Chartreuse' lessons aren't going as well as she'd like, even if Sunburst will grade her on what she achieves, even if it's not what they were aiming for. Heading home for the day, she picks up the post (a flyer promoting the local tea shop, a letter from Chalcedony's pen pal and, surprisingly, a letter for Nomination). Upon getting upstairs, she discovers that Nomination's latest attempt to ask out a colt ended even worse than usual, with him getting a black eye and the colt in question getting a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Chalcedony.
After putting the kettle on and having a go at working on Nomination's Angst, she reads him his letter. Turns out the Major, his mother, is coming to inspect his living conditions. Nomination proceeds to screech the place downnote , not unreasonably, and so, preparations begin. Unfortunately, Chartreuse' duties don't stop just because of this, and she has to go and deal with a shadowling infestation with Dim. Things go south, badly, and when it's over Chartreuse has a new insight into what she wants, and what is needed for Nomination. With a new policy, she opens up to her friends, and encourages Nomination to do the same for his mother.
A sequel to Crystal Camaraderie, a story in The Weedverse by Kudzuhaiku, Nom's Mom Bomb can be read here
This story contains examples of:
- Actual Pacifist: Nomination finds the idea of violence literally sickening. As he's part of a species that's been deliberately bred as Super Soldiers and expected to contribute, it doesn't help his feelings of inadequacy.
- Angst: Nomination is sufficiently prone to this due to expectations and his upbringing clashing with what he actually is and wants to do that a new regulation has to be put in place forbidding him from degrading himself.
- Badass Boast: When Nomination is bothered about Chartreuse' ability to expel a rude Major from her house due to regulations, she gets annoyed.Chartreuse: I am Chartreuse Le Feu, of House Le Feu, Bearer of the Flame of Chantico, I am Damoiselle Despoillier! My house, my regulations!
- Balloon Belly: Chalcedony, following one of Nomination's breakfasts.
- Big Entrance: Dim, being Dim, does this when he needs Chartreuse, causing both Nomination and Chalcedony to flee. Chartreuse, being Chartreuse, snarks at him about it.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Major has revealed that Nomination has far exceeded expectations, and that she's very proud of what he is and will become, but she's leaving on a permanent posting soon, so for all the new closeness between her and her son, it's unlikely to really go anywhere. Still, Nomination knows he is loved and his contributions are valued.
- Blind Seer: Chalcedony remains only able to see magic, which means that some adaptations are needed to make books and letters she can read (the ink used is also invisible to normal ponies). It also means that she can use her half of the Rainbow of Light. Made invisible by Sombra, only ponies that can see it can interact with it, and Chalcedony can obviously see such a powerful artifact, a feat that no other known individual can (including Twilight Sparkle).
- Blood Knight: Chartreuse is forced by Dim to face the fact that she does not fear her nightly duties, but revels in them, marking her out as on a darker path closer to Dim than Sunburst. It comes to a head at the end of Chapter 5, where she chooses to accept it by going to face the shadowling infestation on her own, rather than seeking protection from her masters. Later, the choice is shown to be less black-and-white than Dim makes out, with Luna claiming that it's a False Dichotomy that Dim's wounded mind makes him unable to escape.
- Bully Hunter: When Nomination gets assaulted by the colt he's just asked out, Chalcedony gets violent. The ferocity of her attack was at least partially inspired by her own repressed bigotry.
- Celibate Hero: In contrast to her housemates, Chartreuse doesn't care about seeking out a romantic partner, her studies keep her too busy. It's Zig-Zagged though, she has a crush on Chalcedony that she confesses (without result) later in the story.
- Chekhov's Gun: Nomination's number (88 33 23 44) is far more significant than it appears. Even Nomination doesn't know it's meaning. He's the 88th generation of his bloodline. Colony 33 (only eleven survive, unfortunately). 23 is the successful outcomes from the 88 generations. 44 is the number in the control group, and an unheard-of high, offering valuable hope for stability.
- Circling Birdies: The circling alicorns make another appearance after Chartreuse gets beaned by a wardrobe, including the first appearance of tiny Gosling.
- Cold Iron: As previously established in The Weedverse, demons are vulnerable to iron, which is why Dim supplies Chartreuse with a fireplace poker that's he's spent a fair amount of time aligning to make it more effective, as well as adding some salt, also established to be useful against the Things That Go "Bump" in the Night. After Chartreuse is offered the job of exorcist, Luna mentions that she'll be fitted with iron horseshoes at some point.
- Comfort Food: Exploited, Chartreuse offers the foals in the shadowling-infested house some cookies if they'll be brave. Said cookies contain tranquilisers and other drugs to counter the Supernatural Fear Inducer effect of the imps.
- Coming-Out Story: The story is about Chartreuse coming to understand that she needs to be honest about what she wants, and that she needs to encourage Nomination to do the same in the classic form of the trope. Interestingly, despite the fact they're both gay, they're actually going opposite ways, Chartreuse' natural place in the day giving way to a more twilit existence, while Nomination is leaving his birthplace in the night to find his place in the day.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Dim ends up beating himself up over the fact that he underestimated the shadowlings and nearly got Chartreuse killed, and then being disabled by his own infirmity because he's been putting off getting a healing spell. Princess Luna feels he's being overly sentimental, a sign of his Character Development since Eigengrau, where he has no sentiment left.
- Culture Clash: Chalcedony and Chartreuse (and probably the reader), upon first exposure to the letter from Nomination's mother, read it as being incredibly coldnote , written with military precision and no emotion. Nomination instead recognises the affection behind it, after all, his mother didn't have to use names (numbers are sufficient) and remind him that she is his mother, not just his superior, both of which waste ink and space. Also, Nomination's serial number is one higher than her own, he's the next in a sequence. Her care might be wrapped up in her expectations, but she does care. Chalcedony's response to actually meeting the Major is little better, with her angry at the Major for being a bad mother by her standards.
- Dark and Troubled Past: We get some insight into Chalcedony's, as a blind orphan who was under King Sombra's rule for much of her childhood.
- Death Glare: After Nomination erupts into a self-loathing rant, Chartreuse inflicts one so strong Chalcedony claims even she can see it. She's been practicing in the mirror, with the assistance of a book written by Princess Celestia. Later on, when the Major tries using one on Chalcedony in more dramatic circumstances, it's entirely ineffective, due to Chalcedony being, well, blind. Chalcedony's stare is more effective the other way, with the Major not meeting her gaze.
- Demonic Possession: Chartreuse ends up partially possessed by the shadowlings, but is able to drive them off by using the poker on her own leg, with a little help from the Hearthfire. This convinces Luna to give her Ex Libris Exorcista, a spell book written as a resource for exorcists.
- Distracted by the Sexy: For a gay colt, Nomination gets rather distracted by Chartreuse being domineering and Chalcedony talking about her buttnote .
- Divine Intervention: Chartreuse is all-but defeated by the shadowlings, which would be a fate worse than death as Chartreuse would become a shade herself, but "pink flames"note revive her and give her the strength needed to go on, along with a brief message from Chantico, explaining what she's done and encouraging Chartreuse to continue.
- Dragon Hoard: Discussed, a young Nomination apparently kept his choco-rations, and Command feared it was a sign of (very undesireable) hoarding instincts. It wasn't, he just wanted to combine them with his berry rations.
- Expospeak Gag: The Major's first experience of tea does not go well, and she describes it in these terms.
- Lady of War: Chartreuse has learned well from Rarity. She spends much of her time with the shadowlings complaining about their crudity.
- Emotion Eater: Part of Chartreuse' duties, especially in the wake of the Ice Orc invasion, is dealing with the fear-eating darklings and shadowlings.
- Exotic Equipment: Dragons apparently have two penises (as you could expect for a reptilian species). According to Nomination, it occasionally shows up in the draconic pegasi too.
- Expecting Someone Taller: The first impression we get of the Major is a small and unassuming pegasus mare, which comes as something of a surprise to Chartreuse and the readers, given what we've heard of her. Quickly shown to be a Subversion, as it's an illusion to allow her to blend in. She's actually a massivenote draconic pegasus.
- Eyepatch of Power: One of the Major's eyes has been replaced with a screwed-on metal plate.
- False Dichotomy: Luna feels that Dim's abandonment of the day (see Blood Knight, above) and insistence that a pony can only be of one, Day or Night, is false, but she agrees that walking both paths is very hard, as a pony of night represents the unknown, the monsters in the darkness, and the day ponies fear that.
- Fantastic Caste System: Reference is made to one that structures draconic pegasus society. The castes are all control groups, taking different approaches to building a society and culture so they can find the one that works best.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Mother: Zig-Zagged, Nomination's mother is not keen on his studying at an outside school or his desire to pursue cooking as a career (and has given him major issues over it), but she still fought against Command, risking her own career, to make sure he could do it. She really wants him to do the cooking, and integrate into civilian society. She was only trying to keep him from getting crushed if it fell apart, and the fact it hasn't fallen apart brings her so much joy.
- The Force Is Strong with This One: Chalcedony is able to see the newly-magical nature of Chartreuse' leg, following the infestation. Nomination is also able to sense that she's a potential danger.
- French Maid Outfit: Discussed, though not actually worn, when Chartreuse is cleaning the house, Chalcedony comments that she'd be a stunner in a Fancy maid outfit, which gives even the gay Nomination distracting thoughts. Chartreuse, for her part, doesn't mind at all, although she doesn't let her friends see it.
- The Glomp: How Chalcedony greets Sunburst. No-one present expects otherwise.
- Has a Type: Chartreuse's is white coats, curves and feminine voices.
- Heroic BSoD: The horrors of the shadowling infestation drive Chartreuse into a brief one, Princess Luna helps her out of it.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Downplayed, there's no indication that Snow Dust was one prior to his assaulting Nomination, Nomination probably wouldn't have tried asking him out if there was. Still, his first response was to buck Nomination in the face while screaming slurs, so... It's certainly enough to get him in serious trouble, with an expulsion hearing being held, and Sunburst is pessimistic about his chances of remaining in Cadance's school, though he hopes the example will encourage other students to be more thoughtful.
- Improbable Weapon User: Chartreuse ends up using a fireplace poker in the course of her duties. It gets Lampshaded by one of the ponies she's helping, as they're sceptical of its efficacy, but as it's purified iron infused with salt, it'll be quite sufficient.
- Incompatible Orientation: As part of her new policy, Chartreuse confesses her crush on Chalcedony. Chalcedony is straight, and wants foals, so it's not going to work out.
- Innocence Lost: The shadowling infestation is a brutal trial by fire for Chartreuse, who comes out of it with both physical and mental injuries. Dim blames himself for this, believing Chartreuse was not ready. Luna disagrees, if Chartreuse wasn't ready, she'd be dead (or worse).
- It Only Works Once: Possession is almost invariably fatal, but if the pony manages to expel to possessing imps, as Chartreuse does, the possessed body part becomes anathema to infernal creatures.
- I Want to Be a Real Man: The dark side of this trope comes up, as Snow Dust considers being asked out by Nomination a threat to his masculinity and responds with an assault. One suspects his masculinity is not helped by the resulting No-Holds-Barred Beatdown at the hooves of Chalcedony.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: A variant. Chalcedony is sentenced to community service for her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Snow Dust, meaning one of her friends is also sentenced to it, as she needs a pair of eyes to do anything useful. Her response to being forced to choose which is not what Sunburst was hoping for, as he was hoping that she'd feel bad about dragging her friends into the punishment, but Chalcedony asks if she can have both, in friendly retribution for some light-hearted teasing earlier.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Part of Pasteur's talent is apparently knowing which criminals can be caught (and are therefore worth pursuing).
- Loud of War: Chartreuse does not appreciate Chalcedony's taste in music, especially not when played very loudly. Unfortunately for her, she appears to be alone in this.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Chalcedony has apparently fantasised about "straightening out" Nomination, which isn't helping her guilt over being a little more bigoted than she lets on.
- Mind over Manners: Averted, the Major casually uses her mind-reading powers to analyse Chartreuse, and she mucks around a bit with her fear while she's at it.
- Motor Mouth: While she tries to remain reserved, Chartreuse gets very overexcited over the revelations about Nomination.
- Mundane Utility: Chartreuse uses magic to butter and jam the bread directly, rather than using a butterknife, a deliberate instruction to make her practice her focus. She is also tasked with putting away the shopping to allow her to practise her telekinesis.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Poor Snowdust, beaten into the ground by a blind filly. Still, he kinda deserved it.
- Not So Stoic: Chalcedony's shameless flirting with Nomination is enough to cause the Major to break down laughing, to Nomination's astonishment.
- Oh, Crap!: When Nomination gets the letter from his mother saying she'll be coming to inspect him, he begins doing an impression of the kettle.
- Our Mages Are Different: The first chapter involves something of a discussion of this, with Dim and Sunburst's scientific approach (Mages are like Scholars) contrasting with Chartreuse' earlier training with Rarity, who takes a more artistic approach to her sorcery (Mages are like Artists), with both approaches involving training and practice (Mages are like Athletes). Obviously, being a unicorn is necessary for both these particular styles.
- Overly Long Name: Miss Chalcedony Cuddlesworth the LXVIII, the addressee on the letter from Sumac. It's probably not Chalcedony's real full name, but Sumac's the type to go along with that kind of silliness. Such names are apparently a regular feature of Sumac's letters, giving the orphaned Chalcedony the fantasy of a large family.
- Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Downplayed, but in common with fillies who are still sorting stuff out, Chartreuse is somewhat afraid of sex, something the shadowlings try to use against her. It doesn't work too well at the time, but once the adrenaline's worn off and it has time to sink it, Chartreuse ends up more than a little freaked.
- Parental Substitute: Sunburst has become more than just a teacher to Chalcedony.
- People Puppets: The shadowlings take control of one of Chartreuse' hooves and make her attack herself, at least until she deals with it by applying the Cold Iron poker to her own flesh, with unpleasant and painful, if somewhat successful, results, before Chantico interferes, using the Hearthfire to heal some of Chartreuse's wounds and purge the remaining possessing shadowlings.
- Perpetual Poverty: Chartreuse, Chalcedony and Nomination are students. Money is tight.
- Pinky Swear: Foals in the Crystal Empire have a similar tradition where they drink from the fountain commemorating Spike's heroismnote after making the promise. This particular fountain has developed quite a few traditions, as it replaces an older one depicting Princess Amorenote that was destroyed by King Sombra. In this case, it's a promise to reassure Chalcedony that despite her past, things can and will get better.Chartreuse: I, Chartreuse Le Feu, of House Le Feu, give my word to be a steadfast friend to Chalcedony.
- Poltergeist: The shadowlings are able to act like this when they feel threatened, such as when a violently chartreuse wizard is trying to evict them.
- Post-Victory Collapse: After beaing the shadowling infestation, Chartreuse topples over. Fortunately, Dim is there to catch her. Once the adrenaline wears off and the Hearthfire moves on, she stops being able to even speak properly, slipping into particularly poor Buffy Speak. Once she's able to think again and the horror has had time to sink it, she drops into a Heroic BSoD.
- Power Incontinence: While keeping her eyes closed and focusing on drawing up the pure magic, Chartreuse fails to notice she's begun levitating everything nearby, including several ponies.
- Power Perversion Potential: Chartreuse briefly muses on the potential of crystal ponies' tendency to glow when exposed to love and affection, and how they might respond to more heated actions.
- The Sacred Darkness: Becoming a pony of the night may have its costs, but it also allows you to see the beauty and glory of the darkness.
- Scientifically Understandable Sorcery: One of Dim's particular tricks, and one he's shared with Sunburst and Chartreuse, is using scientific principles to improve his magic, allowing molecular level control of the environment and some very nasty tricks far above brute-forcing it with raw magic.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Snow Dust quickly finds himself without help when he provokes Chalcedony.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Upon being offered power in exchange for allowing the dark creatures to flee, Chartreuse' response is a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner and stabbing it with the iron poker.Chartreuse Le Feu: I do not bargain with uncouth creatures.
- So Proud of You: The Major is sincerely proud of what Nomination has achieved, although her first statement of this comes before he comes out. Her response to him coming out is to say that he's exceeded all her expectations, even if it's not what they were initially after. Nomination is not the last of his sequence, he is the first of a new one, meant to help integrate draconic pegasi into the whole of Equestrian society, rather than their current role as Super Soldiers on the fringe.
- Spell Book: Princess Luna leaves Chartreuse one as a gift while she's recovering from the infestation, Ex Libris Exorcista. It's impossible to read for a normal pony, but Chartreuse can read it after looking through the Tartarean gate. It also has a habit of making noises, including whimpers and cries of pain, though according to Luna they're pretty sure it isn't actually sentient.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Chartreuse doesn't see Nomination's departure at Dim's arrival.
- Stern Teacher: Dim Dark may be a harsh taskmaster, with no patience for weakness, but he's still there to catch Chartreuse after he accidentally sends her into a far more dangerous situation than he realised.
- Stepford Smiler: Chalcedony's outburst over dinner suggests that her Dark and Troubled Past hurts her far more than her overly-cheerful demeanour lets on.
- Stop Hitting Yourself: Chartreuse gets repeatedly kicked by her own hoof when she annoys the shadowlings, who taunt her by chanting the trope name as she slowly kicks herself to death, at least until she takes an iron poker to her own leg and Chantico uses the hearthfire to remove the remaining shadowlings.
- Super Breeding Program: The Draconic Pegasi are the result and subjects of an ongoing one, and Nomination is seriously bothered by the fact he's expected to contribute, but has undesirable traits.
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: Shadowlings induce fear in those around them, which given they also feed on said fear.
- That Came Out Wrong: While talking about practicing particular magical techniques, in this case hardening the magic field so it can be used as a butterknife, Sunburst says that to unexpectedly go soft [is] to invite disaster, before going very orange.
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: Dealing with shadowlings, minor demons of fear, is part of Chartreuse's duties, and part of the story involves her being called on by Dim to deal with a particularly bad infestation.
- Troubled Sympathetic Bigot: Chalcedony isn't as OK with Nomination's homosexuality as she pretends. She knows it's wrong, but she's a foal from an ancient age where it really wasn't done to be gay.
- True Companions: Chartreuse realises that she has this relationship with Nomination and Chalcedony, even beyond her transient crush on Chalcedony.
- The Virus: Anyone slain while possessed by the shadowlings will rise as a shade. Or worse.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: A shadowling takes the form of a severed phallus in an attempt to capitalise on the common fears of fillies Chartreuse' age. It doesn't work immediately, but once the adrenaline wears off...
- Weakened by the Light: Chartreuse saves one particularly annoying shadowling in a jar so that it can face the sunrise.
- We Can Rebuild Him: A throwaway line from the Major implies she's been through this.
- We Can Rule Together: The heart of the infestation offers Chartreuse unimaginable power if she lets it go. She stabs it with a Cold Iron poker.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Chalcedony yells at the Major over her distant parenting style.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: Chartreuse decides to not tell lies, or even keep secrets, from her friends, as anything buried is a psychological weakness that can be used against her.
- You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Whatever lies through the Tartarean portal is not possible for mortals to really grasp. It leaves an impression, though, Dim comments that Chartreuse will remember it for the rest of her life. The experiences leaves her able to read Ex Libris Exorcista.
