Fanfic / Spectrum Voices Of Mankind

Starvation Side-Story

First Published: Nov. 08th 2013

• Body Horror: Isaac Acevedo claims that he's become skinny enough for his ribs to start showing through. Still, the guy does seem pretty limber for a man in that state, all things considered.
• Crapsack World: Rio de Janeiro. It's said to be better than China, though.
  • Wretched Hive: Nearly the whole city counts, yet "Town" stands out.
  • Crapsack Only by Comparison: Acevedo makes the rather grandiose claim that his world would cause the Kowloon Walled City to wail in horror.
• Creator Provincialism: Set in Brazil, yet written by a North American to purposefully avert this trope, since many stories in the TCB genre are usually set in America or Europe and hardly anywhere else.
• Creepy Child: The pegasus filly Acevedo takes in, Autumn Showers, is one of the Dissonant Serenity kind. It's implied that she's traumatized from losing her parents.
• Cyberpunk: Digital broadband and video games are apparently still readily available, but living conditions are squalid and food is scarce. Believe it or not, this is actually Truth in Television – the real-life Rio's favelas are some of the most technologically advanced slums in the world.
• Family of Choice: The protagonist group living in "The Two Isaacs of Rio" favela complex gives off this dynamic. In a way, Grimnebulin and Button's Mom almost serve as the Team Dad and Team Mom while Acevedo, Button, and Autumn are the kids.
• First-Person Perspective: Courtesy of Acevedo recording his thoughts electronically.
• Fling a Light into the Future: What the characters expect the broadcast to be, warning any sapient aliens about the situation on Earth.
• Grumpy Old Man: Green Grocer, the earth pony whom many people in Rio can buy their best food from thanks to his literally magic touch.
• Gun Nut: Acevedo and Button Mash are quite fond of firearms, which isn't surprising given how they've helped them stay alive.
• Heh Heh, You Said "X":
  Button: Even if aliens that probably use plasma or hard light weapons as the basic loadouts for their troops, or concepts we probably haven't even thought of yet hear this, it's just not relevant to the plot!
  Acevedo: Hehe... plot. I guess I got caught up in the moment.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Between the 25-year-old Isaac Acevedo and the teenage Button Mash. The same goes for Acevedo's friendship with Dr. Isaac Dan Der Grimnebulin.
• Lower-Deck Episode: This story shows day-to-day civilian life in the world-spanning Conversion War, and it is not at all pleasant.
• No Party Like a Donner Party: Some humans have resorted to eating Newfoals, because there is just so little food to go around. It's what Acevedo ends up doing.
• Purple Prose: Our narrator frequently goes off on long, sometimes irrelevant tangents.
• Religion of Evil: There are ponies and Newfoals who call themselves "Celestians" and worship the Solar Tyrant.
• Ship Tease: According to Acevedo, Button Mash intends to see Sweetie Belle again when the war is over.
• Speaks in Shout-Outs: We're looking at you, Isaac E. Acevedo.
• Take That!: The world in this short story greatly resembles the way Chatoyance usually depicts Earth... except that in this case, the TCB!Equestrians are very much responsible for the over-crowded Cyberpunk hellhole mankind is forced to live in.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: One of the reasons why Button's Mom hates working with Newfoal children is because the unicorns kept stabbing her, requiring her to get protective gear for herself.
• War Refugees: If you think Trixie had it tough in the Europe Side-Story, well, read this...

The King's Speech

First Published: May 26th 2014

• Canon Immigrant: While the events of The Avatar of Albion do not and cannot exist in the main Spectrum universe, all the characters at the bar (save for Angus Reid) are from that same fanfic.
• Celebrity Paradox: Doctor Who is mentioned several times as existing in the Spectrum version of Earth despite the fact that the Doctor himself is a real person in context of the story. Handwaved by the fact that Doctor Whooves is from a different dimension anyway.
• The Chains of Commanding: King William feels he's got it easy compared to President Davis, who, like most American presidents, is aging prematurely.
• Christmas Episode: Since the speech is held on Christmas Day, this is natural.
  • It's also worth mentioning that the same speech appears in Light Despondent, making them unusual Christmas Episodes in that they take place on the same day.
• Defector from Decadence: Angus Reid was in the HLF before he left due to his frustration with their fanatical tactics and lack of accomplishments.
• Drowning My Sorrows: The characters at the bar were busy doing this until they heard of the upcoming speech.
• Face Death with Dignity: William tells True Quill, a PHL reporter, that Lyra Heartstrings saved humanity by bringing the two races together, even if the Barrier cannot be stopped. The King acknowledges that making these kinds of statements is to be expected of royalty, but he also insists that he meant every word.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Between the King of England and the U.S. President.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall/Take That!: True Quill gives a short speech that reflects Doctor Fluffy's views on The Conversion Bureau. Or rather, his views on how Chatoyance took it over:
  True Quill: All of this. The war, the newfoals, the barrier... we've done nothing but hurt you. Equestria's arrival could have been something wonderful! We could have had a cultural revolution, conquered the stars together, made things of beauty... and instead, this happened. Whatever madness took hold of Celestia then infected that bitch Reitman... it took something that could have been amazing, ran it into the ground and turned it into a xenocidal nightmare. I'm so sorry!
• Modest Royalty: William is written as such, going out of his way to put True Quill at ease and even inviting her for dinner with the Royal Family.
• Obviously Evil: True Grit and Steady Hoof saw TCB!Equestria as this. And, to be honest, they're not wrong.
• Real-Person Fic: King William V of England is better known as Prince William, husband to Kate Middleton and second-in-line to the British throne, in the real world as of 2014.
• Rousing Speech: King William gives one. And what a rousing speech it is!
• Throwing Out the Script: The King figuratively does this by forgoing the UN spin doctors' planned Hollywood-blockbuster speech in favor of a more down-to-earth, personable affair.