Would you like a Well-Intentioned Extremist as a villain?

[ALIS 38]

I like this idea. Let's see what I can come up with.

I would love to see an episode where like fifty thousand changelings (not Chrysalis aligned) just plop down on some uninhabited Equestrian land (because the place is massive) and begin building a big city. They believe the land is theirs because no pony is living on it and when confronted for it they have zero respect for the Royal Pony Sisters or any rules or claims to the land they might have and refuse to submit to Equestrian rule or leave.

The changelings begin to visit other towns where they take forms and feed on love. Some make friends and feed off them others go a bit to far impersonating ponies leading to tensions. To make things worse a sizable number of ponies don't like them for the wedding incident and the changelings are just as insulted as to be compared to them. Both sides begin to look down on each other.

The ponies trying to invoke town laws that do not ban changelings in their towns or town ponies from meeting or befriending changelings hoping to starve them out. As tensions increase someponies propose they try to evict the changelings from their city. Some members of the Mane Six are for the eviction while the Princess's are on the fence. When the time comes to decide every Princess but Twilight votes to evict the changelings by force and they announce it to them an ultimatum to leave.

A messenger of Queen Chrysalis shows up and to the ponies horror tries to make a deal with the changeling city to join forces against Equestria. The Princesses and Mane Six realize that if this would happen the war would be unbelievably bad. A standoff emerges as thousands of the new changelings start suiting up for war and Chrysalis's army whom are actually pretty evil approaches from the south. Now to the Princesses shock most of the new changelings whom stressed that they were different from Chrysalis now hate ponies. They hate ponies, for claiming and keeping all the good land to themselves after destroying the north and for their double standard of insisting that all changelings are monsters just because they look like an enemy yet so easily forgiving Luna / NMM whom tried to devestate the whole world twice including the changelings.

Twilight convinces everyone that the ponies hatred for Chrysalis has caused the Equestrian Changelings to suffer and now the Equestrian Changelings hate is going to cause ponies to suffer back. That the coming war will hurt everyone. The only way to end the cycle is not to hate others just for who they are. the ponies that made changeling friends and vice versa stand up for each other and convince the crowds not to fight.

In the end Celestia agrees to let them claim some of Equestria's unused land but they have to agree to respect fair Equestrian laws. The Alliance with Chrysalis is cancelled and her army is forced to turn around before reaching Equestria. The changelings create a peaceful city inside of Equestria.
 

Edited March 13, 2014 by ALIS

[Shift 4,272]

Ooh, awesome idea, I'd love that if they pulled it off correctly!

Edited March 14, 2014 by Shift

[SanityNotIncluded 335]

Yes, yes, yes and yes.

 

What's more interesting though is what form of extremism the villain would take? Anti-monarchism? Anti-friendship? I could see the show easily skirting along some controversial political lines here.

[Darker 1,351]

We already have Tirek, who's basically Satan, so...maybe.

[Red Cedar 1,408]

Anyone remember an old, old anime series called Star Blazers?

 

Just to add a few shades of grey to the series, to stand out against all that black and white, I'd like to see a "villain" like Desslok. He was ruthless. He was unethical. He was violent as necessary.

 

He was also honourable, polite, almost noble. And he didn't commit evil acts for the sheer sake of being evil, or to satisfy a personal lust for power, but out of the concern for his own race which was facing the prospect of losing their home planet.

 

I'd like to see someone like that as an MLP villain.

[Pastel 7,630]

That could be interesting, but I wouldn't see him as a "one time" villain, but more as a recurring character, a rival of the mane 6.

[Invincible 2,092]

I think this is the kind of show that has the capability of bringing this kind of villain into play, yes.

[~Sylveon~ 188]

I think this would be intersting. I imagine someone who came from somewhere less fortunate than Equestra (a country maybe) who felt the need to raise an army to take over Equestria. Or something. xD

[SilverStarApple 849]

Sure, as long as it's not another Lawful Stupid paladin crusader. Or a boring angry "Whatever it takes to get the job done" Punisher-ripoff.

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

This would definitely be a new direction for the show. A more realistic one, and definitely great for the story and the older audience as well. I tend to prefer the villains that are more sympathetic or have more noble intentions than just being evil for evil's sake. For all intents and purposes, what real use is there in stealing all of the magic in Equestria without some sort of ulterior motive?

 

My favorite example of this has to be Syndrome from The Incredibles. All he was in the beginning was a kid who was Mr Incredible's biggest fan, but when he became an annoying nuisance to him, he resolved to destroy all superheroes (having been pretty successful to that point) and selling his advanced weaponry to the public to replace the need for them.

 

It's nice to actually be able to relate to a villain and actually be able to analyze their behavior, reading their motivations and their past life to see exactly where they went wrong and how we can learn from them. In some cases, I'd prefer to have them be closer to the archetype of the tragic hero more than the classical or contemporary villain.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Wouldn't Chrysalis count since she was merely trying to feed her people?

 

She was a evil monster to us, but to her she was just trying to do what had to be done for her people to survive.  

[SomariFeyWright 776]

Ah, good, a concept for the show I can actually get behind.

 

Family shows have often had villains of this caliber in recent years, and I think FiM could pull off such a villain swimmingly.

 

I'm all for it.

[ShadowPirateX 600]

I've actually been hoping they would make a villain who believes everything he/she does is for the greater good and has good intentions.

[Singe 2,111]

A villain for the greater good who sees the Ponies as the superior species and enacts actions to remove other species that are a threat to ponies like Manticores and Chimeras.

[Henny Penny Benny 936]

I do like the idea! But as people have already said, it would have to be done right, else it wouldn't work at all.

[Singe 2,111]

A psychologist. This villain unravels the true self from the hidden masks. Ponies have been hiding their true inner selves.

 

An example would be Rainbow Dash who feels being chained by friendship.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Singe

[A goat 323]

That'd make him/her the best villain in the entire show if done right.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

Absolutely. Kinda sick of mustache-twirling, admit-to-being-evil villains in general, to be perfectly honest. Wish I could source this quote, but "everyone's the hero of their own story", and throughout human history, a majority of those who most of us would consider 'evil' honestly believed they were doing what was best...yes, even Hitler. So to have a villain who really does think s/he's doing the right thing in causing suffering and misery would make for a very 3-dimensional villain, one that, in my opinion, we've not seen in FiM so far.

Chrysalis was only trying to feel her people ;(