Pegasi villains

[Oleks 1,994]

It came to me that MLP does not have a proper Pegasus villain. Main bad guys are usually non-pony creatures or unicorns. We also had a great alicorn villain and a bunch of really flawed earth ponies - Svengallop, Suri Polomare, Dr. Caballeron and his henchponies (all of them are earth ponies) and even Mane-iac.

 

All "bad" pegasi we have are Lightning Dust and Wind Rider (I cannot call them proper villains), the three bullies from the flight camp (also not villains) and the Shadowbolts (not sure if they were ever real).

 

So, do you think the pegasi cannot make badass villains? Or do we still have a chance to see one of those?

[Tarnation 142]

Must be, but lightning dust nearly killed ponies, and that's considered really villain.

[Oleks 1,994]

Must be, but lightning dust nearly killed ponies, and that's considered really villain.

She didn't do that on purpose, as far as I remember. Similarly, what Ranbow Dash did to the weather factory put ponies in danger, but that's not a reason to call her a villain.

 

 

[Tarnation 142]

She didn't do that on purpose, as far as I remember. Similarly, what Ranbow Dash did to the weather factory put ponies in danger, but that's not a reason to call her a villain.

 

That happened to the weather factory, because, tank.

[Megas 28,133]

I'd say Lightning Dust and Wind Rider fit the bill fairly well, I actually think the latter could be a great recurring villain

[Velcorn 279]

That happened to the weather factory, because, tank.

That's the reason for what she did, quite a bad reason actually, and definitely not an excuse. She could've easily killed ponies, and at least caused a lot of damage without anyone really caring about it.

[Oleks 1,994]

I'd say Lightning Dust and Wind Rider fit the bill fairly well, I actually think the latter could be a great recurring villain

They are big jerks, that's for sure. And for some reason I want to see them team up. But do you think any of them could have really bad intentions and big plans equal to an average "bad guy for a two-parter"?

[HereComesTom 2,271]

Actually, a pegasus causing weather disruptions for his/her own benefit (or the benefit of someone (s)he is working with as part of a scam) could be an effective plot...they should try having a pegasus villain!

[Megas 28,133]

The thing that's never brought up about the weather factory, and something that's apparently really difficult for this fandom to comprehend, is that the only "real" damage involved unplugging a couple of tubes, anything else is the show being a fucking cartoon, lots exaggerated antics and slapstick everywhere for comedy with the scenario ending with a meme and a freaking snow nuke. The fact that the scenario involves Dash trying to stop winter itself, is such an absurd and ridiculous story to tell that it should be a dead give away that it shouldn't be taken so freaking seriously

[Oleks 1,994]

Actually, a pegasus causing weather disruptions for his/her own benefit (or the benefit of someone (s)he is working with as part of a scam) could be an effective plot...they should try having a pegasus villain!

That's what I'm talking about. Also, I'd be cool to see an air battle with lightning bolts, tornadoes, high-speed chases and the Wonderbolts team work. I know I'm probably asking for too much, but the show already had action scenes, so they could meke something like this as well.

Edited November 5, 2016 by Oleks

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

Although I think a Pegasus villain would be pretty cool, I don't see how they could be much of a threat. I mean all they can basically do is fly... yeah they can disrupt the weather, and if they are really talented like RD, LD or a member of the Wonderbolts maybe they could harness a tornado or something.... but seriously, there is very little a single Pegasus, no matter how evil, could do if the Princesses or heck even Starlight got involved.... their magic trumps all of that. They would have to do something very creative to give the Pegasus villain an edge or make them more like an insanely manipulative Lex Luthor kind of character or something to stand any sort of chance to be more than just a simple antagonist Like LD and WR were.

[cmarston1 5,964]

I don't think pegasi are strong enough to be a big enough of a threat for a 2 part episode.

[HereComesTom 2,271]

A pegasus on his or her own wouldn't be strong enough, but if they somehow had access to clouds that were immune to magic, or if they somehow got unicorn magic to go awry like it did in the premiere of Season 4, then maybe DHX could make it work...

[heavens-champion 1,907]

A pegasus on his or her own wouldn't be strong enough, but if they somehow had access to clouds that were immune to magic, or if they somehow got unicorn magic to go awry like it did in the premiere of Season 4, then maybe DHX could make it work...

Question is, how do they make unicorn magic go haywire? Maybe they can use some magic crystal.

[Unlikeable Pony 2,700]

The problem is that Unicorn magic is theoretically infinite while pegasi and Earth pony magic, as its been shown so far, is very finite. Its like having a badass normal in a comic next to the super powered ones.

 

this is why they've always used either unicorns (starlight, sombra), alicorns (Super unicorns) or other species (Chrysalis, discord, tirek). Because in order for a Earth pony or pegasi to be a legitimate 2 parter threat, they'd need to be physically as strong as Someone like Tirek, and what we've seen of earth ponies and pegasi so far just isn't that much.

Super strength rarely comes into play as a legitimate quantified ability of earth ponies, unlike Unicorn magic being fairly omniprescent given how much magical objects the show deals with made by unicorns. Additionally, the "Biggest" uses of Super strength are rarely quantified by characters as "Oh, XXXX has earth pony super strength!" generally being only used as gags and hard to use as Evidence due to that (maud's Ability to break a boulder for example is about the biggest use of Earth pony strength that we've seen).

 

On the pegasi side, Having Super weather control abilities on par with storm is EXPLICITLY the stuff of comic books based on Power ponies: For a pegasi to be a legitimate villain they'd actually need to be BEYOND Zap's weather control abilities, being more a mixture of Fili-second and Zap: And in that comic its not even that Zap was a powerful pegasi, she explicitly needed an artifact to be that good at weather control!

 

 

 

 

So the issue is, they'd need to make a concerted effort to justify pegasi and Earth ponies having weather control on par with windigos and earth ponies being able to be as strong as Someone like Tirek or aramaspi to really work as major villains, and its REALLY late in the game to try that.

[Snow 8,569]

the problem is there is like no potential for the pegasus to posses any form of real formidable power
evil weather? other pegasai would stop it.. what else?
the only real power a non unicorn pony has is charisma and henchmen.. there could be a pegasus who's only real contribution is to command an evil army instead of fighting but i doubt that would make for an interesting bad guy

[Unlikeable Pony 2,700]

the problem is there is like no potential for the pegasus to posses any form of real formidable power

evil weather? other pegasai would stop it.. what else?

the only real power a non unicorn pony has is charisma and henchmen.. there could be a pegasus who's only real contribution is to command an evil army instead of fighting but i doubt that would make for an interesting bad guy

 

yeah, pretty much this.

In order for a pegasi to be a legitimate villain you'd have to introduce the concept of it being possible for Pegasi to be Just as much over other pegasi in abilities as Twilight is over a random unicorn on the street.

And the Best flyer we know of In universe, Rainbow dash is 16.5: Barely 50% more than what appears to be the average wingpower (based on the other pegasi in that episode, 8-10 seems to be about average). And given how Wing power seems to be additive and you need 800 wingpower JUST to lift that water in hurricane fluttershy...

yeah, you see the issue. The Most "Powerful" pegasi shown so far is rainbow dash, and it takes close to 300 times her abilities to lift water mundanely to cloudsdale, let alone anything World wrecking, as a Pegasi villain would really need to be on par with windigos in abilities.

 

 

 

You could always introduce a random magical artifact to power up said Pegasi to that levels, but then its not really so much of "pegasi's can be villains too!" as "Evil magical artifacts can be plot devices!"

[Steel Accord 6,660]

I actually created a pegasus arch villain once. He was kind of a warrior cult leader, trying to revive the pegasus tribe and rallied an army of like minded centurions to his banner and founded New Pegasopilis. Really that's a possibility for a pegasus villain, play up the classical militarism that's still present in their modern culture of athletics and military service just crank it up to an extreme.

 

In Fallout Equestria (funny, my "earth pony villain" response also mentioned the fic) the pegasi were almost gone from Equestria but that wasn't because they were near extinct, at least not moreso than everypony else was, no they actually isolated themselves up in the clouds and cut off contact with the surface. The Grand Pegasus Enclave, which was the counterpart to Fallout's enclave, were actually the final and most dangerous villains in the story. Not only were they now a modern army rather than an ancient one of their roots, but they had the most advanced tech and weapons in the Wasteland, as well as the infrastructure to support a standing army.

 

Really when the main bad guy and any followers who are kin to him, can not only fly, but stay in the air pretty much indefinitely by walking on clouds, that already gives him a pretty sizable strategic advantage and plenty of angles for motivation.

[Luminance 2,187]

Maybe an Pegasi who wants to defeat Rainbow's only ability to do a Sonic Rainboom.

[Valeska 184]

I would like to so a pegasus become a villain. Now, the main issue would be how they would make the character interesting with a good plot.

[HereComesTom 2,271]

 

 

In Fallout Equestria (funny, my "earth pony villain" response also mentioned the fic) the pegasi were almost gone from Equestria but that wasn't because they were near extinct, at least not moreso than everypony else was, no they actually isolated themselves up in the clouds and cut off contact with the surface. The Grand Pegasus Enclave, which was the counterpart to Fallout's enclave, were actually the final and most dangerous villains in the story. Not only were they now a modern army rather than an ancient one of their roots, but they had the most advanced tech and weapons in the Wasteland, as well as the infrastructure to support a standing army.

 

This makes perfect sense for a fic that takes place centuries/decades after the canon storylines, but the question is, how can DHX make a pegasus villain work and make sense within the timeline of the canon?

 

...Something clicked in my mind:  plenty of villains on the show haven't been of the epic scope that Tirek or Chrysalis had (like Gladmane), so maybe a manipulative pegasus could work as a villain?  Or maybe simply an evil mayor pegasus who makes it rain unless he's bribed otherwise (that's a Star Trek Deep Space Nine shout-out, but I digress)?

[Vlazamal 338]

This makes perfect sense for a fic that takes place centuries/decades after the canon storylines, but the question is, how can DHX make a pegasus villain work and make sense within the timeline of the canon?

 

...Something clicked in my mind:  plenty of villains on the show haven't been of the epic scope that Tirek or Chrysalis had (like Gladmane), so maybe a manipulative pegasus could work as a villain?  Or maybe simply an evil mayor pegasus who makes it rain unless he's bribed otherwise (that's a Star Trek Deep Space Nine shout-out, but I digress)?

 

I think a really, really strong pegasus could still fit the bill. If you had someone who, say, was fast enough and used the velocity in combat, you have a strong threat. A manipulative one would be a pegasus just to be a pegasus.

[Steel Accord 6,660]

 

 

This makes perfect sense for a fic that takes place centuries/decades after the canon storylines, but the question is, how can DHX make a pegasus villain work and make sense within the timeline of the canon?

 

Well, why can't such a pegasus just grab a spot of sky and just run it like a stratocracy/dictatorship? Starlight Glimmer ran a God damned cult completely unopposed for at least long enough for her subjects to get used to it.

 

 

 

...Something clicked in my mind:  plenty of villains on the show haven't been of the epic scope that Tirek or Chrysalis had (like Gladmane), so maybe a manipulative pegasus could work as a villain?  Or maybe simply an evil mayor pegasus who makes it rain unless he's bribed otherwise (that's a Star Trek Deep Space Nine shout-out, but I digress)?

 

See @@Vlazamal, 's response, pegasus just to be a pegasus. Every villain that's not a powerhouse like Discord or Tirek is going to be at least a little "manipulative" and even the aforementioned examples were deceptive. The only antagonists that had raw strength but lacked intelligence were the Diamond Dogs and Garble.

 

Plus the OP already brought that up. We're not looking for common bullies or the like, we have characters like that in the form of Lightning Dust and Wind Rider. We're talking arch villain like characters. 

[silvadel 1,393]

All you would really need is for Daring Do to become evil.

Edited November 10, 2016 by silvadel

[EmeraldStar04 250]

What would a pegasus villain be? Lord Thunderdoom? Air-ian Race Pony Hitler?