A My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic by Skyeheart.
An ancient evil older than Equestria itself has emerged from its eons old prison, set on returning the land to a state of endless destruction and suffering. Twilight and her friends will have their bonds tested and friendship lessons learned in ways they never thought possible as they come together to combat the last remaining crafter of worlds, Ruinate, and his heralds of hatred.
The fanfic got off to a promising start, blending Magical Girl elements with what felt like a proper season of MLP. There was even a preview page that had a brief summary of all future "episodes."
Sadly, the fanfic petered out after only five episodes. While never officially canceled, there hasn't been a new chapter since January 2013.
Can be read here
at Fimfiction.net.
Tropes:
- Action Girl: All the mares get a little more physical action in this story, thanks to the upgraded Elements.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Megalos Tyrant tries to force Rarity to marry him in Episode 4 after she refuses his more polite approach as Regal Rule.
- All Trolls Are Different: Craggle, the troll Twilight has to pass as one of Ruinate's challenges in Episode 2, is made of rock. Specifically, a kind that blocks magic, keeping her from teleporting past him. He also seems to have some kind of honor code, since when Twilight saves his life, he returns the favor.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Ruinate sets up shop in the royal castle after defeating the Princesses and Mane Six.
- Alternate Universe: It seems only parts of Season 3 happened in this universe. If nothing else, Twilight is still a unicorn, and the author has stated that "Magic Duel" didn't happen (because they had their own version planned — not that we ever saw it).
- Arch-Enemy: Ruinate to the Mane Six as a whole.
- That said, there's a definite strong animosity between Rainbow Dash and Fury Cross.
- Artifact of Doom: The Tear of Covet, the gem Miserain gives Scootaloo to allow her to age up. Once it's fed on enough of her negative feelings, it unleashes a woebeghoul, a creature that consumes her to power itself on her despair while it destroys Ponyville.
- Art Shift: Whenever Ruinate gets really mad, his speech is printed in red type.
- Batman Gambit: Fury Cross leaves a wrath wound on Rainbow Dash in their first fight, then pisses her off during their rematch; the wrath wound weakens her, allowing him to curbstomp her. Fortunately, her friends show up in time to save her and help beat him.
- He also deliberately mentions where his encampment is in relation to Ghastly Gorge (the battleground chosen for their rematch), knowing Rainbow Dash will deduce it and meet him there, while her friends go to the Gorge.
- Miserain gives Scootaloo the Tear of Covet, knowing that her wish will backfire and leave her miserable, feeding and releasing the woebeghoul.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Scootaloo, tired of the downsides of being a kid, accepts Miserain's aid in becoming an adult... only to figure out pretty fast that she has no idea how to be one, getting her into all kinds of trouble, eventually leaving her completely depressed. Which is what Miserain wanted; see Artifact of Doom above.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Because Twilight saved Craggle from falling to his death, he protects her from a pack of shalehounds and lets her go.
- Benevolent Precursors: The Sentiox, minus Runiate, who created worlds for the sole sake of seeing life flourish, and who fought hard to protect those worlds from Runiate's rampage. Bonus points to Amity, who created the Elements of Harmony in order to give her creations (the ponies) a chance to fight back against him.
- Big Bad: Ruinate.
- Big Good: Amity, Ruinate's sister, who created the Elements of Harmony to originally defeat him, and who unlocks their full power in Episode 2 to help the Mane Six defeat him again. The point is really driven home when the Princesses bow to her.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Regal Rule appears to be Rarity's Prince Charming, but it soon becomes apparent to the reader that he's trying to drive a wedge between her and her friends and then he turns out to be Megalos Tyrant, herald of arrogance.
- Bling of War: Rarity's Element Armor is made of diamonds, which she's able to use in combat.
- Megalos Tyrant's armor is gold plated and diamond studded.
- Bring It: Ruinate does this to the Mane Six when they confront him in the royal castle in Episode 2, complete with a kung-fu stance and wagging his webbed fingers.
- Cain and Abel: Ruinate and Amity.
- Call-Back: In Episode 1, Spike lists all the disasters that have happened in Ponyville whenever Celestia visits. Twilight promises him nothing like that will happen this time.
- In Episode 3, Rainbow Dash reassures Fluttershy that she knows what she's doing in regards to facing Fury Cross by herself, saying it's not like she's trying to harvest all of Sweet Apple Acres by herself.
- When Fluttershy is trying to talk Dash out of facing Fury at Ghastly Gorge, she reminds her how she almost died last time she was there.
- In Episode 4, when Rarity has her My God, What Have I Done? moment, she realizes that she's been treating her friends even worse than the last time she ignored them in favor of her ambitions.
- Also, she and Prince Blueblood are not happy to run into each other again.
- In Episode 5, Rainbow Dash recalls how she took Scootaloo under her wing.
- A flashback in Episode 2 has Rarity mention a dress she's making for Fleur de Lis. Fleur shows up wearing it at a party in Episode 4.
- The teaser for Episode 1 has the heralds meeting up in the ruined castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.
- In Episode 3, Rainbow Dash reassures Fluttershy that she knows what she's doing in regards to facing Fury Cross by herself, saying it's not like she's trying to harvest all of Sweet Apple Acres by herself.
- Canis Major: Craggle has a pack of shalehounds, which Twilight describes as the timberwolves' mountainous cousins.
- Chained by Fashion: Fury Cross has some on his armor.
- Chekhov's Gun: During their first fight in Episode 3, Fury Cross manages to wound Rainbow Dash with a small slash on her side, which is referred to several times over the course of the chapter as having not healed. During their rematch, it turns out to be a wrath wound, which has been feeding off of her anger and frustration at him and her friends in order to leech her strength. This allows him to nearly kill her before her friends show up to save her.
- In Episode 4's teaser, Rarity collects dew pearls for a dress she's making, as it later turns out, for Fluttershy as a birthday present, which she ends up forgetting about completely. The realization of this when Sweetie Belle points it out is what triggers her My God, What Have I Done? moment.
- The hoof-made wing guards Scootaloo gives Rainbow Dash as a gift just before her flying lesson in Episode 5 are later used as proof by Dash that Scootaloo can do stuff right, pulling her out of her Despair Event Horizon and allowing them to defeat the woebeghoul.
- Co-Dragons: The heralds are a mix of this and Quirky Miniboss Squad.
- Compelling Voice: Megalos Tyrant has what Twilight calls "Ascendency Magic", meaning his power is in his words. Thus, the only guaranteed way to defeat him is to muzzle him.
- Crapsack World: What Equestria was when Ruinate first created it, and what he intends to return it to before doing the same to the rest of the universe.
- Darker and Edgier: Ruinate is as terrifying as the major G1 villains, and the problems caused by the heralds tend to be more serious than the usual ones in canon.
- Darkest Hour: The climax of Episode 2 — building on the defeat of the Princesses and Mane Six in the previous chapter, Ruinate not only attunes himself to the Elements of Harmony (immunizing himself to their power), but also rips out and destroys Twilight's soul, leaving her an Empty Shell. It takes what amounts to Divine Intervention to help the good guys win.
- A Day in the Limelight: Episode 5 focuses on Scootaloo.
- Despair Event Horizon: Scootaloo crosses it when the woebeghoul absorbs her and powers itself on her despair to start destroying Ponyville. She decides it would have been better if she'd never been born and gives up hope; it takes a Big Damn Heroes moment by Rainbow Dash to save her.
- Destructive Saviour: Rainbow Dash manages to stop Fury Cross' assault on Ponyville, but in the process ends up destroying the town clock tower. Lampshaded by Twilight.
- Deus ex Machina: The only reason Twilight's soul is restored and Ruinate defeated in Episode 2 is because Amity uses the bonds between the Mane Six to revive her, and unlocks the full power of the Elements of Harmony.
- Demonic Possession: Ruinate's shadow wraiths are capable of doing this.
- Eldritch Abomination: All the Sentiox to an extent, who came in a variety of forms, were the oldest beings in existence, and were capable of creating worlds (or destroying them, in Ruinate's case).
- Ruinate in particular, as he's a vaguely frog-looking creature with three red, slitted eyes, constantly surrounded by a miasma of dark energy.
- Empty Shell: Ruinate plans on doing this to the Mane Six in Episode 2 in order to permanently neutralize the Elements of Harmony. He succeeds in doing so to Twilight, but her bonds with her friends (and a little help from Amity) restore her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Regal Rule/Megalos Tyrant is a narcissistic Control Freak who views Rarity as little more than a prize to be won, but even he finds Prince Blueblood to be a pompous jackass.
- Evil Prince: Regal Rule turns out to be one.
- Evil Virtues: Fury Cross seems to have his own twisted sense of honor based on relying on yourself in a fight.
- Megalos Tyrant appreciates a hard work ethic and earning your keep.
- Faceless Goons: Most of the heralds conceal their faces one way or another when in their armor. This allows Megalos Tyrant to have a Secret Identity as Regal Rule.
- Flash Step: Fury Cross is so fast, he manages to do this Rainbow Dash a couple of times.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Happens to Rarity after her My God, What Have I Done? moment — she realizes that if she goes with Regal to live the life she's always wanted, she'll be abandoning her friends. Ultimately, she chooses them. Unfortunately, Regal turns out to be Megalos Tyrant, and he tries to abduct her. Fortunately, the others show up to save her.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Rainbow Dash does this to the aged up Scootaloo when she says it would be better if she'd never been born, followed by a speech that fully brings her out of her Heroic BSoD.
- Gray Rain of Depression: There always appears to be a thunderstorm going on when Miserain's around. It goes with her attitude and status as herald of sorrow.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Everyone thinks that Spike's "dragon instinct" bad feelings about Regal Rule is just jealously about someone taking Rarity's attention away from him. Turns out, he was right.
- Green Thumb: Applejack and Fluttershy's Element Armors are made of living plants. Fluttershy's has vines that Applejack can use as makeshift lassos, while Applejack's grows magic apples that grant various temporary abilities upon consumption.
- Henshin Hero: After Amity unlocks the full power of the Elements, the Mane Six become this; whenever they go into a fight, they activate the Elements and get specialized suits of armor and powers they don't normally have access to.
- Heroic BSoD: Twilight has one when Ruinate defeats the Princesses and abducts her friends in Episode 2. She's only pulled out of it when Ditzy Doo delivers a letter from Celestia (somehow), which reinspires her.
- The rest of the Mane Six as well later on in the same chapter; upon Ruinate destroying Twilight's soul, they all nearly give up hope, before Amity steps in and helps them restore Twilight.
- In Episode 3, when Fluttershy fears that Rainbow Dash will get herself killed in her rematch with Fury Cross, breaks her promise not to tell the others about it. This makes Rainbow Dash explode on her and say that she hates her, causing Fluttershy to sink into depression. They make up later.
- Rarity slips into one in Episode 4 after her My God, What Have I Done? moment. She doesn't get better until her friends show up to save her from Megalos Tyrant.
- Scootaloo has one in Episode 5 when her wish to be an adult blows up in her face. Which is exactly what Miserain wanted.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Ruinate's escape just so happens to be on the day of the Spring Equinox, which in Equestria is a holiday.
- Hope Spot: Twilight manages to free her friends from Ruinate and they blast him with the Elements... only for nothing to happen, since he's attuned himself to them.
- Shortly after, having gotten the true power of the Elements unlocked by Amity, they nearly banish Ruinate back into the void, only for the heralds to show up and save him.
- It's All My Fault: Scootaloo's reaction to the release of the woebeghoul. At the same time, Rainbow Dash blames herself for letting Scootaloo down and leading her to this.
- It Has Only Just Begun: Ruinate gives the "You may have won the battle" variant before he and his heralds flee upon his defeat in Episode 2.
- Knights and Knaves: The first challenge Twilight has to pass in order to reach Ruinate and her friends in Episode 2 is a variant on this. A two-headed sphinx does the usual "one head tells truth, the other lies/one path leads to safety, the other to doom" bit, but the variant comes in when she realizes the answer: she realizes that since both heads were in agreement on the rules, which the liar wouldn't be, they must both be liars, meaning both paths are dangerous, and the sphinx is actually hiding the safe third path.
- The Lancer: Raindrops is Rainbow Dash's on the weather team.
- Leave Him to Me!: Rainbow Dash demands this from her friends in regards to her rematch with Fury Cross; they refuse, saying she can't take him on alone. They turn out to be right.
- Load-Bearing Boss: After the first fight with Megalos Tyrant ends, his personal ship sinks from damage taken during the battle.
- Manipulative Bastard: Something all the heralds seem to have in common.
- Medium Awareness: After Ruinate escapes at the end of Episode 2, Pinkie Pie reminds everyone that of course he escaped, there are twenty-four episodes left in the season. Everyone else is confused, but shrug it off.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: When Raindrops calls out Rainbow Dash for pulling a dangerous stunt to clear up a thunderstorm in Episode 3, Dash replies that danger is her middle name. Another pegasus watching the conversation points out that Dash's middle name is actually Miriam.
- Multi-Part Episode: The first two chapters are styled like the two-parters of canon, complete with a Previously on⦠in the second part.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Rarity's reaction when she realizes that she's been blowing off her friends without a thought in order to spend time with Regal Rule, most prominent being that she completely forgot about Fluttershy's birthday.
- Near-Villain Victory: At the climax of Episode 2, Ruinate β having already defeated the Princesses β succeeds in immunizing himself to the power of the Elements of Harmony, followed by neutralizing them completely by destroying Twilight's soul, leaving nothing to stop him from destroying Equestria. Fortunately, Amity intervenes, using the bond between the Mane Six to restore Twilight and unlock the full power of the Elements, allowing them to defeat Ruinate.
- Every conflict with the heralds so far has resulted in them very nearly succeeding in their goal for the episode before being defeated.
- Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: How Fury Cross goads Rainbow Dash into fighting him in Episode 3. Notably, she doesn't really care about the insults, she just can't stand anyone disrespecting her.
- Noodle Incident: According to Rarity, Pinkie Pie once literally made watching grass grow interesting.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Davenport's reaction when Fury Cross destroys his store as part of his rampage on Ponyville."Not again... what does everyone have against quills?!"
- Omnicidal Maniac: When the other Sentiox took Equestria away from Ruinate for what he was doing with it, he threw a tantrum and destroyed several of theirs to spite them... and realized he enjoyed it. Now, he plans on destroying everything in the universe as soon as he's done with Equestria.
- Original Flavor: Despite the Darker and Edgier tone of the overall story, its still very similar to canon. The fact that each chapter is designed like an episode, complete with friendship report at the end, helps.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Scootaloo in Episode 5. It's reversed when the woebeghoul is defeated.
- The Power of Hate: Obviously, Ruinate and the heralds believe strongly in this.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Ruinate's got three of them.
- The only part of Fury Cross' face visible through his helmet is his red eyes.
- Revenge: Fury Cross' element.
- Running Gag: Pinkie Pie's started one of using the various features of her Laughter Armor.
- Sadistic Choice: Twilight faces a couple on her way to rescue her friends from Ruinate. First, she has the option of either freeing a shadow wraith-possessed Spike with a one-time-use gem that can neutralize Ruinate's magic, or saving it for an advantage against him in the coming fight. She chooses to free Spike. Then, just before reaching the palace, a lone free Royal Guard finds Twilight and offers to get her and the Elements of Harmony to safety, but it will mean leaving her friends behind. She chooses her friends, and the Guard and Elements turn out to be an illusion.
- Serious Business: Rarity freaks out in Episode 1 because while she has a dress for the Spring Equinox festival, she doesn't have properly-matching makeup.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The story starts just before Ruinate breaks out of his can. Interestingly, it seems he was able to influence things while in there, judging by the presence of the heralds.
- Shout-Out: Primus was apparently one of the Sentiox.
- "Ruinate... PUNCH!"
- Regal Rule states his belief that the only way Prince Blueblood might learn how to be a proper noble would be if he relived his childhood, or if he was forced to relive his worst day a million times.
- One of the features on Pinkie's Laughter Armor is an rather familiar mask and voice changer.
- So Last Season: After Ruinate attunes himself to the Elements of Harmony, immunizing himself to their power, Amity unlocks their full power to allow the Mane Six a chance to still defeat him. This includes the fact that when being actively used, the tiara and necklaces now change into stylized armor that grant them various powers.
- Taken for Granite: What Ruinate does to the Princesses. They get better when the Elements' full power are unlocked and used against him.
- The Teaser: Each chapter is designed like an actual episode, with an opening scene followed by the lyrics of the canon title sequence, followed by the main story itself.
- Tempting Fate: In Episode 1, Twilight assures Spike that nothing bad will happen during the Spring Equinox festival, and even if it did, she and her friends could handle it. Cue Ruinate's escape a few hours later, where he curbstomps the Princesses, captures five of the Mane Six, and later nearly succeeds in rendering Twilight an Empty Shell and conquering Equestria.
- This Cannot Be!: Ruinate's reaction when the Mane Six show up to confront him at the climax of Episode 2. Mostly because he had just destroyed Twilight's soul in order to neutralize the Elements.
- Tickle Torture: How Twilight defeats Craggle.
- Time Abyss: The Sentiox came into being billions of years ago.
- True Companions: The Mane Six, obviously. Notably, their bond is so strong that it's able to restore Twilight's soul after Ruinate destroys it.
- The Cutie Mark Crusaders as well. Which, by the end of Episode 5, includes Dinky Doo.
- Training from Hell: Rainbow Dash puts herself through this in Episode 3 for her rematch with Fury Cross.
- Vagueness Is Coming: The heralds each seek out their counterpart among the Mane Six just before Ruinate's release to creepily give a warning/prophecy about it. The girls react with various degrees of fear and confusion.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Maintains the Original Flavor of the show, but Ruinate is a rather horrifying Eldritch Abomination who wants to destroy the world, and the heralds are perfectly willing to do terrible things in his name.
- Villainous Crush: Megalos Tyrant on Rarity. He's obsessed with her, viewing her as the only one worthy of being his wife.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Ruinate and his heralds at the end of Episode 2.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Megalos Tyrant, in his Secret Identity as Regal Rule, is a member of his nation's royal family, well-liked and respected in Equestria by many of the elite (including Princess Celestia herself).
- Void Between the Worlds: Where Ruinate was sealed away.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Rainbow Dash gets chewed out several times in Episode 3 for putting herself in danger — first, when breaking up a thunderstorm in The Teaser, then with her insistence on fighting Fury Cross alone.
- Rainbow Dash herself rips Rarity a new one in Episode 4 for blowing off her friends to spend time with Regal Rule. Rarity brushes her off, which makes her feel even worse when she has her My God, What Have I Done? moment later on and realizes Rainbow Dash was completely right.
- We Will Meet Again: Ruinate promises the Mane Six this at the end of Episode 2.
- The heralds tend to make comments like this when defeated.
- The Worf Effect: When Ruinate gets loose, he quickly overpowers the Princesses and takes the Mane Six (minus Twilight) prisoner. And then, when they actually have a chance to use the Elements on him, he's already attuned himself to them and shrugs the attack off. It takes help from Amity to give the ponies a chance to defeat him.
- Your Mom: In Episode 2, Spike does this to distract a bunch of shadow wraith possessed guards in order to allow Twilight a chance to sneak into the castle. They're mostly confused, but chase him anyway.Spike: Your mothers were a bunch of three-legged mule chasers! (blows a raspberry)
