Plot Bunny Theater: Villains of a Different Tribe · 9:36pm Dec 10th, 2019
We've had villainous alicorns and unicorns, but no actual Pegasi or Earth Pony villains. Not on the level of Nightmare Moon or Sombra. Sure there was Cozy Glow but still!
Now granted, the unicorn is the mage class and thus more prone to tapping into primeval forces of doom or corruption, but damnit! There should be some evil Pegasi and Earth Ponies! So let's think up some villains!
According to Lauren Faust and the official RPG, Earth ponies can tap into and control the life energy of the Earth itself. In the RPG this allows them to be stronger than the other tribes but also to heal other ponies, control the earth, plant and animal life, and have enhanced senses.
Pegasi of course control the weather and have better senses of the wind and movement as well as more endurance for cold and heat. They can also be quite tough themselves. In the RPG they can also channel the elements of the weather through themselves or generate it from their life energy. And of course there are the Batponies/Threstrals.
So with these in mind, here are a few ideas for non-unicorn villains:
-A vain Earth mare discovered how to drain life energy from other ponies to sustain herself and stay young forever. Now she's gunning for our heroes.
-A pegasus stallion scientist wanted to wield the icy cold at will to improve weather control, but something went wrong. Now he is living winter, draining the heat out of anything he touches and consumed with madness at what he has become.
-An Earth pony orphan from a war torn colony of Equestria's is adopted by one of the greatest Earth Pony martial artists alive. He learned how to input and drain life energy from his opponents, to disable, cripple, or even kill with a touch. Now this ambitious pony has the power to challenge the world: And will use it.
-A pegasus with Earth pony ancestry gained her talent in communing with nature, just like Fluttershy. But rather than maintain the delicate balance of nature, she seeks to be supreme. With plants and animals at her command, she vows to wage war on ponykind.
What are your ideas?
Another idea for Earth pony would be a knock-off Juggernaut.
*Takes notes as ideas for villains for his pony superhero series*
Keep going...
An Earth Pony who is so in-touch with the land, they can disrupt nearby flight and magic, forcing Pegasi and Unicorns to focus entirely on Flight/Magic in order to do anything of note. Seeks to bind and break the wills of said ponies to help "return ponies to nature". Aims to destroy places like Manehatten and Canterlot (although, obviously, they will aim to take the metropolis first instead of the Unicorn Capital).
A pegasus, traumatized by a situation where they were helplessness as a child, learns an ancient and primal way of channeling wind magic, using its power to create hurricanes that are unstoppable by modern techniques. Doesn't really care about the destruction caused by the techniques, just wants to prove to themselves and others that they are not weak or helpless.
An Earth pony cult has been using runes to disrupt and disable unicorn children and abducting them for a body-possession ritual to re-awaken and re-empower their former "god/goddess". An opposing cult has been trying to stop them, partly because the ritual's success would mean their doom, but also because they despise all unicorns and want them dead.
A pegasus has been trying non-stop to not only perform a Sonic Rainboom, but exceed it by an order of magnitude, backed largely by unstable "friends" who want to see how devastating the result will be.
An earth pony whose passion for food preparation leads them to decry preservation as artificial; a stance that seems innocuous until they start disrupting the preservation spells that allow for long-distance food shipments. Manehatten starves.
5167313
An Earth stallion who enhances their Pony Sense with an addictive magic drug into full blown precognition. They use it to cheat at gambling but then their ambition grows into becoming a mafia boss-And then even further.
A pegasus warrior who is imperialistic and wants to bring back "the good old days" of the Pegasi being militant mercenaries who conquered new lands for Equestria. She wants that glory again and will stop at nothing to obtain it.
An Earth pony Earth bender, who is possessed by a Lavan and turned into a horrific abomination: A lava monster pony, bent on consuming and burning all in its path.
Feels like most comic book villains could easily be ponified.
5167330
Wasn't expecting for you to take me up on that, but I'll take it
I confess, while I have plenty of villains both published and planned, they tend to focus less on tribe-specific abilities and more on either the werid stuff around Equestria or more specific abilities that come from their nature and Talents. I'd give some examples, but I don't want to be self-aggrandizing.
That said, I did have a lava master as my first villain and I'm planning a super-predictor (though of a distinctly different flavour), so many of these ideas could be pretty helpful. Really appreciate it.
Not so much a Villain but as an encounter;
An Earthpony Stalion from Russian Equivalent area of Equestria named Sikorsky.
Grew up around a quarry that produces large stones for use as foundations. Learned first to move, then lift, Multi-ton slabs of stone. Accidentally discovered that he could lift the Stones while he was standing on top of them, at which point he gained his CM.
Currently works with a group of Pegasai, and Unicorns that respectfully call him either StoneWings, SkyHook, or Hoist, who act as spotters, and navigational aids.
Not actually related to the Pie Clan, but is know to them.
5167373
Oh yes! It doesn't have to be villains. It can just be magic users in general. Masters of varieties of Earth and Pegasus magic.
Just had a thought: Earth Pony magic allowing control of life energy... kind of lends itself well to necromancy. Infuse a corpse with a bit of life and it's amazing what you can produce.
How about an Earth pony that uses their control over the forces of growth and life to mutate ponies and other creatures into hideous monsters? Maybe they live in a nastier place than Equestria from the show and see this as giving the ponies a chance to survive whatever nature throws at them.
Or maybe they just like making ponies into monsters. Who says every villain has to be deep?
There can be an Earth pony who takes the attitudes of the deer from the MLP comic and firewalls them, controlling plants as their unstoppable tree army. Down with corrupt equine civilization! Get everypony back to the plains and forests where we belong!
How about a pegasus pony who has learned the art of deflecting sound with wind? They become a ninja assassin, able to move without sound, leaving no trace, and use more wind magic to fling icicles towards their marks, killing them and leaving nothing behind but an entry wound and a dead body. Now they're after a new target, either the hero of the story or a character the protagonist has to protect.
Or an earth pony who uses their earth sensing to dig up riches and jewels and such, and doesn't appreciate competition from "featherbrains" or "hornheads" and takes out nearby claim holders with carefully manipulated earth-related accidents, like landslides or sinkholes or sudden magmatic infusion.
An Earth Pony Villain would be at a physical disadvantage against either Pegasi or Unicorns, so they would have to be superior mentally, the equivalent of CelestIA (of F.I.O. fame) in order to stand a chance of outwitting both those against them and those who follow them (in hopes of taking over).
This vampony idea would be interesting, but it wouldn't make sense for her to actually target anypony. Why not just draining orphans and homeless until the authorities see a pattern and start hunting her?
I feel like mentioning my only actual OC for this fandom: General Winter, Hurricane's actual second-in-command unpersoned for looking far too much like the Windigoes who were the main villain of that era. If you know anything about Russian defensive warfare you know what his/her deal is. Making them actually conspire with the Windigoes is probably the only way to get them into a present-day story, and the difficulty of doing so otherwise is why I never bothered to decide on whether they were a mare or a stallion.
5167705
Remember the evil queen from Snow White? If "our heroes" include Fluttershy, there's your sense right there. (She managed to pass for a supermodel without any effort on her part)
5214820
It's been over a quarter century since i last saw Snow White. You'll have to explain what you mean.
5214847
Okay, do you remember the whole "who's the fairest of them all" deal? That was her asking an omniscient being who the prettiest person in the world is, finding out that it isn't her, and then deciding to fix that problem with murder. For bonus points, the Magic Mirror appears to be housed in a vanity, which I feel clever for noticing.