Pony Permutation Project

The Pony Permutation Project -- P3 for short -- is a series of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Fanfics by Bookish Delight. Each story focuses on two particular ponies, whom the author places in a random situation and sees how they react.

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Tropes used in Pony Permutation Project include:

• All Just a Dream: "This Is Your Life", which puts a heartwarming spin on the concept.
• Alternate Universe: The Grand Galloping Gala goes quite differently here.
• Broken Aesop: Invoked and discussed in "Twilight Switch". Applejack explains to Twilight that recreating the apples she lost in her accident would result in this because she'd stubbornly harvested too many. If Twilight just fixed things, she wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of her mistake.
• Brutal Honesty: Gilda's just as good at this as Dash.
• Career-Building Blunder: It's suggested that Celestia allowed Twilight to overestimate herself and take on tasks she wasn't ready for so that she could learn her limits and not turn out like her spoiled and sheltered peers.
• Catapult Nightmare: Dash suffers from these in "Blunder and Lightning", and has for years.
• The Confidant: A two-way example between Rainbow Dash and Gilda.
• Cooldown Hug: Spike delievers one to Twilight in "Twilight Switch" via rushing tackle.
• Fantastic Racism: Turns out Gilda catches a lot of flack from certain pegasi for being a griffon.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: According to "Royal Resolution", Cadance played a small-but-vital role during Discord's attack when she told Celestia to send Twilight's letters back to her.
• Loose Canon: The stories don't all necessarily link together into a single universe.
• My Greatest Failure: "Blunder and Lightning" reveals that Rainbow Dash feels hers is that she didn't save Fluttershy from falling during the race. The ending also reveals that Pinkie actually feels the same way about how her party drove a wedge between Dash and Gilda -- parties are supposed to bring friends together, not drive them apart!
• My Gosh, What Have I Done?: Twilight nearly BSOD's in "Twilight Switch" when she realizes what she nearly did to Applejack.
• The Perfectionist: Twilight, who treads close to becoming a type two Broken Ace.
• Prince Charming: Prince Blueblood actually acts like this for once in "I Wish"... ...Or rather, Twilight disguised as him does.
• Prince Charmless: ...though he's more of a vapid jerk at first.
• Too Clever by Half: Being Celestia's pupil meant Twilight was often called upon to perform great feats of magic -- even those far beyond the scope of a filly, even one with such massive potential. As a result, her failures were truly spectacular... and deeply scarring, causing her obsession with perfection.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Rainbow Dash in "Blunder and Lightning".
• Ungrateful Bastard: One of Twilight's Flashbacks in "Twilight Switch" involves one of these.
• Unnecessary Makeover: In "Full Self-Service", Rarity gives one to Fluttershy... then revokes it in favor of a much-needed pep talk once she discovers the pegasi's motivation.

The Loose Canon Fireball includes examples of:

• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Pinkie Pie hijacks every frequency to cover Rainbow Dash and Fireball's big Pan-Equestria Race.
• Intrepid Reporter: Pinkie's tried to be one several times over the years, but never quite got her big break.
• Jumping Out of a Cake: When tempting Spike to help her out, Pinkie plys him with promises of Rarity doing this for him.
• Loophole Abuse: While Pinkie can't work as a reporter on any network, she hasn't been banned from reporting as a concept, so she just borrows enough of Twilight's equipment to take over all the networks.
• Meaningful Rename: Scootaloo goes by her 'flyer's name' Fireball now.
• Pony Non Grata: Pinkie Pie has somehow managed to get herself banned from anchoring on every station twice and from all the newspapers three times.
• Revenge: According to Fireball, Dash destroyed her dreams, and she's determined to return the favor.
• The Rival: Scootaloo wanted to become this to Dash, and achieves it as Fireball.