcan's strength, getting himself killed.]]

* AdaptationalIntelligence:
** Inverted: the Equestrians are portrayed as much less intelligent and competent than in the main series, especially Celestia and Luna.
** Also inverted with [[spoiler:Lord Tirek]], who in canon [[spoiler:played Discord like a fiddle to regain his strength and ''only'' turns on him once he was strong enough Discord couldn't do anything about it and was smart enough to actively avoid drawing attention to himself until he was strong enough to defend himself.]] Here? [[spoiler:He walks into Vulcan's lair and just tries to brute force steal Vulcan's strength, getting himself killed.]]

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Inverted: the Equestrians are portrayed as much less intelligent and competent than in the main series, especially Celestia and Luna.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Leo seems like your average, socially awkward geek, who the ponies don't get a good impression from. But then he destroys a manticore in a melee fight and, thanks to Pinkie's wish, shows an immunity to its venom, which is implied to be ''very'' lethal.
* CurbStompBattle: Vulcan vs. Runt, Mange, and Skank. They were lucky he was so forgiving.

* RealityEnsues: Vulcan convinced himself that because of the "TV-Y7" nature of Equestria, there wouldn't be any death as a result of the wanton destruction resulting from his actions. He's horrified when he realizes that people, specifically HIS people, really have been dying.

--->'''Darth Vulcan''': [[NoodleIncident Whoever made this thing had an interesting life]].

* NeverLiveItDown: Rainbow Dash is a little touchy about anypony bringing up that she provoked Darth Vulcan by [[LeeroyJenkins assaulting him]] when he walked into Ponyville and demanded to know where he could find Twilight.

* AdaptationalVillainy: While not straight up villainous by any stretch, this story's version of Celestia and Luna are a lot more morally questionable than their canon counterparts, particularly when it comes to Celestia's manipulative traits and their actions involving the Thestrals.

* AccentuateTheNegative: The darker aspects of the canon universe are explored, details that cause FridgeHorror in the original work are discussed in the fic, clichés common for a child show are extensively deconstructed, and the background for many things that were cute in original show proves to be ugly.

The fic got ambiguous reception. What was later revealed by WordOfGod to be signs of protagonists evilness/stupidity was often interpreted as clever pragmatism/deconstruction, causing some frustration in the author. Given that cynicism is running wild this days, not all surprising. As of Feb. 2017 the possibility of alternative interpretation remains, though later chapters may change it.

* AccentuateTheNegative: The darker aspects of the canon universe are explored in details, details that cause FridgeHorror in the orgininal work are discussed in the fic, clichés common for a child show extensively deconstructed and background for many things that were cute in original show is ugly.

** Prince Blueblood was shown to be a bad pony in the canon. In the fic nobles are said to be corrupt, greedy and abuse the law.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Discord's bothering of Rainbow Dash while impersonating the "Cragodile Hunter" gets a laugh from rest of the mane 6.
* AdaptationalVillainy: While not straight up villainous by any stretch, this story's version of Celestia and Luna are a lot more morally questionable than their canon parts. Particularly when it comes to Celestia's manipulative traits and both's actions involving the Thestrals.