Note: As the Fan Fic this page is about is still in progress, this trope page is currently under construction. Anypony who has read it should feel free to add any tropes that were missed.
The Golden Age of Apocalypse
, a joint project by BlueBastard, Shinzakura and Flynt Coal, is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic, and the third phase of BlueBastard's Berylverse, set after the events of A Hairy Problem, A Hairier Problem: Rise of the Furball, and Seven Days in Sunny June.After the events of Seven Days in Sunny June, Raspberry Beryl returns to an Equestria that has moved a year forward in time. Trying to get a handle on her life, she has to deal with the fact that the world she's returned to is not the same as she left it. What's more, a prophecy emerges linking Razz to three others with her dark bloodline. Razz and friends must now find these 'Scions of Sombra' before more sinister forces do. All this with Sunset Shimmer's coronation right around the corner...
Main stories
- The Golden Age of Apocalypse Book I, which deals with Raspberry adjusting to her new situation and the discovery of a prophecy linking her to others with King Sombra's bloodline.
- The Golden Age of Apocalypse Book II: Synchronicity, which deals with the arrival of Sunset Shimmer and her friends and family to Equestria.
- Golden Age of Apocalypse - Book III: Legacies, which continues the story of Sunset's coronation, while a variety of enemies, including the Covenant of Shadows, continue their plotting.
Sidestories
- meanwhile...: Tales of the Berylverse - sidestories explaning the continuation of the human storylines.
- Confessions: In the week leading up to Sunset's coronation, Pinkie Pie and Applejack both have confessions to make. Meanwhile, dark forces gather in the human world.
- The Swordmaiden (Mature story): As the Winter of Aftermath wreaks havoc on Equestria, an ancient legend returns in an effort to save that nation, and the world. She is Queen Faust's Swordbearer... the Megan.
- The Fixer: Sable Loam's got issues. Between his new job as Admiral of Sunset's fledgling guard force and his existing job at Equestria County Alternative High, he hardly has any time for a personal life. To top it off, he's just met Troubleshoes Clyde, a talented mechanic and former Navy SEAL... and a bad-luck magnet. Still, Sable thinks he could be a valuable asset to the team, if only they could figure out a solution to his problems without launching themselves into another war.
- TGAOA: Reverie:
The Berylverse as a whole has its own FIMFiction group.
The story contains examples of:
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TGAoA Book I
- The Ace: Corner Shot, a superstar pool player and highly trained assassin for the Covenant of Shadows
- Bee People: Unlike the more loosely pony structure of canon changelings, in the Berylverse the Changelings are shown to be far more organized like real life insects. Subverted with how there are at least two rogue queens who formed their own splinter hives with the implication there are, or at least were, more.
- Big Bad Ensemble: So far we have Neon Lux, the leader of a Sombra worshipping cult, Queen Chrysalis, and Mandible, a rogue changeling from Chrysalis' hive trying to usurp her.
- Body Horror:
- Corner shot is revealed to have changeling chitin grafted to her wings as a result of her dark magic inheritence.
- The Rose of King Sombra has the carcass of a dead changeling Queen stitched to her in such a horrible manner that one of her arms is now a changeling hoof.
- Call-Back: Quite a few, not just to 7DSJ but to A Hairy Problem and its sequel as well. The Nightshade arc even features the return of werewolves.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Back all the way in A Hairier Problem: Rise of the Furball there was a passing mention of a pony named Rough Edge who helped Razz during her first days of being on her own. And now five whole books later he makes an appearance.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Razz's reading about The Broken Rose from Sombra's recounting reveal all this. The Rose is a human given to Sombra long ago, and their time together never has a moment where he's not trying to break her to serve his own purposes. From outright raping her to using a potion to force her to obey his commands while she has some awareness still. And he does all this without batting an eye except for the few times she manages to show resistance.
- The Chosen Many: Turns out Raspberry Beryl isn't the only one with King Sombra's bloodline, and they're all a part of some dark prophecy.
- Fictional Document: The book The Rose with the Broken Neck details a Story Within a Story regarding the final days of an Italian girl named Crisalide della Lucca and her ultimate suffering at the hooves of King Sombra.
- Greater-Scope Villain: King Sombra himself, whose machinations one thousand years ago drives much of the plot.
- Mind-Control Device: King Sombra's assistant Mangle-leg creates a potion she calls Compulsion for the sole purpose of controlling both living and dead victims.
- Narnia Time: Due to the Events of 7DSJ Book V, an unexpected timeshift occurred between the two realities, which weren't moving at the same rate of time to begin with. As a result, by the time Razz returns to Equestria, over eight months have passed there, even though it was only three weeks on Earth.
- Ninja Maid: The Hooves, the personal hoofmaidens of Princess Celestia, as revealed back in 7DSJ Book 4 as being trained more like elite bodyguards as opposed to mere housekeeping staff. It's later revealed in GAOA proper that The Hooves are in fact the seapony-like sirens, the Equestrian version of the more militaristic SIRENs from 7DSJ right down to having the Equus versions of the Dazzlings among their number. However, instead of being evil and violent, they're all generally quite friendly.
- Prophecies Rhyme All the Time: The prophecy on Sombra's mirror telling of the coming of his four Scions is written as a poem.
- Running Gag: Nopony likes Twilight's gaudy crystal tree castle.
- She's Back: Part of the first arc of TGAOA is Raspberry adjusting to how her three weeks on Earth have drastically affected her life, especially given that in Equestria, they had believed her to be dead, while on Earth she'd briefly lost her magic and had a crisis of confidence.
- Came Back Strong: Due to her time in the human world, Razz has picked up the ability to shapeshift to human form as well as (thanks to Sunset), now able to access human-type magic, which now grants her the ability to be a white mage.
- Shout-Out:
- One member of the Four-Footed Performers is named Mellow Brook, whose cutie mark is a blazing saddle.
- The mayor of Nightshade is named Twin Peaks
- Titled After the Song: Titled after the album, actually.
- Tournament Arc: The pool tournament hosted in Ponyville is the framing device for the second major story arc.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Nightshade, the setting of the first major story arc.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Changelings in general, but Versatile in particular uses his shapeshifting powers to take different guises for stage plays, and normally prefers to look like a changeling colored batpony due to his upbringing in a batpony family instead of his true insectile form.
- Somewhat subverted with Coco Pommel when their secret is revealed due to not being able to keep up their disguised form. Subverted again when their true form is revealed to be not particuarly all that different - Coco merely gains holes in her legs and tail, and the wings/saddle carapace of a changeling, but beyond those additions and her tiny fangs, meaning it isn't that much of a shapeshifting to begin with.
meanwhile...
- Alternate Universe: The Pinkie of the BV somehow travels to another reality where she and Sunset are happily married with children. However, their happiness was paid for in blood: their circle of friends was broken, and Sunset nearly died taking down an insane, murderous Twilight Sparkle, turned into Midnight Sparkle by the Dazzlings.
- Pocket Dimension: This alternate universe above is strongly believed to be from the reality sphere that Sunset left within Pinkie. How the latter was able to access it is unknown.
- Big Brother Mentor: Lyra's brother Harper essentially serves as this to Trixie, given that she's a singleton.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Variant in chapter 15, when a member of the Office of Childrens' Affairs (from the US Bureau of Consular Affairs, in the State Department) approaches the human Hondo Flanks, father of Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and informs him that he's the biological father of Seltenheit.
- New Transfer Student: Renaissance Canvas and his sister Juniper Montage move to Canterlot from Seattle. Instantly the latter becomes a friend of Debonair Lace, while the former pals around with Snips and Snails and catches the eye of both Sunset and Trixie.
- Nightmare Sequence: Human!Raspberry has frequent nightmares over her father's raping her and attempt to kill her, which manifests as a dream gone very bad.
- Occidental Otaku: Minuette and Gilda bond over their love of Magical Girl anime.
- Or Was It a Dream?: After one of her horrific nightmares, Ribby is protected from her dream-father's rampages...by what she thinks is an older version of herself. Said older version, however, may actually instead be Raspberry Beryl.
- Parental Betrayal: Human!Raspberry's father turns against her after murdering her mother because he thought she would turn out like her mother and leave him.
- Parental Incest: Ribby's father also rapes her before trying to murder her.
- Third Wheel: Due to the relationship that Lyra and Bon-Bon have, Trixie feels lonely even when with her best friend and said best friend's lover.
Confessions
- Bee-Bee Gun: Honeycomb can control bees, and uses them to horrifying effect.
- The Bus Came Back: Jade Lily makes a return appearance to the Berylverse and gives Sunset information concerning a new threat.
- Creepy Child: Darque Eulogy.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: The story opens with Sunset awakening from one such dream: a Nightmare Sequence in which she and her friends are all killed in battle with the eyeless man. At this point, Sunset has had enough dreams like it to know it's serious.
- Laxative Prank: When two rowdy customers make bawdy comments about Sunset behind her back, Pinkie gets back at them by putting too much tapioca into their food, causing an immediate and embarrassing incident mere minutes later. Unfortunately, Pinkie forgot about the security cameras which Carrot and Cup Cake reveal is how they know she did it
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Carrot and Cup Cake have long since figured out how Pinkie feels about Sunset, and about any other girl who might have romantic feelings for her. Pinkie is shocked when they admit it.
TGAoA Book II: Synchronicity
- Alternate Self: Sunset's family and (most of) her friends finally get to meet their pony counterparts.
- Culture Clash: Not just between the humans and the ponies, but also other species from the world coming to view Sunset's coronation.
- All the ponies seem to be weary of the humans just based on the fact that they're much taller than them and most other species. Principal Celestia being taller than the pony version causes even the latter to pause in realization.
- The kitsune prince Fujitsu comes in full force.
- Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle: All he seems to focus on is his wanting to marry one of the girls and setting his sights most on Human!Octavia despite her being underaged. Not helping is Human!Octavia clashing back in the same vane when her Take That! is seen as a threat simply because of the way she smiled back while doing it.
- The kitsune Kashingo has her honor and literal name stripped of her. After being taken in by Sunset though, she decides to rename herself Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
- No True Scotsman: Pony!Applejack doesn't consider Human!Applejack and her family to be "true" Apples, because they gave up their family farm (admittedly, to another family member), something no "true" Apple would ever do.
- Other Me Annoys Me: To varying degrees: some actually just annoyed, while others are reviled. So far those that don't seem fazed are Celestia, Luna, and Rarity.
- Pony!Rainbow Dash is wondering how her counterpart isn't all over dating her Soarin' while she herself has only dreamed of it.
- Dragon!Spike was already annoyed at how he learned his counterpart isn't a dog, and he can't help but letting him know. Human!Spike however wants to see what it's like being a dragon, with only Sunset's magic stopping him... for now maybe.
- Pony!Fluttershy can't comprehend that despite Human!Fluttershy being quite younger, she barely shows any problems interacting in public. She like the others is also concerned how willing she is to get up close with the ponies considering how small and cute they are to humans.
- While not feeling ill will toward her, Pony!Pinkie Pie has some dread of what she could have been like had she gone through similar events like Human!Pinkie Pie.
- Pony!Twilight cannot fathom how her human self can't seem to grasp magic.
- Pony!Applejack takes it up to eleven though. Human!Applejack's differences from how she and the other human Apples aren't focused on the farm to even how she doesn't fully have an accent cause her to invoke disownment, saying she's not a real apple, and going as far as to offhandedly insult her own Aunt and Uncle Orange just because how Human!Applejack turned out to be.
The Swordmaiden
- Darker and Edgier: As the only story in the series thus far to get a Mature rating, it's to be expected. The descriptions of combat are far more visceral in this than in other works in the series.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The remnants of Tirek's army are big fans of this.
The Fixer
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Alternate Character Interpretation: True to form for the series, characters in the show introduced here are very different from their canon counterparts.- Troubleshoes Clyde is just a clumsy guy with aspirations to join the rodeo in the show, but here he's a mechanic and a former Navy SEAL with a troubled past. He also has a daughter, Tirespin, with whom his relationship is rocky.
- Withers is just another of Dr. Caballeron's henchponies with minimal development in the show. In the Fixer, he's The Sociopath and a Stalker with a Crush.
- The Casanova: Sable Loam's coworker Red Horse is a notorious womanizer, as Sable himself notes, and she admits to "creeping on" some of the photos on former Principal Celestia's MyStable page.
- Papa Wolf: They may be somewhat estranged, but nobody messes with Troubleshoes' daughter.
- The Sociopath: Withers. His POV scene reveals that he doesn't feel emotions like happy or sad, and had to practice smiling in front of a mirror in order to make it look natural.
- Stalker with a Crush: Withers seems to have developed a creepy obsession with Troubleshoes. The fact that his employer has him conducting surveillance on Troubleshoes is a bonus to him.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Attempted but ultimately subverted - Tirespin, one of the students at the Equestria County Alternative High School for At-Risk Students, spends the first two chapters heavily flirting with Sable Loam. Being faithful to his girlfriend (and even if he were single, he wouldn't be interested), he turns Tirespin down. Repeatedly. It takes her seeing him kissing Celestia on the way in to work for her to take the hint.
TGAoA Book III: Legacies
- Abdicate the Throne: After everything that's gone on, including the nobles trying to impeach her and politically attacking others for their ties to the royal family, Celestia has finally had enough and abdicates her royal titles entirely, while simultaneously making Luna the first Queen of Equestria since their mother.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Implied by a captured Covenant pony in the first chapter. Apparently there's a lot of ponies in Equestria that aren't happy with how the alicorns are running things, and the Covenant has been all too eager to recruit them.
