Princess Twilight's Guide to Reforming Villains

by bookhorse125

How To Reform An Evil Shadow Pony

This is starting to sound embarrassing...

We have no idea. Again. I always think that we reformed a lot of villains, but then I'm looking back, and I'm like, "No, we really didn't." It gets kind of depressing after a while... Anyways. So. Say an evil shadow pony has returned and has enslaved your entire kingdom and might actually go to war with you. What do you do? Of course you don't have any clue; that's what I'm here for.

Our best advice?

Zap 'im with lasers as soon as he shows his ugly face.

Yes, okay, I get it, that isn't the best way I could have phrased that, but you get the gist of it. He appears? Don't waste any time, my friend - gather your friends and send him back to the ether, where he belongs.

Dealing with evil shadow ponies can be tricky. They never really disappear, no matter how many times you blast them to bits with magic. And they always come back. The methods by which they inevitably return vary from ancient curses to others intentionally bringing them back because somewhere in their derranged mind, they think that it is okay to release your worst enemies and intentionally have them attack your own coronation!

*deep breath*

Okay, maybe I'm not being completely fair. I mean, he was trying to help, but still angry.

Moving on. Evil shadow pony. Got it. So. How to defeat them. Well, luckily, there's a few ways.

Option number 1: You can zap him with magic and trap him in the ice. Great idea if you're new to the whole concept of defeating villains and finding permanent solutions to the problem, but once you start to get experience, you will find that this is actually not the best option, because of several reasons. One, it doesn't last. If you do this, he is guaranteed to come back, bigger and badder than before. Two, you apparently can't use it twice. It's a one-shot thing. One try, and you'd better hope it works. Three, it usually doesn't work. So, option 1 is not the best option.

Option number 2: Explode him to pieces. For this, you require an ancient relic that protects an entire empire from frozen conditions, so it's pretty dang powerful. Simply restore this relic to its rightful place, have the citizens of said empire share their love and light with the relic to power it up, sit back, and relax. The magic relic will do the rest, and also possibly give you a really cool makeover that Rarity was very unhappy when it got reversed. This is a pretty sure-fire method, except that the relic is apparently not powerful enough to fight off the evil shadow pony when he gets his dirty hooves on it and hides it in bizarre places, or just sticks it right above his head, so, always have a back-up plan.

Option number 3: Elements of Harmony. Except this doesn't work for long. Or maybe it did, but a certain chaos god brought the evil shadow pony back right after you use these to defeat him, or maybe somepony else did it (like the magic spirit of the Tree of Harmony, but who really knows?). All I know is, the evil shadow pony can very easily destroy these little trinkets, so don't count on them completely. They're good for very temporary diversions.

Option number 4: The Magic of Friendship. Honestly, you should just do this from the start - there is no way to defeat this kind of magic, not for long. You could pull a Discord, but that didn't work, so don't try it. The best part about this is that the evil shadow pony will not see this coming, so you get to see a shocked and surprised face before you vaporize him. But his magic won't work against the Magic of Friendship, so it is extremely effective. And you rely on absolutely nothing and nopony other than your friends, who are always there for you, no matter what. If you ever find yourself facing up against an evil shadow pony, I would recommend this option.

But hey, the choice is up to you! You get to pick which of these many ways to blast your evil shadow pony to bits that you will use.

Author's Note:

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!