YMMV / Getting Back on Your Hooves

• Awesome Music:
  • "Through New Eyes"
  • "Live Again", used as the ending theme with permission by the composers.
  • All of Checker's Villain Songs.
• Complete Monster: Checkmate "Checker" Monarch is Trixie's sociopathic sister and a surprisingly dark villain for an otherwise lighthearted fanfic. Finding out that Trixie's getting back on her hooves, she dedicates herself to ruining Trixie's life like she did before, starting with using an illegal dream infiltration spell to give Rainbow Dash frightening nightmares about Trixie bullying her, and later invading Trixie's dreams when her plan to turn Trixie and Dash against one another fails. When Checker's attempts at breaking Trixie's confidence fail, she tries to murder Dash with a lightning bolt as a response to her not doing what Checker wanted, and has the Diamond Dogs kidnap Trixie so she can force her to choose between leaving Ponyville forever or watch as she destroys the homes and livelihoods of her friends, dumping her in the desert when she chose to leave, still intending on following through her threat anyway. When her plans were publicly exposed, she traps Trixie, the Mane Six, and herself in their dreams, knowing that others won't be able to do anything because forcefully waking up a pony affected by a dream invasion spell would kill the target. She then exploits the inner doubts of the Mane Six, in the forms of their friends and families turning against them because of said self-doubt. As for Trixie, she drops the manipulation and actively tries to murder her, taking the form of a mutated Ursa Major specifically so Trixie would die terrified.
• Fridge Horror:
  • As pointed in the KPNYRadio episode about the fic, Checker uses a bees nest to attack Trixie at Cheerilee's school, meaning she knowingly allowed a class full of foals to be stung by a swarm of bees, not caring if any were allergic or not.
  • Checker Monarch herself is a massive source of Fridge Horror. To the uninformed, she may seem like a stereotypical Cartoonish Super Villain, committing acts of cruelty simply For the Evulz. But then you do a little research and realize that since she's based on real-life sociopaths, there are really people like her out there.
• Genius Bonus: The Ropen is an actual cryptid from New Guinea, but so obscure many readers will likely never have heard of it. The author included it mainly to invoke this trope for fans of Cryptozoology who'd recognize it.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • In the "Through New Eyes" chapter, Rainbow Dash experienced a nightmare where she messed up a flight test, crashed, and was mercilessly bullied by her classmates Circle of Shame style. Then an episode of the show aired showing a disturbingly similar scene happening to Fluttershy in a flashback. Even the author was freaked out by the similarity!
  • Checker causing Cheerilee's students to be sung by bees was already horrifying just on a Would Hurt a Child level. But when "On Your Marks" revealed that Apple Bloom is allergic to bee stings, meaning Checker could have outright killed her!
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the chapter titled "Through New Eyes", while Rainbow Dash is dismissing the idea of Trixie being nice, she makes a comment about Discord becoming a good guy.
  • So basically the plot of Getting Back on Your Hooves is about a former Smug Snake antagonist being humbled after her previous defeat and having to restore her faith in herself and prove to everyone that she's not the villain she used to be as the Mane Six help her learn valuable lessons about friendship. Meanwhile, a subtly creepy unicorn villainess uses her sinister mind-control magic and manipulative talents to turn the populace against her and manipulate the growing tensions to her own designs. DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE ELSE??
  • Checker Monarch is a villainous pony and a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing with a chess piece for a cutie mark, something she shares with Season 8's Cozy Glow.
• Love to Hate: Checker Monarch is basically the My Little Pony equivalent to Judge Claude Frollo, Dolores Umbridge, and Fire Lord Ozai: A villain so loathsomely evil and so subtly terrifying that it's honestly amazing. Bonus points for the writer STILL managing to maintain Original Flavour despite her inclusion.
• Moral Event Horizon: For many, Checker crosses it when she Mind Rapes Rainbow Dash.
  • And if you didn't hate her after that, you'll definitely hate her after she forces Trixie to make a Sadistic Choice that results in Trixie abandoning her new, happy life and being dumped in the desert — and then decides to carry out the other part of the Sadistic Choice anyway, purely out of spite.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The character of Checker Monarch is downright terrifying. She's a powerful, cold, calculating and heartless sociopath who enjoys Mind Raping ponies in their dreams, and is utterly merciless in her attempts to ruin Trixie's life (made even worse by the fact that Trixie is her little sister). Just about everyone Checker runs into is terrified of her, including her own henchmen. Especially horrifying is when she completely snaps at the end of chapter 9 and she plots revenge against Ponyville and Canterlot, as the red in the heart of her Cutie Mark runs off in the rain - revealing the heart to be black. What makes Checker so terrifying is that her behavior is based off of real-life sociopaths, so unlike characters like Discord and Chrysalis, there really are people like Checkmate Monarch who are out there.
  • The Ropen in the Everfree Forest. Most works depict the Ropen as a glowing pterodactyl. Not this one. In this one it's a gigantic, blind bat that glows a bright white light to lure prey in like an anglerfish. Worse still, since it can't see, Fluttershy can't use the stare on it.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Some readers have admitted this story did this for Trixie in their eyes.
• Selfish Evil: Checker Monarch, referred to as such by Word of God. Her worldview essentially boils down to "the strong rule the weak, I can play everyone around me like pawns. Therefore; I am the strongest and It's All About Me."
• Shipping: None in the fic itself, but quite a few fans ship Trixie and Helping/Stage Hoof. Including this piece of Recursive Fanfiction.
• Tear Jerker: Paraderpy's cover art for chapter 9. Also counts as Nightmare Fuel.
• The Woobie: Trixie's life from the end of the Ursa Minor incident onwards suuuuuucks. At the end of the story, it gets much better.