YMMV / Vengeance of Dawn

• Alternative Character Interpretation: At the very end, Dawn sacrifices herself for Twilight by taking Jugurtha's spear to the chest that was meant for her. Was it a moment of Redemption Equals Death, or did she want to die on her own terms because she'd already lost everything? She had lost any hope of being Princess Celestia's student ever again, the Element of Magic itself rejected her when she tried to use it, and she and her friends were about to be arrested and presumably sentenced for treason.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • The Grevyian zebras are described as large and powerfully built. Real Grévy's zebras are the largest living wild equines on earth, and are also known as imperial zebras, which perfectly fits Grevyia's status as a militaristic empire with an imperialistic desire to expand its borders.
  • The Quaggai zebras are much more willing to cooperate with Equestria than the Grevyians. Quaggas were known for resembling hybrids of horses and zebras, and were also considered promising candidates for domestication, being considered the most docile zebra species (sadly, they were driven to extinction before that could happen).
• Genius Bonus: The countries of Grevyia and Quaggai, which are mainly inhabited by zebras, are references to the Grévy's zebra and quagga.
• Jerkass Woobie: Breaking Dawn is practically tailor-made for this trope. She does a lot of god-awful things as part of her plot to take Twilight down and get back her status as Celestia's personal student, but even though most of her misfortunes are her own fault, it's easy to feel at least a little bad for her. Celestia told her she was "the Chosen One" for her entire childhood and trained her for years in expectation of that destiny, then removed Dawn from her position as soon as she found a more promising candidate in a young Twilight. Dawn's life basically fell apart starting from there, her grades getting worse and her popularity waning, the final straw being when she attacked Twilight in a fit of rage, forcing Celestia to expel her from the School for Gifted Unicorns. In the present day, Dawn is living in a poor apartment and working a crappy job at a low-end clothing store just to make ends meet, while having to live with the fact that her mentor's new favorite achieved what she couldn't and became an alicorn princess. Despite her efforts, her final fate is to be turned into a stone statue in the courtyard of the Gifted Unicorns' School.
• The Woobie: Laurel, one of Dawn's childhood friends. As a filly, she was bullied by the other students of the School for Gifted Unicorns, particularly Sunset Shimmer and Trixie, for being poor and ugly. Before she met Dawn, nopony was ever nice to her except when they needed her to do their homework. Even as an adult mare, she still can't find a stallion willing to give her a chance because of her plain looks, and there's hints that she's still not really satisfied with her life, jealous of individuals like Rarity who (from her point of view) seem to get everything handed to them for free just because they have the right connections and good looks.