Equestrylvania (Fanfic)

"Something is very wrong in Canterlot, and as the sun finally, reluctantly rises, it brings with it a very hollow morning, devoid of warmth or meaning. Today, Celestia is not here. The sun rises without its mother: it is awake and very, very afraid."

Formerly known as My Little Castlevania, Equestrylvania is a crossover fanfiction between the settings and characters of both the Castlevania and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic series, with a writing style inspired by Stephen King and an overall apocalyptic plotline that draws heavily from The Walking Dead.

While the story was originally broken up into Books, the author has decided to consolidate them into a single volume.

Despite the consolidation, there's still a separate story, Equestrylvania Adventure, which is a collection of side stories focusing on characters outside the Mane cast.

What a Horrible Night to Love and Tolerate These Tropes:

A Day in the Limelight: One of the themes of the interludes, and the main theme of Adventure, is focusing on characters outside the mane cast and how they're dealing with Dracula's influence.
Agent Peacock: Rose Blade, the new Captain of the Royal Guard, is boyishly attractive, and keeps a collection of his namesake flowers. He also has no problem beating ponies to death.
Air-Vent Passageway: Rainbow Dash does this to escape the room she's locked in by Rose Blade.
Alice Allusion: The Chronomage is based on Lewis Carroll characters, so there's plenty of this.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: With the Castle taking the place of Celestia's palace, it's child's play for Dracula's forces to occupy all of Canterlot and wipe out the local Royal Guard.
Apocalypse How: The Castle removing itself from its home timeline caused said timeline to "implode"; Aeon and his companions' mission is to return the Castle to its own timeline in order to prevent the timeline�s collapse.
Arch-Enemy: Aeon and the Chronomage.
- There's a rapidly growing animosity between Twilight Sparkle and Marble, as well.
  - Marble was actually possessed by Actrise, who by the end of the first arc is tasked by Death with killing Twilight personally. So they are archenemies, if you want to be specific.
Arc Welding: Aeon's backstory is connected to St. Germain and the woman who appeared to Simon Belmont in a vision.
Avengers Assemble: Aeon has gathered a team of some of the greatest heroes from across the Castlevania timeline. However, the others are currently staying in the dimensionally-displaced Castle Canterlot, training the Royal Guards there, due to Aeon's fear that Dracula will attack it and because his powers have diminished to the point he can't move anyone other than himself between dimensions.
The Bad Guy Wins: Before the story even begins, it turns out Dracula has already defeated the Belmonts and his forces have already destroyed whole worlds in search of his body parts.
Batman Gambit: How Roaring Yawn gets rid of the Guards watching the room that Shatterstorm has been locked in; after telling them that the Wharg has gotten loose, he runs off, and makes noises that sound like it's close by, counting on them panicking and running off.
Berserk Button: Rose Blade does not respond well to his authority being questioned.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Rainbow Dash and Shatterstorm. Which everypony can see.
Big Bad: Dracula, as in Castlevania. He seeks to conquer the universe, including Equestria.
Big Damn Heroes: Roaring Yawn and a couple of Royal Guards show up and save Rainbow Dash and Shatterstorm from the Wharg chasing them by hitting it with a tranquilizer just in time.
Blatant Lies: Turns out, Dracula's minions never had Cadence, they just took her crown when she dropped it while escaping with the Royal Guards.
- Then it turns out that the traitor Royal Guards handed her over anyway, so Dracula does have her.
Break His Heart to Save Him: White Dwarf attempts this with Pokey Pierce, but it doesn�t seem to work.
Break the Cutie: Let's just say this is a very prevailing trope, and leave it at that.
Break the Haughty: Shatterstorm, after he stares into the eyes of Death.
Call-Back:
- "I take it you now possess Dracula's rib?"
- Pinkie Pie puts two and two and two together.
- The hero gets assaulted by Death before coming home to find their town is under attack.
- One of the villains gains abilities to manipulate and create fire.
- Any time anyone tries to go down a certain hallway, the Chronomage rewinds time to push them out.
- Spike at one point is shown wearing pillows and a pan as body armor.
Cassandra Truth: Roseluck fears this will be the case if she or Twilight try to warn anyone about the visions the Castle is tormenting her with.
Combat Sadomasochist: Whisper White actually seems to enjoy a vengeful Shatterstorm beating him within an inch of his life.
Continuity Nod:
- Twilight Sparkle and Applejack talk about events in the second episode of season one while trying to defend themselves from Dirt Nap.
- Rainbow Dash hates having to hang out at the hospital.
- Aeon�s story about Richter is obviously a recounting of both Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
- The heroes must embark on a journey to recover Dracula�s lost body parts.
- "The same could be said of all relig — er, sales ethics..."
- Soarin and Applejack remember each other from the Grand Galloping Gala.
Crapsaccharine World: And if Dracula has his way, he�ll turn Equestria into an outright Crapsack World.
Crazy-Prepared: Pinkie Pie, as expected. But even so, she doesn't expect it when the Magic Cross goes missing...
Dead Fic: As of October 16, 2015, the author has decided that the story is too sprawling a project, and has cancelled it in favor of other stories. However, he is willing to allow to give his outline to anyone interested so that they can continue it.
Deal with the Devil: In order to better serve Actrise, Dirt Nap willingly binds himself to Aguni.
Deconstruction Crossover: Of quite a few elements regarding both series.
- How would the Royal Guard honestly fair against something as malicious as Dracula if they're powerless against most of the other enemies the Mane Six fight anyway? Furthermore, wouldn't being useless against real threats against the kingdom affect these soldiers?
- If magic can be studied, does that mean there's a science to it?
- Is Equestria really the Sugar Bowl some people make it out to be, or is there something sinister underneath it?
- There's already been canon proof that racial politics in Equestria weren't always as good as they are now. How far did this go? Were there wars?
- If the Castle itself is a sentient creature of chaos, then what is it REALLY like to be inside it?
- What if a pony got stuck with something no one really likes doing as his special talent?
Defrosting Ice King: Roaring Yawn starts out the story as a complete Jerkass to Twilight, but warms up to her after what happens at the Castle.
Demonic Possession:
- It eventually turns out that Marble was possessed by Actrise when she refused to poison the foals.
- In his first scene, Alucard teaches a group of Royal Guards how to recognize the signs of this, and whether or not it is voluntary.
Depraved Bisexual: Whisper White is a psychopath who finds both Shatterstorm and Rainbow Dash beautiful.
Despair Event Horizon: According to Aeon, the entirety of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was this for Richter Belmont.
Determinator: Shatterstorm is locked in a room sealed with an unbreakable door. He just keeps bashing himself against it until it does break.
- Rainbow Dash refuses to back down when cornered by the Wharg eventually beating it into submission.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Shatterstorm despises being a Jerkass Woobie.
The Dulcinea Effect: Implied with Shatterstorm's apparently intense dedication to protecting Twilight.
Eldritch Location: The Heavenly Doorway, the place between worlds that Aeon travels through to move between dimensions. It's alive, and wants to consume the mind of anyone who passes through it.
- The Pocket Dimension inside Sypha's spellbook is shaped entirely by memories, and thus can change randomly at a moment's notice.
Enemy Within: According to Sypha, everyone has one of these, representing the darkest parts of themselves. As part of her training, Twilight has to face hers, which is a screaming blob of darkness.
Erotic Dream: While not "erotic" per say, Rainbow Dash does have a dream of her and Shatterstorm admitting their feelings for each other and passionately kissing... and then "wakes up" to find herself sharing a bed with him.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Nevermore the Perverse created a poison that only affects foals, but was sure to also create a cure, just in case anypony got the idea to use his poison on his own kids.
Even Evil Has Standards: While Marble/White Dwarf willingly joined Dracula's minions, she still refused to poison foals. So of course, Actrise possesses her to get it done, leaving White Dwarf as the fall-mare.
Eviler than Thou: Applejack describes the feeling from Dracula's rib as worse than Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, and even Dracula's minions themselves.
Eye Scream: After Shatterstorm is done with Whisper White, one of the latter's eyes has been bashed into jelly.
Face Death with Dignity: Both Roseluck and Pinkie Pie attempt this when they feel they no longer have an option to escape. Thankfully averted.
Face�Monster Turn: Shining Armor eventually succumbs to the infection he gains near the beginning of the story.
Faux Affably Evil: MARBLE.
For the Evulz: Dracula and his minions are beyond reasoning with.
For Want of a Nail: The Castle arrived the night that Twilight received Star Swirl the Bearded's journal, meaning she never had a chance to read it, ultimately meaning she never became an alicorn.
Freak Out: Sweetie Belle has a particularly jarring one of these after she witnesses the death of another foal.
- Annnnd, she has yet ANOTHER one in Chapter 9. We later learn that this was actually a result of being poisoned by a deadly hallucinogen.
From Nopony to Nightmare: Dirt Nap the grave digger.
Funetik Aksent: The Apple family. As expected.
Genre Blind: Shatterstorm feels that Rainbow Dash is this towards the... attention she gets from the other Royal Guards in Canterlot, to the point that he pretends to be her boyfriend to make them back off.
Ghost City: Canterlot is almost completely deserted, the populace having either fled or been killed, save for a small remaining group of Royal Guards and hiding survivors.
Good is Not Nice: Even though Roaring Yawn and Shatterstorm are on the good guys� side, they are hardly the nicest ponies you�d ever meet.
Good Is Not Soft: And as nice as she is, Twilight Sparkle holds no sympathy for Dirt Nap after he burns down most of Ponyville.
Guile Heroine: Twilight Sparkle picks up this trope and uses her wits to confront enemies that are too powerful to fight directly.
Heroic BSoD: This might as well be the subtitle for the first arc. Almost all of the main characters go through one!
Heroic Resolve: It's about the only thing that gets the heroes through this story.
Heroic Sacrifice: Pinkie Pie attempts this in order to save both Roseluck and Rainbow Dash. Fortunately, she lives.
- Tiger Cross, who holds off Death so Twilight can get to safety, isn't as lucky.
Holy Burns Evil: The Magic Cross is able to ward off all of Dracula's monsters. Notably, even the Behemoth is scared of it, to the point that in a blind panic to get away from it, it runs right into the Aguni-possessed Dirt Nap, burning itself to death.
- When Marble not-so-subtly threatens Fluttershy, she panics and thrusts the Magic Cross into Marble's face, leaving a cross-shaped burn mark on her cheek.
He Who Fights Monsters: The remaining Royal Guards have become little better than Dracula's minions, killing and mutilating the corpses of those who would act as Les Collaborateurs. Then it turns out that they are Les Collaborateurs, and they killed the ones they did for refusing to go with them.
If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: How Big Macintosh keeps Applejack from going after Marble.
I Have Many Names: It turns out Marble's real name is White Dwarf.
I Have Your Wife: The reason Marble continued working for Dracula's minions even after her disgust over poisoning the foals.
Implacable Beast: No matter what Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash do to the Behemoth, it just keeps getting right back up.
Intergenerational Friendship: Spike with any of the Mane Six, of course, but now he�s also friends with Shatterstorm.
It's All My Fault:
- Rarity's attitude toward feeding Sweetie Belle poisoned food by accident.
- Aeon seems awfully remorseful for something...
- Roaring Yawn feels this way about failing to cure Shining Armor.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Turns out Roaring Yawn�s not that bad a pony, really. He�s just really stuck on himself.
- For all his snide comments on mares, Shatterstorm seems pretty good with kids.
Karmic Death: Dirt Nap is burned to death by the power of the demon he sold his soul to.
Kick the Dog:
- The villains do so love rubbing their opponents' faces in their failures and the horror surrounding them.
- The Chronomage causes a cart Bon Bon is pulling to throw a wheel, for no other reason than it amused him.
Lightning Bruiser: Whisper White can move so fast Rainbow Dash doesn't even see him do it.
Like Brother and Sister: Spitfire and Shatterstorm.
Mad Love: Dirt Nap becomes infatuated with Actrise the moment he sees her.
Malevolent Architecture: If what Roseluck tells Twilight Sparkle is true, the castle itself is one of the main villains in the story — which would be keeping with Castlevania mythology. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night established the castle as "a sentient creature of chaos."
Make Me Wanna Shout: Vinyl is able to magically broadcast a massive amount of sound, to the point of being potentially lethal if she takes it up enough.
Mathematician's Answer: Sypha does this a lot with Twilight during their training.
Meaningful Name: Each story arc is named for a song from Castlevania. Expect that song to have something to do with the story�s contents.
- Continuing the tradition of meaningful pony names, we have guys like Roaring Yawn, Dirt Nap, and Shatterstorm.
Mind Rape: Just looking at Death's face causes whoever does so to relive every painful memory they have. The fact that Dirt Nap is unaffected by it is what clues Death and Actrise in to the fact that he might be an asset.
My Greatest Failure: How Shatterstorm feels about succumbing to Death's Mind Rape and being unable to save Tiger Cross.
- Bon Bon feels this way about abandoning Lyra during the attack on Ponyville. Her saving Aeon from the Chronomage's mud men is her second chance.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: There is constant mention of one Mr. NEVERMORE THE PERVERSE.
Negated Moment of Awesome: Spike attempts to pull a You Shall Not Pass! on a group of monsters to protect Rarity and Sweetie Belle, only for Fluttershy to show up with the Magic Cross and scare them off.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Chronomage implies that Aeon is the one who scattered Dracula's body parts across the multiverse, instigating the plot.
- This is confirmed by Aeon himself shortly after.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Rose Blade and Whisper White enjoy doing this to those who disobey them. Shatterstorm later returns the favor to the latter.
No Name Given:
- "This Man" and the "Ghostly Dog" combined are both actually the Dead Mate enemy from Super Castlevania IV.
- The pony with "intelligent chocolate eyes".
No Ontological Inertia: The moment Aguni leaves Equestria, all the fires he caused go out at once.
One-Word Title: A Portmantitle of Equestria and Castlevania.
Our Werewolves Are Different: Rainbow Dash and Shatterstorm encounter a Wharg upon their initial intrusion to Canterlot. It ends up playing an important role to that portion of the story.
Outside-Genre Foe: The heroes have no idea who or what they're up against when Castlevania appears in their world. It doesn't end well for them.
Out-Gambitted: Marble manages to force Twilight into giving her Dracula's rib, then to act as her escort out of the hospital just to humiliate her. Twilight has no choice but to comply.
- Twilight gets her back when it turns out she managed to use the rib to channel a spell to the other body parts that mutes their presence, making it nearly impossible for Dracula's minions to find them.
Parental Incest: Horribly, horribly implied with Shatterstorm.
Perfectly Cromulent Word: The Chronomage possesses an interesting language of portmanteaus and nonsense words.
Playing with Fire: Dirt Nap gains fire powers upon fusing with Aguni.
Politically Incorrect Hero: Perhaps Shatterstorm's most noticeable flaw is his misogyny.
- Charlotte Aulin. See Values Dissonance below.
Poor Communication Kills: Applejack's argument about Aeon's ambiguous behavior.
Portmantitle: A fusion of Equestria and Castlevania, that's also a One-Word Title.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Many of the remaining Royal Guards have apparently decided that this is acceptable since they're all likely to not live much longer anyway.
La R�sistance: What's left of the Royal Guard in Canterlot. Until it turns out that they're actually Les Collaborateurs, working with Dracula in exchange for their lives.
Sadistic Choice:
- Marble poisons most of the remaining foals in Ponyville and tells Twilight she'll only give her the cure if she hands over Dracula's rib. And then, once she has the rib, she adds the stipulation that Twilight escort her out of the hospital unharmed before she'll hand it over.
- Rose Blade gives Rainbow Dash one after capturing her. Either Rainbow Dash lets him have her, or he kills Shatterstorm.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the Wharg gets loose in their base, many of Rose Blade's Guards flee, fearing it more than him.
Sealed Good in a Can: Word of God strongly implies this is the cause of Luna and Celestia's disappearances. They, their castle, and everyone in it, are currently in another dimension than Equestria.
Secretly Dying: Revealed to be the case with Aeon.
Self-Inflicted Hell: Sypha says that this is the only kind of Hell, and then demonstrates it to Twilight by forcing her to relive the moment when she found the dead foals in the hospital, which morphs into all her fears and doubts plaguing her. All part of her training.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Twilight's reaction when her friends see Roaring Yawn's picture and tease her about him.
- Jonathan's reaction towards people talking about his relationship with Charlotte.
- Luna teases Celestia about having a crush on Julius Belmont. Celestia immediately changes the subject... but she doesn't deny it.
Ship Tease: Between Soarin' and Applejack.
Shipper on Deck:
- Scootaloo, for Rainbow Dash and Shatterstorm.
- The rest of the Mane Six (and Spike) ship Twilight Sparkle and Roaring Yawn. Or at least pretend to in order to tease her.
- Aeon ships JonathanXCharlotte, to which Jonathan denies.
- Luna seems rather pro-CelestiaXJulius.
- Spitfire: Captain of the Wonderbolts, and Co-Captain of the S. S. RainbowStorm.
Shout-Out: The author was really going for one or two of them per chapter, and it shows:
- A small child is attacked by a St. Bernard that used to be such a sweet dog.
- �It�s a secret to everypony.�
- Several lines are actually lyrics from different songs, ranging from The Eagles' "Hotel California" to Michael Jacksons "Thriller".
- A lot of Rose�s scenes have shout-outs to Eyes Without a Face, the author�s admitted most favorite MLP fanfic.
- "Are they in a cave, WITH a box of scraps?"
- Twilight at one point mentions World 8 of Super Mare Sisters to describe doing something that's really hard.
- "Sorry, Spike. I don't give credit. Come back when you're a little richer."
- ��This� is not the greatest song in the world. �This� is just a tribute.�
- The second major arc opens with Rainbow Dash and Shatterstorm traipsing through a Ghost City that's dense with fog, finding instances of monster attacks, coming across letters left behind by those who'd come before them, finding a red radio that emits white noise just before they get attacked by a monster. Sound familiar?
- Private Baldwin, who was hospitalized shortly after the Castle's arrival, awakens from a coma in an abandoned hospital in the middle of an apocalypse.
- One of Actrise's minions is named Hermione.
Shower of Angst: Shatterstorm in the epilogue.
Single-Minded Twins: Well, triplets: Ear, Nose, and Throat, the directors of the Ponyville Hospital. They are constantly Finishing Each Other's Sentences and occasionally speak in unison. The one time they don't do either is when Throat asks his brothers whether they think he has a shot at dating Twilight.
Smug Snake: Something else most of the villains have in common.
Snark-to-Snark Combat: Rainbow Dash and Shatterstorm, all the time, as part of their Belligerent Sexual Tension.
The Sociopath: Rose Blade and Whisper White are both this to different levels, though Rainbow Dash says the latter is the one who actually scares her.
Spell My Name With A "C": Anyone who played Castlevania 64 or Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness for the Nintendo 64 would like to have a word with the author. "Actrise" is actually supposed to be spelled Actrice.
Spit Take:
- Rainbow Dash nearly chokes on her pizza when Scootaloo casually ships her and Shatterstorm.
- Happens three times with Soma in his first scene. He lampshades it, wondering why he keeps drinking tea whenever someone says something shocking.
Stepford Smiler: Julius admits to being one, keeping up a facade of cheerfulness in spite of everything he and the others have seen.
Take That!: The author has stated that part of Dirt Nap's characterization is designed as one of these towards Castlevania: Lords of Shadow's portrayal of main characters as whiny, self-centered, "woe-is-me" types who become villains for no good reason.
Teleport Spam: Twilight's tactic against Dirt Nap. As she puts it:
Teleport spamming. It's an obnoxious, physically-taxing tactic. On the other hoof, it perplexes and confounds enemies.
- She also relies on this during her first training bout with Sypha Belnades.
Terrible Trio: The Coven.
Then Let Me Be Evil: Dirt Nap invokes this by saying that since everypony always mistreated him because of his special talent of embalming, he's going to make them pay by joining Dracula. This trope gets deconstructed however, when Twilight gives him a pretty righteous "The Reason You Suck" Speech that sums up why no sympathy is given to him.
The Peeping Tom: Applejack apparently caught Dirt Nap watching her sleep. Several times.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Twilight gives one to Dirt Nap when he tries to play the Tragic Villain card.
- Shatterstorm gives one to Rose Blade after finding out he's a traitor, saying he'll never be the Captain that Shining Armor was.
Training from Hell: Twilight undergoes this from Sypha Belnades in order to become strong enough to stand up to Dracula's stronger minions.
Values Dissonance: In-Universe. Charlotte is from a much earlier time than Soma, so he shouldn't be too shocked when she uses words like "negro" or "colored people" when comparing zebra culture in Equestria to African culture on Earth.
Villainous Breakdown: Dirt Nap has one when he attempts to play the Tragic Villain card, only for Twilight Sparkle to shove it all in his face.
- When Actrise realizes that Twilight's tricked her (see Out-Gambitted above), she starts screaming her name while beating the Chronomage bloody with her staff. She calms down after a few minutes, but is now determined to see Twilight dead.
Wham Line:
- We get one in Chapter 9: "Death Fair."
"It's a monster."
- The last line of "Original Sin" Part 3, when Actrise's minions reveal they have something important to show Fluttershy:
"There, clenched in Chloe�s fingers, is Princess Cadence�s crown."
What the Hell, Hero?:
- Big Macintosh quite loudly reminding Applejack of what will happen if she tries to kill Marble.
- Applejack herself tears into Aeon for not being clear on the limits of his powers, and keeping secrets in general.
- Pinkie scolds Shatterstorm for selfishly acting as if he's the only one suffering from what's been going on.
Would Harm a Child: Several foals have already been killed in the wake of Dracula's minions. Many have also been poisoned by Marble.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: White Dwarf is only possessed by Actrise because she didn�t want to poison the foals in the first place.
Your Worst Memory: The side effect of looking upon Death's face is a Mind Rape in which the victim relives their most painful memories.