History Fanfic / MLPCollateralDamage

* RayOfHopeEnding: Queen Chrysalis has crushed the only real threat to her domination over her Hive (her daughter Princess Ceymi, who never even ''knew'' she was a threat) and is planning to TakeOverTheWorld, but she has not found [[TheChosenOne Fluttershy]], whom we ''know'' will develop into a [[TheChosenOne major heroine]] [[TheAntiAntiChrist rather than]] the Nightmare that Chrysalis wanted. Falcon is[[spoiler:dead]] and Strawberry is going mad, and the filly Cheerilee must take care of her baby sister Berryshine. But Cheerilee has befriended Big Mac, so she is no longer completely alone. And though Ceymi has been badly-scarred by the murder of Thermal Soar, she has clearly ''not'' completely lost the ability to love, as she makes obvious by her sentiments toward her main Mask's family: this will give her the strength to train her future son Nictis well enough that ''he'' will be able to survive in Fanfic/WithoutAHive. Also, one of the Ponies she encounters in Hoofington is the infant Trixie Lulamoon, who will also become a heroine.

* [[CryIntoChest Cry Upon Shoulder]]: Near the end of the story, Cheerilee does this to Big Mac. The signficance of this is it is the first time we see Cheerilee cry over her father's death in story, it also shows how much she trusts Big Mac that she is willing to display this emotion. They are both still [[ToyShip children]], 9 and 7 years old respectively.

* RescueRomance: Big Mac starts his ToyShip with Cheerilee when he finds the lost Berryshine in the Everfree, then leads ''both'' Cheerilee and Berryshine to safety at Sweet Apple Acres as night is falling.

* EatenAlive: [[spoiler:Thermal Soar's fate]] inflicted by Queen Chrysalis by means of Changeling [[EmotionEater emotivory]] turned UpToEleven.
* [[EmotionEater Emotion Eating]]: The fic goes into some detail about Changeling emotivory. As in canon, Changelings eat love and related emotions (friendship, lust etc.) There are essentially four levels of emotion eating, and a fifth which is essentially the third turned UpToEleven.

* OutWithABang: Sort of -- [[spoiler:Thermal Soar]] doesn't actually have any sex with [[spoiler:Queen Chrysalis]], but when she [[MindControl Stares]] him and commands "Love me," his physical reaction is a massive orgasm -- just before she kills him through [[EmotionEater emotivory]] turned UpToEleven.

* FragileFlower: Strawberry. She was raised by a loving family, got married to her OneTrueLove at age 16, and ten years later has never had to rely on her own unsupported emotional strength. [[spoiler:''Very'' unfortunately for her family, as she utterly collapses when her husband Falcon dies]].

* BiggerBad: [[spoiler:Nyarlathtotep]], who is grooming Queen Chrysalis to become [[spoiler:Nightmare Hunger]].

* CthulhuMythos: Queen Chrysalis summons aid from Nyarlathotep. She gets Polypheromone.

* [[HeroOfAnotherStory Heroine of Another Story]]: When Princess Ceymi, as Starry Eyes, is visiting Hoofington near the end of the story, she runs into the (future) Great and Powerful Trixie being taken back home along with her two elder sisters Mixie and Pixie. Trixie will one day become the heroine of Fanfic/AnExtendedPerformance and Fanfic/TheRomanceOfTheOpenRoad. Right now, though, Trixie is under 1 year old -- she's just a small foal.

* NobleDemon: Princess Ceymi. As in the original source from which she is taken, ''Fanfic/WithoutAHive, she is ruthless and amoral by Pony standards, yet she has a definite code of honor and even a strange sympathy toward her Pony prey. She is pragmatic rather than sadistic, does not kill save when she considers it necessary, and is described in-story as the "noblest of Changelings."

* ShoutOut: [[FZero Falcon]] [[SuperSmashBros Punch]] is a [[http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Courier_Falken courier.]]

* IDontWantToDie: [[spoiler:Falcon Punch]]'s great regret when [[spoiler:he]] realizes [[spoiler:he]] is done for is that [[spoiler:his wife Strawberry will be left alone]].

* BottleFairy: Strawberry shows this tendency even before [[spoiler:Falcon's death]], and afterward pretty much crawls into a bottle and lives in there. Her younger daughter Berryshine is ''too'' young (at age 3) to drink, but we know from plenty of fanon that she becomes one in time -- probably because she's seen her mother drink so often.

* BigNo: When Ceymi suffers her HeroicBSOD and then goes in HeroicSafeMode after [[spoiler:Thermal Soar's murder]], she travels several miles from the Hive to try to understand her own emotions by becoming Starry Eyes, the Mask which was in love with Thermal. This is Starry Eyes' reaction:
--?Her eyes widened in stark horror, ears pinned fully back, head flung back and mouth opened to emit a loud, ragged cry, that might have been "No!" but bore only a vague resemblance to the coherent speech of anything sapient. Tears started, ran down her face. Still wailing in helpless denial, Starry Eyes sank to her knees, to her barrel, buried her head under her forehooves and broke down into helpess sobbing, unable to speak a single world. Thermal, was her only clear thought, Thermal ...