Fanfic / All-American Girl (Shinzakura)

The woman in the foreground and the mare in the background don't get along very well.

All-American Girl by Shinzakura is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic. Actually, it's four:

• The prequel: Polarity: A Tale of Two Sisters, the story of Derpy Hooves and her twin sister Ditzy Doo and how Derpy's decisions cause this whole mess to begin with (ongoing)
• The interquel: Kind Hearts & Coronets, the story of how Rarity meets her husband Silversteel (Completed)
• The main story: All-American Girl, the description of which is below (Completed)
• Be Human: The All-American Girl Sidestories, which fill in several tangential gaps and have extended tales in the AAGverse. (completed); and
• The Breaking Straw (ongoing), a second anthology series filling in the gaps between Books I and II.

In addition, there are also side stories contributed by authors other than Shinzakura that add more to the events taking place outside the main story whether before, after, or even during.

• Lost Weekend by BlueBastard is an interquel in which Mike is transformed into a pony for several days while DJ is turned human after an accident involving DJ's genderstone. Was previously part of Be Human before being moved to its own story. It is canon, having been referenced in All-American Girl.
• The Long Arm by Flynt Coal. A prequel to the main story touching on the deaths of Cinnamon's parents, and follows the investigation of Sheriff Shining Badge of Dodge Junction. Winner of the 2014 March Story Challenge hosted on the AAG Fim Fiction group, and is canon to the main series.
• The Third Law of Motion by Cody MacArthur Fett is a series of connecting events going into the rise of a new extremist faction starting just before and through the events of the main story.
• Konsequences by Deverer follows the pony-human couple of Karl and Karyn (former name Stout Spirit) accidentally discovering human magic and the dangers it presents, uprooting their lives completely.

Daisy Jo Martinez is married to a US Navy officer, has two kids, is Catholic, Republican and proud to be American.

She's also a pony.

This is, at least initially, her story, but things become much more complicated fast.

---

The stories contain examples of:

A-I

• Affectionate Parody:
  • “No thanks. Ashleigh Ball can’t sing her way out of a paper bag so I stay away from Hey Ocean! like the plague."
  • “No, I was watching the Claude & Monet anime movie the other day – why does Gainax bother with licensing weird foreign comics?”^note Claude & Monet is written by the same author as AAG.
• Alien Catnip: While coffee is a simple stimulant to humans, to Griffons, it's like drinking 'liquid cocaine.'
• All There in the Manual: The author goes so far as to cover obscure things such as genetic structure and biological nomenclarure and taxonomy of most of the species, as well as the members of major Equestraini noble houses.
• Alpha Bitch: Valerie Anderson, whose antagonism with DJ lasts from kindergarten to at least ninth grade. She apologises for it when she happens to meet up with her in the leadup to DJ and Mike's wedding.
• Alternate History: The underlying world is different even before First Contact:
  • 9/11 never happened.
  • Bin Laden is not a terrorist.
  • Eriteria, Ethiopia and Somalia were failed states that got merged into one, which didn't do much better.
  • Andorra has been an independent kingdom since Charlemagne gave it to a local general in 998.
  • Automobile manufacturer Studebaker still exists as of the start of the series.
  • Russia and China fought a war in the 1970s.
  • British singer Nick Drake did not commit suicide in his 20s but lived into old age.
    • Considering it was he who mistakenly sued Lyra's brother Harper for sampling Drake's singing voice on of Harper's albums (ironically a tribute album to Drake) ^note (and an even bigger irony in that Harper's singing voice is a near-perfect match for Drake's and so no sampling was involved) and not his estate, depending on when the album was released Drake could have lived into his 90s - or even be alive as of the side story The Busker, making him 96 years old.
  • Los Angeles radio station KMET was not shut down in 1987^note (to be replaced by smooth-R&B station KTWV) and continues on as of the mid-2030s (as detailed in Redemption Song)
  • Might also be in Never Was This Universe territory. Equestriani scientists have concluded that magic still exists on human Earth, but has lost most of its power, meaning only those with innate magical abilites can use it. It's speculated that it was once very common and that myths and legends might have some truth to them.
    • To go along with this, some mythical/fantastical caricatures from human folklore are real within the story (though not known to the public). Examples include The Gray Man/Fear Liath Mor and Merlin.
  • In this universe, Romney was never elected, but one conversation reveals that in the story, he won twice.
    • However, that was written before the 2012 election, so that part wasn't entirely within the Author's control.
  • Mailinator appears to be a legitimate e-mail service, instead of one that gives free, spam-preventive addresses.
  • Gen 3 of My Little Pony bombed so badly, Hasbro gave up on the franchise and never made a fourth incarnation.
• Ancient Evil:
  • Nightmare Moon. It is revealed that she's more ancient than originally thought as she was around during Queen Faust's reign.
  • Human magic. It exists, but sparingly so and for good reason. It is such a corrupting influence that it causes those of even strong will to go insane or even become straight up evil just from its use. It gets to the point where only a few dedicated magic users of it exist. There is a Conclaive of humans that exist solely to make sure that human magic doesn't return.
• Ascended Extra: Originally just stated to be the sisters of Hazy Jane, both Flutterwonder and Orange Box rise to side character status in Polarity.
  • Also true for Blue Velvet, who before the rewrite was a no-name replacement for Sunburn as Ghino's companion that was never mentioned again, but now has full blown characterization as a femme fatale in her own right.
  • Other briefly mentioned or seen characters get stories to themselves in Be Human, including Ueda Tsubasa (the pegasus waitress from the first chapter), and Logan Bradford (one of DJ's high school friends, mentioned in the first chapter.)
• Arc Words: COMBS, which is the initials of the five mares suspected of being the host of Nightmare Moon: Champagne Dreams, Orange Box, Minty, Bon-Bon and Star Swirl.
• Band of Brothers: the mane six, princesses and their immediate family over the years have been through so much that by the time of the beginning of the stories they openly think of each other as sisters (or brothers, for the males.)
  • In fact, the whole group is referred to by the In-Universe media as "The Royal Family."
• Battle Strip: After an intimate evening with Silver is ruined by assassins, Rarity immolates her saddle and socks for effect while she summons her Elemental torc.
• Become a Real Boy: Sometimes DJ wants to be human, other times she feels that she'd be dishonoring her family and their struggles by doing so. There is a spell though that makes it so that one species can change into another for a limited amount of time though, so DJ, Lyra and others have been human for at least a little while.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy/Julius Beethoven da Vinci: Faust tells Greg that she has been Hecate, Joan of Arc, Betsy Ross, Amelia Earhart and Mary MacGregor, amongst other, mostly pedestrian lives over the last several thousand years.
• Believing Their Own Lies: DJ has a mild case of this, explicitly distinguished In-Universe from Double Think.
  • As a result, it makes DJ a case of an Unreliable Narrator.
• Berserk Button: DJ is one for Minty, to the point where she rips her husband's copy one of her books to pieces after seeing her name on the cover.
• Bilingual Bonus: One of the chapters of the sidestories, entitled "обман" is Russian for deception, quite appropriate for the tone of that story arc.
  • The author also occasionally throws in other languages as needed (Japanese, Spanish, Singaporean English, Latin, etc.)
• Big Bad Ensemble: Nightmare Moon and Di Tacco, though Nightmare Moon is the more dangerous threat.
• Big Damn Heroes: Two of DJ's neighbours, a Winchester police sergeant and a Virginia state trooper, intervene during the foal-napping incident, killing one of the pegasi and arresting the others.
• The Big Damn Kiss: DJ and Mike in The Stallion and the Girl
  Instinctively, their lips met, brushed together, then fully connected, sending both into paradise. The room exploded into the full-out scent of dark chocolate, so much so that there was no one who couldn’t smell it now. The two continued kissing until the adults present, confused at two teens of different species making out but realizing that it wouldn’t be a great example, broke them up.
  • Sam and Celestia's kiss in the park also counts.
• Body Horror: While Tsubasa is possessed by Subaru ^note (actually the demonic kitsune known as Tamamo No Mae) her body goes through a rather...unique transformation. And not in a good way.
• Boom, Headshot!: Apple Cobbler's assassination.
• Boomerang Bigot:
  • DJ has fallen awfully close to this at times.
  • Cerise. At first it seems like she's just on Rarity's side of the whole ordeal concerning DJ. We learn much later though it goes much further than that, which includes how: she wishes she was a mare, has ditched her last name to the point of forgetting it, casually insults DJ to her face when they suddenly meet because of DJ's humanized life, and wanted to order food off a pony menu instead of one designed for humans. The only thing that she seems to like of anything human related is Sam, whom she's lusting after.
• Brain Bleach: Referenced by DJ in a flashback to her teens, after Anna shows her an episode of this universe's version of My Little Pony 'n Friends.
• Break the Cutie: The Foalnapping Incident and misinterpreted "attempted rape" gave DJ PTSD; the subsequent custody trial a few months later shattered her psyche, pushing her over the Despair Event Horizon, giving her further grief and changing her personality from cheerful and outgoing to jaded and sullen. She's evidently regained some of her old personality over the years, but Rarity and her defenders tend to bring out the worst in her.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: DJ punches Nightmare Moon, and a second later her irritated foe then proceeds to break DJ's arm in three places.
• But Not Too Gay: Lyra and Bon Bon, one of the most common pairings in the fandom, are said to have been romantically together for a time. In the present, both are separated and Lyra has a husband.
• Celebrity Paradox: The ambassador to Equestria in 2047 is Megan Williams, the protagonist of the G1 cartoon. The G1 cartoon still existed in this universe. This means that the only difference between the American ambassador to Equestria and a sixty year old cartoon character is that the ambassador didn't get to travel to a land of magical talking ponies till she was an older woman. This also applies to her younger brother Danny, who is Vice President of the US as of 2047.
  • Stated in the story that the G1 animation was actually a live-action/puppetry mix similar to Sesame Street, and that Megan and Danny briefly continued their acting careers into their teenage years before retiring; the youngest Williams sibling, Molly, who was also on the show, continues as an actress into the present time.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Screwball and Barking Mad/Screw Loose, casually mentioned in an early chapter, later come back and are revealed to be a supernatural being of chaos and a Discord cultist with chaos magic, and subordinates of Faust herself.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Several characters, especially the military members or those exposed to same, do this.
  • DJ, her father, and Mike's father (the latter two being Navy vets), are very adept at this. Ironically, though being the only active-duty member of the four, Mike isn't anywhere near as foul-mouthed as his family members.
• Comfort Food: Whenever DJ's stressed, you can bet before the day ends, she's had her favorite food: cheeseburger with fries; bonus points if it's a bacon double cheeseburger.
• Cosmic Chess Game: Discord and Faust appear to have been running one.
• Cursed with Awesome: Reconstructed with a lot of the main cast. The mane six seem to never have a break when it comes to their responsibility to Equestria. It seems to also now to be extending outward into their family and close friends where they are, military or not, getting involved voluntarily or involuntarily.
  • Rarity seems to play with this idea with her and the rest of the royal family probably never getting a happy ending.
  Rarity : "It’s been one thing after another, hasn’t it? Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra… just one after another after another. We nearly died at your wedding. My husband was foalnapped at mine.” She looked at the ground sadly. “When do we get that Happily Ever After that we’re all supposed to deserve by now?"
  • Subverted to a degree with the Kimono family. Their cutie marks are of those of the Cutie Pox - a disease that in canon causes a pony to gain cutie marks and the talents it entails but be forced to act them out to the point of apparent death by overexertion. To them though they are not compelled in the slightest to do their marks, but they all still seem to carry the talent it brings. The ones we know of so far seem to very well be the best in their field. In fact it’s said to "Never try to beat a Kimono at their own game."
    • Doubly Subverted however with Karyn. Her talent is size magic, and she utterly hates it and is ashamed of it to the point of thinking about it causes her stress. This is despite even some small practical applications to even later on where she shows just how hugely powerful she could be using it. Literally.
  • DJ feels this way with her earth pony strength even though she’s not as strong as other earth ponies. Her nightmares as she puts it are made reality when she has her magic finally awakened, but she cannot help relish in the power she has now in those first few moments.
• Daddy's Filly: Dinky is not happy about getting a stepmother.
  Derpy: “Oh, and Dinky will probably hate you for a while, be warned: she’s a jealous little filly."
  • Fortunately for Rarity, this seems to improve over time... ...until Dinky's untimely death.
• Deathbringer the Adorable: Diablo, Cinnamon's pet bunny
• Death Glare: Fluttershy used The Stare on Blueblood! It's super effective! Blueblood fainted!
• Depraved Bisexual: Nightmare Moon. It can safely be said that no-one (save for possibly the author) saw that one coming.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": DJ doesn't like her birth name, Sandalwood. She especially doesn't like it when people know this and call her it anyways.
• Door Stopper: Both the main story and the sidestories clock in at 300K+ words, or about the size of six novels each. The prequel is getting up there in size as well.
  • Additionally, there are jokes in the stories' comments sections about the size of the work(s) causing Archive Panic in some potential readers.
• Dramatic Irony: In chapter 23, DJ ruminates on the number of adjustments she and her family will have to be making, including Sam being recruited to set up a national police force, which she recognises is at least partly based on nepotism
  DJ: (I’m sure Celestia respects his talents. Honestly, I think Sam’s biggest problem is getting a girlfriend.)
  ''What she doesn't know is that Sam and Celestia have started a secret relationship.
• Dysfunction Junction: It seems that anyone connected to the Equestriani royal family has at least two subscriptions, and if they don't have those then they're soon picking up issues.
• Eagleland: Parodied when DJ uses American Temper to hold her own against the Royal Canterlot Voice.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: DJ's is "Hikaru".
• Ethical Slut: Derpy's twin sister Ditzy is shameless in just about every other way...but she refuses to show any of it in front of foals.
• Fanfilly: Lyra and soccer. She's okay with other sports, but when it comes to soccer, she's as bad as any human sports nut.
  • For that matter, Trixie has become a huge otaku to the point that she uses anime references to mark her path during a particularly strange Roofhopping battle.
• Fantastic Racism: The ponies haven't had it easy, but then again neither have the humans.
  • There have been several high-profile murders enacted by humans on ponies for speciest reasons, and the Equestrians have a disturbingly popular pony supremacist movement called the Purehooves.
  • During and after the attack on Cloudsdale ponies start rioting and attacking any non-pony they find. The ponies in Ponyville get close to killing Spines, but she and the rest of the non-pony residents are saved by the timely intervention of Spike wearing green flaming magical wings.
• Fantastic Slurs: The ponies have been rather tame in their epithets of humanity: "monkeys" are the worst that's been said. The humans, on the other hand, have been a bit more colorful:
  Lyra: “Let me see if I can recall some of the speciest slurs made about ponies: Kickstands. Tugs. Geldos. Roadshitters. Cathyfuckers – I don’t even know what that means.”
  • Ponies have been a bit more colorful as of late, referring to humans as "skinners" and humanized ponies like Dusty Groove, Lyra and others as "skingrafts". DJ, of course, is simply referred to as a traitor or brainwashed.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: When Rarity shows up at DJ's party after the custody hearing, DJ introduces her to Mike and proceeds to curl her tail around his leg, which she thinks is a mere sign of affection. To Equestrians, the gesture is a sign of foreplay, and Rarity and Minty assume the worst, ignoring that DJ clearly has no reason to know that.
• Field Promotion: For just about everything that has been going on, Mike gets promoted from Lieutenant Commander (O-4) to full Commander (O-5). Considering the implications of his career in the sidestories, he's either well ahead of the game or possibly a potential case of Closest Thing We Got.
• Foreign Language Title: The chapters "Ēka Bāra Phira" (Hindi for "once more"), "Mit Brennender Sorge" (German for "With Burning Anxiety"—the title of an encyclical by Pope Pius XI), and "Chega de Saudade" ("enough longing"—the title of a bossa nova song first composed 1958.)
• Four Lines, All Waiting: Applies to most chapters in the main story:
  • DJ's struggle to reconnect with her biological family and her Equestriani heritage.
  • Escalating conflict between Equestria and Iran, helped along by other villains from both Earths.
  • Twilight's efforts to save herself and the Elements from Nightmare Moon's curse.
  • Most of the supporting cast have recurring subplots (Rumble returning to Ponyville with PTSD after a disastrous mission, Sweetie Belle and Pipsqueak's breakup, etc)
• Friendly Enemy: Discord has developed into this.
• Fun with Acronyms: Twilight's reality-hopping device is called the Panoramic Operational Remote Temporadimensional Access Link, or "Portal", for short.
  • Another, more hidden one comes when a character states an authorization code; "Hotel-Four-Siera-Bravo-Romeo-Zero". Abbreviating the code and putting in the actual numbers spells out 'H4SBR0' (Hasbro).
• Future Slang: By implication. Early 21st century slang is considered out of date.
• Generation Xerox: Cinnamon Star, Fluttershy's adopted daughter, is painfully like how her mother used to be.
  • Worse: Pinkie's twin children, Bubble Berry and Surprise - they're like Pinkie, but in STEREO.
• Genre Shift: The first chapter involves DJ retelling her life story. The second chapter, however, moves clearly into the technothriller domain.
  • The sidestory "Bakemono" shifts heavily into stereotypical anime cliche territory.
  • Kind Hearts & Coronets, while officially a slice-of-life series, whiplashes between that and adventure.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Sam shaking Celestia out of her breakdown in Washington.
• Goddess-Princess: Partially averted, as the alicorns insist that they are not deities...despite the fact that none of their followers/subjects seem to comprehend or believe this.
  • The fact that Faust is much more powerful than Celestia or Luna doesn't help their arguments, unfortunately.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: The "Foalnapping Incident" and Equestria's two week silence before making a statement afterward turned First Contact into one of the biggest (if not the biggest) PR disasters in human history.
• Half-Breed Discrimination: Certain groups of ponies (particularly Canterlot Noble Unicorns) still hold onto the idea of those "pure" tribe blood are better than those mixed. In addition the Half-human hybrids are starting to come under some discrimination from both Earths' extremist groups for varying reasons.
• Half-Human Hybrid:
  • DJ and Mike's children, along with Lyra and Paul's (and other pony-human couples) are the current mainstay ones. So far they appear to be human with unusual hair and eyes due to the amniomorphic spell, though one of DJ's sons might be able to see magic.
    • In universe the spell that allows for one species to another also allows for interspecies hybrids to be conceived while transformed. This wasn't always the case though. From 2027 to 2047 the spell has advanced from something that just changes appearance, to something that also changes the genetic structure of the user to allow for interspecies conception. There are still limits though; for instance, a griffin can have a baby with a water dragon but not a pony, and a dragon can't have a child with any of them.
  • The Pepsis Warriors, children of Queen Chrysalis created with harvested genetic information from Shining Armour, resulting in a changeling/pony hybrid.
  • Faust and Greg have hybrid children, but no one but the immediate family and friends knows of them.
  • However, then there is Sterling who was conceived in a different manner. Instead of an amniomorphic, it was a quelled Tantabus that allowed for conception. All it took was both Luna and Robin having... longings for each other to allow it to cross into reality (and the Tantabus itself wanting to be a part of Luna), and that reality became Sterling.
  • Konsequences though has a more darker take.
    • Through Karl and Karyn's accidental messing of the amniomorphic spell, Karl eventually becomes a literal chimera of human and pony. He is eventually saved by Faust and returns to almost normal, but the threat of him turning back into that amalgam remains if not careful.
    • An indirect result of their meddling in human magic results in their son, Kane. Who is a hybrid in the opposite way of all others in that he is a half-human pony instead of a half-pony human.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat:
  • DJ's fight with Luna in Singapore, the former matching the latter's Royal Canterlot Voice with "what could only be called the classic American tantrum".
  • Rarity and DJ's argument at the hospital, to the point that the author includes an illustration.
  • Celestia and Luna's argument in the same chapter, over the former's feelings for Mike and the latter's past relationship with Robin. Needless to say, both resort to the Royal Canterlot Voice pretty quickly.
  • Matt and Carl's long and profane shouting match after they find out their respective children are dating.
• Happily Adopted: DJ.
  • Also Cinnamon.
  • And Imago.
  • Not to mention Ueda Tsubasa.
• Happily Married: DJ and Mike. Lyra and Paul are also big examples of this trope. Other married couples may or may not be this.
  • Carlos and Sabrina, despite not being major characters, stand out for just how freakish their example is, due to the two not only belonging different political parties, but being closely associated with competing Presidential candidates. Not unheard of (Sabrina herself compares them to Matallin and Carville), but certainly weird and rare.
  • Book 2 has been delayed further due to art for Book 2 being waited on. In the meantime The Breaking Straw is there to fill the gap between events.
• High-School Sweethearts: DJ and Mike were together ever since they first met in high school, and they've been married for nearly ten years by the start of the story. (It would have been longer, but moving around a lot to different locations hampered that.)
• Honorary Aunts: The rest of the Mane Six, as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, were designated as such for DJ
  • In fact, all the foals of the Mane Six were brought up this way as well, so much so that they all refer to themselves as cousins.
• Hypocrite: Rarity gives the following advice to Trixie in the side-story "Bakemono": "In any case, all I can say is that you need to do what you feel is right, Trixie. We are not a species that is prone to fighting; we come from prey animals used to running from our problems. And yet there are some problems you can never run from." Trixie chooses not to point out the irony.
  • To go even further, she's the Knight Elemental of Generosity yet her treatment and reaction to DJ's lifestyle and how she wants to meddle in it has been nothing but selfish.
• I Have No Son!: After the court battle over DJ's fate, Rarity claims her daughter Sandalwood died years ago, and refuses to even acknowledge DJ for decades.
• Immigrant Patriotism: And how!
• In Another Man's Shoes: Mike goes through this in Lost Weekend.
• Ineffectual Death Threats: Blood Armor seems to enjoy doing so to Twilight Sunburn and frequently backs it up by hurting her. However, when it comes to the point where she nearly dies in a gun battle with the Belgian military, he's nowhere to be found.
• Inhumanable Alien Rights: Until DJ's tenth birthday, when the Supreme Court declared her legally a person, she did not have full legal rights.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Pony mares have a definite thing for human men, and vice versa.
    • Explained in universe: pony female to male ratio is 1.7:1, while humans match the Real Life ratio of 1.01:1 Furthermore, pony female pheromones work to devastating effect on human males; an aroused mare will give off enough of the hormone PEA to make the man go into euphoria - yes, aroused pony females smell like chocolate.
    • By contrast, stallions are repulsed by human female hormones. When last we saw the first stallion to fall in love with a woman he was working on a solution to that problem that didn't involve shoving tissues up his nose. Though for women looking to make it with a pony tissues are an effective way to get the stallion of their dreams to get past his nose.
  • Imago, a flutter, found love in the forelegs of Pip during his separation from Sweetie Belle.
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Used in chapter 1, where it is referred to as an old cliché.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Sweetie Belle calls an end to her thirty-plus year off/on relationship with Pip when she finds out about Imago and their children.

J-Q

• Just Friends: Logan and Lovestruck. While he is attracted to her (something's she's very aware of), she's still too hurt by the loss of her coltfriend and he's too nice to take advantage.
  • DJ, however, is convinced that their relationship is imminent.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Spitfire in the second to last chapter of Book 1, followed shortly afterwards by Sable Loam and then Chrysalis and Orange Box in the last chapter of Book 1.
• Latin Lover: Alluded to in the sidestory Chemistry.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: a retired 80s rock star who no longer dresses like he used to is in Seattle for business. During that time he runs into the newly-monikered Robert "Bob" Smith and offers the gryphon advice on being yourself.
• Likes Older Women: Sam Martinez. Namely, Celestia.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: In chapter 18, this is how Twilight Sunburn comes up with the fake name Tender Care, by reading it off a billboard. However, "Tender Care" is a perfectly realistic name for a pony.
• Love Dodecahedron: There have been calls for the author to make a list of all the characters in the series. As of now, there's currently a chart of only the significant characters from the main story. A much larger chart is being worked on that covers every character and is reputed to dwarf the one above.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Or rather, "Celestia, I am your mother," with Nightmare Moon filling in for Vader.
• Mayfly–December Romance: Celestia once had a mortal lover, a unicorn named Argent Lance. However, their relationship didn't last, though not because of his death (they broke up for political reasons.) Robin and Luna's relationship also qualfies, as does Greg and Faust's marriage.
  • Celestia has since begun a relationship with DJ's brother Sam.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Imago. her foil/biological mother Chrysalis' name indicates immaturity, while an imago is the term for an adult insect, implying that Imago is much more mature than Chrysalis will ever be.
  • During the Christmas special, we are introduced to Mike's cousin Joe and his wife Mary. While their personalities are well different, the names may reflect that of Joseph and Mary, two figures central to the Christian Christmas mythos.
• Meaningful Rename: When Twilight Sunburn throws her past as a pepsis away, her newly-adoptive mother Twilight Sparkle gives her the name Shining Dawn, partially in memory of Shining Armor.
• Mood Whiplash: During DJ's visit with the Elements, Rarity gets up and interrupts the conversation to resume her antagonism with DJ, but is struck silent when she sees her grandfoals.
  Rarity: They’re so… human. ...They’re… so pony, as well. I can see my Silversteel in them, and I… they are my grandfoals, aren’t they?
  On the other side of the barrier, everyone save for DJ relaxed. Perhaps this was finally the turning point between mother and daughter, where acceptance would finally come. And then Rarity picked the wrong thing to say:
  Rarity: Even if their mother is a selfish, ungrateful brat.
  • The ensuing argument almost results in both Rarity and DJ breaching the quarantine barrier.
• My Greatest Failure: Roughwind sincerely regrets what he did in the Foalnapping Incident.
• My God, You Are Serious!: DJ's reaction when she realizes that Flutterwonder wasn't exaggerating about the possibility of Hazy bringing a taser to talk with her.
• Mythology Gag:
  • "Smooze" is an euphemism for writing off problem Equestriani units.
  • A character mentions a psychologist named Bonnie Zacherle; in Real Life Bonnie Zacherle is the creator of the My Little Pony franchise.
  • Ghastly Gorge is renamed "Dream Valley" once it is taken over by the flutters.
• Nepotism: Celestia arranges for Mike to be given a high-profile military posting in Canterlot, as well as offering Sam the previously vacant position of Princess's Hoof (equivalent to King's Hand). When pressed by Sam, she admits to playing nepotism to stack the deck - partly in hopes of helping DJ reconnect with her family and Equestria, partly to combat government infiltration by the Purehooves.
• One-Steve Limit:
  • Averted with Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Sunburn.
    • As well as the unrelated stallion Twilight Sky, Twilight Sparkle's mother Twilight Velvet, and Faust's one-time court mage Twilight Aurora.
  • Also averted to a minor degree with Erica's high school boyfriend Paul Cooper and Lyra's husband Paul Phillips, though the high school Paul is a minor character for a flashback story arc.
  • Averted to a ridiculous degree via Chrysalis' pepsis soldiers. Considering they look like Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Velvet and Night Light, every one of them has a name based on the family member they take after, e.g. Twilight Sunburn looking very much like Twilight Sparkle.
• Opposites Attract: Carlos and his wife Sabrina are a Republican and Democrat respectively working for opposing presidential candidates, and married for many years.
• Posthumous Character: Derpy and Shining Armor.
  • Though both of them are alive and well in both prequel series.
• Precision F-Strike: To quote the fic, "As Mike would say, it’s O-Fucking-Get-To-Bed-Hundred-Hours."
  • In Lost Weekend, Mike's reaction to being turned into a pony by DJ's genderstone. The narration describes this as, "one of the few times he actually swore like the sailor he was," which presumably includes the above line as well.
• Precocious Crush: Sam claims that his feelings for Celestia date back to when he first saw her at DJ's custody hearing, when he was eleven.
• Prince Charmless: Decades on, Blueblood is still a massive Jerkass. His son Silver Platter is even worse.
• Prophetic Name: Mike's last name, Hengst ^note (German for "stallion") turned out to be rather prophetic, considering that he and DJ have been together almost since they first met.

R-Z

• Racist Grandma/Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!:
  • Mike's Aunt Debbie, who makes no secret of her disgust that one nephew has married a Hispanic woman while another is engaged to a pony (and an adopted Hispanic at that). May or may not be an actual grandma by the time of the main story. Ironically, her own parents Chuck and Ellie are the exact opposite.
  • Played with for Rarity, who starts off prejudiced towards humans based mainly on the custody battle, but has mostly grown out of it by the time she becomes an actual grandmother... at least in her friends' eyes. Some of her thoughts though seem to indicate she thinks ponies are the superior race.
    • Though later on, it seems she falls back into this completely... and more. In fact she goes as far as hiring a tribalist painter - who actually insulted her own children and husband openly - to paint DJ's royal portrait over having a picture taken instead. The reasoning? Well, she claims it's about tradition, but it comes out as wanting to spite DJ's human ways and so just so things can remain pony.
• Raised by Natives: DJ is the most obvious example, but there are others as well.
  • Spike is shown as an example of this, and he's the reason why Twilight decides to take up DJ's case.
  • Imago was a changeling raised by ponies, and as a result she metamorphized into a completely new kind of subspecies.
  • Spines is another dragon raised by ponies, and her backstory is almost exactly the same as Spike's.
• Real-Place Background: Places such as Winchester, Virginia and Singapore have popped up in detail.
  • As the author is former Navy and thus well-traveled, this also seems to be a case of Shown Their Work.
• Retcon: The first chapter was modified to facilitate several of these.
  • Hoofspace was originally magic, but was changed to be biological in nature. It still retains the name.
  • In the original it was revealed that Rainbow Dash ordered DJ "rescued" fairly early on. It was removed in a rewrite but has since been restored.
  • The end of The Busker was changed from twenty years after the main events in side-story to fifteen.
  • Originally, the author made the Babies Make Everything Better mistake of having the marriage of Rainbow Dash and Soarin' saved by the birth of their son, Rainbow Blitz. But since Blitz is the same age as Elusive, this has been removed.
  • Originally, the Republic of Pirates was the main baddies in the story, but since the rewrite, they've been mostly sidelined in favor of both the pepsis army and Ghino di Tacco pulling the strings for a war between Equestria and Iran.
• Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: The author will try to give his characters more realistic dialogue, and the commentators will then nail him for improper grammar.
• Rule 63: Averted in that the names of the gender-flipped characters are actually separate characters:
  • Elusive is Rarity's son, not her counterpart.
  • Spines is a dragoness raised in the same manner as Spike (and, interestingly enough, in the same treehouse library, though Twilight and Spike no longer live there) and no relation.
  • Rainbow Blitz is the rather mercurial son of Rainbow Dash's and Soarin'.
  • Dusk Shine is a pepsis that looks just like his aunt Twilight Sparkle, born from Chrysalis raping a hypnotized Shining Armor and adopted by Cadance on behalf of her deceased husband.
  • Butterscotch is the first foal of Fluttershy and Macintosh and was stillborn.
  • Bubble Berry is one of Pinkie's twin foals.
  • Sweepy Bell is the somewhat lookalike cousin of Sweetie Belle.
  • Harper Heartstrings is Lyra's older brother.
• Sadistic Choice: Nightmare Moon presents one to Luna when she throws both Elusive and Mike off of Cloudsdale, knowing that Luna can't rescue both of them. Nightmare Moon obviously didn't plan on Celestia making an appearance literally at the last second and throwing a big ol' wrench in her plans.
  • In Kind Hearts & Coronets, the villainous donkey Roadspierre presents Rarity with an option: marry him or break a treaty, causing Donkonia and Equestria to go to war. Fortunately for Rarity, Silver steps up to challenge Roadspierre to a duel and wins, though is nearly killed via trickery.
• Self-Insert Fic: DJ herself isn't a case, but her parents are, being somewhat comedic expies of the author and his wife.
• Series Hiatus: Having completed Book 1, the author has stated that the series will be on break until around November/December 2017 (when Book 2 will start) as they are currently working on finishing off 7 Days in Sunny June and writing other projects/stories.
• Serious Business: There's a Muffin Promise that, when broken, means you can't eat muffins ever again.
• Shapeshifting Lover: There's a spell (and enchanted item) available that does exactly this.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Wrote lots of books and spells, head of the mage guild, Princess Celestia’s protor…protoss…personal apprentice!"
  • One of the worlds' most popular movie series is Arddun Lleuad.
  • "Well, my parents were both military, and my mom has a small armory she keeps around the house for weapons reference for her artwork, so yeah, I know how to shoot. Learned on Dad’s Seburo M5 9mm."
    • The title of the sidestory anthology — Be Human — is a reference to one of the Scott Matthew songs from SAC, and in universe it's DJ's favorite song, for obvious reasons.
  • When a young Mike asks his sister for advice in dating DJ — an alien — his sister questions whether or not he'll wake up one day with DJ talking about ‘yellow perpendicular with making blue bisector’.
    • Funnily enough, years later one of DJ's favorite games is shown to be a future version of Star Wars: The Old Republic.
  • To continue the Star Wars references, when Cadance asks Lyra on advice for childrearing, Lyra makes light of how things have changed between former foalsitter and foalsat:
  Lyra: “Just don’t expect me to do the whole Darth Vader thing.”
  Cadance: “Darth…Vader?”
  Lyra: “Star Wars reference – hubby’s a big fan of those old movies. ‘When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master.’”
  • During a Halloween party, Erica dresses up as the assassin Ambika from Claude & Monet. Overlaps with Product Placement.
  • In chapter 11 the Changelings get "educated" on the difference between tactics meant for terror and tactics meant for war by the Belgian special forces.
    • The start of chapter 6 shows several characters travelling through a portal from Earth to Equestria, and it's described as very similar to a Stargate.
  • Derpy's otherdimensional-sensing device is known as the Stereolab.
    • For that matter, she boards an airship called the Serene Velocity, also the name of a Stereolab album.
    • Another ship, Milky Night, also takes its name from a Stereolab album.
  • Somebody claims that mystery girl Subaru may be a student at Furinkan High School in Nerima.
    • For that matter, Tsubasa and her fellow students attend Tamagawa Mikami High School ^note (better known as the school attended by Sakura Kasugano of Street Fighter Alpha fame).
  • One original character is named Tiny Dynamine and her unusual magic aura resembles butterflies.
  • Iocane is a common poison on Alter-Earth.
  • Depending on how you look at it, DJ's comment of "we girls can do anything, right, Barbie?" can either be seen as a pastiche of, or a parody of Mattel's slogan for their flagship product. As such, it may overlap with Take That!.
  • After Luna conquered the Tantabus, she and Twilight came across a sick unicorn filly who Twilight refers to as Nyx because she looks like Luna.
• "Shut Up" Kiss: Sam does this twice to Celestia, both times when she's trying to dissuade him of his feelings for her. The first occurs on their date in Washington, with Celestia in her human disguise, while the second comes the morning after when she shifts back her true alicorn form.
  • Greg does the same to Faust in "Love, Hope and Acceptance".
• Silver Fox: Many of the show's characters are pushing 65, and beyond a few gray hairs they still are seen as attractive.
  • Lyra is a particular recipient of this trope, having managed to snag a human husband 20 years her junior.
  • It's mentioned in-text that while humans and ponies tend to have similar life spans, ponies tend to retain youthfulness longer, only becoming... well, as old as they look towards the last quarter or so of their life.
• Smells Sexy: Aroused Equestrian mares emit a pheromone called phenethylamine, causing them to smell of dark chocolate - or, in the case of alicorns, chocolate and wild honey.
• Spoiled Sweet: Gilded Lily, who, despite coming from the same noble family that produced Blueblood and Silver Platter, demonstrates this by looking out for her maid Meadow Glade's well-being and naming her her best friend at one point.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Played for drama when Faust and Celestia use much of the same dialogue during their breakdowns over centuries of loneliness.
  Faust: Is it so wrong that I want someone of my own? I bleed and cry and all the other things living creatures do, why am I denied happiness? I am supposedly a living goddess… but who do I get to turn to when I need salvation from whatever The Rules are doing to me? When do I get to see my foals again? When do I get to have a love of my own? When do I— (Greg kisses her.)

  Celestia: Is it so wrong that I want someone of my own? I bleed and cry and all the other things living creatures do, why am I denied happiness? I am supposedly a living goddess… but who do I get to turn to when I need my own blessings? When do I get my own life? When do I get to have a love of my own? When do I— (Sam grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her out of it.)
• Sudden Name Change: Intentional, as the griffin Gunther Greatheights decides he needs a new name and goes against his culture to take the name Robert Smith.
• Superpowerful Genetics: There are many famous ponies who are great figures in Equestrian history, and their descendants carry on their greatness through the power they inherit. Often referred to as the “Legacy Families.” In secret, they have special names. For unicorns, they’re referred to as Adepts. Earth Ponies are Monoliths. Pegasi are Redsprites. The latter two are a result of a unicorn King wanting to create an army of these ponies to fight on command. These ponies as a whole are classified as Thoroughbreds.
  • Unicorns:
    • Clover the Clever : Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Twilight Velvet, Shining Dawn.
    • Star Swirl the Bearded: Star Swirl (the 35th/the Magnificent).
    • Lulamoon family: Trixie.
    • Wisteria the Wise.
    • Kimono the Unbreakable: Karyn(Stout Spirit) and her family. Earth ponies and pegasi included. See Cursed with Awesome above.
    • Stronghoof the Mighty - Known for his strength equivalent to an earth pony. His descendants are Dinky Doo and Sparkler.
    • Sunset Shimmer.

  • Earth ponies:
    • Mithril family: Silversteel and his relatives. This also includes DJ, who after awakening her magic is revealed to have directly inherited Silver’s strength unlike Minty.
    • Apple family: Applejack, Big Mac. Applebloom so far has not displayed any feats though.

  • Pegasi:
    • Prism family
    • Pansy family
    • Tiger Lily is not part of a Redsprite family, but she was still born one regardless.

• Take That!:
  • Discord doesn't care for a particular baked good:
    Discord: "Would you care for a cupcake? Never cared for them myself. Too bloody."
  • It is briefly mentioned that a derogatory Equestriani film about humans called The Converters was made, whose makers Twilight and Sweetie threatened to sue for libel.
  • Sweetie Belle also opines, much to her dismay, that she believes the same creators are behind a horror film being shot at the rainbow factory, which temporarily closed for the filming.
  • Spike is chased around at a ball by a fat, annoying filly named "Funtasia".
• That Mare Is Dead: Inverted. During Rarity and DJ's argument after the court battle, Rarity says that Sandalwood is dead, essentially disowning DJ.
  • Played straight with DJ and a few others saying the exact same thing, but the meaning flipped. People saying that Sandalwood is dead is usually a cue that their relationship with the main character is on the up-swing.
• Tempting Fate: In the side story, "The Stallion and the Girl", Carl warns Mike against making friends with an alien. Mike rolls his eyes and replies, "Dad, I just met her today, okay? It’s not like I’m going to marry her or anything." He says much the same to Erica in a later chapter.
• Token Trio: The alien club: Erica (African-American female), Carlos (Hispanic male, later Hispanic-American) and DJ (Equine-American female), later joined by Mike and Logan (both Caucasian-American males).
• Took a Level in Kindness: As of Chapter Twenty, Silversteel is ready to try to make amends with DJ and her adoptive parents, whether Rarity is or not.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: The main story takes place in 2047.
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Rainbow Blitz, Bubble Berry and Elusive take very much after their mothers.
  • To a lesser degree, Dusk Shine looks like his aunt as well, as does Twilight Sunburn.
    • The offspring of Chrysalis and Shining Armor are widely hinted that they look like members of the Sparkle family. For example, Black Velvet might be the identical granddaughter of Twilight Velvet.
  • Though not biologically related to her parents, Cinnamon Star's coloring and manestyle makes her look like the natural daughter of Fluttershy and Big Mac.
• Unfortunate Names: DJ unthinkingly suggests the name "Apple Scruffs" for Butter and Elusive's daughter - depending on context, it refers to an old fan club of The Beatles, a song George Harrison wrote about said club, or a nickname for a glitch in the iPhone 17 that quite literally caused it to catch fire. Butter loves it, much to DJ's chagrin.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Despite essentially saving DJ/Sandalwood's life, and then raising her, Rarity is totally unappreciative of the sacrifices, love, and effort DJ's human parents put into taking care of her. She brands them as 'thieves' and blames them for turning DJ against her; thus making up the central conflict in DJ and Rarity's relationship.
  • Several of DJ's critics label her as one, particularly those from Equestria, who speak of the struggles that the Elements and Royal Family went through to get her back, and the heartbreak Rarity suffered after "Sandalwood" vanished, as well as the deaths of Derpy and her daughters who tried to protect her the night she disappeared. DJ acknowledges guilt about the latter point on several occasions.
• Unperson: The fate of those exiled from Equestria.
• Unreliable Narrator: The side-story Mythomania hints that DJ may be this with regards to her past.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: A certain mare who hasn't dated for a while ( Celestia) has a thing for a certain married individual ( DJ's husband, Mike.)
  • Also, Star Swirl feels this way about Sweetie Belle, also making it a case of Unrequited Love Lasts Forever to boot.
• Unusual Euphemism: The Equestriani version of the f-bomb is "buck" which means "kick," and their version of "bitch" is "harridelle" which is a French word that means "nag."
  • Also if a mare is a "tail-lifter", it means she's a slut.
  • Nag is also used, but generally means "old fart."
• Wham Episode: Chapter 7, "At the Twilight's Last Gleaming." Cloudsdale is under an attack it may not survive, and Luna is forced to reenact the climax of Superman: The Movie without time travel and Equestriani military forces are fighting for their survival in the middle of Iran while being chased by the Iranian Republican Guard. Hoooolllee frak.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Happens at least two times in the first chapter. The first being with the rest of the mane cast and their families calling out Twilight Sparkle for siding with DJ to stay with her adopted family rather than her birth family and going to court about it. The second one happens when Celestia calls out the entire mane cast for falling into the trap of fighting each other legally in court rather than try to find a peaceful solution. But Celestia especially called out Rarity for being ungrateful to DJ's parents and Rainbow Dash for ordering the "rescue" attempt on DJ.
  • In Chapter 16, Luna calls out Celestia on her feelings for Mike (falsely accusing her of pursuing said feelings at DJ's expense), as well as for forcing her to give up her relationship with Robin. Cadance then enters and calls out both of them for making an issue of this.
  Cadance: You know, I’m very glad that the privacy spells in the room mask all but just the most basic of words so no one can hear what the buck you’ve both been screaming. Do you know how much you both spelled disaster for yourselves – because neither of you could keep your tails down? I mean, I’m just the avatar of passion, after all – I should be the one running through the pasture! But no, I got married before I started getting intimate and have stayed loyal to my husband even fifteen years after his death! What’s your excuses, mares? Plus, in case either of you have forgotten, we have a diplomatic crisis on our hands! We have several of our staffers and allied personnel dead due to a terrorist attack on us in Belgium, and our ambassador there is dead! Furthermore, our ambassador to the United Nations was assassinated! And this morning, the Iranian government issued a fatwa, or however you pronounce it, declaring that we’d framed them, they would no longer stand for ‘our’ quote, unquote, ‘lies’ and that they are on the verge of declaring war against us! And yet you two just want to sit here and scream at each other about how neither of you has gotten laid in years! Do you even see the problem with this?
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Whichever of the five mares in the COMBS stories became the new host for Nightmare Moon, she qualifies as this.
• You're Not My Mother: DJ refuses to acknowledge Rarity.
• Zombie Advocate: Tyson McAllister, a lawyer who observes the hell DJ's parents are going through as they attempt to enroll her in school and decides to sue the US Government to declare her a person. By the time of First Contact, he has become a US Senator and is still closely involved with fighting for DJ's rights.
  • Also, Celestia recommending a changeling be raised by ponies to see if it would learn love. The changeling Imago as a result metamorphized into a completely new kind of subspecies and thinks of herself as a pony instead of a changeling.

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