trope a day

Trope A Day-Derelict Graveyard

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Derelict Graveyard-The one big one that usually referenced is the Kaladros Wastes. On the edge of the frontier between the Griffin Moot and Equestria, both nations maintained garrison forces on the only world in the system, and warship fleets in the space surrounding the Wastes. They did this even during the Horizon War, and kept the neutrality of the location throughout the War.

The reason for this is simple-the Kaladros Wastes is a Precursor graveyard. The job of the fleets and the garrison is not to keep scavengers and unauthorized exploration parties out. They do this, mind you, but it’s not their primary job.

Their primary job is to keep whatever is in the Kaladros Wastes in.

Trope A Day-What You Are In The Dark

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What You Are In The Dark-It’s amazing how many being in the Equestriaverse will do the right thing when nobody is looking. Or nobody will notice, or care, or even take note of it. If they don’t, they’ve probably fallen so far down the slippery slope of morality that they’re a danger to everybody around them.

The question of this heightened morality is natural or built in is a major question that keeps being asked.

Trope A Day-Stop Worshiping Me/Unwanted False Faith

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Stop Worshiping Me/Unwanted False Faith-Alicorns.

Full stop.

To say that alicorns are powerful is like saying the sun is a little warm, the sea is a little salty, and hard vacuum is short on breathable material. Twenty-seven beings that the Equestrian ponies revere in various degrees of worship from “the very hoof beats of Faust on the universe” to “very powerful beings that you should respect for that power.” The weakest can kill starships in orbit, the strongest and eldest among them are basically “do not attack, unless you want to prove there is life after death by direct examination.” They are capable of many things…

…but, some things are beyond them. They cannot bless. They cannot bring back the dead (the truly dead, not someone that died but has a cortical stack). They cannot heal beyond what is available by technology. And, the process of becoming an alicorn, Ascention, is something that an alicorn can only provide guidance once the pony has made it half-way there. Whatever counts as half-way for that particular pony.

But, this doesn’t stop ponies from trying to pray. To beg for a miracle. To ask for a blessing. To pour faith into twenty-seven being that for the most part…can only do what they can do and not much else.

For at least six hundred years, the alicorns of Equestria have been trying to reduce the size of the pedestals that they have been put on by ponies. So far…there hasn’t been too much reduction.

Trope A Day-Required Secondary Powers

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Required Secondary Powers-Comedy usually happens when a unicorn (or anybody with a vector controller) forgets that while the vector controller or magic might be able to lift an object, if they aren’t braced properly…

Or, summoning fireballs and forgetting the whole thing about thermal bloom.

Or any number of things where if you forget that the laws of physics will find a way to get you in the end.

Trope A Day-The Ponies In Black

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The Ponies In Black-There is no such thing as the Ministry of Ghosts.

There is no such Ministry in the Equestrian government run by Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Sunset Shimmer, and Princess Starlight Glimmer.

This Ministry-that does not exist-does not handles dangerous Precursor artifacts, magical devices that should not be used by anypony, and anything else that would be a direct threat to any intelligent being.

And, they are especially not behind you with a stun gun and a memory redactor.

Really.  Honest.

Just don’t look behind you.

Trope A Day-Space Elevator

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Space Elevator-Before the development of anti-gravity technology, ponies built two of these, the griffins built one, and you can tell the early colonies that happened before anti-gravity technology.  One of the big things about the Princess Platinum-class Orbital Foundry Ships was that it had a weaving loom to build orbital elevator cables.   The space that the loom used to take up is now filled with fabricators and smelters.

Trope A Day-Nano-machines

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Nano-machines-Equestria was swarming with nano-machines in one form or another, and acted as the point of interface between magic and ponies. When this was discovered, soon after the Great Shift, there were a lot of questions asked, and very few of them were answered. Eventually, everybody was able to create nano-machines of their own…but was never quite as good as the swarming hordes of invisible nano-machines around them.   Only unicorns and alicorns were able to consciously access and control these nano-machines, while the other races used them instinctively.  Even this level of control is highly restricted, with very few ponies being able to go beyond a few simple “tricks”. Trying to hack the nano-machines is very difficult to impossible, and Very Bad Things happen to ponies that try.

To this day, the nano-machine technology that makes magic possible seems to follow ponies (and everybody else) everywhere, or is there already. It is definitely a Precursor technology (the very existence of the nano-machines violates several laws of thermodynamics and at least one law of causality), and it is one of the biggest question marks about the existence of the Precursors.  Research on them is very tricky-they have very effective self destruct mechanisms and are almost impossible to contain.

(And, this is even cannon!)

Trope A Day-Space Marine

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Space Marine-Oddly averted by the Royal Equestrian Space Forces, mostly because they never really saw the need for such a force.  If they need ground troops, they get them from the Royal Equestrian Ground Forces, usually in the form of a Reaction Battalion on a Bright Bulb-class GFSS (Ground Forces Support Ship).  After the Horizon War, the RESF and the REGF began to work out force sizes for ships, with a proposal for company-sized units aboard cruisers, reinforced-company sized units on battlecruisers, and battalion-sized units of infantry on capital ships.

Embraced with glee by the Imperial Griffin Marine Corps, whom will fight with anyone over the title of “The Emperor’s Finest“.  The IGMC can get away with having their crews on Imperial Griffin Space Navy ships by the simple fact that a Marine is replacing an equivalent naval rating, as well as providing ground force support.  Since every single Marine wears a suit of powered battle armor and is backed up by a veritable swarm of drones, orbital fire support, and the other Marines to their flanks, this makes an IGMC Marine (NEVER call an IGMC Marine a “soldier” unless you want to get punched) a dangerous foe indeed.

The Senate and Minotaur Republic Forces doesn’t recognize any difference between a spacer or a soldier.  Basic training is infantry training, every soldier in the SMRF from new recruit to Dux is required to demonstrate basic infantry proficiency at least yearly, and every single soldier in the SMRF legions has an infantry rifle somewhere handy.  While they do have specialist ground and boarding soldiers in powered armor for those missions that require it, the SMRF doctrine of “every soldier is an infantry soldier” has served it well on a number of occasions.

The Zebra Kingdoms espatiers are in the mold of the IGMC, but like a lot of things in the Kingdoms they have to contend with issues of too few bodies for too many missions.  Especially if Capital has to act against one of the larger noble houses, careful alliances are needed to generate the number of troops needed to bring down a noble house.