History Fanfic / TheAudience

* OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUs: The reaction of the initial group of ponies who find out about the show in chapter one... And then chapter 30, discussing clopfics, comes to light. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement May all those who read]] look at AuthorFilibuster.

* BrainBleach: Chapter 30 [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this with a disc labeled as this. It contains pictures of cute fluffy bunnies and TastesLikeDiabetes.

* TallPoppySyndrome: Art accuses the Mane Six of suffering this in chapter 10.
--> '''Art:''' "Trixie has her own problems, but I swear you lot seem to have a terminal case of Tall Poppy Syndrome."

* BadassMustache: Dusty Tomes, the director of the museum in Canterlot is described as having an epic mustache.
-->'''Art, on Dusty Tomes and his mustache:''' a white on grey earth pony in a formal jacket and tie with a cutie mark of two greek pillars and what had to be the most epic mustache in Equestria. I exaggerate not; he had a huge, swooping handlebar mustache of snowy white, waxed and groomed to perfection, that covered almost his entire face. It surely entered rooms before him to announce his presence. His snowy eyebrows were only barely second-place in their epicness, a pair of eaglet's wings, vying for dominance on his somber brow.

* BigOlEyebrows: See Badass Mustache, above.

* LabcoatOfScienceAndMedicine: Just before the second draconequus attack, a press conference happens, featuring Professor Cosmic Constant. The professor is described as wearing a white labcoat, and his looks seem to channel Albert Einstein.
* LamePun: Chapter 22 features the Ponyville Library getting an expansion. Mayor Mare supplies a pun about a library (built inside a tree) and branches.
* LamePunReaction: Down in the [[FootnoteFever footnotes]] the author commiserates about Mayor Mare using that treehouse library and branches pun in multiple speeches.

* DieLaughing: Art defies this for [[spoiler: Discord]] hard. [[spoiler: Discord was prepared to disappear into the aether satisfied that his death will open the way for Equestria to become the battleground for twelve worse Draconequii to battle over, [[LesserOfTwoEvils which could all have been avoided if the ponies hadn't rebelled against him]], but Art counters him by saying Chaos is neither inherently good nor evil, and declares him, as a being with free will, completely responsible for the bad choices that led to his demise. As a result, Discord disappears with rage on his face.]]

** Chapter 29 gives us [[Series/LostInSpace Danger, Will Robinson,]] alien being is sending mixed signals.

** Chapter 18 references ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'':

* CallingTheOldWomanOut: Art is enraged when he is informed of Celestia's actions towards Twilight when dealing with King Sombra, and calls her out for deliberately setting Twilight up to fail. When Celestia's answer fails to satisfy him, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Arthur leaves in rage]].

-->'''Guardspony''': "Well, your ladyship, I hope the rest of your group are doing a little better than this..."
--> There was an explosion somewhere in the city. Ponies screamed in alarm.
--> Pinkie Pie shook her head. "You shoulda known better than to say that," she scolded the guard.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Chapter 28 has Arthur temporarily leaving his advisory role to the Princesses after he and Celestia [[CallingTheOldWomanOut come to blows]] about how her "MyBelovedSmother" attitude is harming Twilight and Equestria as a whole. He and Celestia manage to reconcile after both of them had a chance to cool themselves off.

--> In vexation Luna had pulled out a copper bit, magically drilled a hole through it, and slapped it down between us. "There!" she'd said. "Wager made! And I shall spot thee the plugged copper bit as well! [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Now stop arguing and pass the boysenberry sauce!]]"

* IChooseToStay: Arthur decides that he has no choice (and to be frank, doesn't need one) but to stay in Equestria because of the potential damage he might cause to both himself and his family if he returns home after being given the chance in an early chapter. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Not that anypony has a problem with that.]]

* CryForTheDevil: Chapter 39. [[spoiler: Fluttershy cries over the draconequus Clutter as he starves to death from lack of Potential.]]

* OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUs: The reaction of the initial group of ponies who find out about the show in chapter one... And then chapter 30, discussing clopfics, comes to light. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement May all those who read]] look at AuthorFilibuster.

--> In vexation Luna had pulled out a copper bit, magically drilled a hole through it, and slapped it down between us. "There!" she'd said. "Wager made! And I shall spot thee the plugged copper bit as well! [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Now stop arguing and pass the boysenberry sauce!]]"

* IChooseToStay: Arthur decides that he has no choice (and to be frank, doesn't need one) but to stay in Equestria because of the potential damage he might cause to both himself and his family if he returns home after being given the chance in an early chapter. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Not that anypony has a problem with that.]]

* ActionSurvivor: Arthur, four-hundred pound [[OneOfUs everyman brony]] with a heart condition. Changes Equestria just by being there to help the people. [[spoiler: Lays the smackdown on TWO draconequi.]]

* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Sid: Apparently after fourteen clutches, his mother had run out of ideas for names.
* MyBelovedSmother: Chapter 28 sees Art [[AccusationFic accusing]] Celestia of being this. We also learn that he feels this way very strongly about his own parents.

* AccusationFic: [[spoiler: Chapter 10 sees the return of Trixie. While RC subscribes to the [[TallPoppySyndrome 'AJ, Rarity and Rainbow Dash are at fault' camp]], Arthur also points out that Trixie's cutie mark symbolizing performing magic tricks in a world full of FunctionalMagic is the real cause behind Trixie being who she is.]]

* ActionSurvivor: Arthur, four-hundred pound [[OneOfUs everyman brony]] with a heart condition. Changes Equestria just by being there to help the people. [[spoiler: Lays the smackdown on TWO draconequii.]]

-->'''Art, on Dusty Tomes and his mustache''': a white on grey earth pony in a formal jacket and tie with a cutie mark of two greek pillars and what had to be the most epic mustache in Equestria. I exaggerate not; he had a huge, swooping handlebar mustache of snowy white, waxed and groomed to perfection, that covered almost his entire face. It surely entered rooms before him to announce his presence. His snowy eyebrows were only barely second-place in their epicness, a pair of eaglet's wings, vying for dominance on his somber brow.

--> "Lesson one, [[spoiler: you pretentious jigsaw puzzle]]; you want to go around pushing other people's buttons, you'd better remember that some of those buttons go BOOM."
* TheBet: Arthur, Celestia and Luna bet plugged copper bits on whether certain things will happen with political issues. It all started when Arthur and Celestia were debating while they were eating, with Celestia disagreeing so much that she wouldn't even bet said bits. Luna, hungry and annoyed...
--> "In vexation Luna had pulled out a copper bit, magically drilled a hole through it, and slapped it down between us. "There!" she'd said. "Wager made! And I shall spot thee the plugged copper bit as well! [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Now stop arguing and pass the boysenberry sauce!]]"
** Arthur won the first bet, by the way. This started the little game, and the record is now five wins for Arthur, three for Celestia and two for Luna.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Arthur. Nice, friendly, loves kids. But he has issues. Do not discuss them, unless you want to find a four-hundred pound raging fat man screaming bloody murder at you.

* CerebusSyndrome: Mostly lighthearted. [[spoiler: [[WhamEpisode Chapter 19]], here comes a new [[KnightOfCerebus draconequs]]... And then we learn a bastard tournament with TWELVE of them is coming.]] Still manages to be light and soft though.

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The Draconequii are indeed beings in between universes, with a twelve-draco themed chaos tournament held whenever they find a universe to settle down. This happened when Discord first came in, and now we know that the next tournament is coming.]]

* HandicappedBadass: Arthur suffers from a heart condition and is rather overweight. Simply due to his knowledge of the myriad artifacts from his world, he's managed to advance Equestria in technology and thinking far more than it would have without him. [[spoiler: And then he beats a Draconequs by stabbing its eye with his cane, and manages to unleash a very [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown frightening]] beatdown on Discord.]]

* InterspeciesRomance: Just like so many other things, deconstructed, and yet here it's also reconstructed. Biological and psychological inhibitions really prevent Arthur from being really attracted to Violette, and really, human-on-pony is weird. It's not just a "minor thing". But companionship, somebody to listen to? Who cares about species when the loneliness hurts? [[spoiler: Rather ironically, ShipTease pops up showing that he really might be attracted to her.]]

* ManChild: Arthur calls himself this when he feels like he's done something childish. [[spoiler: He had good parents who told him what not to do, but not what to actually do, so he was helpless throughout his life. Arthur even becomes a PsychopathicManchild when his BerserkButton is pressed.]]

* TemptingFate: [[LampshadeHanging Lapshaded]] by Pinkie Pie at the end of Chapter 23.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Chapter 22 gives us this cloudy gem: ...I felt the mane six to be more than a match for the modular Mayhem.

-->'''Rarity:''' Oh. You. Are. [=DEAD=].

** SeriousBusiness: Arthur is genuinely afraid for a while that Equestria might ''declare war'' on Earth for allowing such filth to be printed about their rulers and national heroes.

-->'''Art, on Dusty Tomes and his mustache''': a white on grey earth pony in a formal jacket and tie with a cutie mark of two greek pillars and what had to be the most epic mustache in Equestria. I exaggerate not; he had a huge, swooping handlebar mustache of snowy white, waxed and groomed to perfection, that covered almost his entire face. It surely entered rooms before him to announce his presence. His snowy eyebrows were only barely second-place in their epicness, a pair of eaglet's wings, vying for dominance on his somber brow. A gleaming monocle was wedged in place over his nearly invisible eye. He was carefully coiffed and groomed from mane to hooves, and stood with stiff formality, as unwavering as Gibralter.

* BigBrotherIsWatchingYou: To cover for Arthur being knowledgeable about pony society, instead of saying "Somebody made a TV show of us!", Arthur and the rest of the bronies are declared watchers of the ponyverse from another world.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Arthur. Nice, friendly, loves kids. But he has issues. Do not discuss them, lest you want to find a four-hundred pound raging fat man screaming bloody murder for you.

* {{Badass}}: As usual, the Mane Six, Celestia, Luna etc.
** HandicappedBadass: Arthur suffers from a heart condition and is rather overweight. Simply due to his knowledge of the myriad artifacts from his world, he's managed to advance Equestria in technology and thinking far more than it would have without him. [[spoiler: And then he beats a Draconequs by stabbing its eye with his cane, and manages to unleash a very [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown frightening]] beatdown on Discord.]]