Line #85 Fanfic/EquestriaDivided


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6	Equestria Divided is an AlternateUniverseFic of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Fifteen years ago Celestia and Luna vanished without a trace causing a civil war to engulf Equestria. Today five great houses (and one cult), led by characters you may know are fighting to conquer the kingdom.
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8	So, basically ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Series/GameOfThrones'' or [[IncrediblyLamePun A Game of Ponies]] if you will. Can be found [[https://www.fimfiction.net/group/197422/equestria-divided here]] and a gallery [[https://equestria-divided.deviantart.com/ here]]
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11	!! This fanfic provides examples of:
12
13	%%* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: A lot of Cult of Laughter units.
14	* AddictionPowered: Some members of the Cult of Laughter use [[MushroomSamba hallucinogens]] like a DrunkenMaster uses alcohol.
15	* AlienKudzu: Under Fluttershy's control, the Everfree Forest has begun to suddenly expand across Equestria.
16	* AllohistoricalAllusion: The House Earthborn siege unit is a [[TrojanHorse giant wooden horse on wheels]], but unlike the famous one [[BatteringRam the Headbutter uses a more direct method to get the city gates open]].
17	* AmbiguousSituation: The origin of the Laughing Mare and her relationship to Pinkie Pie both in and out of universe -- is she Pinkie's vengeful spirit, an EldritchAbomination pretending to be her, or one of those believing itself to be the other? If it is Pinkie, how did she come back from the afterlife? Did she make a DealWithTheDevil that made her ComeBackWrong or did she want to come back that way? Only the Laughing Mare knows.
18	* AntiMagicalFaction: House Earthborn fights against unicorns and other magic users without using magic themselves.
19	* AntiTrueSight: Applejack's TrueSight doesn't work on Rarity, because [[ConsummateLiar she's just that good]].
20	* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores:
21	** Averted with the Whitegold Militia and the Sapphire Sirens, who are too well funded, equipped and groomed to qualify even if their actual jobs haven't changed much.
22	** Played completely straight with the Cult of Laughter, who convert practically everyone.
23	* BadassBiker: Cross this trope with a MonsterClown on a unicycle and you get a Cult of Laughter Cycle Gang unit.
24	* BatteringRam: The House Earthborn Headbutter, a gigantic ram topped with a metallic pony head and moved by teams of earth ponies picked for their strength, is the House's primary way of dealing with stubborn gates and walls.
25	* BeastOfBattle:
26	** House Everfree makes use of its home area's... ''unique'' fauna in battle, fielding timberwolves, gigantic hydras, giant wooden spiders and voracious swarms of parasprites on the battlefield.
27	** House Moon and Star fields firebirds, as well as magically bound [[BearsAreBadNews Ursa Minors]] to tear through enemy formations and to serve as living siege engines.
28	** House Stormwing uses {{roc\|Birds}}s as aerial units of immense power.
29	* BetterLivingThroughEvil: The Whitegold Militia is recruited from the rabble of the Undercity, their main task: guarding The Wall, see UrbanSegregation below.
30	* {{BFG}}: The House Earthborn Behemoth Cannon, a gun big enough to take down house-sized monsters.
31	* BiologicalMashup: House Everfree has a few, including the Wildlings, Everfree Wraiths, Swamp Shamblers and Thorners, which are Orc Ponies, Lizardman Ponies with antlers, Swamp Thing Ponies and Plant Ponies. Also, their Spider Blossom unit is a fusion of the Wood Spider and Death Blossom Units.
32	* BlackWidow: Rarity is implied to have married and killed Blueblood for money.
33	* BlackmailBackfire: Twilight tried to manipulate Pinkie Pie into taking part in her alicorn experiment. Pinkie died during the procedure and eventually came back as [[TheDreaded the Laughing Mare]].
34	* BloodMagic: Everfree Wraiths are created by infecting a pony with Fluttershy's blood.
35	* BodyToJewel: Rarity has a disease that covers her body in crystal. Unlike the coats of crystal ponies, these are more haphazard and invasive, causing Rarity to bleed when she moves due to grinding against her insides. It's implied that in the terminal stages she will outright be trapped in a unmoving shell of crystal.
36	* BoringButPractical: In contrast to other factions, who rely on more exotic methods of combat like magic and {{golem}}s, beast-like ponies and fantastic animals, and insane religious fanatics and eldritch beings, House Earthborn mostly relies on heavy infantry, war machines and really big guns.
37	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The Cult of Laughter has the Converted Townsfolk and the Revelers, which put emphasis on the "Brainwashed" and "Crazy" parts respectively; the former is more brainwashed and the latter is extra crazy.
38	* BrownNoteBeing: Simply being in the presence of a Pillar of Joy will drive you insane.
39	* CircusOfFear: This is the primary theme of the Cult of Laughter, with its units themed around clowns and jesters, with a heavy dose of CosmicHorrorStory to boot.
40	* CorruptChurch: Rainbow Dash sees the actions of Twilight and House Moon and Star as those of usurpers.
41	* TheCoup: Rarity became the leader of House Whitegold by marrying and then killing Prince Blueblood.
42	* CreepyCentipedes: One of the species the Laughing Mare brought with her from the astral plane are the Grinning Worms, creatures resembling fleshy centipedes with demonic clown faces set in perpetual {{Slasher Smile}}s.
43	* CrushTheKeepsake: Due to Spike being part of House Moon and Star, Rarity [[https://equestria-divided.deviantart.com/art/Ave-Raritas-coloured-by-FoxInShadow-358120918 crushed the ruby he gave her]] as part of her SanitySlippage.
44	* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Cranky Doodle Donkey, one of the council members of the Cult of Laughter, uses necromancy to extend his life and rides a mobility scooter with an oxygen tank, which makes [[Franchise/StarWars Emperor Palpatine]] look like a picture of health by comparison.
45	* DealWithTheDevil: Some of the characters bargained with various creatures for power with varying results:
46	** Applejack traded her eye to a truth spirit that the Thunderhoof shamans conjured up in exchange for TrueSight.
47	** Fluttershy receives visions from whatever made the Everfree Forest the way it is.
48	** A possible explanation for the Laughing Mare is Pinkie's ghost asking [[EldritchAbomination something]] from the Astral Plane to bring her back to life, and getting screwed over ''hard''.
49	* DeathGlare: The Mindbreakers: Six ponies (two of each race) and two zebras who were taught to use the Stare by Fluttershy herself.
50	* DeathRay: House Moon and Star has the [[PowerOfTheSun Sunray Cannon]], which fires hyper-focused beams of sunlight across battlefields.
51	* DeathSeeker: Pegasi from House Stormwing who have their wings cut off become berserkers: Charging into enemy troops just so they can be relived of their burden.
52	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Another explanation of how Pinkie Pie's ghost became the Laughing Mare -- a cosmic horror might drive you crazy even if it doesn't want to.
53	%%* DragonWithAnAgenda: Trixie of House Moon and Star.
54	%%* DreadfulDragonfly: The Changelings' Sky Shriekers.
55	* EldritchLocation: The astral plane serves as the afterlife to Equestria, but it's said some parts are less pleasant than others -- [[CameBackWrong as Pinkie Pie found out]].
56	* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Applejack with her TrueSight and [[spoiler:Big Mac]] with his Everfree Wraith transformation.
57	* EnemyCivilWar: In the Cult of Laughter, the Harl-equines have a rivalry with the Jesters of Baltimare.
58	* EqualOpportunityEvil: Anyone can join the Cult of Laughter.
59	* EvilMakesYouUgly: Rarity is both of this and BeautyIsBad at once. Her disease makes her look [[FreakyIsCool weirdly beautiful]] but it also makes her more sociopathic.
60	* TheExile: The Northern Zebra Tribes that border the Everfree Forest are exiles, most likely from the Zebran Desert: An area southeast of the Earthborn-controlled Frontier.
61	* {{Expy}}:
62	** A MonsterClown that cheats death and had a MultipleChoicePast; are we talking about the Laughing Mare or ComicBook/TheJoker? Alternatively, she apparently traffics with soul-eating creatures from the afterlife, has magic powers and will be sent back if her SoulJar is destroyed, [[WaxingLyrical in other words]] [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog she's got friend on the other side]], [[BackFromTheDead she got what she wanted]], [[MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil but she lost what she had]].
63	** A CorruptCorporateExecutive who used to be more moral until his face was disfigured, has a family member that acts as a MoralityChain and is [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative associated with ponies made of diamonds]]; Rarity or [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} Handsome Jack]]?
64	* EyeScream: Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash lost their right eyes. Applejack covers hers with an eyepatch, but Rainbow Dash had the entire right side of her face roasted from Twilight's botched alicorn ascension experiment.
65	* FakedGiftAcceptance: As part of her SanitySlippage, Rarity ends up [[https://www.deviantart.com/bylisboa/art/Ave-Raritas-coloured-by-FoxInShadow-358120918 destroying the gem Spike gave her]].
66	* FallenHero: The Mane Six went from being TrueCompanions and the most important defenders of Equestria to squabbling Feudal Warlords (or an EldritchAbomination, in Pinkie's case) warring with each other for total dominance of the country they used to defend.
67	* FantasticRacism: While Houses Everfree and Whitegold and the Cult of Laughter are, if nothing else, wholly egalitarian in who they allow in their ranks, Houses Earthborn, Moon and Star and Stormwing are extremely devoted to their belief that one tribe of ponies, and one alone, is superior and should rule:
68	** [[MugglesDoItBetter House Earthborn]] favors earth ponies, although they also include pegasi and buffalo -- their main issue is with magic, and they will not allow magic-users such as unicorns among their ranks. They even go so far as to [[BattleTrophy cut off the horns of unicorns]] that enter Earthborn-controlled territory. [[MagicVersusTechnology To compensate, they invest heavily in engineering technology and weapons of war]].
69	** [[TheMagocracy House Moon and Star]] is composed of [[ANaziByAnyOtherName unicorn-supremacist]] [[CorruptChurch religious fanatics]], and enslaves the pegasi and earth ponies it rules over.
70	** [[DeathFromAbove House Stormwing]] is devoted to pegasus dominance and [[TheSpartanWay extreme militarism]]. While they allow other ponies in their ranks, these are always as auxiliaries or laborers and never gain the glory or power that their pegasus fellows can. They also include a fair number of griffons, and generally give them more respect than they do non-pegasus ponies.
71	* FateWorseThanDeath: Traitors to the Cult of Laughter are turned into [[PuppetPermutation Smiling Dolls]].
72	* FloatingContinent: Cloudsdale, Windsoar, and Las Pegasus are all floating cities belonging to House Stormwing.
73	* FrontlineGeneral: Rainbow Dash often directly participates in battles herself, believing that a good commander should lead by example.
74	* FusionDance: Some House Everfree druids can fuse a [[BotanicalAbomination Death Blossom]] and a [[GiantSpider Wood Spider]] to create a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Spider Blossom]].
75	* GadgeteerGenius: Apple Bloom, a brilliant inventor, House Earthborn's chief engineer and the creator of most of its weaponry and war machines; also the Cult of Laughter [[WickedToymaker Toymaker units.]]
76	* GiantSpider: Wood spiders, enormous creatures resembling spiders shaped out of living wood, are among the monsters native to the Everfree. They sometimes have poison-spitting plants rooted into their backs, allowing them to pelt enemies with poisonous liquids at range before moving in to maul them.
77	* GodzillaThreshold: If House Whitegold was about to lose the war, a single zeppelin may be launched to relocate the elites and some soldiers somewhere else.
78	* {{Golem}}: Both House Moon and Star and House Whitegold have servants of living stone.
79	* GoneHorriblyRight: Twilight's experiment was supposed to turn an ordinary pony into an alicorn. The Laughing Mare may not be an alicorn, but she is certainly [[EldritchAbomination a god of sorts]].
80	* HauntedFetter: Pinkie's corpse serves as the Laughing Mare's anchor to the mortal plane.
81	* HollywoodAtheist: As the sun and moon kept moving after Celestia's and Luna's disappearances, Applejack and Fluttershy [[OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions realized that they had been lied to about the Royal Sisters' powers.]]
82	* HorseOfADifferentColor: House Everfree makes use of some rather peculiar creatures as war steeds, including ostriches, boars, hippos, rhinoceri, elephants and oliphaunts.
83	* HumanoidAbomination: Whatever the Laughing Mare is, they certainly aren’t a normal pony, [[AmbiguousSituation and if they ever were at one point]], [[WasOnceAMan they are most certainly not any more]]. She cultivates [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mad]][[MindRape ness]] and [[ZombieApocalypse death]] both wherever she goes and in the minds of whoever she decides to conscript into her ranks, has a MultipleChoicePast to such a degree that no one, not even her own followers knows how she came to be, possesses at least enough power to have [[DimensionLord created her own demesne]] in the afterlife, and when she manifests in the mortal realm bears a [[BodyHorror disfigured appearance]] and a bloody SlasherSmile that stretches from ear to ear. They also have [[SoulJar some of]] [[{{Necromancer}} the hallmarks]] of an incorporeal [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lich]], and is so [[BlueAndOrangeMorality alien and chaotic in her thinking]] that even at her most coherent she’s both [[AxCrazy completely psychotic]] and possesses motivations for her actions [[HiddenAgendaVillain that are vague at best]].
84	* TheInquisitorGeneral: Trixie's position in House Moon and Star, hunting down heretics who dare defy the worship of the God-Princesses Celestia and Luna.
85	%%* IntelligentForest: The Everfree Forest is this, thanks to an entity that Fluttershy calls "the Everfree Liege".%%ZCE
86	* TheJuggernaut: House Earthborn has the Equestrian and Buffalo Juggernaut units, both equipped with thick, spiky [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Space Marine-like]] armor that they use to trample and gore opponents.
87	* MacrossMissileMassacre: House Earthborn's Avalanche Rocket Launchers.
88	* MadGod: The Laughing Mare is an undead EldritchAbomination worshipped as a goddess by the Cult Of Laughter, and both she and her followers are [[AxCrazy completely insane.]]
89	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Buffalo Totem Carriages are used by House Earthborn's buffalo allies to carry a variety of mystical totem poles to help them influence the battle in their favor.
90	* TheMagocracy: House Moon and Star is ruled by unicorns, [[ANaziByanyOtherName who look down on non-unicorns for their lack of magic]]. Their home base of Canterlot has a permanent magical shield surrounding it that only unicorns can pass through.
91	* MegaCorp: House Whitegold is basically [[Series/GameOfThrones House Lannister]] combined with the British East India Company, as though other Houses rule through sheer force of arms, the Whitegolds rule and take over via debt, sheer financial hegemony and Machiavellian political intrigue.
92	* MonsterClown: Saying the Cult of Laughter has these is like saying the ocean is moist. The same goes for their undead and Lovecraftian monstrosities.
93	* MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil: [[https://equestria-divided.deviantart.com/art/La-Potra-Sonriente-coloured-by-KairaAnix-384845332 The Laughing Mare could be Pinkie Pie's ghost.]]
94	* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: The Cult of Laughter is ruled by a council of high ranking members who vote on decisions, of which Pinkie's preserved body is also a member.
95	* NatureIsNotNice: House Everfree is based out of the Everfree Forest, an untamed wilderness home to monsters. In fact, it has become even more dangerous than canon; "not nice" is putting it mildly.
96	* NonIndicativeName: The Manehattan Undercity is actually located at ground level around the Wall, but gets its name from the other districts being higher up inside the Wall.
97	* NoodleIncident: The Amalthean Stampede's unit description says to never use it against a Pillar of Joy. Considering the former is a stampede of ghostly unicorns and the latter is an EldritchAbomination from the afterlife, [[SoulEating one can make an educated guess why]].
98	* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: In addition to regular griffons, House Stormwing uses keythongs, horned and wingless griffons with shoulders and upper backs bristling with long spikes and with a taste for pony meat.
99	* OurHydrasAreDifferent: Swamp Hydras can actually be tamed, but it requires a lot of effort from multiple highly skilled beastmasters. Also, the reason these hydras are hard to kill is not because they can regrow their heads, but because their hides are too tough to be able to cut their heads off in the first place.
100	%%* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: Iron Will of House Everfree and his Iron Bulls.
101	* ThePhoenix: House Moon and Star uses firebirds: Living magical constructs modeled after phoenixes and altered to be larger, more powerful and more aggressive; however, unlike true phoenixes, firebirds can only resurrect once.
102	* {{Planimal}}: Animate masses of wood in the shape of animals are common in the Everfree Forest -- in addition to the canon timberwolves, there are also the wood spiders and the humanoid ents.
103	* PrehensileTail: Apple Bloom replaced her tail with a robotic claw arm.
104	* PrivateMilitaryContractor: Most of House Whitegold's army is actually made of pony, griffon and diamond dog mercenaries for hire.
105	* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: House Whitegold is one already, and if they have their way all of Equestria will be one too.
106	* PsychopathicManchild: After artificially aging him, Twilight made sure that Spike was this.
107	* PunnyName: Nhorse Warriors and Harl-equines, continuing canon's tradition of using horse puns for everything possible.
108	* PuppeteerParasite: The Cult Of Laughter's Puppeteers.
109	* RazorWings: House Stormwing's Wind Riders have blades on their wings used to prevent challenges to their air superiority. The Cult of Laughter's Euphories also use these wing blades.
110	* RedRightHand: Each of the faction leaders has one that shows how they have fallen from their canon grace as heroes.
111	** Applejack has an eyepatch.
112	** Pinkie Pie is an [[HumanoidAbomination Equine Abomination]] [[MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil From Beyond The Veil]] with (depending on the author) BlackEyesOfEvil with red pupils or GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath.
113	** Rainbow Dash is TwoFaced because of Twilight's botched Alicorn ascension experiment, and has scars on the healthy half of her face.
114	** Fluttershy has green glowing eyes and bone-like horns.
115	** Rarity is [[BodyToJewel partially covered in crystals]].
116	** Twilight has magic runes on half her face.
117	* ReliablyUnreliableGuns: House Whitegold's arquebus: Long range, very accurate, but still unreliable.
118	* ReligionOfEvil: The Cult Of Laughter borders between this and ScaryAmoralReligion. [[BlueAndOrangeMorality While they may not think that they’re being evil]], they’re a horde of [[AxCrazy murderous psychopaths]] whose religious practices involve [[ZombieApocalypse raising the dead as laughing zombies]] and worshipping a monstrous UndeadAbomination that’s managed to claw her way back from the beyond and aims to cross over fully.
119	* RocBirds: House Stormwing uses rocs, huge predatory birds worshiped by griffons as the living embodiments of the skies' wrath, as heavy bombers.
120	* RolePlayingGameVerse: In many respects, such as each faction having a distinct combat style and units that also have highly differentiated combat roles and special effects, the AU resembles a computer or tabletop strategy game.
121	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After Ponyville was flooded, Fluttershy cut her ties to the rest of the Mane Six to persue her own agenda.
122	* SiegeEngines: House Earthborn makes extensive use of these, including large cannons, enormous battering rams moved by teams of earth ponies, heavily armored bomber helicopters, and the Fortbusters/Beastbusters, powerful war machines designed to take down enemy fortifications, constructs and monsters.
123	* SlaveMooks: Some units of various factions count in one for or another.
124	** House Moon and Star explicitly uses enslaved non-unicorns as expendable soldiers, which are often forced into battle with poor weapons and minimal training to act as meat shields and cannon fodder.
125	** The Everfree Wraiths are supposed to be completely loyal to Fluttershy, but some like Screwloose and [[spoiler: Big Mac]] were botched.
126	* SpiritAdvisor: Summoned and shackled to the mortal realm, the ghost of Starswirl the Bearded serves this role for Twilight Sparkle.
127	* StartOfDarkness: Princess Celestia's and Luna's sudden disappearance caused this for Twilight, and her actions trying to either find them or replace them caused the Mane Six to succumb to this.
128	* SunkCostFallacy: Rarity convinces Twilight to stop looking for Celestia and Luna with this logic -- if they come back, the Great Houses and all they created will be destroyed, and the Mane Six will probably end up in prison.
129	* SunkenCity: Twilight convinced Rainbow Dash to flood Ponyville to stop a rebellion.
130	* SuperSmoke: House Moon and Star's Nightmares can shift between corporeal and incorporeal states, and cannot hurt or be hurt while incorporeal.
131	* SwampMonster: Ponies who die in the swamps of Froggy Bottom Bog sometimes return to life as swamp shamblers, lumbering masses of mud, moss and tree branches in vaguely quadrupedal shapes. They also emanate clouds of toxic gases, and House Everfree sometimes uses them in battle to sicken and poison enemy troops.
132	* TankGoodness: The House Earthborn Fortbuster and Cult of Laughter Carnival Contraption.
133	* TheTheocracy: House Moon and Star dictates its rule with worship of Princesses Celestia and Luna.
134	%%* TokenGoodTeammate:
135	%%** Derpy for the Cult of Laughter.
136	%%** Fancy Pants for House Whitegold.
137	* TerminalTransformation: Rarity suffers from a disease that is slowly turning her into an inanimate crystal statue; it's mentioned she suffers internal bleeding due to the crystalised parts cutting her fleshy ones when she moves, and that the final stage of this transformation will definitely kill her - either due to internal injuries or simply due to losing her mind to the transmutation.
138	* {{Treants}}: Ents are colossal walking trees -- and, notably, humanoids in a world of sapient ungulates -- used by the Everfree forces as living siege engines and artillery units, as they can throw boulders quite far and accurately. They're sometimes summoned and directed by druids, but more often than not it's the will of the Everfree Forest itself that moves them.
139	* TunnelKing: Diamond Dog tunnels can be found across Equestria.
140	* TwoFaced:
141	** Twilight's experiment burned half of Rainbow Dash's face off.
142	** Rarity suffers from crystalitis, a rare unicorn disease. [[BodyToJewel It turns an affected unicorn into a crystal statue if they aren't powerful enough to stop it]], and Rarity's left foreleg and the left half of her face have already succumbed.
143	* UndyingLoyalty: Rainbow Dash, even through it all, still remains loyal to the "old" Equestria before Celestia and Luna vanished, and sees it as House Stormwing's mission to win the war and return control to the Royal Sisters once they return. She sees everyone else, especially Twilight and Applejack, as usurpers to that old rule.
144	* TheUnSmile: Everyone in the Cult of Laughter has either a BrokenSmile or a SlasherSmile.
145	* TheUndead: There are plenty of zombies, ghosts, and the occasional FleshGolem in the Cult of Laughter's forces.
146	* UrbanSegregation: Manehattan is surrounded by a wall, with the rich living inside and the poor in the slums on the outside, although you can buy admission for a high fee.
147	* VengefulGhost: Another possible origin for the Laughing Mare is Pinkie's ghost seeking revenge on someone. [[TheSpook Notice a pattern?]]
148	* TheWallAroundTheWorld: The Manehattan Wall separates the Undercity around it from the other districts inside it, and is big enough that it doubles as the military district.
149	* WarElephants: House Everfree can field both elephants and [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings gigantic oliphaunts]], mounting howdahs on their backs to carry warriors into battle.
150	%%* WarIsHell: House Stormwing Wing Commander Soarin' thinks so.
151	%%* WickedToymaker: The [[CircusOfFear Cult of Laughter]] have several of these as a combat unit.
152	* WorthyOpponent: Rainbow Dash considers Applejack this, even hoping for a great war between Houses Stormwing and Earthborn.

Context Fanfic / EquestriaDivided