Beware the Villains of Equestria! The rogues’ gallery of My Little Pony’s worst villains have come to invade the peaceful ponyland and oppose the Magic of Friendship. Nightmare Moon grin Discord Icon Queen Chrysalis’s smile King Sombra Icon 1 MLP Friendship is Magic - Lord Tirek humorous Icon Starlight Glimmer Icon My Evil Tempest icon Cozy Glow Icon 1
 
From jealous princesses to chaotic spirits, from love-devouring shapeshifters to dark lords, from power-hungry centaurs to dictators, from shadowy forces and their hurting hosts to beastly warlords and their hateful servants, from psychopathic, manipulative children to ancient, evil emperors, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has had a history of some of the most terrible fiends and foes ever seen. Evil has been around before even Equestria’s founding, and all the ponies and nonpony creatures had the misery to be assaulted by these malefactors and their maniacal machinations.
 
Here are the villains we all love to hate. Seeing that since I already made vectors of Grogar, the Storm King, and Discord, I decided to do a villains piece. Of course, I had to create the others. Some proved to be more of a challenge than I thought. But I’ll discuss about the challenges for each of these fiends with their bios. ;) (Wink) As you might notice, both Nightmare Moon and Grogar are in the foreground. Well, since Nightmare Moon was the first MLP:FIM villain and Grogar was the final MLP:FIM villain, they should be the stars. I know some don’t include Grogar since he was Discord in disguise, but he was a real historical figure and is a fan favorite (and I’m one of those fans). So why not? And if you also notice, the villains have a rainbow background, only it’s more sinister. From a Tolkien’s perspective, it’s a counterfeit to the Mane Six’s rainbow background just as an orc is to an elf. I’m really glad I thought of it. :D (Big Grin) Heart This project took me two weeks to work on, though of course I had other projects to work on or finish up with. And I’m heading back to class soon.
 
Now, where were we? We all recall when the seemingly paradisiacal country of Equestria and the lands beyond were threatened by the very first villain, or villainess…
 
Nightmare Moon - At the very start of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, we were told of the story of the Luciferian fall of Princess Celestia’s younger sister, Princess Luna. After being chosen to be the leaders of Equestria by the legendary wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded, the Two Sisters ruled together and created harmony for all the land. They were also charged with raising the sun and moon; Celestia raised the sun at dawn, and Luna brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects. But dark days would still come. A thousand years ago, Princess Luna became frustrated and resentful as the ponies of Equestria relished daytime but slept at night. One night, feeling her hard work was going unnoticed, she refused to lower the moon. Her seething anger and jealousy grew until they transformed her into a “wicked mare of darkness,” Nightmare Moon, and she vowed to shroud Equestria in eternal night. Princess Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to banish her fallen sister to the moon, and took on responsibility for both sun and moon.
 
But Celestia knew Nightmare Moon had to return on the longest day of the thousandth year. And so did her student, Twilight Sparkle, who tried to warn her of the impending return, but the princess dismissed her concern, and sent Twilight to Ponyville and make new friends, knowing that they would be able to harness the Elements of Harmony. When Nightmare Moon returned, she captured Celestia, who freed her by moving “the stars that would aid in her escape,” and carried out her dark vow, ushering in her eternal night and a possible age of evil. Fortunately, Twilight Sparkle and her new friends—Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash—journeyed to the abandoned castle of the Two Sisters in order to find the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon. The fallen princess tried everything to deter the ponies by creating obstacles, but each of the ponies helped the group overcome them using her own strengths. When the Mane Six arrived and recovered the Elements of Harmony, Twilight realized that she and her new friends embodied the six Elements, and the six wielded them to defeat the malevolent Nightmare Moon, returning her back into the benevolent Princess Luna, once again bringing light to Equestria. With the two sisters reunited, they continued their reign over Equestria while Twilight and her best friends continued to spread harmony and friendship throughout the kingdom. Had the Mane Six not succeeded, Nightmare Moon would’ve ruled for all time from her former home, imprisoned Celestia to the moon in revenge, enslaved some of the Mane Six as her servants, and bring about an era of eternal night and evil.
 
Discord - A season after Nightmare Moon’s eternal night agenda was thwarted, another old enemy returned. Discord is the very Spirt of Chaos and Disharmony and a type of creature known as a Draconequus, which had the head of a pony and the body of many nasty creatures. Some time after the Pillars of Equestria disappeared into Limbo, the mischievous Draconequus appeared and threatened the harmony of the kingdom and plunging it into chaos. Despite Princesses Celestia and Luna (before her fall from grace) protecting Equestria, Discord had managed to upend life there. But before his mischief would last another millennium, Princesses Celestia and Luna found the Elements of Harmony and used them on the mixed-up, mismatched trickster by turning him to stone.
 
A thousand years later, Discord returned to reek havoc once more, by turning rain clouds into cotton candy sprinkling chocolate, causing corn to explode into popcorn and apples to grow so large their trees bended, turning rabbits into girabbits and pigs into Pigasi, have buildings float, day and night to happen randomly, turn pathways into soap, cause buffaloes to dance like ballerinas, and ponies to defy the laws of gravity. It was so chaotic. When Princess Celestia sent Twilight and her best friends to stop him, the devious Draconequus continued with ploys to divide and conquer the Mane Six by making them exhibit traits that are the opposite of the Elements they represent. He almost succeeded, but the Magic of Friendship finds a way to heal all things, even the Mane 6’s relationship. And once again, Discord was turned back into stone. Near the end of Season 3, Princess Celestia decided to give Discord a second chance and have him use his topsy-turvy magic for good instead of evil, and appointed Fluttershy to the task. As soon as the Mane Six freed Discord, he still stirred up mischief. However, Fluttershy insisted on using kindness, and she immediately became his first, true friend. From that point on, Discord has gone from being the kooky, whacky, unpredictable enemy of Equestria to the kooky, whacky, unpredictable friend of the Mane Six. He makes an effort to be a good friend, and his methods are questionable, but it’s certainly better than living in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness for all ponies.
 
Queen Chrysalis - After the season 2 premiere brought us Discord and his chaotic antics, its finale invited a very uninvited guest to a royal wedding. Chrysalis was the shape-shifting queen of the formerly vicious and terrifying Changelings, as well as the oldest and largest. She is a master of deception and has been a parasite upon Equestria for over a thousand years. She and the rest of her cursed kind have spent their time feeding on the love of other creatures but never satisfied their hunger. Upon discovering Equestria has more love than anywhere else, the cruel Chrysalis came up with a diabolical plan to take control and feed herself and her subjects. With the power to take the form of another being, she disguised herself as Princess Cadance on her day of her wedding to Shining Armor, the captain of the royal guard who protected Canterlot with his magical force field. The only pony who saw the insidious imposter’s ruse was Twilight Sparkle, who remembered Cadance as her beloved foalsitter. Chrysalis managed to turn her friends, brother and mentor against her, and imprisoned her under Canterlot. Fortunately, this was where she was reunited with the real Princess Cadance. Together, they escaped and exposed Chrysalis’ deception. Unfortunately, she took control of Shining Armor and had his lower the barrier for her subjects to besiege Canterlot. All hope seemed lost until the light of Cadance and Shining Armor’s true love overcame Queen Chrysalis and her swarm.
 
Years later, the vengeful Changeling queen wanted revenge for her defeat. She captured the Mane Six and the royals, and replaced them with her Changeling subjects disguised as her captured prize. Only Twilight’s pupil, the recently reformed Starlight Glimmer, Discord, Trixie and the first reformed Changeling, Thorax, recognized their ruse, and worked together to free their friends. Starlight revealed that the Changelings’ need for love inside them cannot be satisfied by stealing it from others, but only by giving love freely. Chrysalis, however, refused to lose control of her subjects and savor on the love they collected for her. Fortunately, Thorax shared the love he gathered from his friendship with the ponies, and he metamorphized himself into a new kind of Changedling, and so did the remaining Changelings, who chose Thorax as their new king. The only one who did not change was Chrysalis. Instead of accepting Starlight’s hoof in friendship, she rejected it and vowed revenge on her before she flew away. Of course, if these events hadn’t been won in favor of the ponies Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings would’ve conquered Equestria and forced many ponies into hiding.
 
King Sombra - The end of season 2 had a wicked queen, but the start of season 3 had a scary king. A thousand years ago, King Sombra was the evil ruler of the Crystal Empire. With a heart as black as shadow, clad in armor from mane to tail, he enslaved the Crystal Ponies and transformed the empire into a very evil place. This dark lord of darkness was stopped by Princess Celestia and Luna by turning him to shadow, and banished him to the frozen north. But before then, he cursed the empire to vanish as a last effect, and it was soon forgotten by everypony.
 
A thousand years later, the Crystal Empire returned, and with it, King Sombra! Princess Celestia alerted Twilight about this. She warned her student that just as when the empire is filled with hope and love, that goodwill spreads all over Equestria, the same holds true if evil takes hold in the empire–then the treachery takes over the world. Fearing Sombra would return and use the power of the empire to take over Equestria, Celestia directed Twilight to join her friends, Princess Cadance, and Shining Armor at the empire to help protect it as a test of her abilities. Despite Cadance’s best attempts to maintain a spell to prevent Sombra’s shadowy form from entering, Twilight and her friends organized a Crystal Fair to help enlighten the hearts of the Crystal Ponies and protect it from the king. But Twilight realized that Sombra would be able to gain purchase as long as the Crystal Heart was missing. Twilight and her dragon friend, Spike, set out to find the heart, but she was caught in Sombra’s trap, leaving it up to Spike and Cadance to return the heart. The Crystal Ponies filled their hearts with hope and love, recreating the protective spell on the empire and obliterating the evil tyrant. But just imagined if Spike failed. Sombra would take over the Crystal Empire once more, turn his subjects into mind-controlled soldiers, and expand the empire, leading to a Great Crystal War.
 
Lord Tirek - Although Discord’s plundervines almost overran Equestria at the start of season 4, this next villains had plundered all the ponies of their magic. Lord Tirek was the evil centaur son of King Vorak of a distant kingdom. A thousand years ago, possibly after Celestia and Luna recently became princesses, Tirek and his gargoyle brother, Scorpan, came to Equestria to steal its magic. However, Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ways of Equestria, even befriending a young unicorn wizard. He urged his brother to abandon their plans. When Tirek refused, Scorpan alerted Princesses Celestia and Luna to Tirek’s intentions. Scorpan returned to his own land (to succeed his father on the throne according to deleted sketches for My Little Pony the Movie), and Tirek was sent to the dark realm Tartarus for his crimes.
 
A thousand years later, Tirek managed to escape and began draining magic from ponies to grow stronger. Celestia sent Discord to capture Tirek. Unfortunately, Tirek manipulated Discord into joining forces with him and together they plundered more of Equestria’s magic, and Tirek became more powerful. Meanwhile, the princesses gave Twilight their own magic so as to hide it from Tirek, who was unaware of Twilight’s existence. Tirek captured the other princesses and, learning of Twilight, made his way to Ponyville, where he drained Twilight’s friends’ magic and betrayed Discord by stealing his magic as well. After a destructive battle between Twilight and Tirek, the villainous centaur offered her the freedom of her friends in exchange for her magic, to which she agreed. Remorsefully, Discord gave her a medallion he had received from Tirek in mock alliance. The medallion became the final key needed for the chest from the Tree of Harmony, which opened to bestow the Mane Six with a new Rainbow Power and were able to defeat Tirek, free the princesses and restore every other pony’s magic. The hateful Tirek languished for four more seasons until he recieved a surprise visit from somepony who wanted to drain magic…
 
Starlight Glimmer - With the season 4 finale’s power-hungry fiend defeated, another magic mad dictator dominated all of season 5. Starlight Glimmer was once the leader of a town on the outskirts of Equestria. In this isolated village she claimed to bring equality to all who entered it. When the Mane Six were summoned by the Cutie Map, they came to Starlight’s village. There they discovered that the ponies looked the same and each had the same cutie mark - a black equal sign. Starlight believed that having cutie marks and individual talents led to disharmony. Using the Staff of Sameness, she removed the Mane Six’s cutie marks and replaced them with the same equal signs everypony in town wore. However, she hid her cutie mark to continue this charade. Fortunately, the Mane Six exposed her as a fraud, freed themselves and the villagers from her concept of “equality,” and she fled. But Starlight would return…
 
Wanting revenge, Starlight used Star Swirl’s time travel spell to change history in order to destroy the bond of the Mane 6, unaware of the horrible consequences her meddling left behind. Twilight Sparkle, who she and Spike were sucked back in time, learned how important their friendship was to the peace in Equestria. Twilight showed Starlight this, but Starlight revealed to her and Spike her tragic story. A long time ago, Starlight’s best friend, Sunburst, got his cutie mark before she did, and left her. Feeling betrayed and abandoned, the bitter Starlight became convinced that cutie marks cause disharmony and that anypony having different degrees of ability makes others unable to be proper friends. Before Starlight could continue with her revenge, Twilight offered her hoof in friendship and taught her the importance of uniqueness and individual talents. Starlight finally accepted friendship, and then, Twilight took on the reformed Unicorn as her student to learn the Magic of Friendship.
 
The Pony of Shadows - After Starlight Glimmer and Queen Chrysalis terrorized seasons 5 and 6, the season 7 finale almost plunged into darkness by an ancient foe of years ole. Once trapped away within the Well of Shade and disregarded as a bad dream was a sinister dark force that desired to usher in an age of terribe tenebrosity. This evil spirit waited to be free when a lonely Unicorn entered its prison. Stygian was a scholar who forged the Pillars of Olde Equestria, a fellowship of legendary ponies. However, despite his strategies he was always ignored by the populace. He decided to take the Pillar’s artifacts with the intention of making copies of them for a spell. But when the Pillars discovered his plans, they thought he only brought them together just to steal their power for himself, and cast him out. Stygian entered the dark cistern and the force of darkness promised him more power than ever before. Stygian welcomed it and transformed into the Pony of Shadows, an evil being intent on drowing all of Equestria in despair and darkness. The Pillars confronted him at Ponhenge, and sealed both the nightmare and themselves into Limbo. But not before leaving behind the seed that would sprout into the Tree of Harmony.
 
A thousand moons later, Twilight Sparkle freed the Pillars, but also unleashed the Pony of Shadows. The Mane 6 teamed up with the Pillars to banish their ancient foe back to Limbo, but Starlight Glimmer believed that this was a friendship problem. After weakening the Pony of Shadows at the Well of Shade, Twilight and Starlight worked together to free Stygian, and help him reveal his true intentions to the Pillars. Twilight, Starlight, the Mane 6 and the Pillars separated Stygian from the Pony of Shadows and sent the evil back to Limbo. Realizing the error of their ways, the Pillars apologized to Stygian, and learned a valuable friendship lesson. Where the darkness is is unknown, but hopefully it won’t cause any more evil anytime soon.
 
The Storm King - Every good movie needs a big bad guy, and this power-hungry warlord is bigger AND badder. While Equestria remained a peaceful kingdom filled with friendly, cute ponies valuing friendship and harmony, the lands south of it was anything but peaceful, harmonious or friendly. It wasn’t even free. It was under the oppressive yolk of The Storm King, an evil, iron-fisted beast of a conqueror. Travelling the skies in his airship, invading lands with his vast army of Storm Creatures, he spent the past several years expanding his empire. But then he sought after power that would have the entire world bow to his bah-bah-bah-boom! At some point, he encountered a lonely Unicorn with a broken horn, and found potential in her. He agreed to restore the pony’s horn if she got him the power he desired. The Unicorn, naming herself Tempest Shadow, agreed. Now about Tempest…
 
Tempest Shadow - Every villain always has a minion, but this one was a friend turned enemy due to her broken horn. Tempest Shadow (Fizzlepop Berrytwist) was once a cheerful Unicorn with best friends at her side. But one day, while playing ball, Fizzlepop got attacked by an Ursa Minor, resulting in a scar over her eye and her horn cleaved off. After she was shunned by her foalhood friends due to her dangerously unstable magic, Fizzlepop abandoned Equestria, and developed the outlook that friendship is meaningless. After traveling to the lands outside her former home, she encountered the Storm King, who promised to restore her horn in exchange for great power. And the deal was struck. Fizzlepop took on the name Tempest Shadow, and became the Storm King’s second-in-command and chief bounty hunter, driven by the goal to gain back her horn.
 
When Twilight Sparkle prepared for the Friendship Festival, Tempest led an army of Storm Creatures to invade Equestria, where she used obsidian orbs to turn the princesses to stone. Twilight and her friends managed to escape and went in search for the Hippogriffs for help. The Storm King reminded Tempest their deal: He would restore her horn in exchange for the magic of all four princesses to empower the mystical Staff of Sacanas. Tempest, along with her lackey Grubber, chased after the ponies from Klugetown to an airship filled with pirates. After the Mane Six escaped again, Tempest learned where they went - to Hippogriffia. She managed to kidnap Twilight after her friends abandoned her during an argument, and delivered her back to Equestria. On the way over, Twilight gained Tempest’s sympathy when she learned about her sad story.
 
In Canterlot, the Storm King absorbed Twilight and the other princesses’ magic into his staff. When Twilight’s pony friends and the new friends they made on their journey infiltrated the city and defeat the Storm King’s soldiers, he conjured up a giant lightning storm with the staff. Tempest reminded the Storm King of their deal for him to restore her horn, but the Storm King betrayed her, revealing that he merely used her for his own ends. The Storm King tried to destroy Tempest, who nearly flew off the balcony and into the cyclone, but Twilight saved her. The Storm King prepared to finish the ponies off, but the rest of the Mane Six saved them by using Pinkie’s party cannon to launch themselves through the cyclone and knock him over. Twilight reconciled with her friends, who helped her take the staff before the Storm King would, and ended the storm. The Storm King hurled an obsidian orb at the group to petrify them, but Tempest jumped in his way, turning them both into stone. The Storm King’s petrified body fell and shattered, while the group used the staff’s magic to revive Tempest, who restored the princesses and the damaged city by returning the stolen magic. Encouraged by Twilight, Tempest joined in the Friendship Festival by producing a fireworks display with her broken horn, and happily accepted the group’s friendship. Now she’s Fizzlepop Berrytwist again, and the evil Storm King and his empire are gone.
 
Cozy Glow - The start of season 8 was antagonised by the xenophobic head of the Equestrian Education Association Chancellor Neighsay, but the true villain of the end of it was very unexpected because… she was a child! Cozy Glow at first glance is a very adorable, sweet-natured Pegasus filly who seems to desire being a good friend to all. But she is not what she seems. After Twilight opened up her School of Friendship to ponies and non-pony creatures, Cozy Glow attended. She seemed to have no knowledge of friendship. But with help from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she appeared to become a true friend to everypony. She even became Twilight’s right-hoof pony. At one point, Cozy Glow almost destroyed the spirits of six new students, the Young Six, by mentioning their numerous disadvantages as a group, seeming that friendship went against the non-pony students’ nature. However, after they passed a test from the spirit of the Tree of Harmony, Cozy Glow realized it was her words that set off this chain of events in the first place and fearing she might get expelled because of it, apologized to and begged them not to tell anyone. Cozy offered to tell Twilight that they helped her organize the library books, and the Young Six thanked Cozy for her help. But they had no idea that Cozy had bigger plans, and that was when they would really play out a role they or anypony would never anticipate…
 
Magic began failing in Equestria. Cozy Glow suggested that the cause of this was Tirek. Before the Mane Six and Spike went to Tartarus to check in on the evil centaur, Twilight appointed Starlight Glimmer the role of headmare in her absense, even though Cozy Glow wished for the role herself. When the ponies arrived at Tartarus, Tirek revealed he had been keeping contact with a protege to help him exact a revenge plot to trick the group into trapping themselves in Tartarus. At the school, Cozy Glow assumed the role of headmare at the school, and Starlight went missing. Chancellor Neighsay seized control from her and accused the Young Six of being responsible for the failing magic. The real mastermind behind this was Cozy Glow. This manipulative, psychopathic filly was Tirek’s protégé and she used the school’s magical artifacts to imprison Starlight and drain magic from Equestria, intent to rule it as the Empress of Friendship, seeing friendship as power. Later on, she turned the student body against Neighsay, trapping him in his office and regaining control of the school. Fortunately, the Young Six formulated a plan to remove the magical artifacts to shut down the spell. Cozy Glow convinced everypony that they were responsible for the disappearing magic, and had the Young Six trapped in the spell’s vortex. But they were rescued by the Tree of Harmony’s magic. Removing the artifacts, the spell was shut down and magic everywhere was restored. The Mane Six and Spike returned and prevented Cozy Glow’s escape and Twilight tried to explain to her that gaining power is not the purpose of friendship. Cozy Glow, however, dismissed the values of friendship and tried to escape again, but was stopped by the other students, the princesses, Chancellor Neighsay, and the royal guards. The evil little Pegaus was sent to Tartarus with Tirek. Cozy is still a megalomaniacal filly, and she’ll continue make friends to rule all of Equestria.
 
 
…And then, just as the series was about to come to an end, a new enemy appeared. One who appeared before Twilight’s adventures, before the fall of Nightmare Moon, before Discord, Tirek and King Sombra, before the Pillars of Equestria, before Celestia and Luna were chosen to rule Equestria, before Equestria was founded by the three pony tribes, there was one villain who stood out from all the others as the most ancient AND most powerful. His name is…
 
 
Grogar - At the start of the 9th and final season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, all the remaining villains of Equestria were summoned by the legendary foe from thousands of years ago. The land that would become Equestria was a collection of farms and pastures (perhaps neolithic) until this evil blue ibex declared himself “Emperor of All He Saw.” His power was vast as none dared challenge him. He used his dark magic to breed the foulest of monsters, and allowed them to run wild, taking what they wanted and destroying everything else, earning him his second title, “The Father of Monsters.” His reign was a fear-soaked epoch of darkness, and it seemed it would’ve stayed that way were it not for the heroics of the legendary pony, Gusty the Great. After a fierce battle between her, her Unicorn army and Grogar himself, she stole the source of his power - the Bewitching Bell. After Gusty hid it away high up in Mount Everhoof, she and her old enemy were said to fade into myth. But it appeared this tyrant supreme had returned, ready to rebuild his tyranny forever…
 
The Villains by me
 
Background by me
 
This features all the villains from the season premieres and finales, and the movie. I’ll get to doing more for the MLP rogues’ gallery later, but prepare yourselves for evil times. :o (Eek) ;) (Wink)