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** Queen Chrysalis also counts, but she's considerably more downplayed than the others. She is legitimately powerful and intelligent, she's also driven by her foalhood desire to conquer Equestria, and while occupying Canterlot treats her slaves more like a child playing dollhouse than a conqueror, and overall seems to have not thought out or ''cared'' about what she'd actually do with her new power other than whatever she feels like. In this case, it adds a sense of wrongness to her character that helps sell the fact something is ''seriously'' messed up with the Queen.
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* ThePowerOfLove: Shows up in the Wedding Arc, naturally. While the Changelings use it as a food source, [[spoiler:it's revealed that showing true love to a brainwashed victim while aware they're brainwashed is the key to breaking their mind control.]]
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One lucky squad does not make a relevant subversion of the larger trope.


* MilitariesAreUseless: Sadly played straight by the Wedding Arc in spite of intentional efforts to defy this trope in previous arcs. Subverted with Misfit Actual, as despite being put in a ''very'' bad situation, manage to keep their heads and make it out in one piece, simply because they had the chance to react to their situation

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* MilitariesAreUseless: Sadly played straight by the Wedding Arc in spite of intentional efforts to defy this trope in previous arcs. Subverted with Misfit Actual, as despite being put in a ''very'' bad situation, manage to keep their heads and make it out in one piece, simply because they had the chance to react to their situation
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Once more, simply trying to balance things out


* MilitariesAreUseless: Sadly played straight by the wedding arc in spite of intentional efforts to defy this trope in previous arcs.

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* MilitariesAreUseless: Sadly played straight by the wedding arc Wedding Arc in spite of intentional efforts to defy this trope in previous arcs.arcs. Subverted with Misfit Actual, as despite being put in a ''very'' bad situation, manage to keep their heads and make it out in one piece, simply because they had the chance to react to their situation
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* MilitariesAreUseless: Sadly played straight by the wedding arc in spite of intentional efforts to defy this trope in previous arcs.
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** [[spoiler:Applejack deciding to turn down her LivingLieDetector powers in Canterlot to respect other's privacy due to how important keeping secrets can be there. Not only does it prevent her from detecting Chrysalis, she ends up being brainwashed. Chrysalis, being [[{{Sadist}} Chrysalis]] [[KickTheDog takes time to rub it in her face.]]]]
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** Next chapter, [[spoiler:Prince Blueblood and his fillyfriend Arcane Spell (a castle maid) even up finding somepony (namely Cadence, imprisoned by Queen Chrysalis) trapped underground. Their response is to bust down a crystal wall and then proceed to storm the Wedding Hall with ''Blueblood of all ponies'' being the one to lead.]]
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* MisfitMobilizationMoment: [[spoiler:During the Wedding Arc, Minuette (a dentist and one of the Master's regenerations), Twinkle Shine (a hair dresser), Lyra (a musician with a human fascination), Bon Bon (a candy maker), and Moth (a reformed Changeling terrified of her own species) end up discovering something is wrong, and formulate a plan to sneak into the castle to find out what's going on. Not only do they succeed, they free Moondancer from Chrysalis' mind control (scoring the heroes first victory in the arc), then resolve to do something about the impending invasion, joined soon after by Lemon Hearts.]]
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Nope. The \"long game\" is a series of asspulls and retcons.


* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this? No one spots the different communications between units? Of course very little of Chrysalis' LongGame has been revealed, so the specifics of how she pulled this off may simply not have been revealed yet.

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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this? No one spots the different communications between units? Of course very little of Chrysalis' LongGame has been revealed, so the specifics of how she pulled this off may simply not have been revealed yet.units?
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There, is that a fair middle ground?


* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this? No one spots the different communications between units?

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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this? No one spots the different communications between units? Of course very little of Chrysalis' LongGame has been revealed, so the specifics of how she pulled this off may simply not have been revealed yet.
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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this?

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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this? No one spots the different communications between units?

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That doesn\'t justify a thing: If anything crossed wires like that merely enhance the idiot ball factor.


* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guards Ponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this?
** Somewhat justified, as it's implied that Chrysalis told the higher ups and Celestia one thing and the Guards Ponies another, keeping the right hand from knowing what the left was doing. [[spoiler:Shining Armor ''does'' object to it, but Chrysalis' brainwashing keeps him from doing anything about it.]]

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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guards Ponies Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this?
** Somewhat justified, as it's implied that Chrysalis told the higher ups and Celestia one thing and the Guards Ponies another, keeping the right hand from knowing what the left was doing. [[spoiler:Shining Armor ''does'' object to it, but Chrysalis' brainwashing keeps him from doing anything about it.]]
this?
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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this?
** Somewhat justified, as it's implied that Chrysalis told the higher ups and Celestia one thing and the Guardsponies another, keeping the right hand from knowing what the left was doing.

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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies Guards Ponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this?
** Somewhat justified, as it's implied that Chrysalis told the higher ups and Celestia one thing and the Guardsponies Guards Ponies another, keeping the right hand from knowing what the left was doing.doing. [[spoiler:Shining Armor ''does'' object to it, but Chrysalis' brainwashing keeps him from doing anything about it.]]
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** Somewhat justified, as it's implied that Chrysalis told the higher ups and Celestia one thing and the Guardsponies another, keeping the right hand from knowing what the left was doing.
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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat?

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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat?threat? None of the ''many other'' higher ranking officers ever objected to this?
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* IdiotBall: Half of why Chrysalis is getting her way, combined with a dash of EasyLogistics - Somehow almost ten thousand Guardsponies can be replaced by "Rookies" in the Canterlot area with a known threat?
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** [[spoiler:Most of "Character Rerailment" is the now Nightmare Diamond Tiara doing this to Silver Spoon in an attempt to convince her she only exists to be her minion. Thankfully, Silver manages to break free.]]
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** "The Birth of King Sombra" explains both Sombra's origins and how he and the Crystal Empire fit into the POV universe.
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** Origins: Queen Chrysalis serves as one for Chrysalis.
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* TheNudifier: When he was a baby, Spike received a slight magic surge from Twilight and ended up accidentally doing this to Shining Armor with his magic fire, sending his uniform to Princess Celestia.
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** [[spoiler:Minuette]] gets one just before [[spoiler:feeding the Master to the [[ClockRoaches Blank Wolf]]]]:
--> [[spoiler:'''Minuette'']]: [[spoiler:I'm stopping the drums - forever!]]
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** [[spoiler:Sunset and Ranger are killed helping stop a megastorm threatening Caruba. We even see their funeral and their souls entering Pony Heaven.]]
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** [[spoiler:Chapter 21 Part 2 of Shining Armor, while also dealing with Discord and having dark moments, seems to lighten up as the group has some R&R in some peaceful nations...then they end up having to stop a gigantic storm in Caruba, with hundreds if not thousands of lives on the line. And then, [[KilledOffForReal Sunset and Ranger die]] and the rest of the chapter is spent mourning the dead.]]
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* OutsideTheBoxThinking: Happens quite frequently, mainly due to the frequency of ConfusionFu and IndyPloy. This is especially true in Dark World, where Twilight invokes this due to their enemy being Discord.
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* MeanwhileInTheFuture: PlayedForLaughs in the Shining Armor Arc. [[spoiler:Several times in Chapter 20, something Shining comments on will be accompanied by a cutaway to the present (Shining's future) dealing with it. Justified as Shining is living in SanDimasTime, so it really ''is'' happening 'meanwhile'.]]
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* {{Kitsune}}: Shining Armor's group ends up having one staying with them in Neighpon, constantly pranking them. However, because it's a white Kitsune, which are considered sacred and lucky, they just have to put up with it. [[spoiler:Turns out it's the Empress of Neighpon's ''pet'' and was acting as their guardian on her behalf, catching some robbers that tried to break in.]]
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* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: [[spoiler:Shining Armor 18 has General Admiral Makarov [[RetGone erased from existence]], altering the world Shining Armor, Minuette, and Cadence find themselves in considerably, including altering characters like Bond's entire personality and adding his now alive parents to the cast.]]
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* PlotHole: Some of the dreams in Shining Armor 18 are a bit... inconsistent with what has gone before, and to a degree that cannot be adequately explained or handwaved by [[spoiler:[[RetGone Makarov's deletion]]]]
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* PlotHole: Some of the dreams in Shining Armor 18 are a bit... inconsistent with what has gone before, and to a degree that cannot be adequately explained or handwaved by [[spoiler:[[RetGone Makarov's deletion]]]]
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--> [[Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries Main Page]]
---> PonyPOVSeries/TropesAToD
---> PonyPOVSeries/TropesEToH
---> (You are here)
---> PonyPOVSeries/TropesQToZ
----
* IAmNotLeftHanded: During her fight with Rarigreed, Dark World!Fluttercruel reveals that she can [[spoiler: use her mother's ultimate weapon: The Stare]]. She comments that Discord specifically told her to not use it around the other Elements of Chaos, so that she could surprise them with it if they ever turned on Discord.
** [[spoiler:Nightmare Paradox revealing her [[PsychoRangers friends.]]]]
** It turns out that [[spoiler:Shining had been holding back the true extent of his shield magic because the last time he used it, his uncle had just been killed and he crushed the Diamond Dog that did it to death.]]
* IAmNotMyFather: Fluttercruel and Fluttershy consider Discord Fluttercruel's father, but she has no desire to follow in his footsteps, but doesn't go out of her way to go against it. Fluttershy is adment that having an evil father doesn't make her evil. [[spoiler:Then Fluttercruel actually ''DOES'' follow in his footsteps and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero corrupts Fluttershy worse than Discord did.]] After fighting her way back to the world of the living, she is more than ready to do exact opposite of what Discord would do, leading to this little exchange:]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Undead Foal''': Move you stupid half-Draconequus!]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Fluttercruel''': That's stupid little ''pony!'']]
** Also with Fluttershy, who, due to being her basis, considers herself Fluttercruel's mother and treats her as such. Fluttercruel pretty much wants to be anything ''but'' Fluttershy.
* IAmSpartacus: When Traitor Dash shows up in Cloudsdale and demands that the hippogriffs hand over the resident RebelLeader, the entire crowd does a pretty good imitation of the TropeNamer scene. [[spoiler: Dash {{Sherlock Scan}}s the actual target and kills her. The sad part is, she had no choice. She had to kill ''someone'' or Discord would destroy the city.]]
** It does have an impact, however, as [[spoiler:it's one of the things Twilight's Memory Spell reminds Traitor Dash of to break her Discording by showing the Dark World is still worth saving.]]
* IHaveManyNames: Each of the Alicorns and Draconequi seem to have multiple names.
** Dark World!Rarity takes back her original name, but keeps her Rarigreed and Greedity names and gains a new name, Lady Desire, from the Diamond Dogs. Being the Element of Desire, it fits her. [[spoiler:She also gains Queen Libra upon becoming an Alicorn.]]
** Dark World!Discord has seemingly infinite titles, the majority of which are nonsense such as 'Big Banana Discord'. It's unknown if the same applies to the main timeline Discord or not.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Trixie, due to her [[MiddleChildSyndrome Middle Filly Syndrome]] [[spoiler:and being unable to stand out among her four [[UncannyFamilyResemblance near identical sisters]]. It got worse when she went to magic school and was unable to excel at ''anything'' in particular. This caused her to overlook the fact, as her teachers told her, that she could do [[JackOfAllStats almost]] ''[[JackOfAllStats any]]'' [[JackOfAllStats type of magic well]], including weather magic, which is very rare for a unicorn to be able to do at all. She gets her wish, however, when it's revealed she's an Element Of Magic and has just as much unrealized potential as Twilight Sparkle did, but Trixie still has some issues with being Twilight's "alternate."]]
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight:
** [[spoiler:The Mane Six try this fighting Nightmare Whisper, Fluttershy's SuperpoweredEvilSide, but it's only after blasting her with the Elements of Harmony and purifying her that they're actually able to reach her.]]
** Most of the fights in the Dark World with the still corrupted Mane Six. [[spoiler:All three succeed, but with increasing amounts of difficulty each time, Rarigreed being the easiest and Angry Pie the hardest.]]
** Derpy keeps trying this with the Valeyard. [[spoiler:Subverted in that the Valeyard really ''isn't'' the Doctor and therefore there's nothing to reach. The only way to restore the Doctor is to destroy the Valeyard's regeneration template, then kill him, allowing him to regenerate back into the Doctor, which DOES work.]]
* ImaginaryFriend: Pinkamenia had several, the same ones from "Party Of One", only in her imagination, they were real ponies. [[spoiler:They were killed and absorbed by Angry Pie, though. Trixie had Princess Starflower, but left her behind after becoming a star, but Twilight found her while in Trixie's head and she helped her save Trixie. [[ChekhovsGunman Both come back when the gang are]] [[LotusEaterMachine under Princess Gaia's spell]] and break Pinkie Pie and Trixie out of it.]]
** [[spoiler: Clover's Gaiden story reveals that ''Pinkie herself'' was originally Clover's imaginary friend, brought to life by the world changing spell. This causes Pinkie to have a HeroicBSOD and nearly lets herself be dragged to Oblivion by the Shadows of her friends before Twilight, Zecora, and Luna convince her she's as real as them.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice:
** [[spoiler:Loneliness comes ''dangerously'' close to outright killing Twilight via this.]]
** [[spoiler:G3 Wysteria dies this way. Celestia's mortal form is also killed this way by Strife in their fight, but being immortal, that body doesn't matter, something Strife knew from the get-go.]]
** [[spoiler: Rancor wounds Dark World!Discord this way to absorb the spirit of Destruction.]]
** [[spoiler:Happens to Nightmare Manacle, Whisper, and Granfalloon at one point during Dark World's FinalBattle. It would have killed them if Paradox wasn't a TimeMaster.]]
* ImmortalityInducer: The Elements of Chaos for the Dark World!Mane Six. Discord [[BodyHorror replaced their hearts with them]] and so long as the Element of Chaos isn't removed or destroyed, they have CompleteImmortality.
** [[spoiler: Turns out the Elements of Chaos themselves were originally the Elements of Harmony. If you need proof, besides WordOfGod we also have the fact that when Angry Pie tore out Twilight's Element of Magic and left her to die of RapidAging, Twilight saved herself by taking in Trixie's Element of Magic, since Trixie was one of the ponies who had died in the thousand years of the Dark World and didn't need an Element that she had never managed to awaken in this timeline.]]
* ImplacableMan: The Chaos Six were seen as this by the denizens of Dark World, being they're immortal CoDragons of [[EvilOverlord Discord.]] As shown later taking on Discord's {{Mook}}s, against ''normal'' enemies, they're still this, it just happens they were fighting ''other'' [[ImplacableMan Implaceable Men]] until then.
** [[ClockRoaches The Wolf/Stalker]] from the Shining Armor Arc. A mysterious entity that's dedicated to [[RetGone erasing Shining Armor from existence,]] ''nothing'' will stop it from completing its objective. Not gun fire, not shield spells, not walls, not even being caught point blank at the center of an explosion, followed by the tripod it was attacking toppling into the ocean and exploding. It's been stalking Shining across ''countries'' and so far, the only things that can slow it down are Makarov's Death Dome spell (something Shining has tried to replicate and ''failed'') and [[spoiler:Princess Cadence's presence]]. There's very good reason Shining Armor is absolutely paranoid of the thing.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Trixie [[spoiler:is told, on short notice, that she'll be doing a magic show at the celebration for Princess Gaia, with no practice, no props, and pretty much nothing to work with. Her reaction is to find a bottle of sake with salt and get ''very'' drunk.]]
* InMysteriousWays: Subverted with at least the [[TopGod Alicorn Elders]], who will give a logical explanation for their actions whenever they're asked, such as [[spoiler:Applejack asking why the Father didn't just tell her she was the Element of Kindness (she'd have just saw it as a lecture to ignore), and Dark World!Twilight asking Fauna Luster why the Alicorns didn't stop Eclipse (because Eclipse was too strong to safely fight, but not yet a big enough threat to justify the Elders confronting her directly).]]
* InSpiteOfANail: Despite the unforeseen events of [[spoiler:Windigos, the Alicorn/Draconequus War, and Discord's first reign,]] the Ponyville designed during Generation Transitions still comes into being exactly as planned, three characters excluded.
** [[spoiler:Several aspects of the world tour Shining and Cadence's group is on still happened after Makarov [[RetGone was erased from existence]] such as there still being a fight in Columbia (though it involved a Nightmare Moon cult) where Audience and Ellis got promoted and Cadence still got her song bird and had to power up (though this time it involved an EldritchAbomination). Justified as it's implied Makarov devoured and stole the places of the ones who were originally involved, such as the leader of the Nightmare Moon cult.]]
* InsultBackfire: General-Admiral Makarov mockingly asks Princess Cadence is she's going sing at him during a face off. [[TheVillainSucksSong She promptly does]] [[spoiler:[[MagicMusic and kicks his flank in the process.]]]]
* InterserviceRivalry: Shining Armor states that this is good for morale... right after stating that the Day Guard are wimps and the Night Guard is afraid of the light (and ignoring the fact that he ''was'' a Day Guard before being put in charge of Cadence's branch of the Royal Guard).
** However, one that Shining doesn't approve of is the one between the 18th Pegasus Legion and the Pegasus Guard, who ''loath'' each other over their opinions on the Wonderbolts. Upon discovering ''all three'' are going to be in Zebrawa, [[ThisIsGonnaSuck he is none too happy about it.]] Thankfully, Cadence manages to turn things a little more friendly though.
* IronicEcho: A keen reader would be able to spot when two different characters, without ever having previously heard it, say the same phrase in entirely unrelated contexts.
--> "If they really believed it they wouldn't be saying it every time they said something" -- [[spoiler: G3 Pinky & Onyx Tiara]]
--> "Put 'em up! Put 'em up!" -- [[spoiler: Spike & Discord]]
** Ender Dash, the name of Traitor Dash's SuperMode. Originally, the name is due to her wanting [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds put an end to Dark World by resetting it to before the Day of Chaos]] by taking Discord's DealWithTheDevil. [[spoiler:Later, after her HeelFaceTurn, she names it that because she's trying to help the group EarnYourHappyEnding.]]
** [[spoiler:As she's performing a [[TimeMaster time spell]] to [[GondorCallsForAid summon the help needed to defeat]] [[BigBad Nightmare Eclipse]], Dark World!Twilight and Minty Pie give their own version of Eclipse's {{Catchphrase}}.]]
--> '''Twilight''': [[spoiler:Time march forward. Bonds reach across all.]]
--> '''Twilight/Minty Pie''': [[spoiler:''We'll wander no longer!'']]
* IronicHell: [[spoiler:''[[BadFuture Dark World]]'' turns out to be this for [[BigBad Discord]], inflicted on him by [[BiggerBad Nightmare Eclipse]]. His kingdom will never end, his mistakes are always undone...[[GroundhogDayLoop forever.]] [[AndIMustScream Never to end.]] By the time she's defeated and he's freed, he considers being killed over and over again by his family for his crimes ''relaxing'' in comparison.]]
** [[spoiler:Dark World!Fluttercruel is punished for her crimes via one of these. She's inserted into the past as an Earth Pony named Stitches, who's family was slaughtered by Fluttercruel, and ends up being one of her ''own'' victims. The experience ends up triggering a complete HeelRealization and VillainousBSOD that finally reforms her.]]
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:The irony does not escape Fluttercruel that she was made by [[ChaoticEvil Discord]] with the first words she heard being "Time to be cruel" and she becomes not only an Element of Harmony, but an Element Of '''''Kindness'''''.]]
* ItsPersonal: Shining Armor says this is the case with Makarov when [[spoiler:he seemingly threatens Twilight's safety. Subverted in it was actually [[RebelLeader Dima]], who needed to get a hold of Shining for help stopping Makarov and never intended to hurt her at all, so Shining forgives him. Double Subverted when the same chapter, Makarov makes it after trying to destroy a village of innocent zebra and ponies, killing dozens, tries to make Cadence his concubine, and is revealed to have kidnapped several innocent ponies and condemned them to an AndIMustScream fate by converting them into his CoDragons. This results in Shining Armor and his group declaring that ThisIsUnforgivable, something that's SeriousBusiness to Equestrians, who have forgiveness as a cultural value.]]
** If Makarov didn't do it then, then he certainly did by [[spoiler:blowing Running Gag's wing off, giving Misfit Actual a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, and trying to murder Twilight while Shining is ForcedToWatch.]]
* IWasToldThereWouldBeCake: After defeating Discord in [[{{Prequel}} Origins]], Celestia and Luna received a cake the size of a small castle as one of their rewards.
* JawDrop: The mane cast and the Cakes all do this in tandem when Pinkie Pie says she ''doesn't'' want to throw a party for once.
* JerkassFacade: Trixie only acted like a jerk because she wanted to stand out so badly due to her [[MiddleChildSyndrome Middle Filly Syndrome]]. [[spoiler:What was she like in her own mental plane? A scared little filly in the clutches of [[TheHeartless Loneliness]].]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Fluttercruel starts out as just a {{Jerkass}}, but Fluttershy's careful work with her ultimately turns her into this. She's still a jerk, but she at least willing to help Fluttershy out.
** [[spoiler:We find out when we see things from her point of view that Fluttershy didn't make her come out to help calm Rainbow Dash, she ''forced'' herself to the surface in order to do it. And even when she takes over, the worst she does is pull Fluttershy's leg a few times, showing she's nowhere near as much of a {{Jerkass}} as she originally was.]]
** [[spoiler:By the end of the battle against Nightmare Whisper, Fluttercruel is not only fiercely protective of Fluttershy (to the point of being willing to sacrifice herself to save Fluttershy and her friends), but is also able to manifest an Element of Kindness. She still acts like a jerk a lot of the time, though.]]
** [[spoiler:Silver Spoon. She was only a bully because her only friend Diamond Tiara was, she's truthfully a much more loyal and kind friend than would be expected at first glance. This is also hinted to be the reason for the heart in the spoon on her Cutie Mark.]]
* JumpScare: Done incredibly well in the audio adaptation, during "REHARMONIZED PONIES 06: House Call".
-->[[spoiler:'''''GET OUT~!!!''''']]
* JuryOfTheDamned: [[spoiler:Fluttercruel]] ends up in one of these after what appeared to be her death, with a court of demonic shadows ruling on whether or not she should exist. [[spoiler:The find her guilty, but she [[LikeABadassOutOfHell fights her way out of it]] to help the heroes defeat [[BigBad Princess Gaia/Nightmare Whisper]] and fix the mess she was responsible for.]] It's left ambiguous as to whether or not this was real or all in her head.
** [[MyLittlePonyTales Starlight]] finds herself in one after dying in the G2 Era's Class 2 apocalypse, being on trial for her role in said apocalypse. In an unusual case, she's both the defendant ''and'' the judge, with Judicium, the Alicorn of Judgment, serving as her adviser. [[spoiler:She finds herself guilty at the end. In another twist, her Defense Attorney was actually [[SatanicArchetype Havoc]], the DimensionLord of Hell, and that declaring herself innocent would've condemned her because it means she's refusing to accept responsibility for her actions. The Prosecutor was actually [[{{God}} the Father of All Alicorns]], the DimensionLord of Heaven who was trying to get her to accept that responsibility and ask forgiveness so he could give it and let her into Heaven.]]
* {{Kaiju}}: Dragon Queen Tiamat. She's so massive that her tea cup is bigger than some entire buildings and so powerful that [[CurbstompBattle she single-handedly ended the Hooviet/Dragon War.]] Shining Armor even compares it to a monster movie.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:The blackbirds that have tortured Dark World!Derpy for a thousand years by trying to eat Dinky (who has been turned into a muffin), are ultimately thrown into Ponythulhu's dimension to be eaten themselves, also by being turned into a baked good.]]
** [[spoiler:There's also Dark World!Discord meeting his end a similar way to how he killed Destruction; being betrayed by a sibling and having Destruction's power torn out of him.]]
** [[spoiler:[[BigBad Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox]] ends up suffering the same fate she forced on Twilight so many times; seeing her friends being torn away from her before being forced to merge with Twilight as part of her Alicornification. Rota Fortuna even lampshades this.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Rota Fortuna''']]: [[spoiler:…You are right. Crimes are crimes, and we should never turn a blind eye to them. You who have judged others, you too shall be judged.]]
** [[spoiler:In an AlternateUniverse version of ''Fanfic/RainbowFactory'', we're shown that after Rainbow Dash exposed the Rainbow Factory, Dr. Atmosphere was chased by an AngryMob and met his end falling into the Pegasus Device.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Played with in the case of General-Admiral Makarov in Shining Armor's Arc. On one hand, he gets no direct retribution for his attack on Shining Armor. On the other, he's been reminded that he's not the biggest fish in the sea (and that the combined special forces of SEVERAL nations will be actively working to bring him down should he try again) and had his ego thoroughly bruised, which considering his ego has to hurt. He was also threatened with being declared a PersonaNonGrata in multiple countries. [[spoiler:Subverted ultimately, as he's [[RetGone erased from existence]] as his final punishment.]]
* KilledOffForReal:
** [[spoiler:Discord's brother Destruction, who Discord ''ate''.]]
** [[spoiler:Despite both having most of the dead come BackFromTheDead following the defeat of the BigBad, both the Dark World Arc and the Shining Armor Arc have some character's death's stick]]:
*** [[spoiler:Dark World: Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Big Macintosh, and Trixie stay dead due to dying because of age. LooseCanon reveals the same happened with Zecora, making them not eligible to accept the one time offer to come BackFromTheDead.]]
*** [[spoiler:Shining Armor Arc: Cool Sun, Shining and Twilight's uncle, stays dead as, according to his own spirit, he still died protecting Shining Armor with or without Makarov.]]
* TheKillerInMe: Amnesiac type, with a twist. [[spoiler:Stitches ended up spending most of her life running from Dark World!Fluttercruel as the SerialKiller hunted down and murdered her family, including her...It turns out she's Fluttercruel's future self, inserted into the timeline to become one of her own victims as an IronicHell punishment for her crimes.]]
* KillerRabbit: [[spoiler:Princess Gaia's entire army is pretty much made out of these.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: [[spoiler:Loneliness. Not only is she a genuinely terrifying character who tries to outright ''kill'' Twilight Sparkle, the Princess Gaia arc follows directly afterwards.]]
** General-Admiral Makarov for Shining Armor's arc. Things took a turn for the serious as soon as he showed up, whereas before the arc was pretty light hearted [[spoiler: minus an early appearance by the Wolf.]]
** [[spoiler:Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox manages to be this for ''Dark World'', which was ''already'' DarkerAndEdgier. When the story finally turns to her, it instantly becomes a [[WhamEpisode Wham]] ''[[WhamEpisode Arc]]'' and the stakes go simply from freeing the world from Discord's tyranny, to having to save the ''entire timeline'' from being erased from existence due to her GroundhogDayLoop. Add in her rather frightening FauxAffablyEvil personality and the fact she has the largest body count of any villain in the fic due to having gleefully [[OmnicidalManiac erased the entire timeline and everyone in it]] several ''million'' times and she's most certainly this trope.]]
* KnightTemplar: The Harmony Queens AlternateUniverse has the mane six turn into this in a ShoutOut to the [[JusticeLeague Justice Lords]].
** [[spoiler:The [[TheVoice Nameless Passenger]] in Dark World, who is willing to go to any lengths, not caring who is hurt in the process, to take Discord down and get what she wants. [[TheCorrupter She's also trying to make]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Twilight go down the same path.]]]]
* LargeAndInCharge: The Princesses, obviously, but even they pale next to the dragon Queen Tiamat, who's so big ''she blocks out the sun''.
* LargeHam: Trixie even after her HeelFaceTurn. It seems to run in the family, considering her sisters introduce themselves with an elborate rolecall and SuperSentaiStance.
* LastOfTheirKind: The [[BadFuture Dark World]] Mane Six (and Dinky) with the exception of Spike and Apple Pie are the last of the pure blooded ponies, the rest either gradually merging with another species (unicorns with Zebras, Pegasi with Griffins, and Earth Ponies with Donkeys) or being turned into the Sea Ponies or Dragons by Discord. To be specific, Twilight, Rarity, and Dinky are the last unicorns, Rainbow Dash and Derpy are the last pegasi, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie are the last pure Earth Ponies (the Earth Pony[=/=]Donkey hybrids still call themselves Earth Ponies, Apple Pie being one). Whether or not Fluttercruel counts is iffy, as she's half Draconequus [[spoiler:and her original body is killed, then her second unicorn body transformed into a full Draconequus.]]
* LastSecondChance: [[spoiler:The group gives this to Traitor Dash in [[BadFuture Dark World]]. She takes convincing, but she finally takes it.]]
** [[spoiler:Invoked by Dark World!Discord, so he can use Twilight's Memory Spell as a way to reveal [[GroundhogDayLoop what's really going on]] to her and {{Out Gambit|ted}} [[BiggerBad Nightmare Paradox]].]]
* LastStand: [[spoiler:The survivors of the G3 World on Butterfly Island are faced with their world dying, a RealityWarper {{Physical God}}dess as their executioner. They decide to fight to the end anyway. Invoked by Strife, as it seems her intention was to enable them the chance to make one of these.]]
** [[spoiler: The Epilogue version of Cadence, having taken over the changelings and used them as a [[LaResistance resistance force]] against Discord, is confronted by him and the discorded Mane Six, who destroy her refuge and kill many of her subjects. [[YouShallNotPass Cadence chooses to fight, giving her remaining subjects a chance to escape]]. And the sad thing is, she almost ''wins'', defeating the Mane Six and restoring Twilight Sparkle... only for Discord to literally stab her in the back before disintegrating her.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:''Subject Trixie'' begins the same way as the other stories, with Twilight relating a tale to the reader... [[spoiler: Until she panics upon realizing that she's not talking to the reader, [[ShapeshifterGuiltTrip but someone else...]]]]
* LethalChef: Sweetie Belle, as in canon. Implied by Thunderchild that the Catering Corps of the Royal Guard are mostly this.
* LeaveNoWitnesses: Makarov's philosophy. This includes wiping out an ''entire Diamond Dog pack just because SOME of them were his mercenaries.
* LetMeTellYouAStory: Pinkie Pie begins doing this after [[spoiler:her SplitPersonalityMerge.]] They're still perfectly in character, but a lot more profound than you'd expect coming from her.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Subverted. [[spoiler:It looks like the [[BadFuture Dark World]] Twilight and Applejack are going to have a fight mistaking the other for still being evil, but they calmly work it out and join forces.]]
* LightIsNotGood: Princess [[spoiler:Gaia is an extremely beautiful Alicorn... Who is effectively brainwashing all of Equestria and turning everypony into little foals.]]
** The Elements of Harmony, and by extension, the concept of Harmony itself, [[spoiler:turns out that their power is inherently neutral, having the [[TakenForGranite exact same effect]] on Celestia & Luna, possibly Zecora too, as Discord in one alternate timeline.]]
* LikeABadassOutOfHell: [[spoiler:Fluttercruel fights her way out of a JuryOfTheDamned to return to the real world to help save Fluttershy from herself.]]
** [[spoiler:Dark World!Applejack has to fight her way out of Oblivion during her [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]]]]
** [[spoiler:Dark World!Fluttercruel has to fight off a Thestral that tried to escort her to Hell, feeding it it's own wings, then [[BodySurf possessing Sparkler]]. Since [[Fanfic/PonyPOVSeriesChaosVerse Chaos Verse!Fluttercruel]] also ended up having to escape Oblivion (with her father Discord's help), this means ''every'' known Fluttercruel has done this at least once.]]
* LivingLieDetector: After [[spoiler:looking into the Truth]], Applejack looking into ponies' eyes has this effect. She's the Element of Honesty so it really fits.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The story involves so many background characters from the show, original characters, and even [[spoiler: characters from previous generations of the franchise]], that they get a greater net total of attention than the Mane Cast. Which makes sense, as a recurring phrase is "there are no minor characters".
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: PlayedForLaughs when [[spoiler:Trixie]] can't follow the rapid-fire conversation of the rest of the group due to being a relative latecomer.
* LogicBomb: This is basically an explicit ''superpower'' of Apple Pie in the [[BadFuture Dark World]], her Element of Laughter allowing her to manipulate or impede the flow of mana by invoking paradoxes. This allows her to do things like (accidentally) triggering a HeelRealization in Twilight Tragedy, destroy a zombie army simply by pointing out they can't be dead and alive at the same time, and (of course) make a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot giant-cyborg-spider-vampire's]] head (followed by its entire body) explode by pointing out how it's programmed to destroy harmony and protect chaos but half the group have BOTH sets of Elements inside them.
** On the last one, Rarity and Twilight promptly [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the most common version of this tope.
--> '''Rarity''': Why do paradoxes always make robots explode? Shutting them down I understand but exploding?
* LongLived: According to WordOfGod, Granny Smith is over two hundred years old and is the longest living pony in Equestria.
* LooseCanon:
** A few chapters are explicitly stated by WordOfGod to be "optional canon" and the readers are allowed to decide for themselves rather or not they're part of the canon or just interesting WhatIf situations.
** [[spoiler:Pinkie Pie's side story is even more so, to the point it can be even a completely different story if the readers so choose.]]
*** [[spoiler: This may not be the case anymore, thanks to "The Foal of Omelas".]]
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: So many characters get significant focus in the story that the character list had to be split into sub-pages.
* LotusEaterMachine: [[spoiler:Princess Gaia]] puts ponies, mainly foals, into a trance where they experience their greatest desires... [[spoiler:And the next chapter, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou she comes for the readers too...]]]]
* LudicrousPrecision: Twilight is able to time events to the ''point'' second in her head. She explains that some of the more complicated spells require that kind of mental precision in order to cast.
* {{Mad God}}dess: Princess [[spoiler:Gaia/Nightmare Whisper.]]
* MagicFeather: [[spoiler:Twilight realizes after she activated the Element Of Magic without the physical Element that all the physical Elements Of Harmony do is provide a medium for their power to flow through. Turns out friendship is just as good of a medium.]]
* MagicVersusScience: Discussed in Clover's Gaiden Story by Twilight, Pinkie, [[spoiler:Zecora]], and Luna. The Earth Ponies of the golden age had forgotten of magic, despite having a near 20th century era technological society, while the Pegasi and Unicorns had extremely primitive technology, but had equally advanced civilizations based on their magics, and thus both were surprised to find it was possible for the other to exist (though subverted in that it didn't result in conflict). Luna praises the ''present'' civilization for having advanced both at the same rate and [[MagiTek blended the two]] to result in a civilization that's in some ways superior to the Golden Age, if not as advanced. She also mentions Strife once set up a conflict between equally advanced civilizations, one based entirely on magic and the other on technology, and had Judicium, Concept of Judgment and Balance, decide who was correct in their assumption they were superior. [[spoiler:Judicium judged that magic and science were equals, something Strife's experiment proved correct.]]
* MakeWayForTheNewVillains: Subverted in "Origins". While Discord does [[spoiler:eat Havoc's Avatar]], it was [[spoiler:Cadence]] who actually mortally wounded him and [[spoiler:Havoc's now completely insane Avatar ''let'' him do it]], and its explicitly stated Discord is ''less'' dangerous than him [[spoiler:due to only getting a faction of the Avatar's power since it was dying at the time. That and its debatable how much of a villain Havoc was.]]
** Also subverted by [[spoiler:Rancor]] in [[BadFuture Dark World]]. [[spoiler:While she ''did'' mortally wound Discord and steal Destruction's power from him, she had no intention of replacing him as the BigBad. She just wanted to take Destruction's power so it could actually be used for it's proper purpose instead of for his sadistic games and [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere just walks out of the story]] as soon as she gets it.]]
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight:
** [[spoiler:Any time in the GroundhogDayLoop that Twilight and company beat Discord and saved the world, [[BiggerBad Nightmare Eclipse]] would interfere and cause everything to go to Tartarus so Twilight would cross the DespairEventHorizon and [[FutureMeScaresMe become her.]]]]
** [[spoiler:[[TheEmpire The Hooviet Empire]] was supposed to implode about 20 years ago, freeing the Deer from their oppression and preventing them from causing any more harm to the world. When the Shadow of Chernobull [[SealedEvilInACan escaped Pandora's Box]] and into the physical world, it became [[ParodySue General Admiral Makarov]] and [[RealityWarper altered history so the Hooviets never fell]] and grew back into a dangerous superpower once again. The goal of the Rebels is to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong by [[RetGone erasing Makarov from time.]]]]
* MamaBear:
** [[spoiler:[[BigBad Princess Gaia's]] birds come to take away Dinky Doo as they've done with most of the other foals in Ponyville. Ditzy Doo (AKA Derpy Hooves) proceeds to grab a mop and use it as a ''quarterstaff'' to beat the living tar out of them for trying to get to her daughter.]]
** It turns darker when [[spoiler: Cheerilee, as Princess Gaia's Knight, is willing to use lethal force to keep the foals in her care safe and happy inside their {{Lotus Eater Machine}}s. Princess Gaia herself later realizes the power of this trope and invites Ditzy Doo to become another Knight so she can extend that fierce protective instinct toward all of Princess Gaia's "little foals."]]
*** [[spoiler: This seems to be Princess Gaia's policy now, at least in the LooseCanon. She extends her offer of knighthood to both Trixie and Twilight's mothers, trying to turn their maternal instincts to her benefit. Though we discover in "Playtime" that Ditzy ''didn't'' accept.]]
** [[spoiler: Do ''not'' harm or try to do anything to Pip if Luna will find out. Fluttershy and Fluttercruel find this out the hardway, even if she shows restraint.]]
** [[spoiler:Even though she's insane, Screw Ball/Golden Tiara breaks out of the insane asylum and ''kills a Timber Wolf and a Cockatrice '''with her bare hooves''''' to try and get to Diamond Tiara when she realizes her daughter needs her.]]
** [[spoiler:Remember Mimic's DyingMomentOfAwesome? She did it because she's Celestia and Luna's mortal mother and she was protecting them from Discord.]]
** [[spoiler:Exploited by Discord to make his earthly mother, Shady, into his loyal {{Dragon}}. Unfortunately for him, she cared about him enough to see how far he had gone and finally help stop him.]]
** [[spoiler:Dark World!Fluttershy. Even though Fluttercruel tortured her in her own mind for five hundred years to the point she [[DrivenToSuicide wanted to die just to end both her own torment and what Fluttercruel was doing to others]], she still loves her daughter with all her heart (in part due to seeing that Fluttercruel honestly believed said torture was showing Fluttershy love). She helps her friends stop her for the same reasons as Shady did, then followed it up by going into the Draconequi domain and [[StaringDownCthulhu standing up to the Draconequi and]] [[EldritchAbomination Havoc]] to protect her. Havoc is so impressed by her actions he lets her take Fluttercruel with her for reconditioning.]]
** A mortal pegasus though it would be a bright idea to kill the son of the LoveGoddess Venus (who's concept includes ''maternal'' love). Venus proceeds to descend to the mortal plain in an UnstoppableRage so great that the earth shakes and [[CurbstompBattle blow a heart-shaped hole through the pegasus' chest before she can even attack]]. Then reduce her house to a molten crater as a follow up. According to some legends of the even, she didn't stop there and had Pandora erase the mare's soul from existence or destroyed her identity and made her a new child to repay the one the mare killed. According to Celestia, the legend doesn't do justice to what Venus ''really'' did.
--> '''Celestia''': For if a mortal mother's fury is terrible, imagine the wrath of a mother with the [[PhysicalGod power of creation]] at her hooves.
* ManChild:
** Fluttercruel has a habit of throwing childish temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Then again, she is pretty much a newborn, something Fluttershy picked up on, causing her to treat her like a child whenever she does something wrong.
--> '''Fluttercruel''': Shut up shut up! You don't know anything so stop [[UnusualEuphemism spewing dragon fewmets]] like you know me or someone you met twice!
--> '''Fluttershy''': Oh my my my, such language. We're going to have to clean that mouth out.
--> '''Fluttercruel''': [[OhCrap YOU WOULDN'T!]]
** [[spoiler:Ironically, Luna's second side story reveals that Fluttershy pretty much became the Alicorn equalivant when she turned into Princess Gaia.]]
* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: Fluttershy and Fluttercruel talk back and forth with each other, even using the mirror as a way to show that they're two separate entities.
* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler:Rancor betraying Dark World!Discord]] results in this reaction.
** Another occurs when [[spoiler:the group realizes Dark World!Pinkie Pie has been SecretlyDying since her redemption (though Applejack and Rarity more that the OTHERS found out). Even Odyne!Cruelty stops in her tracks from shock.]]
** The ''biggest'' comes when [[spoiler:[[TheVoice the Nameless Passenger]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide reveals]] [[TrueFinalBoss her]] [[TomatoInTheMirror true]] [[FutureMeScaresMe identity]].]]
* MassSuperEmpoweringEvent: Sort of. [[spoiler:It's revealed that the G2 Apocalypse spread and enhanced the effect of the Rainbow of Light making animals near it more intelligent, granting groups of cows and other lifestock, as well as Griffons and Keylongs (which ultimately merged with the Griffon species over the centuries), sentience.]]
* MasterOfIllusion: [[spoiler:Princess Gaia, aka Nightmare Whisper. She ''is'' called the Kindest of Lies after all.]]
* MayflyDecemberRomance: Referenced by Rarity in her Reharmonizing chapter; she knows about Spike's crush, but is afraid to address it because she knows that by the time he's an adult, she'll already be 'in a rocking chair'.
** Subverted in Dark World. After a thousand years, Spike's an adult and Rarity hasn't aged a day thanks to her Element of Chaos, meaning once Rarity is free from Discord's control, there's nothing stopping them from hooking up. On top of that, since Rarity is immortal, Spike won't have to outlive her.
* MeaningfulEcho: [[spoiler:When ponies are praising Princess Gaia originally, it's because they're brainwashed. In the final chapter, Fluttershy is still praised as Princess Gaia by a lot of ponies her actions actually ''helped'' out of genuine love and respect.]]
* MeaningfulRename: [[spoiler:After her HeelFaceTurn, Trixie renames herself "the One and Only Trixie", which is what Twilight called her when she guided her to breaking free of Loneliness' clutches.]]
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash and Rarity nearly do this to Nightmare Whisper to stop Fluttershy's suffering.]]
** [[spoiler:Liarjack breaks the curse on Epilogue!Applebloom, which kills her, but that's what she wanted, to die so she could be reunited with her loved ones in the after life.]]
** [[spoiler:After Shining kills Yablokovodka, one of Makarov's [[CoDragons Alicorn Cyborgs]], Mother Deer comforts him by assuring him it was an act of mercy and freed [[AndIMustScream the poor pony trapped inside.]]]]
* MessianicArchetype: [[spoiler:Nightmare Whisper thinks of herself as this. And in a way, she is-in the same way the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} God-Emperor of Mankind]] is.]]
* [[MiddleChildSyndrome Middle Filly Syndrome]]: It is strongly implied in the fic that this is the main reason why Trixie became the {{Jerkass}} she was before [[HeelFaceTurn getting better]].
** [[spoiler:Its made even worse by that fact that [[UncannyFamilyResemblance she and her sisters look nearly indentical,]] making it even harder for her to stand out among them.]]
* MidseasonUpgrade: [[spoiler:At the end of the Princess Gaia Arc, not only does Fluttercruel formally join the group with her own Element Of Kindness, the mane cast figures out how to channel the Elements of Harmony ''without'' the physical Elements themselves, which is not only ''much'' more convenient, it means someone stealing the Elements of Harmony won't work anymore.]]
* AMillionIsAStatistic: [[spoiler:Discord is very casual about the genocides he committed and commits.]]
** [[spoiler:The ResetButton nature that has actually been going on in Dark World is this as well, with but timelines rather than ponies. Effectively making the inhabitants of those timelines even lower than mere statistics. However, while Nightmare Paradox and her PsychoRangers see no harm in this (except Mirror), those that know of their actions InUniverse treat these crimes with the appropriate amount of horror.]]
* MindRape:
** Discord's corruption are portrayed thusly, having ''severe'' effects on all those he corrupted and leaving long lasting mental scars.
*** [[spoiler:He's still using the supernatural type in order to manipulate Diamond Tiara into freeing him, all the while doing the mundane type by asking contridictory questions to keep her torn between rather she's right or wrong, being good or bad, and so on.]]
** [[spoiler:Fluttercruel ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally]]'' does this to Fluttershy!]]
** [[spoiler:Luna does this to Fluttershy and Fluttercruel at the end of the Gaia arc as punishment for their wrongdoing.]]
** [[spoiler:Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash suffer from rather severe cases during the fight with Nightmare Whisper. Fortunately, a memory spell is strong enough to break the effect.]]
* MindScrew: The CMC[[spoiler:, Spike, and Silver Spoon]] Time Travelers. They manage to jury-rig a time machine and travel to Generation 1, Generation 3, the real world, and ''sideways'' through time. As if that weren't enough, [[spoiler:the G3 universe was {{Retgone}}d from time, meaning it ''no longer '''exists''' to travel to!'']] Its stated they probably broke half the known laws of physics and (according to Doctor Whooves) several ''un''known ones!
** Starlight's [[JuryOfTheDamned trial in the afterlife]] has many moments of this, such as Starlight being ''literally'' in two places at once, something that is this trope for her InUniverse. This was intentional on the part of the writes to show [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm how mortals cannot grasp the nature of the spirit world.]]
** The discussion in Shining Armor 13.5 about North and South Ponia, which even in universe is considered this and confuses all present.
** In Shining Armor 15 Part 1, Shining Armor has a dream involving [[spoiler:Pandora. Pandora is the Goddess of Imagination and Hallucinations, and her Realm reflects that, being a nonsensical labyrinth with imaginary creatures running all over the place. And Shining spends the entire dream on the ''ceiling''.]]
--> '''Shining Armor''': ...What the buck?!
* MissingBackblast: Averted during Shining and Dima's battle against Makarov's golden helicopter. Luckily, when Shining walks into the backblast of a rocket launcher, he has his shields up.
** Later averted again by Hooviet Conscripts. They lack shielding of course.
* MoodWhiplash: "Happy Cake Adventure" starts with a StylisticSuck storybook style story told by Pinkie Pie. [[spoiler:It ends with another dwelve into the end of the G3 universe.]]
** The latest Dark World chapters are rather guilty of this as well. Given [[BadFuture where it takes place]], it's not all that surprising that ''any'' light moments invoke this.
** The audio adaptation of the Reharmonized series usually ends on an optimistic note. Cue the ominous ending theme "He Watches, He Waits" that reminds us all of Discord's inevitable third coming.
** Starlight's ''7 Dreams[=/=]Nightmares'' chapter. Part one? Her discovering Paradise Estate with her friends and helping Bright Eyes make a plan to use the Rainbow of Light to make a utopia. Part 2? Begins with ''the end of the world'' and Starlight discovering [[DeadAllAlong she died in the explosion]] when [[GrimReaper Mortis comes for her.]]
** Clover's has [[spoiler:Minty's Dream section transition into [[BreakTheCutie Pinkie's]] [[DrivenToSuicide reaction]] to discovering she was Clover's ImaginaryFriend given life by the world changing spell.]]
** [[spoiler:Chapter 16 of Shining Armor. The majority is just ponies being ponies enjoying the country they're in. The tail end of Part 2? Makarov's endgame is revealed to involve'chemical weapons capable of horrifically killing any living thing that breaths it, the ''Defiant'' is found with all hands on board dead, and [[WhamEpisode it ends with Makarov successfully outmaneuvering Misfit Actual, capturing them, delivering a]] NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to the lot of them, and ''blowing Running Gag's wing off''. According to WordOfGod preserving this trope was exactly why they were so dead set on not splitting it into three parts.]]
* MoralDissonance: The entire premise of the series is that the Mane Six, and indeed all of Equestria, are struggling to come to terms with what Discord's MindRape said about each of them. [[spoiler:But when Luna mind rapes Fluttershy and Fluttercruel far, ''far'' more worse than anything than Discord ever did to them, she considers it fitting punishment, as do the Flutters. However, the Mane Cast gives her a mass DeathGlare and Princess Celestia apologizes for her (not knowing ''what'' she did, but knowing she did ''something'' to make Fluttercruel terrified of her), implying Luna is merely acting on outdated morals from 1000 years ago.]]
** [[spoiler:Whether justified for Fluttershy's crime or not, it turns out Luna's punishment was very much an act of vengeance against Princess Gaia for trying to steal Pipsqueak from her, and it turns out Fluttershy has evolved into an Alicorn, thus Luna may have partly been judging her by Alicorn morality than mortal morality.]]
* MoralityKitchenSink: You've got flawed heroes who, while good, are not perfect ([[GodIsFlawed not even Celestia]]), [[spoiler:the Draconequi who have a form of BlueAndOrangeMorality, and range from ChaoticGood to ChaoticNeutral, the Alicorns, who are LawfulGood but some members are willing to sacrifice the needs of the few for the needs of the many (for the most part)]], and Discord's [[CompleteMonster pitch black morality.]]
* {{Mordor}}: Draco Island, where the two gods of Dragonkind, Queen Tiamat and Bahamut live, is apparently this to most species, though for Dragons it's obviously far more pleasant and Tiamat herself is generally nice.
** Maasailand. A terrifying location with scorpion shaped towers, red glowing lights, and plenty of scary imagery. Running Gag even describes it as such, only ''more'' evil looking. [[spoiler:It is also home to a group of extremely nice pacifists who simply [[DarkIsNotEvil consider things other countries seem as symbols of evil as symbols of peace.]]]]
* MoreThanMindControl: It's implied in "Teacher, Teacher" that [[spoiler:Cheerilee was so broken by seeing how badly all the young ponies she teaches were broken by Discord that she willingly supports Princess Gaia's sending everyone to their Happy Place. While she was brainwashed to some degree, she does admit a part of her ''wanted'' to do it and Princess Gaia talked her into it largely.]]
* MuggingTheMonster: [[BadassPacifist Fluttershy]] turned out to be far stronger than Fluttercruel ever expected and she ends up the one being browbeat into submission instead. Lucky for her Fluttershy is nice enough to share her body with her.
* MultipleChoicePast: WordOfGod left where [[spoiler:[[EnemyWithin Loneliness]]]] came from and what her true motives are intentionally unrevealed so readers could decide those things for themselves.
** Makarov, mostly because he keeps changing his story...
* MultipleHeadcase: In ''Reharmonization'', Discord turned Aloe and Lotus into this.
** Tiamat, the Queen of the Dragons, has five heads. While each has it's own mind, they never fight though.
* MusicalWorldHypotheses: The Alternate Universe variety, spontaneously bursting into song is treated as perfectly normal InUniverse to the point Twilight is somewhat confused when Celestia mentions this was the proper response to stress in previous ages, leaving Twilight wondering when it WASN'T normal. [[spoiler:Also, Luna originally was going to do away with this during the CosmicRetcon of the G3 universe, but Pinkie and Minty kicking her flank with a musical number changed her mind and she actually ''thanks'' Pinkie for doing so later.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Rarity's reaction to yelling at Sweetie Belle and nearly hitting Sweetie Belle with a sharp circlet, coming close enough to cut a few hairs in her mane, in a fit of rage.
--> '''Rarity''': Reality came down on top of me like Luna's moon fallen from orbit. What had I done? WHAT HAD I DONE-?!
** [[spoiler:Fluttercruel's reaction when her attempt to teach Fluttershy about the crueler side of nature makes her be corrupted instead of helping her.]]
** [[spoiler:The denizens of [[StoryOfTheBlanks Sunny Town]] have this reaction whenever Applejack's LivingLieDetector gaze forces them to remember their misdeed through Princess Gaia's spell.]]
** [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash's reaction to how her dealing with Discord's SadisticChoice turned out.]]
** This is basically the default reaction of the Dark World!Mane Six when they're redeemed, though for multiple reasons; Twilight for her actions as Tragedy, Applejack for believing Discord's lies for a thousand years, Rarity for her greed causing her to neglect Sweetie Belle to the point of [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget forgetting she existed]], Rainbow Dash for realizing [[spoiler:Discord had lied and never ended to destroy Sky Ocean and Cloudsdale should she fail]], and Pinkie Pie for her monstrous actions and possibly condemning some of her adopted foals to Hell with her teachings. [[spoiler:[[PsychopathicManchild Fluttercruel]] even gets one when her possessing Sparkler causes the Discording she was ''born'' with to be undone, allowing her to grow a conscience and realize not only were her actions wrong, but what Fluttershy had ''really'' been trying to tell her all those years.]]
** Dark World!Applejack has this reaction [[spoiler:shortly after Twilight gives her and the rest of the Dark World heroes (minus Apple Pie, who settled for RestrainedRevenge, and Rainbow Dash, who isn't present) for beating up the dying and powerless Discord. It kicks in when Discord [[PetTheDog begs them to spare his nieces, Screwball and Diamond/Mad Tiara]] and she realizes he actually has reason to think they would. The rest have the same reaction eventually, but Applejack seems most effected by it.]]
--> '''Applejack''': [[spoiler:Don't ya be stupid! We'd never be savages like-- (looks down and sees Discord's blood on her hooves)]]
** Starlight has this reaction [[spoiler:when she discovers that the "All Wishes Come True" spell would have ''broken reality''.]]
* MysteriousWatcher: [[spoiler:While the mane cast have met them repeatedly, the Interviewer(s) seem to be everywhere something is happening, just observing and documenting. The latest chapter reveals they somehow got their hooves on Razzaroo's ApocalypticLog (which by all accounts shouldn't even ''exist'' anymore), which they give to Twilight Sparkle in TheStinger of that chapter.]]
* MythArc: There's two.
** [[spoiler:Discord's third coming]] was slowly built up through the actions of Diamond Tiara's.
** Dark World was built up through {{Vision Quest}}s before the story finally returns to it.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[spoiler:Seems to be a natural part of being a Draconequi, who represent Nature's Fury. So far we've heard of Discord, Destruction/Disaster, Dispute/Strife, Pandora/Pandemonium, Havoc, and Entropy. Entropy is also commonly revered to as "Mother The-End-Of-All-Things" by her children. Pandemonium's birth name, Desire, is an OddNameOut in a way.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** [[spoiler:Fluttercruel honestly wanted to teach Fluttershy something important for her own good, to let her learn the cruel part of nature, it ends up corrupting her ''for real'' as opposed to being just brainwashed by Discord. Fluttercruel gets absolutely horrified realizing this.]]
*** [[spoiler:She also gets Fluttershy, and herself, drunk, which WordOfGod admits may have had something to do with their behavior following and made Fluttershy more vulnerable to the darkness than she otherwise would be.]]
** [[spoiler:While it's LooseCanon, it's implied that the Mane Cast are, unknowingly, being manpulated into commanding Princess Gaia's army via a boardgame they're playing with Gaia herself. If this is believed, Rainbow Dash unwittingly guides Gaia's army into "Gaiafying" Gilda.]]
*** [[spoiler:If this is true, [[FridgeHorror it is quite possible that Trixie and Twilight Sparkle are unwittingly providing a front]] for Princess Gaia to brainwash ''their own mothers'' into being her knights.]]
** In the aftermath of a battle, your friend-suddenly-turned-enemy lays indefinitely helpless before your group. To help console each other on this tragedy and related circumstances, one mentions that it is not too late to restore or redeem this friend. If you think that taking matters into your own hooves and [[spoiler: executing your petrified former friend, Discord, by pulverization]] is not a logical next step, you are smarter than [[spoiler: Galaxia, whose deed costs her life, sets the stage for a 1000 years of tyranny, and worst of all, could have been easily avoided]].
** During the battle between the [[BadFuture Dark World!]]Elements of Harmony and Discord's remaining minions, Spike has to choose between helping Rarity and Twilight, both of whom got separated from the main group while fighting Fluttercruel and Angry Pie (respectfully). [[spoiler: He figures Rarity will need more help and goes after her; in fact, not only has Rarity by this point killed Fluttercruel, but Twilight ends up overpowered by Angry Pie, who rips out her Element and leaves her for dead.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** [[spoiler:Discord's corruption actually ''helps'' the Mane Cast overcome pre-existing problems with their psyches and improve for the better. It also helps Trixie discover she's the ''second'' Element Of Magic and join the group as a SixthRanger.]]
** [[spoiler:Not to mention the fact he ''made'' the other SixthRanger, Fluttercruel, in the first place!]]
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Princess Luna is a lighthearted version. For some reason, she wrote a play where she makes a DealWithTheDevil with three Earth Ponies, only one of which made the wise choice and was spared while she claimed the souls of the other two. Interestingly enough, [[IKnewIt this was actually correct about the canon version as well.]]
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Dark World!Discord had an army of these as {{Mook}}s, including ninja-pirate-mutant-killer bees, a giant-cyborg-spider-vampire, and 300 of Goblin [[SamuraiCowboy Cowboy Samurai]].
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: The Valeyard gives a brief one to Dark World!Derpy in 'The Ultimate Foe' [[spoiler:while having all the heroines disabled and (if nothing is done) slowly dying. It backfires when his focus on Derpy distracts him from the others, allowing them to counter his attack. This, along with everything ''else'' he did to her, drives her over the RageBreakingPoint and into TranquilFury, at which point she beats him to death (since his regeneration template had been destroyed, this means the Valeyard incarnation is KilledOffForReal).]]
** 'Angry-Cruel Love' has [[spoiler:Angry Pie dish one out to Twilight, ending it by ripping her Element of Magic out.]]
** 'The Real Hoof Blues' has [[spoiler:Proto-Nightmare Twilight deliver one to Angry Pie in revenge. It's so brutal the heroes have to step in to hold her back and when she's brought back to her senses, Twilight wonders how many times over she'd have killed Angry Pie if she weren't immortal.]]
* NoImmortalInertia: [[spoiler:When Liarjack breaks the curse on Epilogue!Applebloom, she instantly starts aging until she turns to dust. Of course, this was what Applebloom was wanting to happen, so she can finally die and be reunited with her family in the afterlife.]]
* NoKillLikeOverkill: How Discord killed Mimic for [[DisproportionateRetribution knocking out his tooth.]]
** This is more or less General Admiral Makarov's response to anything.
* NoNameGiven: [[spoiler:Loneliness' never actually names herself, that's just what Twilight calls her and she doesn't seems too fond of it. What her real name, if she actually has one, is left open.]]
** [[spoiler: The Father of the Alicorns is never named. According to WordOfGod, His name ''can't'' be pronounced by mortals.]]
** [[spoiler:General Admiral Makarov's [[HumanoidAbomination true form]] is never actually named outside of the Rebels nickname for it (the Shadow of Chernobull). This is because Pandora never got the chance to name him before he went berserk and even when she shows up, she simply calls him 'son,' 'junior,' or 'Nameless.']]
* NoodleIncident:
** Applejack mentions a rather crazy adventure Applebloom had when they visit Canterlot that somehow got the little filly temporarily turned into a Sea Pony.
** The Cutie Mark Crusaders somehow managing to summon a ''fire elemental''. Topped by them apparently having a spectacular time travel adventure that we only get tibits of.
** The last time Twilight got drunk. Apparently, Ponyville had to be reassured ''Discord'' hadn't come back afterwards.
** [[spoiler:Luna's conflict with a revived Tirek for dominion over the night over 1000 years ago. All that's been revealed is the Rainbow Of Darkness brought him BackFromTheDead, he fought Luna, and was defeated, after which Luna claimed his chariot as her own.]]
** Celestia has mentioned in two different stories of cases were an assassin trying to kill her actually ''knocked on her bedroom door'' out of politeness.
** Apparently, around the time [[BadFuture Dark World!]]Discord took over, every sentient cow somehow managed to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. Other than [[spoiler:one being seen hanging out with Ponythulhu]], that's ''all'' we find out about this.
** The Dark World!Mane Cast tend to mention random crazy events at various points that have happened, such as a time when Discord flipped everypony's gender for awhile or that Rarigreed once had a Pony-Eating Rock for a pet until Angry Pie thought it laughed at her.
** Shining Armor tends to mention events like this (given his DeadpanSnarker personality), such as a time he ended up accidentally getting having a misunderstanding with a Neighponese Samurai at a party leading to a drunk Neighponese Prince trying to start a fight with him.
** Corporal Ellis Bitter Apple tends to tell stories to this effect, since we ultimately only get snippets.
** In each of the Gaiden chapters, the pony narrating mentions an incident where Patch [[MushroomSamba ate poisonous mushrooms,]] which was why they all had trouble believing her about [[spoiler: Paradise Estate.]]
* NoPlaceForMeThere: [[spoiler:This seems to be the ultimate outcome of a Nightmare actually achieving their goal; a world were they themselves have no place, often due to the very crimes they caused to make it that way. Nightmare Mirror's world has no deceit, meaning she can't hide from the horrible crimes she committed did to achieve it and turns herself in to the Princesses. Nightmare Granfalloon (one of them, anyway) recreates a stable version of G3 by brainwashing everyone and rewriting reality, leaving only herself unchanged, at which point she turns the spell on herself and remakes herself into a copy of G3 Pinkie just like she did everyone else because there was no place for someone like her in it, and her friends wouldn't be happy without G3 Pinkie there with them.]]
* NotAHyperbole: Shining sometimes has moments like this due to being a WeirdnessMagnet, but one in particular is describing the Mammoth Tanks the Hooviets use.
--> '''Shining Armor''': Ok, so we weren't dead, but we're going to have to fight against two tanks' who's schematics actually say 'designed to kill everything.' That was not sarcasm, they literally say that. Except in Roedinian.
* NotBrainwashed: Twilight initially assumes that [[spoiler: the New Fluttershy is just a discorded Fluttershy]], this backfires when [[spoiler: she uses the memory spell to no effect, instead receiving a headbutt to the face from an irate Fluttershy]]. Notably, it has failed both times that it has been used on [[spoiler: her]].
** [[spoiler:The Valeyard in Dark World is revealed to not be the Discorded Doctor, but instead a pure evil regeneration of him when Twilight tries the Memory Spell on him, only for him to NoSell it and nearly cause a copy of his personality to replicate over hers.]]
* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler:Loneliness is pretty much the queen of this trope. We don't know ''what'' she really is, what her true motivations are, or even how she came to be in the first place. Her true form, if she even ''has'' one is never revealed. And she's ''much'' scarier because of it.]]
** [[spoiler:One of her forms is suspiciously similar to a Draconequus like Discord. Then again that could be her taking inspiration from Twilight's imagination.]]
** Shining Armor's Arc use multiple versions of this trope for PsychologicalHorror. Throughout the first part, strange things keep happening to Shining Armor but there's nothing logically there to cause trouble...then we find out he's being stalked by a [[ImplacableMan nigh-unstoppable]] spectral wolf seeking to RetGone him and realize all those incidents were it. After Shining learns of it, his growing paranoia over it turns the arc into a type two, as it's never clear rather the wolf really ''is'' there or not. There's also the fact that at this point just what it really is and where it came from is unknown inuniverse and out.
*** There's also a bit of this from the fact that [[spoiler:Makarov's true form]] has never been shown in details except for glimpses.
** Bright Eyes' Gaiden chapter has a Type 3. Throughout the Nightmare part, [[spoiler:Bright Eyes keeps getting the feeling of a malevolent presence there with her whenever she's emotionally vulnerable from guilt or fear. At the end, it turns out this ''wasn't'' just her fear of facing her past, but D___t's Shadow of Existence stalking her, waiting for a chance to steal her soul and infant Concept to reconstitute himself.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: A major theme is that the Princesses are ''not'' infallible.
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler:Trixie and Twilight turn out to have a ''lot'' more in common than either was aware of. Not only are they both Elements Of Magic, they were both pretty antisocial growing up, though for different reasons, and had to figure out what friendship really means. On a humorous note, Trixie reveals that she once cast the same "Want it Need It" spell that Twilight used in "Lesson Zero" ''on herself'', with simular results, though she managed to hide out till she could figure out the counterspell and fix it herself.]]
** Similarly, [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash and Trixie have similiar defenses set-up, and Trixie accepting this and offering understanding when Dash confesses what really happened with Discord to her is used as a measure of how much she's grown.]]
** In a rather bizare version, Applejack ends up having this with [[spoiler:''herself''. To prevent herself from going Nightmare in the event this universe breaks off from the main one, she ends up meeting her Orangejack self and at first, they don't get along ''at all'', but gradually discover how much they have in common, such as being hardworkers and how much they care about their family and loved ones. Then again, this was actually the point.]]
** Dark World!Spike figures out this is what Discord was trying to do by [[spoiler:removing the spell keeping his instincts under control]], Discord was trying to prove they were the same, that they couldn't beat their base nature and be different from it. Spike proves him wrong. [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech In an epic fashion]]
** Dark World!Fluttercruel tries this on Rarity twice, first about her willingness to kill then with their [[spoiler:respective mooks]]. [[WarriorTherapist Rarity]] [[ShutUpHannibal will have none of it.]]
** Likewise, a recurring theme is comparing Discord to [[spoiler:[[TheVoice the Nameless Passenger]]]]. Discord himself points out both of them have a long, well thought out plan that they have a VillainousBreakdown if it's foiled and both have a habit of trying to make someone else feel worse to make themselves feel better. Add to this the fact [[spoiler: the Passenger]] is also a ManipulativeBitch with a knack for {{The Reason You Suck Speech}}es and is willing to do whatever she has to to get her way, and it becomes all too clear [[spoiler: the Passenger]] is little different from Discord despite her hatred of him. This makes sense considering the strong implication [[spoiler: the Passenger]] is someone who became [[HeWhoFightsMonsters She Who Fights Monsters.]]
*** [[spoiler:It turns out the Passenger is actually Nightmare Paradox/Eclipse, and has become ''worse'' than Discord. And she ''realizes'' this when her parents restrain her to let the Bearers defeat her, the same way that Shady and Fluttershy did to Discord and Fluttercruel. [[VillainousBSOD She doesn't take this well.]]]]
* NumberOneDime: A particularly chilling subversion in the BadFuture; Twilight Tragedy notes having a strange obsession with a pair of potted plants, always feeling that it's of utmost importance to keep them watered and in the sun at all times. Why is this? [[spoiler: Because they used to be her ''parents'']].
* OfferedTheCrown: Happened to Celestia and Luna after defeating Discord the first time.
* OffingTheOffspring: Discord almost made [[spoiler:Silver Spoon's]] father do this.
** [[spoiler:Screwball tried to kill Diamond Tiara when she first went insane. She doesn't remember doing this until Discord restores her sanity.]]
** [[spoiler:Derpy's biological mother tried to drown her for her eyes and SpeechImpediment.]]
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: A repeatedly mentioned even was [[spoiler:Luna fighting a resurrected Tirek for dominion over the night. She won and took his chariot as a prize, which was the one she used on Nightmare Night.]]
** [[CurbstompBattle Queen Tiamat vs the Hooviet Army]]. The Hooviets never stood a chance.
** Minty Pie's HeroOfAnotherStory adventure in the Dark World.
** It's mentioned at the end of Clover's Gaiden story that Luna and Celestia had to defeat one of the {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that [[SealedEvilInACan escaped Tartarus]] in an unseen adventure. It's later shown in a LooseCanon story, which featured another one of these with the Guard defeating the cult that released it offscreen. Celestia also states events like this happen from time to time (as Shining Armor's story reveals, there's an actual protocol for calling in the Princesses), and the Mane Six are only actually summoned if the Elements of Harmony are required to defeat a threat.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Pinkie Pie, of course. [[spoiler:After her SplitPersonalityMerge, she learns to ''weaponize'' this.]]
* OhCrap:
** [[spoiler:Both Nightmare Whisper and the undead foal in her crystal heart have this reaction when Fluttercruel's Element of Kindness awakens.]]
** [[spoiler:Fluttercruel has this reaction when she accidentally reveals herself to Celestia, on account of being the "daughter" of Celestia's archenemy. Celestia nearly [[FacePalm face hoofs]] in response, as she's really sick and tired of everypony being afraid of her when they first meet. Though her inner thoughts reveal she ''would'' have reacted on instinct had she not sensed Fluttercruel's Element Of Kindness.]]
** [[spoiler:Discord, in the past before he became an EvilOverlord, gets this when Luna drags him off to face his parents. Considering his father is the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification embodiment of mass destruction]] and one of his ''teeth'' is twice Discord's size, this is a pretty reasonable response.]]
** In Bright Eyes' Gaiden story, Twilight and company have this reaction to realizing [[spoiler:Zecora overheard all the stories. Thankfully, the Zebra has a belief in {{Reincarnation}} so she accepts the revelations rather easily.]]
** [[spoiler:Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox has 'the Hydra wasn't the doozy' flashbacks upon realizing that the apparent 'last chance all or nothing assault' the Bearers did to her and her Nightmares was the ''set up'' to their ''real'' final attack...and she just allowed [[BackupFromOtherworld Discord to distract her long enough for Twilight to charge it.]]]]
** [[spoiler:The Interviewers have one when it turns out, for the same reason he's immune to Makarov's CharmPerson ponies, their normal 'ponies don't realize their presence is strange' status doesn't work on Shining.]]
* OhMyGods: Celestia and Luna's names are used like this. Except by ''them'', who being the {{Physical God}}esses everypony else does this too, say "our mother and father" or "our parents" instead.
** [[spoiler:Draconequi tend to use their mother, Entropy, in the same fashion. They also sometimes refer to her as "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Mother The-End-Of-All-Things]]"]]
* OhNoNotAgain: In [[BadFuture Dark World]], Apple Computer is informed his children had to save somepony from pony-eating rocks. His reaction is simply to state in frustration that "Ah thought we got rid of those things."
** In the Shining Armor Arc, Minuette has this reaction to [[AnimalsHateHim Private Running Gag]] getting attacked by a cat, which is apparently a common occurrence.
** When the Misfit Units and the Doctor end up being threatened by a group of Hooviets, this is Shining's reaction:
--> '''Shining Armor''': Ugh, great. We're under attack...[[WeirdnessMagnet AGAIN!]] *[[HeadDesk Head Tree]]*
** Also happens when the third of Makarov's CoDragons cuts his riot shield in half, the first time happening with a chainsaw wield cyborg Diamond Dog.
** [[RuleOfThree Happens again]] after [[spoiler:Makarov is erased from existence]] and he finds he ''still'' [[WeirdnessMagnet ended up having to deal with an]] EldritchAbomination, complaining that he thought [[spoiler:dealing with the Shadow of Chernobull]] would be the end of that.
* OnceIsNotEnough: Twilight assumed that [[spoiler:Loneliness]] had been destroyed when she [[spoiler:used the Memory Spell on Trixie]]. She was wrong [[spoiler:and ends up being impaled for it. It takes Trixie blowing Loneliness up ''twice'' in a row to permanently destroy her.]]
** Defied by [[spoiler:Bright Eyes]] who's DangerouslyGenreSavvy enough from watching horror films to be aware of this trope and [[spoiler:impales Cruel Eyes/D___t's Shadow twice (the second time through the heart), then vertically bisects his head with enough force to leave her sword embedded in his chest, just to be sure.]]
* OneWingedAngel:
** ''Pinkie Pie'' does a heroic version during the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind with Angry Pie [[spoiler:by merging with Pinkamena to become her G1 counterpart, Surprise. It's a ''lot'' more {{Badass}} than it sounds.]]
** [[spoiler:Loneliness does this after Trixie's memories are restored, turning into a monstrous MixAndMatchCritter (heavily similar to a draconequus). She takes on one final form after this, the Great and Powerful Trixie.]]
** [[spoiler:Another heroic example-when Discord's mind games finally break her, Luna turns back into Nightmare Moon...and the process causes her to remember how kindly her sister treated her QuirkyMinibossSquad, which allows Luna's personality to remain intact and in full control of her abilities as the Mare In The Moon.]]
** [[spoiler:''[[ShrinkingViolet Fluttershy]]'' of all ponies does the evil version in the second half of Fluttercruel's staring chapter, turning into an alicorn named Princess Gaia.]]
** [[spoiler:Cheerilee gets her own transformation as Princess Gaia's Knight.]]
** [[spoiler:It's implied that this happens to ''any'' pony that accepts a Princess' power (ie. Gaia's knights, Luna's guards, etc.).]]
** [[spoiler:And now, Gaia's been forced into it, after Applejack forced her to confront that she's lying to herself. Everyone, meet [[TheHeartless Nightmare]] [[EldritchAbomination Whisper]].]]
** [[spoiler:''Princess Celestia'' is revealed to be able to do this ([[AllJustADream maybe]]), creating a giant fire monster modeled off Orion.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Applejack is revealed to be this, as her real name is Abigail Jacqueline, but [[FullNameBasis only Luna actually calls her that]].
** [[spoiler:General Admiral Makarov's true form is only known as the Shadow of Chernobull, a nickname the rebels seem to have given him. He actually doesn't ''have'' a name of his own because he went berserk before Pandora could give him one.]]
* OnlySaneMan:
** [[spoiler:Zecora]] was able to shake off Discord's influence by herself, and [[spoiler:Scootaloo]] managed to avoid being Discorded entirely.
** [[spoiler:Applejack's LivingLieDetector powers protect her from Princess Gaia's LotusEaterMachine, but she then awakes to find everypony else trapped in her illusion. The simularity to Twilight's situation when they were all Discorded doesn't escape her either.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: For the readers, something seems wrong with Twilight when she starts acting like a {{Jerkass}} at a party at Canterlot Castle during what would seem at first glance to be her time before going to Ponyville. However, this is intentional, as a tip off about the nature of the current reality, since a few seconds later, [[spoiler: she somehow finds herself talking to Smartie Pants.]]
* OpponentSwitch: [[spoiler:The Dark World!Mane Cast do this for their second fight with Paradox's PsychoRangers with Derpy and [[EleventhHourRanger the newly arrived]] and recharged Princesses fighting Nightmare Manacle, Applejack fighting Nightmare Whisper, Twilight taking on Nightmare Granfalloon, Apple Pie and Spike holding off Nightmare Mirror, Rarity battling Nightmare Banneret, and [[SuperMode Ender Dash]] keeping [[BigBad Nightmare Paradox]] busy. While it doesn't make it a CurbstompBattle, it evens the odds due to the new match ups countering the Nightmares' powers more effectively and ultimately forces Paradox to recall her Nightmares back into herself as opposed to the CurbstompBattle the Nightmares dished out before.]]
* OppositeDay: [[BadFuture Epilogue!]]Discord asks Twilight Tragedy if it's this when [[spoiler:[[PetTheDog he shows a fleeting moment of empathy for someone else]]]]. She replies that no, it's not, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny that's next week.]]
* OriginsEpisode: The Origins Arc serves as this for Discord, Celestia, and Luna as well as [[spoiler:the Windigos.]]
** 'A Fading Future' explains the origins of [[spoiler:Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox.]]
** 16.5 of the Shining Armor Arc is one for [[BigBad General Admiral Makarov]]. [[spoiler:Or rather the backstory the Shadow of Chernobull made for him.]]
* OrganicTechnology: The Deer Rebels use magically grown fungus as the power supply for their vehicles.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Most are of the UnfinishedBusiness variety, as was the case with Squire from Patch's Gaiden story. [[spoiler:Rarity's golems are also of this variety, as her Element of Desire allows them to use her as a medium to complete it, at least in its purified form.]] However, some, namely the mane six's loved ones in Dark World, have already gone to Heaven and [[BackupFromOtherWorld returned to guide their loved ones back]] [[HeelFaceTurn to the light]]. [[spoiler:Considering Apple Bloom had the help of [[TopGod the Father of All Alicorns]], it's possible he enabled it.]]
* OurHeroIsDead: [[spoiler:The G3 timeline ends with Strife killing most of the heroes (Minty and Princess Rarity being the only ones she doesn't kill directly). Though all of them are given {{Reincarnation}}s in the new timeline in some form, as they weren't on the 'delete' list (Strife only did it to give them the chance to make a LastStand instead of fading away with no chance to even try and save their world).]]
** [[spoiler:'Angry Cruel Love' ends with [[BadFuture Dark World!]]Twilight having her Element ripped out by Angry Pie, being left to die of RapidAging and seemingly dying at Trixie's grave.]]
* OurSoulsAreDifferent: They're composed of two parts, a Light of Existence (the heart) and a Shadow of Existence (the appearance), both containing parts of the pony's personality. If erased from existence, the Shadow ends up in Entropy's Realm (what happens to the Light hasn't yet been stated). What's more, its stated that there's no 'Law of Conservation of Mass' when it comes to souls, meaning [[spoiler: the same person can have ''multiple'' {{reincarnation}}s (Dark World!Twilight being the reincarnation of G3 Minty's Light and Minty Pie being the reincarnation of her shadow, for example), but the soul will still exist independently of the reincarnation.]]
* OutGambitted: [[spoiler:Applejack's view of the BadFuture implies that version of Twilight manages to do this to ''Discord'', simply by writing a letter to herself when she's briefly unbrainwashed, allowing her to regain her memories behind Discord's back and begin plotting his defeat.]]
* OutsideContextVillain: [[spoiler:Princess Gaia. The group just went looking for Fluttershy and had no idea there was a new BigBad on the loose. When they ''do'' find out, they have no idea what she's capable of, as her powers seem to exceed even the Princesses, or what her real plan is.]]
* PapaWolf: Despite his BlueAndOrangeMorality, Havoc ''does'' genuinely love his family. Attack them unprovoked and you'd better hope the Alicorn Elders will protect you, because they're the only ones who can.
** Teddy in Sweetheart's Gaiden story. Some corporate thugs are sent after Sweetheart to try and scare Starlight and compaining into stopping their project. Teddy may have ended up in the hospital, but so did the thugs. A [[MixAndMatchCritter pack of Simurghs]] attacks the family after the apocalypse. Teddy ''breaks one's neck'' while fighting to protect his family.
** Shining Armor has this mentality towards both those under his command and innocent civilians. Harming any of those is going to clop him off.
* PaperThinDisguise: Pretty much any time Cadence disguises herself in the Shining Armor arc [[spoiler:except the time she sneaks along on the mission in Nambutu]].
** In Shining Armor 14, The SAS pose as "private security" for Equestrian archaeologists since Guards have legal restrictions on operating outside Equestria. Minuette and Twinkle Shine aren't fooled at all.
* ParentalAbandonment:
** [[spoiler:Poor Scootaloo...]]
** While they haven't outright abandoned her, the post "Sisterhooves Social" rewrite reveals their parents have a habit of dumping Sweetie Belle on Rarity ''all the time''. According to Rarity, they do this so often that Rarity has Sweetie Belle in her care more often than their parents do. No wonder Sweetie Belle loves Rarity so much...
* PersonaNonGrata: After his attack on Shining Armor, Makarov is threatened with this (in multiple countries) in order to keep him from trying anything again... for now.
* PhysicalGoddess: The Princesses, as to be expected. [[spoiler:All ''three'' of them. In fact, Princess Gaia may be even more powerful than the other two ''combined''. We find out later there used to be 13 of them. The Draconequi also qualify]]
* PlotTwist: [[spoiler: Who actually realized Onyx Tiara was partially discorded at the start of Mind Games part 2?]]
* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted. The Guard is actually quite competent at dealing with most threats that don't require the Elements of Harmony to defeat, and even assist the Princesses in defeating a {{Eldritch Abomination}}s on occasion according to LooseCanon. This is best shown in the Shining Armor Arc, which focuses heavily on them.
* [[HumansAreFlawed Ponies Are Flawed]]: A reccuring theme in the story is everypony, even Celestia and Luna who are ''literally'' considered goddesses (even by themselves), aren't perfect. The only ponies who ever were are Celestia and Luna's parents.
** [[spoiler:Princess Celestia tells Pinkie and Applejack that this is one of the things that they, and everypony else, have a hard time accepting. She explains that, instead of accepting this, ponies try to rationalize or justify their bad decisions -- which is one of the most dangerous thing that they can do. This is a lesson Pinkie must learn to help prevent her SanitySlippage when the POV timeline breaks off from the canon timeline.]]
* [[HumanMomNonhumanDad Pony Mom, Non-Pony Dad]]: Fluttercruel. Fluttershy is considered her mother and Discord her father.
** [[spoiler:Far Sigh, one of Nightmare Moon's lieutenants/friends and implied ancestor to Fluttershy revealed in the "Canterlot Chaos" side story, was born of a pegasus mother and a dragon father. Other ponies reacted negatively to the union.]]
* [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Ponyville Is The Center Of The Universe]]: The LooseCanon Coffee Swirl series arguably deconstructs this; thanks to the constant crossfire his town is caught in with the Elements of Harmony living there, the titular pony has developed a lot of mental issues and is convinced that his life is completely outside of his control.
** In the main series its deconstructed as well, as the state of disrepair Ponyville was in in "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" are revealed to be because Ponyville blew through its repair budge due to all the disasters.
** Averted in Shining Armor's Arc, where it's just [[WeirdnessMagnet Shining Armor]] that seems to be running into all variety of bizarre events and situations no matter where in the world he is at the time.
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:With the exception of Pinkie Pie, Star Catcher, and Sky Wishes, the hero cast of the G3 stories are dead long before the story starts and its told via flashbacks by Pinkie Pie. Though some of them ''do'' have {{Reincarnation}}s in the main timeline.]]
** Starlight in the Nightmare portions of ''7 Dreams[=/=]Nightmares'' Side Stories, as she's killed in the explosion that caused the collapse of the G2 society. ''[[UpToEleven Including her own.]]''
* PostScriptSeason: The Discorded Pony POV series starts out as an anthology of the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ponies POV after being Discorded]], then the Reharmonized develops another [[RecursiveFanfiction anthology from the canon]] of the Discorded material. [[spoiler: Once Trixie is fixed up, a narrative starts to form setting up that Discord is coming back for round two, and it breaks completely into serial form when Princess Gaia shows up.]] This is interesting because the writer originally wanted to stop with Epilogue, but decided to do the Reharmonizing Series... Which in turn was decided to end with Rainbow Dash's reharmonizing, but ideas just kept coming until the writer has had to literally force themselves to settle for an exact ending.
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler:Fluttershy's ideal paradise where everyone is happy and carefree is powered by '''Fluttershy herself turning into Nightmare Whisper and absorbing every bit of pain, every bit of anger, or sadness, of any negative emotion into her own self'''. That's right, all the suffering of the entirety of Equestria, stacked on one single pony. She explicitely refers to herself as "Forsaken Foal of Omelas", in reference to Ursula Le Guin's iconic short story.]]
** Many of Makarov's weapons are powered by unicorn horns. The allies also fear he's also using his prisoners to power his Skyfall weapon [[spoiler:though that turns out to not be the case.]]
* ThePowerOfFriendship:
** A given, considering what fandom this is for. Its even stated that Trixie had just as much potential as [[spoiler:Twilight does and is even a second Element Of Magic]], but because Friendship Is Magic, she was holding herself back by refusing to make friends. She gets better in the end though.
** [[spoiler:During the FinalBattle with Nightmare Whisper, the group's friendship and desire to save their friends acts as a medium for the Elements Of Harmony, allowing them to use them ''without'' the physical Elements.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: [[spoiler: Makarov ''wanted'' to hear "I surrender, Solomon" from Shining. He ''got'' "[[DefiantToTheEnd Go fuck yourself]]". Notable for being the actual f-word, not buck, because it's aimed at a male half-deer.]]
* PreMortemOneLiner:
** [[spoiler: Dark World!Derpy gives one before finishing off her NoHoldsBarredBeatdown of the Valeyard by imploding his rib-cage.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Derpy''']]: [[ShutUpHannibal Sorry,]] [[spoiler:I'm the Doctor's friend. [[IronicEcho You're the Valeyard, the Doctor is out,]] but he'll be back in soon.]]
** [[spoiler:Dark World!Rarity]] has a nice one right before she [[spoiler:tears out Fluttercruel's Element of Chaos and kills her.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Dark World!Rarity''']]: [[spoiler:[[{{Catchphrase}} MINE!]]]]
** [[spoiler:Nightmare Purgatory (the one who became [[BiggerBad Nightmare Paradox]]) gives one to Discord in [[GroundhogDayLoop the first cycle]] just before impaling him and burning him to death with {{Hellfire}}.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Nightmare Purgatory''']]: Now, look forward to Hell.
** [[spoiler:Bright Eyes]] gets one that counts as a ShutUpHannibal when she [[spoiler:interrupts Cruel Eye/D___t's WeWillMeetAgain FinalSpeech by stabbing him through the heart, just before bisecting his head to finish him.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Bright Eyes''']]: Sorry, but that's not happening.
* {{Prequel}}: Origins is this, serving as an OriginsEpisode for Celestia, Luna, and Discord.
** Generational Transitions as well, which chronicles [[spoiler:the end of the G3 universe.]]
** 7 Dreams/Nightmares Gaiden is another, detailing [[spoiler:the end of the Second Age of Pony civilization.]]
** The Shining Armor Arc is this, detailing events starting as early as the first episode of the TV series. [[spoiler:Subverted in that it turns out due to Shining being ImmuneToFate, SanDimasTime is in effect and it's be happening ''alongside'' the rest of the series rather than before it.]]
* PsychicStatic: The Rebels that Shining encounters mentally recite everything as if they were Hooviets as a precaution in case Makarov manages to get in their heads. [[spoiler:This is why all segments from their perspective appeared to be Hooviets.]]
* [[PsychopathicManchild Psychotic Fillymare]]: [[spoiler:"Psycho" is a stretch, but it's quite clear that Princess Gaia is rather childlike, even throwing a tantrum when she doesn't get her way.]]
** Dark World Fluttercruel is much more clear cut on the "psycho" part -- when she throws a temper tantrum, ponies die badly.
** General-Admiral Makarov is a Type C. He's extremely powerful both literally and figuratively, but also extremely childish and spiteful, throwing a temper tantrum any time he doesn't get his way. This in some ways makes him ''more'' dangerous because he's willing to kill someone just for getting his ''name wrong''.
* PsychoRangers: [[spoiler:Nightmare Paradox has fused with five other Nightmares from previous cycles, the six of them forming one of these to the heroes. However, only two of them are the actual SuperpoweredEvilSide of their counterpart, due to the Elements having changed hooves (Nightmare Mirror to [[WarriorTherapist Rarity]], [[MonsterClown Nightmare Granfalloon]] to [[CheerfulChild Apple Pie]], [[LotusEaterMachine Nightmare Whisper]] to [[MasterOfIllusion Applejack]], [[KnightTemplar Nightmare Banneret]] to [[UndyingLoyalty Spike]], [[ControlFreak Nightmare Manacle]] to [[MamaBear Derpy]], and of course, [[BigBad Nightmare Paradox]] herself to [[TheHero Twilight]]).]]
* PunchClockVillain: [[spoiler:Well, Punch Clock HeroAntagonist, but Anarchy still qualifies. He's just doing his job and ''really'' wants to get it overwith. He even says that he'd be the first one to suggest a better solution, simply because a full CosmicRetcon is ''way'' too much work.]]
** Rancor in Dark World. She's ''literally'' only in conflict with the antagonists because Her Parents ordered her to help her big brother Discord out and when its not her turn to fight the heroes, she has absolutely no animosity towards them (ironic considering she's the AnthropomorphicPersonification of animosity) and is downright [[FriendlyEnemy friendly]], even asking Rarity for her autograph [[spoiler:because she was Melody in a past life]]. She ''is'' a BloodKnight and ''enjoys'' fighting, but its NothingPersonal, just her job. [[spoiler:When she completes her ''actual'' mission, namely stealing Destruction's power back from Discord, she bids them farewell and heads back to Oblivion to a party in her honor and admits in comments that she has no interest in coming back.]]
** There's also Dark World!Discord's [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Magnificent 300 Goblin Cowboy Samurai.]] They outright say its NothingPersonal, they're just contracted to Discord and thus have to follow his orders out of honor. The moment said contract expires, they leave peacefully since...well, they don't like Discord any better than the heroes do but it'd be dishonorable to help fight him.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Trixie, at the transition between the Princess Gaia and Butterflies arcs, bids farewell to the heroes and heads back to her hometown, removing herself from the plot for the forseeable future]].
** Dark World!Rainbow Dash is left at Sweet Rock Acres after her HeelFaceTurn because, due to her HeelRealization, she's [[DrivenToSuicide presently suicidal]] and needs time to get her mind in order. [[TheBusCameBack She returns later on]] just in time to [[spoiler:help the group take down Odyne!Cruelty. She and the Princesses are PutOnTheBus after the latter are freed because the Princesses are presently powerless fillies, and Twilight doesn't want to put all their eggs in one basket on the off chance Discord had one last trump card up his sleeve.]]
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