Ponies Make War

-

""Go to your friends. Look them in the eyes, talk with them, laugh with them, and tell me if lifting a duster is more magical than what you feel, truly feel, in your heart. Friendship is a force,.

“Love. Wonder. Happiness. Titan has none of these things. If you allow him to take ours, then you give up our only advantage. If we are going to win, it will be for our intangible virtues, not brute force. Magic, real magic, the kind that I use to raise the moon, cannot be fought.”"

- Princess Luna

A fanfic written by AestheticB

Long ago, in the magical land of Equestria, there lived a powerful King and his dark Queen. Immortal and ignorant, their end came at the hooves of their daughters, Celestia and Luna, who sought to build a better future for ponykind.

Now ponykind’s old gods have returned.

Twilight Sparkle is trapped inside her own mind, slave to a cruel and impulsive consciousness built from everything she is not. Powerless and voiceless, she must find a way to stop the being that calls itself Nihilus from destroying everything she holds dear.

Luna is tasked with assembling the remaining Elements of Harmony in hopes of freeing their leader. For if ponykind is to have any hope, it is in Twilight Sparkle. And if Twilight Sparkle is to have any hope, it is in her five friends.

Facing her father in mortal combat, Celestia must do everything she can to ensure that ponykind has the tools to survive before she falls. With inevitable defeat bearing down upon her, she makes the first move in the oldest and deadliest game known to creation.

IMPORTANT NOTE: To avoid confusion after using the below link, take note of the fact that this story's author has renamed it "The Immortal Game".

The story can be found here

"Pinkie:"
 * Abusive Parents: Does not even begin to describe Esteem's relationship with Rarity, let alone Titan and Terra's with Celestia and Luna.
 * Abusive Precursors: To say Titan and Terra's initial reign over Equestria (in the backstory) was nightmarish would be a major understatement. Their current rule is even worse.
 * On the other hand,
 * Action Mares: Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna most notably, although Pinkie and Fluttershy have their moments as well.
 * Twilight's mother Starlight counts as well -- until the Mane Six meet up with the Loyalists, she and her husband are the only ones who really stand a chance against Esteem in a fight.
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Rarity’s blade, Vorpal. Rainbow Dash gets a sword like this later on.
 * Actual Pacifist: Sparkle is literally unable to bring herself to attack anything, even Puppets.
 * Added Alliterative Appeal: See Department of Redundancy Department.
 * A God Am I: Said by Luna, before her fight against Nihilus in Cloudsdale.
 * After the same fight, Nihilus wonders.
 * Airborne Mook: The Pegasus Puppets
 * The Alcoholic: Sir Unimpressive, who is never seen without a flask of whiskey. Twilight at one point wonders where he keeps getting it refilled.
 * All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
 * Nihilus attacking Ponyville in her initial assault on the Mane Six.
 * Terra attacking Ponyville again as punishment for the Loyalists
 * All Your Powers Combined: Each of the Mane Six has certain traits that make them a monster to face in battle. Twilight's trait? To use all her friends abilities at once.
 * And I Must Scream: Twilight. She’s unable to stop her Super-Powered Evil Side, Nihilus, from trying to kill her friends.
 * Also Rainbow Dash when she subjected to the Insanity, and is forced to watch as Wrong tries to help Nihilus kill her friends.
 * A flashback shows Titan seemingly subjecting Discord to this after . As canon shows, he eventually escaped, with this story implying that Titan's original defeat by Celestia and Luna is what enabled it.
 * Apologetic Attacker: Wrong (Rainbow Dash subjected to the Insanity).
 * Arch Enemy: Sir Unimpressive and the Cadet are an interesting example, in that they only fight twice (and we only see the second fight), but they see each other as their greatest enemy. There's also an inverted example of Unknown Rival in play, as they apparently already have a prior history that Unimpressive was completely unaware of.
 * Titan and Discord were this back in the day.
 * Archnemesis Dad/Evil Matriarch: Titan and Terra to the Princesses.
 * Esteem to Rarity.
 * Artifact of Doom: The Sliver of Darkness, the object responsible for Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon, and Twilight's into Nihilus.
 * Ascended to Carnivorism: Esteem indulges in eating meat, which is an anathema to most ponies.
 * As You Know: Used to show what's happened during the Time Skip, as the Cadet uses these exact words to start a briefing with Esteem. And the narration takes a moment to lampshade this trope, as it points out that yes, Esteem does already know all this.
 * The Atoner: Princess Luna.
 * Twilight, following
 * Axe Crazy: Nihilus in spades, Wrong as well.
 * Badass Princess: Celestia and Luna both qualify.
 * BFS: Equinox. Most unicorns have around 9 pieces to their blade.
 * It also has the added benefit of
 * Big Bad: Titan
 * Big No: Nihilus lets one rip when
 * Blood Knight: Nihilus and Esteem both fit this trope quite nicely
 * Blood Is the New Black: Esteem "spreads" a helpless pony all over himself and Rarity. Then he apologizes for not considering that the color doesn't go with her mane, like it does his.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Wrong, Rainbow Dash after Nihilus implants a spell called the Insanity into her skull that constantly tears at her sense of self, resulting in a nigh-amnesiac assassin who divides her time between hunting down the Mane Six and begging them to run.
 * Brainwash Residue:
 * Break the Cutie: Pinkie Pie gets hit hard by this after.
 * Brick Joke: In the Mane Cast's first scene (before everything goes to hell), Rainbow Dash makes an Accidental Innuendo about Fluttershy's dancing. Much later, after, she makes another one about the latter situation.
 * Broken Ace: It's established right at the beginning of the story that Twilight is, in addition to being Celestia's prize student, the most powerful Unicorn alive, but that just ends up making her a target for the villains, and later leads to her being appointed leader of the Loyalists. The stress of all this practically drives her insane
 * Broken Pedestal:
 * Brought Down to Normal:
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Rarity.
 * The Chessmaster: Celestia.
 * Climax Boss:
 * Co-Dragons: Nihilus and Esteem.
 * One could argue that Terra has shades of The Dragon as well, though she doesn't do much for most of the story.
 * Cosmic Chess Game: The titular Immortal Game referred to by Celestia and Titan at points in the story.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture:
 * Convenient Coma:
 * The Corruption: Discord's MO back in the day -- he'd turn ponies into mindless, hideous creatures called creechlings who the Royals wouldn't hesitate to Mercy Kill.
 * Crazy Prepared:
 * Cry for The Devil: Terra gets a flashback chapter that shows how she became the way she is: . It's kind of hard not to pity her after reading that.
 * Curb Stomp Battle:  Twilight Sparkle versus anypony who isn't Titan (the real Titan; the Puppet avatars don't count).
 * Nihilus' first fight with Luna, as the latter was severely weakened at the time.
 * Esteem vs anypony in a blade fight who isn't Rarity, Twilight's mother, or Twilight herself.
 * Terra delivers one to everypony during the second battle of Ponyville
 * Dark Fic: And How! War Is Hell, the corruption of Ideals, Rage Against the Heavens and Rage Against the Mentor, Mad God predecessors, Mass war, Brainwashing.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Luna, especially in later chapters.
 * The Dead Have Names: Pinkie lists the names of all the ponies killed in Terra's attack on Ponyville when.
 * Death Faked for You:
 * Death Glare: The Stare becomes this literally when Fluttershy uses it on Puppets -- apparently, it works by bending a pony or animal's will, but since the Puppets don't have any will of their own, it burns through them instead.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: Nihilus Nix Naught? Somepony's got a zero fetish.
 * Despair Event Horizon: Twilight crosses it on the eve of the Final Battle, as she deduces that they don't have a chance of winning. Luna gives her hope with the speech that the page quote comes from.
 * Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Part of Nihilus' flaws as a minion is that she's a complete inversion of Twilight -- up to and including Twi's ability to focus on a goal, meaning she often gets distracted by new ways to torture her targets -- giving them time to escape.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Twilight managing to nearly kill Terra during the second battle of Ponyville.
 * Disc One Final Boss: Despite her important role at the beginning of the story, Nihilus is the first major antagonist dispatched, bridging the way to greater battles and war.
 * Disney Death:
 * The Dog Bites Back: There's shades of this when
 * Elite Mooks: The Unicorn Puppets.
 * Enemy Civil War: In the Backstory -- during Titan and Terra's original reign, she eventually tried to usurp his position, and they fought for (possibly) decades, until Celestia and Luna got so tired of all the pointless death and destruction that they stabbed both of their parents in the back and sealed them away.
 * Enemy Mine:
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In his own sick, twisted way, Esteem actually seems to care about Rarity. Likewise, Terra seems to genuinely love Titan.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: All of the main villains have this to varying degrees.
 * The Evils of Free Will: Titan ultimately decides that the main "problem" with ponies is their free will, which allows them to defy him, and resolves to remove it once he's crushed Twilight and the Loyalists.
 * Eye Scream: It must not have been a pleasant experience for
 * Fighting From the Inside: Dash struggles with the Insanity, trying to resist it's control over her. It doesn't go well
 * Twilight also fights Nihilus passively by providing her bad information and distractions whenever possible, but it isn't until her friends are all in a position to defeat her that she can resist long enough to provide them help in the form of the elements.
 * The Fighting Narcissist: General Esteem, widely recognized as the greatest bladecaster in the world -- when Titan grants him a boon in exchange for his loyalty, he chooses eternal youth.
 * Godzilla Threshold: That's all you can really call it when the group
 * Hammerspace: Twilight/Nihilus' null-space
 * Hannibal Lecture: Terra is very fond of these
 * Hero With Bad Publicity: Luna, though it gets better the more she fights alongside the Loyalists.
 * Healing Factor: All Earth Ponies  seem to possess this in varying degrees, Applejack's in particular seems to be rather powerful.
 * Hellish Pupils: Nihilus gets a glowing red iris around a slitted pupil where.
 * Heroic Second Wind: During the battle of Canterlot castle,, and it looks like it's all over. Then,  , and she gets back up.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: The reason for Sparkle's pacifism is that she's afraid that she'll start enjoying violence, and become no better than Nihilus.
 * I Am Not My Father: Rarity
 * I Have No Father: After calling him out, Rarity effectively disowns Esteem, and shows no signs of having a problem with the possibility of having to kill him
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Nihilus, though aside from that there aren't any other signs of this trope being in play.
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes: Depending on how you look at it, Twilight's "God Slayer" outfit might count, with her wearing a piece of the night sky on her body. (Then again, since it's designed to never come off, this might get a little awkward after the war)
 * Incest Is Relative: Titan doesn't appear to have a problem with forcing Luna to marry her brother, or
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain/Minion With an F In Evil: Empyrean. He really has no clue how to run Equestria or fight the Loyalists, and it's clear that Esteem hates having to work for him.
 * Insistent Terminology: Titles are very important to some of the ponies.
 * Internal Reveal: After, Equestria at large believes Twilight to be dead, until she (and the rest of the Mane Six) hook up with the Loyalists.
 * Ironic Echo: "Titles are important," is practically Esteem's Catch Phrase. Twilight shoots this back at him during the Final Battle by pointing out that . Similarly, he gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech when he thinks he's beat her, and later she gives a similar one to him right before.
 * When Terra is, she tells Fluttershy that she performs cruel acts because "It's what I do. It's who I am." When Fluttershy shows her an act of kindness anyway, she replies to Terra's inquiry as to why with the same line.
 * It's Personal: Naturally, Rarity's rivalry with her father Esteem.
 * Jerkass Gods: Titan and Terra don't really care much about for their subjects.
 * Karmic Death:
 * Kick the Dog: Esteem mocking Twilight's parents about how he.
 * Kill It With Fire: Averted.
 * Lady of War: Rarity
 * La Résistance: The Loyalists.
 * Last of His Kind: As it turns out,
 * Legacy Character: Empyrean turns out to be one; he was modeled and named after
 * Les Collaborateurs: All the nobles and soldiers who side with the royal family after Titan takes over. Though it should be noted that aside from Esteem and the Cadet, who joined for power (and the former's respect in the Cadet's case), this is presented more realistically than most examples -- many, like Captain Crunch, only sided with Titan out of fear and the belief that they had no other choice.
 * Load-Bearing Boss:
 * Mama Bear/Papa Wolf: Don't mess with Twilight, or you'll have her parents coming after you. Especially her mother Starlight, who, before Rarity hooks up with the Loyalists, is the only pony able to match Esteem in a sword fight.
 * Master Bladecaster: Esteem. As he notes that Rarity is the strongest bladecaster he's ever met other than himself, Rarity may fit this trope as well.
 * Meaningful Rename: Titan was originally named Order, but changed it when he snapped from the fallout of his war with Discord, and went from a strict but well intentioned ruler to the monster we've seen in the rest of the story.
 * Mercy Kill: As flashback's show, this is the only thing to be done for Discord's creechlings, since there's no way to return them to normal.
 * The Messiah: Due to being Celestia's prized student, Twilight has a reputation like this among the Loyalists, which causes their ranks to swell after the Internal Reveal that she's still alive.
 * Mighty Glacier: Applejack
 * Mind Hive: Celestia can split her mind into at least three separate consciousnesses, each able to concentrate on a different train of thought.
 * Mind Rape: The Insanity does this to Rainbow Dash whenever she even thinks about resisting one of Nihilus's orders. Or remember she's Rainbow Dash.
 * Mooks: The Puppets
 * Mook Lieutenant: The Cadet.
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya:
 * Mythology Gag: Out of the Mane Six, the first two to  And as a cherry on top, immediately afterwards we get:
 * Master Bladecaster: Esteem. As he notes that Rarity is the strongest bladecaster he's ever met other than himself, Rarity may fit this trope as well.
 * Meaningful Rename: Titan was originally named Order, but changed it when he snapped from the fallout of his war with Discord, and went from a strict but well intentioned ruler to the monster we've seen in the rest of the story.
 * Mercy Kill: As flashback's show, this is the only thing to be done for Discord's creechlings, since there's no way to return them to normal.
 * The Messiah: Due to being Celestia's prized student, Twilight has a reputation like this among the Loyalists, which causes their ranks to swell after the Internal Reveal that she's still alive.
 * Mighty Glacier: Applejack
 * Mind Hive: Celestia can split her mind into at least three separate consciousnesses, each able to concentrate on a different train of thought.
 * Mind Rape: The Insanity does this to Rainbow Dash whenever she even thinks about resisting one of Nihilus's orders. Or remember she's Rainbow Dash.
 * Mooks: The Puppets
 * Mook Lieutenant: The Cadet.
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya:
 * Mythology Gag: Out of the Mane Six, the first two to  And as a cherry on top, immediately afterwards we get:

""Ah know knights and generals. You're just a jackass.""
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Titan puts
 * Terra's assault on Ponyville, which serves no strategic goal and is only to hurt her enemies emotionally, ends.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: Terra would appear to qualify, as she believes that the only purpose in life is to survive, and that any other goal is meaningless.
 * Never My Fault: Titan blames ponykind for, even though Discord was responsible for the latter, and he himself was responsible for the former.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Since there is a war going on and all, naturally no one's holding any punches. Still, that being said, the key fights always seem to be a bit harsher than most of the others.
 * Not Now, Kiddo: The moon turning red.
 * No Sell: Applejack is able to do this due to a combination of her strength, her Healing Factor, and her armor (especially after Twilight enhances the latter).
 * And both Titan and Terra have a spell that neutralizes other ponies' magic
 * Not What It Looks Like: After Applejack and Fluttershy end up sharing a bed for the night, Rainbow Dash walks in on them the following morning lying on top of each other. She quickly leaves the room, and Applejack just as quickly follows after to explain.
 * Offing the Offspring: Titan and Terra have no problem with doing this.
 * Ominous Floating Castle: Nihilus' floating citadel.
 * Only Known By Their Nickname: Sir Unimpressive and the Cadet.
 * Orcus On His Throne: All of the royals. Empyrean stays in the palace, officially ruling in his father's name, but never fights the Loyalists himself  (which is justified by him being young and having no knowledge of combat). Meanwhile, Titan and Terra are off "restoring order" to their creation , and don't fight the protagonists directly except at the very beginning of the story and during the climax, though Titan did intervene a few times via Puppet Avatars.
 * Paint It Black: Nihilus starts out looking exactly like Twilight, but eventually ends up looking like the picture above. In a faster example, when Rainbow Dash is subjected to the Insanity, it turns her fur black and her mane and tail white.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil:
 * Ponies Are Bastards: Titan and Terra both firmly believe that Ponies are naturally vicious, violent creatures, and the paradise that Celestia created is a falsehood.
 * Physical God: All the royals, obviously.
 * Pony Abomination: Discord's creechlings from the flashbacks definitely sound like they fit, going by the description.
 * Pony of Mass Destruction: Goes hand in hand with the Physical God line.
 * Psychic Link: It turns out that the Elements of Harmony grant one to their bearers, and the Mane Six end up using this to their advantage during battle.
 * Rage Against the Mentor:
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Applejack gives a rather simple one to Esteem when they meet for the first time:

"Terra: What could possibly be more important to you ponies than survival.
 * Esteem himself gives one to Twilight when he thinks the villains have won, telling her that she was foolish to think she could win, and that all she'll be remembered for is failing.
 * Rebel Leader: Twilight's parents seem to have been, if not the leaders of the Loyalists, then at least among them. Until the Mane Six hook up with them, and Twilight hesitantly accepts Luna's decision to appoint her General of the Armies of Equestria, which makes her leader of the Loyalists by default.
 * Red Baron: After her He's Back moment, Twilight Sparkle takes up the title "The Godslayer", to serve as both a symbol of hope for the Loyalists, and a figure of fear for the Royals.
 * Redemption Equals Death:, who performs a Heel Face Turn when she realizes the Loyalists have a chance of winning, and ends up being unceremoniously killed by Esteem.
 * Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated:
 * Revenge By Proxy: Titan sends Terra to destroy Ponyville after . As Luna puts it, it's not about winning, it's about punishment.
 * Rogue Protagonist: As suggested in the picture and mentioned in the picture's caption, Twilight Sparkle
 * Royal Brat: Prince Empyrean, who -- as Esteem is quick to point out -- is just a petulant child who happens to have the power of a god.
 * She's Back: Rainbow Dash  in order to save Pinkie, performing a Sonic Rainboom in the process.
 * And then there's everyone when
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: Well, Pinkie's still involved, so this trope isn't in full effect. However, the CMC are quickly removed from the story after a quick mention as they're shipped off to safety, thus allowing the story to focus on the more serious characters.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: During the second Battle of Ponyville, while Terra is beating the Mane Six and Luna into the ground, she's also ranting about how survival is all that matters, and doesn't understand why they're fighting her even though they have no chance to beat her. They shoot her down simply:
 * And then there's everyone when
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: Well, Pinkie's still involved, so this trope isn't in full effect. However, the CMC are quickly removed from the story after a quick mention as they're shipped off to safety, thus allowing the story to focus on the more serious characters.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: During the second Battle of Ponyville, while Terra is beating the Mane Six and Luna into the ground, she's also ranting about how survival is all that matters, and doesn't understand why they're fighting her even though they have no chance to beat her. They shoot her down simply:

Fluttershy: Friendship."

"Terra: I have more power than all of you combined. Against me you have nothing. No weapons. No magic.
 * This is immediately followed by Terra stating that she's still more powerful than all of them and trying to finish them, only to be stopped by

(Attempts to kill Twilight, )

Terra: No! That's impossible!

Twilight: Hadn't you heard? Friendship is magic."

""I'm going to make you feel, old friend. I'm going to make you feel everything.""
 * Split Personality:
 * Split Personality Merge:
 * Social Darwinist: Titan and his disciple Esteem
 * The Starscream: Nihilus only follows Titan's orders as an excuse to hunt down the Mane Six and get her hooves on the Elements so she can use them to overthrow him and place herself on the throne.
 * The Stoic: Twilight becomes this after . From then on, the only times she shows emotion is around her parents, the other Mane Six, and occasionally Luna.
 * Stop or I Shoot Myself: When Nihilus captures the Element bearers and is trying to take the Elements from them, Rarity threatens to slit her own throat with a diamond (that she hid in her mane) if she doesn't release the others.
 * Storming the Castle: The Loyalists attacking Canterlot castle. By the time it's done,
 * Talking to Themself: Twilight Sparkle ends up doing this a lot after.
 * Time Skip: After, the story skips ahead a month, and after a couple of chapters bringing various plot threads together, subtly skips ahead roughly two weeks.
 * Title Drop: For both of the story's titles:
 * For the original title: Ponies Make War is the name of a book of war magic written by one of Twilight Sparkle's ancestors, and the phrase itself is dropped a few times.
 * The "Immortal Game" is how Titan and Celestia refer to their Cosmic Chess Game.
 * Treacherous Advisor: General Esteem was this to Celestia.
 * That Pony Is Dead:
 * Also how Terra refers to her original, kind self. She even goes so far as to say that even if there was any of the old her left buried inside her, she'd gladly destroy it.
 * Try Not to Die: Just before they storm Canterlot castle, Twilight orders Sir Unimpressive not to die, as a contingency plan (specifically, he can lead if she dies).
 * Took a Level In Badass: Rarity is the most notable, though most of the mane cast take a few levels themselves
 * According to the author, all of the Mane Six will take multiple levels in badass, yes even Fluttershy.
 * Torture Technician: Terra seems to be this when she's not busy creating Puppets
 * To the Pain: A subtle example, but 's threat to   during their confrontation qualifies:

""Centuries of boiling water for tea when I knew that I could boil the seas. Of lifting quills when I could life mountains. Of breaking wax seals when I could break anything I please. My power is too much for this world. But it isn't too much for you, is it, Terra? Now I get to find out what I'm really capable of. No lives to save, no plans to make, nothing to hold me back. I am divinity unleashed.""
 * Unfortunate Names: One of the Loyalist commanders is a Pegasus named Noble Steed. When he introduces himself, he comments that he doesn't know what he did to his parents when he was only a day old that they decided to punish him by giving him that name.
 * Ungrateful Bastard:
 * Used to Be A Sweet Kid: Terra comes off as this in her flashbacks, until... well, see Cry for The Devil.
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Empyrean totally loses it when the Mane Six  and tries to incinerate them.
 * Villains Want Mercy: Both  end up begging Twilight for mercy, and don't get it.
 * War Is Hell: You better believe it!
 * We Can Rule Together: Esteem tries this with Rarity. She refuses and proceeds to call him out.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: The Cadet has this attitude towards Esteem.
 * Empyrean has shades of this as well.
 * World of Cardboard Speech:  gives a brief one after regaining her power, in the same vein as the Trope Namer.


 * World's Most Beautiful Mare: Terra.
 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
 * You Have Failed Me: