History YMMV / VengeanceOfDawn

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:At the very end, Dawn sacrifices herself for Twilight by taking Jugurtha's spear to the chest that was meant for her. Was it a moment of RedemptionEqualsDeath, or did she want to die on her own terms because she'd lost everything? She had lost any hope of being Princess Celestia's student ever again, the Element of Magic itself rejected her when she tried to use it, and she and her friends were about to be arrested and presumably sentenced for treason.]]

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:At the very end, Dawn sacrifices herself for Twilight by taking Jugurtha's spear to the chest that was meant for her. Was it a moment of RedemptionEqualsDeath, or did she want to die on her own terms because she'd lost everything? She lost any hope of being Princess Celestia's student ever again, the Elements of Harmony themselves rejected her, and she and her friends were about to be arrested and presumably sentenced for treason.]]

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn is practically tailor-made for this trope. She does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student, but even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her for years in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. Dawn's life basically fell apart starting from there, her grades getting worse and her popularity waning, the final straw being when she attacked Twilight in a fit of rage, forcing Celestia to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the present day, Dawn is living in a poor apartment and working in a clothing store just to make ends meet, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't and became an alicorn princess. [[spoiler:Despite her efforts, her final fate is to be turned into a stone statue in the courtyard of the Gifted Unicorns' School.]]

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn is practically tailor-made for this trope. She does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student, but even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her for years in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. Dawn's life basically fell apart starting from there, her grades getting worse and her popularity waning, the final straw being when she attacked Twilight in a fit of rage, forcing Celestia to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the present day, Dawn is living in a poor apartment and working in a clothing store just to make ends meet, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't and became an alicorn princess. [[spoiler:Despite her efforts, all she achieves is being turned into a stone statue in the courtyard of the Gifted Unicorns' School.]]

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn is practically tailor-made for this trope. She does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student, but even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her for years in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. Dawn's life basically fell apart starting from there, her grades getting worse and her popularity waning, the final straw being when she attacked Twilight in a fit of rage, forcing Celestia to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the present day, Dawn is living in a poor apartment and working in a clothing store just to make ends meet, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't and became an alicorn princess.

* TheWoobie: Laurel, one of Dawn's childhood friends. As a filly, she was bullied by the other students of the School for Gifted Unicorns, particularly Sunset Shimmer and Trixie, for being poor and ugly. Before she met Dawn, nopony was ever nice to her except when they needed her to do their homework. Even as an adult mare, she still can't find a stallion willing to give her a chance, and there's hints that she's still not really satisfied with her life, jealous of individuals like Rarity who (from her point of view) seem to get everything handed to them for free just because they have the right connections and good looks.

* TheWoobie: Laurel, one of Dawn's childhood friends. As a filly, she was bullied by the other students of the School for Gifted Unicorns, particularly Sunset Shimmer and Trixie, for being poor and ugly. Before she met Dawn, nopony was ever nice to her except when they needed her to do their homework. Even as an adult mare, she still can't find a stallion willing to give her a chance, and there's hints that she's still not really satisfied with her life, jealous of individuals like Rarity who seem to get everything handed to them for free just because they have the right connections and good looks.

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn is practically tailor-made for this trope. She does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student, but even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her for years in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. Dawn's life basically fell apart starting from there, her grades getting worse and her popularity waning, the final straw being when she attacked Twilight in a fit of rage, forcing Celestia to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the present day, Dawn is living in a poor apartment and working in a clothing store just to make ends meet, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't and became an alicorn princess.

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn is practically tailor-made for this trope. She does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student, but even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. Dawn's life basically fell apart starting from there, her grades getting worse and her popularity waning, the final straw being when she attacked Twilight in a fit of rage, forcing Celestia to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the present day, Dawn is living in a poor apartment and working in a clothing store just to make ends meet, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't and became an alicorn princess.

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student. Still, even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. Dawn's life basically fell apart starting from there, her grades getting worse and her popularity waning, the final straw being when she attacked Twilight in a fit of rage, forcing Celestia to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the present day, Dawn is living in a poor apartment and working in a clothing store just to make ends meet, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't and became an alicorn princess.

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student. Still, even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. In the present day, Dawn has to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't, becoming an alicorn and a princess, while she herself has to live in a crappy apartment and work in a clothing store just to make ends meet.

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student. Still, even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her for having been stripped of her position as Celestia's student and eventually expelled from the School for Gifted Unicorns, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't, becoming an alicorn and a princess, while she herself has to live in a crappy apartment and work in a clothing store just to make ends meet.

* JerkassWoobie: Breaking Dawn does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student. Still, even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her for having been stripped of her position as Celestia's student and eventually expelled from the School for Gifted Unicorns, while having to work in a clothing store to make ends meet and hear the news that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't, becoming an alicorn and a princess.

* GeniusBonus: The countries of Grevyia and Quaggai, which are mainly inhabited by zebras, are references to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A9vy%27s_zebra Grévy's zebra]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga quagga]].

** The Grevyian zebras are described as large and powerfully built. Real Grévy's zebras are the largest living wild equines on earth, and are also known as imperial zebras, which perfectly fits Grevyia's status as an empire and imperialistic desire to expand its borders.

** The Quaggai zebras are much more willing to cooperate with Equestria than the Grevyians. Quaggas were known for resembling hybrids of horses and zebras.

** The Quaggai zebras are much more willing to cooperate with Equestria than the Grevyians. Quaggas were notable for having a unique coat pattern that resembles a zebra in the front, but a horse in the back.

** The Quaggai zebras are much more willing to cooperate with Equestria than the Grevyians. Quaggas are notable for having a coat pattern that resembles a zebra in the front, but a horse in the back.

* GeniusBonus: The countries of Grevyia and Quaggai, which are mainly inhabited by zebras, are references to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A9vy%27s_zebra Grévy's zebra]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga quagga]]. The Grevyian zebras are described as large and powerfully built, which matches descriptions of the Grévy's zebra as the largest living wild equine on earth today.