YMMV / Aftermath of the Games

• Esoteric Happy Ending: Twilight ending her battle with Starlight Glimmer offscreen by Retgoning her because Twilight used the time spell to adopt the filly Starlight and take her to the present timeline was deemed this because of the disturbing implications the decision had. This necessitated its own fix in the sequel Integration.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Sci-Twi's nightmare in Family becomes this after she had a similar nightmare in Legend of Everfree, and it manages to be even darker than the one in the fic.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Legend of Everfree involves much that Darth Link 22 reminds us was done here first.
  Twilight worried about Midnight Sparkle to the point of having nightmares... the HuMan Seven getting powers... If this has the Human and Pony worlds meeting, maybe I'll sue.
  • This fic has Cinch get fired and replaced by Cadance after the events of Friendship Games. "Dance Magic" reveals that canon Cinch was fired and replaced by Cadance.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Starlight Glimmer was raised in a horrible orphanage with abusive caretakers where nobody cared about her except Sunburst, and he left her to study magic in Canterlot after getting his cutie mark. In-Universe, The Mane 6 even agree that it's part of the reason why she was so messed up.
  • While Adagio is a major jerk and villain who blames the Rainbooms for the loss of her brainwashing magic, she was also kidnapped and forcibly experimented on by the human Changelings in their attempts to harvest Equestrian magic shortly after the events of Rainbow Rocks. Then, she had to escape without her sisters (who suffered the same fate) because they developed Stockholm Syndrome during their captivity. She's so desperate to save Sonata and Aria that she's willing to team up with the Rainbooms.
• Older Than They Think: DarthLink22 thought that he would be original by making Sci-Twi's parents dead, but two other fanfics with that same idea were released shortly before the chapter was published. They are It Sounds Better Than "Pity Date" and Immediate Notice.
• Salvaged Story: The third pony chapter and the first Interlude chapter in Integration firmly establishes that Twilight really did have no choice but to retgone the adult Starlight. And Twilight's shown to have severe doubts about her decision and feels as if she had murdered the original Starlight, despite everypony in the know about filly Starlight's true origins assuring her that she did what was needed to save Equestria and managed to give a villian another chance at life. Also, even though the Mane Six's friendship is saved and Equestria isn't in a Bad Future, there's still a lot of ramifications that came from Twilight changing the timeline.
• The Woobie:
  • Both Twilights fall underneath this:
    • Sci-Twi's woobiness carries over from the Friendship Games movie; she's left dealing with the trauma that the Midnight Sparkle fiasco caused her, she's left being terrified of using her newfound magic unless it's for Sunset's research, and she can't see a therapist in her native world about what she went through since nobody would believe her if she tried. On top of that, it turns out that her parents died in a drunk driving accident a few years back.
    • Princess Twilight is left dealing with the consequences of her decision to wipe the Original Starlight out of existence. She was left with no choice since unlike in canon, the villian Starlight refused to be talked down. She's not sure if it was the right choice and is aware of the possible consequences of altering the timeline, despite everybody's assurances that it was nessecary to save Equestria. She also thinks the original Starlight set up the time-travel scheme as a Suicide by Cop gambit, making Twilight feel like she doesn't deserve to be the Filly Starlight's mom.
  • The filly version of Starlight Glimmer. She spent the first nine years of her life in a horrible orphanage, her only friend seemingly abandoned her then died in a lab accident, and she's never really experience genuine love from adult ponies. In fact, when Twilight offered to read her a bedtime story, Starlight was completely amazed by it, and she burst out in tears when her new aunt and uncle pulled her into a group hug.
  • Human Cadance. Her parents died during her early teen years, and while she was taken in by the Sparkle family, her two surrogate parents and future in-laws were killed by a Drunk Driver leaving Shining Armor and Sci-Twi as the only family she has left.