Stygian, better known as the Pony of Shadows, is a major antagonist in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, serving as the main antagonist of Season 7.
He is a male unicorn who is a friend of Pillars of Old Equestria until he was betrayed for stealing their artifacts. He then turned into a monstrous pony made of darkness before he was banished to the limbo by the Pillars. After being released from the limbo, he returns to defeat the Pillars and spreading darkness all over Equestria before turned back into Stygian and reformed himself.
He was voiced by Bill Newton.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- He stole the Pillars' artifacts without their permission to make a copy of them so he could fight and noticed alongside them, which resulted of misunderstanding that led him being betrayed and banished by them. While Star Swirl may have taken his pride very much, Stygian took this way too far.
- After transformed into the Pony of Shadows, he attacked the Pillars out of vengeance and began to spread darkness and chaos around the Equestria before he was banished to the limbo by them.
- After being released from the limbo by Twilight and her friends, he destroyed the Ponhenge and Star Swirl's spell book so the Pillars cannot banish him to the limbo again.
- Attempts to attack Star Swirl before Twilight and Starlight defended him.
- Tried to attack the Mane Six, the Pillars and the others before they could open the portal to banish him from the limbo again.
- Unlike most villains in the franchise, Pony of Shadows has no comedic moments and is taken 100% seriously.
Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]
- While he has one of the highest attempted kill counts which easily makes him pass the "kill-the-heroes" baseline, he ultimately fails the Heinous Standards compared to Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Sunset Shimmer and Storm King, whom they had done worse than him.
- His intention of spreading darkness all over Equestria relies on Fridge Horror, as it's unknown what he will do to it.
- Has a tragic backstory, as he was left unnoticed while the Pillars take all the credit for their heroism and were betrayed and banished by them for stealing their artifacts, which led him descend into villainy and take the path of vengeance.
- Has problems with moral agency. It was stated that when he merged with a mysterious and shadow entity called "The Darkness", it gave him the ability to control the power of darkness and transform into a wicked monstrous being called "Pony of Shadows", while the darkness took full control of him. Despite this, Stygian still managed to keep his conscience as he happily embraces the darkness and power, he ever has to take revenge on those who betrayed and banished him. However, he eventually loses his power of darkness after Twilight talked him out of it.
- When Twilight tried to talk things out with him and convinced him to abandon his desire of vengeance, Stygian is remained bitter to be reasoned and the darkness began to overtake him before Starlight joins in of helping him get over with his issues. After he was released from the Darkness, he rekindled his friendship with Star Swirl and redeemed himself, even though Star Swirl assumes that he is beyond redemption and cannot be reasoned with due to stated that villains always villains.
External Links[]
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 Villainous Benchmarks
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