Fallout Equestria

These ain't your regular ponies.

"Oh, my name is Littlepip. Go figure. I was given the name because I was the youngest and the smallest, and even my mother had the good sense not to call me “Pipsqueak.” (Not that I don’t love her, but when a filly’s cutie mark is a glass of hard apple cider...) Anyway, funny how names like that turn out sometimes.

Pleased to meet you. Here is my story..."
—Littlepip

Fallout Equestria is a crossover fanfic between My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic and the Fallout universe.

Set in an alternate future, it follows the story of Littlepip, a rather underwhelming Stable-dwelling unicorn in a post-apocalyptic Equestria. Stuck in the monotony of one of the lowest ranking jobs in the Stable, her life changes when she leaves in search of Velvet Remedy, the Stable's singer idol.

Outside, she must learn to survive in a blasted, poisoned land... And possibly, with the aid of friends made along the way, bring new light into the darkness of the Equestrian Wasteland.

Tropes used in Fallout Equestria include:
  • Action Mom: Xenith and Gawd.
    • Eventually Ditzy Doo, by her adoption of Silver Bell.
  • After the End: The story is set in a post-apocalyptic Equestria, suffering from the effects of what was effectively a nuclear war. In this case however, it was done with Balefire and megaspells, rather than nuclear missiles.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The AI in Stable 29 which killed the population off slowly, trying to make up for a deteriorating water talisman, and to 'preserve pony life'.
  • Alcoholic Parent: Littlepip's mother.
  • Exclusively Evil:
    • The Hellhounds. It's suggested a few times by Velvet Remedy that they might actually be a subversion. However, since Velvet suffers from some symptoms of Stupid Good, it should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
    • Chapter 42 reveals that Hellhounds believe ponies are this.
    • Raiders. Just like in the game, their only purpose is to torture and kill everypony they see For the Evulz.
  • Ammunition Backpack: Battle Saddles in general.
  • Anticlimax: Calamity finds the confrontation with his father to be nothing like he ever imagined, and in fact it's fairly amicable on Calamity's end. It shows his growth as a character.
    • Lampshaded by Red Eye when Littlepip threatens to just shoot him and end his tyranny.
  • Anti-Hero: Although Scootaloo is the earliest example of this, Steelhooves and Littlepip constantly seem to ride the line between this and Well-Intentioned Extremist.
  • Apocalypse How: A Class 2, caused by a similar war to the Fallout series.
  • Apocalyptic Log: Considering the setting, there are a few examples.
    • Stable 24's logs, leading up to the point where everyone gets killed or poisoned by the chimeras.
    • Also Stable 29 giving details up to point of its occupants' mass extinction.
    • The logs in Maripony showing the origin of the Goddess.
    • Diamond Tiara's audio records, which show her gradual descent into insanity as she turns to suicide to avoid running into raiders.
    • The crew behind the fanfic's radio play released the play’s prologue, which is the very definition of an Apocalyptic Log. Listen for yourself.
  • Artifact of Doom: The Black Book, a nigh-indestructible compendium of dark zebra magic. It's also sentient, constantly trying to tempt it's owner.
  • Ascended to Carnivorism: Most wasteland ponies have no issues with eating bacon, the village of Arbu survived by exporting radigator meat and took this a step further with their secret tradition of cannibalism.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Many believe that this is what happened to Celestia and Luna after their Heroic Sacrifice, now acting similar to more conventional gods. There's no evidence for it (and many pegasi dismiss it as bunk), but there's not really evidence against it, either until Littlepip finds Celestia's consciousness inside of the Single Pegasus Project.
  • Award Bait Song: One fan wrote a song called Lil Pip that hits just about all the criteria.
  • Audio Adaptation: There is an audiobook project currently underway, with the author's blessing. New chapters are published (and available for download) on the overly-ambitious narrator's youtube page.
  • Batman Gambit:
    • Pulled off quite well when, due to some fast talking, Littlepip has both Gawd and Deadeyes in one room, and each think that she's going to kill the other for them. She kills Deadeyes, for what happened to Silver Bell's family under his orders.
    • Red Eye is planning one against the Goddess.
    • Both of those are blown away by Littlepip's Plan to take down the Goddess. The Goddess can read minds, so she forms a plan to sneak a balefire bomb into their lair, telling everyone involved their part to play and nothing else, and then has her own memory removed (and stored) so that nobody knows enough to stop them. Then she leaves notes behind to manipulate herself into doing her part. Yes, she pulled a Batman Gambit on herself.
    • Red Eye's plan to achieve godhood is the best example yet. Realizing the need for a true alicorn 'template,' Red Eye, an earth pony, has decided to have both a unicorn and pegasus ascend with him, rather than the purely unicorn mixture that the Goddess was made from. However, as a precaution against the more charismatic Autumn Leaf gaining dominance of the persona, he tempts the equally strong-willed Littlepip, knowing that her overwhelming sense of justice would ensure the Wasteland's safety.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: The Ministry of Morale/Pinkie Pie. FOREVER.
  • Big Damn Heroes: The main characters serve as this for many of the wasteland dwellers, saving ponies being chased by raiders or shooting a dragon with a magic cannon.
    • Cruelly subverted throughout Chapter 34. Littlepip's killing of bandits who are implied to know about Arbu's secret cannibalism, and her needless slaughter of skittish Brotherhood of Steel members at the bridge, are in unknowing defense of a village that's quite blackly evil. The dead bandits and their motivations also serve as a dark Call Back to how Calamity and Littlepip met: shooting someone who looks evil and only later asking questions.
  • Big Freaking Gun:
    • Some Battle Saddles are in this vein.
    • The magic cannon that Calamity uses against Topaz is literally bigger than him.
    • Spitfire's Thunder is so big it needs to be packed up and then reassembled before battle.
    • The B.E.L. in Chapter 36 is the equivalent of Fallout's Fatman.
  • Bittersweet Ending: In a parallel to the ending of Fallout 3, Pip plugs herself into the Single Pegasus Project, going into an induced coma in order to bring new light and hope to the Wasteland. Mitigated by the idea that she can still communicate with those she loves from the inside, and by the fact that the SPP's hibernation chamber keeps her alive for longer despite the various toxins that have shortened her natural lifespan (though a mutation from exposure to taint did grant her an increased lifespan already). The 10-years later epilogue shows that the last two Element Bearers have been found, Gardens of Equestria has been activated, alicorns have become a viable pony species, and the New Canterlot Republic is a stable government.
  • Bloody Murder: A form of dark magic, allowing the wielder to form blood into weapons.
  • Bio Augmentation: The ghoul doctor attempted this with his patients and manticore poison sacs. The Zebra Alchemy perks "Bone-Strengthening Brew" and "Zebra-Augmented Pony" are more benign examples (and notably incompatible with cybernetics).
  • Body Horror: What happened to most of the ghoul doctor's experiments in Chapter 17.
  • Body Surf: Twilight is able to survive the Goddess' destruction and jump into a nearby alicorn, later coming to Littlepip's rescue. However, since the body was already occupied, Twilight (apparently) dies soon after.
  • Bond One-Liner: "Gawd sent me."
  • Book Ends: I should probably start by explaining a little bit about Pip-Bucks…
  • Brain Uploading: A possible action with the Crusader Maneframes, put there in case they ever went rogue.
    • Elder Cottage Cheese also tries this, but is stopped by Littlepip.
    • The ultimate fate of Celestia.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Pinkie Pie, as always, except here she is able to break the fourth wall of the fanfic, by interacting with Lilpip through the memory orbs. Since this fic is Darker and Edgier, she can only do this when it serves the plot, not for Rule of Funny like usual.
  • Breather Episode: Arguably Chapter 32, which takes place mostly in Tenpony Tower and includes Xenith going on a shopping trip, all real action only taking place inside memory orbs and Velvet and Calamity doing... Things.
  • Broke the Rating Scale: Similar to how Cupcakes is the only fic to get the "GRIMDARK AS FUCK" tag on Equestria Daily, Fallout: Equestria is the only fic to get the "LEGENDARY" tag there. It's that good.
  • Buffy-Speak: Littlepip's thoughts on why one of Calamity's plans isn't, because "Plans have...plan stuff".
  • Call Back: The night before the final battle, Spike cajoles Littlepip out of bed to join a festive party much like he had tried centuries beforehand with Twilight Sparkle on the eve of Nightmare Moon's return. Spike lampshades this.
  • The Call Has Bad Reception: Littlepip isn't the Chosen One, and she's not the first band Watcher has tried.
  • Can Not Tell a Lie: Monterey Jack, who would rather confess a crime and be executed for it than lie.
  • Catapult Nightmare: Diamond Tiara, causing the prisoners to become aware of her existence and therefore indirectly causing her death.
  • Character Blog: Littlepip and Red Eye, both on Tumblr. Warning: Since the answers are based on information directly from the story, up to the most recent chapter, there are many spoilers abound.
  • Chekhov's Gun: An armory's worth. The author has mentioned that this is her favorite literary device to set up. Just to name a few:
    • Littlepip's mother's tendency to alcoholism is mentioned in the prologue and summed up in Chapter 19, where Dr Helpinghooves gives it as a reason for Littlepip's tendency to addiction.
    • The magical plasma cannon which is undergoing repair in Chapter 10 comes back in Chapter 12, where it helps Calamity blow a large hole out of the dragon, Mr Topaz.
    • In Chapter 13, Littlepip decodes a recording left by Trixie that said she was going to help Twilight with an important scientific experiment. In Chapter 29, we learn both what this experiment was and its end result. This one gets bonus points for Littlepip outright stating it's nothing special.
    • The red wagon Velvet Remedy uses in Chapter 18 to pull supplies, is then used to transport an unconscious Littlepip to the clinic.
    • The Balefire Bomb found in Sliver Bell's home is later used by Red Eye to gain leverage over Littlepip. After that, it's used to destroy both the Goddess and the Black Book.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Littlepip's lock-picking. Significant in the fact that only she seems to be the only one capable of doing it to any sufficient level in the entire wasteland. This is also an example of a Mythology Gag, since the player's character in any of the Fallout games will constantly find supplies that appear to have been locked up since the apocalypse several centuries ago.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Doctor Glue elevates swearing to an artform.
  • Comic Book Adaptation: Yes, there is.
  • Cooldown Hug:
    • Velvet Remedy gives Silver Bell one of these in Chapter 9. Also doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
    • Littlepip does this to the sea-blue pony in Chapter 17. Before that, she was smashing the ghoul doctor to a bloody pulp out of rage.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Anyone in the wasteland, given half the chance. Credit goes to Littlepip for levitating a boxcar, using telekinetic magic light to hide its shadow and then using it to smash an alicorn to a thin paste.
  • Clarke's Third Law: Magic and technology go hand-in-hand so much it's hard to tell where it one starts and the other ends.
  • Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Mint-Als seem to pop up in the most inconvenient of places.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: Alicorns come in three colors; blue, purple and green, each with their own unique abilities.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive:
    • Most of the Ministry of Technology, to the point of trying to assassinate Applejack at least once for attempting to rein them in.
    • It's not entirely clear whether Scootaloo, head of StableTec was this or a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
  • Crapsack World: Equestria is now a desolate and unforgiving wasteland, with mutated creatures and the like all trying to kill you, and 'Taint' making everything else worse. This is made even crappier when you catch glimpses of what used to be.
  • Cyborg:
    • Red Eye and his dog Winter.
    • The epilogue mentions that Calamity needed some implants.
  • A Date With Rosie Hooves: Littlepip tries to relieve some sexual frustration while sick with a fever. While Velvet is sleeping next to her. Luckily, she doesn't wake up.
  • Darker and Edgier: MUCH more than MLP:FiM (duh)
    • The Canterlot ruins, which borrow elements from the Sierra Madre (Dead Money) reflect this well, as many of the already deadly threats are ramped up to even nastier levels. The original cloud would sap your health; the pink cloud is not only faster but threatens to warp flesh and fuse you to equipment or furniture or the ground. The bomb collars were mostly a puzzle and harmless as long as you turned off the speaker or got out of range; in Canterlot, their necromantic effect mean you start suffering and dying as soon as you get into range, making it all that much harder to get away.
  • Deadly Gas: The Pink Cloud in Canterlot.
  • Death by Irony: The Killing Joke's modus operandi.
  • Death Is Dramatic: Subverted. A primary character's death, while foreshadowed, is abrupt and realistic.
  • Death World: Think of the Equestrian Wasteland as a typical Fallout Wasteland... on steroids. In Fallout, few creatures have energy-based attacks, Super Mutants don't have the ability to generate extremely sturdy protective shields or fly, and Deathclaws aren't adapted enough to qualify as a faction on their own, with enough wit to reverse-engineer firearms for their own uses, plus being able to dig fast enough for it to be a viable combat tactic. Guess what you can find in the now devastated Equestria. There's more, like the almost permanently cloudy weather due to the Enclave, the incurable Taint along with the "vanilla" magical radiation, and much more.
  • Deconstruction Fic:
    • Not much from My Little Pony gets this, but several aspects of the games (and, to some extent, those who play them) are given a good look through this lens. The Party-Time Mintals are an excellent example. A player would merely be annoyed by the stat drop caused by addiction; for Littlepip, it causes a schism between her and Velvet that indirectly ensures the death of Monterey Jack.
    • Killing, even in self defense, is intensely deconstructed as well. Both Littlepip and Velvet have extreme difficulty coming to terms with the fact they have to kill to survive, even in self defense, to the point that Littlepip goes into an extended period of self loathing after wiping out a cannibal clan, and Velvet has a nasty BSOD after gunning down a tribe of Raiders, despite the fact they were both threatening innocents and desecrating her idol's home.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: Littlepip considers the very concept of an eclipse to be blasphemous and obscene. Apparently, Celestia and Luna never had such things occur while they were alive.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Littlepip comes to believe that, rather than simply being born evil, ponies become Raiders after the Wasteland destroys every last shred of hope they have inside them.
  • Dirty Business: How Littlepip sees killing and looting. Though in later chapters, she questions whether it's becoming too normal for her.
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set: The Enclave hijack DJ-PON3's broadcast to announce their return.
  • Doorstopper: Hoo boy. As of its completion, Fallout: Equestria reached approximately 608,000 words - longer than War and Peace (560,000 words). Fo:E is one of the longest, if not the longest MLP:FiM fanfiction. Forty-five lengthy chapters, not to mention the numerous fanarts, game mods (mostly for Team Fortress 2) and Recursive Fanfiction about it. If you had the time, the paper, and the ink, this would literally be a novel, if not several. The author has identified the points where it should be broken to make either a trilogy or a 5-book series.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Littlepip does this by accident when wearing raider's armor, causing Calamity to mistake her for one and nearly kill her.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • Diamond Tiara, in one of the Apocalyptic Logs. Chilling.
    • Also, Monterey Jack's confession and subsequent execution counts as this.
    • And it was suggested this was the fate of Fluttershy, but that was later shown to be incorrect.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: SteelHooves' death is sudden, unexpected and wholly ignoble. It just comes out of the blue and is over before you register it happened. A fitting reminder of how cheap and pointless death actually is in the Wasteland.
  • Drugs Are Bad: Littlepip's crashes after taking Party-Time Mint-als and addiction to said drugs do not bode well. Especially considering the eventual fate of Pinkie Pie.
  • Due to the Dead: Averted for the most part. There are weathered skeletons and defiled corpses galore in the Wasteland. Almost none of the pre-war characters receive any sort of burial. Steelhooves, however, gets a proper send-off from his friends and co-workers. Red Eye gets a particularly gruesome aversion that sickens even a horror-inured Littlepip.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Zebras believe that the stars are an entire race of these, looking to destroy Equestria. This was part of the reason the zebras were so deadset on winning the war: they believed Luna was their agent, and the events of the war were oddly similar to a prophecy for how the stars would finally kill them. It's strongly implied that there is some truth to this... but it's ultimately subverted. The falling stars were just rocks. Poisonous rocks, yes, but still rocks.
  • Elite Mooks:
    • Alicorns. Like Celestia and Luna, they have wings of pegasi and magical horns of unicorns and are pretty darn hard to kill. As long as the shields are up anyway. Without them, or when caught by surprise, they're just as vulnerable as any other pony. Not to mention their powers of cloaking, regenerating, and shooting lightning bolts. And if they've absorbed an especially large dose of radiation, then you'll also be dealing with an Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever.
    • Hellhounds. They are the equestrian equivalent of Deathclaws. Fast, intelligent and able to burrow underground at amazing speeds. Oh, and they know how to use energy weapons.
  • Enemy Civil War: In the epilogue, Red Eye's army splits into various factions that fight one another for control, and the Enclave begins a civil war once the rest of the pegasi find out what their government has been doing to the surface and how much they've been lied to.
  • Everything Trying to Kill You: The Everfree Forest in the show was already a wild, dangerous place populated with D&D monsters. In FO:E it's mutated into a honest-to-Celestia patch of instant death. And it's on fire when Lil'Pip and co. visit.
  • Evil Weapon: Starmetal weapons are this. They are described as wanting to kill and are capable of obliterating a fully shielded alicorn in a single attack.
  • The Exile:
    • Littlepip and Velvet Remedy, who can never come back inside the Stable once they've left. Irrelevant now that the surviving Stable members has been relocated to Shattered Hoof Ridge after the Steel Rangers raid it.
    • Calamity, for daring to descend to Equestria before the rest of his kind are ready for their glorious return, and for following Rainbow Dash and becoming a Dash-ite.
    • Scootaloo, who became the very first Dash-ite.
    • Littlepip again, upon activation of the Single Pegasus Project.
  • Expanded Universe: The author has done a lot of world building, and, due to a large amount of fan interest, has encouraged others to try their hoof at making a story in the Equestrian wasteland. Which some people have actually done and can be read here.
  • Expecting Someone Taller: The Griffins in Chapter 18:

Griffin 1: Where are the rest of you?
Littlepip: This is it. Just us.
Griffin 2: Well, this isn't much of a rescue.
Littlepip: Gratitude. Look it up.

  • Expy: To be expected, since the story is based off Fallout 3's. Though usually very loosely (ex. Ditzy has already finished the Guide and is over 200 years old).
    • Ditzy Doo to Moria Brown.
    • Tenpony Tower to Tenpenny Tower.
    • DJ PON3 to Three Dog.
    • Mint-als to Mentats, Dash for Jet, among others.
    • Red Eye to Lord Ashur (and, to some degree, President Eden), and Fillydelphia to The Pitt.
    • The Zebra Empire to China.
    • Hellhounds to Deathclaws.
    • Steel Rangers for the Brotherhood of Steel, though they seem to act in their West Coast ideology.
    • Balefire and Megaspell bombs as a stand in for nukes.
    • The Taint (or rather, Impelled Metamorphosis Potion seems to be a stand in for FEV.
    • The Alicorns are meant to be the Super Mutants of the universe.
      • The Goddess / Trixie for the Master.
    • The Pegasus Enclave is, well, the Enclave.
    • The Canterlot Ruins for the Sierra Madre. Similarly, Elder Cottage Cheese for Father Elijah.
    • Arbu for Arefu. Subverted.
    • Arbu for Andale.
    • Glyphmark for Big Town.
    • Qarl Death-Hoof for Garl Death-Hand.
      • Making Xenith's former tribe an expy of the Khans, and thus Glyphmark's Angels are an expy of the Great Khans.
    • Maripony for the Mariposa Military Base.
    • Friendship City is a mix of Rivet City and Junktown.
    • Old Appleloosa to Paradise Falls.
    • New Appleloosa to Megaton.
    • Old Olneigh to Old Olney.
    • Colonel Autumn Leaf to Colonel Augustus Autumn.
    • Barkin' Saw to Arkansas.
  • Eye Scream: Spike takes a plasma cannon shot to the eye in Chapter 44.
  • Fake Defector: Zecora
  • Fake Ultimate Hero: Subverted. After finally descending, the Enclave attempt to set themselves up as this, claiming to be Equestria's saviors and trying to take credit for Littlepip's deeds. No one buys it, largely because of Homage doing her best to spread the truth and the Enclave's going around and killing innocents just to kill a select few ponies.
  • Fallen Hero: While we don't get details, Homage has seen many of these throughout Equestria. So many, that when it appears that Littlepip has become one, she doesn't find it hard accept that her girlfriend might be evil.
  • Fantastic Drug: Despite the obvious downside to most of the drugs (addiction, crashes, overdoses, etc...) Party-Time Mint-als have let Littlepip overcome a whole lot of problems due to the increased clarity of thought. They also enhanced Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense to near Psychic Powers levels.
  • Fantastic Nuke: Balefire bombs, of course.
  • Fantastic Racism: People distrust ghouls, expecting them to turn into killing zombies, even the nice ones like Ditzy Doo. During the war, zebras were almost always represented as monsters in war propaganda.
  • Fate Worse Than Death:
    • The fate of those who survive the ghoul doctor's experiments.
    • Twilight.
    • Fluttershy.
      • She gets better.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Littlepip and Calamity. Possibly Velvet Remedy as well.
  • Five Pony Band
  • Footnote Fever: The end of every chapter includes a little footnote describing LittlePip's current level and/or aquired Perks.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Energy weapons, a trait carried over from Fallout.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Velvet Remedy always wanted to be a medical pony. Her cutie mark is a nightingale.
  • Friend or Foe: The E.F.S system on the PipBuck somehow determines the status of all living beings and marks them as either hostile or friendly.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: The Diamond Dogs, once some of the most pathetic villains around, have been transformed by magical radiation into one of the deadliest and most dreaded threats in the Wasteland.
  • Fusion Fic
  • Gladiator Games: The pit.
  • God Is Dead: Celestia and Luna sacrificed their lives to protect Equestria during the apocalypse. Since the sun and moon now move on their own, (though differently, as eclipses never occurred under their watch) many ponies, especially the pegasi, have turned to atheism. On the other hand, just as many believe that Celestia and Luna ascended and now perform their duties and watch over Equestria from there, similar to more conventional gods. Turns out Celestia survived, but her grief in losing Luna caused her to flee to the S.P.P, if you count uploading your mind while your body dies.
  • God Job: Discussed. Red Eye thinks that Equestria can't function without a god, and that ponies will turn to anarchy and cruelty without someone carrying a big stick to watch over them. In other words, a god like Celestia or Luna doesn't just move celestial bodies, they make civilized society possible without the props of violence and slavery. Littlepip disagrees, believing that Equestrians can heal the world through the magic of love and friendship.
  • Godzilla Threshold: To the Zebras, Luna's takeover of Equestria's government meant that if they lost the war then they faced a fate worse than death at the hooves of Nightmare Moon. When it looked like that had become inevitable, risking mutual assured destruction with a first strike became the preferable option.
  • Gone Horribly Right: The Goddess was created in an attempt to artificially generate alicorns. See Hive Mind for the results.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: Type C. One of the major plot points for story is for Littlepip to find ponies that represent the Elements of Harmony so that she can activate the Gardens of Equestria and hopefully rid Equestria of all the Taint and radiation.
  • Grey and Gray Morality: Similar to Fallout, there aren't any overtly evil or good people. Instead there are mainly people with similar goals, and differing methods. Such as Littlepip and Red Eye (though admittedly Littlpip is A Lighter Shade of Grey in comparison).
  • Guns Akimbo: Battle Saddles. Sort of.
  • Healing Factor: All ghouls and alicorns when exposed to radiation. Later Littlepip herself gains the "Rad Regeneration" perk following exposure to Taint.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Lilpip's only spell is telekinesis, which is the most basic unicorn spell, and she has a significant amount of angst over it. Velvet later points out that she is capable of doing telekinesis better than any other unicorn in existence. The Black Book later gives her Hemokinesis. Yes, power over blood.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    • Big Macintosh. To save Celestia from a Zebra assassin.
    • Celestia and Luna to prevent the Pink Cloud from devastating Equestria. Celestia survives.
    • Rarity, teleporting Fluttershy and Angel to safety from the Pink Cloud. Technically, she's still alive.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Littlepip spends a brief stint as this after she kills the Arbu cannibals. Information on the massacre spreads slowly at first, and all anypony knows initially is that Littlepip massacred an entire village for no apparent reason. To their credit, everypony is aware that they're acting on incomplete information, but they're also aware how much damage an evil Littlepip could cause, and well, better safe than sorry. Fortunately, the whole thing is cleared up fairly quickly, and Homage delivers a public apology.
  • Het Is Ew: The Enclave encourage homosexuality among its rank and file as a means of population control, given their limited arable farmland.
  • Platonic Life Partners: Aside from Homage, Littlepip treasures her bond with Calamity above everything else. He's even the last one that she requests to see before activating the Single Pegasus Project.
  • Hidden Elf Village: Of a sort. When Cloudsdayle was hit with a megaspell at the start of the war, most of the pegasi brought about a permanent cloud cover and built new hidden cities to hide from the zebra forces. The pegasi living up above the clouds maintain that they'll be back to help the world eventually, though 200 years after the war's end they're still in hiding. In Chapter 38, they finally descend and bring the Wasteland under martial law. However, the real reason they've arrived is so they can deal with Red Eye, and they don't have any plans on staying once that's done.
  • Hit Me Dammit: At the end of Chapter 44, when Littlepip needs Spike to breath fire on her.
  • Hive Mind: Littlepip comes to the conclusion that the alicorns have one when they state they remember her killing them. They also refer to themselves collectively as 'Us'.
  • Hold Your Hippogriffs: Some of the characters swear by/pray to Luna and Celestia. Littlepip comes up with gems like "Luna shitting moon rocks". Really, some of the joy in this story comes from the brilliant color of Littlepip's vocabulary. Including "Stick a horn where Celestia don't shine" and "Solar-flaring orgasms of Celestia". To her profound embarrassment, Celestia recognizes her as "she of the colorful vulgarities".
  • Honor Before Reason: See Can Not Tell a Lie.
  • Hope Spot: "Everything will end in sunshine and rainbows!"
  • Hot Mom: Xenith. Also, surprisingly, Gawd.
  • How We Got Here
  • Hurricane of Puns: As expected when the source material is half from MLP:FiM.
  • I Am Legion: The alicorns, and by extension the Goddess, who is (at least partly) The Great and Powerful Trixie.
  • I Lied: While not quoted outright, Littlepip bluntly lampshades her dishonesty as she turns her gun on Colonel Autumn Leaf instead of fulfilling her end of their deal.
  • I'm a Ponytarian: The residents of Arbu are cannibals, killing and eating ponies including a wandering preacher and various bandits. Littlepip does not approve.
  • Incest Is Relative: When Stable Two was founded, several of the ponies were part of Applejack's family. As years passed and no new additions were made to the gene pool, the inhabitants came dangerously close to inbreeding.
  • Incompatible Orientation: Littlepip had a crush on Velvet Remedy since she was little. Unfortunately, Velvet is straight. Though this was probably for the best, as they're distantly related.
  • Indy Ploy: Expect these every time you see the words 'Stealth mission,' as well as pain, violence, explosions and more violence.
  • Insane Zebra Logic: Littlepip's first impression of Xenith's philosophy.
  • Invisibility: The blue alicorn's unique ability. Acquired from Trixie.
  • Ironic Echo: When littlepip meets Monterey Jack again, and accuses him of robbing her:

Gaurd: Sorry. But it’s your word against his, and frankly, seeing as you aren’t a Tenpony citizen, your word doesn’t mean much here.

    • After he confesses, she finds out that there's a death penalty, and she claims he didn't do it:

Gaurd: Sorry kid. But it’s your word against his. And like I said, your non-citizen word doesn’t mean the dirt on my hoof around here.

  • It Only Works Once: Due to their hive mind, the same trick cannot be used on alicorns more then once. They are also capable of learning said tricks themselves, and once the hive mind is destroyed, they form an alliance with Velvet Remedy because they realize it's a better option than fighting Littlepip, the pony who outwitted and blew up their Goddess.
  • Killed Off for Real: SteelHooves
  • Killer Rabbit: Angel Bunny Took a Level in Badass during the Great War, gaining the title of Doombunny by the Zebra army.
  • Kill Sat: Of a sort. Celestia One - the megaspell in Tenpony Tower - focuses the sun's energy into a devastating beam.
  • Kirk Summation: Littlepip tries to talk Elder Cottage Cheese out of plugging himself into the Crusader Maneframe. It doesn't work, and she resorts to shutting down the entire system instead.
  • Large Ham: The Goddess, aka, the Great and Powerful Trixie.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: The memory orbs work either by copying or completely extracting the victim's memories, meaning they can't look back on them without accessing the orb. At the end of Chapter 31, Littlepip uses this to set a plan in motion against The Goddess, without the telepath finding out about it in advance.
  • Legacy Character:
    • DJ PON-3. The current holder of the title being Homage.
    • All of the Element Bearers, particularly Calamity and Velvet Remedy, for their admiration of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, respectively.
    • Littlepip herself is this in part for Twilight Sparkle, for finding the majority of the Element Bearers, as well as being the 'spark' responsible for helping them fulfill their destinies.
  • Left Hanging: Rainbow Dash's ultimate fate and the Bearers of the Elements of Magic and Generosity were never revealed.
  • Light Is Not Good: Littlepip finds other characters who embody the virtues in ways that causes more harm than good. It's explicitly stated by Watcher that the virtues can't do any good without friendship behind them.
    • Loyalty: The mercenary that is loyal to money and contract, but could easily betray co-workers.
    • Honesty: The pony who caused his own death by telling the truth, even when it was not necessary.
    • Laughter: The filly who tried to suppress all negative emotions, turning into a Stepford Smiler.
    • Generosity: The dictator who goes to monstrous lengths to gift Equestria with a future.
    • Magic: The Goddess Trixie, absorbing Unicorns and turning them into the powerful Alicorns, stripping away their identity and free will.
    • Kindness: Littlepip herself. At multiple points in the story, she goes to great lengths to save the people living in the wasteland, only to abandon them when the danger has passed. Of course, since it was The Goddess who pointed this out, it could have just been an attempt to unnerve her.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Littlepip, Velvet Remedy, and SteelHooves are distant relatives.
  • Mad Doctor: The ghoul doctor, who tries to create a pony-chimera hybrid capable of resisting the taint, killing many individuals in the process.
  • Mad Scientist:
    • Doctor Glue, and he's completely unrepentant about it.
    • Twilight Sparkle qualifies as well. While she had very good intentions, she left a lot of collateral damage in her wake, to the point that Spike feels the need to preemptively defend her to Littlepip.
  • Magitek: Balefire bombs, magical energy weapons that shoot lightning/plasma/laser beams, several PipBuck functions, rifles that shoot flammable bullets,[1] and so on.
  • Meaningful Name: As in MLP.
    • Littlepip: Diminutive, and a PipBuck technician.
      • Mythology Gag: Van Buren was going to have a stand-in for the Pipboy called a Lil Pip.
      • Littlepip's Badass Nickname, the Bringer of Light, takes significance later: she's convinced that her purpose is to bring the sun back to Equestria.
    • Velvet Remedy: Remedy as in a medicine or treatment, more appropriate for a healer than a singer.
    • Deadshot Calamity: Expert markspony. Also many of his plans have a habit of either backfiring spectacularly or having tons of collateral damage. And his mother died in childbirth.
    • SteelHooves: Never takes off his steel armor. Technically his nickname though.
      • His real name, "Applesnack", is oddly similar to his former girlfriend's name. Much to Dash's amusement.
  • Mechanical Horse: Security robots that shoot lightning.
  • Memory Gambit: Littlepip's big plan with Red Eye and the Goddess hinges on her NOT knowing what the plan is.
  • Mind Over Matter: Littlepip's only magic is telekinesis, which all unicorns can do, but the sheer level of her capability is staggering; during The Pit fight, she manages to levitate herself, an ally, a lance and several gallons of toxic goo, the last being stretched out to cloak them from snipers. And then she decides to pick a lock, without tools, by grabbing the tumblers from inside. And succeeds. She's extremely taxed by the feat but it would probably be flat-out impossible for any other pony short of Celestia or Luna. (Admittedly she had spent several traits on this.)
  • Mind Rape: The surviving alicorns under Red Eye attempt this on Littlepip, forcing her to turn her gun on Velvet Remedy. Littlepip manages to break free of their control before she pulls the trigger, however.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: The snake/cat/wasp beasts in Stable 24.
  • Motive Decay: In-Universe. The Steel Rangers were originally some of the foremost protectors of Equestria. After the nuclear holocaust, many of them began misinterpreting their oath as "protect Equestrian technology, and kill anyone who gets in our way." This eventually causes the Rangers to splinter into two factions: one loyal to the old ways (protecting the citizens of Equestria) and another loyal to the new interpretation.
  • More Dakka: SteelHooves' armor is equiped with a rocket launcher and a grenade machine-gun. Even with this arsenal, Calamity still considers adding a plasma rifle to the armor.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Littlepip in Chapter 19 which leads to her flushing away all her Party-Time Mintals.
  • My Greatest Failure:
    • Arbu for Littlepip, to the point where she starts obsessing over it.
    • Luna's magic academy is this for Princess Celestia. There were three equally good sites for the school, but she picked the one in Crescent Moon Canyon for the sake of a joke on her sister. Because this allowed for the later massacre as the school was near the Zebra border, escalating the war to the point of no return, Celestia blames herself for the eventual apocalypse and Luna's death.
  • Nailed to the Wagon: Littlepip by Velvet Remedy. She gets tranquilized and transported (in what happens to be a wagon) to the addiction clinic against her will. She doesn't take it well.
  • Naughty Tentacles: Littlepip just barely escapes this fate in Chapter 31.
  • Neigh Theist: Played unusually. While Littlepip freely believes in the divinity of Celestia and Luna and is reverent towards them, she does not agree with Red Eye that the Wasteland needs a god to save it, or that it needs a living god to make everypony behave.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Fluttershy gave megaspell technology to the zebras, in the hope that megaspell-grade shields and healing spells on both sides would make war pointless and force diplomacy. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't long until both sides started developing city-busters instead.
  • No OSHA Compliance: Lampshaded by Littlepip herself in this quote from Chapter 29 when the Goddess plays a video recording of the incident that created her.

"Again with the catwalks-over-factory-floors aesthetic of wartime Equestria," I groused.

  • Not What I Signed on For:
    • An unnamed Pegasus Enclave soldier, upon witnessing his squadron leader vaporize a terrified filly.
    • Later: the entire crew of an Enclave airship. They cease their bombardment of Friendship City once it becomes clear that the defenders can no longer fight back. Their former allies promptly blow them out of the sky.
  • Nuclear Nasty: Magical radiation and 'Taint' mutated parasprites, bats, phoenixes and pretty much every other creature out there.
  • Nuclear Option: Littlepip kills the Goddess and destroys the Black Book by detonating a megaspell. Note that it was more or less the only option, as both are pretty much invincible otherwise.
  • Once More, with Clarity: The natural result of combining a plot this convoluted and a protagonist with an eidetic memory to give Twilight Sparkle a run for her bits. Littlepip will often recall a seemingly inconsequential throwaway detail in somepony's dialogue, memory, or audio log several chapters down the line to either provide another layer of philosophical reflection, unravel the pre-apocalypse conspiracy, or arm herself in the present. Borders on Continuity Porn.
  • One-Gender Race: The alicorns are all female. Even if they try to assimilate a male, he won't be one anymore by the time the transformation is complete. This is actually bad for them: they plan to become the dominant race in Equestria, which can't be done unless they have a method of reproduction outside of assimilation. In the coda, many of them have been turned back into males with the help of Xenith and the killing joke.
    • As in the game: Super Mutants are all genderless, but seemingly male. (The ones from Vault 87, that is.)
  • Operation: Jealousy: Subverted. While angry at Calamity, Velvet considers doing this with Littlepip. Littlepip immediately rips into her for it, pointing out that Velvet is trying to manipulate someone who has an unrequited crush on her in order to get back at someone else.
  • Opposites Attract: Calamity and Velvet Remedy.
  • Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Just like the Fallout version, some are mindless and feral while some are intelligent and a couple are allies (like Ditzy Doo and SteelHooves.) Though they might actually be undead due to the possibility of necromantic magic in the Balefire bombs.
  • The Paralyzer: Part of the Fallen Caesar style of fighting.
  • Platonic Life Partners: Next to Homage, Calamity is Littlepip's closest friend. He's even the last person she asks to see before she activates the Single Pegasus Project.

Littlepip: Please, Celestia, if you would, show me Calamity.

  • Posthumous Character:
    • Pretty much the entire cast of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic. If the war didn't kill them, the two centuries in between the war and the events of the story did. The only known exceptions to this rule are Ditzy Doo, Spike and Star Sparkle, Twilight's mother.
    • If you can count being/part of a multi-conscious being 'alive' then Trixie and Twilight Sparkle are also exceptions. Twilight Sparkle survived the destruction of the Goddess by body-jumping into an alicorn, though she apparently died shortly afterwards.
    • Rarity is still alive to an extent, having put most of her soul into the 42 figurines of the Ministry Mares.
    • If you count being turned into a tree as being 'alive', then Fluttershy is also an exception. You'd better, however, count her getting cured and rehabilitated.
    • Celestia is still alive, having downloaded herself into the SPP's Crusader mainframe and turned it into a soul jar.
  • Powered Armor: All Steel Rangers wear a powered suit. Similar to Fallout power armour.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: A partial one from Littlepip.

Littlepip: How do you like...[them apples] (Just before sending a bunch of apple grenades down Mr Topaz's throat)

  • Properly Paranoid: Scootaloo goes to extreme measures to have safe meetings with her friends, thinking the Ministry of Morale may be watching. She's right.
  • Punch Clock Villain: While in Shattered Hoof, Littlepip meets some Raiders that aren't raping-and-killing monsters, and are just trying to survive in the wasteland.
  • Punny Name: It's a Friendship is Magic fanfiction. Go figure this will be a good chunk of the cast, of whom cheese shop owner Monterey Jack is only the first.
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: Lil' Macintosh (a scoped revolver) is one of Littlepip's most powerful guns. May be justified, as this one was crafted by, and shown in SteelHooves' memory, used by, the head of the Ministry of Wartime Technology AKA Applejack, and would therefore pack quite a punch.
  • Running Gag:
    • Whenever Gawd's name is used in conversation. Ex -- "I'm on a mission from Gawd."
    • Littlepip's obsession with lockpicking and hacking.
    • Calamity's penchant for looting whenever possible.
    • Homage having way too much fun embarrassing Littlepip over the air.
    • The Ministry Mares playfully hitting on Applejack, particularly Rainbow Dash.
    • Littlepip being a toaster repair pony.
    • Every chapter ends up with Littlepip gaining a new perk, which are parodies of Fallout ones. Some examples are:
      • Cherchez La Filly - +10% damage to the same sex and unique dialogue options with certain ponies.
      • Math Wrath – You are able to optimize your PipBuck’s targeting spell logic. S.A.T.S. is now 20% cooler.
      • Mighty Telekinesis (level three) – Your telekinesis is Twilight Sparkle tier. You can handle multiple objects with ease; and with enough focus, you could probably carry around an Ursa Minor!
  • Screw You, Elves: Pegasi have become the elves of the setting, living safely in the clouds and claiming that they'll come down to save Equestria, but never getting around to it. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo and Calamity (who are pegasi themselves) gave them this treatment, with Calamity doing it every chance he gets. And now that they've descended, pretty much everyone is giving them this treatment.
  • Secret Police: The Ministry of Morale.
  • Shaggy Dog Story: Equestria was mere weeks from decisively winning the war. Twilight Sparkle had cracked the zebras' spell Bypass, enabling her to create impenetrable megaspell shields if she had just a little more time, and had begun testing the alicorn mutation formula the day of the bombings. The only reason the apocalypse started was because they thought Nightmare Moon was going to exterminate them after winning the war and that they seriously had nothing to lose.
    • Even more heartbreakingly, Pinkie Pie's strike team was mere minutes too late breaking into the Four Stars building to stop the megaspell that would destroy Manehattan. Her call to Twilight asking for help with her drug addiction and to repair their friendship was sent minutes after Twilight got bombed in Splendid Valley, and minutes before Pinkie herself was incinerated in the Manehattan blast.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Stated quite emphatically by both Calamity and Velvet Remedy in Stable 29. Littlepip doesn't buy it.

Littlepip: By the Goddesses, could they be any more obvious!

    • Also an example of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, as part of the reason they hooked up is because Littlepip thought it was inevitable.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal:
    • Fluttershy (or at least a vision of her) gives one to the Black Book. "Hush now. Quiet now."
    • Littlepip delivers a barn burner of one to both Red Eye and herself.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Nightseer wears the bones of Princess Luna as armor/trophies. It's ultimately her downfall, as Littlepip telekinetically impales her with them.
  • Slept Through the Apocalypse: Spike. He feels immense guilt over this, since this left his closest friend Twilight Sparkle to die alone.
  • Soul Jar: A form of dark zebra magic.
    • The Black Book acts as this for the mad zebra who created it.
    • The 42 figurines of the Mane Six serve as this for Rarity, though she was doing for altruistic reasons.
    • The SSP Crusader mainframe is one for Celestia.
  • The Speechless: Ditzy Doo.
  • Spin Offspring: Velvet Remedy is a direct descendant to Sweetie Belle. While Littlepip is a distant descendant of Applejack.
  • Stealth Pun: Her image devastated after the events of "Boast Buster" Trixe is implied to have wound up pulling tricks by a Canterlot Turnpike.
  • Stepford Smiler: Silver Bell
  • Straw Man Has a Point: Red Eye's propeganda includes that all races of pony are equally important. He seems to consider the opposition that earth ponies are the best, which seems laughable. His opposition's points seem to be better than his, and then you realize that the pro-earth pony Stable he's from invented cybornetic implants and cured old age with only the tiny population of one Stable.
  • Suicide by Cop: Monterey Jack
  • Sugar Apocalypse: This is the world of Friendship is Magic after the equivalent of a nuclear war, after all.
  • Take That: Chapter 11 has a jab at the one-use nature of permanent items.

(It's not as if books can only be read once, after all.)

  • Take Up My Sword: The world needs six new bearers for the Elements of Harmony so they can cast a mega-spell that can restore Equestria. The first prime candidates are Ditzy Doo as Laughter and Homage as Honesty, and later Velvet Remedy as Kindness and Calamity as Loyalty. (Was there ever any doubt?)
    • Near the end, Lifebloom comments that magic has always come easy to him, and he's never found a spell he couldn't learn: however, the limits to the strength of his magic are far weaker than Littlepip's, much less Twilight Sparkle.
  • Taking the Bullet: Big Macintosh took a shot meant for Celestia, hence the memorial statue in Ponyville.
  • Telepathy: The green alicorn's unique ability. Acquired from Gestalt and Mosaic.
  • Teleporters and Transporters: The purple alicorn's unique ability. Acquired from Twilight.
  • Thanatos Gambit: Monterey Jack. By his admission of banditry, and subsequent execution, he forces the responsibility of his children's fate onto the now guilt-ridden Littlepip.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Red Eye poked around a little in confidential Enclave secrets. As a result, the Enclave finally descend and launch a full-scale military invasion to kill Red Eye and anyone else who might also have the information. And since they can't be certain how many people know the information, best to destroy entire cities just to be safe. This may have been Red Eye's plan all along, as their overreaction is destroying the Enclave's claims to be Equestria's saviors.
  • The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Littlepip's Memory Gambit as noted above counts on her not watching her own extracted memories until after everything is in place, and has written a letter to herself explicitly telling her this. Naturally, the first thing she does is watch the first one—and immediately catches an angry earful from herself for being nosy.
    • Pinkie Pie's memory orbs where she addresses Littlepip come close.
  • Title Drop: The epilogue's subtitle is 'Of Forgiveness and Fallout.'
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Black Book.
  • Tough Love: An example in Chapter 19, where Velvet Remedy shoots Littlepip with a dart gun to paralyze her and then drag her to Doctor Helpinghooves to forcibly put her through the addiction treatment. Littlepip is understandably upset afterwards, though that may be because Velvet's intervention resulted in Montery Jack's death.
  • Town with a Dark Secret: Arbu
  • Transferable Memory: Memory orbs, they can be used by unicorns or ponies with Recollectors to live another pony's memory. It's a dangerous process, since the user won't be able to perceive their environment during the memory.
  • Training the Peaceful Villagers: Glyphmark receives a fair bit of training and equipment from Littlepip and Co.
  • Twin Telepathy: Gestalt and Mosaic. Also the source of the green alicorn's telepathy.
  • Unnamed Parent: Littlepip’s mother.
  • Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Littlepip's plan to deal with the Goddess. An interesting example in that Littlepip doesn't know what it is either. It works quite well, although the untimely arrival of the Enclave made the exit rather ugly.
  • Unstoppable Rage:
    • Littlepip goes absolutely kill crazy after finding out the ponies of Arbu are cannibals. Leads to a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against every inhabitant there.
    • Not as extreme as Littlepip's, but Velvet Remedy goes trigger happy on a group of raiders who not only tortured and forced a number of young pony children to fight for their amusement, with the added promise of getting their parent's dead bodies back, but they also have the gall to set up their camp at, and defile Fluttershy's cottage, a mare who Velvet looks up to.
  • Villain Team-Up: Red Eye and the Goddess have such an alliance, though both are plotting behind each other's back. Subverted when the Enclave tries to form one with the Goddess. Since she has just a few minutes before being killed by a megaspell when they make the offer, the Enclave has incredibly bad timing.
  • We Can Rule Together: Done by Red Eye to Littlepip. He's aware that he's the last pony the wasteland needs as a ruler, so he offers Littlepip the chance to ascend to Godhood with him, becoming the resulting being's conscience. Her response is an impressive Shut UP, Hannibal.
  • Weather Control Machine: It's the reason why Equestria is perpetually cloudy. During the apocalypse, the pegasi that would become the Enclave protected themselves by filling the sky with clouds, making the zebras unable to target their cities. It's also the source of the Enclave's power: by using it to grow crops above the clouds and using the perpetual cloud cover to fabricate stories about the surface world, they can maintain their autonomy. If control was ever taken away from them, they would not be able to survive and would be forced to leave the skies and join the rest of the world.
  • Wham! Episode:
    • Chapter 38. The Enclave arrive.
    • Episode 39 is worse. Steelhooves dies, Velvet Remedy leaves the group, the Enclave take control of the Wasteland, and the chapter ends on a cliffhanger ending where Ditzy Doo apparently dies. The next chapter reveals that Ditzy survived, but that doesn't detract from the wham, since Ditzy instead pulled off a Sonic Rainboom.
    • According to the author, chapters with "The X of the Y" titles (such as Chapter Seventeen: "The Villain of the Piece") are plotted to be "Wham Episodes" which significantly alter the course of the story, although sometimes only obviously so to readers in retrospect.
  • Wham! Line: Chapter 25. "Burning hoof means Littlepip's watching me.". It takes "Pinkie Pie is watching you FOREVER" to a new, horrifying level.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In this case, referring to an actual mouse. Littlepip and friends set off a spell that turns the dragon in the Canterlot Royal Treasury (possibly Spike's mother) into a field mouse. They then leave (without even confirming that the spell worked), and later Canterlot is destroyed by the Enclave. Subverted when the mouse reappears in the Chapter 43.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: The kind that earns you the friendship of an alicorn army.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • DJ-Pon3 calls Littlepip out on this after killing all the inhabitants in Arbu.
    • Velvet viciously calls out Little Pip in chapter 39, outlining every single atrocity she's committed and yet still considers herself a hero.
    • Scootaloo planned to pull off an absolutely epic one to the Ministries and the Princesses themselves. When the Ministries, govenors, and Princesses show up Stable 1, Scootaloo would seal the door and then visciously call them out on the horrific war that has cost so many lives. And since she believes that they don't deserve to have Equestria, even when it recovers, she designed the stable to remain shut forever until every single one of them died. It doesn't quite work, since most of the ponies never arrive, but goddamn Scootaloo.
  • What Would X Do?:
  • The Wiki Rule: Here, needs love.
  • World-Healing Wave: The purpose of The Gardens of Equestria.
  • Written by the Winners: The Enclave approach to history.
  • You Are Not Alone:
    • When the Black Book comes dangerously close to corrupting Littlepip in a dream, Rarity's soul jars take the form of the Mane Six and give Littlepip a Mind Hug.
    • From Littlepip to Celestia, claiming that everyone needs the magic of friendship.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Upon realizing that Pinkie Pie is aware that Littlepip is watching her through memory orbs, Littlepip tries to avert the megaspell apocalypse by communicating with her. Pinkie refuses, because that's a secret, and secrets are something that should be kept FOREVER!
    • Though it's later revealed that Pinkie did act on this knowledge, creating a Stable Time Loop.
  • You Will Be Assimilated: The alicorns and the Goddess.
  • Zero-Approval Gambit: In the story it's referred to as becoming "The Villain of the Piece"—doing what is right even though everyone will think you're a horrible person for doing it. It's very easy to slip from this into actual villainy, though, if your moral compass is skewed.
    • Scootaloo first uses the phrase to describe her decision to seal the Manehattan Stable before the apocalypse actually happens. If the end doesn't come, everyone will think she imprisoned hundreds of ponies on a whim. Since it was her idea to run 'experiments' on the Stables before the bombs dropped, public approval wasn't much of an objective. When the bombs do drop, however, it's a happy coincidence that the Stables were already occupied.
    • Littlepip ultimately makes a similar decision. To heal the wasteland, the cloud cover must break, which means destroying pegasus agriculture. Like Scootaloo, Littlepip is forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.
  1. ↑ That is, a rifle that turns normal bullets flammable
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