Fanfic / The Rejuvenationverse

The Rejuvenationverse is a series of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Doctor Who fanfics primarily by Purple Patch.

The story began with The Rejuvenation Play, in which a heavily-pregnant Derpy Doo performs in the titular play. It has spawned a number of sequels depicting the consequences of the original story on the lives of those in the audience, and then the consequences of those consequences, as well as the consequences of the earlier lives of the participants, becoming a significantly larger-scale conflict between an Ageless mercenary and The Doctor:

• The Rejuvenation Play: The annual Rejuvenation Play in Ponyville goes even worse than usual.
• Old Fences: Derpy's past comes back to disrupt her new life with Dinky.
• You Shall Go To The Gala: After Derpy is forced to abandon her friends in Ponyville, they launch a plan to get her and Dinky back to safety.
• Intriguing: A diversion to the main plot, following the development of Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis's love life as he campaigns for re-election to the post of Chairstallion against some very brutal competition.
• Prelude: Call to Arms: A short depiction of the various characters preparing for the upcoming conflicts.
• Lost Reflections: (Ongoing) Beginning on Dinky's seventh birthday, it is time for Cascadius to make his move.
• Final Curtain: (Ongoing) A side-story in which a young Cadance and Shining Armor investigate a suspicious death.
• The Deeprisen Expedition: Told in entries in the forum, Daring Do's diary of the titular expedition (Ongoing). Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
• Warmonger: (Ongoing) Researchers study the history of Equestria, seeking Cascadius' past.

Occasionally, additional worldbuilding information is posted in the FimFic group

Due to a major First-Episode Twist at the end of The Rejuvenation Play, beware unmarked spoilers.

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The 'verse as a whole contains examples of:

• The Archmage: Star Swirl. Even when fighting against the person who actually held the title of Archmage, he was an exceptionally capable mage with far deeper understanding, and, crucially, curiosity, something the existing system was designed to stamp out.
• Affectionate Nickname: 'Muffin' for Dinky.
• Amoral Attorney: Mr Earwax.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Cascadius deliberately works to kill the loved ones of everyone who opposes him, to discourage further opposition.
• Anti-Magic: Cascadius makes use of a powder that has this effect on ponies, with a side of Mind Rape. It was invented by Sombra, and Cascadius' access to it following the Crystal Empire's banishment tips off Celestia to his presence.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Played straight by most of the Glasses. Averted by Fancy Pants and his parents and by Derpy's parents, and Derpy herself.
• Attempted Rape: Nitpick assaults Fleur while she's working at a theatre. She reports him, resulting in scandal. After she begins showing up again due to her relationship with Fancy Pants, Nitpick begins viewing her as The One That Got Away and tries several more times.
• Badass Family: The Armbrust Household, the Heroic Lineage that ultimately spawns Fletcher Fray. His immediate family in particular, his grandfather being a One-Man Army, and his parents getting married after his father rescues his mother and grandmother from execution.
• Balkanise Me: The fate of Farmany after the Gildenpakt takes over, the various noble houses squabbling and breaking apart.
• Bedlam House: Glanders Gate. Countess Glass is fond of sending enemies there, including Derpy in her youth, and she tells Mayor Mare she intends to repeat the act. Although she ultimately doesn't, she does use the threat to keep Derpy in line.
• Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Mayor Mare and Raven Inkwell, often. Good job they are also another trope.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Photo Finish. See Bunny Ears Lawyer below.
• Big Bad: Countess Magnifying Glass of Invitro Hall. Until Cascadius, her Dragon, takes over at the end of Intriguing.
• Brick Joke: The Reinland Crisis Part 3 contains an early on note that Fletcher and Conrad, despite rumours, were never involved in that way. Then, right at the end:
  Fletcher Fray: "Everyone got that? Me and Conrad, nothing went on there, okay?! We never, ever, EVER got romantic...Well, apart from that night Currywurst gave us those weird drinks and when we woke up-No, no, no, no, we swore to never to speak of that again! No bromance, no romance, nothing, nothing at all...Why are you still writing this down?
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Photo Finish and most of her crew. They're a quirky bunch of fashionistas, but they've managed to survive the rest of Canterlot's fashion industry trying to drive them out of business, and if one of their own is threatened, well...
• The Caligula: Dvinius, The seventh king of New Hycarion. He seemed to believe himself an alicorn, and the destined ruler of the ponies, and squandered the wealth his predecessors had carefully amassed to create and maintain this delusion. The only reason his armies weren't wiped out a dozen times over was the pity of his enemies.
• Consummate Professional: Cascadius is this, to the point where his frustration with Countess Glass's lack of such an attitude causes him to seize control of the operation at the end of Intriguing.
• Cool Old Guy: Stained Glass, Derpy's grandfather. A shame Countess Glass got him committed.
• Crazy-Prepared: Mayor Mare has shades of this, having a button-activated trapdoor in front of her desk, and preparing a Produce Pelting during the Play to bring any wayward actors in line.
• Creepy Crows: Corax makes use of the motif.
• Creepy Good: A couple of the heroes have this motif. Madam Coldblood, like the character she's an Expy of, is a cannibal Lizard Folk, and Princess Luna retains her Dark Is Not Evil tendencies from canon, such as having Octavia play a dirge to assist her with meditation.
• Cultured Badass: Cascadius appreciates fine music and ancient history, and is one of the most feared assassins around. Several of his mercenaries are also well-versed in culture of various kinds.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Luna and the Eternal Knights.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Derpy's parents, Can Doo and Looking Glass. Also Fancy Pants' parents.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit: Pansy breaks Nimbus' charisma with one, submitting to him. He takes the opportunity to punish her for perceived slights, resulting in public opinion turning against him.
• Dirty Old Man: Nitpick Glass.
• The Ditz: Prince Blueblood.
• The Dreaded: The Doctor, as expected. Cascadius, amongst those who know him.
• The Dog Bites Back: After her realm is destroyed, her sister and husband slain and herself taken prisoner by Baphometros, Hermione tore his throat out with her teeth, the first (and sadly last) time she hurt anyone.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Inverted, Derpy much prefers her given name to the one that Countess Glass forced on her (Irregular Glass).
• Establishing Character Moment: Several, in roughly chronological order:
  • Mayor Mare demonstrating her status as both Beleaguered Bureaucrat and Crazy-Prepared during the demon scene of the play.
  • Countess Glass demands that the local authorities assist her with recovering her niece whilst being insulting to everyone else and declaring herself greater than Princess Celestia, and when rebuffed, falls back on Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! and threatens violence.
  • Nitpick running a Kangaroo Court against Flash Sentry (whom he doesn't actually have any authority over) over an drunken prank, sentencing him to three years in prison, a dishonourable discharge and a 500 bit fine. (The fine was a "service bonus"). All while taking the opportunity to soapbox about the "barbarians" and "parasites" of society.
  • Shining Armor uses his actual authority to undo Flash's sentence and get some jibes in at Nitpick, then, once outside of his line of sight, dealing a sensible punishment for Flash's actions. Then he gets teased for enjoying the sight of Cadance with a wet mane.
  • When Fancy Pants meets Fleur serving ice-cream at a ball, and she tearfully admits that she's not as successful a model as she claimed, he compliments her on her resolve and dedication, saying that of all the models he knows, none of them took a second job to get there, and offers to introduce her to a photographer friend.
  • Photo Finish is introduced literally throwing a reporter out of the model's changing room. She then gives Fleur a chance to impress, instructing her to Don't Think, Feel and ultimately giving her a job.
  • Cascadius is introduced signing a contract while calmly discussing torture and murder.
  • Corax is first encountered singing historical songs and considering how to improve his cuisine.
  • Blue Murder's introduction largely consists of insisting her son is kept safe and having a phone call with her underlings where she chews them out for being incompetent with Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique.
  • Gringore murders someone that her companions wanted alive solely to perform a Bond One-Liner after stepping from a lift containing the remnants of a SWAT team.
• Evil Matriarch: Countess Magnifying Glass of Invitro Hall.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Several of the villains have people they care about:
  • Blue Murder wants her son Tungsten kept well away from her life as a mercenary.
  • Senator Royal Flush has a daughter he cares about. Too bad he betrays the mercenaries while they still need him.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Tambelon was a place of slavery, demon worship and animal sacrifice. They threw out the House of Nezethon for being even worse, unfortunately for the region that would later be known as Onageria.
• Expy:
  • Madam Coldblood, Spinning Jenny and Blunderbuss for the Paternoster Gang.
  • The historical figure of Boxer is pretty much lifted straight from Animal Farm, although more politically savvy than the original.
• Fantastic Racism: King Aspen of the deer has no tolerance for outsiders. Also, Archmage Popencirque^note Not The Archmage, despite the title, being closer to an Inept Mage and holding his position out of nepotism. His successor, Star Swirl, however does qualify as The Archmage. was this, acting as an Obstructive Bureaucrat to keep Rememberly's meritocratic reforms going through in order to maintain unicorn authority.
• First-Episode Twist: It's hard to discuss this series without mentioning that Derpy is a noble on the run from an abusive stepmother, given how much of the second and third stories are based on Countess Glass trying to get her back under her hoof.
• Forest Ranger: The Talforesters of Farmany were this, being professional monster hunters and wildsmen. They were later instrumental in placing Oberfurst Conrad on his throne after being marginalised by the current management.
• Future Imperfect: Many of the narrations of historical events indicate some degree of uncertainty as to the true events.

• Good Parents: What Derpy is aspiring to be, like her actual parents were to her.
• Grim Up North: As in canon, the Frozen North is not a pleasant place to be, and the addition of the Jotnar Warhost doesn't help anything.
• Groin Attack: The Onagerian fortress "Pinatsya" is believed (though not proven) to be named after an archaic term for this.
• Happily Married: Lady Justice and Mayor Mare. Derpy's and Fancy Pants' parents before they disappeared or were murdered, respectively.

• Hollywood History: In-Universe, the earth-ponies are considered in common perceptions to be the victims of unicorn and pegasus aggression prior to the founding of Equestria, but surviving evidence suggests the opposite is in fact the case.
• Human Sacrifice: A large-scale^note Six thousand ponies one is used to summon the Leaden Cloud, an Elemental Embodiment of Deadly Gas that brings down Celestia.
• I Gave My Word: Cascadius considers promises utterly binding. A shame he doesn't make more of them.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Several characters, including Madam Coldblood and Corax.
• Large Ham: Bulk Biceps, part of the reason for his casting as Tirek in the Rejuvenation Play. Photo Finish has her moments as well.
• La Résistance: The Bahan rule over Onageria lasted sixteen centuries, but was eventually overthrown. Also, Fletcher forms one in his backstory.
• Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: Rapidly shaping up into one of these.
• The Klutz: Derpy. She gets better when Dinky's around. It's a sign of how bad she's feeling at Invitro Hall when Dinky nearly gets hurt because of a clumsy mistake.
• Made of Iron: Cascadius catches an iron poker swung with such force that it bends around his hoof with no apparent effect.
• Mama Bear: Derpy is willing to stand up to Countess Glass to keep Dinky. Fleur's mother also gets violent when her daughter is threatened. Blue Murder expresses the sentiment regarding Tungsten, and later demonstrates it when she tortures a school bully to death.
• Meaningful Rename: Attempted by Countess Glass when she forced the name Irregular Glass on Derpy Doo, but the name is quickly abandoned when she gets free. A measure of the amount of control the Countess has at any given point later on is which name she uses for her internal monologue.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: At the brightest end, you've got Derpy, the foals and the Bearers. A little greyer is the Doctor and most of the other heroes, willing to go to some dark lengths to achieve their goals, but ultimately noble and good. The Eternal Knights fall somewhere greyer still, rebelling against Celestia out of guilt and willing to work with Downriver until he oversteps the mark. At the villainous end you've got the dark grey Tyria (who's being blackmailed into it), a bit darker is most of the mercenaries, and finally, the absolutely jet-black Cascadius, Marephistallion and Countess Glass.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Doctor Bittersweet.
• Mood Whiplash: The author is fond of swapping between the daily lives of Derpy and Dinky and the activities of the more dangerous characters, whether as Flashbacks or not. Also used towards the end of Intriguing as Cadance goes from her (enthusiastic) Smooch of Victory with Shining Armor to her office where a different trope awaits.
• Mildly Military: The casual relationship between Shining Armour and his squad gives the impression that the Royal Guard is this.
• Mind Rape: Cascadius' anti-magic powder has this as a side-effect.
• Mr. Fanservice: According to Word of God, the 3rd Palace Grounds Platoon is made up of semi-canon love interests for Twilight, and commanded by Shining Armor, so many of them fit this.
• Noble Fugitive: Derpy Doo, although in this case the pursuit is more social and political than literal.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Cascadius' crew apparently believes this.
• Older Than They Look: Fleur looks like she could be ( just) underage, but is actually 26. Cascadius as well, to a much greater degree.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: New Hycarion is primarily remembered for its seventh (and last) ruler's utter lunacy, despite his six predecessors by all accounts being cunning and capable rulers, building wealth with raids on surrounding lands and very careful spending, but deliberately never being enough of a problem that anyone bothered to wipe them out.
• Papa Wolf: Fleur's father inflicts a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for his daughter's sake.
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Gingerbread and Boxer initially married for the pure politics, but quickly became fond of each other.
• Power Nullifier: Magic containment rings can be used to block a unicorn's magic.
• Psycho for Hire: Several of the mercenaries, but Gringore especially. Not Cascadius himself though.
• Rescue Romance: Fabelhart Fray rescued his wife from being executed for her mother's infidelity (despite her then-husband's open and regular philandering).
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Dinky Doo.
• Really 700 Years Old: Cascadius is very old, old enough to have fought the Doctor and Celestia several times in the past.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Every Alicorn Princess shown has become involved when needed. The commander of the Jotnar warhost is also a princess, and quite likes bringing down castles.
• Saved by Canon: Most characters in the stories prior to Lost Reflections, as they're alive during the show.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Firmly adhered to by the Glasses.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: The Glasses again.
• She Is the King: Caribou "High Kings" may be male or female.
• Ship Tease: Photo Finish and Hoity Toity have several moments.
• Shout-Out: Many.
• The Speechless: Self-inflicted on members of the Echo Squad mercenary group. Also, Princess Bonjela in Lost Reflections.
• Spoiled Brat: Monocular and Binocular Glass.
• This Page Will Self-Destruct: Frequently.
• Tragic Keepsake: Fancy Pants' monocle.
• Uncle Pennybags: Stained Glass develops into this by the time of Lost Reflections, helping Sparkler and Tootsie Flute get back on their feet. Fancypants starts out at this, and only gets better.
• Undying Loyalty: Fancy Pants has a very loyal staff, mostly hired after they resigned from Invitro Hall in protest.
• Unusual Euphemism: 'Curd'.
• Upper-Class Twit: Nitpick and his cronies are this. Unfortunately Countess Glass is more competent.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: Cascadius is fond of ensuring silence by leaving a potential threat a little gift on their desk: a photograph of their family, impaled by a knife, a note saying 'No Interference' and a gas mask. All removed without a trace as soon as the intended recipient has seen it.
• Violent Glaswegian: MacTrowel. Handy for dealing with the paparazzi.
• We ARE Struggling Together: A major problem in the early days of the Earth Pony Republic, killing its founder with stress only two months into his reign and followed by a senile stallion who failed to do anything, let alone lead, although he does pick a reasonable successor.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Star Swirl's ascent to Archmage is heavily based off Harry Potter's conflict with Dolores Umbridge.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Timber Spruce. In Intriguing he manages to get Flash Sentry to do the same by acting like it's a vital component in The Plan.
• Wicked Stepmother: Countess Glass to Derpy.
• Would Hurt a Child: Countess Glass has no compunction whatsoever about 'disposing' of Dinky. Cascadius has also, several times, used a child's injury as a distraction for their parents. Many of his mercenaries are of a similar bent.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: When Cascadius is around then this is not the bright High Fantasy kid's cartoon of My Little Pony, instead being closer to the darker edges of Doctor Who, but many heroic characters act like it's the former, and Cascadius is all too willing to Exploit that. A particularly notable example is the old Bearers in Lost Reflections.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Most of the stories are an individual round of a very long game between several people, including the Doctor, Countess Glass, Fancy Pants, Mayor Mare, Cascadius and Celestia. Not everyone plays every round, and several are working together, but they're all involved somewhere.
• Younger Than They Look: Fancy Pants looks older than his actual age (30).

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The stories without their own pages contain examples of:

Old Fences

• Accidental Public Confession: A very distressed Doctor accidentally reveals he's Dinky's father to Mayor Mare, following the attacks on Carrot Top and Lady Justice.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Until the sequel.
• The Bet: One of these gets Flash Sentry into trouble in the prologue.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: Attempted by Derpy to all her Ponyville friends after Countess Glass threatens them.
• Cliffhanger: Leading into the sequel.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Derpy has this reaction to her friends trying to help her.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Shining Armour to Cadence, to his subordinates' amusement. Not that they're innocent, given Flash's comments regarding Sunset Shimmer.
• Empathy Doll Shot: The Doctor discovers one of Dinky's dolls after Derpy is forced to take her to Canterlot with her.
• Exact Words: How Marephistallion the Deceiver is ultimately defeated. Laurelore cannot harm him, but the souls of his victims, bound into her blade, certainly can.
• Flashback: Many, revealing character backstories and what the Doctor actually does all day.
• Hanging Judge: Nitpick is shown to be this towards those he thinks beneath him.
• Heroic BSoD: Derpy, after the attack on Carrot Top, leading to her returning to Invitro Hall.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Subverted Can Doo suggests that Fancy Pants (father of the better known Fancy Pants), might want to say this to him. Fancy laughs him off, saying that Looking Glass is an excellent judge of character. Then Double Subverted when he says that should Can Doo break her heart, the proposed threat (of financial ruin) would be the least of his problems.
• Mythology Gag: Looking Glass apparently had the nickname 'Ditzy', one of the alternate names for her daughter in the fandom.
• Nonverbal Miscommunication: Most of the observers think this is the result of their interrogation of the (fake) Echo Squad member. The Doctor knows better.
• Punishment Detail: Flash Sentry is sentenced to this following the above-mentioned bet.
• Stealing from the Till: Nitpick thinks of the fines he hands out as a 'service bonus'.
• Wilhelm Scream: The journalist attempting to get around Photo Finish's rules about journalists in the changing rooms. He fails.
• You Have Failed Me: Poor Carthage. Getting torn apart by the Deceiver's Combat Tentacles cannot be fun. The (fake) Echo Squad assassin also meets this fate, we get the details in the sequel, and they aren't pretty.

You Shall Go To The Gala

• After Action Patch Up: The Doctor tends to Derpy's wounds after Countess Glass beats her for attending the gala.
• Big Damn Heroes: Fancy Pants, after Derpy is dragged from the hall by Countess Glass intent on giving her a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Screwloose and Screwball.
• Death Glare: Poor Jet Set. He really shouldn't have tried being Devil's Advocate for Countess Glass.
• Everyone Can See It: Derpy and the Doctor. Lyra and Bon-Bon.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Countess Glass can't understand why the Doctor would come back for Derpy.
• Humiliation Conga: Countess Glass and her daughters do not have a good evening.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Fancy Pants, after he engages in some justified yelling.
• Jaw Drop: The response of everyone in the room when the Doctor reveals he's Dinky's father.
• Loophole Abuse: How they get Derpy away from Countess Glass. They can't prove she's capable of living independently, but they can provide an alternate guardian, the Doctor, due to him being Dinky's father.
• Not on the List: Attempted by Countess Glass to Derpy, she has the name 'Irregular Glass' struck from the list upon learning that it is present. Fortunately the name Derpy Doo is also on the list.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Derpy's gala dress, as made by Rarity.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "That's! Quite! Enough!" Quoth Fancy Pants. Also, when Celestia becomes really, really mad, she lapses into this.
• Right Behind Me: Princess Celestia has been listening to the Doctor's conversation with Countess Glass. Countess Glass failed to notice this before attempting to punch the Doctor.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Countess Glass tries to buy off the Doctor.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Earwax's response to Celestia's entrance.
• Summon Bigger Fish: The Ponyvillians' plan to save Derpy boils down to giving her an opportunity to plead her case to Princess Celestia. Although things definitely don't go according to plan, Fancy Pants ends up taking on the role, using his social status to save Derpy from Countess Glass. Celestia does later use her own power to properly punish Countess Glass.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Given by Fancy Pants to Countess Glass after he interrupts her attack on Derpy.
• Time Skip: Set two months after Old Fences.

Prelude: Call To Arms

• Action Mom: Blue Murder. Kind mother to Tungsten. Also a battle-hardened mercenary working as an interrogator for a collapsing regime.
• Brown Note: The Sarakanite Gas Bomb that Cascadius uses to disable Nitpick's cronies is a particularly nasty one.
• Hope Spot: Nitpick's reaction to seeing Cascadius, but he's not there to save them.
• Made of Explodium: Nitpick's prison carriage, it's an old design.
• Magical Library: The Canterlot Archives apparently contains several books that update themselves over time, with one of them being about the Doctor.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: How Cascadius deals with Nitpick.
• Mexican Standoff: Celestia and Countess Glass are in one. Celestia has reason and means to remove the Countess from existence with a moment's work. Unfortunately, doing so means the mercenaries the Countess has hired won't get paid, and will seek payment by other means.
• My Instincts Are Showing: Exploited by Madam Coldblood, when she orders Blunderbuss to "Sit!"
• Not in Front of the Kid: Tungsten is dismissed before Blue Murder and Shadowplay begin discussing the job at hand.
• One Last Job: Blue Murder wants this trope to be in play. Cascadius can't promise it.
• Our Ghouls Are Different: And controlled by an artifact now in the hands of Cascadius' mercenaries.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Part of this story is Cascadius gathering some old allies.
• Retired Monster: Blue Murder is attempting this. She's bad at it.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Like his Doctor Who counterpart, Blunderbuss is fond of causing this.
• What the Hell, Hero?: The Doctor is called out by Madam Coldblood for revealing Dinky's parentage.
• You Have Failed Me: The final fate of Nitpick along with several of his cronies.

Final Curtain

• Addled Addict: Maeve is addicted to atropine, and it shows.
• Beneath Suspicion: Babbles makes good use of her ability to move unseen to gather information on her family. She was an informant for Herod on many of the family's dirty secrets.
• Drives Like Crazy: Conkers, perhaps a reaction to Blueblood's insistence on not walking, and very satisfying to everyone else watching.
• Ear Ache: After Babbles steals some of Alma's paint, Alma grabs her by the ear to make her give it back.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Jet Set and Upper Crust were apparently very friendly to Baron Brittler Borax, until Cadance brought him down, at which point they turned on him.
• Fictional Counterpart: "Macheath" for Macbeth. It retains the superstitions of its real-life counterpart.
• Frame-Up: The childish pranks played on Prince Herod are initially blamed on Babbles, but she sincerely denies knowledge of them. Alma suspects it's an attempt to get her written out of the will. It turns out to have been Honeysuckle who acquired the Whoopee Cushion, making her the likely culprit. It turns out it was Honeysuckle, in collusion with Blueblood, indeed in an attempt to get Babbles written out of the will. Unfortunately for them, Babbles was Herod's informer all along.
• Gold Digger: Blueblood suspects Alma of this, due to how well Herod is treating her, and isn't shy about mentioning it to her. When informed that she's not into stallions and certainly not him, he just suggests that on a practical level, it could be extremely lucrative, given the instability of Herod's will.
• Gone Horribly Right: Sunset Shimmer's opinion of the guards' "villains" when playing with Twilight Sparkle being rather low, she then attempts to show them how it's done, and drives Twilight to tears.
• Happily Married: Jet Set and Upper Crust, somehow.
• Head-Turning Beauty: First Lieutenant Bubble Bath. Cadance feels like a saxophone is playing in the background when she enters.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Honeysuckle mentions paint on the banister, blaming Babbles, but she couldn't have heard of it easily and when asked becomes extremely flustered.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Cadance, after being subjected to a dramatic confession speech that's (probably) entirely false, as the mare in question had been looking for an opportunity to use it since the play she memorised it for fell through.
• Kissing Cousins: Babette says she got a lot of extra money to keep quiet about having seen her big brother and Cousin Rowena doing "lots of gross things".
• Never Mess with Granny: Alma's Granny Zumurud packs a mean right hook.
• Not in Front of the Kid: Sunset, while despairing of the guards' attempts to play the villain, gets scolded for swearing in front of Twilight Sparkle by Twilight Velvet.
• Off with His Head!: Discussed, as Blueblood is a hostage in Canterlot in the historical sense, a family member in another court to ensure the good behaviour of the rest of the family, as part of a long-standing tradition from the Sanguines.
• Orgy of Evidence: Shining and Cadance reckon that the sheer amount of evidence suggesting the murderer was Honeysuckle is suspicious enough to push her down the suspect list.
• Parental Marriage Veto: Herod Sanguine disapproves of Bayard and Rowena. But ultimately does leave them an appropriate inheritance in the will read at dinner. Unfortunately, the will that ends up being used is far less pleasant for them.
• Parental Substitute: Aeschylus, the butler at Sanguine Hall, basically raised Blueblood after Blueblood's father died.
• Passed-Over Inheritance: A frequent threat of Herod's, and one he carries out and demonstrates by having the terms of his will read out to the assembled family when he changes it. The will read during the course of the story is a Subversion, being essentially fair to the entire family, and leaving no-one out. And then it's Double Subverted with the final will leaving pretty much everything to Honeysuckle, and containing provisions specifically to spite the rest of the family, the shenanigans immediately following the reading of the previous finally breaking Herod's patience once and for all.
• Royal Brat: "Babbles", according to her older brother, and her brief appearances so far bear that out.
• Sarcasm Mode: Alma Rose very quickly ends up with hers locked on while around Blueblood.
• Speech Impediment: Honeysuckle lisps so badly that Alma thinks it's fake.
• Stylistic Suck: The "villains" created by the guards to play with Twilight Sparkle. Sunset Shimmer does not approve.
• Upper-Class Twit: Jet Set and Upper Crust. Unfortunately for Princess Cadance, breaking up a smuggling cartel benefited them greatly, so they insist on showing their gratitude to her.
• Whoopee Cushion: Someone leaves one under Prince Herod's seat, and Babbles gets the blame until Alma suggests finding out if she actually did it first.

The Deeprisen Expedition

• Adventurer Archaeologist: Daring Do, somewhat obviously, and Princess Scarlet MacAwe is implied to fit as well.
• Apocalyptic Log: The story is told via Daring's record of their expedition.
• Black Magic: The griffons claim that the ruins are under this kind of influence. Daring Do is sceptical, as any spell of that duration would be detectable, and analysis has found nothing.
• Blood Magic: The door in doesn't open, resisting the efforts of twelve mages, but when Fortissimo accidentally bleeds on it, it opens easily. Daring considers this a bad sign, as not even Sombra dared that discipline of magic. The wound taken to let them in doesn't heal properly. He eventually dies, possibly due to this, though his death is consistent with strangulation.
• Buried Alive: The fate of the crying foals.
• Cunning Linguist: Professor Meinnicht is the one responsible for translating the tablets they find.
• Grave Clouds: The Deeprisen expedition is permanently shrouded from sunlight.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Log 6 consists of a brief, discordant poem written with no punctuation, implying that Daring did this, especially given the contents of Log 5. Fortunately, she gets better.
• I Did What I Had to Do: The voice that speak through Madame Daubentone claims this.
• Mordor: Nothing grows in the Deeprisen ruins, and they're perpetually shrouded in thick clouds, so the sun never touches them.
• Kid Amid the Chaos: Apparently, ghostly children never cry, which means that when Madame Daubentone hears crying ghostly children when the ruin is opened, it rather shakes her. It's not a cry of pain or fear, instead being the cry of a child scolded by parents, which matches what they find that implies the dead foals went willingly.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: The effigies the expedition discovers are rather over-fanged, particularly for ponies.
• Necromancer: Madam Daubentone, in the classical sense. It's not treated as The Dark Arts, but instead as a dying, but useful, tradition.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Child-ghosts never cry, so when Madam Daubentone hears them doing so, it freaks her enough that it takes several days for her to enter the ruin.
• Oral Tradition: The dragons keep their histories this way, but it causes problems when no-one will willingly speak of a place, in this case the Deeprisen ruins.
• The Team Benefactor: Lord Ardentine Casterly, a stallion Daring personally finds unpleasant and lazy, but puts up with because he's funding her work.
• Underwater Ruins: Less than once a century, conditions are just right to cause the sea level to drop enough to expose the Deeprisen ruins.
• Would Hurt a Child: The entirety of Log 5 consists of Daring asking who would do "this" to a bunch of foals. Exactly what was done is not immediately revealed.

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