As Twilight Falls is an ongoing My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction by Mikemarksman
. It can be read here.
Life is good in Ponyville. Peace and prosperity are even more widespread than ever before. But when tragedy befalls the town and, more specifically, Twilight, how does she cope? What lengths will she go to for the sake of 'justice'? And what is Celestia hiding? Grief, loss and hatred can change anypony...
This My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic contains examples of the following tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Asked by Twilight after her outburst in chapter IX:"How, Princess? How can you live with yourself?"
- Atomic F-Bomb:"This is for Spike..." Twilight spoke softly, "... You demon spawned SON OF A BITCH!"
- Body Horror: many instances, but Calamity definitely steals the cake:Apart from its tail, claws and the new shield-like appendage that still hung loosely from its neck there was something moving across what was assumed to be its flesh. But the realisation dawned upon the two, and many guards in the vicinity, that it wasn't Calamity's flesh at all... It was sewn together. Sewn into him. What made matters all the more horrifying however, was the simple fact that the flesh of the countless creatures - both common and completely non-existent upon Equestria - still moved. These creatures were alive. Or at least, some were. The darkened black splotches, now much more clearly defined, were undoubtedly those of rotting corpses.
- Buffy Speak: In chapter V, Applejack describes the remains of Calamity as "creepy bone-thingies".
- Consummate Liar: Deconstructed with Celestia. She can lie without changing her tone of voice or give any outward signs that what she said wasn't true, but she couldn't hide the signs of the emotional distress from how painful it was for her to lie to Twilight (who already knew for a fact that there were lies floating around), doing it anyways to 'help'. This ultimately burns down the bridge between the two of them, as she used the exact-same tone of voice she just used to praise Twilight.
- Applejack believes this about Discord. To such a degree, that she is utterly incapable of thinking he might ever tell the truth, or that others are right when they tell her something contrary to her views on him. Regardless of whenever or not Discord is one or not, it just makes her look like a zealot, and makes Discord become such a Berserk Button for her that she headbutted Rainbow Dash in rage and didn't even notice for a while.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: According to Discord in chapter VIII, there was shield around Canterlot which prevented Calamity from appearing there to free him from his stone prison. Celestia didn't put similar shield in Ponyville, indirectly making possible to Calamity to appear there.
- Creepy Monotone: Twilight speaks like this in chapter X.
- Curse Cut Short: From chapter XXVI:The draconequus shook his head to himself, offering an amused smile as he prepared the teleportation spell, "Liven up a little, will you? You all look like death warmed up; it's quite uncanny, given the circumstances."
The mares shared a brief look, though Pinkamena gave the slightest hint of a smirk, "Cheeky b-"
They vanished with a flash. - Doorstopper Gets close to 200k words and still it's far from over.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Rainbow Dash in chapter VI.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Pinkamena Diane Pie.
- Also Twilight in chapter X.
- Expy: Calamity is for all intents and purposes an undead pony version of Doomsday.
- Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Twilight Sparkle on Calamity. With chains and Chaos Magic.
- Fate Worse than Death: what Discord and Twilight plan for Celestia:"Despite what you have seen in Celestia recently, she truly does love the peace and prosperity of Equestria. She poured her heart and soul into raising this continent from the ashes of my reign and beginning anew, and she succeeded. Take away the love of her subjects, take away the peace, take away the very ideals of love and unity that Equestria was founded upon, and what is Celestia? An immortal alicorn, I'll grant her that, but what else? Nothing. The Princess of a dying nation. It will take a long time, but I believe that if you truly want revenge on behalf of your brother, this is the one thing that will hurt her the most."
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Hoo, boy... Discord's motives are still unclear, it's not known whether he helps Twilight because he really cares for her or he wants to use her to overthrow Celestia.
- In chapter XXI he explains to Celestia that everything that happened was his plan all along. Yet, knowing him, he could be lying to her.
- Celestia herself. She states that sacrificing Spike's life was the only way to stop Calamity. Twilight doesn't take it lightly.
- Heroic BSoD: Mane 6 after Spike's death. Especially Rarity.
- Heroic RRoD: Everytime Twilight uses Chaos Magic, especially after her fight with Calamity and confrontation with Celestia in chapter IX.
- Honor Before Reason: Applejack. She is so hung up on honor and how Discord 'made her' besmirch it that she can't even accept that she was brainwashed into it... or accept that Discord is capable of being honest about something, or that he can genuinely care about something (specifically Fluttershy), or that Twilight sided with Discord because she wanted to (because Celestia hurt Twilight that deeply). Applejack is this trope so bad that her perception is warped and is just setting herself up for a massive disappointment, unless everything is exactly as she perceives it to be.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Chaos!Twilight in chapter IX:'She'll die to a spike, for what she did to Spike.'
- Little "No": Twilight's reaction to Spike's death.
- Nightmare Sequence: Twilight in chapter X:"I'm in the throne room, but I can't move, or speak. Celestia just smiles at me from the throne. Then out of nowhere, Spike appears." Her voice choked a little, "Baby Spike. He turns to me and starts talking. I never hear what he says, I just see his mouth moving... Celestia gets up, and trots towards him, still smiling. I try every time... I always try to warn him, to tell him to get away, but I just can't! My mouth won't move! Then... when she finally reaches him... she..." Twilight stopped, tears welling in her eyes once again, her entire body shaking. Luna enveloped the unicorn in another hug as the spell finished, "She..."
- No Indoor Voice: Twilight under the influence of Chaos Magic.
- Not Me This Time: Discord when Celestia accuses him of trying to cause war with the Griffon Empire.
- Oh, Crap!: Princess Luna in chapter III:"IT'S TWILIGHT!" Luna effectively screamed, "SHE HAS DRAWN UPON CHAOS MAGIC! YOU MUST HURRY!"
- Discord's reaction at the end of chapter VIII.
- Painful Transformation: Spike's transformation to adult dragon. It'd be lethal for him too, even if he wasn't killed by Calamity.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: In chapter XXVI Twilight recalls her black cloak, but mentions that they'll need something better for Discord before going to Hollow Shades.
- Precision F-Strike: Pinkamena is a master of those.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Twilight's eyes turn red when she uses Chaos Magic in chapter IX.
- Required Secondary Powers: While Twilight can summon Chaos Magic, she lacks secondary powers to control it. Unless Discord starts to teach her.
- Shout-Out:
- Slasher Smile: Twilight in chapter IX.
- Split Personality: Pinkie Pie/Pinkamena Diane Pie.
- Split-Personality Takeover: During Spike's funeral.
- Taken for Granite: Discord. Again. This time it's not his fault. Probably.
- Unstoppable Rage: Twilight after Spike's death, when she succumbs to Chaos Magic.Twilight advanced. She wanted blood. She wanted revenge. She wanted justice.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Twilight and Rarity upon seeing Calamity.
- Wham Episode: Chapter VIII. Twilight learns that the spell Luna used to make Spike grow would kill him anyway.
- The Worf Effect: Calamity manages to injure Princess Luna.
