is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Fanfic by Xomniac.At the center of Tartarus, behind impenetrable doors and guarded by a vicious three-headed dog hangs a single prisoner. A being of immense power who has been hidden away for millennia. At least, until a certain Draconequus begins a series of events leading to his escape.
Enter Scholar, a smug, sarcastic Magnificent Bastard from the empire upon whose ashes Equestria was built. The story follows Scholar and his colourful array of friends and allies as they try to return the world to the way it once was.
This Fanfic contains examples of:
- A Glass in the Hand: The Scholar shatters one when Fluttershy says he's lying when he claims he wants to die.
- Anti-Magic: Cerberus is immune to most magic. Oh, and Harmony, a twisted form of magic in its own right that imhibits other magics, forces some beings to sleep, baby-proofs nature, and drastically lowers the intelligent of all but an handful of races.
- Nix also has a lot of techniques specifically to counter magic.
- Badass Boast: Many of the Oligarchs as they were sealed away."HEAR MY VOW, CELESTIA! IF IT TAKES A LIFETIME, IF IT TAKES A THOUSAND LIFETIMES, A MILLION LIFETIMES, YOU WILL BURN! YOUR FLESH WILL TURN TO ASH, AND FALL FROM YOUR BONES! YOU WILL SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, DO YOU HEAR ME!? I AM PYRAE DAEMOS, AND I WILL! HAVE! JUSTICE!"
- This is from the dragon who hasn't ever roared in fury before because he didn't have the proper motivation, so you know he's pissed. Not to mention, he's credited as the greatest pacifist on the planet.
- Berserk Button: Seath and Priscilla. Call them by their nicknames, I dare you.
- BFS: Null uses one in his first appearance.
- Big "WHAT?!": Luna, when The Scholar tells Celestia that Luna was the one who released him from Tartarus.
- Boisterous Weakling: Shining Armor, when compared to the oligarchs.
- Break Them by Talking: The Scholar does this to Luna so thoroughly that it leaves her a sobbing ruin on the floor."Can't, huh? That's what I thought. How you've always been. Sure, you can be vindictive at times, but end of the day? You always screw up at the last moment. Come on, Luna! DO IT!"
- The Chessmaster: Scholar. As Celestia put it: "Scholar is a man of many means and plans."
- Considering what went down not long after, it wasn't an exaggeration.
- He also brings a chessboard to Canterlot when he goes looking for his Lexicon
- Dance Battler: Priscilla's method of combat is described more as dancing then fighting.
- Determinator: The Academia Arcana. All of them. Thousands of years and so many lives spent to break Scholar out of Tartarus and they didn't stop until he was free.
- Friend to All Living Things: Fluttershy, as in canon. The plan to release Scholar did not account for that.
- Functional Magic: It wouldn't be a MLP fic without magic, now would it?
- God Guise: Scholar implies that he has been worshipped as a deity in the past, much to his annoyance.
- Golem: Nix and Null, literally called the Golem Twins.
- Hopeless War: This is essentially what the return of Concordia would result in for Equestria. It's implied they wouldn't stand even the slightest chance in an open war.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Null's means of combat.
- Instant Runes: Many of the more powerful spell casters make use of these for barriers. Some spells make use of Geometric Magic instead.
- Insufferable Genius: Scholar. Often.
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: 99% of Equestrians.
- I Did What I Had to Do: The Alicorns justification for their actions.
- Kill It with Fire: Nix's prefered method of Twilight disposal
- In a case of Genre Savvy, Prince Aristo, as a Dragon Slayer, sensibly wore armor that protected against this. Not so useful against crystals, however.
- Living Lie Detector: Applejack, as usual in
Fanon. It pops up from time to time, like when Celestia tries to justify the actions of the Alicorns, but tells one lie that shakes Applejack's faith. - Master of Illusion: Trixie, as per Fanon, but taken to a whole new level.
- Master of Disguise: Trixie. And without even using her magic.
- The Changeling species as a whole, naturally. Chrysalis in particular is renowned for this.
- Miles Gloriosus: Shining Armor, The entire Royal Guard.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Cadence's view on what happened to Mundus.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: By proxy, no less. Scholar responds to the standard question by mentioning the accomplishments of his friends. Think about it for a minute.
- Shining Armor upon discovering Faithful Shield was his many many greats grandfather, who was then subsequently killed by the crystallized Prince Aristo
- Nightmare Fuel: Invoked by Nix and Null whenever they get their hands on Twilight.
- No-Sell: Scholar found the Stare, you know, that thing that makes massive DRAGONS cry, boring. That fires one of his own right back, only a thousand times worse.
- Oh, Crap!: The Princesses' reaction to Scholar's return.
- Also Cadence's and the General's reaction to having their administrative authority revoked.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Shining Armour. Shining Armour is implied to powerful... for a unicorn. Of his age. In comparison to the myriad immortal beings he often finds himself surrounded by, for ages where magic-users where several hundred times stronger, and learned in much more powerful spells? Yeah, not so much. And that's without even factoring in that their powers aren't inhibited by the corrupted magic known as "Harmony".
- Physical God: All of the Oligarchs are implied to be this.
- Paper Tiger: The Royal Guard.
- Precursors: Concordia has been gone for a long, long time... but it's coming back, and with a vengeance.]]
- Red Baron: Mi Amore "The Dark Love" Cadenza.
- "The Flawless Lie" Chrysalis. It's implied each of the Oligarchs had a similar epithet.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Scholar, Iron Will, Trixie, Gilda, Chrysalis and Nix and Null.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Scholar and Chrysalis like to break them out when talking to the Princesses.
- Rip Van Winkle: Essentially how the Alicorns dealt with the vast majority of Concordia's citizens. They've all been sound asleep... but now they're waking up.
- Shining City: The Crystal Empire/ Vitrum.
- Shock and Awe: Gilda's primary means of fighting.
- Shout-Out:
- In Chapter 15, Seath the Scaleless and Crossbreed Priscilla make an appearance.
- In Chapter 18, Fran Madaraki has also appeared. Come Chapter 19, her sisters Gavrill and Veronica also appear.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Shining Armour."Tough and surly, he believes he's a powerhouse, but in all honesty? He's just a small piece playing on a board that's so much bigger than he is."
- The Archmage: The Scholar is this being an immortal, dimension traveling wizard.
- Third-Person Person: Trixie and Iron Will, natch.
- Too Dumb to Live: Prince Aristo. 'Nuff said.
- Shining Armour also qualifies with his absolute insistence on repeatedly attacking a being with near Godlike power.
- Twin Banter: Nix and Null. Also the Changeling twins.
- Generals Arcus and Sagitta as well, much to Nix and Null's annoyance.
- Villain Protagonist: Arguably. Even lampshaded by Discord.Discord: I think that you'll be what this world needs, what I can't be.Chrysalis: And what would that be, Discord? A hero? The knight in shining armor come to save the day?Discord: Hardly. What this world needs is a villain who can play the protagonist.
- Was It Really Worth It?: Curiously enough, Cadence doesn't think it was worth it, but keeps from completely breaking down for the sake of the ponies.
- Celestia also seems to have her own regrets as well.
- We Need a Distraction: The whole Canterlot wedding was just a ploy to keep attention off breaking the Scholar out of Tartarus.
- We Used to Be Friends: All of the Oligarchs, but the most glaring example so far is Cadence and Chrysalis.
- You and What Army?: Word-by-word via Sagitta and Arcus, when they think Scholar is being cocky before they execute him and his allies. They got an answer they didn't like.
