(T>B) Villains to the Max

Although coming out of a completely different thread, https://www.fimfiction.net/group/50/the-writers-group/thread/464939/how-would-you-reinvent-an-mlp-villain-for-a-darker-storyline this could arguably be called a vague "evil counterpart" to my earlier "Mane 6 at Full Power" blog.

For Nightmare Moon, one way is obviously to play up the "eternal night means everything dies" angle. Another, if that's somehow worked round or at least deferred, is for her to actually win power and show the limitations of her governing skills, especially in the face of her near-zero approval rating. Desperately wanting to be Celestia and not be Celestia at the same time, she's not incapable of decent ideas, but she's much more likely to come up with sucky ones and will brook no dissent. (Probably still more empathy and decency than half this list and several modern world leaders, though.) Could also play up the whole "Nightmare" thing, with her both spying on and tormenting dreams.

For Discord, you just play up his chaos and immature solipsism to the max. He uses his unmatched power to make of the world what he wants without any regard for others, and he loves to see conflict and disunity. (Think how the show would be awfully boring if the ponies always got along - then remove all sense of balance and take it up to twenty.) A world with no consistency from moment to moment at the whims of a god best entertained by Drama is bad enough - then throw in his ability to twist one's inner self inside out with a touch. And then start to consider the societies that would form in response - either chaos cultists or totalitarians for whom any deviation from strict rules is "proof" that you're his thing.

For Chrysalis and the changelings, well, they're honestly scary enough already, what with them all being picture-perfect shapeshifters (any creature, or even objects) who can all fly and use magic. Chrysalis herself is alicorn-class and can use mind control. The only thing which hold them back from a total victory in the show is Chrysalis's personality being terribly unsuited for the infiltration strategy their powers fit - she's just too egocentric and, well, dumb. Add just a bit more wicked cunning and patience, and she could likely have Equestria, quite possibly without anypony ever knowing. And even if her foolishness does doom her schemes, just the knowledge that changelings exist (and that there's no known way to easily detect or reveal them) should leave deep, deep cracks in freedom and trust in Equestria, with everypony looking very carefully at their neighbours, strangers, animals or even walls. A foe where the idea may cause more damage than the real thing.

Now as for Sombra... well, I pretty much already headcanon him as Pony Hitler. No, arguably worse, even, for there is no master race for him - all besides him are nothing. With his power to dominate minds, he has little need for collaborators - he'll take the ones he can get, since it helps drive their fellows into despair. And despair is his goal, the reason most of his slaves are bound by chains and not enchantments - he needs them to suffer more than he needs them to obey. After all, the city he controls is a giant emotional amplifier and projector - and just as the Crystal Empire of old radiated happiness and love across the land, he seeks to unleash waves of crushing misery. Perhaps because it dissuades and weakens his enimies, or perhaps just because he's a sadist who enjoys that sort of thing. Nopony knows the dark ruler's heart well enough to tell.

Tirek... is a bit of a tricky one, partly because his personality seems to change as much as his body as he devours magic. When weak, he's both willing and able to hide and scheme, and not that bad a tempter (though to be fair, he had an easy mark). But as his power grows, everything around him starts to look like a nail in need of a hammer. This fulfils some basic ideas of the growth curve of villain threat vs effectiveness. So I'd make sure to focus on that idea of change - while other villans mostly are what they are, Tirek is a foe whose endless hunger for power derives him to endlessly consume and grow, even if he loses much of his mind in the process and becomes a force of raw destruction. Still, at any level he has a certain practicality to him, a willingness to bargain as long as he might gain by it - in his greater form he just rarely sees the need.

Starlight Glimmer is an idealist and a hypocrite. Of all those on this list, she's the least likely to admit even to herself that she's a villain - rather, she's a lone genius who's bringing ponykind the salvation of the truth! Of course, she won't even admit the last part to herself either, because it doesn't really fit with Equalism, does it? So she has a few layers going on , where she's genuinely altruistic but also a huge egotist and tries to ignore the latter part because it doesn't fit her desired self-image. She wants to be accepted and have friends, but she also wants to be in control. So you get a superficially charming, domineering cult leader who can spin just about anything she does as being for the greater good. Oh, and who not only considers the laws of magic more like guidelines, but has the power to actually treat them as such.

Stygian/the Pony of Shadows is one of the simpler ones on here, really - a sidekick who bit off more than he could chew and is now lashing out in resentment. His supervillainy is perhaps the most cultivated on this list, a giant threat display that arguably has more bark than bite to it... but don't underestimate the danger of a misfit lashing out, especially since the dark magic he wields is likely similar to that used by Nightmare Moon and Sombra.

The Storm King would probably the the one most in need of an overhaul - showing him commanding storms (without stolen alicorn power) or acting as a king might help. Alternatively, he could be replaced entirely by a more centrally played Tempest Shadow, an Equestrian outcast who not only survived in the harsh world outside but returned with an army to take her revenge on the land which rejected her. But really, Tempest can slot in a lot of places, whether as ruler, general, or even mercenary.

Lastly but not leastly save in personal power, we have Cozy Glow. I have to admit, she's my favourite in some ways - a mere pegasus filly with both the ambition to reach for the world and the intelligence to almost grasp it. But at the same time, still with enough foolishness of youth to form insane plans with huge logical holes and based on thorough misunderstandings of friendship. She was much more likely to die trampled underfoot in a dying world than come out on top... but she would still have been the one who killed it. And her "mask" is amusing too, both when it holds and when it slips.

The Dazzlings are more of an EQG villain, so I suppose that just leaves the windigoes, and they're pretty simple - just magical "animals" born from the icy winds of the north who eat hatred, crap winter blizzards and have learned how to freeze their most promising morsels at the peak of their output. They're not really characters, though - just beasts.

Hmm... I suppose this ended up being more me talking about the villains than reinventing them, but I hope it helps!