Similar to the show it's a Hate Fic of, My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic and its original version have several moments that could have been avoided with a bit more thought.
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General
- The villains all want to collect energy, destroy Starfleet and/or conquer the Dimensional Universe.
You'd Expect: Them to summon/create as many monsters as possible to counter Starfleet's soldiers. Even if the bad guys are using the monsters to primarily gather energy, more monsters means more energy acquired faster with them giving members of Starfleet a harder time as a bonus.
Instead: They summon/create only one monster at a time for no reason.
You'd Then Expect: The bad guys to attack Starfleet while they're transforming or scanning them.
Instead: They wait for the heroes to finish either. - A lot of the time, fights are instigated by the villains, with Starfleet having no idea what's going on until then.
You'd Expect: The villains to use the element of surprise to their advantage and catch the heroes unaware.
Instead: They announce their presence and enact whatever evil plan they currently have in front of the heroes, giving them ample opportunity to prepare.
Furthermore: The villains generally have a habit of explaining to the heroes exactly what they're doing, making it that much easier to stop them. - At the end of season 1, it's revealed Celestia and Celesto can combine to become the Grand Celestial Ruler, a being of immense power that can restore planets and change ponies to be more humanoid, essentially capable of possibly doing anything.
You'd Expect: For them to use this form to destroy any and all enemies as soon as they show up and restore basically whatever life they want.
Instead: The fusion only occurs in the season finales. - Krysta often accompanies the heroes into battle.
You'd Expect: The fairies to send someone else in her stead. As their queen, they can't afford to lose Krysta as Twink is still a child.
Instead: They let her go with them.
Even Worse: The fairies have already lost her once before, and for several years at that. The only reason they found her at all was because Topaz never gave up. - Krysta and the rest of her species can teleport and use portals.
You'd Expect: The Big Bad or his minions to actually notice that and plan accordingly. They can look for any weaknesses they might have, develop anti-teleportation technology or magic, and if they already have either, then they should use it to get the fairies out of the way before dealing with the rest.
Instead: They rarely take the fairies' powers into account in their evil plans.
Result: The heroes have escaped many a sticky situation because of Krysta and the fairies. - In several fights, the villains have got the heroes on the ropes, only for the Big Bad to call them back.
You'd Expect: The Big Bad to let the villains kill the heroes before they return. Dead opponents can't interfere with the villains' plans.
Instead: The Big Bad demands their minions to come back ASAP, even if it means letting their opponents live to sabotage their plans.
Even Worse: They might even tell the minions to leave one of the heroes alive for whatever reason.
You'd Then Expect: If they want someone alive for their purposes, that they would just kidnap them.
Instead: They often don't do that until multiple chapters later.
Result: The heroes get enough time to defeat the villains. - A lot of Big Bads want to invade UE, but are unfamiliar with it due to not having been there before.
You'd Expect: Them to find a map as soon as possible, send spies to scout out the land, and infiltrate major cities like Canterlot. Several villains are capable of this and given their enemies' intelligence, it shouldn't be too hard.note
Instead: They rarely ever bother to even get a map, let alone scout out the planet. - Several of the villains are capable of brainwashing/infecting/possessing multiple people, and can teleport wherever they want.
You'd Expect: Them to teleport far away to finish an important goal of the mission while the others use the brainwashed/infected/possessed masses to distract/attack/lure away Starfleet.
Alternatively: Use them as sleeper agents to kill people if the brainwashing doesn't leave visible marks, preferably people like the target's friend, family member, or spouse.
Instead: They usually don't take advantage of this.
Even Worse: Even in the few times they go with the above options, they never bother keeping a low profile and make it really, really obvious that something's wrong with the brainwashed/infected/possessed person in question.
Up To Eleven: Sometimes, they'll only do this to one victim at a time, giving Starfleet time to turn the tide of the war on them.
Result: Their attempts to brainwash people rarely accomplish much except for bringing in more energy.
Season I
- In "Evil's Return: Part 2", Lightning comes across Violet Swamp and has to make it across.
You'd Expect: Lightning to make it out, no problem. Sure, he doesn't have magic, but he was specifically trained by the Grand Ruler himself and should be able to easily traverse this swamp.
Instead: He cowers in fear until Starfleet manages to find him.
Better Yet, You'd Expect: That if Violet Swamp is so treacherous, Lightning (and by that logic, the rest of Starfleet) would just fly over the swamp. They're all alicorns with functioning wings, and it'd save them a lot of time. In fact, they do just that in "The Great Army Showdown: Part 1". Brain does say there is a fear they will be spotted by the enemy airborne, but they are all supposed to be fast enough to immediately reach their destination and they would also avoid all traps but those in Titan's base, plus Titan spots them from the ground anyway.
Instead: They all go through the swamp by foot. Without trying to sneak either.
Even Worse: Having learned nothing, Lightning once again cowers in front of Titan who, just to recap, kidnapped Krysta in front of him. This is a guy who's been implied to have had Training from Hell for a good part of his life, and his best and only friend for a time was taken from him by this one guy. In fact, she's the reason Lightning is going to Blacktop Mountain to begin with. And yet he still cowers twice in his adventure, and only mans up when Titan captures Starfleet and begins draining more of their magic. Titan must have been onto something when he said "I don’t know why the Grand Ruler chose you of all creatures to be his student, but I’d say he made a poor choice.”- In the same chapter as the above, when approaching the top of Blacktop Mountain, Lightning and his teammates come across a door that mysteriously swings open.
You'd Expect: Them to find another way into the shrine or at least try to enter as quietly as possible.
Instead: They go in through that way and announce their presence.
- In the same chapter as the above, when approaching the top of Blacktop Mountain, Lightning and his teammates come across a door that mysteriously swings open.
- In the episode "Rollin' Rocks", Lightning tuckers himself out delivering supplies around town, and only then realizes that it's a mandatory fitness day.
You'd Expect: Since he's already exhausted as it is, Lightning would try and get himself excused for the sake of his health; given what he's been doing and the fact that he's Grand Ruler's student, it shouldn't be too hard.
Instead: He participates without saying anything.
Result: He collapses from exhaustion and ends up in a hospital bed.- From the same episode, Rep-Stallion, one of the Terrible Trio working under Titan, creates a rock monster with high offense and defense but low speed.
You'd Expect: For Lightning, Starla, and/or Krysta to outmaneuver it and attempt to trip up the rock monster for a little bit if only to figure out how to permanently destroy the beast (that is, firing attacks in its mouth, King Dodongo style).
Instead: They keep attacking the beast until Krysta miraculously figures it out.
- From the same episode, Rep-Stallion, one of the Terrible Trio working under Titan, creates a rock monster with high offense and defense but low speed.
- "It's Raining, Evil's Pouring/Wetter Works": Another member of the trio, Mysterious, creates a water monster called Vapourizer to take on the heroes. However, as it's made of water, it is susceptible to extreme cold, and the waterworks where the fight takes place does in fact have temperature controls. In addition to that, Mysterious, being a Living Shadow, is susceptible to the light.
You'd Expect: For Mysterious to bust all the lights in the building and either keep watch over or sabotage the temperature controls as he'd have the advantage now that the group can barely see their surroundings, especially with the fog Vapourizer emits.
Instead: He does none of the above and simply joins in the fight, allowing Lightning to turn on the lights and weaken him, making him tell everyone his weakness, and the temperature controls are reached by Brain of all ponies. - Titan isn't immune to this, either: in "A Friend in Need/Double Trouble", he chooses to get rid of Lightning, but needs a hostage to bring him to submission and finds Krysta to be a perfect candidate.
You'd Expect: That Titan would simply capture Krysta while no one is looking and have Lightning (and possibly the others, for extra convenience) meet him in the caverns where they'll be.
Instead: He decides to simply lure Krysta away from the group, with his own voice, which would have failed horribly if not for the below.- On her end, Krysta is sad about being the only known fairy (which we find out to not be the case, later on), to which Titan chooses to bait her to him by promising information on her origin.
You'd Expect: Krysta to recognize Titan's voice (since, you know, he captured her five chapters ago), and to attempt to flee.
Instead: She follows the obvious villain voice into a cave where she's captured and used as a hostage against Lightning Dawn. It's only thanks to Dyno and Mite that they make it out of this one.
- On her end, Krysta is sad about being the only known fairy (which we find out to not be the case, later on), to which Titan chooses to bait her to him by promising information on her origin.
- Mysterious does it again in "Sweet Nightmares/Nighty Nightmares" when he conjures up a fire monster responsible for inducing nightmares in ponies.
You'd Expect: That he'd wait until everyone was asleep to work his plan.
Instead: He only waits until the normal curfew; therefore, certain ponies like the Grand Ruler and Artie aren't affected.
You'd Then Expect: For him to either summon him away from any water source (since you know, it's made of fire) or try and divert any water from reaching Yellow Hills where they're stationed.
Instead: Like his last appearance, he does not think of doing this, and when the ponies confront their fears, they manage to use a nearby fire hydrant to douse the flames. - In "Up, Up and In a Balloon", Rep-Stallion goes to fight without Titan's permission and, even though his monster is unsuccessful, Lightning used up his energy summoning the Uniforce.
You'd Expect: Titan to let Rep-Stallion finish him off before punishing him. Without Lightning, everything falls apart which, as stated above, is something he himself admitted back in "Double Trouble". Better yet, he could just swoop in and Kill Steal right then and there.
Instead: He thinks it better to leave Lightning alive and allows him to fight another day. It's never explained why he needs him alive, or what benefits he could gain from having him alive, aside from draining his magic which he could do with just about any of the other Uniforce-wielding ponies anyway, such as their prison warden Cerise (who hasn't been introduced yet, but still) or the Grand Ruler himself.
Result: Literally two chapters later, Titan is defeated. Not for good, but he still gets blown to smithereens. - In "Realization: Part 1/A Night to Remember: Part 1", Inquerius is appalled at what she perceives to be childish activities at the coming gala for the Grand Ruler and insists that they should change it to be stuffy.
You'd Expect: That, since Lightning has been raised by the Grand Ruler since he was a child, he would explain to her that he knows what he likes and dislikes and he would certainly like what they've already prepared.
Instead: He doesn't.
Alternatively: If he did explain, you'd expect Inquerius to listen, given that she knows that he's the most familiar with the Grand Ruler among those planning the gala.
Instead: She doesn't. - In "Realization: Part 1", Titan learns that Celesto will be leaving his castle to attend a party.
You'd Expect: Titan to attack Grand Ruler while he's either en route to the party or travelling back to his home after the party's over so that there'll be as few adversaries as possible to deal with.
Instead: He and his minions confront Celesto at the party which is being attended by the warriors who keep defeating his monsters and aforementioned minions.
The Result: Titan gets killed (if only temporarily). - In "Dangerous Discoveries", Grand Ruler reveals that he created four/five objects called the Rainbow/Star Stones long ago and realized what damage they could do if used for evil.
You'd Expect: That he would've kept them nearby so he could watch over and protect them easily or even had them integrated into his forces' arsenal.
Instead: He sent them away to unknown places. Supposedly, it prevents villains from getting their hands on the stones or even from guessing of their existence but instead it leaves them open for the dark forces to grab at will.
Result: Due to Grand Ruler's negligence, they're all missing when he needs them, and he has to track them down all over again. To make it even worse, Titan managed to claim half a stone while another ended up in the hands of Serpent-Tyrant/Serpentari. - In "Face to Space", Brain creates a spray paint that turns whatever it's used on invisible (it was intended to strengthen Starfleet's armor, but no one's perfect). Dementia, naturally, shows up to rob Brain for it and use it on a monster which she then looses on Lightning, Dyno, and Myte.
You'd Expect: Since Brain just demonstrated the paint for them and they're now fighting an invisible monster at Brain's house, someone would realize that Brain's paint is at work here. Since it washes off in water, they'd try to apply water to the monster and make it visible.
Instead: They fail to make the obvious connection and get their butts handed to them until Krysta frees Brain, who then spells it out.- Then, when Brain enters the picture, he devises a plan to deal with the monster.
You'd Expect: Him to have a way of washing the paint off the monster, or at least cover it in something to make it visible.
Instead: He uses the paint to make everyone invisible. Including Dyno and Myte, who need to be able to know where each other are in order to use their attacks. And only then do Lightning and company realize that they can hear the monster's footsteps. Not to mention that he apparently needed to remind Krysta that her fairy dust can be used to reveal the monster. - Fortunately, the idiocy is greatly toned down in the rewritten chapter "To See or Not to See". Lightning and company realize quickly that they can track the monster by sound, but this time it can fly, so that doesn't work for long, and they have nothing that can be used to reveal it. When Brain shows up, he simply goes for the more sensible strategy of splattering the monster with ordinary paint. Still that issue of no one thinking of using water, though.
- Then, when Brain enters the picture, he devises a plan to deal with the monster.
- In "The Fallen World of Elfaron", Buddy and Artie are sent to a doomed world to retrieve one of the Rainbow/Star Stones, and are outfitted with a return spell so they can come back once the duty is done. After finding the Stone and a little girl named Ilia, they're soon attacked by Arc Villain Serpent-Terror/Serpentari, the one responsible for the planet's current state.
You'd Expect: Buddy and Artie to take the Stone and Ilia, tap their insignia 3 times in a row like instructed, and get back to Unicornicopia to get the rest of Starfleet to help them out.
Instead: They stay and fight, with Serpent-Terror/Serpentari's minions nearly killing Artie in the process. They still manage to win, but this whole fight could have been easily avoided.
Furthermore: This willingness to stay and fight such a powerful opponent is contradicted in Season 3 when they don't go after Raven. - "Fight in the Dimesnion[sic] of Darkness PT 1/The Great Army Showdown: Part 1" has Penny sedate Lightning as a way of helping him recover from his lack of sleep. Krysta knows about this. However, Titan's minions call for Starfleet to meet them for a big battle.
You'd Expect: Either Lightning or Krysta to tell their teammates about it before they jump into the next fight.
Instead: They never do anything of the sort. Apparently, they forgot that sedating someone makes them drowsy, and Lightning falls into a temporary coma, leading to the moment below.- In Part 2, the bad guys get some upgrades which allow them to get an upper hand on the heroes. The heroes retreat into the ruins of Titan's old fortress to regroup and try to wake up Lightning from his coma.
You'd Expect: The villains to pursue them; the heroes are trapped, their leader is unconscious, and the bad guys have the upper hand in power.
Instead: The bad guys wait patiently outside because the castle is the only keepsake they have of the currently dead Titan. This gives the heroes enough time to regroup, sneak out of the castle, and drive the bad guys away.
Double Subverted in the Rewrite: They do go inside and corner the heroes, but the crystal that powers their knight forms is still below the castle. They manage to get the crystal, and are about to finish the job when Lightning pulls a "Take Me Instead" as a ploy to trick them into letting their guards down.
You'd Expect: The trio to know something is up; it's unlike the hero to just suddenly give himself up in the middle of a battle.
Instead: They take the bait, hook, line and sinker. Therefore, their knight forms are eventually destroyed and the heroes escape, leaving the villains' fates unknown for two more chapters.
- In Part 2, the bad guys get some upgrades which allow them to get an upper hand on the heroes. The heroes retreat into the ruins of Titan's old fortress to regroup and try to wake up Lightning from his coma.
- In "Histories Untold", during Grand Ruler Celesto's backstory, he enters a tournament to become Celestia's right-wing captain. Also competing is foalhood bully Dusk Shine, who only wants the position to boost his popularity.
You'd Expect: Dusk Shine, due to being in front of so many ponies across Equestria, to act as polite as possible to those surrounding him and mask his ulterior motives.
Instead: He continues to insult Celesto, even in front of Celestia, and when he's caught as a cheater, he not only doesn't hide it, but outright states that he had to prevent Celesto from being accepted. Once again, to Celestia's face.
The Result: He gets stripped of his knighthood and thrown in the dungeon for the evening and Celesto becomes captain. - "A Visit to Equestria" involves Rhymey going to Equestria to retrieve another Star Stone, which is somehow in the possession of Fluttershy.
You'd Expect: Rhymey to leave with the Star Stone the very next morning and come back later to see Fluttershy. Celesto, in spite of his infamous later reputation, has been shown to be at least understanding of his own Unicornicopian subjects and supporters, and would happily let him go back.
Instead: He stays in Equestria for Zacherle
knows what reason, leading to the next moment.- Following the above, Twilight and Spike see Rhymey walking around.
You'd Expect: Them to realize that they've never seen this pony before, especially since he's walking on two legs instead of four, has a horn, a different mane color, speaks in rhyme, keeps insisting his own name, and sounds like this.
Instead: The two of them, and later the other Mane 6 not named Fluttershy, all mistake him for her and some even tease "her" about it under the assumption that it's a disguise, all on the basis that they have the same fur color alone. They don't even realize this until they think Fluttershy left with him.
Even Worse: In the original version, Rarity outright thinks that Fluttershy transformed herself into a male pony with magic. Even though she's a pegasus.
- Following the above, Twilight and Spike see Rhymey walking around.
- "Two-Way Invasion": Since Equestria was the location of a Star Stone earlier, it's prone to invasions from other worlds. In addition, the planet's been suffering some pretty nasty earthquakes as of late, and fairly frequently too, implying it's not natural. And according to backstory, Celesto still has memories of Equestria, especially Celestia.
You'd Expect: For Celesto to take this time to reveal himself to Equestria, reunite with Celestia, and lend his services, possibly his armies and even some members of Starfleet, to assist them should a new threat arise.
Instead: He, of course, does not.
Result: Nightmare Moon enslaves Equestria, and he fails to realize this until the fairies are notified about it first.- In the same chapter, Nightmare somehow manages to destroy Twilight Sparkle's wings and revert her to a unicorn.
You'd Expect: Nightmare to get rid of everypony else's wings, pegasi and princesses alike, maybe even take the horns off of the unicorns too, go full-on Discord over here since she can apparently do that.
Instead: She never does this with anypony else, only this oddly specific pony who just recently got her wings.
Later, You'd Expect: For Celestia to restore Twilight's wings at the first opportunity she can.
Instead: Nobody even mentions the wings again, except to explain, near the end of the season, that Twilight has to "earn them again". She does, offscreen.
- In the same chapter, Nightmare somehow manages to destroy Twilight Sparkle's wings and revert her to a unicorn.
- In "Decisive Actions", it turns out Serpentari, who is attacking the heroes, has the last Star Stone on her forehead, which she uses to control her powers and heal herself should she ever take damage.
You'd Expect: Since the Star Stones can apparently join together and power up the heroes, that Celesto would hurry on over with the Star Stones and give the group their much-needed power boost.
Instead: He decides to be fashionably late. Another second too late and Lightning and Starla would have been melted cheese.- In the same chapter as the above, Krysta arrives in Equestria with several other fairies and frees Celestia, Luna, and Twilight, giving them a way to Unicornicopia. They then go to the other Mane 5 and Spike to tell them they're okay.
You'd Expect: For the fairies to also bring them along with them, maybe even bring their family and friends under Nightmare Moon's nose, not just for emotional relief but also to gain more allies to fight the threat.
Instead: They leave them in the cell to save later on and trust that nothing bad will happen to them.
- In the same chapter as the above, Krysta arrives in Equestria with several other fairies and frees Celestia, Luna, and Twilight, giving them a way to Unicornicopia. They then go to the other Mane 5 and Spike to tell them they're okay.
- Later in "Reunions and Unions", they explain that Equestria is going to crumble into nothing from all the tremors, and come up with a plan to evacuate everyone on the planet.
You'd Expect: Them to use the same method they used before to save the princesses to evacuate anyone they can while holding off Nightmare Moon so it can happen.
Instead: They propose actually taking out Nightmare Moon, a process that could potentially be even more time-consuming than the above.
Even If It Had To Happen: They propose getting the Elements of Harmony (remember season 4 onward is apparently non-canon in this universe) and combining them with the Star Stones to easily beat NMM back. They do this by sneaking in and retrieving them which, again, could have been done to save at least some of the Equestrians earlier.
Also, You'd Expect: Them to at least give it a shot right away.
Instead: They turn in for the night, wherein the situation could potentially get much worse. - In the season 1 finale, "What Believing Means", Titan has returned, destroyed the Elements of Harmony and the Star Stones, and eaten Celesto and Celestia to become even more powerful. Now he's far more of a match for the heroes than ever before.
You'd Expect: For him to keep this victory going by simply, y'know, killing everyone right away with his full power.
Instead: He gloats and only bothers attacking Lightning with non-fatal blows, and by the time he does decide to finish him off, Krysta appears and manages to stun him with his own attack, letting everyone on Equestria escape and allowing the heroes to go inside of Titan to find their respective rulers.
You'd Then Expect: For Titan to either blast them with the Uniforce (which he not only has access to due to eating Celesto, but also a stronger version of it due to having Celestia), or conjure up new minions like the Terrible Trio he had before to try and stop them. He may be stunned, but he's still got magic inside of him, and since the heroes are literally inside the now-giant sorcerer, who can now use basically limitless magic, he can probably just wipe them all out in the blink of an eye, or better yet assimilate them so that he has even more abilities at his disposal; more Uniforce power from Lightning, Twilight's magical expertise, Luna's night powers, you name it.
Instead: He does nothing but gloat about how their efforts are pointless, even as Lightning and Twilight make it to their mentors.
Result: The rulers are freed and become the Grand Celestial Ruler, the heroes harness the power of believing, and a giant belief beam blasts the Big Bad into the sun. Thus, he has failed a second time to conquer Dimensional Space. Once again, not for good, but still.
Starfleet Movie: How the Finch Stopped Hearth's Warming
Season II
- The entire season, Starfleet knows that the Changelings' lair is in Titan's former castle on the Dark Planet.
You'd Expect: Them to send an army of hundreds to assault the place and take them all captive in one fell swoop since they don't consider a single Changeling to be innocent.
Instead: They don't because, according to Mykan, that would qualify as an invasion, even though the goal is not to take territory (they certainly don't want to occupy any inch of the Dark Planet), but to capture enemy combatants.
Result: A protracted war that puts the people of United Equestria at risk. - In "Squabbling Siblings", as Rainbow Dash convinces Skye that her brother Ace Ray still loves her in spite of his hatred for Starfleet, a changeling lurks in the distance and wishes to feed off of Skye's love for her brother.
You'd Expect: That the changeling would sneak around, find Ace Ray, take on his appearance without being seen by Starfleet, and try and get Skye's love that way.
Instead: He trots up and tries to get love from her, in front of Rainbow Dash who, despite her Flanderization, is still as Hot-Blooded as ever.
Result: The changeling fights Rainbow Dash, Skye calls for help, Ace Ray tries but fails to save the day, Lightning and Starla show up and stop the changeling, and Lightning hits him with his new Shrink Ray. - After the events of "To Teach the Teacher", Starfleet now knows of the changelings' new tactic, which is to possess other ponies and drain the love they have, causing them to act Out of Character in the process, of which Cheerilee was the first victim. Thankfully, Twilight has a spell which expels the changelings from the ponies' subconscious.
You'd Expect: That the public would be notified immediately; even if a public panic was a significant risk, Twilight could easily quell that by telling them of their cure. As such, the ponies will know to be aware of signs of possession and contact Starfleet or the Elements of Harmony, the changelings' plans will be foiled and season 2 could possibly come to an early close thanks to their efforts.
Instead: They don't and risk even more changeling possessions in the future.
You'd Then Expect: That Chrysalis and Captain Fratello would capitalize on the above stupidity and send multiple changelings to possess anyone they can, try to make the ponies they're possessing act as in character as possible, all while draining enough love to feed about a dozen hives.
Instead: They keep on possessing a single pony at a time and acting as evil as possible, which results in them always getting foiled and turned into Super Smash Bros. trophies. - In the Filler episode "A-B-C... DD", we see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon throwing paper balls at the new student, Daphne Dil (the titular DD), while Cheerilee's back is turned, which the Cutie Mark Crusaders bear witness to.
You'd Expect: For them to get Cheerilee's attention and tell on the girls.
Instead: They prepare to do the same thing to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, which gets them busted instead.- Later, DD manages to actually make a name for herself during the class project by questioning the very concept of cutie marks, which Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are clearly not happy about.
You'd Expect: For them to just quietly walk away in annoyance. Or, if they must, get DD back when Cheerilee's not looking.
Instead: They attempt to throw more paper balls at her, which stick to their hands and get accidentally thrown at Cheerilee. No points for guessing what happens to them next.
- Later, DD manages to actually make a name for herself during the class project by questioning the very concept of cutie marks, which Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are clearly not happy about.
- In "Operation Emergency", Fluttershy is carted off to Dr. Penny Sillion's ER at night with acute appendicitis (don't ask).
You'd expect: Penny would prepare to operate right away to minimize the risk to the patient's life.
Instead: She decides to put the operation off until next morning, at which point the situation could potentially become much worse. Seems they never learned from Nightmare Moon above, did they?
Furthermore: When she does decide to operate immediately while being possessed by a changeling, it is seen as unusual by the other staff, implying that this isn't the first time she's put off an operation like this.- Following up on that, Starfleet takes note of Dr. Penny acting strangely, but haven't confirmed that she's been possessed.
You'd Expect: They'd put a different surgeon in charge of the operation, thus getting the operation over with while playing it safe. This would also give them a chance to confront Dr. Penny and confirm whether she's possessed.
Instead: They replace Fluttershy with a magical imitation, which would be more troublesome in the long run as it's not any more effective at spotting a potential Changeling and would risk Flutttershy's condition getting worse (not to mention that they still have to get the operation done later). It's like they're trying to get her killed at this point. - Following up from that, the operation itself has the possessed Penny trying to cut into parts that she's not supposed to.
You'd expect: Another member of the staff (or, better yet, one of the half-dozen Starfleet members overseeing the operation) would step in before any serious harm occurs.
Instead: They're hesitant to do anything until after everything's gone horribly wrong. Thankfully, the Fluttershy the changeling was operating on was the aforementioned imitation, but still; that's pretty dang reckless.
- Following up on that, Starfleet takes note of Dr. Penny acting strangely, but haven't confirmed that she's been possessed.
- "Metallic Menace" involves a robot sent by the changeling captain attacking a dam.
You'd expect: Somepony to realize almost immediately that it is a robot or at least not a living creature. The characters know of the existence of robots, the characters can see that it's made of metal and Starfleet's visors show its life readings are "off".
Instead: Nopony does and so some of the fighters are reluctant to destroy it until its wiring is exposed.- During the above fight, nothing the fighters do seems to even remotely succeed in destroying the robot from the outside. Pinkie Pie is present and disobeys orders to stay put.
You'd Expect: For her to be creative and try and distract the robot or use her Party Cannon as per her usual Pinkie Pie flare, thus proving that sometimes going against the grain can be a good thing from time to time.
Instead: As per usual with Equestrian ponies in MLU, she tries to attack it head-on. Twice. She's lucky she survived, but Starfleet continues the old adage of "follow orders no matter what" that we'll see later in the fic.
- During the above fight, nothing the fighters do seems to even remotely succeed in destroying the robot from the outside. Pinkie Pie is present and disobeys orders to stay put.
- The episode "Trial of Misjudgment". The premise is that Starla exchanged a secret with Lightning and later saw him talking about something she thought was said secret.
You'd Expect: That Starla would confront him and hear him out.
Instead: She sadly leaves and doesn't say anything, and brushes Lightning off when he wonders what's wrong, causing a near-breakup.- Later on, Chrysalis sees the tension between them and decides to take advantage of this.
You'd Expect: Given the current future of their relationship, she would have a changeling possess either one of the two; even though Starfleet officers are trained to resist such tricks, the couple's current mental state should be susceptible to outside influences, and they must still have some sort of affection for each other. Lightning would be the best candidate, as he's A) the strongest pony of the bunch barring Celesto and Celestia, B) has access to the Uniforce, and C) is, at this point at least, the only one of the two actually trying to amend their relationship.
Instead: She has a changeling possess Cup Cake, who is freed incredibly easily by Twilight.
You'd Then Expect: That the group would immediately capture the changeling.
Instead: Starla insists on fighting alone and the others don't do anything to fix that, and then she gets her flank kicked, resulting in Lightning and Starla continuing to squabble on the job, causing Dyno and Mite to become injured and the changeling to get away. - The changeling and Chrysalis are both notified by the captain of separate things: the former is notified of a chance to fight the enemy with his queen, while the latter is told the changeling has captured some of their forces.
You'd Expect: Them to not fall for such a ploy and find something up with all this news; Chrysalis is still regaining energy, and the changelings thus far were nowhere near that successful. The changeling even finds something up with the former.
Instead: They don't see anything wrong with it and meet up in United Equestria where they're cornered by Starfleet. - Finally, on Starfleet's end again, they confront the two in question.
You'd Expect: For Starfleet to finally apprehend the changeling and Chrysalis for a massive blow to the enemy forces.
Instead: Starla and Lightning fight the changeling and Chrysalis by their respective selves, leading to Dyno and Mite to sustain even more injuries trying to save them until they finally get their acts together and capture the damn changeling, though Chrysalis manages to escape. - The Collective Result: Twilight, Dyno, Mite, Celestia, and Celesto are pissed at the two, Chrysalis is still at large, and the episode begins as a Courtroom Episode.
- Later on, Chrysalis sees the tension between them and decides to take advantage of this.
- At the very beginning of the "Goddess of Gold" two-parter, Artie finishes painting Rarity in her latest dress.
You'd Expect: For Rarity to literally do anything but what she ends up doing.
Which Is: Hugging the painting as it was still wet.- After her designs are insulted by some snobby ponies, Rarity is informed that Zecora might know of a treasure that not even Celesto is in possession of. At this, Rarity leaves for her hut at once with Lightning following after her.
You'd Expect: For Twilight to come along with, or better yet hold her in place with her magic.
Instead: She simply facepalms and presumes the worst. - When Rarity gets there, Zecora conjures up a spirit that knows where it lies, but it warns Rarity that others have sought this treasure and paid the ultimate price.
You'd Expect: Rarity to just say "buck it" and walk away.
Instead: She still seeks the treasure anyway.
Result: Anyone who's heard of King Midas knows where this is going. - In part 2, Spike goes to find Rarity, whose golden touch (Platinum in the original, and even some parts of the rewrite) has led her to leave the town and die alone, and tries to comfort her.
You'd Expect: For him to stay put and try and reason with Rarity with words, or at least touch any part but her hands, which are the only things turning everything into gold.
Instead: He runs up and touches her hands, causing him to be turned to gold. Thankfully, the curse is lifted and he's returned to normal, but Celestia dammit Spike...
- After her designs are insulted by some snobby ponies, Rarity is informed that Zecora might know of a treasure that not even Celesto is in possession of. At this, Rarity leaves for her hut at once with Lightning following after her.
Starfleet Magic: The Movie
- When Distraught finds his people dead, a mysterious voice says that Starfleet killed them all.
You'd Expect: Distraught to question it. He's never known the identity of the voice in question, making his word sketchy at best.
Instead: Distraught falls for it, hook, line, and sinker.- He later confronts Starfleet to avenge them, explaining his backstory to them.
You'd Expect: Starfleet to explain what happened immediately.
Instead: Lightning only drops a vague statement about how he doesn't know what his father was like, and no one else says anything about it.
Result: Distraught refuses to listen to them and drops a curse on them.
- He later confronts Starfleet to avenge them, explaining his backstory to them.
Starfleet Humans
- Throughout the fic, Lightning keeps telling the human versions of his friends that he's a pony from another dimension.
You'd Expect: Him to have Krysta, who's been transformed into a robin, talk to them as he's (somehow) figured out that birds don't talk in this world.
Instead: He demonstrates his powers in P.E.
You'd Then Expect: The human versions of his friends to start believing him. Even if the "pony from another dimension" theory is a bit too far-fetched, you'd think they'd at least accept that he's not a normal person.
Instead: They chalk up his abilities to him being super athletic and don't believe him until Krysta speaks to them. - In "Snaps", Lightning learns that Starla has been kicked out of the play by Celestia due to photographic evidence of her trashing the props.
You'd Expect: Him to investigate and find some clues proving her innocence and at least calmly explain to the principal why Starla couldn't have done such sabotage or confront Flash Sentry and/or Sapphira as he knows they're up to no good.
Instead: He barges into Celestia's office like he owns the place, yells at and insults her and even states that it's a good thing her pet horse is dead.
Result: Celestia attacks Lightning but, due to his superior strength, he doesn't feel any of her strikes.
You'd Then Expect: Lightning to just let Celestia attack him futilely until she runs out of steam, hold her still until she calms down or walk away.
Instead: He flips her off of him then shoves her off of him when she attacks him again hard enough to cause her to crash into a shelf then finally smashes a cup of hot coffee into her face, burning her.
Result: Celestia is fired and Lightning is suspended.
Season III
- In "Rom-Antics", Celestia and the Grand Ruler receive a death threat from some third party villain.
You'd Expect: Them to let their castle guards know of the danger, or perhaps get Lightning and friends to stick around a little longer between missions in case the villain makes a move.
Instead: They tell no one except the guards until the 10th episode because they're afraid that telling someone else will endanger them too. Naturally, it takes Shining Armor nearly dying from accidentally drinking from a cup of Celestia's that had been poisoned (thereby proving that their loved ones are in danger whether they're told or not) to make them come clean. - In "Twi-Lightning", Raven reveals she has the ability to hypnotize people.
You'd Expect: Her to brainwash some of the palace guards, have them act inconspicuous, wait until Celestia and Celesto are asleep, then sic them on the former.
Instead: She brainwashes a bunch of civilians and guards and has them march to the palace while repeatedly chanting "Kill Celestia" while both she and her husband are awake. - In the abovesaid episode, Raven reveals her backstory, wherein some thieves desired some treasures that Celestia was planning to give to Ponyville's treasury.
You'd Expect: Them to have waited until nightfall or at least until Celestia was no longer present to try and steal them from the treasury.
Instead: They stole them right out of her carriage.
You'd Then Expect: Celestia to have teleported to the thieves as they were getting away and/or incapacitated them with magic (sure, they somehow had anti-magic charms, but she could've still used magic on their environs to stop them)
Instead: She and her guards chased them in said carriage.
You'd At Least Expect: Them to have flown the carriage as it would have provided a straighter line over obstacles to the criminals.
Instead: They kept it on the ground.
Result: It overturned during a sharp turn and Raven's husband became pinned under it. She begged the guards (who didn't know of his predicament) for help.
You'd Then Expect: The guards to have realized she wanted assistance.
Instead: They thought she was trying to interfere for some reason and continued their pursuit of the thieves on hoof.
You'd At Least Expect: Raven to have used her telekinesis to lift the carriage off of him and save his life.
Instead: She didn't.
Result: He died. - In "Love for my Life", having learned the identity and appearance of Raven, the planet's put on wide alert for her.
You'd Expect: Civilians to be told not to fight her if possible and members of Starfleet to combat and apprehend her if she's spotted.
Instead: Everybody is told to not confront her under any circumstances because she's supposedly extremely powerful (despite being a "mere" Equestrian, which has been stated of being incapable of defeating even the weakest Space Pony, and having been alive and training for about as long as Sombra had, who they went after) and Starfleet is stupid enough to think that, since she's interested only in Celestia, she won't target anyone else unless confronted, won't change her mind and/or modus operandi or isn't planting a red herring so she can target someone else unimpeded. The only courses of action that are allowed are reporting her to the authorities if she's spotted or reporting info that's supposed to come from Celestia-knows-where which would lead to her capture.
You'd At Least Expect: Starfleet to set a trap for Raven, since she's set her sights on just one target.
Instead: They don't.
You'd Then Expect: That if she really was so powerful, Raven would just assault the palace directly and plow through any and all obstacles on her path to Celestia instead of relying on so much subterfuge.
Instead: She doesn't.
You'd Then Expect: For a good guy to realize that, since she never tries a direct assault, Raven isn't as formidable as everyone initially thought.
Instead: No one does. - In "Win, Lose, or Die", Raven shows up in front of the entire team and Celesto.
You'd Expect: Grand Ruler to command them to attack as they outnumber her 5 to 1 and have her surrounded, have her use up her Uniforce one-hit spell (Which, as established, leaves one weak) and then begin to wail on her.
Instead: Even though he uses his magic to temporarily trap her, Grand Ruler stands by his earlier decree to not pursue Raven and even attempts to order Twilight to return when she pursues Raven.
Result: Let's just say a certain purple unicorn isn't so lucky. - In "Everybody Freeze", Frost-Eye tries to freeze United Equestria over from a frozen cave with a Power Crystal and then retrieve the incomplete Crystal Heart.
You'd Expect: Since United Equestria doesn't know what's causing the freezing, has no way to fight it, and can't evacuate thanks to Sombra's magic, Frost-Eye would simply leave them to chill out and then retrieve the Crystal Heart shards at his leisure.
Instead: He shows up to gloat in front of them, giving them exactly the information they need to break the spell and put an end to Frost-Eye once and for all. - In "World Warnings", Sombra's ship leaves for an unknown reason. A few days later, Starfleet is called to investigate danger on two planets, Herboss and El Mundo. Half of the party, including the twins, find that El Mundo has been taken over by their Evil Uncle Victor, and that the guards are unusually loyal to him.
You'd Expect: The twins to make the connection that Sombra's forces may have aided Victor using his Shadowbolts. Since they seem to know him well, and he only overthrew Alejandro after Sombra disappeared, the twins of all people should be able to make the connection.
Instead: They don't connect the dots until the "guards" literally reveal themselves to be Shadowbolts.- The heroes are now planning to ambush Victor to overthrow him, but Alejandro doesn't want Victor to get hurt in the process. Along with them is Krysta, who can teleport them nearly anywhere, Rainbow Dash, who has Super-Speed, Applejack, who can use a lasso, Starla, who's an accomplished archer, and Alejandro and Lupa, who know their way around the palace.
You'd Expect: Them to have Krysta teleport their them right behind Victor with Alejandro or Lupe's help, Rainbow Dash or Applejack restrain him, and Starla to disarm anyone who tries to help Victor with her arrows.
Instead: They attack the guards first, remain outside, and wait for Victor to confront them.
Result: Victor has just enough time to get his cannon to fight them.
Even Worse: The guards and Victor are already sluggish and sleepy from overeating and drinking, meaning they wasted an opportunity to apprehend Victor with minimal harm and instead went for a riskier, more unpredictable option.- In the same chapter, half of Starfleet, including Buddy Rose, is sent to Herboss to help Lily Bud save it from Sombra's forces.
You'd Expect: For Lily to do anything but what she does in canon.
Instead: She wears a white formal gown. In the jungle. At night. With enemy forces in the region.
You'd Also Expect: Buddy to point out that Lily shouldn't be wearing a gown on a military mission.
Instead: He makes out with her. In the jungle. At night. With enemy forces in the region.
- In the same chapter, half of Starfleet, including Buddy Rose, is sent to Herboss to help Lily Bud save it from Sombra's forces.
- The heroes are now planning to ambush Victor to overthrow him, but Alejandro doesn't want Victor to get hurt in the process. Along with them is Krysta, who can teleport them nearly anywhere, Rainbow Dash, who has Super-Speed, Applejack, who can use a lasso, Starla, who's an accomplished archer, and Alejandro and Lupa, who know their way around the palace.
- In "Wedding to the Stars", Lightning and Starla are getting married.
You'd Expect: That as many of the guards attending the wedding as possible would keep an eye out for trouble.
Instead: Only two notice Sombra's ship approaching.
You'd Then Expect: Them to sound the alarm the second they spot it.
Instead: While one of the guards wants to do so, his partner insists on waiting because nothing has happened yet and he wants the ceremony to finish.
Result: The protagonists are practically caught unawares. Even Celesto is cross with the two guards next chapter. - In "Revelations and Regulations", Starfleet is pondering ways to rescue Starla after she had been kidnapped by Sombra who had demanded the last Crystal Heart shard in exchange the previous chapter.
You'd Expect: Starfleet to create a fake shard using their advanced technology and magic that would be convincing enough to fool him, like they did a previous episode.
Instead: They rush headlong into battle with the real shard in tow.
Season IV
- In the Bad Future, the Dark King has already conquered the world and bumped off several of the heroes along the way.
You'd Expect: Him to stay in his timeline and extinguish any remaining rebels. He's basically won anyway, so there's zero need to do what he decides to do below.
You'd Also Expect: Him to consider the consequences of meddling with the past. If current!Starfleet dies out, then the DK would never be born to begin with, erasing his timeline.
Instead: He has his minions go back in time to mess with current!Starfleet. How this secures his regime when he's already won is never elaborated on.
Result: This alerts present!Starfleet to his existence and the ensuing war progressively lowers the chances of the Dark King's reign ever existing until Starfleet flat out erases his timeline, causing him, his minions, and everything he fought for to cease to exist.
Even Worse: As stated above, the plan was doomed to begin with, no thanks to the power of the Timey-Wimey Ball. The DK was lucky he lasted as long he did with his self-destructive stupidity, and his actions befit only the poster boy for Stupid Evil. - In the entirety of this season, Esroh Dab keeps acting like an alien. He has no knowledge of how the world works and no idea on how things are.
You'd Expect: Somepony to figure out he's at least not from around these parts.
Instead: Nopony does. - Throughout this season, Lightning Dawn worries about his Enticorn form going out of control and killing good guys.
You'd Expect: Him to go to an uninhabited planet and practice controlling it there.
Instead: He doesn't and risks going berserk every time he transforms. - In "Feather Blusters", it is revealed that Brain had been working on experiments to make Starfleet's suits and weapons more powerful but the unstable results cause explosions which shake the lab and the castle.
You'd Expect: Him to have just moved to a lab outside the palace where he could conduct his experiments in a safe and secure environment.
Instead: It never occurred to him to do so, which lead to his project getting shut down. - When visiting Amasia, Lightning's team can return home by standing in one place and tapping their signal 3 times. However, they've never been there before, and their first impression of Amasia implies that Princess Amandiva is tyrannical, powerful, and dangerous.
You'd Expect: Them to explain they're only on a mission to retrieve something they need to fight off a force of evil, ask any locals about her powers and how they work, as well as what precautions they should take around her, and to keep their distance from Amandiva until they're ready to approach her.
Instead: They just march to the capital, no questions asked, because they wanted to finish the mission as soon as possible.
Result: Amandiva does turn out to be vain and tyrannical, and kidnaps Lightning because she thinks he's hot. Then she disables their normal magic and exiles them. - In "Truth of the Heartbroken", Spike sees Thunder Cloud/Esroh Dab talking with Tnaig about having to destroy Rarity and so goes to warn her about him.
You'd Expect: Him to tell Rarity precisely what he saw and heard.
Instead: He just tells her that he's evil over and over again throughout their conversation without any elaboration.
Result: In fury, she attacks him, causing him to run off. - In "Future Sight", present-day Starfleet learns that their efforts to redeem prisoners by sucking out their evil magic will lead to the Bad Future.
You'd Expect: Them to, right then and there, swear that they would never do that or, at least, never do that without several means of nullifying the evil magic before too much is collected in one place.
Instead: They don't. For some reason, they have to defeat the Dark King before the Bad Future is erased. In fact, Mykan actually stated somewhere that “Until THAT day or that TIME is actually reached, the future will continue to exist as it is. Saying NO to the project now won't stop it, it's not the appropriate year and date yet.” However, this is contradicted by the last chapter when Grand Celestial Ruler's presence in the future weakens the Dark King. - In the final battle, Tnaig holds his own against the heroes, even nearly beating them, in front of the Dark King.
You'd Expect: The Dark King, since he is there, to help Tnaig incapacitate his foes even faster.
Instead: His only contribution is to KILL TNAIG when he is winning a beam struggle with the Grand Celestial Ruler. That's right, he did nothing but kill his own minion and then face his foes alone.
Even worse: He did so to save Grand Ruler and thus himself. He could've chosen to attack Starfleet right after his own creation, or send the Ruler back in time without killing his own right-hand man and then they could finish the rest together.
Result: He is defeated by Starfleet. And he helped them do so.
Starfleet Humans: Starpops
- When the Demonites show up, the protagonists resolve to defeat them using their music band. However, the protagonists' group is 12 strong, too large to manage in the competition.
You'd Expect: Them to make at least 2 bands, to increase the chances that some of them make it to the finals, while the ones that don't make it play support, & to make each band easier to run.
Instead: They press on with their single 12-person band anyway. - In "Hidden Skills", Blaze is destroyed but the other Demonites resurrect him and he also comes back stronger than before.
You'd Expect: The Demonites to not tell the protagonists that, if one of them is killed, the others can revive him, in order to make themselves seem practically invincible/immortal and to drive the heroes to despair.
Instead: They tell them.
You'd Then Expect: The protagonists to quickly realize that the only way to truly defeat the Demonites is to destroy them all simultaneously.
Instead: They continue to fight and keep killing the Demonites one at a time for several paragraphs. It takes Blaze reiterating their powers to finally give Lightning the bright idea of destroying them all at once.
Starfleet Humans: Starfleet Events
- In the prologue, Human Lightning confronts a group of criminals on a boat, but gets captured by them.
You'd Expect: Them to kill him immediately. Even if they wanted to brag about him failing, they can just send the body back to shore.
Instead: The boss McGavin decides to throw Lightning overboard. While he's still alive. After Lightning monologues about how evil they are.
Even Worse: One of his subordinates questions this and advocates shooting him first. McGavin promptly overrides the argument.
Result: This gives enough time for robin Krysta to save him, allowing Lightning to overpower the remaining gangsters. - Grandruler knows about Human Lightning and that the latter doesn't live far from Canterlot High. After he finds that an alternate version of Lightning exists, and later that he's visiting Canterlot High, he types an email stating his existence.
You'd Expect: Grandruler to type and send the email days ago so that people won't get confused when seeing him. You'll never know when human!Lightning might bump into a CH student.
Instead: He only sends it on the morning Crystal Prep visits Canterlot High.
You'd Then Expect: Him to send it to everyone.
Instead: He only sends it to Pinkie Pie.
You'd Then Expect: Her to send it to everyone.
Instead: She forgets. Because she Took a Level in Dumbass.
Result: People confuse him for Starfleet!Lightning and Starla outright hugs him, startling him.
You'd Expect: Her to quickly realize he is the human version of Lightning.
Instead: She hugs Lightning, and assumes it's the same Lightning she knew.
Even Worse: She questions why he's wearing a different uniform and doesn't fully realize he's the human version until she's explicitly told so by the email from Grandruler. - Granddruler suspects that the Shadowbolts are trying to rig the game in their favor. Currently, he doesn't have enough evidence to indicate that he is correct.
You'd Expect: Him to at least ask to investigate the Shadowbolts and tell someone else of his concerns. It's not like the Crystal Preps can refuse, since Grandruler has no reason to falsely accuse them as the CH team is already winning.
Instead: He does nothing. - When Fratello returns in "Mysteries Unfolding", he reveals that he got stranded on an island before sailing back to the mainland. However, the part of the Pacific Ocean he pointed to had no known islands. Furthermore, that same area is linked to a series of highly abnormal weather patterns around the world and a series of disappearing ships and planes.
You'd Expect: Them to suspect that Fratello is linked to the strange weather patterns and disappearances since his account doesn't add up to what they know, and the same area had plenty of suspicious activity at the same time he returned. By extension, they should suspect that he's linked to something very dangerous and take necessary precautions.
Instead: They fall for his trap, hook, line and sinker. Correlation, what's that?- They decide to send people to investigate. Fratello, and Lightning are going.
You'd Expect: Them to send an entire team with them, preferably with at least four other people. Given how potentially dangerous the situation would be, it's best to rely on strength in numbers so if something goes wrong, at least one of them can return to report anything wrong.
Instead: They add only 2 others, Mary and John.
- They decide to send people to investigate. Fratello, and Lightning are going.
- On the island, Fratello paralyzes Lightning, Cadance, and Grandruler, then carries them away.
You'd Expect: Him to paralyze Mary and John so that they can't return and bring suspicion on him, or worse, wander around and discover the truth. Then he can just let everyone else assume the whole party died.
Alternatively: Xaydie could kill them with her weather powers.
Instead: Neither of them even bother with the two.
Even Worse: Mary and John are blocked off by a storm. Why didn't they just capture/kill them when Xaydie and Fratello not only have the perfect opportunity to clean up loose ends, but the perfect opportunity for Mary and John to find out about the truth?
Result: They are able to help Celesto send a message to Celestia (see below).- After capturing Grandruler, Lightning, and Cadance, Xaydie wants to steal Cadance's body and take over the world.
You'd Expect: Her to keep them in separate rooms, preferably away from each other, and keep them in the dark about the layout of her evil lair. She should also hide the panel where she controls her cages so they don't know how to escape the cages.
Instead: She keeps them in the same room as the panel with the buttons controlling the cages.
Even Worse: The mechanism opening the cages is controlled by a single big green button.
You'd Also Expect: Her to keep them paralyzed. She can just have Fratello carry Cadance to the ritual where she can steal her body.
Instead: She turns off the device keeping them paralyzed, allowing the three a chance to escape/communicate to anyone else.
You'd Also Expect: Xaydie to confiscate any materials they might have that could be used to escape/communicate to others.
Instead: She doesn't.
You'd Also Expect: Her to keep an eye on the other two until Fratello has Cadance restrained. Then after that, Xaydie can swap places with him to start the ritual.
Instead: She doesn't.
Even Worse: She explicitly states she takes no chances, yet at several points, she fails to take precautions to prevent their escape and leaves behind openings for them to foil her plans.
Result: Grandruler uses a device on his walking stick to send a message to Mary and John, who relays it to Celestia. Krysta also frees them by pressing the button.
- After capturing Grandruler, Lightning, and Cadance, Xaydie wants to steal Cadance's body and take over the world.
- After Lightning, Grandruler, Krysta, and Cadance escape, they try to leave via a path above a volcano. However, Lightning falls off and Xaydie captures the rest.
You'd Expect: Her to check if Lightning really did die. If she really didn't take any chances, she would've done so to make sure Lightning is dead.
Instead: She doesn't.
Result: Lightning is able to get to the submarine to get supplies and interrupt Xaydie (see below).- After starting the ritual, Xaydie ties up Cadance and leaves Grandruler and Krysta in the cage.
You'd Expect: Her to have Krysta and Grandruler killed. They foiled her plans once, and she can't take the risk again.
Instead: She leaves them alone.
You'd Then Expect: Xaydie to just do it. No evil monologues, no answering questions, just taking the latter's body and getting it over it.
Instead: She wastes her time taunting Cadance before starting.
Result: Lightning interrupts her just as the ritual was starting.
You'd Expect: Lightning to just shoot her from where he is and then shoot Fratello's legs before rescuing the others.
Instead: He announces his presence with the gun and jumps to fight Fratello. Who's a robot. With Super-Strength.
Result: Fratello disarms and nearly kills Lightning. The latter is lucky he convinced Fratello to pull a Heel–Face Turn.
- After starting the ritual, Xaydie ties up Cadance and leaves Grandruler and Krysta in the cage.
- When Midnight Sparkle fights off the two schools, the students decide to charge her, managing to dodge her blasts as they attack.
You'd Expect: Her to open rifts in front of them to stop them. In fact, the school building surrounds the front on three sides; if she were to open the rifts between the ends of the sides, they would trap everyone in front of the school, and she could use the rifts to take care of the rest.
Instead: She never uses the rifts to stop them.
Starfleet Movie: Human in United Equestria
- In "Opinion, Which Matter?", human Mykan is suspected of being a spy, and he can't return to Earth due to a quirk in the portal he was sent through.
You'd Expect: That, since Starfleet can go to Earth, they just ask Mykan for information, and go to Earth to verify it.
Instead: They never think of it, and don't go to Earth until near the end of the fic.
Season V
- In "Bugs and Barriers", a planetary shield that Brain just happened to develop prior to the Insecto Invasion is used to deflect their Orbital Bombardment and destroy a portion of their fleet; however, one of the orbiting shield projectors is disabled by wreckage from one of the destroyed ships, leaving a hole in the shield.
You'd Expect: King Pinsar would have his ships ram the projectors to destroy them and take the shield down. Given his We Have Reserves mentality and the size of his fleet, he'd brush off any losses incurred and then bombard United Equestria into a molten wasteland.
Instead: He leaves his massive fleet twiddling their thumbs in orbit and sends his commanders in through the hole one at a time, each with only a handful of Stingars, falling afoul of the "one monster at a time" problem all the villains have. It should go without saying that this doesn't work very well. - For most of this season, Cadance is pregnant, her MIA husband is possessed by an evil alien force and she's in danger of being attacked.
You'd Expect: Starfleet to send her to a vacation planet with a little security detail (make this low profile), hidden in an illusion spell, and make sure she is safe.
Instead: They do nothing to guarantee her safety. - In "Pinkie and the Brain Bug", Pinsar wants to invade Lightning's brain to get valuable info from him. The expedition is led by one of his generals, D-Bug.
You'd Expect: Him to pick another plan or at least work through the details first. If he had an ounce of brain cells, he would've considered the possibility of Lightning's immune system attacking them, the possibility of them getting infected by whatever germs are inside Lightning, the possibility of them getting crushed by a strong enough impact on the body, their ability to escape when needed, etc. Futhermore, the focus should be spying on Starfleet through Lightning's senses, not gathering info from his brain, as contrary to what Starfleet believes, memories are very faulty, but one's senses are somewhat more reliable.
Instead: He just greenlights it and has them go through with the plan, Artistic License – Biology be damned.
You'd Then Expect: Him to keep D-Bug away from the attack to avoid capture and monitor the Stingars. His skills and tech will be valuable for future missions and having him keep track of the assigned Stingars would help prevent them from making mistakes (see below), so Pinsar should definitely keep him around to manage the operation.
Instead: He lets D-Bug go with the Stingars. Because why not?- D-Bug and his squad shrink themselves and locate Lightning Dawn preparing a drink for himself.
You'd Expect: Them to ignore that in favor of flying in front of his nostrils while he's alone. If well-timed, then they should get inhaled into his body. At least they'll be able to see the environment around them, and Lightning shouldn't be able to see below the top of his cheeks and muzzle.
Instead: D-Bug and the Stingars hide in the drink's straw, where there's a chance someone else will drink it and they can't get away.
Result: They end up in Pinkie's brain, kickstarting the conflict of the week.
- D-Bug and his squad shrink themselves and locate Lightning Dawn preparing a drink for himself.
Season VI
- In "Escape From Starfleet", the monitors and alarms are down at the prison planet of Conva, which is filled with creatures who have been imprisoned by and have a grudge against Starfleet.
You'd Expect: For Starfleet to have guards on it twenty-four seven, while the monitors and alarms are hastily repaired.
Instead: There are just two guards, and both randomly decide to go on coffee break.
Result: Brass Bolt proceeds to free every single prisoner. - Cadance and Shining Armor want a child of their own, but they've both been sterilized by the events in V, and they can't adopt. Lightning receives a vision where Grand Ruler creates the first space ponies using only a few blots of blood and some hair strands.
You'd Expect: For everyone to do exactly what Grand Ruler did, as it's minimally invasive, does not endanger either would-be parent, and, when done right, creates the baby right away without the need for additional equipment.
Instead: Not only do they refuse to go along with it, but they also use a longer, more difficult process that involves a dangerous surgery, and put the resulting fetus in a test tube and other extra equipment for months, putting it in danger from malfunctioning equipment (especially given how many criminals are running around).
Result: The entire process is put into jeopardy multiple times, Cadance and Shining Armor nearly die, and Flurry Heart almost dies too. - In "Color You Surprised", the Villain of the Week Spectrum uses a power crystal to absorb energy from the populace of United Equestria and power himself up.
You'd Expect: Spectrum to keep the crystal well-protected or at least well-hidden, considering that it's the root of his power.
Instead: He just puts it on the roof of Canterlot Castle, out in the open, with no protection whatsoever. Predictably, Princess Luna stumbles across the thing and shatters it, leading to Spectrum's downfall. - When fighting a Villain of the Week in "Glue for Three", Applejack, Rarity, and Mykan Stevens end up rupturing a container of super glue and thus getting stuck to each other by the hands. The pony hauling it mentions that the company behind it also has a solvent that can remove the glue.
You'd Expect: The company to have some in reserve just in case accidents like this one happen, and that the heroes would be able to pick some up quickly and get themselves loose.
Instead: They don't have any since it's somehow never happened before, and as such, Applejack, Rarity, and Mykan have to be stuck to each other for three days as they make a fresh batch, thus kickstarting a plot that could've been avoided with application of common sense. Even Starla points out how idiotic this is. - In "The Truth and Freedom", Windy Bag's attempt to use a de-brainwashing device on the Equestrian population has been foiled, and Pony!Mykan Stevens shows up to settle the score with her.
You'd Expect: Mykan would go after Windy Bag directly, given that she's the object of his grudge.
Instead: He attacks her machine, causing it to explode. This deals considerable collateral damage to the surroundings and kills Mykan himself. Even by Revenge Before Reason standards, it comes off as spectacularly poor judgment.
Power Rangers Starfleet/Super Starfleet
- After planet broker Vulcan is transported to an island on Earth with a tower's worth of civilians, he decides to take over Earth.
You'd Expect: Vulcan to lay low and send someone to scout the planet incognito. They're in the middle of an ocean, they have few resources, and they're in a completely different world than before, so they're in no shape to conquer anything and they must focus on survival and getting back to their home without being detected.
Instead: He tries to take over Earth to sell it. Keep in mind that he's not in the same dimension as before, so he can't sell it to anyone here, and getting to any customers in his home dimension would mean attracting Starfleet's attention.
Season VII
- Sienna dearly loves her younger brother Mako. However, her fellow bandits Slash and Omnisha don't like him all that much for being a Bratty Half-Pint.
You'd Expect: Her to keep an eye on them and take precautions if needed. Since her brother is her only living family member, and she deeply cares about his well-being, this should be entirely in-character for her.
Instead: She basically ignores the growing signs that Slash wants Mako dead by any means possible.
Result: When Sienna takes him out to watch her and her crew fight, Slash takes the opportunity to get rid of Mako. Twice. And the second attempt succeeds. Slash himself points out that, had Sienna paid more attention, she would have noticed it sooner.
Season VIII
- In "Strength of Evil: Part 1", disgruntled ex-Starfleet member Striker bursts in on a meeting between Grand Ruler, Celestia, and the ruler of an allied planet, who are in the middle of discussing a Sealed Evil in a Can.
You'd Expect: As Striker has intent to cause harm and is not in his right mind, Grand Ruler would order the guards to detain him. Better yet, he could detain Striker himself, as he's a lot more powerful than Striker. Or both, since you can't be too careful when a demon in a box is involved.
Instead: Grand Ruler decides to not call the guards and trusts Lightning alone to handle the situation, with no backup plan in case that doesn't work. Evidently, Grand Ruler's never heard of "better safe than sorry."- Following up on the previous entry, Lightning is able to defeat Striker in a one-on-one fight.
You'd Expect: Lightning to take Striker into custody for being a danger to himself and everyone around him.
Instead: Lightning simply tells Striker to Get Out! and expects him to comply.
Result: Striker does not leave quietly, and the resulting chaos leads to the season's Big Bad breaking free.- The aforementioned Big Bad, Stammadon, had been trapped in a box millennia prior.
You'd Expect: That the ones responsible for his imprisonment would have used a seal that would be very resistant to physical and magical force.
Instead: They just make it resistant to magic.
Result: When the box containing Stammadon is flung into the air, nobody can catch it with magic and Rainbow Dash catches it with her hands.
You'd Then Expect: For her to keep flying then come to a gentle stop.
Instead: She lets herself fall to the ground with a thud.
Result: Stammadon breaks free.
You'd Then Expect: Him to kill everyone in the room since he has the element of surprise.
Instead: He simply injures Queen Mowaza and flees.
- The aforementioned Big Bad, Stammadon, had been trapped in a box millennia prior.
- Following up on the previous entry, Lightning is able to defeat Striker in a one-on-one fight.
- In "Strength of Evil: Part 2", Stammadon and his generals are now free, they have the element of surprise, can teleport basically anywhere, and have an army by their side.
You'd Expect: Them to summon their army, invade the royal palace, and kill everyone inside. This will deal a serious blow to enemy morale, drastically increasing their power, and without any royalty to offer advice to Starfleet, the villains will remain one step ahead.
Instead: They terrorize a random town. That's it.
Furthermore: Stammadon and his army hide out in his temple.
You'd Expect: Them to find another place to hide, preferably far away from the "temple", since the Ainzulians know where it is and can simply provide directions.
Instead: Not only do they stay where they are, Stammadon also cloaks it in a dark magical cloud, which would make the temple even more noticeable.
Result: Starfleet finds them.
You'd Then Expect: The villains to find another secure location.
Instead: They still do nothing.
Result: Now that they know where they're hiding, the Starfleet forces have no problem finding the temple again, making it much easier for them to defeat the villains.- Starfleet goes to Ainzul to warn the inhabitants about Stammadon. However, Princess Balia does not believe them because, although they have Mowaza's pass, they haven't signed the treaty yet, so Balia will not believe them.
You'd Expect: Starfleet to go back and sign it. Even if it's now invalid, they can go to Mowaza and beg for a second chance. Mowaza is in no state to refuse, not when she's badly injured, and her planet is in danger. Teleporting between the planets doesn't take much time and even in her weakened state, signing a piece of paper shouldn't be hard for Mowaza.
Alternatively: Balia to send a message to her mother and, if what Starfleet's saying is true, raise an army. Instant Magical (I.M.) Mail exists, and if Ainzul has the technology, then she should use it. Even if Ainzul doesn't have it, Starfleet can let her use it to contact Mowaza. And even if the treaty's invalid, she should still ask Mowaza, not to mention that a null treaty means she's free to send forces against Stammadon.
Instead: Starfleet doesn't do anything about it, Balia doesn't contact her mother to be sure, and nothing meaningful is done.
Result: Torron and the Shis are able to terrorize a village before Balia realizes what's going on. She's very lucky the villains are as bright as the heroes, otherwise, they would've killed her and anyone in the palace (see below). - When dealing with Torron, the heroes' plan is to hold back and let him tire himself out, then finish him off with the remainder of their energy.
You'd Expect: Them to keep their distance, and use long-range attacks.
Instead: They literally charge him with melee weapons.
Even Worse: Starla is a long-range fighter, and the others also have ranged attacks. Why they don't use them to a greater extent is a mystery. - Artie's paint bombs can blind opponents, including Torron.
You'd Expect: Artie to use it as soon as he's close enough to Torron, which, given that everyone's melee fighting him (see above), shouldn't take very long. That way, Starfleet would have a much easier time defeating Torron.
Instead: He only does this after Torron's nearly defeated. - After Stammadon's attack, Starfleet goes back to Balia, who believes them this time, and helps evacuate all of Ainzul.
You'd Expect: Balia to reinstate her armies and stay with Starfleet to offer advice. Since the treaty hasn't been signed yet, and since Starfleet freed Stammadon, it is technically null and void to begin with, so she's free to supply military aid and vital information (i.e. how to defeat Stammadon) to Starfleet in order to contain a potentially dangerous threat.
Instead: Balia does nothing.
Even Worse: After Stammadon is killed and the Shis are imprisoned, the Ainzulians go through with the treaty even though it's no longer valid, conveniently forgetting that Starfleet's the one broke it and put them all in danger in the first place.
- Starfleet goes to Ainzul to warn the inhabitants about Stammadon. However, Princess Balia does not believe them because, although they have Mowaza's pass, they haven't signed the treaty yet, so Balia will not believe them.
- It's been established that unleashing magical energy from a pure heart is the most effective way of dealing with Stammadon's forces, something that the Ainzulians have done before.
You'd Expect: Queen Mowaza to directly tell them how it works.
Instead: All she drops is a vague hint.
Result: The heroes predictably miss the subtext and don't figure it out until "Conniving Conferences". - En Shi is enamoured with Swift Star, and she's clearly distracted by him.
You'd Expect: The other Shis to keep an eye on her and keep Swift Star away from her.
Instead: They just complain and do nothing else.
Result: En Shi runs off to woo Swift Star during a battle, costing her team the fight. Kara Shi chews her out for this.
You'd Then Expect: Them to put En Shi on some sort of restraining order. They outnumber her and she's clearly too distracted to keep participating. In addition, they can kill Swift Star and make it look like an accident so En Shi wouldn't be distracted.
Instead: They still don't take the hint and do nothing.
Result: En Shi is later defeated by Swift Star who capitalized on her obsession with him, costing Stammadon a valuable ally. - In "Brain Storming", we are introduced to Stratos, who uses a device to control the weather. One of the Shis accompanies him to United Equestria to wreak havoc.
You'd Expect: For the two to get a map of United Equestria, teleport to Canterlot Castle itself (it's gigantic and sits on a mountain in the center of United Equestria so it shouldn't be hard to find), and launch a surprise attack where Stratos outright floods the area while the Shi raids the castle for any important information to bring back. In addition, En Shi's abilities (An Ice Person and Making a Splash) best compliment Stratos's, so she should be the one to supervise him.
Instead: Rai Shi is chosen in place of En, they invade without any means to figure out where they are, Stratos just conjures a storm, and Rai Shi does nothing but fight the heroes.
Result: They terrorize another random town, Stratos gets captured, and the two achieve nothing meaningful except gathering more fear. - Data Stream is a hacker, and her bio is not good at all, something Shining Armor mocks her for, saying she has to work to make it better.
You'd Expect: Her to use her hacking skills to change her bio to something much better.
Instead: She uses her hacking and Megadox's help to destroy the bios of others. Because if you are sad, you must make others sad too.
Result: The misery she causes alerts Starfleet and the Cutie Mark Crusaders foil her plan, and Data only causes temporary suffering to Cadance. - In "Are you Feeling it?", Monster of the Week Emosha, who has the ability to manipulate emotions, fights Starfleet.
You'd Expect: Her to make everypony too scared to fight her, make all of her foes hate each other enough to fight each other instead of her, or make everyone simply lose all interest in doing anything while keeping out of their range.
Instead: She makes only Dyno and Myte fight each other, Pinkie Pie laugh hard and Starla cry while not keeping out of their range.
Result: Emosha is captured without achieving much except collecting more fear. - After Starfleet rescues Swift Star from the first time En Shi kidnaps him, the incident shows that En Shi is a very dangerous threat fixated on Swift, and that Swift is very willing to take risks to do what he thinks is right.
You'd Expect: Them to take protective measures to keep En away from Swift, such as keeping him out of battles where En Shi could run into him, training him in secret locations, limiting water sources to necessities like drinking water, having him be guarded by multiple fairies so they can transport him if En Shi finds him, etc. Swift is a sixteen year old, and he is supposed to be chosen by Lightning to boost morale for the other students; if something happens to him, it will be a huge blow to their morale.
Instead: All they do is tell him not to intervene in the next battle.
Result: Swift intervenes anyway and En Shi kidnaps him again. It's only through Swift's own wit that he is able to escape. - In "She Raw", Tan Shi and Zenia attack, and Lightning has Krysta teleport Swift and Shining Light away to safety, and keep an eye on them.
You'd Expect: Lightning to also tell Krysta to bring another fairy in her stead. You never know when you'll need a fairy's portal powers.
Instead: He doesn't.
Result: The women are trapped in a barrier by Tan Shi, splitting the group and allowing the two to curbstomp the men. The only reason they could defeat them at all was because Starla channeled her inner strength to break the barrier.- When Starla frees the women and they help fight off Tan Shi and Zenia, Starfleet manages to grab Zenia's blade-marangs and sword.
You'd Expect: Zenia to use her whip to get her other weapons back. Since it's a long range weapon, she can reach them from a long distance, and if they try to grab that too, she can just pull them in and kick them away, or let Tan Shi take them off for her.
Instead: She does nothing, and leaves with Tan Shi.
- When Starla frees the women and they help fight off Tan Shi and Zenia, Starfleet manages to grab Zenia's blade-marangs and sword.
- Twice in a row, Swift and Starla have saved the day by channeling a mysterious energy powerful enough to overcome the villain's best attacks.
You'd Expect: Stammadon or the Shis to start researching the phenomenon as soon as possible, along with drawing upon their past experience of being defeated by it, and start using alternative methods to defeat Starfleet.
Instead: They forget about it, and focus instead on collecting energy.
Result: In "One Sad Apple Family", when Tan Shi, Kara Shi, and Zenia go attack Starfleet without Stammadon's permission, they are predictably defeated when Applejack breaks Tan Shi's barrier with the phenomenon, and Zenia and Kara Shi are captured in the process. - In "One Sad Apple Family", Tan Shi and Zenia are defeated again, and Lightning is about to capture Tan Shi. Kara sees this and rushes to save her.
You'd Expect: Him to push Tan Shi out of the way. If he can reach her in a split second, then he is certainly able to push her hard enough to save both of them.
Instead: He jumps in front of her.
Result: He gets captured when he didn't need to, costing Stammadon a powerful ally. - After Stammadon's defeated, the Ainzulians return to their planet. However, since Starfleet broke their treaty by accidentally letting him go, they no longer have any obligation to dismantle their military.
You'd Expect: Them to point it out, and have Starfleet let them keep their military.
Instead: They never bring it up, and it's all but stated that they went through with the invalid treaty anyway.
Even Worse: Them having to evacuate the planet in the first place was Starfleet's fault. Their "saviors" couldn't contain a dangerous demon for even an hour, the same demon that the Ainzulians had successfully imprisoned for 10,000 years. With such a disparity in the performance between the two, you'd think that they'd wise up and stick to their own military forces. Now, they've thrown away a perfectly decent army of their own in favor of being completely under the thrall of a galactic military force with a shoddy record on sapient rights that could endanger them through either malice or incompetence.
Starfleet Humans: A Tale of Two Sunsets
- At the start of the fic, human Sunset Shimmer is sent by Richard and Jewel to rob a bank to test their technology and frame pony Sunset Shimmer.
You'd Expect: Them to locate pony Sunset and send her to a place near where pony Sunset lives, which would mean human Sunset has to go to California.
Furthermore: They need to find a way to sabotage Sunset's wedding with Artie to make the framing more plausible, which, given the kind of tech they're developing, shouldn't be hard to do.
Instead: They have human Sunset rob the Bank of England, which isn't even on the same continent, while apparently not bothering to do anything about the wedding.
Result: Sunset is quickly acquitted of the crime in less than a day of her arrest because of this, and this alerts the protagonists to the fact that there's a human Sunset who's working for a wealthy tech company.
You'd Then Expect: Them to keep the technology they're testing as discreet and easily hidden as possible; if law enforcement gets a hold of them, then they can potentially trace them back to Richard and Jewel's company.
Instead: Sunset's gadgets are not made to be easy to hide in.
Result: The tech is easily observed by the guards, alerting them to the fact that she's using advanced technology and connecting her to any company that specializes in such, including the Bristles.
Season IX
- Von Devilor and his forces can teleport anywhere in the universe, they specifically want to destroy all love everywhere, particularly the love of a couple about to be married, and they feed off of hate, which amplifies if there are too many people fighting them off.
You'd Expect: Starfleet to tell everyone, put restrictions on dating and marriage, start mandatory mass military training, make extensive use of their portals, and equip and teach every planet under their control to defend themselves individually or in small groups if Starfleet can't reach them in time. Given how dangerous the demons are supposed to be, you'd think that keeping an eye on them and taking the necessary measures to prevent innocents from falling victim to the demons would be a top priority of theirs. It's not perfect, but it's better than what they actually go with.
Instead: Just like in season II, they don't tell anyone on the grounds that it'll cause panic and that they can't stop anyone from dating or marrying, much less prepare anyone for the demons.
Even Worse: They decide to lure the demons to their planet and take care of them that way, which has not only all of the same problems that they highlighted, but also puts Starfleet, the force that protects all those other planets, in danger of being wiped out, leaving those other planets vulnerable and unprepared for the demons' advance.
Result: After a second demon attack, Starfleet is forced to tell the public about the demons within the next 4 episodes. - The Devils can teleport, brainwash multiple people, summon monsters, and feed on hate.
You'd Expect: Them to use the above to their advantage. They should brainwash as many people as possible to aid them and distract Starfleet, summon multiple monsters to occupy Starfleet so they can be free to wreak havoc, target infrastructure, press as many Berserk Buttons as possible, teleport to and from various places to maximize their efforts, and get as much important information as possible.
Also: Von Devilor needs more minions. Just two soldiers aren't enough to take over a whole planet, no matter how skilled they are.
Furthermore: They should also get a map along the way. That way, they can know which places to target first and where the capital is.
Instead: They stick to the Monster of the Week formula, don't do anything useful with the brainwashed victims, and stay around to fight Starfleet, wasting their time. Von Devilor also never sends more soldiers after Scarlet.
Result: None of their attacks produce any long lasting damage, and the victims are always saved by the Healing of Love.
You'd Then Expect: Them to research the Healing of Love and dispatch someone to find any of its weaknesses, and eliminate it accordingly. Von Devilor even admitted as such.
Instead: They don't do anything about it until they find that Cadance is the source of the spell.- On a related note, "Factory Destruction Line" reveals that Von Devilor possesses dark seeds, tiny particles that produce a brainwashing smog that can infect multiple people. In "Deep Within the Deep", Dearka also created a monster, Aquanizer, that can infect the water, and by proxy, multiple people.
You'd Expect: Them to use multiples of these to infect as many as possible from the very beginning of their invasion.
Alternatively: If they were created only recently, Von Devilor should've delayed the invasion until they could mass produce them.
Instead: They don't do either and only reveal them midway through IX.
Even Worse: They never use them again, or create anything else like them for that matter.- Now that they have the seeds, Dearka and Scarlet can now infect multiple people at once.
You'd Expect: Them to get as many of these seeds as needed to brainwash a huge swath of United Equestria. If this succeeds, then that means they have a base in UE, and can more easily expand and replenish it with these seeds.
Instead: Again, they never use the seeds again.
Even Worse: The above repeats itself with Dearka's Aquanizer.
- Now that they have the seeds, Dearka and Scarlet can now infect multiple people at once.
- On a related note, "Factory Destruction Line" reveals that Von Devilor possesses dark seeds, tiny particles that produce a brainwashing smog that can infect multiple people. In "Deep Within the Deep", Dearka also created a monster, Aquanizer, that can infect the water, and by proxy, multiple people.
- Cadance is the creator of the Healing of Love, a spell that can reverse hate-based magic and quell people's hatred, and in fact, it's the reason she became a princess.
You'd Expect: Her to introduce it earlier, and use it often. It would be especially useful for reforming villains as a third option to death or imprisonment.
Instead: She only introduces it in IX, with no foreshadowing. - When Applejack and Apple Spice were little, their parents decided to arrange a marriage for them.
You'd Expect: Them to add a part in the arrangement that would allow them to cancel or delay the marriage if any problems arise.
Instead: They made it legally binding, complete with a time limit.
Result: When Spice's parents died and AJ's disappeared, it left the two out of the loop for years, and by the time the latter returned, they were nearing the time limit for the two to get married, leaving everyone massively unprepared.
Even Worse: After Bright Mac and Pear Butter returned home, they didn't tell Applejack about it for around a year before even mentioning Apple Spice.
You'd Then Expect: Starfleet, being in control of UE, to have changed some of the laws, including the ones about arranged marriages. In fact, they could just change that law now and be over it.
Instead: This never occurs to them and they do nothing about it.
Result: This leads to a season-long unnecessary subplot about martial drama, a subplot that was entirely preventable.- The gang eventually realizes that they could solve the contract between Apple Spice and AJ by having them wed, then divorced. After all, it never said anything about divorce.
You'd Expect: That they would figure it out earlier in IX.
Instead: They only figure it out in the last few episodes. And when they do, it's treated as astonishingly brilliant instead of the fairly obvious solution it is.
- The gang eventually realizes that they could solve the contract between Apple Spice and AJ by having them wed, then divorced. After all, it never said anything about divorce.
- In "With all my Raging Heart Pts. 1 and 2", after hearing the voice of a spirit inside her head, Cadance decides to find the source of the voice and save her.
You'd Expect: Her to think her plans through. As shown in III, Starfleet has droids and can disguise objects as people. She could've sent a disguised droid to Von Devilor to investigate first, if not actually try to find the spirit.
Instead: She literally lets the Devils capture her and bring them to Von Devilor so she can rescue the spirit. Keep in mind that the Devils can convert love to hate, and Cadance is a Love Goddess.
Result: This gives Von Devilor and his minions a massive power boost, allowing Dearka and Scarlet to invade Vistula and endanger the Starfleet expedition sent there. Cadance was very lucky her plan worked.- The Devils are little better than Cadance in this respect:
You'd Then Expect: Them to suspect that Cadance is up to something. There's no way she would willingly let them capture her, let alone fly towards them otherwise when she's helped Starfleet fight them off this whole time.
Instead: They don't see anything wrong with this.
Result: Agapi escapes Von Devilor with Cadance's body.
You'd Then Expect: Her to take Cadance with her. Surely, possession would take less effort than a flat-out Grand Theft Me. Even if she's badly weakened, the former doesn't require pushing out the host spirit in addition to getting her body.
Instead: Agapi kicks Cadance out of her body and leaves her behind.
Result: Even though Agapi escaped, Cadance's magic is still empowering Von Devilor, allowing him to remain a serious threat to Starfleet.
Even Worse: Agapi lies about it, saying Cadance is perfectly fine, while the latter is still trapped inside Von Devilor.
- The Devils are little better than Cadance in this respect:
- In "Daring Devils", Calista goes to a spot where she and Dearka used to meet. However, Vistula is currently under attack and as their leader, if she dies, it could put her whole planet in even greater disarray.
You'd Expect: Her to have a whole squad of soldiers surround her. As the Satellite Love Interest of a high ranking Devil general, she's a prime target for Von Devilor, so she needs plenty of protection.
Alternatively: She should be given armor to wear. That way, if her guards can't save her, she can tank any ambushes there.
Instead: Only two soldiers accompany her, and nobody even thinks of getting her armor.
You'd Then Expect: Said soldiers to keep an eye out for any danger.
Instead: They don't.
Result: Scarlet attacks them. Dearka can't teleport Calista without poisoning her, trapping them.
You'd Then Expect: AJ and Pinkie to carry Calista away and protect her while Dearka holds off Scarlet. AJ and Pinkie's armor is durable enough for them to tank hits from enemies and they both have shields to provide further protection to Calista. For that matter, they should also remember that Calista is a huge target for Von Devilor and watch out for any more surprise attacks.
Instead: Both mares forget they can fly and fight off Scarlet, while Dearka flees with Calista without watching out for surprise attacks.
Result: Von Devilor ambushes them and fires at them.
You'd Then Expect: Dearka to shield Calista. He's the one wearing armor, so he's less likely to get killed by the bolts, and Lightning, Krysta, and Spike are nearby, so by protecting Calista, he can buy time for the others to move her to safety.
You'd Also Expect: Krysta to at least try to teleport the gang in front of Dearka and Calista.
Alternatively: Lightning and Spike can fire at the bolts to delay them.
Instead: They all let Calista get hit.
Result: Calista dies. - In "World War Two Ways", Starfleet decides to invade the Devils' realm to defeat Von Devilor. However, Von Devilor manages to separate Starfleet after they venture into his realm, then sics an army of shadow clones on them to wear them out.
You'd Expect: Him to intervene himself to sap them of their power one group at a time. He's strong enough to do so, he controls the entire environment, and Starfleet is currently fractured.
Instead: He waits until they escape the shadow army, reunite, and make it to his palace before he does anything himself.- Starfleet isn't much better in this regard. Since they're separated...
You'd Expect: Krysta to use her portals to move her group away from the shadow clones as soon as possible and find the others.
Instead: She doesn't do that.
Even Worse: She has no problem using portals to fight the shadows.
- Starfleet isn't much better in this regard. Since they're separated...
Season X
- In "Two-Timing Temptation", Swift Star starts getting a crush on Starlight Glimmer. Starlight notices and tries to use it to her advantage by luring him into a trap.
You'd Expect: Her to realize that a crush alone isn't enough to get someone to walk into a trap, so she would make the lure under a different pretense, like pretending to be someone else.
You'd Also Expect: Her to take into account the possibility that he would bring multiple people with him regardless of what the letter says, by using a backup plan or more to take care of them.
Instead: She sends him a letter telling him to go to a remote location all by himself, without specifying why he needs to see her, and with her name on it. Keep in mind that she is The Dragon to The Big Bad of the fic, and crush or no crush, Swift already knows this.
Furthermore: She apparently didn't bother to set up anything to deter anyone else Swift might bring with him.
Result: Swift sees through the bait and brings the rest of Starfleet with him, catching Starlight by surprise and foiling her plans. It's genuinely shocking that he didn't fall for it, isn't it?
Season XI
- In the fourth chapter, Swift Star confronts a ghost he can't harm and succeeds at stopping an attack from her.
You'd Expect: The ghost to get mad and attack him, since he is hindering her plans. He can't beat her yet, so even opportunists and cowards would take him out in her shoes.
Instead: She just flees.
Result: She fails a plan she had no chance of failing.
