Past Sins MST

Past Sins is one of the most popular fanfics in the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic fanbase. Months after completing the story, its author Pen Stroke decided to give various writers from the /fic/ board on Ponychan a chance to riff the original, previously unseen and unrevised version of the story. Readers from the Equestria Daily fansite were also recruited to add riffs of their own. The result is an MST, which can be found here.

Tropes used in Past Sins MST include:
  • Affectionate Parody: Despite all the jokes, at least some of the riffers are fans of Past Sins. Pen Stroke even joins in to point out obvious flaws.
  • The Alcoholic: A couple riffers end up like this thanks to the Drinking Game.
  • Alien Geometries: The library has too many corners!
  • And That's Terrible: The fact the Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stoke Nyx's cookies.
  • Ascended Extra: Proper Etiquette.
    • Bastion Yorsets as well, which is lampshaded when the riffers come across a link to his character page on the MLP wiki.
    • There's also Exposition Man and Sound Guy.
  • Bag of Spilling: If there's some important item missing, it's because Stonewall forgot to bring it.
  • Berserk Button: For Alcoremortis, the word turquoise.
    • For Crazy56U, Celestia intending to kill Nyx if she turned out to be Nightmare Moon.
    • For Wild Trotter, a minor one in the form of "It was expected of her".
  • Blatant Lies: When Twilight reassures her friends that she's okay after being kidnapped.

Pen Stroke: Flimsy Excuses! Get your Flimsy Excuses here!

Ezn: “Surprise sex, that is. Rape is such a negative word.”
Nuke.Equestria: Prisoner is such a harsh word. I prefer mandatory guest.

Ezn: “And also, like, 20% co-” *is shot*
Crazy56U: (hides gun, turns to you, the reader) You owe me.

Pemberton: A humorous analogy given the context of the story thus far.
Ezn: Celestia later banished the cultists to the moon, for daring to serve her cocoa with froth, as she much prefers it plain.

Alcoremortis: Mmm...chocolate... Wait. What were we talking about again?

  • Drinking Game: Take a shot every time "Nightmare Moon" shows up, and you'll be under the table in no time.
  • Evil Minions: Night Wind, Gray Gale, and Stonewall.
  • Evil Smells Bad: When Twilight returns to the library with Nyx, then asks her to get off her back so she can take a bath:

Disco: I need to cleanse myself of your horrid, potentially evil stench.

  • Evil Plan: Which is laughable at best.
  • Eye Scream: When it's mentioned how Twilight is going to apply the same illusion spell used on Nyx's glasses directly onto Rainbow Dash's eyes, the obvious is pointed out:

Vimbert: APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE EYE

Crazy56U: Hmm... Unicorn horn... plus eyeballs... ...I don't see anything wrong there!

Disco: There are worse rhymes they could have used.

RLYoshi: Crazy56U isn't around to say it, so...70%...
Crazy56U: ...I'M SITTING RIGHT HERE, MAN.

Wild Trotter: And good God I need a stiff drink.

Crazy56U ...that’s the last time I buy a Magic 8-Ball from EBay.

  • Mary Sue Tropes: Nyx's characterization is lampshaded repeatedly.
  • Misery Builds Character: Nyx's first day of school.

Vimbert: Giving implied permission for everypony to abuse and traumatize Nyx like good children.
Ezn: That's what school is for! Trauma builds character!

Crazy56U: (dazed) What? I don’t think I can hear anymore. The wall broke my space... (falls over) ...I’m alright...

Isphone: More data! Let's see...so hero blood + dagger + broken bits of evil armor + fire = evil demon summoning divided by underwear stealing squared. Seems legit.

Distort: I'd say "It's magic, he doesn't have to explain it," but I don't think he's earned that liberty.

  • Noodle Incident: Midnight's explanation of why Spell Nexus has only one sister.

Ezn: Good to know.
Midnight: only the one sister. We don't like to talk about... the accident.
Nuke.Equestria: Didn't that sister use to be a brother?
Lightsideluc: You would have to ask Midnight about that.
Midnight:...don't judge me!
intangiblepony: Well, damn, I feel awkward now...

  • No OSHA Compliance: The Children of Nightmare used a fire-based resurrection spell in the middle of a forest.
  • Not So Omniscient After All: Despite being a goddess, Celestia still can't figure out what the cultists were doing... even though Nexus explained it to her prized student beforehand.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat: Tonight we, the Children of Nightmare, shall see our queen given life, blood, and a form of her own.

Midnight: I have many forms! Chief amongst them, form 14b, the requisition order for an evil moustache!

Lightsideluc: Bah! Everyone knows that form 12A, the requisition form for an evil goatee, is far superior!

Ezn: Rarity's word of the day: "harrowing".
Nuke.Equestria: Can everyone spell "Harrowing"? H... A... R... R... O... W... I... N... G!
Anon13: She couldn't wait to just harrow all over the place.
Ezn: Later that day, she offended an Asian tourist with what she thought was a clever greeting pun.

Nelighan: If only we had a witness who was there when the villains attacked her with plot exposition!

Hellioning: What were they burning with before, burnt umber flames?
Nuke.Equestria: It was more of a burnt sienna.
Alcoremortis: Ah, crimson, another one of my old enemies. Overused in fanfictions everywhere. Protip: Just say "red." Nobody will think you're a Communist if you do. These are more enlightened times.

  • Put on a Bus: Pen Stroke, who riffed in Part 1, is absent during parts 2 and 3.
  • The Quiet One: Compared to parts 2 and 3, Crazy56U was practically silent in part 1.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Some riffers don't start making comments until later chapters, but nobody brings up their sudden arrival. Justified, as sometimes riffers don't show up until some of the earlier chapters have been closed from more comments, so they have to start at later chapters.
  • Running Gag:
    • Spell Nexus's fashion sense, particularly his love of hoof polish.
    • Spell Nexus's real name is Epic Failure.
    • Stonewall is routinely blamed for forgetting something.
    • Luna's obsession with her abacus.
    • The Common Kinks of Equestria, including bondage and holding breaths.
    • Anytime there's a FLASH, the riffers start singing lyrics from Queen's Flash Gordon theme.
    • The overuse of the color turquoise.
    • The constant, grating comparisons to Nightmare Moon.
    • Ponies are either suffering from Skewed Priorities Syndrome or Common Sense Syndrome.
    • Rarity really likes Nyx's coat...as material for her next dress.
    • Zebras and Earth ponies are considered second-class citizens.
    • Anything involving Twilight, magic, and other ponies has something to do with cacti.
    • Any respectable library includes the works of Horizontal Surface.
    • Nyx really does have ticks.
    • The responses to the Questions, Comments, Concerns? lines.
    • Numerous attempts to end the story prematurely.
    • Nobody likes Scootaloo.
    • Getting annoyed at how often the fic references the original show.
    • Crazy56U referencing Atop the Fourth Wall.
    • Bringing up how Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stole cookies, and how terrible it was.
  • Sarcasm Mode: All of the riffers run on it. Especially when Twilight has to return to the Everfree Forest:

Distort: |DUN DUN DUN

Vimbert: ORIGINALITY STRIKES AGAIN

Nuke.Equestria: That's not original, everyone uses the Everfree Forest.

Anon13: Nuke, are you familiar with irony?

Nuke.Equestria: That's when something has a lot of iron, right?

    • At the end of Chapter 10, after Nyx has been turned into Nightmare Moon by the cult Celestia trusted:

Crazy56U: Well... I can safely say that Celestia's well-thought out plan of dealing with Nyx went over PERFECTLY!

  • School Play: The Reunion of the Royal Pony Sisters is still around, and it gets thoroughly mocked for its unoriginality.
  • Self-Deprecation: Pen Stroke, the author of Past Sins, not only volunteered his work to be riffed, but he joins in as well.

Pen Stroke: *facehoof* Oh yes, let's have the villain explain exactly what's going on.

Vimbert: TWIST AND SHOUT! Twist and shout. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, baby now...
Alcoremortis: Please. If we're going to start quoting songs... "Let me in, get me out. Can't do more than twist and shout..."

eycor0: Never mind the fact that a bunch of pegasi in cloaks pushing clouds around over the Everfree forest would probably draw more attention than just leaving it be.

Ezn: and half whispered, creating an interesting vocal effect.
intangiblepony: What's with all the half talking?
Nuke.Equestria: They're half-decided on what to say.
Anon13: It's a half-assed fic. Er, half-flanked.

Disco: The smell was horrendous.
Crazy56U: Ah. So it smelled like coffee.

    • Lest we forget THIS gem from Chapter 12:

Svensvenderson: That makes Pinkie Pie a *slips glasses on* one trick pony.

Crazy56U: (takes glasses) NO! We’re not doing that CSI meme! This is a CLASSY riffing! (throws them away)

RLYoshi: If what we’re doing is classy, I’m the Polish Nightmare Moon.

Svensvenderson: Aw, my glasses...

    • Near the end of Chapter 10, Crazy56U has the following to say... about one of the riff's own running gags:

Crazy56U: OK, I know Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are jerks, but singling them out as the main reason you're now Nightmare Moon? ...I'm shocked that I have to say this, but... that's a little... harsh.

RLYoshi: That's not the important part! The point is that they stole cookies! AND. THAT'S. TERRIBLE.

Crazy56U: OK, that joke is running thin. Knock it off.

    • From chapter 13:

CTOONfan1: Especially that one people have been calling SOPA.

Crazy56U: Sooooo... Spell Nexus wrote that in this universe. ... (pulls out shot gun) ...interestin’. (pumps gun)

Disco: This won't end well.

    • In chapter twelve, the part where Twilight apologizes to Nightmare Moon.

Wild Trotter: This is gonna hurt, isn't it?

Crazy56U: Ooooooh, yeah. (pulls out tissues)

Nuke.Equestria: Twilight's time travel spell malfunctioned. And so, Twilight Sparkle finds herself leaping from life to life; trying to put right what once went wrong, and hoping that her next leap will be the leap home.

Ezn: And suddenly I started liking this fic a whole lot more!

Vimbert: I don't think deicide is quite as easy as Nexus thinks it is.

eycor0: I'm lying of course, I'm in denial.
Nuke.Equestria: Repression is a healthy thing.
Anon13: "I'll probably have a breakdown later. Screaming and everything."

Disco: Yet it happens in nearly every episode.
intangiblepony: Saying a phrase like that is the same as saying "What could possibly go wrong".
Pemberton: Which is proven by how she was kidnapped less than 24 hours ago.
Alcoremortis: Personally, I'm a fan of, "There's no turning back now" and talking about the wife and kids in a war movie.

soFreeKey: Because nothing beats a stolen cookie after an attempted murder.
Disco: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stole cookies. And that's terrible.

Vimbert: Those FIENDS.

  • What the Hell, Hero?: Pretty much any time Twilight does something foolish.
    • And when Spike is bribed into not revealing Nyx to Celestia.
    • When it's revealed that Celestia planned on killing Nyx if it turned out she's Nightmare Moon.

Celestia: “She is a product of a spell, and well be dealt with as such. She will be dispelled and the lingering energy purified.”
Crazy56U: So... in other words, you're going to kill a filly to confirm your paranoid suspicions... ...yeah, um, lady? WHAT IN HOLY HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?

    • Not to mention this bit (albeit played for laughs):

Ezn: “I can do that in ten seconds fl-” *is shot*

Crazy56U: (turns to the reader) What? ...It wasn’t me this time, swear to Luna!

RLYoshi: (turns to reader) He's telling the truth. (cocks gun) It was me. (shoots Crazy56U)

Crazy56U: (dodges bullet) … ...dude, what the hell?!

Crazy56U: So... she's about to give... birth to breath babies?
Disco: Epic Failure must be so proud.
Crazy56U: His approval fills me with shame.

Sven: Wait, so her eyes are adjusting to the light of her eyes? How does that- *head asplodes*

  1. ↑ "At least she wasn't a stallion. Then it would just start riding up in the crotch."
  2. ↑ "Image... can't... remove... eyes... brain... bleeding... (drops dead)"
  3. ↑ starting with "Hmm...I can't tell, but I think things got 20% more uncomfortable."
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