Line #39 Fanfic/ADream


1	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_dream_logo_46.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:240:The Cutie Mark of Plymouth Valiant.]]
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4	''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/13723/a-dream A Dream]]'' is a former SelfInsertFic turned CrackFic Human in Equestria story written by [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totallynotabrony]]. The story chronicles the adventures of human turned earth pony Plymouth Valiant, a [[PatrioticFervor patriotic]], [[TheEngineer robot building]], [[TheAlcoholic tequila growing]], sociopath. The story is taken on an episodic basis coinciding with episodes of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', with Valiant's effects on the plot steadily increasing over the seasons. While in the earliest chapters the changes where minimal, just a few snarky comments here and there, things slowly escalated to the events of "Magical Mystery Cure" and beyond, where now some episodes only have a single reference to the original plot.
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6	Updates usually come a few days after episodes air, depending on how much they affect the story.
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8	Other stories in the "Dreams-verse" include:
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10	''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/18037/More-Dreams More Dreams]]'', updated during a hiatus or to explain something in the main story.
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12	''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/20326/Wet-Dreams Wet Dreams]]'', which is Valiant and the Mane Six exploring on their boats.
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14	''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/73719/the-adventures-of-trixie-if-her-father-was-a-badass-alien The Adventures of Trixie if Her Father was a Badass Alien]]'', which shows what Trixie was doing while Valiant was in space.
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16	''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/21105/The-Adventures-of-Cyborg-Braeburn The Adventures of Cyborg Braeburn]]'', a comedy about Braeburn dealing with being turned into a robot.
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18	''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/22303/The-Adventures-of-Vampire-Cheerilee The Vampire Cheerilee]]'' spinoff series.
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20	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant No relation to]] that one ''Minecraft'' [[WebVideo/{{Dream}} speedrunner]].
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22	----
23	!!''A Dream'' provides examples of:
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25	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Valiant once described himself as an "absolutely asinine alliteration activist."
26	-->'''Valiant:''' Don't snub the SNUT, you slut.
27	* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: After coming back from space Valiant claims to be God. And now after his [[spoiler: apparent death]] whenever someone says "Thank God" there is a booming "You're welcome" from the sky in Valiant's voice.
28	* AllJustADream: True to the story title, Valiant holds this opinion of what's happening for roughly one season. Once he realizes its all real is around the same time things start to get weird.
29	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Braeburn. Though, when your love is an AI that was deliberately programmed without emotion or free will, this tends to happen.
30	** Also it took Valiant almost a full season to notice Sunset was in love with him. {{Subverted}} in that once he finally noticed they more or less became a couple right there.
31	** Fluttershy has stated that she doesn't really love Pinkie Pie. However as Pinkie is a borderline PsychoLesbian, Fluttershy is too scared to tell her.
32	* AlternateUniverse: He travels to a few of these using a literal {{Macguffin}} rock.
33	* AntiHero: Plymoth Valiant. He's killed countless ponies, hijacked an American warship, ordered to have an admitted {{Jerkass}} castrated because he disliked him, yet has saved Equestria repeatedly, even if some consider his methods a tad [[MurderIsTheBestSolution extreme]].
34	* AnyoneCanDie:
35	** Played with. While this series does have a very high bodycount, it mostly consists of characters with only one appearance in the show. The two key exceptions to this are [[spoiler: Twilight and Valiant,]] and even they came back eventually.
36	--->'''Discord:''' She's the main character, she can't die!
37	** The build up to the Season 7 finale has a lot more characters killed off, although, since the season ended with the universe rebooting, most of these are undone.
38	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: When explaining things about Earth, Valiant repeatedly puts events through the lens of fighting communists. Whether or not fighting communists was a real-world goal of whatever he's talking about.
39	* AsHimself: A number of celebrities have appeared in the story, with about half of these appearances [[DeathByCameo resulting in the death of the celebrity]]. [[Creator/TheWachowskis Lana Wachowski]] is a regular character throughout season 7.
40	* AscendedMeme: A common occurence due to the author's use of AudienceParticipation. One example would be the phrase "Valiant did nothing wrong".
41	* AssholeVictim: A [[RunningGag time honored]] tradition of this story is having the {{Jerkass}} background characters of an episode meet horrible fates by Valiant or his family. Highlights include Sunset killing the puppet guy from Inspiration Manifestation, Svengallop getting [[GroinAttack castrated]], and Cordoba [[OffWithHisHead decapitating]] the gold-toothed pony from Gift Of The Maud Pie.
42	* AssShove: Rainbow and Guinness got tired of [[CasanovaWannabe Zephyr Breeze]] hitting on Rainbow. Guinness held him down while Rainbow shoved a lawn gnome up his ass.
43	* AsTheGoodBookSays: Downplayed. The only time Bible has referenced something biblical is shortly after he's formed, and it's less to teach something and more because [[TakenForGranite Rarity turned into a pillar of salt]], and he was pointing out that there is [[Literature/BookOfGenesis precedent]] for this kind of thing.
44	* AudienceParticipation: Events of the story are regularly shaped by the commenters in the episode prior. This can range from referencing someone's joke to having an entire army of [[DirtyCommunists commie-ponies]] set up in the ruins of the crystal empire.
45	* AwesomeMcCoolName: When the protagonist is initially asked for his name, he starts trying to think of something cool. He comes up with Plymouth Valiant and decides he could've picked worse.
46	* BatmanGambit: One of Valiant's specialties. He put Twilight through an elaborate mystery where the answer was "Plymouth Valiant", knowing it would enrage her and he could use that rage against their enemies.
47	* BattleCouple: Valiant and Sunset. Trixie and Daring when they're not... [[GirlOnGirlIsHot busy]]. Also Guinness and Rainbow, assuming Rainbow didn't make him stay home and keep an eye on the kids.
48	* BrainInAJar: When building Tin Mare, Valiant literally just [[WetwareCPU hooks a robot up to a brain]]. Cue much panic from Twilight as she tries to get him to say whose brain it was.
49	* BrickJoke: A staple of the comedy as part of the author's love of the LongGame. One-off gags come back in a big way.
50	* BrutalHonesty:
51	** Valiant pulls no punches in telling the truth to anyone, [[ManipulativeBastard so long as it suits him]].
52	** Tin Mare does this occasionally too, being a robot and all.
53	* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Twilight has repeatedly been this, both with Valiant and more recently with Cordoba. Results are mixed.
54	* ComedicSociopathy: Thanks to Valiant's actions, the entire world runs on this at this point. In the side story More Dreams there was a character named Lieutenant Dandy Sprite, who got run over by a tank, had all her legs amputated, just for a ''Film/ForrestGump'' reference.
55	* ComicallyInvincibleHero: Valiant has been: struck by lightning twice in the same day, survived serious alcohol poisoning, fell from the sky to punch Sombra in the face, cut his way out of a hydra's stomach, the list goes on and on. [[spoiler: It took Heaven, Hell, and a communist unicorn working together to put him down.]]
56	* CreepyTwins: The Black Twins, though they're more evil than outright creepy, but it still applies.
57	* DamageProofVehicle:
58	** The Monstrosity airframe has survived being crashed into stuff, gone through a forest fire and been left underwater long enough for the Crusaders to figure out how to fish it out.
59	** Tin Mare's helicopter form continues this tradition of surviving everything quite well. So far the only thing to even damage it is being a few yards from ground zero of [[KillSat Kinetic]] [[OrbitalBombardment bombardment.]]
60	* DealWithTheDevil:
61	** Non-soul selling type. [[spoiler: Braeburn makes up a villain as part of a plan to get Tin Mare to let him remove her personality locks. He gets Sir Win's help.]] Sir Win {{Lampshades}} this.
62	** [[spoiler: Valiant came BackFromTheDead by making a deal with the most [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly believed in]] diety he could find: Santa Claus.]]
63	* DefaceOfTheMoon: In The Adventures of Trixie, [[GenderFlip R63]] Valiant won a bet with Luna and she was forced to write "Valiant Rules" on the moon. Back in the main universe, regular Valiant has his moon base and there was a major battle on the moon.
64	** And now in the regular universe they've fired a nuke at said base.
65	* DisproportionateRetribution: Valiant didn't like Svengallop, so he had Cordoba [[GroinAttack castrate him]]. Honestly, Valiant [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill over-doing things]] is pretty standard.
66	* TheDriver: Tin Mare, given she's both the driver and the vehicle at the same time.
67	* TheEngineer: Valiant, even going to [[ShoutOut borrow]] a speech from [[VideoGame/Teamfortress2 THE]] Engineer.
68	* EvenEvilHasStandards.
69	** When Trixie, Sunset, Cordoba, and Daring are [[ItMakesSenseInContext surrounded by]] Franchise/HarryPotter [[ItMakesSenseInContext cosplayers]], Trixie suggests shooting their way out. Cordoba points out that mass-murder of a bunch of unarmed kids would just make them seem like assholes. Instead they trash and loot the place!
70	** The [[spoiler: Council of Valiants]] had this opinion about the time Valiant's plan involved killing a baby (even if it was [[DemonicPossession possessed]]) in front of the mother.
71	* EverybodyWantsTheHermaphrodite: Averted. No one wants to be around Colombia and her ''[[GagPenis massive]]'' package.
72	* FirstPersonSmartass: Valiant will occasionally add in little comments about the Mane 6 into his narration. He still tells the full story, averting UnreliableNarrator, but he will make his opinion about what's going on crystal clear.
73	* FunWithAcronyms:
74	** '''L'''ightweight '''I'''nterceptor for '''B'''adass '''B'''ombing.
75	** '''SN'''ow '''U'''tility '''T'''rack
76	** '''C'''argo '''H'''elicopter '''O'''f '''P'''ony '''A'''ssembly
77	** '''C'''omitte '''R'''esponsible for '''E'''l'''E'''cting the '''P'''resident
78	** '''P'''onyville '''I'''ndustrial '''N'''uclear '''P'''owerplant. Paid for using the '''B'''ig '''B'''ag '''O''' '''B'''ribe '''B'''its.
79	* FunctionalGenreSavvy: Valiant is smart enough to know what's going on. Doesn't mean he won't play into a trope any way if he thinks it'll be funny.
80	* GatlingGood: One of Valiant's favorite forms of armament. He's at least put them on his VTOL and on [[KillerRobot Tin Mare]],
81	* GoodIsNotNice: Valiant and–eventually–everyone else in his [[BadassCrew squad]]. Just because you fight bad guys doesn't mean you're going to offer them tea and cookies.
82	* GraffitiOfTheResistance: Ponies have been writing "Valiant did nothing wrong" for awhile, even before the actual resistance started.
83	* GunshipRescue: Has happened a few times over the series, usually with the Cutie Mark Crusaders as the pilots.
84	* HammerSpace: {{Exploited}} by Valiant to hold all his gear.
85	* HappinessInSlavery:
86	** Tin Mare is perfectly ok with not being truly sentient, and only doing as ordered. Though this is because Valiant programmed her that way. Much to Braeburn's frustration as he tries to convince her to let him remove those locks.
87	** Colombia was perfectly happy to fulfill her role of starting a presidential debate for Valiant, [[spoiler: then blowing her brains out when her task was accomplished.]] Like above, this is because she was programmed to be happy with this state of affairs.
88	** At some point in the story Daisy, Roseluck, and Lily decided to become Fluttershy's slaves. She's too timid to make them leave.
89	* HumongousMecha: Valiant's favorite thing to build.
90	* IAmAHumanitarian: Valiant, Applejack, and a [[RedShirt mountain guide]] got stuck up near the Crystal Empire during a snowstorm. Food ran low and they drew straws to see who lived. The guide lost. On the plus side, now AJ can form meat clones of herself for backup in a fight.
91	* InsufferableGenius: At least Twilight seems to think this about Valiant. He's right and that's the worst part!
92	* JerkassHasAPoint: Valiant being the Jerkass in question. Other characters may not enjoy it, but they can't ignore the truth.
93	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite his own claims and what you'd assume from reading this page, Valiant does care for his friends and tries to protect Equestria. He's just not too concerned over things like collateral damage.
94	* KangarooCourt: Maud's "trial" for murder. The entire trial consists of the group running to the town hall to escape an angry mob[[note]]Who are also after Maud for murder[[/note]], and Maud immediately being found guilty.
95	* KillSat: At some point Valiant launched several satelittes containing large tungsten carbide rods, better known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment Rods From God]].
96	* KingIncognito: [[spoiler: Cracker/Celestia and Cheese/Luna.]]
97	* LastNameBasis: Valiant. He hasn't been called Plymouth since he came up with the name.
98	* LaResistance: There's a group of pro-Valiant ponies running around trying to be this. So far things haven't been going well for them.
99	** Also Wind Rider's Wonderbolts. And presumably more as it was stated Valiant's [[spoiler: death]] created a large power-vacuum in Equestria.
100	* LeftItIn: During a long list of ponies, the author accidentally listed Coloratura twice. Instead of fixing it, a second Coloratura was added to the story.
101	* LongGame:
102	** Played by Valiant throughout the course of the story. Whether it be pranks, murder, or espionage, Valiant is willing to take his time.
103	** The author is also a fan of the this.
104	* LostTechnology: Inevitable as Valiant never shared plans for anything with anyone and his [[HeroWithBadPublicity reputation]] means many ponies tend to regard his stuff as "Touch it and something horrible will happen."
105	* {{Malaproper}}: Ponies don't always get human expressions quite right, and Valiant doesn't care if he messes them up.
106	-->'''Valiant:''' But we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.\
107	'''Twilight:''' Don't you mean ''cross'' that bridge when we get to it?
108	-->'''Valiant:''' Do I?
109	* MexicanStandoff: In the episode Newbie Dash, Cordoba pulls her sword on some thugs. They pull out guns. Trixie pulls out an [[MoreDakka M60]].
110	* TheMultiverse: Turns out there are a lot more versions of Equestria out there. A lot of the alternate versions of Valiant from those universes founded the Council of Valiants
111	* NewsParody: Cordoba's roadtrip/rampage across Earth and her encounters with various celebrities are covered by TMZ.
112	* NoodleIncident: We never see exactly what happened in this story's version of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1'', but it left Sunset Shimmer [[BrokenBird broken]] for half of season 4.
113	* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Council of Valiants. While they may not be constantly arguing, the fact that everyone there is [[{{Jerkass}} Plymouth Valiant]] means that they're very unlikely to help.
114	* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: Averted due to Equestria having no real concept of [=WMDs=]. A [[NoodleImplements nuclear bomb and a shipping container full of bacon]] were launched at the moon, creating an [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot artificial alicorn political candidate.]]
115	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Sir Win is a demon who seems more interested in running his store than normal [[BuffySpeak demon things]]. Though he does have a strong dislike for Bible, a pony literally made from [[Literature/TheBible the good book itself.]]
116	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: Because the only candidate is a red white and blue alicorn with an American-sized manhood and is trying to get elected President in a monarchy. [[spoiler: And when faced with the threat of President Valiant, Celestia closed the loophole allowing ponies to run for the position in the first place]]
117	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: In this world killing the one who turned you into a vampire turns you back to normal. Sadly, if they bite you then turn back to normal you're pretty much screwed.
118	* OverlyPreparedGag: Refer to the ''Film/ForrestGump'' joke in the ComedicSociopathy entry. There was around three months of setup for that. Also the hella-copter pun below, which was being set up [[ExaggeratedTrope nearly half a year]]. Totallynotabrony loves the LongGame.
119	* PaperThinDisguise: Apparently putting on sunglasses makes you absolutely invisible.
120	* PromotionToParent:
121	** Happened to Valiant and Sunset with Cordoba. Also Guinness and Rainbow Dash, twice.
122	** Valiant was also semi-promoted when Trixie was turned into a kid.
123	* QuirkyTown: Ponyville. Current residents include: a demon, a guy literally made from a Bible, someone who can turn into a dragon at will, someone who can turn into a Draconeques at will, someone who can make meat clones of herself, a couple of people from another world, and that's not even getting into the stuff that was already weird in canon. It's telling that Twilight being an alicorn is on the low-end of unusual around here.
124	* ResetButton: Valiant hits it to clean up the mess [[spoiler: from Gabby murdering most of Equestria.]] What has and hasn't changed is still unknown.
125	* RoboticReveal: [[spoiler: Cordoba is a robot]]
126	* RobotMe: Twilight/Twi-minator
127	* RudeHeroNiceSidekick: Valiant and his family are all horrible people, while the Mane 6 (mainly [[OnlySaneMan Twilight]]) have kept their personalities mostly intact from the show.
128	* RunningGag: Several, including referencing the six mares that are still chained up in the basement.
129	* ScareEmStraight: When the CMC decided to be missionaries the first words of their first sermon were, "You're all going to Hell unless you do exactly what we say!" Honestly though, that was the only coherent part of the sermon anyway.
130	* SchizoTech: Inevitable as Valiant never gave his inventions to pre-industrial Equestria. The Royal Guards are armed with spears and bows. Valiant has a [[HandCannon Desert Eagle]] and Trixie has her [[MoreDakka M60]], the whole team flies around in a VTOL, and the Crusaders have piloted a few HumongousMecha in their day.
131	* SelfInsertFic: How the series got its start. {{Subverted}} in that somewhere along the line, Valiant became a character unto himself.
132	* ShoutOut:
133	** When asked about his robots, Valiant borrows the monolouge from [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 The Engineer]].
134	** There was briefly a robot named [[{{Franchise/Terminator}} Twi-Minator]] running around.
135	** Valiant refers to Sunburst and Thorax as the [[Series/Batman1966 ambiguously]] [[Series/SaturdayNightLive gay duo]].
136	** The proposed names for Valiant's submarine school included Film/DasBoot and [[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/world/europe/boaty-mcboatface-what-you-get-when-you-let-the-internet-decide.html Booty McBootface]]
137	* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Tin Mare rates around 3, being very similar to a normal pony, if said pony spoke in MachineMonotone, could be uploaded into a [[{{Pun}} hella-copter]] and was equipped with [[MoreDakka lots of guns]].
138	* SpaceBase: Valiant set one up on the moon.
139	* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: Braeburn when he was first [[UnwillingRoboticisation turned into a cyborg.]]
140	-->'''Valiant:''' Wow, for God's sake Braeburn, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]] is harder to kidnap than you.
141	* SwitchingPOV:
142	** Sunset took up the narration job for the first half of season 5.
143	** There was also the time during Keep Calm and Flutter On that multiple characters commented on Valiant's [[UnstoppableRage homicidal rage]] against Discord using the recorder [[FramingDevice the entire story is apparently told through.]]
144	* TakeOurWordForIt: When trying to describe [[spoiler: Rainbow and Guinness's breakup,]] the best Valiant can do is call it glorious and invoke this.
145	* TookALevelInBadass: Valiant and company. They always walk away from a major crisis more powerful than before.
146	* TorchesAndPitchforks: Played with. At first, the mob coming after Maud is just a regular angry one. It's only after the group hides at Rarity's house that they start lighting torches.
147	* TrulySingleParent: [[spoiler: Cordoba is a robot built by Valiant who identifies as his daughter.]]
148	* TheUnapologetic: The entire Valiant family. Not a one of them is sorry for anything they've done. In fact, most of them are proud of it.
149	* UnroboticReveal: Turns out Tin Mare [[WasOnceAMan was once a pony]] named Merry May. Valiant turned her into an advanced ArtificialIntelligence using the power of WetwareCPU.
150	* UnstoppableMailman: Derpy's refusal to abandon her job almost let the [[spoiler: changelings take over Canterlot.]] A much more villainous example would be [[spoiler: Post Haste, who nearly [[TakeOverTheWorld took over Equestria]]]].
151	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: As stated repeatedly, Valiant is a jerk, and his family isn't much better. The main reason we continue to root for them is just how [[RuleOfCool awesome everything they touch becomes]].
152	* UnwillingRoboticisation:
153	** Valiant wanted to try to make a cyborg and Braeburn was already missing several limbs. Unfortunately for Braeburn, his opinions on the surgery were ignored.
154	** [[spoiler:Quibble Pants]] tried to turn Coloratura into a cyborg in her sleep.
155	* WeirdnessCensor: None of the residents of the royal palace[[note]] not even Luna[[/note]] questioned it when Celestia randomly left and put Sunset in charge of the government. Even when Sunset left and put Maud in charge, no one noticed. According to Valiant, this is because they would rather believe that Celestia changed her appearance for no reason than believe she left and now someone else is running the government.

Context Fanfic / ADream