This page is about the fanfic. The trope sometimes known as "Lavender Unicorn Syndrome" can be found at "Burly Detective" Syndrome.
Lavender Unicorn Syndrome is a rather...unique My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction by one Shalaroth.
It's a beautiful day in Ponyville. The sun is shining brightly, the birds are singing gaily, nary a drop of rain to be found anywhere. Everything is as it should be.
...except that everybody and their grandmothers are all turning into Twilight Sparkle clones.
Yes, a terrible affliction has befallen all of Equestria. What starts off as a series of pains and symptoms eventually transforms all those afflicted into everyone's favorite lavender unicorn. And they have to find a way to reverse this malady before the real Twilight Sparkle kills them all!
It can be read here.
Tropes:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Pinkie Pie tries to come up with one for the situation at hand, but the best she can come up with is "Mysterious Mass Misery Mire".note
- Body Horror: Every affected pony who is not a unicorn mare sprouts new body parts, i.e. horns sticking out of their heads. Affected pegasi also face the loss of their wings. Worst of all, though, is the case of Iron Will, who loses his bull horns, sees his hands turn into hooves, and is forced down onto all fours.
- Call-Back: Applejack assumes "Doctor Pinkie's" cure for Big Mac's headache is to put a trumpet in his ear and blow as hard as she can.
- Clone by Conversion: Averted. The citizens of Ponyville are turning into Twilight Sparkles, yes, but they are still themselves, and all the changes are only physical, for now.
- Comically Missing the Point: During Redheart's threat to laugh uncontrollably at whatever misfortune might befall Pinkie, her eyes light up at the idea of someone laughing.
- Cool Sword: With magic runes and the ability to null magic, although it can't stop Twilight Sparkleization.
- Delayed "Oh, Crap!": When Rarity explains the splotch of lavender on her horn, Nurse Redheart mentions that her entire horn is purple. Rarity corrects her, saying it's lavender, before she realizes...
- Gender Bender: Even stallions get turned into Twilight Sparkle clones.
- Inadvertent Entrance CueTwilight: What we need isn’t an animal. We need a Changeling.Applejack: Oh. Well, that’s a bit out of our range.Rainbow Dash: Yeah, I mean, where are we gonna find a Changeling? You can’t just whistle Chrysalis up whenever you need her around. Which was, like, never up until today.Pinkie Pie: Maybe if we asked nicely? And offered to throw her a party? A not-invading-Canterlot-and-instead-curing-us-all party?Rarity: Oh yes, I see that working perfectly. Why, we could have Spike send her a letter! ‘Dear Queen Chrysalis. We, the ponies who helped thwart your invasion, would very much like it if you came over and let us test spells on you until we figured out how to undo a magical transformation on ourselves. Party to follow. Regards, us’. I’m sure she would just jump at the chance. Why, she’d be bursting down our door moments after such an invitation was sent!Twilight: Rarity, your sarcasm isn’t helping anyp–.(The library door is kicked open by Queen Chrysalis.)Chrysalis: Twilight Sparkle! Prepare to meet your – wait why are there five of you? What’s going on?(Beat)Pinkie: (whistles) Wow, Rarity. You are good!
- Insistent Terminology: Rarity constantly has to remind everyone that they are turning lavender, not purple.
- Painful Transformation: Turning into Twilight Sparkle is no comfortable experience for anyone caught up in the matter. The most common complaints are headaches and Stallions have it the hardest, for presumably obvious reasons.
- Precision F-Strike: Rarity lets out two in Chapter 1. The first time when the light stings her eyes, and the second when she sees the first bit of lavender on her horn.
- Poor Communication Kills: Averted. Twilight assumes that the victims are Evil Alternate Universe Counterparts. But her friends managed to set her straight.
- Self-Referential Humor: The story is named for a tendency among brony fanfic writers to resort to unnecessary descriptions if they think they're using a character's name too often (ie, "the lavender unicorn", "the cyan pegasus"). As such, Rarity is consistently and conspicuously called by name in the narration in the first chapter, but only as "the lavender unicorn" after her transformation.
- Vocal Dissonance: Try envisioning Big Mac's voice or Iron Will's voice coming from Twilight Sparkle. We'll call an ambulance.
- Voices Are Mental: One of the things that remains unaffected is the victim's voice. It's one of the ways how ponies are able to tell each other apart.
