History Fanfic / TheConversionBureauTheOtherSideOfTheSpectrum

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Averted. While the Americans provide the backbone of Earth's military response to the Solar Empire's xenocidal campaign by virtue of having the most powerful military on the planet and being one of the few countries not seriously crippled by the Barrier, it's very much an international affair, with the British, Germans, South Koreans and Russians in particular playing very big parts in the overall war effort.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: When Queen Chrysalis is introduced, she claims that because she never actually did anything involving penetration with Shining Armor, her time with him didn't count as rape. Not only is this legally wrong, but nobody ever brings it up again.

* EasyLogistics: Mostly averted, since while not much detail is provided, the human forces are clearly being worn down by the enemy's constant onslaught, but played straight in that the Solar Empire never seems to run out of vials for the ponification potion.
** And then subverted in ''Calm Before the Storm'', where we get a good look at the state of Imperial Equestria's economy. The mentioned potion vials are only available en masse due to newfoal slave labor. Otherwise, the laws of economy and logistics have hit them very hard.
* EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion: Averted. The battle for humanity is a hard-fought one that has been going on for three years, mostly thanks to the Barrier.

* HomeworldEvacuation: {{Deconstructed}} and {{Averted}}. It's made clear that it's just not going to work. Mostly because of the radiation in space, limited resources, lack of habitable planets, and how the few colonists who could escape wouldn't be a match for Celestia if she eventually found them.

* CreativeSterility: Newfoals cannott get cutie marks. What's more, ''regular ponies'' have had great deals of trouble earning them since the invasion began, though it isn't impossible – Dinky and the Cutie Mark Crusaders got theirs after fleeing Equestria. It's to the point that they're calling it the Dearth. Why is not entirely clear, although the most likely candidate is Queen Celestia's rampant MindRape crushing the freedom of thought required for ponies to find their special talent.

* ForWantOfANail: The biggest PointOfDivergence between Prime Equestria and Imperial Equestria is that Princess Cadance never became an alicorn, and thus didn't take the throne of the Crystal Empire, allowing King Sombra to reestablish his power and fight a conventional war with Equestria. However, ''that'' only came about because of a heavily corrupted Celestia's influence... [[spoiler:Which in turn only happened because Lyra went on an ill-fated scuba diving trip...]]

* TheQuisling: The PER.

* CoolGuns: The authors know an impressive number of firearms. The Colt [=M1911=], a futuristic [=LeMat=] revolver, an M249, an [=MG3=], (which is basically a modernized [=MG42=]) Kraber's [=MG2019=] LMG (which also looks similar to an [=MG42=]) DSR.50, an [=AA12=] shotgun, a Neostead shotgun, and a [=UTS15=] shotgun all make appearances.
** And then all these CoolGuns begin to cross over with {{Magitek}}.

* {{Crossover}}: [[spoiler: With G1 ''Franchise/MyLittlePony''. Tirek's Bag plays a major role, and Megan is revealed to be Marcus' mother]].
** Also with Series/DoctorWho, since Doctor Whooves is confirmed to be ''the'' Doctor, and Series/{{Sherlock}}, as Mycroft Holmes plays a major supporting role.

* TheMultiverse: An explicit feature of the story. The ''Multiverse Journey'' side story has Discord traveling through the universes of ''{{TabletopGame/Warhammer40000}}'', ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'', ''Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos'', ''{{Anime/Naruto}}'', ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', and even meeting [[Franchise/StarTrek Q]].

** The main story ("Consequences of Conflict") essentially confirms that Doctor Whooves used to be ''[[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]]'', but transformed into a pony sometime and somehow before Equestria and Earth met]].

** Ambassador Lyra Heartstrings was this to the PHL and much of Earth's people before her death, after which her position is taken over by Cheerilee (who, incidentally, shares Celestia's voice actress on the show). The story gives them both shining moments, with Lyra quoting Charlie Chaplin's speech from ''Film/TheGreatDictator'', and Cheerilee getting to actually hold her own in a fight against the Tyrant]].

** Subverted in the case of the Imperial!Mane Six. They've kept their own personalities... [[AndIMustScream but each have been trapped in their own minds while a sick and distorted homunculus rules their body in their stead, perpetually forced to watch themselves commit atrocities]]]].

* CoolGuns: The authors know an impressive number of firearms. The Colt M1911, a futuristic LeMat revolver, an M249, an [=MG3=], (which is basically a modernized MG42) Kraber's [=MG2019=] LMG (which also looks similar to an MG42) DSR.50, and an AA12 shotgun all make appearances. As do a Neostead shotgun and a UTS15 shotgun.

** The Imperial!Mane Six are twisted mockeries of the actual Mane Six, who are kept enslaved and tortured in their own mind while a fake pony happily lives out their life and ruins countless others']].

* GunsAreWorthless: Only against alicorns; they work just fine on everypony else. However, there are ways of getting around the threat of guns. Magical shields, if strong enough), can NoSell most forms of weapons, and there is the old trick of simply taking the guns away using magic and turning them against their owner... which seems to have been largely overcome by the time the main story rolls around. Guns are now modified to be resistant to magic, as well as fire faster, with larger magazines, all through runic magic. And even the alicorn factor is shown to be waning after one of the assault teams uses a sniper rifle to blow off Queen Celestia's ear. Then, in the next chapter, Kraber destroys her spine with the very same rifle; unfortunately, she turns out to be a duplicate created by the Mirror Pool, leaving it open as to how effective the gun would be against the real thing]].

** Itsunori Onodera, the Japanese Minister of Defense, is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsunori_Onodera real-life person.

** During the Battle of Boston, a rune-inscribed crystal 50-cal bullet goes through Queen Celestia's shield and blows one of her ears off. In the same chapter, Discord shows off a tiny gun he acquired in his search for their dimension. It shoots [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Banzai Bills]]]].

* AppealToAudacity: In "Trust", Prime!Luna presses her head directly to the muzzle of an anti-alicorn {{BFG}}]] to convince the PHL soldiers that she's on the level, because would a puppet deliberately put itself in PHL crosshairs?

** Defied in "Trust". Marcus chooses not to bring Prime!Lyra with him back to Earth, because Ambassador Lyra's legacy is too great for her to live up to. He also refuses to reveal that Lyra was the UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom that dug up the [[spoiler:Bag of Tirek]] and caused the mess in the first place]].

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Marcus's mother, Megan ([[spoiler:yes, ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials that]]'' Megan]]) died of a heart attack shortly after Jacob's ponification. On that same note, Marcus's Aunt Molly and Uncle Danny were killed a year into the war when they were caught in the crossfire of a shootout between the PER and the police]].

* TheMultiverse: An explicit feature of the story. The ''Multiverse Journey'' side story has Discord traveling through the universes of ''{{TabletopGame/Warhammer40000}}'', ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'', ''Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos'', ''{{Anime/Naruto}}'', ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', and even meeting [[LiveActionTV/StarTrek Q]].

* PhysicalGod: Celestia, Luna and Discord are seen as such. They're later revealed to be the brainchildren of the Scribe, the guardian of the first alicorn race's memories and avatar of the last alicorn Faust, who fought [[spoiler:Tirek]] in the distant past. Considering that Discord calls Faust his "mother", [[TangledFamilyTree this would technically make him Celestia and Luna's brother, which he acknowledges to some extent, calling their trip to seek her out a "good old-fashioned family reunion".

* PyrrhicVictory: The Americans intend to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this if the Barrier consumes too much of the planet by wiring the Yellowstone volcano with nuclear devices. Even if the Barrier can keep the ash and radiation out, half the supervolcano will be inside the Barrier when it explodes, causing a chain reaction that will turn Earth into a DeathWorld and ensuring that humanity's enemy will have gained nothing]].

** "Pushed to the Limits" ends with Prime!Luna announcing to a squadron of human pilots that they have Marcus, meaning that Equestria Prime will finally join the war]].
** In "War March and Past Sins", everyone is horrified by what King Spykoran did to keep the [[spoiler:Bag of Tirek]] buried, and some outright call him a murderer. In his own defense, Spykoran admits what he did was terrible, but maintains that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo he did what had to be done]]]].

** Stephan expresses annoyance at looking like a ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' vampire when he's turned sparkly by the Crystal Heart.

** Heavily discussed in "War March and Past Sins", with the eponymous past sin being that Spykoran [[KillItWithFire resorted to]] [[KillEmAll drastic measures]] to keep the [[spoiler:Bag of Tirek]] buried. While the other world leaders of Equus are horrified by what he did, Spykoran himself regrets his actions.

* YouAreTooLate: Doctor Whooves tried to save Ambassador Lyra and Bonbon. Unfortunately, Lyra's death was a fixed point in time, and the fallout from the Doctor's meddling caused Bonbon's already fractured psyche to become embedded with visions from all of histor.

* UncannyValley: InUniverse; in addition to the standard characterization of [[StepfordSmiler the]] [[ExtremeDoormat New]][[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul foals]], Blue Spy also handily points out that ''every'' Newfoal ever produced is a Blank Flank, and treats it as the unsettling icing on the creepiness cake. What's worse is that the blank flank syndrome is spreading to the natural-born ponies as well. In fact, virtually everything about the Solar Empire conveys this image, too. The authors go to great lengths to describe Imperial Equestria [[CrapsaccharineWorld as looking happy, but there is something very seriously off]].

* PityingPerversion: Berry Punch, and presumably all other members of the PETN (Ponies for the Ethical Treatment of Newfoals), assumed that the Newfoals' UncannyValley behavior is comparable to coming out of a drug addiction, and that they should be treated with respect. Of course, it never occurs to her that maybe turning them into ponies in the first place was unconscionable in itself.

* CoolGuns: The authors know an impressive amount of firearms. [[CoolGuns/{{Handguns}} The Colt M1911]], [[CoolGuns/{{Revolvers}} a futuristic LeMat revolver]], [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns an M249]], an [=MG3=], (which is basically a modernized [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns MG42]]) Kraber's [=MG2019=] LMG (which also looks similar to an [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns MG42]]) [[CoolGuns/SniperRifles DSR.50]], and an [[CoolGuns/{{Shotguns}} AA12 shotgun]] all make appearances. As do a Neostead shotgun and a UTS15 shotgun.

* CoolGuns: The authors know an impressive amount of firearms. [[CoolGuns/{{Handguns}} The Colt M1911]], [[CoolGuns/{{Revolvers}} a futuristic LeMat revolver]], [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns an M249]], an [=MG3=], (which is basically a modernized [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns MG42]]) Kraber's [=MG2019=] LMG (which also looks similar to an [[CoolGuns/MachineGuns MG42]]) [[CoolGuns/SniperRifles DSR.50]], and an [[CoolGuns/{{Shotguns}} AA12 shotgun]] all make appearances.
** RareGuns: As do a Neostead shotgun and a UTS15 shotgun.

* BalefulPolymorph: The potion will turn anyone it makes contact with (except for other ponies) into a perpetually smiling zombie-like shell of a pony that is completely loyal to Queen Celestia.

** The PER are called "the most despised faction of the Conversion War", and [[EvilLuddite it]] [[MisanthropeSupreme is]] [[LesCollaborateurs very]] [[WouldHurtAChild easy]] [[TheQuisling to]] [[BalefulPolymorph see why]].

* DeconstructionFic: Remember how Earth is always written as a StrawDystopia in Chatoyance's stories? Here, Earth becomes a dystopia precisely ''because'' of the Barrier.

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/271864/once-more-unto-the-breach Once More Unto The Breach]]'', by Jed R. Following the trail of the survivors of the British Exodus.

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/204729/the-kings-speech-a-side-story-of-the-conversion-bureau-the-other-side-of-the-spectrum The King's Speech]]'', by Jed R. An examination of what it means to be British when the Barrier has destroyed the British Isles.

It used to have an official group, but [[TroubledProduction disagreements between Redskin and the rest of the writers]] led to the group being deleted and the original fic is officially cancelled. Subsequently, the group announced an official reboot called ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/374221/spectrum Spectrum]]'', aiming to fix most of the issues found in the original fic. The reboot's tropes can be found under ''[[FanFic/{{Spectrum}}]]''. It has an official group, which can be found [[https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212460/spectrum here]].

!!''From the Early Days of War''

!!''Voices of Mankind''

It also has a crossover with ''Fanfic/TheAvatarOfAlbion'' called ''[[Fanfic/ConvergenceSeries Convergence]]''!

[[foldercontrol]]

** During the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic source material's]] planning phase, Princess Celestia was supposed to be a Queen, but [[ExecutiveMeddling Hasbro]] nixed that on the basis that [[Queens are evil and Princesses are good GoodPrincessEvilQueen]]. Guess the evil Celestia's title.

* MindRape: Becoming a Newfoal turns people into [[StepfordSmiler perpetually smiling]], [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul mindlessly cheery]] [[ExtremeDoormat zombies]], with little free will of their own. ** Most of Imperial Equestria is subject to mind-control as well. Applebloom describes it as feeling like her thoughts are replaced with an irrational hatred for humans and a desire to ponify every person she sees. Queen Celestia also placed a Geas on the Royal Guards, making them follow her every order without question. And then there's the corruption and subjugation of the Mane Six. We even see it happening to Twilight firsthand, and it's [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything written in a way that feels disturbingly similar to actual physical rape]]. In fact, ''Queen Celestia herself is a victim of this'', given what the [[spoiler:Bag of Tirek]] did to her.

--> '''[=Redskin122004=]:''' [[RogueAnglesOfSatin "Some new changed Newfoal thought it would be great if they can use them in the 'good fight' for earth, passed it on to Twilight who began to set up the ships to be refitted for defense and potions, and improve magical to help power it."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Foreground, from left to right: [[BigGood Princess Celestia]], [[ColonelBadass Col. Marcus Renee]], [[BadassTeacher TCB!Cheerilee]], [[ActionGirl TCB!Trixie]], [[MajorlyAwesome Maj. Stephan Bauer]], and [[DarkIsNotEvil Princess Luna]]. Background: [[BigBad Queen Celestia]] and her fleet of airships.]]

-> Go [[FanFic/{{SPECTRUM}} here]] for tropes featured in the reboot.

''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/42449/the-conversion-bureau-the-other-side-of-the-spectrum The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of the Spectrum]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic formerly co-authored by [=Redskin122004=] and [=TB3=], who stopped co-writing with Redskin after the release of the "Writes of Passage" chapter to continue his professional writing career. Since then it has evolved into a group project with authors Doctor Fluffy, [=ProudToBe=], Drawdex, Kizuna Tallis, Beyond The Horizon, Bendy, [=ThatClosetBrony=], Inquisitor-Awesome, [[FanFic/TheAvatarOfAlbion Jed R]], [=TheIdiot=], Red-Bomber, [=VoxAdam=], and [=Sledge115=] pitching in, eventually drawing [=TB3=] back to the story. It's based on ''FanFic/TheConversionBureau'', with a different spin on the premise.

It used to have an official group, but [[TroubledProduction disagreements between Redskin and the rest of the writers]] led to the group being deleted and the original fic is officially cancelled. The group has announced an official reboot called ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/374221/spectrum SPECTRUM]]'', aiming to fix most of the issues found in the original fic. The reboot's tropes can be found under ''[[FanFic/{{SPECTRUM}} SPECTRUM]]''. It has an official group, which can be found [[https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212460/spectrum here]].

[[folder:Other fics]]
* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/358543/a-sun-in-winter A Sun in Winter]]'', by [=Sledge115=] and [=VoxAdam=]. The long-ago story of the reindeer princess Anna Erklass and two alicorn foals in the land of Adlaborn. A distant prequel to the Spectrumverse as a whole.
* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/237718/1/joy-to-the-worlds/joy-to-the-worlds Joy To The Worlds]]'', by [=VoxAdam=] and [=TB3=]. A tale of the duel between the reindeer king Sint Erklass and the assassin Weaver on the last Hearthswarming Eve.

* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/178621/tcb-spectrum-case-files Case Files]]'', a group project between [=Redskin122004=], Bendy, Kizuna Tallis, and [=DoctorFluffy=]. An in-universe documentary detailing the HLF, PER and the PHL.

* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/231511/the-many-faces-of-mankind The Many Faces Of Mankind]]'', by Jed R. An in-universe article made to be distributed into TCB!Equestria, interspersed by interviews with various human personages during the war.

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/192472/the-conversion-bureau-the-other-side-of-the-spectrum-side-story-calm-before-the-storm Calm Before The Storm]]'', [=by DoctorFluffy=]. Events in the two weeks following the Battle of Boston, in all three worlds, told through a series of shorts.
* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/226553/tcb-other-side-of-the-spectrum-shades-of-the-unsung Shades of the Unsung]]'', by [=TheIdiot=]. (Direct sequel to a short from ''Calm''). Up in a prison camp to the North of TCB!Equus, a small band of dissenters work behind the scenes to topple the Solar Empire.

** Among the PHL ponies, we have the TCB versions of Trixie and Cheerilee (main story), and Blizzard Flurry and Aquamarine Glimmer (Asia Side-Story). TCB!Vinyl Scratch and TCB!Spitfire are also mentioned as being among their best fighters.

* AdaptationalBadass: From TCB!Equestria, several background characters, like Lyra, Cheerilee, Zecora, Vinyl Scratch and others become hardened resistance fighters. Sweetie Belle is especially notable, given that she lives in Zecora's old hut in the forest.
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: As with other TCB stories, the magical barrier consuming the Earth will vaporize any humans and human-made objects it touches. It doesn't even leave dust behind.
* AliensAreBastards: Subverted. While many of the TCB!Equestrians are dedicated to Queen Celestia's campaign of xenocide, there are also ponies like Lyra and Cheerilee, who are just two of the many resistance fighters. And this is not counting the Prime!Equestrians, who are immediately horrified when they learn what their counterparts are doing.

* AlternateUniverse: Notable not just for being this, but also for TCB!Equestria being four years ahead of Prime!Equestria chronologically. This leads to problems when Marcus assumes he only traveled through time and attempts to "prevent" the war by trying to kill Celestia.
** Due to the RecursiveFanfiction that came about from this story, the author has [[https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/214153/opening-up-for-others announced]] that he is setting up an "alternate universe" of the Spectrumverse.
** [[spoiler: Discord]] apparently loves to travel to different universes for kicks.
* AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome: After TCB!Equestria encountered Earth, Lyra was not only appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom, but went on to lead the resistance against Queen Celestia, becoming a martyr upon her execution at the Tyrant's hooves. Marcus [[TakeOurWordForIt describes]] her legacy as the BigGood to TCB!Celestia's BigBad as running so deep that the PHL see her as a [[MessianicArchetype savior figure]], and even the HLF hold her in some esteem (not that it stopped them from trying to have her assassinated).
* {{Ambadassador}}: TCB!Lyra Heartstrings.

** In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Prime!Luna finds out how [[spoiler:the Bag of Tirek imprisoned the TCB!Mane Six within their own minds and replaced them with puppets. TCB!Twilight even begs Luna to kill her and her friends, as she can't stand to watch the pain and suffering go on any longer]].
** Oddly enough, Elsa the reindeer somehow manages to be both an [[InvertedTrope Inversion]] ''and'' a [[SubvertedTrope Subversion]]. Her consciousness is actually [[HauntedFetter kept alive in a magic cloak]] and rather than taking total control of the body of whoever wears it, merges with the host's consciousness, but with Elsa in the dominant role. In theory the wearer should be subjected to this trope, but they actually consider it an ''honor'' to give up their personal lives to give Elsa, who is not only the granddaughter of Sint Erklass but their race's chief mage/shaman, a new body. Elsa, on the other hand feels guilt and shame for taking their personal freedom away for her to continue "living".
* {{Animorphism}}: The ponification potion turns any human that absorbs a given amount into a Newfoal.
** [[spoiler: Chapter 10 of the main story ("Consequences of Conflict") essentially confirms that Doctor Whooves used to be ''[[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]]'', but transformed into a pony sometime and somehow before TCB!Equestria and Earth met]].

** A Class 3 event has already passed for the Changelings and the reindeer in the TCB-verse. Queen Celestia plans the same for the humans, minotaurs, griffons and zebras.
** Class 5 for all of Europe and at least half of Africa and Asia due to the Barrier, and may happen worldwide. [[spoiler: Humanity intends to use this against Queen Celestia thanks to the Yellowstone megavolcano, which has nukes buried underground at its weakest points, to be detonated if mankind's loss appears imminent]].

** TCB!Equestria itself is sliding into a total breakdown. Their economy has crashed, their resources have been stretched irreparably thin, and their war morale is practically at rock bottom due to how many soldiers they've lost and from how long the war has dragged. At the moment, only terror, propaganda, and the mass-exploitation of Newfoal slaves is holding them afloat, and even that's starting to fail.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Prime!Chrysalis gives one to Stephan, asking him what he really knows about Trixie as a person (beyond her skills, what she's survived through, etc) and how sustainable their relationship would be without the backdrop of the war.
* ArtifactOfDoom: [[spoiler: The Bag of Tirek is responsible for TCB!Celestia's corruption]].

* AscendedFridgeHorror: ''Starvation'' was written by the very same troper who wrote the entry on the fridge page that questioned what happens to refugees when half the world is unable to produce food. Which in turn, led to the Asia Side-Story.
** This happens rather frequently. Given that two of the authors/editors/contributors are tropers themselves, it was bound to happen.
** ''Calm Before the Storm'' does this for any fridge horror relating to the broken minds and ExtremeDoormat tendencies of the newfoals, as well as illustrate just how Equestria would be ''dreadfully'' unprepared to support a large influx of billions of new residents.

* AuthorAvatar:
** Both [[BloodKnight Kraber]] and, less sensationally, [[NiceJewishBoy Johnny C]] to [=DoctorFluffy=]. That said, according to Fluffy, Kraber is how he plays video games while Johnny C is closer to how he is in real life.
** [[MusicalAssassin TCB!Vinyl Scratch]] to Kizuna Tallis.
** [[AntiVillain Weaver]] ([[ShrugOfGod maybe]]) to [=VoxAdam=].
** [[TheEveryman Stellar Wind]] to [=Sledge115=].
* AuthorAppeal
** [=DoctorFluffy=] likes anything to do with video games, wolves, ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'', the works of Jeff Vandermeer and China Mieville, Biting Elbows, Film/{{Elysium}} and Film/DistrictNine (and especially Sharlto Copley), CoolGuns or BodyHorror, and it shows.
** Kizuna Tallis is a big fan of ElectronicMusic (mainly {{trance}}, {{dubstep}} and ElectroHouse). An affection for Korean soap operas can also be seen in places. She also adores ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' and ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''.
** Expect passages written by [=VoxAdam=] to evoke NatureIsNotNice, InsignificantLittleBluePlanet, and even SympathyForTheDevil. This in turn is greatly inspired by the amoral worldview of Canadian sci-fi author Creator/PeterWatts.
** They all seem to be big ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' fans at this point. Most of the authors also have an affection for various anime series.

** A coalition of every species living on Prime!Equus assembles to counter the Solar Tyrant. Beyond [[BewareTheNiceOnes the ponies]], a trio of [[PhysicalGod alicorns]], and [[spoiler:the Lord of Chaos himself]], it brings together the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]], the griffons and their [[PraetorianGuard Tsumerai]], [[spoiler:[[{{Shapeshifting}} the Changelings]]]], [[{{Druid}} the zebras]], [[ProudWarriorRace the minotaurs]], [[TimeAbyss Sint Erklass]] and the reindeer, the [[HeroicDog civilized Diamond Dogs]] and [[TheBigGuy the buffalo tribes]].

* BadassCrew: [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Michael, Trevor, Franklin, and Lester]] are fighting alongside the PHL. With their previous experience, the PHL have made a good choice. The main characters of the Asia Side-Story fill this out as well.
* BadassFamily: The Whooves clan, consisting of the Doctor and Derpy, their daughters Dinky and Amethyst Star, plus Dinky's boyfriend Pipsqueak. [[spoiler: And yes, they have a working TARDIS]].
* BadassNormal: Stephan, who does a good job of keeping up with Marcus despite lacking the Power Tattoos. One commenter even called him "the Franchise/{{Batman}} to Marcus's Franchise/{{Superman}}".
* BadassTeacher: TCB!Cheerilee, a former teacher who is now a hardened resistance fighter, empowered with magic runes... and [[spoiler: able to deal one hell of a smackdown on a clone of the Tyrant]].
* BadFuture: The TCB timeline in general. Nowhere is safe - Earth is [[EarthIsABattlefield a literal battlefield]] and is sliding into total anarchy, and TCB!Equestria is only kept afloat through fear and brainwashing.

* BeingEvilSucks: For those ponies that stayed in Equestria and joined the PER, especially the Elements ([[spoiler:though it's really not their faults]]). It's made abundantly clear that the war has done them far more harm than good, and many of them have lost several friends and family members in their dogmatic pursuit of ponifying all of humanity. To say nothing of the massive ecological damage done in the pursuit of said ponification of all humanity...
* BerserkButton: The Newfoals are {{Extreme Doormat}}s, no question about it, but they will turn violent against anyone who hurts one of the TCB!Element Bearers, insults Queen Celestia or says anything negative about Equestria.

* {{BFG}}: Many characters wield heavy-duty assault arms. Justified, as newfoals will ignore pain and gunshots to continue coming at their targets, so bigger bullets are necessary to cut down on wasted time.

** TCB!Lyra Heartstrings was this to the PHL and much of Earth's people before her death, after which her position is taken over by Cheerilee (who, incidentally, shares Celestia's voice actress on the show). The story gives them both shining moments, with Lyra quoting Charlie Chaplin's speech from ''Film/TheGreatDictator'', and Cheerilee [[spoiler: getting to actually hold her own in a fight against the Tyrant]].
** To a lesser extent, President Jack Davis and King William are this to humanity.
* BlindObedience: The TCB!ponies will follow all of the Queen's orders. '''All of them.'''

* {{Brainwashed}}: [[spoiler:Most of the TCB!Equestrians, by magical means. Applebloom barely avoids this when Sweetie Belle persuades her to escape to Earth]].

** Subverted in the case of [[spoiler: the TCB versions of the Mane Six. They've kept their own personalities... [[AndIMustScream but each have been trapped in their own minds while a sick and distorted homunculus rules their body in their stead, perpetually forced to watch themselves commit atrocities]]]].
* {{Camp}}: Characters who speak in theatrical fashion, RuleOfCool action scenes, overpowered weaponry, bizarre monsters, gore that comes in LudicrousGibs, satirical pokes at certain real-world issues, multiverse shenanigans. While there are sober moments, particularly when depicting [[ShownTheirWork realistic military procedure]], even the serious side stories such as ''Joy to the Worlds'' or ''The King's Speech'' contain a little bit of grandiosity. On the whole, ''Spectrum'' prefers to serve as a platform for high-running emotions than a thoughtful examination in the vein of ''[[Fanfic/TheConversionBureauNotAlone Not Alone]]''.

** Oddly enough, all but three (four when you count Kraber's wife Kate) of the heterosexual pairings are cases of InterspeciesRomance [[spoiler: and even then, two of those "exceptions" required {{Animorphism}} to get that way]].
* CategoryTraitor: A common accusation between the three main factions of the story (PHL, PER and other Equestrian forces, and HLF).
** The Solar Empire and the PER label TCB!Lyra and pro-human ponies as "Betrayers" and "humans on four hooves".

* CelebritySurvivor: Amongst the ponies of the PHL, Vinyl Scratch (aka DJ-[=Pon3=]) seems to be a high-ranking member, Sapphire Shores uses her singing voice to raise morale amongst the troops, and Photo Finish is in charge of creating pro-human propaganda to spread throughout TCB!Equestria.

** In the Asia Side-Story, one of Yon-Soo's responsibilities while stationed in St. Petersburg (Russia) was to train kids how to fight and defend themselves. He similarly notes that kids should not have to fight, and promises to make the Queen pay for what she's driven humanity to do.
** In the Europe Side-Story, there is a mention of a teen soldier who "was not older as eighteen years" ([[RougeAnglesOfSatin the author's English isn't very good]], just roll with it) but his exact age is not specified.

* ColonelBadass: Marcus Renee. Same with Stabsunteroffizier Kraber, who falls three stories, gets in a shotgun fight with a {{Teleport Spam}}ming Pinkie Pie, and takes a display case to the chest, [[MadeOfIron all with apparently no ill effects]].
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: The people of Earth have become used to mind-numbing tragedy as the war goes on. Best summed up in this quote from Chapter Six of the Asia Side-Story:

** To an extent, Marcus, who is able to deal with his memories of the war better than Celestia, partially due to coming from a world far more brutal than [[SugarBowl Equestria]].
** Hyong-Jin as well; having already lived a tough life in North Korea, he's a bit more used to the harsher aspects of war than South Korean Yon-Soo is.
* ContinuityPorn: "Training Days: Part 1" features a conversation between TCB!Vinyl, TCB!Trixie, Acevedo, and several other side-characters that list several events in TCB!Equestria's history that ''could'' have been the PointOfDivergence, calling to mind several events in ''Last Train to Oblivion'', such as the explosion of Kith and Kin, the installation of the totem-proles, and extermination of the Changelings.

** In the Europe side-story we get to see what it is fully capable of.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: TCB!Equestria paints itself up as a paradise, but any veneer of niceness is easily broken if you dig deep enough. For one thing, it's shown that the Empire is very dreadfully unprepared to support the massive influx of newfoals coming in, and if you even so much as question Queen Celestia's "wisdom", you could get sent to [[TheGulag a prison camp]] where you'll be worked to death, or imprisoned and tortured, as [[spoiler: TCB!Spike learned the hard way]]. There are also mentions of re-education centers; PHL members Aegis and Verdant Tract allude to having had brushes with those in the past, something which neither of them want to go through again. And according to TCB!Granny Smith, the whole land is "poisoned and dying".
* CrapsackWorld: Earth has become one for the WarRefugees. Rio de Janeiro especially has become a total hellhole according to the Starvation side-story. It's best described by the main character himself:

** In "Trust", U.S. President Jack Davis states that China has all but devolved into a lawless hellhole, with mass suicides, public executions, riots, and general anarchy being daily occurrences. America counts as well, thanks to the majority of civilians going hungry (while the military gets a decent supply of rations) and the ever-growing presence of the [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic HLF]]; the President claims it is a good day when he gets ''only'' twenty suggestions to do "[[YouDoNotWantToKnow things that are best not discussed in polite company]]" to any ponies found outside the Barrier. It's implied that it's ever so slowly slipping into violence.
** And it would seem that any [[CrapsaccharineWorld facade of niceness]] is barely kept within TCB!Equestria itself; their version of the Crystal Empire has become a police state under total media blackout, where the crystal ponies are forced to mine crystals for the Solar Empire. Marcus even goes so far as to call the place "the North Korea of Equus".
* CreatorProvincialism: Played with. While the authors have written stories taking place around America or Europe, they've also written plenty that take place outside their home countries.
* CreativeSterility: Newfoals can't get cutie marks. What's more, ''regular ponies'' have had great deals of trouble earning them since the invasion began (though it isn't impossible – TCB!Dinky and the TCB versions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders got theirs after fleeing Equestria), to the point that they're calling it the Dearth. Why is not entirely clear, though the most likely candidate is [[spoiler: Queen Celestia's rampant MindRape crushing the freedom of thought required for ponies to find their special talent]].
* CreepyChild: Human children transformed into Newfoals have the same empty glassy-eyed smiles and general UncannyValley creepiness of every other Newfoal. In the Starvation Side-Story, Isaac Acevedo expresses disbelief that [[WebAnimation/ButtonsAdventures Button Mash's mother]] has [[DotingParent more patience]] for her [[MouthyKid obnoxious]] and [[ButtMonkey accident-prone]] son than she does for the zombie-like shells of formerly human children. Even Button seems shocked by it.
* CreepySouvenir: Some human soldiers (mosly the HLF) are overly fond of collecting unicorn horns and pegasus wings.
* {{Crossover}}: [[spoiler: With G1 ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' (Tirek's Bag plays a major role, and Megan is revealed to be Marcus' mother), Series/DoctorWho, since Doctor Whooves is confirmed to be ''the'' Doctor, and Series/{{Sherlock}}, with Mycroft Holmes playing a major supporting role]].
** [[spoiler: Discord travels to the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' universe, revealing the Veil to be a portal between worlds, befriends Sirius Black, and taunts Voldemort. He then goes on to visit [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack Samurai Jack's universe]] and is forced to rethink his position on the ponies' progress and realize his own role in what he accused Prime!Equestria of [[MedievalStasis turning]] [[SugarBowl into]], as well as the fact that Celestia and Luna took power because of his carelessness in the first place]].
** [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Michael, Lester, Franklin and Trevor]] make up a raiding team in the main story.
* DeadlineNews: The reporters at the press conference at Berne interviewing Queen Celestia on the barrier's expansion got forcibly ponified on camera, kicking the war off.
* DeconstructionFic: Remember how Earth is always written as a StrawDystopia in Chatoyance's stories? Here, Earth becomes a dystopia precisely ''because'' of the Barrier and TCB!Equestria's actions.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: If the ponifying process is complete, the former human will praise their "savior" and the Queen.

* DomedHometown: Pretty much every town that has been absorbed by the Barrier...
** DoomedHometown: ... Of course, said hometowns are vaporized bit by bit on contact with said barrier.
* DoorStopper: The main story is currently at exactly 682,072 words... and that's without going into all the side-stories it has.
* TheDragon: TCB!Twilight is leading the invasion while Queen Celestia handles affairs back in Equestria. She also counts as TheEvilGenius since she helped to create the potion.

** Marcus himself is this to the HLF.
** Queen Celestia and the TCB!Mane Six are this for the PHL; it's generally advised to run like hell if they're nearby.
** The PHL ponies are still very scared of Nightmare Moon.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The earlier side stories are usually focused on a group of characters in a single location (Europe, Asia, Brazil), and suffer from ColonCancer. The newer ones take place in multiple locations, sometimes different viewpoints from the established main characters, and have mostly dropped the colon based titles.

** And then subverted in ''Calm Before the Storm'', where we get a good look at the state of TCB!Equestria's economy. The mentioned potion vials are only available en masse due to newfoal slave labor. Otherwise, the laws of economy and logistics have hit them very hard.

* EmergencyTransformation: In the early days of contact with TCB!Equestria, the potion was given to cancer patients, amputees, the blind, the deaf, and so on. Needless to say, [[BrainwashedAndCrazy the]] [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul cost]] outweighs the benefits.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Marcus, already a fierce fighter, becomes immeasurably more deadly once equipped with his runes.

* EnsembleCast: ''Yes.'' There's about twenty characters on the PHL that have served as the protagonists of their respective stories, but most side characters have enough detail to them that they could serve as protagonists themselves.

** In spite of everything, Queen Celestia still loved her sister. [[spoiler: It didn't stop her from [[TakenForGranite turning Luna to stone]] after she tried to side with the humans]].
** [[spoiler:Discord]] expresses genuine sadness at the disappearance of [[spoiler:the alicorn Faust]], whom he calls his [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas "mother"]].

** [[spoiler:Discord is disgusted by what Queen Celestia is doing to the humans and what she did to his counterpart. Not only that, but even he's scared of the Bag of Tirek. Meanwhile, in addition to having the same feelings as his prime counterpart, TCB!Discord protected several ponies who would otherwise have been killed by collateral damage when Queen Celestia attacked him]].
** [[spoiler:Queen Celestia briefly had doubts when she forcibly ponified some reporters at a press conference, and when she turned Luna to stone]].
*** PlayedForLaughs in Chapter 11, when [[spoiler: Discord]] reveals that even Queen Celestia couldn't stand Prince Blueblood and turned him to stone and crushed to pieces.
** Queen Chrysalis balks at Shining Armor's accusation that she raped him while disguised as Cadance, and even seems [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil insulted that he would think such a thing]]. She still used her MindControl to her advantage, but not for that specifically. May also be a TakeThat to stories which actually have that happen. For her part, TCB!Chrysalis was disturbed to realize what Queen Celestia was up to, [[spoiler: though that may have been due to the Newfoals' tainted love, which fatally poisoned all Changelings who fed on it]]. It's safe to say that even the show's greatest villains think the Solar Tyrant is going too far. [[spoiler: With one exception – the original nemesis, Tirek, is TheManBehindTheMan to Queen Celestia]].

** [[TheBarnum Flim]] [[SnakeoilSalesman and Flam]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 may not have had the best relationship]] with the Apple family, but at least they had enough respect and decency to visit TCB!Granny Smith while she was on her deathbed when TCB!Applejack was nowhere to be seen. It's also revealed in ''Last Train From Oblivion'' that they're also members of the Equestrian Resistance.
** In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", Prime!Luna inwardly states that Queen Celestia's method of turning the TCB!Elements into her tools of evil was so foul that even King Sombra would have never stooped to that level.
** According to ''Case Files'', the HLF is largely composed of sadists, paranoid survivalists and violent psychopaths. They still never crossed the same lines as the PER.
** Even though she [[VisionaryVillain believes she's fighting]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist for a good cause]] and is even noted as a tragic figure by Sint Erklass (whom she killed), "Weaver" is the ruthless assassin known as "Celestia's Sword" and isn't afraid to resort to dirty tricks to get the upper hoof on her enemies and will [[WouldHurtAChild kill children if it's required of her]]. But even she can't stand to look long into [[BloodKnight Pineapple]] [[NightmareFetishist Cutter's]] thoughts.
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** [[WebAnimation/ButtonsAdventures Button's Mom]] cannot stand working with Newfoal children. Considering what her youngest colt was like, this says volumes about how unbearable they are.
** In Chapter 21, Stephan says that although he knows firepower is needed to [[spoiler: destroy the device maintaining the barrier]], he thinks calling in the Dragons of the East (the Asia Side-Story characters) is a bit much.
** Kraber has ''a lot'' of loose screws and is the definition of AxCrazy, yet even he can't help but lose his lunch after [[spoiler: Luna shows him TCB!Twilight's gruesome experiments with the prototype ponification potion]].
* EvilCounterpart: Princess Celestia and the Mane Six have theirs in the TCB-verse. However [[spoiler: it's clear that they are all being controlled by the Bag of Tirek, and the TCB!Mane Six themselves were all locked up inside their minds, unable to do anything but helplessly watch as mental homunculi that were implanted inside their bodies drive them around like puppets, committing war crimes of the highest caliber]]. [[spoiler: Moreover, said homunculi were created from the darker parts of the TCB!Mane Six's souls, while also keeping at least one defining personality trait (like Applejack's honesty, Fluttershy's sweet-talking, or Twilight's drive to learn) to be used for evil purposes]].
* EvilOverlord: Queen Celestia.

* EvilVersusEvil: Queen Celestia's war against King Sombra in the backstory, though this was before TCB!Equestria officially became the Solar Empire.
** [[spoiler: Prime!Discord's WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes-esque fight against the Tyrant may also count, although Discord is very much ALighterShadeOfBlack in comparison to her]].
** The HLF versus the PER, with the HLF barely qualifying as ALighterShadeOfBlack.
* FallenHero: The TCB!Mane Six. [[spoiler: Except that in truth, they've all been enslaved by Celestia, locked up in their own minds and made to watch as a homunculus (a dark personality implanted into their bodies) ruined their lives and committed countless atrocities]].
** TCB!Trixie views ''the entirety of Equestria'' in these terms. [[CrapsackWorld She's]] [[MoralEventHorizon not]] [[TheEmpire wrong]].
** Queen Celestia is one herself, [[spoiler: thanks to the influence of the Bag of Tirek]].
* FandomNod: InUniverse. Much of the chapter ''Pushed to the Limits'' is a love letter to the various non-prime AU side stories that have sprang up around The Other Side Of The Spectrum, including:

** [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/133962/1/the-conversion-bureau-the-other-side-of-the-spectrum-side-story-inner-rage/chapter-1 Inner Rage]]. In fact, Trevor and the other ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' protagonists show up twice, once in the AU vision that Bon-Bon sees, and, in prime, as hired guns for the joint PHL/HLF Taskforce.

** It's shown that many ponies in TCB!Equestria are downright frightened by the Newfoals and some even outright despise them, but thanks to government spies, they have to stay quiet about it unless they want to be sent to the gulags or to a mind healer (read: re-education center).
** The ''Starvation'' Side-Story shows that even pro-human ponies are not safe from this, with race riots and dead ponies being quite common in Rio. This later gets expanded upon with the HLF, which is so very anti-pony that one unnamed Brazilian blogger (implied to be one of the ''Starvation'' characters) claims that they're "[[NotHelpingYourCase giving Celestia all the ammunition she needs]]!"
** Prime!Celestia states that despite her and Luna's work to stamp out such things, there are still a great number of racial supremacists all over Equestria, most particularly unicorn and pegasus supremacists obsessed with "bloodline purity". On top of that, some ponies don't hold the best opinions on the griffons, minotaurs and other species in Equus.
* FantasticSlur: Ponies (natural-born and Newfoal alike) are often called Merry-go-round toys, geldos, and gluesticks, regardless of their affiliations.
* FanVerse: The author is currently setting up a universe for alternate timelines in the ''Spectrum'' verse.
* FascistButInefficient: TCB!Equestria. However, they brought it on themselves, taking on such a huge population increase while going to war and destroying all the human infrastructure they could have used to make colonizing Earth easier.
* AFateWorseThanDeath:
** Ponification for humans. Several have either committed suicide or asked their fellow humans to MercyKill them instead of getting converted.
** [[spoiler: The TCB!Mane Six have been enduring this for a long time. See [[NightmareFuel/TheConversionBureauTheOtherSideOfTheSpectrum Nightmare Fuel]] and AndIMustScream]].
** For natural born TCB ponies, there's either the Empire's brutal [[TheGulag prison work camps]] or re-education (in which the end result is described as being a like a "newfoal with a cutie mark").
* FinalSolution: Queen Celestia's plan for humanity. It involves an AdvancingWallOfDoom, BrainwashedAndCrazy slaves, and a whole lot of [[MutagenicGoo potion]].
* FirstContact: TCB!Equestria came about because of an accident at [=CERN=] HQ in Geneva, Switzerland involving an attempt to track and identify tachyon particles which ended up breaching the fabric of reality and creating a portal.
* FirstPersonPerspective: The lingering effects of the mind-sharing spell occasionally causes Princess Celestia to see Marcus' memories of the war through his eyes.
* FlawedPrototype: Let's just say that early versions of the ponification potion were rather... [[BodyHorror unpleasant]]. [[spoiler: Nearly three thousand people died in the initial trials]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "Harmony and Hegemony", Luna says that Marcus [[spoiler:"carries the stench of Discord". This isn't his fault, though — [[ThanatosGambit he couldn't have predicted that TCB!Discord had orchestrated Marcus' teleportation to Equestria]]]].
** There's also a mention by [[spoiler: Discord]] that TCB!Twilight "lost more than her mind". And, at the beginning of "For Whom The Bell Tolls", it's shown that [[spoiler: TCB!Rarity isn't fully in control of her actions. And then comes TheReveal...]]
* ForWantOfANail: The biggest PointOfDivergence between Prime!Equestria and TCB!Equestria is that Princess Cadance never became an alicorn, and thus didn't take the throne of the Crystal Empire, allowing King Sombra to reestablish his power and fight a conventional war with Equestria. However, ''that'' only came about because of [[spoiler: a heavily corrupted Celestia's influence, which in turn only happened because Lyra went on an ill-fated scuba diving trip...]]
** It's implied that in his last moments, [[spoiler: TCB!Discord placed a hypnotic suggestion in TCB!Twilight's mind to compel her to use the Elements of Harmony on Marcus rather than just ponify him, sending him to Prime!Equestria to get help]]. [[ThanatosGambit His death was not in vain]].
** The familiar Equestria ends up diverging from the show's canon in the "Sons of Legacies" arc, [[spoiler: where the Princesses, Discord, Marcus and Stephan are the ones handling the return of the Crystal Empire while the Mane Six have to undergo training for the war]].
* ForYourOwnGood: How the PER and the ponies loyal to Queen Celestia see the ponification of the humans; the war is even referred to as "Ponydom's noble battle to save Earth from itself".
* GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul: The Newfoals ''always'' smile, and happiness is the only emotion they can feel. No sadness, no fear, just a false smile, oblivious happiness, and blindly praising the Queen.
** The smilies on [[spoiler: the TCB!Mane Six are sentient, twisted mockeries of the actual Mane Six, who are kept enslaved and tortured in their own mind while a fake pony happily lives out their life, ruins their relationships, and murders countless innocents]].
** The re-education centers (called "mind healers" by pro-Imperials) is this for the natural-borns. We don't know exactly what goes on in them, though two PHL ponies named Aegis and Verdant Tract have mention brushes with them and neither liked to recall the experience (nor do they want another brush).
* FutureBadass: Most of the PHL ponies, since their Equestria is four years ahead of Prime!Equestria.
* GodIsGood: Marcus strongly doubts this view. [[spoiler: The Scribe's existence suggests there may be some truth to it, though]].
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: TCB!Celestia promoted herself to Queen.
* {{Gorn}}: The authors don't shy away from what the weapons on both sides can do to a body. [[spoiler: Driven home in the flashback of TCB!Twilight testing the prototype of the potion on several helpless people...]]
* GoshdangItToHeck: Along with many other things, Newfoals lose their ability to swear. TCB!Trixie thinks it sounds stupid, but the PHL exploit this weak point for all it's worth.
** BigStupidDooDooHead: Any insults the Newfoals will hurl out will basically amount to this.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage:
** GratuitousGerman: The Europe Side-Story, being initially set in Germany, has quite a few instances.
** GratuitousFrench: "Sons of Legacies, Part 1" ends with the phrase "''Venez nous joindre. C'est amusement étant un poney.''" ("Come and join us. It's fun being a pony.")
*** BlindIdiotTranslation: A more correct form of the phrase would be "''Venez nous rejoindre. C'est amusant d'être un poney.''"
** There's also smatterings of Russian and Korean in the Asia Side Story. However, a lot of dialogue does undergo TranslationConvention.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The war between TCB!Equestria and the Sombra-controlled Crystal Empire. It was also EvilVersusEvil.
* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: The ponies have every intention of [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide ponifying every human on earth]]. The humans, on the other hand, have been on the receiving end of enough war crimes and seen too many xenocidal ponies from the Solar Empire to really be interested in mercy at this point.
* GunPorn: The main story's narrator goes into some pretty serious detail on the DSR.50 anti-materiel rifle and its special anti-alicorn munitions in Chapter 18.
** There's also one of Isaac Acevedo's pistols, an "eight-shot .44 Magnum with a central 20-gauge barrel," making it possibly a [[CoolGuns/{{Revolvers}} LeMat revolver.]]
** And Sergei goes into a bit of detail about the Borz pistol - though, unusually for GunPorn, it's about how much [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns they suck]].
* GunsAreWorthless: Only against alicorns; they work just fine on everypony else. However, there are ways of getting around the threat of guns. Magical shields (if strong enough), can NoSell most forms of weapons, and there is the old trick of simply taking the guns away using unicorn magic and turning them against their owner... which seems to have been largely overcome by the time the main story chapter "Strike" rolls around. Guns are now modified to be resistant to magic, as well as fire faster, harder, more accurately, with larger magazines, all through runic magic. And even the alicorn factor is shown to be waning after one of the assault teams uses a sniper rifle to blow off Queen Celestia's ear. [[spoiler: Then, in the next chapter, Kraber destroys her spine with the very same rifle; unfortunately, she turns out to be a duplicate created by the Mirror Pool, leaving it open as to how effective the gun would be against the real thing]].
* HeroicBystander: TCB!Lyra and all the ponies who refused to stand by and let Queen Celestia destroy humanity. It's somewhat nuanced by the fact that TCB!Equestria already got some military experience out of the war with King Sombra, but still. TCB!Cloudchaser stands out for punching out Twilight after the latter tried justifying the xenocide on the humans.
* HeroicSacrifice: Queen Elizabeth II blows herself up to kill a squad of Royal Guards and PER agents sent after her.
* HitSoHardTheCalendarFeltIt: Prime!Equestria is in the "Second Year, Anno Harmonia", which is to say two years after the events of Nightmare Moon's defeat. TCB!Equestria is in its sixth year, however.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Also in this TCB-verse, [[Fanfic/TheConversionBureauNotAlone unicorns can turn human firearms against their shooters]]. So the PHL puts runes on their guns to make trying... painful.
* HoldTheLine: The standard strategy for the human military forces, only falling back when the Barrier is close to them.
* HollywoodTactics: TCB!Equestria is a firm believer in them - newfoal {{Zerg Rush}}es are their bread and and butter. Sometimes, there is just no excuse other than [[AxCrazy outright sadism]].
* HomeworldEvacuation: {{Deconstructed}} and {{Averted}}. It's made clear at least three times (twice in the main story, once in ''Calm'') that it's just not going to work. Mostly because of the radiation in space, limited resources (both for making the ship and helping the crew survive), lack of habitable planets, and, as Crowe pointed out, the few colonists that could escape would be nowhere near a match for Celestia if she eventually found them, no matter how advanced they got.
* HopelessWar: For both sides really.
** For Earth, millions of people have become WarRefugees over the course of the war thanks to [[AdvancingWallOfDoom the Barrier]], which annihilates any human or human-made object in its way (not even leaving dust behind). Not only that, but the barrier is nigh-unstoppable, and every human knows it. It took a minor miracle for the PHL and the American military to even ''delay'' the thing! The situation looks so bleak that the U.S President [[spoiler:has resigned himself to a plan that would destroy all life on Earth, with the small hope it will at least do ''something'' to the Barrier, even as it kills them all]]. But now that the Prime!Equestrians have arrived, it may not be so hopeless anymore.
** On TCB!Equestria's side, humanity's determination to fight back and the ensuing advances in battlefield and assault weapons technology has caused enormous casualties, enough to make the Solar Empire's old fashioned tactics and ZergRush usage of the Newfoals just plain impractical. On top of that, the massive influx of Newfoals has upended their economy, and morale is so low that only terror, propaganda and fanaticism are keeping the Empire afloat. And even that is failing, since more and more natural born ponies are beginning to question Queen Celestia's actions and are either defecting to the PHL or getting imprisoned or executed as "enemies of the state".
* HopeSpot: Queen Celestia loves to make her enemies think they might begin to win, [[YankTheDogsChain only so she can snatch them away]] and cause [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann ultimate despair]].
* HumansAreSpecial: Maybe. The prime versions of Twilight and Lyra have both read books which mention humans coming to Equestria long ago via [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials the Rainbow of Light]], and the event where the first portal opened at CERN may not have been an accident, [[spoiler:since Queen Celestia already knew of mankind's existence and stole TCB!Discord's magic so she could travel across the dimensional barrier]].
** [[spoiler: The Scribe's monologue to a gathering of human and pony resistance fighters suggests the two species are connected in some meaningful way. Later in the story, Spykoran reveals that the Bag of Tirek wants revenge against humanity, following a [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials previous encounter]] where its maker was defeated by a human]].
* HumansAreSurvivors: Although [[spoiler:they would still prefer to die than be enslaved]].

** Even some of the Prime!Equestria ponies believe this. However, it's also clear most of their TCB counterparts joined the conversion out of their own free will.
* HumansAreWarriors: From official soldiers to civilian resistance, every able bodied human is in the fight. Even before Queen Celestia invaded, TCB!Discord warned her that humanity would not just go quietly into the night.

* HumanityIsAdvanced: Some of the TCB!ponies such as Cloudchaser are amazed by human technology... and find it [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness disturbing]] that Twilight is not going gaga over humanity's science and art.
* {{Hypocrite}}: The TCB!Equestrians can go on and on about the evils of the human race, never mind that they're doing far worse. They also consider technology and human works to be evil, yet they have used zeppelins and concrete for their own purposes. That, and as Marcus points out, their talk about love, friendship, and harmony is at complete odds with the MindRape and forcible transformation of an entire species into zombie-like Newfoals.
** The chapter "For Whom The Bell Tolls", reveals that this alleged superiority was accomplished [[spoiler: via the sacrifice of almost three thousand innocent men, women, and children at the hooves of a brainwashed slave of an insane goddess, while said slave screamed and begged for death as she was trapped inside her own head]].
** StrawHypocrite: The worst part is [[spoiler: that almost none of the ponies, not even Queen Celestia or the TCB!Elements, actually believe in their cause. They were only brainwashed to think that way one way or another because a certain ArtifactOfDoom had a grudge with ''one particular human'' and wanted to [[DisproportionateRetribution destroy her species in retaliation]]]].

*** Perhaps a NecessaryWeasel, given the sub-genre it's trying to deconstruct. ''Light'' does offhandedly hint that Celestia's lackeys (particularly [[TheQuisling Jacqueline Reitman]] and TCB!Catseye) might have hypnotized certain people into becoming more amendable to the potion.
** In the main story, none of the Mane Six find it suspicious when [[spoiler: TCB!Trixie disappears into a cloud of smoke, only for Rainbow's father to appear seconds later. Sure, the girls didn't know about the Blue Spy's shape-shifting abilities beforehand, but you'd expect them to put two and two together]].
* ImMelting: What happens when humans are affected by too much magic, touch the barrier, or somehow get onto the other side of the barrier. [[spoiler: The last one being a complete lie courtesy of Queen Celestia]].

* InnocentAliens: How the TCB!ponies first appeared to humanity.
* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Humanity can beat the ponies in terms of military tech, and it's clear that without the Barrier, the war would've [[CurbStompBattle been over in a day]].

* InterspeciesRomance: There's Marcus and Cheerilee, Stephan and Trixie, Peter and Sapphire Shores from the Europe Side-Story, Aitmatov and Blizzard Flurry and [[spoiler:Sergei and Aquamarine]] in the Asia Side-Story, and Rebecca Kleiner and Thunderwing from ''Case Files''.
** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] with [[spoiler: Doctor Whooves and Derpy. Chapter 10 of the main story all but spells out that Doctor Whooves used to be ''the'' [[Series/DoctorWho Doctor]], but got turned into a pony at some point, though unlike the Newfoals, he's fine]].
** Technically, TCB!Twilight Sparkle and Stalwart Heart are such a pair, as Stalwart Heart was a human and Marcus' brother before getting ponified.
*** In short, one of the tragedies of the war is that the two races ''can'' live in harmony, and even love each other... but Queen Celestia won't let it happen.
* JerkassGod: Queen Celestia. Also Discord, unsurprisingly, though he does agree to [[spoiler:aid the good guys]] and even undergoes some CharacterDevelopment.
* JustBeforeTheEnd: It's made abundantly clear in the main story (and far clearer in the Asia Side-Story, ''Starvation'', ''Calm Before The Storm'', and ''Last Train'') that the world isn't in great shape. At least a third of the Earth's landmass has been eaten up by the Barrier, people are starving, cities are overpopulated, and ApocalypseAnarchy reigns.

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Played with. Human-made energy weapons ''do'' exist in the story, but of the two that appeared, one melted itself into oblivion, and the other one (a LightningGun mounted under Kraber's machine gun) was very effective. Judging by the fact that they've only appeared twice (while also being mentioned in ''Case Files'') it seems that while they are possible thanks to magic and technological advantages, they're just harder to build than assault rifles and the like.
** Blasts of magic, however, are still incredibly effective.
* KnightTemplar: Queen Celestia and her followers seem to genuinely believe they're doing what's best for humanity. [[spoiler:Although the presence of the Bag of Tirek puts into question how much of that can be anything but brainwashing. The Mane Six, at least, had their minds replaced entirely by new avatars Queen Celestia created, leaving their original selves helplessly trapped inside their bodies]].

* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler: The Scribe was created to serve as the collective memory of the first alicorn race by Faust, who was the last one to survive the war against Tirek]].
** [[spoiler: Queen Celestia killed all the dragons, with the exception of Spike, whom she kept locked up and viciously tortured]].
** Iron Will is the only minotaur confirmed alive in the TCB-verse.
** In the Europe Side-Story, [[spoiler: Chrysalis and her Changeling hive were killed by the tainted love of the Newfoals, with Chrysalis hanging onto life for a good few years before finally succumbing to the poisoned love consuming her body]].
** Though not the last of her species, Gilda is the last living member of the griffon royal family. Similarly, Marcus is currently the last surviving member of his family, and so is Asia Side-Story character Hyong-Jin.
* LightIsNotGood: Queen Celestia.
* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: The Spectrumverse attempts to represent early twenty-first century Earth as accurately as possible, with some deliberate exceptions. For starters, ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' was never made [[note]]If not the [[Franchise/MyLittlePony entire MLP franchise]] and surely ''someone'' would have recognized them the second the Queen stepped out of that portal.[[/note]] and instead, Lauren Faust went on to make a TV show of ''Toys/MilkyWayAndTheGalaxyGirls''. Additionally, the crew from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' [[spoiler:as well as the characters from ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'']] exist, and magic is as real a force as gravity.

** CosmicHorrorStory: [[spoiler: In a more traditionally Lovecraftian sense, the reason the alien species wants to destroy us is because their leader, who was once a beacon of hope and enlightenment, first allowed her world to stagnate and was then enslaved by an ArtifactOfDoom powerful enough to corrupt the noblest of heroes]].
* LudicrousGibs: Many human weapons ranging from high-caliber firearms, magically enhanced firearms like Marcus' [[CoolGuns Colt M1911]], explosives, and APC/Tank weaponry are capable of doing this to the ponies. Marcus' rune magic is capable of this at full power.
** Taken to the logical conclusion when Newfoal attacks end in a rain of blood, bones, flesh and stuff better not mentioned. It is speculated that Newfoals are [[CannonFodder used mainly to drain ammo reserves]].

* MasterRace: What the Imperial ponies see themselves as.
* MilitaryBrat: Marcus and his brother Jacob, whose father David died in combat. Porter's father is one of the soldiers that fought alongside David, making him a Military Brat in his own right. Rebecca Kleiner is also stated to be one in her biography from ''Case Files''.
* MindRape: Becoming a Newfoal turns people into [[StepfordSmiler perpetually smiling]], [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul mindlessly cheery]] [[ExtremeDoormat zombies]], with little (if any) free will of their own. [[spoiler: Most of TCB!Equestria was subject to this well. TCB!Applebloom describes it as feeling like her thoughts are replaced with an irrational hatred for humans and a desire to ponify every person she sees. Queen Celestia also placed a 'Geis' on the Royal Guards, making them serve and follow her every order without question. And then there's the corruption and subjugation of the TCB!Mane Six. We even see it happening to Twilight firsthand, and it's [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything written in a way that feels disturbingly similar to actual physical rape]]. In fact, ''Queen Celestia herself is a victim of this'', given what the Bag of Tirek did to her]].
* MirrorUniverse: [[WordOfGod Redskin]] has stated the story is supposed to be a different take against other authors' stories in the TCB genre, especially Chatoyance, as he has viewed the original TCB premise as CanonDefilement.

** For the most part, the Solar Empire ponies genuinely believe that they are helping to uplift humanity, but many others are perfectly gleeful in stamping every trace of mankind's existence out. To say nothing of [[spoiler:TheManBehindTheMan that is wiping humanity out to get revenge for one human defeating him in the distant past, and is generally reveling in the pain and suffering the war is causing for everyone]].
** While the PER generally are along the same wavelength as the Solar Empire, there are also a number of people that joined because they genuinely believe ponification is a second chance for them to get better lives.

** While the PHL are no doubt the heroes of the series, even they have some messed up people within their ranks, and aren't afraid to resort to dirty tactics to gain any upper hand on their enemies.
** The Equestrian Resistance genuinely wants to bring Queen Celestia down and accepts Equestria's guilt in starting the war, but their goals and interests primarily serve Equestria and ponykind.
* MutagenicGoo: The ponifcation potion. Unlike many examples, this one can actually be turned into clouds.
* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Queen Celestia.
** TCB!Twilight is basically a pony version of Josef Mengele in the flashback scene of "For Whom The Bell Tolls." [[spoiler: It was not willing on her end of it]].
* NextSundayAD: When the TCB!Equestrians arrive on Earth in 2018, the world bears little difference to the fic's time of writing.

** The British Royal Family are featured quite prominently. Queen Elizabeth's last act is to take some Royal Guard and PER agents to hell with her. Prince (now King) William and his family are seen getting evacuated out of a nearly overrun United Kingdom, and as of the main story chapter ''Pushed to the Limits'', he is a pilot in the British military. Meanwhile, his father, Prince (also promoted to King, though ''very'' briefly) Charles is shown to have been ponified.
** In the Asia Side-Story, Kim Jong-Un is said to be fleeing North Korea, but his squadron gets overwhelmed by the PER. His ultimate fate is left rather ambiguous.
** Japanese Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera (who appears during the military strategy meeting in "Trust") is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsunori_Onodera a real life person]].
* NoEndorHolocaust: Averted. See Prime!Twilight's long rant on the problems of Equestria appearing in the sea, which doesn't happen in this story, since the only means of travel between Equus and Earth is via magical portals, and the parts of Earth consumed by the Barrier are being colonized by the TCB!Ponies (though it's revealed they're having a hard time at it).
* NotHimself: The potion completely takes away the victim's original personality, effectively killing them. "War March and Past Sins" delves into exactly why this is - basically [[spoiler: the human convert's soul is ''shattered to pieces'' and then "bound in chains" to Queen Celestia and the Bag of Tirek's will. Even worse, according to the Elder Shaman of the zebras, it is completely impossible to repair those souls with any medicine or magic; only death will make their souls whole again and set them free]].
** On the subject of how much Newfoals are unlike the person they were based off of, one former HLF member has this to say in ''Case Files'':
-->'''Andrew Silas''': The simplest way I can put it is that we expected it to be them. That they'd be something like the people we knew. Henry, though - you've heard this description a million times, but it just wasn't him in there.
** TCB!Cloudchaser noticed Twilight's uncharacteristic lack of interest in human technology. [[spoiler:As it turns out, none of the TCB!Mane Six are themselves, having all had their free will locked away by Queen Celestia, who then replaced them with homunculi]].
* OmnicidalManiac: Queen Celestia.
* OmniscientMoralityLicense: Queen Celestia believes she has one.
* PointOfDivergence: TCB!Equestria diverged from Prime!Equestria [[spoiler: after Lyra and her friends went on an underwater expedition into a shipwreck]].
** For Earth, the point comes in 2018, when Queen Celestia makes FirstContact from a portal made in the [=CERN=] HQ in Geneva (Switzerland).
* {{Precursors}}: The original alicorn race, including Faust and [[spoiler:Tirek, the creator of his titular Bag]].
* PuttingOnTheReich: TCB!Equestria.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: There are plenty of these to go around. Marcus gives a few to the Prime!Mane Six (when he thinks he's fighting their TCB counterparts), TCB!Trixie gives one to a guard near Spike, Queen Celestia gives one to Princess Celestia and then [[BadassBoast Princess Celestia returns the favor tenfold]], Princess Celestia gives one to Discord, Discord gives one to Princess Celestia... Though, to be fair, it's a Conversion Bureau fanfic, and a [[DeconstructionFic deconstructive]] HateFic, against Chatoyance, who has given plenty of material. "The Reason You Suck" speeches are not just expected, but a certainty. Case in point:
** TCB!Trixie (impersonating Lyra) gives one to former human Focus Ray.
--> '''Trixie:''' "WE ARE NOTHING ALIKE! YOU SPEAK AS IF YOU'VE BEEN A PONY ALL YOUR LIFE! YOU ARE JUST ONE BROKEN SOUL AMONG THE MILLIONS THAT WERE CONVERTED! THE GRIFFONS ARE MORE KIN TO ME THAN YOU ARE!"
** After he pushes her already strained psyche too far, Princess Celestia gives Prince Blueblood a long overdue verbal beatdown for being such an embarrassment to the royal family, before declaring him cut off from his inheritance.
** From the Asia Side-Story, a PER agent tries to give one to Porter in the first chapter; Porter just [[ShutUpHannibal argues back]] that he at least isn't selling out his own kind to a bunch of xenocidal invaders. Porter himself also delivers one to an HLF member in "A Melody of Flames and Frost", stating that he and his friends have actually done important stuff for the war effort (evacuate and help civilians, fight the TCB!Equestrians and newfoals) and don't throw untrained children into the meat grinder, whereas the HLF have only hurt, destroyed and killed everything in their path.
** In the PER chapter of ''Case Files'', Cheerilee gave such a massive one to PER agent Mikhailovitch that he broke down, told her what she needed to know, and apologized for what he did.
** Angus Reid delivered one to his HLF group over how they never did anything of real worth for the war effort or disprove the people's descriptions of them as madmen destroying civilization before declaring he's leaving for the PHL in a quote in the third chapter of ''Calm Before the Storm''.
*** There's also Thaddeus Crowe's scathing debunking of the Russian Space Program's calls to start a space program during wartime, and Fiddlesticks' denunciation of her home.
* RebelLeader: TCB!Lyra was the first pony to openly defy Queen Celestia, and was also the one who founded the human-sympathizing organization PHL (Ponies for Human Life). [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Naturally, she ended up paying for it with her life]].
** Marcus leads the bulk of the UN's defense forces, but he isn't actually this to the PHL, serving instead as the prime human liaison to the pony group. The leadership role now appears to have been taken over by Cheerilee (who is also Marcus' lover) and Doctor Whooves.
* RecursiveFanfiction: Aside from this story itself being one of these to the original TCB fic, OSOTS has spawned several non-prime spinoffs such as [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/78756/harmony-is-damnation-a-conversion-bureau-story Harmony is Damnation: A Conversion Bureau Story]] and [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/133962/the-conversion-bureau-the-other-side-of-the-spectrum-side-story-inner-rage The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of the Spectrum Side-story: Inner Rage]].

** There is also the Equestrian Resistance, otherwise known as the New Lunar Republic, a decidedly patriotic movement of ponies that wish to destroy the Solar Empire and bring Equestria back to a harmonious state.
* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: The HLF, who are usually the heroic go-to anti-pony LaResistance in anti-TCB fanfiction, have devolved into this in this universe. There's likely an element of deconstruction involved, directed at both traditional ''Conversion Bureau'' tropes – showing how, for example, most of them likely wouldn't get along well with ponies, it is unlikely that most military forces would fall under their umbrella, and their rigidness makes them remarkably ineffective at opposing Imperial Equestria. It's also worth mentioning that it originally wasn't intended as this in-universe – this HLF has its roots in a support group designed for helping the friends and family members of people that took the ponification potion deal with the radical personality changes their loved ones went through. However, it quickly attracted a multitude of unsavory characters after the war began.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething:
** Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Prince Shining Armor fully plan on doing something about Queen Celestia.
** Queen Elizabeth II blew herself up when the Equestrian Royal Guard and PER came a-knocking on Her Majesty's doorstep. Her grandson, William (who was promoted to King in this universe) is no slouch either, flying patrol jets and [[ModestRoyalty fighting alongside commonfolk]], as he's just one of millions fighting for humanity's survival. Meanwhile, Prince Harry has become a helicopter pilot for the British military.
** TCB!Luna tried to stop Celestia, but failed. And though TCB!Cadance may never have ascended to alicornhood, that doesn't change her lineage, inspiring her to work on a way to use the PowerOfLove to free ponies from the Tyrant's brainwashing.
** [[spoiler: Queen Chrysalis, in both universes. TCB!Chrysalis taught shapechanging to Trixie and sensing love to Cadance before she died, while Prime!Chrysalis takes part in the joined forces on Equus to destroy Queen Celestia, intending to prove that Changelings have worth]].
* SaltTheEarth: Whenever human forces have the time, they lace the cities they have to abandon with explosives. Once ponies move into the area, they set the bombs off, taking out a chunk of the enemy and wiping the city out before the Barrier can do it.
** The Barrier essentially does this to the TCB!Equestrians. The lands they claim on Earth behind the barrier are useless to them, as all agriculture, buildings, infrastructure and so on are vaporized by the barrier. Essentially they got forests and green meadows which are pretty useless for food production on the scale they need.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Queen Celestia and the ponies that support her cause.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The pony refugees against Queen Celestia.
* ScrewYouElves: Not all of them, but you get the idea.

* SemperFi: Marcus, his brother Jacob, and their father David. There's also Asia Side-Story character Porter and his father Richard, who served alongside David.
* SerialEscalation: In shout-outs, at least. With each chapter, the shout-outs increase exponentially.

** The main story is definitely Fantastic, with many of its chapters revolving around both Equestrias and the action sequences running heavily on RuleOfCool. [[spoiler: However, whenever Discord shows up, things take a right turn into Surreal]].

** The Starvation Side-Story and ''Calm Before The Storm'' are Unusual, being fairly mundane in terms of drama and conflict, but set in worlds where magic exists and war is fought on an unprecedented scale for Earth.

** Most of the battle scenes are filled to the brim with RuleOfCool, gleefully laying a smackdown on the TCB!Equestrians when the PHL or other pro-human characters have the upper hand; this applies to [[spoiler:Discord]]'s fighting style in particular. However, the mood quickly turns grim if the Solar Empire ever gains the advantage, and the ''aftermath'' of the battles is rarely pretty. WarIsGlorious only when detached from anything resembling real-life warfare; otherwise, [[WarIsHell not so much]].
** The Starvation Side-Story sums up ''Spectrum'''s tone in a nutshell — over-the-top characters messing with each other and dropping silly pop-culture references, while around them, the world is dying a slow, painful death.
* SmugSnake: TCB!Celestia, though this is taken up a notch in her 'Letter to Humanity', which assumes that the humans will just give up and be ponified in the face of her power.

* TakeOverTheWorld: Queen Celestia's plan for Earth, Prime!Equestria and [[spoiler: any other universe she comes across when she's done with them both]].
* TakeThat: Being a DeconstructionFic series dedicated to really illustrating how wrong the general plot of ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureau'' is, every fic has their share of potshots at the TCB genre. The stories of Chatoyance in particular are huge targets of the authors' and editors' scorn.

** The American military has [[spoiler: jury-rigged multiple nukes to set off the Yellowstone caldera in case the barrier consumes too much of the planet, as a last blow against Queen Celestia]]. For reference, the other suggested alternatives included surrender to the Tyrant, a SenselessSacrifice LastStand against the Newfoal hordes, all-out nuclear bombardment of the barrier or attempting to build a spaceship to escape. The last two were found to be AwesomeButImpractical, because the barrier disintegrates all human artifacts, and a spaceship would consign any unfortunate "colonists" to death by radiation and starvation.
** In the Asia Side-Story, a group of elderly folks who refuse to evacuate St. Petesrburg get help from the main characters to rig their nursing home with explosives. They blow themselves and their Royal Guard assailants sky high.
** In the second chapter of ''Calm Before the Storm'', TCB!Fancy Pants [[spoiler: detonates a magically enhanced sword to blow his house up, killing himself and the newfoals inside, as well as give Queen Celestia a "very bad day" in order to buy more time for Fleur to escape safely]].
* TankGoodness: Tanks such as the [=M1A3=] Abrams, the Leopard 2, and the T-90 make appearances. [[spoiler: Discord]] summons a Leopard 2 [[ItMakesSenseInContext as part of a magic trick]].
* TechnologyIsEvil: How the TCB!Equestrians view human technology. [[{{Hypocrite}} Which unfortunately has not stopped them from appropriating other human concepts]].
--> '''Stalwart Heart:''' (a newfoal) "Human technology is what led us to the mess of a planet called Earth."
* TestedOnHumans: The potion when TCB!Equestria first appeared on Earth. [[spoiler:[[NightmareFuel The main story eventually treats us to a firsthand glimpse of it]]]].
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Newfoals in general are incredibly [[MadeOfPlasticine fragile]]. According to Aitmatov in the Asia Side-Story...
--> '''Aitmatov:''' "Like shooting fish in a barrel, it was. I don't think I've ever gone through a magazine in so little time. Hell, aim for the unicorns while they're casting spells, and they [[LudicrousGibs practically explode]]! I just remember thinking there, 'Oh my God! They explode! My life has new meaning now...'"
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Princess Celestia is [[{{Understatement}} not very happy at what Queen Celestia has done]].

* TotalitarianUtilitarian: Queen Celestia is a Type 3.
* TrainingFromHell: Yon-Soo and Hyong-Jin from the Asia Side-Story go through this in order to become better soldiers.
** Stephan puts the Prime!Mane Six through this.
** All of Prime!Equus' armies are going through this to prepare for the war.

* {{Troperiffic}}: The sheer volume of this page, the number of {{Shout Out}}s, and occasional {{Lampshade Hanging}}s are more than enough evidence of this. Considering a few of the co-writers are Tropers themselves, it's rather deliberate.
* UncannyValley: InUniverse; in addition to the standard characterization of [[StepfordSmiler the]] [[ExtremeDoormat New]][[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul foals]], Blue Spy also handily points out that ''every'' Newfoal ever produced is a Blank Flank, and treats it as the unsettling icing on the creepiness cake. What's worse is that the blank flank syndrome is spreading to the natural-born ponies as well. In fact virtually everything about TCB!Equestria conveys this image, too. The authors go to great lengths to describe Imperial Equestria [[CrapsaccharineWorld as looking happy, but there is something very seriously off]].
* UndyingLoyalty: The TCB!Royal Guard, the Newfoals, and pretty much anypony else loyal to the Queen. [[spoiler: [[BrainwashedAndCrazy It wasn't willingly]]]].

* WarIsHell: Just ask Marcus or Princess Celestia. Stephan summarizes this to the Prime!Mane Six when he begins training them.
* WarRefugees: The civilians that managed to escape their home countries and cities before they were overrun by the barrier, the ponies who defected from Queen Celestia, and [[spoiler: Chrysalis]] for awhile. ''Starvation'' focuses on the struggles of various war refugees living in Rio de Janeiro.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Queen Celestia believes she is one.
** [[spoiler: Discord thinks he's one too, as he only caused chaos in Equestria the first time so ponies could overcome the challenges necessary to make themselves self-reliant. He's not thrilled with what Princess Celestia's well-meaning efforts to stop him [[MedievalStasis have led to]], though his trips through the multiverse do force him to realize his own carelessness and lack of control at the time as well as reconsider his position]].

* WouldHurtAChild: The TCB!ponies are more than willing to cram potion down human children's throats. [[spoiler: Even worse, several children made up the three thousand test subjects used for TCB!Twilight's potion trials]].
* WrongGenreSavvy: The HLF in general have this problem. While they, like most other people, want the TCB Equestrians gone and humanity saved, they completely ignore that the ponies ''can'' work with humanity, deriding any [[DefectorFromDecadence pro-human defectors]] as spies and the PHL as "an affront to humanity." Their desire to defeat the TCB ponies with purely human ingenuity also has its own problems, because it's increasingly clear that isn't going to work; the PHL/UN Taskforce on the other hand uses every bit of Equestrian craft and magic they have at their disposal to fight the Solar Empire and slow down the Barrier, and moreover the PHL's methods actually make progress against the Empire (even ''delaying'' the Barrier, no small feat at the time) and accomplish more than senseless deaths. And yet the HLF completely ignore it in favor of seemingly thinking they're in the middle of a desperate last stand full of slowly dwindling and increasingly ineffective resources, degenerating into violence and paranoia. [[StarterVillain Thanks to this, they are decently threatening in the Asia side-story]], [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind but by the time of the main story they are not]], and Kraber has called them "a punchline" (among other things generally hinting at incompetence) in response.

* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: TCB!Equestria is fond of using airships as war machines.

** In Chapter 18, a rune-inscribed crystal 50-cal bullet [[spoiler:goes through Queen Celestia's shield and blows one of her ears off]].
** [[spoiler: In the same chapter, Discord shows off a tiny gun he acquired in his search for their dimension. It shoots [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Banzai Bills]]]].
* ActuallyADoombot: [[spoiler: The "Celestia" whom Luna and Discord fight in Boston is actually a Mirror Pool clone]].
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Subverted. TCB!Equestria's use of zeppelins has been confirmed by [[WordOfGod Redskin]] to be purely coincidental with the idea that skyliners (the Equestrian equivalent of cruise liners) could be adapted for military use.
--> '''[=Redskin122004=]:''' "Some new changed Newfoal thought it would be great if they can use them in the 'good fight' for earth, passed it on to Twilight who began to set up the ships to be refitted for defense and potions, and improve magical to help power it."
** Played straight with their use of concrete.
** In ''Calm Before the Storm'', the Prime!Equestrians are absolutely enthralled with human artwork.
* AlienInvasion: The TCB!ponies' arrival on Earth. Though it wasn't apparent until sometime after their arrival.
* TheAlliance: All of Earth's remaining armed forces unite as one to combat the ponies.
** And so has virtually every race on Prime!Equus.

* AnythingButThat: Celestia willingly weathers the storm of Marcus's war memories... right until his recollections of TCB!Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six.
* AntagonistInMourning: In the chapter "The Writes of Passage", we learn that TCB!Flim and Flam of all ponies were present at TCB!Granny Smith's side during her last days when TCB!Applejack was not.
** Despite their virulent anti-pony sentiments, some members of the HLF mourned TCB!Lyra's death, if only because of how cruel it was.
* ApatheticCitizens: What [[spoiler: Discord]] thinks of the Prime!ponies. However, this is completely averted in ''Calm Before the Storm'', when they're are exposed to human arts and see the photos detailing [[WarIsHell the effects of the Solar Empire's campaign]] and the plight of the WarRefugees.

* ApeShallNeverKillApe: The TCB!Equestrians believe themselves to be better than humans because humans have waged war against each other, while they apparently have [[SarcasmMode never done the same to each other]].
* AppealToAudacity: In "Trust", Prime!Luna [[spoiler:presses her head directly to the muzzle of an anti-alicorn {{BFG}}]] to convince the PHL soldiers that she's on the level, because would a puppet deliberately put itself in PHL crosshairs?
* AutobotsRockOut: TCB!Vinyl Scratch uses music to power up human and PHL troops in battle.

* BattleCry: What Queen Elizabeth's final address became.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** In "Sanguine Meetings and Bloodied Past", one of Marcus' memories shows that he brought Cheerilee to Washington DC because she wanted the PHL to take a more active role in fighting the Tyrant. The visit coincided with a major PER/Solar Empire joint-attack, and Marcus had to kill his ponified brother.
** [[spoiler: Luna wants to know what drove TCB!Twilight to beg for death. Not!Twilight shows her the potion's process of creation]].
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Marcus attempts to slit his throat when he thinks he is about to be ponified by the Prime!Mane Six, only for the knife to be taken from him. In desperation, he tries to faceplant on the knife, but ends up knocking himself out.
** Queen Elizabeth and the Prime Minister of Japan both took their own lives rather than be ponified.
** [[spoiler: Humanity's last plan if all else fails is to create a mass extinction event by nuking the Yellowstone supervolcano]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** TCB!Fluttershy and TCB!Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy uses her Stare to convince people to drink the potion, while Pinkie is every bit as childish and silly even as she commits horrible atrocities.
** [[spoiler: TCB!Cheerilee]] plays this very straight when she sees Queen Celestia kill a child soldier.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: TCB!Pinkie Pie. She commits the same atrocities as the rest of the elements while keeping her usual smile and childlike attitude throughout it all. Not to mention, her party cannon has been upgraded to a more lethal party shotgun.
** Prime!Pinkie Pie as well. Seeing how her hair goes straight and limp as she sees the Solar Empire's atrocities against humanity in ''Calm Before the Storm'' and never recovers is a very big warning sign that there won't be any more fun and games.

** To a much lesser extent, Ana's old Arctic Warfare Super Magnum.
* BigApplesauce: Discussed in Chapter 10, when Doctor Whooves says that the New Yorkers have survived too much to even contemplate evacuating. New York also serves as a major stronghold for the PHL.
** [[spoiler: Discord]] also manages to rebuild a version in Prime!Equestria in chapter 25, to serve as housing and training grounds for the various armies that have come to fight TCB!Equestria. It was purged of every Chuck. E Cheese and [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys Freddy Frazbear's]] pizza.
* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted. In Chapter 3, Princesses Celestia and Luna think they are rescuing the Mane Six and Spike from Marcus, not knowing just why he attacked in the first place.
** However, Princess Celestia plans on playing this straight by leading an allied army to assist humanity and the resistance movements against her evil counterpart.
* BothSidesHaveAPoint: In "Training Days: The Second Month", Marcus discovers Acevedo and TCB!Vinyl's attempts to discover the point of divergence between the two Equestrias, and goes to put a stop to it. [[spoiler:They discover it on their own anyway. Marcus argues that the news of TCB!Lyra's discovery of the Bag of Tirek ''would'' cause a huge BrokenPedestal and give the HLF more fuel for their own fire. Vinyl and Acevedo on the other hand point out that the truth ''has'' to come out eventually, and even if they weren't the ones to break the news, someone or somepony else is going to find it, and Lyra ''did'' do a lot to make up for her mistake]].
** [[spoiler: Discord]] accused Celestia of making the ponies [[MedievalStasis stagnate as a culture and species]], while Celestia thinks Discord's "approach" was being way too careless with his powers and too irresponsible (not to forget the occasional headlong dive into outright [[MindRape cruelty]]) for it to even ''allow'' a culture and a species to ''exist'', much less grow. [[spoiler: [[TakeAThirdOption As it turns out]], ''both'' of them had deviated from the original plan]].
* BrawlerLock[-/-]PunchCatch: Marcus and Celestia in Chapter 3. It's a bit of both since Celestia doesn't have fingers.
* BreakingTheFellowship: The Cutie Mark Crusaders were disbanded thanks to the war. [[spoiler:They get back together in "The Writes of Passage" (both versions of the chapter)]].

* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: TCB!Bon-Bon, after being ForcedToWatch Lyra's execution, went completely and utterly insane. Not helping matters is [[MadOracle the chronological lobular desync disorder]], a mental disorder she got after Doctor Whooves had to perform an emergency crossing of the time-dimensional barrier to extract her]].

** Prime!Lyra in "War March and Past Sins", when she realizes [[spoiler: that she could have doomed the world if she had gone on the scuba-diving trip which uncovered the shipwreck that held Tirek's Bag]].
** [[spoiler: TCB!Twilight (and by extension, the rest of the Mane Six), owing to having their bodies hijacked by TCB!Celestia and being forced to witness atrocity after atrocity. She's reduced to an emotionally destroyed wreck, begging for Prime!Luna to kill her. And then Not!Twilight shows Luna the gruesome history of the ponification potion's development, capped off with the ''three thousand'' human test subjects it took to perfect it...]]
* BreakThemByTalking: Marcus to Prime!Twilight in Chapter 3, "Harmony and Hegemony".
--> '''Marcus:''' (describing the barrier) "For a while, we simply thought that Celestia had panicked, that she was trying to protect her subjects from a potentially dangerous race..."

* BrokenPedestal: TCB!Applebloom with regards to her sister and TCB!Scootaloo to an extent towards Rainbow Dash, [[spoiler: but it really isn't Applejack or Rainbow's fault]].
** Defied in "Trust". Marcus chooses not to bring Prime!Lyra with him back to Earth, because TCB!Lyra's legacy is too great for her to live up to. He also refuses to [[spoiler:reveal that TCB!Lyra was the UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom that dug up the Bag of Tirek and caused the mess in the first place]].
*** Subverted when [[spoiler:Acevedo and TCB!Vinyl discover the latter, and state that this doesn't change their view of their Lyra in the least]].
--->'''Acevedo:''' "Lyra's a hero and nothing will change that. I'm a Catholic, and I proudly say that yes, she does deserve to be canonized as a saint. And yeah, [[spoiler:she made a mistake, but by God, she did more to fix it in a few years than most people do in their lifetimes]]!"
* BroughtDownToNormal: TCB!Luna after the Tyrant stole all her power from her.
* BullyingADragon: Prime!Shining Armor and a squad of Royal Guard try to capture Marcus, despite Lyra and the Mane Six warning them against doing so.
** Before his death, TCB!Discord also warned Queen Celestia that attacking humanity was a reckless move on her part.
** In "Training Days: The Second Month", Acevedo refuses to back down from trying to find the point of divergence between TCB!Equestria and the Solar Empire despite Marcus ordering him to stop. His continued refusal (and less than tactful speech) makes Marcus activate his runes in a threatening gesture, to which Acevedo refers to this trope by name.
* BurningWithAnger: In Chapter 4, the good Celestia alights in solar fire as she [[BadassBoast delivers her statement of war]] to the Tyrant, burning with such heat that [[SetTheWorldOnFire the surrounding forest catches fire without her even touching it]].

* BuryYourGays: TCB!Lyra was [[LiterallyShatteredLives turned to stone and smashed to pieces by an angry mob]] while Bon-Bon was ForcedToWatch.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: TCB!Pinkie Pie takes a while to remember ponifying Kraber's children, much to his anger.
* CannonFodder: The general purpose of the Newfoal {{Zerg Rush}}es is to overwhelm PHL and other humans so that the real fighters (i.e, the Royal Guard) can take them out.

* CasualDangerDialogue: Kraber and his pony friend Aegis engage in some after they watch [[spoiler: Prime!Luna]] hit the RageBreakingPoint and turn into [[spoiler: Nightmare Moon]]. Though, to be fair to them, it's implied that they're in shock.

-->'''Aegis:''' "I think we know why Twilight teleported out. Whatever happened between Twilight and [[spoiler: Luna... appears to have turned her into Nightmare Moon]]."

* CategoryTraitor: Human sympathizing ponies are written off as "humans on four hooves" by the pro-Solar Empire/ponification ponies. While being interrogated by TCB!Trixie, Captain Green Fields of the Royal Guard delivers this burning accusation:
-->'''Fields:''' "Go to Tartarus! [...] And you're no pony, you're one of those... those human ''things''! You might trot on four hooves, but you're the very image of what Equestria needs to stomp on, squash out, crush underhoof until nothing is left! YOU, ARE, AN, ANIMAL!"
* TheCavalry: Some resistance fighters in Normandy [[BigDamnHeroes saved Marcus from TCB!Pinkie Pie trying to force a potion-laced cupcake down his throat]].
* CelebritySurvivor: Amongst the ponies of the PHL, Vinyl Scratch (aka DJ-[=Pon3=]) seems to be a high-ranking member, Sapphire Shores uses her singing voice to raise morale amongst the troops, and Photo Finish is in charge of creating pro-human propaganda to spread throughout TCB!Equestria.
* ChaosArchitecture: [[spoiler:TCB!Twilight's mindscape]] in "For Whom the Bell Tolls".
* ChekhovsGunman: Luna mentions Discord turning Sint Erklass' granddaughter into a cloak, in "Sanguine Meetings and Bloodied Past". Said granddaughter makes her full appearance fifteen chapters later, as Sint's own second-in-command.
* ChildhoodFriends: Lyra and Twilight.

* CombatPragmatist: During a fight between TCB!Trixie and Prime!Rainbow Dash in "Sons of Legacies Part 1", Trixie [[spoiler: transforms into Rainbow's father and knocks her out when they hug]].
* ConfusionFu: [[spoiler: Discord]]'s fighting style, mixed with WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes-style ToonPhysics. And lots ([[ReferenceOverdosed and we do mean lots]]) of {{Shout Out}}s.
* CrazyPrepared: Subverted with the U.S. Military. The United States were building up their military since 9/11 to partake in UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, but they were preparing for terrorists; now they are using their beefed-up military to fight xenocidal aliens.
** [[spoiler: Queen Celestia had a feeling the humans might have an ace up their sleeve, so she sent a Mirror Pool clone of herself to Boston instead]].
* CrypticBackGroundReference: "Love and Hate" and "The Board is Set" are peppered with mentions of something strange happening under the PHL's nose. All we know is that it's being headed by leading PHL R&D member Dr. Salonen and his bodyguard/assistant Pineapple Cutter, and it's very terrible.
* DarkestHour: By the time the main story rolls around, this is Earth's situation, between the barrier having consumed almost a third of the whole planet (and its started making landfall on North America), losing at least 2 billion people, the Empire's ever relentless campaign and all-around ApocalypseAnarchy reigns. Lampshaded by Stephan in "Training Days: First Days, Part 2":
-->'''Stephan:''' This isn't our last chance so much as it's our only chance.
* DarkIsNotEvil: TCB!Luna sided with the humans and attempted to fight her sister. And of course, Prime!Luna.
* DeathFromAbove: Human aircraft, Equestrian airships and the pegasi on both sides.
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:The TCB!Mane Six, especially Twilight and Rarity]]. See AndIMustScream and the Nightmare Fuel page for more.
* DeconstructionFic: Bordering on DeconstructorFleet, as this fic shreds through why [[SugarBowl Equestria]] and the ponies would engage in a typical ''Conversion Bureau'' plot, addresses the impracticality of transporting Equestria to Earth, the misanthropy of most ponies in TCB fics, and it does not shy away from [[WarIsHell the horrors of war]]. And even it has a deconstrucion fic in the ''Starvation'' side story, which was based on taking most of the FridgeHorror of the setting and demonstrating how awful such a world would be for the people who don't get to be larger-than-life heroes.
** The chapter "For Whom The Bell Tolls" deconstructs something that is noticeably and usually glossed over in other TCB fics - the creation and the testing of the potion itself. Let's just say [[spoiler:there's a ''very'' good reason why the TCB!ponies are frequently compared to Nazis]].
* {{Dedication}}: "Sons of Legacies, Part 1" is dedicated to Drawdex, a pre-reader/editor who had to leave the team for personal reasons.
* DefiantToTheEnd: Queen Elizabeth. Marcus intended to go this way when he thought he was going to be turned.
* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: Rune engraved .50 [=BMG=] rounds have been produced for sniper rifles (and presumably all types of firearms) that also have runes inscribed in them. [[spoiler: They work so well, that they are able to hurt ''Queen Celestia'']].
* DespairEventHorizon:
** Discussed in Chapter 11; Marcus is a leading figure in the PHL and UN forces, and if he were killed or ponified, it could very well be what sends the surviving humans into a full loss of hope.
-->'''[[spoiler:Discord]]:''' "With the Commander at the helm of the new Equestrian forces, humanity would give up all hope."
** [[spoiler: Luna seems to have crossed this as of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" after being forced to watch Not!Twilight's [[WouldHurtAChild experiments]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath to create]] [[BodyHorror the ponification potion]]. All three thousand of them]].
** Marcus reveals that his mother died of a stress-induced heart attack brought on by seeing Jacob ponified.
* {{Determinator}}: During his fight with the Prime!Mane Six, Marcus keeps on fighting even after being blasted through a glass window (no SoftGlass here, folks) courtesy of the party cannon and getting thrown into a wall.
** Princess Celestia in the mental sense. While obviously suffering from seeing the memories of her ponies commit such horrible actions, she willingly endures, only breaking when she sees the Mane Six participate.
--> '''Princess Celestia:''' (sobbing) "Show me more! All of it, I can take it!"

** Prism Flash is disappointed in his daughter Rainbow Dash for fighting with Trixie instead of talking out the problem like he taught her. [[spoiler: It was part of an act by Trixie, who transformed into Rainbow's father]].
** [[spoiler: The Scribe is not at all happy with how her children mucked her plans up, particularly with the fact that Celestia found the Elements before the time was right and locked Luna and Discord away]]. However, she puts her disappointment aside because there are far more urgent matters to attend to.
* DisposableVagrant:
** Chapter 11 reveals that the PER kidnapped homeless people across the US and ponified them to assist in attacking Washington DC.
** The ponification potion was created and used for "beneficial purposes" before Queen Celestia did away with the pretenses and began her conquest of Earth, but its creation required extensive experimentation. [[WordOfGod Redskin122004 explained]] that the Imperials picked off humans from poor areas all across the world over a long period of time to avoid detection while acquiring test subjects.

* DramaticGunCock: {{Lampshaded}} in Chapter 18:
-->There was the sound of a weapon being gratuitously cocked.
* DrivenToMadness: TCB!Bon-Bon went insane upon seeing Queen Celestia kill Lyra.
** Princess Celestia, to some extent, after witnessing Marcus' memories of the war. Prime!Luna temporarily follows her in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" when she [[spoiler: witnesses what happened to the TCB!Bearers and the potion tests, which makes her so enraged that she transforms into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]]. [[CrazySane Luckily, she is able to channel her anger into assaulting the Solar Tyrant]]]].
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: TCB!Blueblood.
** A bit of exposition reveals that [[spoiler: Marcus's mother, Megan (yes, ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials that]]'' Megan) died of a heart attack shortly after Jacob's ponification. On that same note, Marcus's Aunt Molly and Uncle Danny were also killed a year into the war when they were caught in the crossfire of a massive shootout between the PER and the police]].
* EarthIsABattlefield: The East Coast of the United States has become the latest battlefield in the war against the TCB!Equestrians; elsewhere, the Barrier has stretched far enough that Nairobi (Kenya), New Delhi (India), and New Brunswick (Canada) are on the front lines as well.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: What would happen if [[spoiler: the nukes planted in the Yellowstone Caldera are set off]].
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The PHL base is located deep underground and links up to the tunnels and subway systems of New York.
* EndOfAnAge: At least two characters have referred to the death of old TCB!Equestria in the face of Celestia's Solar Empire. Trixie has referred to Imperial Equestria as "Equestria no more". Granny Smith, however, summed it up in an outright NightmareFuel-inducing fashion:

** In "The Writes of Passage", [[spoiler: we learn that Tirek's curse reduced the formerly all-alicorn pony race to having only one of the three attributes, resulting in the modern pony races]].
** Prime!Equestria is also experiencing its own "end of an age". The Age of Innocence, held up by Celestia for more than a thousand years, is over.
* EnemyMine:
** Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance team up with [[spoiler:Discord]] to end Queen's Celestia's campaign of xenocide.
** [[spoiler: Queen Chrysalis may despise Princess Celestia with a passion for casting the Changelings out of Equestria into the Badlands, but is willing to join forces with her to help stop the Tyrant]].

** RotatingProtagonist: Most of the time, it centers on Marcus, but the story has a tendency to frequently switch its viewpoint character.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Princess Celestia's mane returns to its natural pink color after having seen what TCB!Equestria has done to Earth. Since her hair never returns to the style seen in the show, it seems to be her "serious look".
** Pinkie Pie. [[spoiler: After seeing the whole extent of the suffering and how Newfoals get false happiness imprinted into their brains, her hair goes straight, which shows that she's done with fun and games]].
* {{Expy}}: TCB!Twilight is essentially a pony version of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Josef Mengele]]. [[spoiler: Albeit not of her own volition]].
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: While a week has passed in Prime!Equestria, only fourteen hours passed on Earth. [[spoiler: Doctor Whooves explains that time is like a river, and some places flow faster and slower than others]].
* EyeScream: In a flashback in "Trust", [[spoiler: TCB!Spike did this to Queen Celestia while helping Rarity to escape, though her eyes later regenerated]].

* FallGuy: After the disaster in the Ponyville Hostage Crisis, [[spoiler:the PHL and the Prime!Princesses resort to using Prime!Trixie as this to protect TCB!Trixie and preserve the Alliance]]. Ultimately however, they decide not to go through with it.
* TheFarmerAndTheViper: TCB!Trixie's attempts to help Focus Ray keep ending up getting the good guys hurt. [[spoiler:The Blue Spy is eventually forced to kill him]].
* FinalSpeech: Condemned to be turned into a statue and smashed, TCB!Lyra got to extensively quote Charlie Chaplin's speech from ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' in front of an angry crowd of TCB!ponies calling for her blood. Not an example of ShamingTheMob, since Lyra knew most of them wouldn't listen to her. All she could hope for was that somepony would record her last words for future use against Celestia. [[spoiler: This did happen, and Photo Finish uses them for that very purpose]].
** FridgeHorror: Why would Queen Celestia allow the face of the pony resistance to deliver a RousingSpeech, effectively turning her into a martyr? Because she's just that confident, and many ponies in the crowd are already brainwashed? Probably, but an even more likely (and disturbing) explanation is that this is Celestia's {{Troll}} side showing again. She not only knows she's very likely to win, she's deliberately giving her enemies {{Hope Spot}}s. (Confirmed in Chapter 18.)
* TheFinalTemptation: In Chapter 15, [[spoiler:Prime!Equestria's Bag of Tirek tries to offer Discord something to prevent it from being sent to the stars. Discord shuts it up by asking if it could give him back his mother]].

** TCB!Bon-Bon was forced to watch Lyra get turned into stone and crushed by an angry mob. Broke the poor girl's mind in two.
** [[spoiler: The TCB!Mane Six were all trapped within their own minds, their bodies taken over by dark puppets. All the girls can do is watch on helplessly, and Twilight even begs Luna to kill her]].
** [[spoiler: Soon after this, Not!Twilight forces the memories of her experiments on human subjects for the ponification potion onto Luna; there were almost three thousand of them]].
* ForceFeeding: TCB!ponies are known to force the potion down the throats of their targets.
* FromBadToWorse: In Chapter 10, it comes to light that the griffons are sending over [[PraetorianGuard the Tsumerai]] (their version of the Special Forces) to aid the battle for North America. Just one of them is supposed to be incredibly skilled and badass, and they're sending ''all one hundred of them.'' Sounds like good news, doesn't it? Except their main duty is to protect the ruling monarch, and the only way all of them are able to come over is because their King just died, leaving Gilda as the last member of the Royal Family for a country that was already barely on its last legs after being cut off from trade by Queen Celestia.
** In Chapter 19, the fight against the Tyrant is interrupted by [[spoiler:Luna transforming into Nightmare Moon]].
* FutureMeScaresMe: After a fashion. TCB!Equestria is about four years ahead of Prime!Equestria, and the Prime!Mane Six and Princess Celestia are truly horrified at their counterpart's actions. Especially [[HeroicBSOD Celestia]], who experienced firsthand through a mind sharing spell Marcus' memories what she was like. She... [[AngstNuke didn't]] [[{{Understatement}} take]] [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech it]] [[HeroicBSOD well]].
* GainaxEnding: Due to the story officially being cancelled and given a ContinuityReboot, the original ended on these terms to close it all out.

* GhostMemory: Thanks to Prime!Twilight's mind-sharing spell, Princess Celestia now knows most of Marcus's life such as his Marine training, his pre-war life, among others. The same is true for Marcus, but a mental "guardian" calling itself "Tia" keeps most of them away from him due to the fact that over a thousand years worth of memories would make him a vegetable.
* GodzillaThreshold: Princess Celestia decides to consult [[spoiler: Discord]] about [[spoiler: The Bag of Tirek]]. The talk ends with [[spoiler: Discord]] himself deciding to join the fight.
** The entire Middle East allies with each other to fight the Solar Empire. And then there's [[spoiler: the nukes set near the Yellowstone megavolcano]].

* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: If [[spoiler:Discord]] is to be believed, Celestia and Luna were only meant to move the sun and moon, not to actually rule over the ponies.
* HappilyAdopted: TCB!Scootaloo.
** Both versions of Dinky and Amethyst Star for that matter. Derpy raised Dinky as a single mother before she married Doctor Whooves, whereupon they later found and adopted an orphaned Amethyst on one of their [[spoiler: time traveling adventures]].
* HappilyMarried: One of the few good things to have carried into TCB!Equestria is that Doctor Whooves found Derpy.
* HarmlessVillain: Chapter 11 mentions how the PER has been trying to cripple the U.S. Military, failing every time... [[NotSoHarmless until the attack on Mexico City]].
* HateFic: [[WordOfGod According to Redskin]], the entire fic came about as this to the [[Fanfic/TheConversionBureau original TCB story]] and particularly the stories of the divisive author Chatoyance, who has come to personify what most fans hate about TCB stories.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Discussed at least twice. TCB!Trixie is concerned about this happening to her and the other PHL soldiers after the war, and King William (in a flashback from a completely different chapter) is truly saddened by what they've been driven to:
--> '''Trixie:''' "Cadance... what has this war done to us? What are we going to be when it's done? Heroes, criminals, monsters worse those than those we've fought... or, something else altogether... it scares me Cadance. It scares me..."
--> '''King William:''' "Damn them... Damn us... So much loss, so much death and pain and suffering and rape of innocence... We'll all go to the Devil for this."
* HeadDesk: In Chapter 15, Lyra has this reaction to learning she missed out on finding a ship carrying proof of human existence in the Galloping Sea. [[spoiler:And, less amusingly, upon hearing that said ship contains the Bag of Tirek]].
* HeelFaceTurn: TCB!Bon-Bon was all for complete ponification, until she was forced to kill a Newfoal trying to beat Lyra to death.

** TCB!Trixie gets a brief but powerful one after [[spoiler: finding a tortured Spike in a prison cell]].
** [[spoiler: Luna gets so angry with the actions of Queen Celestia that she actually turns into Nightmare Moon]].
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** The Fujin missile which took down the ''Great Equestrian'' airship was able to do so by absorbing all the magic the TCB!ponies used in a failed attempt to stop it.
** TCB!Cloudchaser was hit by a poison that works like this - it absorbs any magic in the area and kills the person or pony slowly. Thankfully, [[spoiler: Discord]] saves the day.
** The barrier may be their trump card (and it's clear the war would've been over in a day without it), but it's also screwing TCB!Equestria over big time, since it vaporizes ''everything'' (agriculture, infrastructure, buildings, materials, and information about how to create these things), leaving the conquered lands useless to them, which is especially problematic since their food production is breaking down. They're destroying the very resources they need so much. Not only that, but they've overstretched themselves so far that it'd be nigh-impossible to even figure this stuff out, and it's all during wartime no less.

* HoldYourHippogriffs: Chapter 14 features the expression "Tartarus on Equus".

* HolyCity: According to the chapter "Setting It Right", Mecca has been wiped out by the barrier, devastating the Islamic world. And given the barrier's starting point (Switzerland), it's also made clear that Vatican City and Jerusalem were destroyed too.
* HomeBase: The PHL headquarters are in the Freedom Tower in New York City.

* HumanShield:
** Marcus uses Applejack to take a very powerful kick from Rainbow Dash; powerful enough to bring AJ's breakfast right back up.
** Gilda uses a Royal Guardspony as one in Chapter 16... by stabbing him through the gut and blocking spells with him.
* HumiliationConga: In Chapter 11, Prince Blueblood is disowned by Princess Celestia, scared and humiliated by [[spoiler: Discord]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and tripped by Marcus]].
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler:The dragon king Spykoran destroyed all of Dream Valley, burying Tirek's Bag and killed any pony remaining in Dream Valley (along with the Six Princesses) that had been corrupted by its influence. He feels massive regret over what he did, but stands by the fact that it was the only way to keep Tirek from returning]].
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Marcus tried this on Stalwart Heart to bring his former human self, Jacob (Marcus' little brother) back. It didn't work.
** TCB!Cadance's and Trixie's efforts on Royal Guard Captain Green Fields prove more successful, but then again, he wasn't a Newfoal.

* ImprovisedWeapon: After killing a Timberwolf, Marcus uses the tail, its claws, and even its head as a weapon.
* InMediasRes: The story starts after Marcus' entry to Prime!Equestria, and the main story itself takes place little over three years after the war began.
* InsultToRocks: This little exchange in Chapter 11.
--> '''Prince Blueblood:''' "How dare you call me a donkey! You look like a minotaur that went a few rounds with an ape he just found!"\\
'''Marcus:''' "No, calling you a donkey is an insult to such a mighty, fine, foul-working breed of equine. You, make me laugh."

* InvadedStatesOfAmerica: After the Barrier has consumed all of Europe, the TCB!Equestrians strike the Eastern United States.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: When Prime!Dash calls TCB!Trixie a "fat blue fake trying to fly", Trixie is more offended at being called fat.
* ItIsBeyondSaving: TCB!Cheerilee (and more than a few TCB Equestrian defectors) holds this opinion of TCB!Equestria.
* ItsPersonal:
** Marcus' reasons for wanting to kill the TCB!Mane Six, ranging from Rainbow Dash ponifying his soldiers right in front of him to Twilight ponifying, seducing, ''and marrying his own brother'', which led to Marcus having to kill said brother.
** [[spoiler:Discord has the memory of his TCB counterpart's torture and death at the hooves of Queen Celestia]].
** Luna, [[spoiler: thanks to her mind-reading skills, was not only witness to the corruption of TCB!Twilight, but was then forced to see Not!Twilight's memories of experimenting with the ponification potion. Her response? Turning into Nightmare Moon]].
** Kraber with regards to TCB!Pinkie Pie, who ponified his family at his children's birthday party.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: TCB!Trixie, who doesn't have a high opinion of either humanity or ponykind, but will put her life on the line to defend them anyway.

** Luna does this to TCB!Twilight in [[WhamEpisode "For Whom The Bell Tolls"]]. The things Luna discovers push her so far off the edge of rage [[spoiler: that she turns into Nightmare Moon]]!
** [[spoiler: Discord has to do this to rescue Marcus from Sombra's control in the "Sons of Legacies" arc. It quickly turns into a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind]].

* KilledMidSentence: Stalwart Heart.
* KnightInSourArmour: TCB!Trixie aka the Blue Spy, though she's worried, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters with good reason,]] [[PragmaticHero that she may be slipping further into darkness]].
** Marcus as well.
* LampshadeHanging: From Trevor Philips. [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV Yes, ''that'' Trevor Philips]]. Surprisingly, he takes a firm grip on the SanityBall and is one of the few characters to actually take note of the absurdity of the story's plot.

* TheLancer: Stephan to Marcus, with his own Lancer in the form of TCB!Trixie.
* LastStand: This was suggested as an alternate plan of action to [[spoiler: using the Yellowstone megavolcano to create a Class X ApocalypseHow scenario]]. It doesn't take, for the simple reason that it would be a SenselessSacrifice.
* LaughingMad: A (possibly) ponified clown that Pinkie Pie brought to the ill-fated birthday party for Kraber's kids was found giggling mad.
* LeeroyJenkins: Trevor's plan of attack in Chapter 16... on a stealth mission. Thankfully, everybody talks him out of it.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: One of Queen Celestia's favorite execution methods, given that she used it on her universe's Lyra and Blueblood.
** She later demonstrates the spell "Ashes of Solaris", which turns bodies into ash from the inside, causing the victim to crumble apart at a touch.

* LoweredRecruitingStandards: By the time the Barrier swallows up most of Europe, child soldiers (human, pony, etc.) start making up some parts of military units and the Bundeswehr also allowed Kraber, a former HLF operative and someone who desperately needs a mental health evaluation, to serve (though thankfully, his AxCrazy nature is only limited to his enemies).
** The inclusion of Newfoals into the Royal Guards and the Wonderbolts is this for the Empire. At best, they're little more than cannon fodder.
* MadOracle: TCB!Bon-Bon.
* MagicallyBindingContract[-/-]BindingAncientTreaty: The Concordia Maxima, which is used to bring all the races of Equus to join the fight against the TCB-verse. [[spoiler: To Celestia's surprise, this includes Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings]].
* TheMagicComesBack: The presence of TCB!Equestria is awakening Earth's lost magic, which the PHL is able to use to their advantage.
* ManlyTears: When Prime!Lyra meets with Marcus in the room he is being held in, Marcus is overwhelmed with emotion to the point of tears since the Lyra in his universe became a martyr for opposing Queen Celestia, saving many human lives, and was also a good friend of his. It happens again when Marcus tells the Prime!Mane Six about the state of his world.
* MassOhCrap: The entire PHL/UN Taskforce and any associated mercenaries collectively shit bricks when they realize that Queen Celestia will be appearing on the battlefield.
* TheMedic: TCB!Derpy is one for the human and PHL soldiers out in the field.
* MedievalStasis: [[spoiler: Discord]] chews out Princess Celestia over causing Equestria to turn into a stagnant SugarBowl in Chapter 11.
* MercyKill:
** During his deployment in Mexico City, Marcus saw a father kill his ponified son before taking his own life. He later had to do the same to his own little brother Jacob, who also got ponified.
** [[spoiler: TCB!Twilight begs Prime!Luna to kill her and her friends]].

** Princess Celestia voluntarily undergoes (you can't fault her determination) and suffers through Marcus' war memories to see if he really is telling the truth and share his pain... until TCB!Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six showed up, and she broke.
** [[spoiler: Then it happens to Prime!Luna, when Not!Twilight (the dark personality that overtook TCB!Twilight's body) shows her all that she did, which enrages Luna so much that she turns into Nightmare Moon]].
** [[spoiler: Prime!Sombra does this to Marcus to feed off his despair and guilt by making him see the friends and family members of his that died during the war. And then Sombra [[DemonicPossession takes control of Marcus' body]]]].
* MistakenIdentity: The reason Marcus attacks the Prime!Mane Six.
* MisplacedRetribution: [[spoiler: It turns out that while Marcus' mother, Megan Williams, ''did'' go to Dream Valley and defeated Tirek, she didn't defeat TCB!Tirek himself. In fact, she actually defeated the Tirek of Prime!Equestria]].
* MonumentalDamage: The Barrier destroys all human made objects it touches, so this is frequent.
** Westminster Clock Tower (aka Big Ben), the Pyramids of Giza, and St. Basil's Cathedral are wiped out.
** Balmoral Castle is destroyed by Queen Elizabeth taking the Royal Guard and PER agents down with her.
** Hancock Tower was destroyed when the ''Great Equestrian'' crashed into it.
** Windsor Castle is mentioned to be destroyed when a plane crashes into it just as the UK is overrun.
** The [[http://sweetiesreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/legal-seafoods-boston-review.jpg Legal Seafood restaurant]] [[note]]It's just down the street from the New England Aquarium.[[/note]] is destroyed by a boat sent flying from [[spoiler: Nightmare Moon's appearance]].
** The Andrew [=McArdle=] Bridge was blown up to obliterate a large Newfoal horde.
** Mecca has been destroyed by the Barrier. And for that matter, so were Vatican City and Jerusalem. As a silver lining of sorts however, the three Abrahamic faiths have made peace with one another (as exemplified by a flashback showing a Muslim girl killing newfoals to protect a Christian family).
* TheMole: TCB!Fancy Pants.
* MoodWhiplash: After [[spoiler:Discord]] spends all of Chapter 18 ("Strike") in an extremely humorous Loony-Tunes style fight against the Tyrant, this is followed by Chapter 19 ("For Whom The Bell Tolls"), possibly the single darkest chapter in any Conversion Bureau story ever published, and one of only two chapters in this story where the author felt the need to put up a warning label.
** "Sons of Legacies, Part 3", however, went the opposite direction, starting off with Marcus' wartime nightmares... and then going to the Looney Tunes-esque fight, which may be even more absurd than the one in Chapter 18.
* MoralEventHorizon: InUniverse. The reader gets the choice of at what exact moment that TCB!Equestria crosses the line, because there are just that many to choose from, but Trixie's discovery of [[spoiler: the ColdBloodedTorture of Spike]] makes it very clear that this is her own breaking point.

** This was also heavily discussed and subverted in "War March and Past Sins", with the eponymous past sin being that [[spoiler: Spykoran [[KillItWithFire resorted to]] [[KillEmAll drastic measures]] to keep the Bag of Tirek buried. While the other world leaders of Equus are horrified by what he did (with Luna herself calling him a murderer), Discord, Marcus and to a lesser extent Celestia agree that Spykoran [[IDidWhatIHadToDo did what had to be done]], and Spykoran himself [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone deeply]] [[OutDamnedSpot regrets his actions]]]].
** For Luna, it's seeing how TCB!Celestia [[spoiler: corrupted the TCB!Elements and the [[BodyHorror very gruesome tests]] done to make the ponification potion work]]. These revelations push her into a primal UnstoppableRage so great, [[spoiler: that she turned back into Nightmare Moon]].

* MoreDakka: The PHL is ''built'' on this trope. However, it also is justified, since the huge waves of Newfoal attacks make tons of dakka absolutely needed. The [[LudicrousGibs end result]] is pretty obvious.
* MsExposition: [[spoiler: The Scribe, the godlike incarnation of ponykind's genetic memories and last remnant of the first race of alicorns]].
* MultinationalTeam: The remainders of Europe's armed forces have now joined together as one to keep fighting the ponies. The PHL itself is also comprised of a diverse roster of fighters from Earth and Equus.
* TheMultiverse: An explicit feature of the story. [[spoiler: The ''Multiverse Journey'' side story has Discord traveling through the universes of ''{{TabletopGame/Warhammer40000}}'', ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'', ''Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos'', ''{{Anime/Naruto}}'', ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', and even meeting [[LiveActionTV/StarTrek Q]]]].
* MultiversalConqueror: It's very clear that once Queen Celestia is done with Earth, Prime!Equestria is next. And according to [[spoiler:Discord]], she will only continue on after that. [[spoiler:It turns out to be Tirek's whole plan]].
--> '''[[spoiler: Discord]]:''' "The multiverse is vast, each world having vastly varied ways of existing, all with different ideals. Something the corrupt queen wouldn't be able to stand. Oh, there are powers out there that can rival, yes, or even beat her. But she will play it smart; she will gather power from other worlds before finally striking, with a limitless army at her beck and call from dozens, if not hundreds, of worlds."

** During the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic source material's]] planning phase, Princess Celestia was supposed to be a Queen, but [[ExecutiveMeddling Hasbro]] nixed that on the basis that GoodPrincessEvilQueen Guess what TCB!Celestia's title is.
** [[spoiler:Doctor Whooves]], on why trying to breach the Barrier by force, even with nukes, won't work:
--->[[spoiler:[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday "Believe me when I say that if could, I would've done it in a heartbeat to save a friend trapped in another world in a different dimension. It took the power of a supernova to just send a message. And that was with a small gap in the dimensional wall that was closing on me."]]]]
** In Chapter 15, [[spoiler:Discord notes that both Tirek and Nightmare Moon wanted to bring about TheNightThatNeverEnds.]]
** In Chapter 21, Rainbow Dash says that Trixie could be a spy, which is what she suspected Twilight of being back in the second episode.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Marcus, after killing Stalwart Heart to save Cheerilee.
** King Spykoran in Chapter 15, [[spoiler: in an effort to keep the Bag of Tirek from corrupting anyone else, destroyed all of Dream Valley and its inhabitants (who had been affected themselves), as well as sunk the ship that held the findings of an archaeologist with the bag itself on board. Despite his regret, he does maintain [[IDidWhatIHadToDo that he did what had to be done]]]].
** Prime!Lyra in that same chapter when she realizes [[spoiler:just how close she came to causing the apocalypse]].
* MyGreatestFailure:
** Apart from exiling Luna to the moon, Princess Celestia regards her hasty banishment of the Changelings to the Badlands and losing the Crystal Empire to Sombra as these.
** [[spoiler: In his own twisted way, Prime!Discord feels he's let down his "mother", Faust, by indirectly inspiring the Royal Sisters to become rulers of Equestria in the first place, which he believes has reduced the ponies' capacity for self-determination]].
* NecessarilyEvil: How TCB!Cheerilee and The Doctor view the use of ChildSoldiers.

* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler: Although his intentions could be considered benign, Discord had a bad case of this in the earlier chapters when he refused to acknowledge the damage he caused in attempting to bring Earth-like levels of "chaos" to Equus and his own role in what he accuses Prime!Equestria of [[MedievalStasis turning]] [[SugarBowl into]] (namely the fact that Celestia and Luna only took power in the first place because they felt it was their responsibility to clean the damage up). His trips through the multiverse finally do force him to reconsider this view somewhat]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Discord attributes Prime!Equestria's MedievalStasis to Princess Celestia's desire to let the ponies live in harmony, which he claims has only made them complacent and overly dependent on her and presumably, ill-prepared for their war with TCB!Equestria. In turn, the Princesses only took power because they felt it was their responsibility to clean up the damage Discord's carelessness with his chaos caused, leading to the misunderstanding and conflict between them that has lasted to the present day. In short, both parties are equally guilty of failing to stick to the Scribe's plan for their world]].
** In Chapter 19, Prime!Luna hesitates to kill TCB!Twilight, which allows the latter to escape and teleport the other Element bearers away.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: TCB!Twilight accidentally helped open the portal that got Marcus to Prime!Equestria, bringing them into the war to aid Earth.
** In "Strike", some PHL soldiers are on the verge of attacking Prime!Luna and [[spoiler:Discord]] when Queen Celestia shows up and indirectly shows the former are on the level.

* NightmareFuel: InUniverse. Marcus' memories, as seen by Princess Celestia during the mindsharing spell, become this over time.
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: [[spoiler:Discord. Of note is that he's a massive case of EvenEvilHasStandards, because even he's sickened and appalled at Queen Celestia's actions]].
-->'''[[spoiler: Discord]]:''' "We only began to fall down the hole full of horrors and sins, so start kicking and screaming, kid. It's only going to get worse."
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[spoiler:Discord]] states that if he could, he would create an army of "{{cyborg}} {{ninja}}s {{dual wielding}} [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]], riding on land sharks with head-mounted [[EnergyWeapon laser cannons]]".
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Upon first arriving in Prime!Equestria, Marcus beats the ever loving hell out of the Mane Six (well, four out of six, due to Rarity and Twilight being late to the party) after mistaking them for their TCB counterparts. Later, he even manages to give the Princesses a run for their money.
** In "Strike" [[spoiler: TCB!Cheerilee]], in a fit of UnstoppableRage, unleashes a brutal and well-deserved one on Queen Celestia after her "Ashes of Solaris" spell kills a teenage boy soldier.
* NoIndoorVoice: Luna of course, but it's exaggerated in Chapter 14.

* NotSoDifferentRemark:
** Princess Celestia shows her evil counterpart how ponies and humans are similar and capable of living in true harmony with each other, though naturally, this doesn't change the Tyrant's mind.
** [[spoiler: A conversation between Celestia and Discord in Chapter 11 has Discord implicitly say this (without referencing Queen Celestia) about Princess Celestia. He points out that her "harmony" has caused ponykind to [[MedievalStasis stagnate]], and implies that his normal brand of "chaos" was actually similar to how humanity and Earth function, and claims it would have been a much better way to encourage the growth of pony civilization in the long run]].
** There are two instances of Newfoals trying to invoke this on a PHL pony, first with Stalwart Heart to Cheerilee, then Focus Ray to Trixie. Neither are successful.
** Explored during the "Pale Moonlight" arc. After the fiasco in Ponyville, the Alliance decided to [[spoiler:use Prime!Trixie as a FallGuy to take the heat off TCB!Trixie and avoid stirring any fear from the populace (as TCB!Trixie had been brainwashed by Weaver)]]. However, they are unable to bring themselves to do it because they feel the move would make them no better than the Empire.
** Porter points out that, atrocities aside, Zhou clearly enjoys having an excuse to do whatever he wants to in the backdrop of war.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: In Chapter 3, "Harmony and Hegemony", Princess Celestia pulls off her BigDamnHero moment just as Marcus drives Prime!Twilight to tears while describing Queen Celestia.
* NuclearOption: U.S. President Jack Davis decided to nuke Washington DC rather than let it fall into Queen Celestia's hooves.
** One suggestion for a final plan of action against the barrier was all out nuclear bombardment. It didn't take, as the barrier destroys all man-made objects, including nuclear weapons. [[spoiler:So mankind rigs the Yellowstone megavolcano with nukes instead]].
* OddFriendship: [[spoiler: Discord]] and Marcus seem to be developing one as of Chapter 11; they appeared quite friendly at the beginning, anyway.
* OffingTheOffspring: A tragic case in Chapter 4; while Marcus was fighting somewhere in Mexico, he saw a father and son split apart. The son was ponified, and the father killed him before killing himself.
* OhCrap: Twice during the Prime!Mane Six's fight with Marcus. First is when Twilight sees that Marcus is impervious to magic. The second is when Fluttershy's Stare fails to subdue him.
** In Chapter 6, TCB!Trixie gets a massive one when she realizes that Queen Celestia is modifying the potion to turn the Newfoals from a bunch of StepfordSmiler zombies into an army of soldiers, willing to kill... meaning that she has over a billion potential new soldiers.
** Princess Celestia when she realizes that Queen Celestia is more powerful than her.
** Everyone gets one in Chapter 17 when they realize that Queen Celestia is within spitting distance of them. And then Cheerilee sees the sudden arrival of [[spoiler: Nightmare Moon. [[CurbStompBattle This being after having just delivered a royal beatdown on Queen Celestia]]]].
** In Chapter 18, TCB!Twilight's eyes "widen in shock" when Pinkie Pie's 'Pinkie Sense' warns her of an ambush.

* OutOfCharacterMoment:
** Well, aside from the [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide obvious]], TCB!Cloudchaser notes how Twilight isn't obsessing over human technology.
--> '''Cloudchaser:''' "What really got me wondering though, is why you aren't going gaga over [human technology]? You love this kind of stuff, Twilight!"
** [[spoiler:Discord]] refers to Celestia chewing out Prince Blueblood as one of these. It's justified, as she had been under a lot of stress recently.
** TCB!Lightning Dust and TCB!Rainbow Dash are implied to be in a relationship with each other. Justified in that certain events in TCB!Equestria played out ''very'' differently from canon, and there's the fact that [[spoiler: none of the TCB versions of the Mane Six have been in control of themselves or their actions. Which raises... [[QuestionableConsent certain questions]]]].
** Explicitly noted in "For Whom the Bell Tolls", when some Bundeswehr soldiers question Fluttershy's unexpected competence while under fire.
* ParodySue: {{Discussed}}, {{Deconstructed}} and vocally {{Defied}} at the same time. According to Marcus, the ponification potion turns people into "perfect ponies". Prime!Applejack quickly dismisses the concept of perfect ponies as complete crap.

** In a flashback scene from "For Whom the Bell Tolls", [[spoiler: TCB!Twilight, right before her corruption, even refutes the argument in front of Queen Celestia. It did not end well for her]].
* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: The TCB!Equestrian army is called the Salvation Army, while their airfleet is called the Rescue Fleet. The reeducation centers are called "Mind Healers" by pro-Empire ponies. Averted with the official name of Equestria itself, however, which is now called [[TheEmpire The Solar Empire]].
* PhysicalGod: Celestia, Luna and Discord are seen as such. [[spoiler: They're later revealed to be the brainchildren of the Scribe, the guardian of the first alicorn race's memories and the avatar of the last alicorn Faust, who fought Tirek in the distant past. Considering that Discord calls Faust his "mother", [[TangledFamilyTree this would technically make him Celestia and Luna's brother]], which he acknowledges to some extent, calling their trip to seek her out a "good old fashioned family reunion"]].
* PityingPerversion: Berry Punch, and presumably all other members of the PETN (Ponies for the Ethical Treatment of Newfoals), assume that the Newfoals' UncannyValley behavior is comparable to coming out of a drug addiction, and that they should be treated with respect. Of course, it never occurs to them that maybe turning them into ponies in the first place was unconscionable in itself.
* PosthumousCharacter: TCB!Lyra and [[spoiler:Megan Williams]].
* ThePowerOfLove: TCB!Cadance still believes in this, despite Shining Armor's love for her being unable to overpower [[spoiler:the Tyrant's control]].
* PowerTattoo: Marcus' tattoos are actually runes enchanted with an archaic form of magic that greatly enhances his strength, speed and stamina and makes him resistant to most kinds of pony magic.

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Prime!Twilight to Marcus before throwing him through a wall.
--> '''Twilight:''' "Hey, you! Meet my friend Sir Isaac Neighton!"
* PrecisionFStrike: In Chapter 10, The Doctor recites the failsafe code for [[spoiler:the nukes set up to detonate Yellowstone]] – "Celestia is a cock loving whore." Deliberately vulgar and insulting to Queen Celestia so Newfoals can't activate it. Additionally, the password for getting into the PHL's main headquarters is "Fuck that Solar Bitch."
** Princess Celestia, of all ponies, delivers one when she gives [[EntitledBastard Prince Blueblood]] a well deserved TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* ProperlyParanoid: Marcus, Celestia, and Luna are trying this, according to the first chapter of ''Calm Before The Storm''. They don't think things will go horribly wrong, thus dooming humanity and all sentient life... but they have to be sure.
* {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s: The Minotaurs and Griffons are depicted as this. However, it's clear they're pretty big fish in their respective small ponds, and are utterly shocked by the scale of warfare that humanity has been engaged in.
* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: [[spoiler: The TCB!Cutie Mark Crusaders]] get reunited at the end of the prime version of "The Writes of Passage".
* PyrrhicVictory: The Americans intend to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this if the barrier consumes too much of the planet [[spoiler: by wiring the Yellowstone volcano with nukes. Even if the barrier can keep the ash and radiation out, part of the volcano will be inside the barrier when it blows, causing a chain reaction that will turn Earth into a DeathWorld and ensuring that humanity's enemy will have fought and died for nothing]].
* QuestionableConsent: The TCB versions of Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust are a couple. Twilight Sparkle and late former human Stalwart Heart were married. [[spoiler:None of the Elements of Harmony have been in control of their actions since before the war even started. The beings bedding Lightning Dust and Stalwart Heart were the twisted constructs Queen Celestia put in control of their minds and bodies, but Rainbow and Twilight are still able to perceive everything that happens]].
* RageBreakingPoint:
** Marcus has seen a lot during the war, but always kept (for lack of a better word) calm. After ending up in Prime!Equestria and encountering the Mane Six, though, [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry he finally loses]] [[CurbStompBattle his]] [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown head]].

** In Chapter 11, [[spoiler:Discord]] is visibly angry when he finishes chewing out Princess Celestia over Equestria's MedievalStasis. During the same chapter, Princess Celestia finally lets loose all her stress and built-up rage on Blueblood when he pushes his attitude too far.
** Stephan, after seeing Alicia and Daniel fall to their "deaths" thanks to Queen Celestia, begins beating the hell out of the Queen's indestructible shield, proving it wasn't as indestructible as commonly thought. Then Cheerilee hits hers as well when [[spoiler:the Tyrant kills a child in front of her]].
** Meeting TCB!Pinkie drives Kraber into this.
** [[spoiler:And ''then'' Luna sees what happened to TCB!Twilight's original personality. It's so horrific that it makes even one who has delved as deeply into dreams as Luna think she might get nightmares from it, causing such levels of anger and despair in her that she turns into Nightmare Moon]].
* RagtagBandOfMisfits: It's revealed in Chapter 21 that the PHL/UN Taskforce's unicorn personnel are something like this. Thanks to Queen Celestia drafting the strongest and smartest unicorns at the best schools across Equestria, the taskforce has very few unicorns that are actually experienced at "serious" magic. The ones they do have are usually "escaped academics that were often easing themselves into semi-retirement, self-taught like Trixie, or less-than-entirely-patriotic students who had slipped out before the Tyrant could warp their brains," while the bulk of their unicorns are untrained laborers or civilians forced to TakeALevelInBadass.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Prime Chrysalis may have had no problem with leeching off his love for Cadance while impersonating her, but she never once considered "sharing herself" with Shining Armor during her attempted takeover.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: During his fight with Queen Celestia, TCB!Discord saved several innocent bystanders who would have been killed in the crossfire; the Queen eventually overpowered him before slowly and painfully depleting him of his magic.
* TheRemnant: The military forces and civilians that survived Europe's destruction are still fighting for the UN and humanity.
* RetiredBadass: Prime Minister Rokubungi, the Prime Minister of Japan in TCB!Earth, was a former commando in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Self-Defense_Forces Japan’s Strategic Self Defense Forces]].
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Downplayed. The PHL ponies aren't afraid to get their hooves dirty when fighting alongside the humans.
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: In "Strike", the PHL shooters under Stephan's command mistake Prime!Luna and [[spoiler:Discord]] for their TCB counterparts and would have attacked them if not for Queen Celestia appearing.

** Marcus' beatdown on the Prime!Mane Six (although it's [[MisplacedRetribution misaimed]]); that said, Marcus seems to be after Fluttershy and Twilight more than anypony else.

** Discussed in Chapter 10. TCB!Bulk Biceps' anger problems are well known throughout the PHL, though Cloudchaser has been helping him with them; if Cloudchaser were to die from the injuries she sustained in battle, it could very well send him into one of these. [[spoiler: Luckily, Discord saves her]].
** Queen Celestia kills one of the ChildSoldiers in Boston. Result? [[spoiler: Cheerilee completely loses it and, thanks to her runes, tears into Celestia with an unholy fury]].
** [[spoiler: The memories within TCB!Twilight's mind drive Luna to transform into Nightmare Moon, and her first action is to charge screaming towards the Tyrant]].
* SadisticChoice: In the flashback in Chapter 11, Marcus had to choose between saving the Newfoal that used to be his brother, or Cheerilee.
* SanitySlippage: Though Marcus hasn't driven Celestia insane with his memories, this doesn't mean she responded well to them.
* SaveTheVillain: Following the "Pale Moonlight" arc and the Alliance [[spoiler:skirting with using the Empire's methods of brainwashing those who inconvenience them]], Luna develops a newfound sympathy for the Tyrant and expresses her intent to save her counterpart sister from [[spoiler:Tirek's control]] if there's even a slight chance of it.
* SceneryGorn: Boston in Chapter 15.
* SchizoTech: In "War March and Past Sins", [[spoiler:Discord]] points out that the ponies are too coddled by Celestia to have come up with trains or electric generators without getting the ideas from somewhere else.

* SetTheWorldOnFire: The trees unfortunate enough to be anywhere nearby Celestia during her little conversation with Queen Celestia (and by "nearby", read "beyond the shores of the lake she's flying above"), a precursor to her AngstNuke of rage that featured her [[TheTunguskaEvent smashing down on the image of the Solar Tyrant's face with enough force to evaporate a large lake and produce a huge crater]]. BadassBoast included.
* ShapeshifterGuiltTrip: Inverted by TCB!Trixie, who uses her Blue Spy abilities to take on the appearance of Lyra Heartstrings as a distraction during the fight with Focus Ray. Since Ray is a Newfoal, his first reaction upon seeing the Solar Empire's greatest dissident is to drop all else and charge at her.

** Marcus, although it's rather subtle at times. He displays a lot of the classic symptoms of PTSD, such as having frequent flashbacks to previous events in the war, and the sheer amount of hatred he harbors toward the TCB!Mane Six borders on psychotic. In Chapter 21 [[spoiler:it actually helps him against Sombra because all the fear has been burned out of him, leaving nothing for Sombra to use. Despair on the other hand, he has plenty of...]]
** Princess Celestia is becoming one due to her having absorbed Marcus's memories. Coupled with having no time to cope with the memories, the shock and horror of what her "precious little ponies" are capable of, and the depths of evil to which her counterpart has sunk, it's of little wonder that she finally snaps in Chapter 11. [[spoiler: Discord eventually casts a mental spell on her to help gather these memories and help her deal with them, but time will tell if it's successful. Later on, Scribe helps get Celestia into a healing chamber within her home to help speed the mental reconstruction process up]].

* ShipTease:
** TCB!Spike and Rarity were implied to have had something [[spoiler: before Rarity's corruption]].
** Between TCB!Rainbow Dash and TCB!Lighting Dust. Yeah, it's okay, take a minute to let that sink in. [[spoiler: Blame the MindRape]].
--> One was the rainbow-maned Captain of the Wonderbolts, while the other was her loyal (and some said, loving) lightning-fast second-in-command. Within seconds, both had disappeared within the gleaming spires of the citadel, and from the fact that they had been flying supersonic over the capital, the implication was that they bore urgent news.

** Before her fight with Queen Celestia, TCB!Luna shot herself in the head at point-blank range to prove that alicorns can't be taken out by conventional means. And this was ''after'' Luna was BroughtDownToNormal from being less powerful than her sister to begin with.
** Averted in Chapter 18, where humans have pulled out entirely new hybrid weapons – a fusion of their own technology, magical runes and crystal fragments. With it, they manage to shoot off Queen Celestia's ear, though it doesn't kill her, since she can regenerate limbs.

** [[spoiler: Prime!Equestria's Bag of Tirek tries to convince Discord to not throw it away into space, tempting him with the usual stuff. Discord asks it if it can [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas bring his mother back to him]]. That promptly shuts the bag up.]]

** [[spoiler: When Princess Celestia angrily calls Discord out on how his vision of chaos caused untold amounts of pain and damage to the ponies and Equestria, Discord retorts that her Harmony has caused its own damage by causing pony civilization to become stagnant, and the ponies themselves complacent]].
** In "War March and Past Sins" when Luna calls Spykoran a murderer for [[spoiler:destroying Dream Valley, Discord]] reminds her that she herself would have killed the world as Nightmare Moon.
* SingleTear: Marcus sheds one before he kills the Newfoal that used to be his brother.
* SirSwearsALot: Marcus, especially by pony standards. Kraber even moreso.
* SplitPersonality: TCB!Trixie has about three of them due to her work as a spy.
* StepfordSmiler: The Newfoals. [[PerpetualSmiler They never stop smiling either]], unless someone pushes one of their {{Berserk Button}}s.
* SociopathicSoldier: Marcus seems to have most of the characteristics of a Type 4. Kraber meanwhile was a mixture of a Type 2 and Type 4 in his days with the HLF; nowadays, he's mostly in the latter.
* TheStoic: Marcus seems to always be completely calm, except when you [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry piss him off]] or [[ShellShockedVeteran when he has flashbacks to the war]].
* StunnedSilence: The Diamond Dog representative, the minotaur representative and Princess Luna fall into this after [[ItsAllAboutMe Blueblood's]] [[NoSympathy blasphemous comment]] about Marcus' situation.

** [[spoiler:Discord]] in "War March and Past Sins", when Spykoran tries to avoid the subject about the [[spoiler:Bag of Tirek]].
** Doctor Whooves in "Pushed to the Limits" when Cheerilee tries to get him to rest.
** Prime!Twilight gets into this mode twice. First is when she demands answers from Dr. Grimnebulin regarding [[spoiler:TCB!Spike's fate]]. Second is when she gets vocally fed up with Stephan's domineering attitude when he accuses her of wasting time studying the Elements of Harmony instead of focusing on her military training.
* SugarBowl: Deconstructed by [[spoiler: Prime!Discord]].
--> '''[[spoiler: Discord]]:''' Do they really? [[SarcasmMode Oh, woe is me, to try and understand your flawless judgment]]. I mean, just look at your standing army! You have them equipped with... spears! They question nothing! Trouble? [[DeusExMachina You resolve without an effort]] Risks? Why worry, the princess knows. Secrets of the past? What secrets of the past? The princess would never lie, so why think further? Why try anything new, when the one proven to know better is in charge? The ponies are going to be stagnant once you reach your limit, which is nearing, and you know it!
* SuperBreedingProgram: Celestia and Luna encouraged a lot of intermarriages between the three pony races in order to try getting more alicorns. Celestia rejects calling it anything driven by eugenics however, as she states that breaking the barriers between the three tribes would've been right to do anyway, and "purity" driven movements did not end well.
* SuperStrength: Anyone with runic tattoos, such as Marcus and Cheerilee. When his runes are fully charged, Marcus is strong enough to break Celestia's front ankles in a direct contest of strength. [[CurbStompBattle And when Cheerilee's runes activate...]]
* SuperweaponSurprise: [[spoiler: Humanity plans to have the Yellowstone megavolcano act as this, [[GodzillaThreshold should it get to that point]]]].
* TakeThat:
** "Ponies for Ethical Treatment of Newfoals" (PETN) is ''really'' close to the name "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" (PETA).
** Discord has... unfavorable things to say about Chatoyance in the gag version of "The Writes of Passage".

** He also [[spoiler:apparently visited the VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} universe, and found that he didn't like [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}} Hyperion weapons]] very much]].
** Kraber's backstory is basically one giant middle finger to Chatoyance's story ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/22989/The-PER%3A-Michelson-and-Morely---The-Speed-Of-Right-- The PER: Michelson and Morely - The Speed of Right]]'', in which the eponymous PER agents ponified a group of children at a birthday party with a pinata full of potion. More specifically, he's what happens when the father finds out what happened to his kids and does not at all like what he finds out.
** While searching through Marcus' mindscape, [[spoiler: Discord]] pushes his way across a horde of Newfoals, at one point stomping on "a white unicorn with gold-rimmed glasses, golden eyes and a frizzy pinkish-orange mane", the spitting image of Chatoyance's profile picture. There is a lot of blood spattering.

** Catseye (a unicorn modeled after Chatoyance's avatar on Website/FimfictionDotNet) makes a physical appearance in the "Training Days" story arc as an antagonistic figure determined to sabotage the heroes' efforts. Not only is she a pony supremacist with [[AbsoluteXenophobe less than flattering views on the other races in Equus]], but it's also stated that her prejudices extend to half-pony hybrids of other species, with quick blurbs in her introductory scene hinting that [[BoomerangBigot she herself is a half-pony hybrid]] who detests her heritage and [[PassFail takes great measures hiding it]]. It's a none-too-subtle reference to the fact that Chatoyance is a transwoman who has a reputation for coming off as incredibly [[DoesNotLikeMen misandric]].
** On a meta-level, Prime!Celestia showing a distaste for eugenics is another TakeThat directed at Chatoyance, where one story states that her [[GodModeSue Celestia]] actually used eugenics to make the ponies better by breeding out any "undesirable" traits.
** It's very easy to miss, but in "Training Days: The First Month", one of Catseye's followers considers using the word 'adamant' in their group's name. Chatoyance once wrote a story called ''The Reasonably Adamant Down With Celestia Newfoal Society'', a none-too-subtle [[TakeThatCritics potshot leveled at her critics and critics of the TCB universe in general]].
** [[spoiler:Prime!Discord]] makes a couple quick potshots at conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza and notorious evangelist and actor Kirk Cameron.
** [[spoiler:A dream vision of TCB!Lyra]] states that Jacqueline Reitman (a stand-in for Chatoyance) handles anything that disagrees with her worldview with the maturity of a baby.
** A conversation between Prime!Twilight and Doctor Grimnebulin has a quick middle finger being shot at Chatoyance's story ''Code Majeste'', wherein it's stated that humans have no souls because they lack magic.
* TakingTheBullet: TCB!Cloudchaser took a few spears that were meant for Bulk "Snowflake" Biceps.
* TakenForGranite:
** TCB!Lyra, Luna, and Blueblood were all turned into stone. Lyra was crushed by an angry mob and the sight led to TCB!Bon Bon's complete mental breakdown, Luna is kept as a trophy, and Blueblood got crushed as well, though it's implied that was because even [[EvenEvilHasStandards Queen Celestia couldn't stand him]].
** [[spoiler: Prime!Blueblood gets turned to stone by Discord, this time as punishment for being such an EntitledBastard. But it's temporary in this case]].
* TastesLikePurple:
** When the magical portal that transports Marcus into Prime!Equestria opens up over Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle remarks that everything tasted purple for a moment when she senses the massive amounts of magical energy radiating from it.
** The void between universes tastes orange to [[spoiler:Discord]].
* TeacherStudentRomance: Princess Luna had this with [[spoiler: Sombra, although it was one-sided on his part. He claims that her not returning his feelings was one of the main reasons he went evil. Discord calls it out as trite]].
* TearsOfJoy: TCB!Cadance sheds some after Green Fields, one of the Royal Guards, is freed from the Tyrant's control with ThePowerOfLove.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: As revealed in "Pushed to the Limits", the Second Gate to PHL HQ is designed to take no chances with unauthorized personnel, involving turrets, gas, napalm and who knows what else.
** As in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', this is Trevor's philosophy.
-->And sometimes Trevor's attitude to life was refreshingly welcome: there's no kill like overkill.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Princess Celestia is [[{{Understatement}} not at all happy at what Queen Celestia has done]]. She immediately declares war on the tyrant in response.

* TokenEvilTeammate: The PHL is not exactly a spotlessly heroic organization, but there are some notable characters of this type within their ranks.
** Well, he's more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but there's Viktor Kraber, a former HLF member and one of the most notorious. He has gotten better and he only directs his AxCrazy impulses towards those that really do deserve it, but it's clear he's still ''very'' trigger happy and deeply mentally unbalanced (and even the reasons [[PapaWolf for]] [[CrusadingWidower that]] are pretty understandable).
** Pineapple Cutter is a BloodKnight who craves excitement so much that she's only really with the PHL [[IFightForTheStrongestSide because they have the best weaponry]] and share the common goal of not being enslaved by the Solar Tyrant.
* TooDumbToLive: Really, Blueblood? Antagonize the traumatized alicorn who has already shown she doesn't like you? ''Smart''...
* TookALevelInBadass: TCB!Trixie, who went from being a SmallNameBigEgo illusionist to a clever, shapeshifting assassin and spy with an array of bombs and considerable skill with a blade. A badass[[http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/042/a/5/commission__redskin122004_by_sakuyamon-d5ugozk.png makeover]] also helped with that.
* TransformationHorror: What the ponification process does to its victims is rather messed-up, to say the least. [[spoiler: And that's without even going into the first trial potion tests...]]
* TrappedBehindEnemyLines: What Marcus thinks happened to him when he arrives in Prime!Equestria.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Earth is currently in the year 2023, but appears to be not too different from today... well, you know, without the xenocide. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], considering that TCB!Equestria's invasion would have greatly impeded all non-military scientific progress. The situation is actually somewhat similar to VideoGame/{{Resistance}} - it's not that much more advanced than our time (there's mentions of some PHL-enhanced tech making its way into the private sector, but not very much) but the military sector is incredibly advanced.
* UncannyVillage: TCB!Ponyville, if not most of TCB!Equestria, is like this now, if the opening description in "The Writes of Passage" is anything to judge by. There's perpetually smiling zombie-like Newfoals everywhere, and there's something wrong with the sunlight. According to said opening description:

** Though as of ''Calm Before The Storm'', the veneer seems to be ever so slightly cracked.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: General Ironclaw and Warlord Wilmorn Darkhoof, the respective military leaders of the Griffon Empire and the Minotaurs, didn't believe they were in need of training from the humans. Oh, how wrong they were.
* VillainsNeverLie: Princess Celestia wonders this about Discord in Chapter 11, noting that he may speak half-truths, use InsaneTrollLogic and {{Moon Logic Puzzle}}s, but not outright lie.
* VomitDiscretionShot: After Cadance witnesses a vision of TCB!Discord disintegrating, she promptly releases her stomach contents in a nearby bush.
** When Stephan and Kraber are shown what TCB!Twilight did in regards to the creation of the potion, both of them start losing their lunches in nearby trash cans.
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Applejack spits her breakfast back up after being used as a meat shield to take a kick from Rainbow Dash.
** Later, Prime!Celestia after seeing what her little ponies are doing to the humans due to a mind sharing spell.

** Initially averted in that the resistance groups and the military don't seem to have any problems with cooperating with each other, as well as in the case of New York's mafia and gangbangers, who now hand out weapons free of charge to civilians. The latter is justified, as continuing to fight each other in a city with high military presence is just stupid in every way.
** Played straight, however, when humans first meet up with Prime!Luna and [[spoiler:Discord]]. The PHL is all primed to kill them should they twitch wrong, and they've brought their best god-killing gear with them. Possibly the only times that Queen Celestia showing up somewhere has a positive effect, convincing people [[spoiler:Discord]] and Luna are ''not'' her allies.

* WeHaveReserves: [[spoiler: Queen Celestia's plan for using her vast reserves of Newfoals to conquer other universes]].
* WhamEpisode: "For Whom The Bell Tolls". It is the single darkest chapter of the story so far. [[spoiler: Readers get to see how Queen Celestia replaced the minds of the Elements with the mockeries seen in the war, followed by a detailed description of what happened to the three thousand test subjects TCB!Twilight used to make the ponification potion work ''without'' horribly disfiguring or killing the subject, capped off by Luna turning into Nightmare Moon, which cows ''Discord'' into seriousness]].
* WhamLine: "Hidden Truths" ends with [[spoiler:Prime!Discord telling Celestia he freed himself because her "ever loving twin" killed his TCB counterpart]].
** "Pushed to the Limits" ends with [[spoiler: Prime!Luna announcing to a squadron of human pilots that they have Marcus, meaning that Prime!Equestria will finally join the war]].
* WhatTheHellHero: In the TCB-verse, most of Ponyville gave one to Twilight and company when news of the Barrier's expansion began to spread across Equestria.
** In "War March and Past Sins", [[spoiler: everyone is horrified by what King Spykoran did to keep the Bag of Tirek buried, and some even outright call him a murderer. In his own defense, Spykoran admits what he did was terrible, but maintains that [[IDidWhatIHadToDo he did what had to be done]]]].
* WhenDimensionsCollide: The bad kind which turns into a fight for survival for humanity.

** When Marcus realizes that [[spoiler:he (and to an extent Cheerilee and possibly Lyra) could possibly have their own ascensions, he starts worrying that this will happen to them]].
* WhyWontYouDie: Luna asks the [[spoiler: Mirror Pool Clone]] TCB!Celestia this question. She's quite justified in asking, given the downright horrific things she saw the Queen do to [[spoiler: turn the TCB!Mane Six into her lackeys and the potion prototype experiments]]. Queen Celestia also does this to Stephan, which is also justified, given that he's [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punching the crap out of her]]!
* WorldOfBadass: On one side, TCB!Equestria is led by a Celestia even more powerful than her prime counterpart, with the six Element bearers acting as her lieutenants in the field. Insane and xenocidal, but undeniably badass. On the opposing team, we have a battle-hardened coalition of humans and ponies, a rune-empowered Marine, a Bundeswehr soldier wielding a magical claymore, a shape-shifting pony assassin, the griffons' elite forces, a minotaur, [[Videogame/GrandTheftAutoV four renowned criminals]], [[spoiler: the last Time Lord, the [[Series/{{Sherlock}} most indispensable man in the British Government]], and now a dragon]]. And then Princess Celestia calls on all the races of her world to join in the fight against the Solar Tyrant, including [[spoiler: Discord and the Changelings]].
** The leader of one of these races is essentially said to be [[spoiler: ''SANTA CLAUS'']] in animal form, and he's just as jolly as you might expect, but everything he does in preparation for the war against TCB!Celestia just screams badass.
* WouldHurtAChild:
** The TCB!Equestrians have zero qualms about potioning small children, even shoving it down their throats if necessary.
** On the other side, it's perfectly acceptable to ''shoot'' said Newfoal children, especially since they're now the enemy and would happily force potion down people's throats, all in the name of [[InsistentTerminology spreading]] harmony. It's even seen as a MercyKill of sorts.

** Stephan, the star of the Europe Side-Story, occasionally [[BackToBackBadasses fights alongside]] Marcus, and seems to have been promoted to {{deuteragonist}}.

** Marcus is treated by Isaac Dan Der Grimnebulin in "Sons of Legacies, Part 3".
* YouAreTooLate: Doctor Whooves tried to save TCB!Lyra and TCB!Bon-Bon. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Lyra's death was a fixed point in time, and the fallout from the Doctor's meddling caused Bon-Bon's already fractured psyche to become embedded with visions from all of history]].
* YouCantFightFate: [[spoiler:TCB!Lyra's death is one of the immutable fixed points in history that Doctor Whooves can't change]].

* HomeworldEvacuation: {{Deconstructed}} and {{Averted}}. It's made clear at least three times (twice in the main story, once in ''Calm'') that it's just not going to work. Mostly because of the [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome radiation in space]], limited resources (both for making the ship and helping the crew survive), lack of habitable planets, and, as Crowe pointed out, the few colonists that could escape would be nowhere near a match for Celestia if she eventually found them, no matter how advanced they got.

* NoEndorHolocaust: Averted. See Prime!Twilight's long SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome rant on the problems of Equestria appearing in the sea, which doesn't happen in this story, since the only means of travel between Equus and Earth is via magical portals, and the parts of Earth consumed by the Barrier are being colonized by the TCB!Ponies (though it's revealed they're having a hard time at it).

* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: The HLF, who are usually the heroic go-to anti-pony LaResistance in anti-TCB fanfiction, have devolved into this in this universe. There's likely an element of deconstruction involved, directed at both traditional ''Conversion Bureau'' tropes – showing how, for example, most of them likely wouldn't get along well with ponies, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it is unlikely that most military forces would fall under their umbrella]], and their rigidness makes them remarkably ineffective at opposing Imperial Equestria. It's also worth mentioning that it originally wasn't intended as this in-universe – this HLF has its roots in a support group designed for helping the friends and family members of people that took the ponification potion deal with the radical personality changes their loved ones went through. However, it quickly attracted a multitude of unsavory characters after the war began.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Twilight explains the scientific reasons that the usual [[FanFic/TheConversionBureau TCB]] plot wherein Equestria just pops up out in the middle of the ocean is impossible. Besides the massive amounts of magical energy it would take to transport an entire continent to another dimension, that is:
-->'''Twilight:''' "[[LetMeGetThisStraight Is that what you're saying?]] That somepony popped Equestria out of our reality and crashed it onto his? How's that even meant to work? [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfMass Several trillion tons of continent]] [[ColonyDrop does not make a gentle impact on another world]], not without mega-tsunamis and earthquakes that would level entire cities, followed by a dust cloud that would blanket the world in an artificial winter lasting decades! [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse And what about the world we leave behind, what about Equus?]] Would it just carry on spinning without a care, despite having a hole several-thousand-miles-across gouged out of the planet's crust? Even if you didn't breach the mantle, creating a supervolcano that would pull the planet inside-out, the change in mass and absence of the Princesses would throw the sun and moon out of their orbits, causing them to collide, or even worse, to impact with Equus itself! [[FridgeHorror Anypony – anything, left behind would die, horribly!]] Every griffon, every dragon, zebra, reindeer, whatever!"

** Kraber's backstory is basically one giant middle finger to Chatoyance's story ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/22989/The-PER%3A-Michelson-and-Morely---The-Speed-Of-Right-- The PER: Michelson and Morely - The Speed of Right]]'', in which the eponymous PER agents ponified a group of children at a birthday party with a pinata full of potion. More specifically, he's what happens when the father finds out what happened to his kids and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome does not at all like what he finds out]].

** On the other side, it's perfectly acceptable to ''shoot'' said Newfoal children, especially since they're now the enemy and would happily force potion down people's throats, all in the name of [[InsistentTerminology spreading]] [[YouKeepUsingThatWord harmony]]. It's even seen as a MercyKill of sorts.

* PyrrhicVillainy: The Americans intend to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this if the barrier consumes too much of the planet [[spoiler: by wiring the Yellowstone volcano with nukes. Even if the barrier can keep the ash and radiation out, part of the volcano will be inside the barrier when it blows, causing a chain reaction that will turn Earth into a DeathWorld and ensuring that humanity's enemy will have fought and died for nothing]].

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Pinkie Pie and Discord shatter the fourth wall in the gag version of "The Writes of Passage", with Discord mocking the TastesLikeDiabetes nature of about half that chapter, then abruptly rewriting its outcome.

** TCB!Trixie views ''[[UpToEleven the entirety of Equestria]]'' in these terms. [[CrapsackWorld She's]] [[MoralEventHorizon not]] [[TheEmpire wrong]].

* SmugSnake: TCB!Celestia, though this is taken UpToEleven in her 'Letter to Humanity', which assumes that the humans will just give up and be ponified in the face of her power.

* NoIndoorVoice: Luna of course, but it's taken UpToEleven in Chapter 14.

* ColonelBadass: Marcus Renee. Same with Stabsunteroffizier Kraber, who falls three stories, gets in a shotgun fight with a {{Teleport Spam}}ming KnifeNut Pinkie Pie, and takes a display case to the chest, [[MadeOfIron all with apparently no ill effects]].

Notable amongst Conversion Bureau fanfics for its [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters massive cast]], highly detailed world-building, and unusually high quotients of NightmareFuel, ''The Other Side of the Spectrum'' is possibly the most thorough and brutal of stories written in response to Chatoyance. You can find a timeline of the universe [[https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/402607/the-mostly-official-spectrum-timeline here,]] along with another timeline page in the tabs above.

* CastFullOfGay: There is a more-or-less even split in straight and gay couples seen or otherwise mentioned. And there are [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Loads and Loads of Couples]].

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The MLP universe already has plenty, but apart from featuring two versions of Equestria, this fic also introduces numerous {{Original Character}}s, human and pony alike.

** And then there's Kraber. He's frequently said and shown to be [[TheAlcoholic a heavy drinker]], his hatred of Pinkie Pie definitely qualifies as psychotic, though it's justified in that he hired Pinkie Pie to plan his children's birthday party, [[AdultFear only to]] [[PapaWolf find his family ponified]]. On top of that, there's his LongList of crimes while in the HLF, and according to Princess Luna, his nightmares hang over him even during the day. He's also drowning in a sea of guilt and shame over his actions in the HLF, and also exhibits many signs of PTSD as well.

** Well, he's more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but there's Viktor Kraber, a former HLF member and one of the most notorious. He has gotten better and he only directs his AxCrazy impulses towards those that really do deserve it, but it's clear he's still ''very'' trigger happy and deeply mentally unbalanced (and even the [[AdultFear reasons]] [[PapaWolf for]] [[CrusadingWidower that]] are pretty understandable).