Pony of Shadows

The **Pony of Shadows** is one of the secondary antagonists of *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship*. He appears as the main antagonist of the season seven finale.

## Depictions in the Series

### Marks of Possession

The Pony of Shadows is first mentioned in a ghost story told by Applejack in the season five episode Castle Mane-ia. According to Applejack, when Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, traces of her dark magic stayed behind. When night falls on the Castle of the Two Sisters, that dark magic takes the form of the Pony of Shadows.

### The Pillars of Time

In the season seven finale To Turn Back Into Time, the Pony of Shadows is revealed to be a real figure from Equestrian history. As recorded in the lost journal of Star Swirl the Bearded, the Pony of Shadows was originally a normal pony who brought the Pillars of Old Equestria together to save the land from a great evil. However, the pony soon became jealous of the Pillars' power and glory, and he stole artifacts from them in a quest for power, resulting in his exile. The resentful pony thus turned to darkness for revenge and transformed into the Pony of Shadows. In order to stop him, the Pillars sealed him in limbo along with themselves. A thousand years later, Twilight Sparkle and her friends inadvertently release the Pony of Shadows from limbo when they free the Pillars. The Pony of Shadows—weak from his time in captivity—escapes to regain his strength from the darkest corners of Equestria. The Pillars eventually reveal the beast's true identity as their former friend Stygian, a young scholar who gathered them all together to defend the realm and worked alongside them as a battle strategist until he stole their artifacts and transformed into a wicked creature of darkness.

The Mane Six and Pillars eventually track down the Pony of Shadows to the Hollow Shades. Before the ponies can banish him to limbo again, Twilight and Starlight Glimmer reach out to the real Stygian inside the beast's body. Stygian reveals that he never wanted to steal from the Pillars; he wanted to make copies of their artifacts so he could fight alongside them in battle. The Pillars realize their grave mistake, and together with the Mane Six, they free Stygian from the darkness and banish the darkness to limbo with the Elements of Harmony. Star Swirl apologizes to Stygian for letting pride cloud his judgment, and Stygian remains in the present era with the Pillars.

### March of the Oni

In season ten, the Pony of Shadows is mentioned in The Beginning of the End: The Darkness Comes as one of the challenges Twilight and her friends have overcome.

## Appearance

After becoming the Pony of Shadows, Stygian takes on the form of an amorphous dark gray Alicorn with glowing white eyes and wispy, smoke-like wings. His horn becomes large and curved, much like King Sombra.

In both forms, he speaks in an indistinct European-sounding accent. In his mutated form, his voice also has a filter effect similar to what Queen Chrysalis had in Season 2, albeit much deeper.

## Personality

As the Pony of Shadows, Stygian becomes much more arrogant and loud. He constantly belittles the Pillars of Old Equestria and mocks Twilight for unknowingly setting him free. Even until the moment of his defeat, he maintains his composure and acts unfazed.

## Appearances

### *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship*

#### Season 7: The Pillars of Time

* 113. "To Turn Back Into Time - Part I"
* 114. "To Turn Back Into Time - Part II"

#### Season 9: Hunted

* 130. "Radio Free Ninjago and Equestria" (mentioned)
* 134. "Two Lies, One Truth" (mentioned)

#### Season 10: March of the Oni

* 140. "The Beginning of the End: The Darkness Comes" (painting)
* 142. "Uprooted" (painting)
* 143. "Lloyd's Seven" (painting)
* 146. "She's All Yak!" (painting)
* 153. "The Last Laugh" (painting)
* 155. "A Ninja is Born" (painting)
* 158. "Dragon Dropped" (painting)
* 161. "Growing Up is Hard to Do" (painting)
* 165. "The Fate of Lloyd" (painting)

## Trivia

* The Pony of Shadows is one of the secondary antagonists of the series, alongside Nightmare Moon, Starlight Glimmer, and King Sombra. He is the least recurring of them all, appearing in only one episode, "To Turn Back Into Time".
* A mythical entity referred to as "The Pony of Shadows" was mentioned in the Season 5 episode, "Castle Mane-ia". However, this event is never mentioned in the Season 7 finale, so it is unknown if these two entities are one and the same.
	+ Not to mention that the aforementioned entity was explained as being the accumulated hatred of Nightmare Moon, whereas the entity featured in Season 7 is something completely different. However, this could be a case of information being distorted over time within the universe.
* The Pony of Shadows is the only major villain to not be included in *The Beginning of the End*. The reason for this is because the darkness that corrupted Stygian is sent to limbo.
	+ Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow were summoned by Grogar to his lair.
	+ King Sombra was revived by Grogar and brought to his lair, but then destroyed again.
	+ Discord and Starlight Glimmer appeared in the episode, but they are reformed major villains.
	+ Nightmare Moon appeared in Twilight Sparkle's nightmare caused by King Sombra's dark magic.
	+ However, the Pony of Shadows was mentioned by Spike.
* The Pony of Shadows is one of the few major villains who never made a reappearance in the show so far, despite appearing in the cover of Stygian's novel.
* Despite being the main antagonist of Season 7 finale, Star Swirl was the one who let Stygian fall into darkness, mainly due to his prejudice and stubbornness.
	+ If Star Swirl wouldn't have to betrayed him as he would've asked and let him explained his actions, Stygian wouldn't have to consume his darkness.
* Pony of Shadows is very similiar to Nightmare Moon in many ways.
	+ Both used to be normal ponies.
		- The Pony of Shadows is originally Stygian.
		- Nightmare Moon is originally Princess Luna.
	+ Both used to have allies before they fall into dark side.
		- Stygian to Pillars of Old Equestria.
		- Princess Luna to Princess Celestia.
	+ Both were overshadowed by their allies which leading to fall into dark side.
		- Stygian was overshadowed when he was unaccredited for his actions while the Pillars are hailed as heroes, leading him to stealing a specific item from each of the members so he could be noticed.
		- Princess Luna was overshadowed when everypony admire and appreciate her sister Celestia, leading her to grow jealous of her.
	+ Both become consumed in their hatred which gained their dark forms.
		- Stygian became the Pony of Shadows after misunderstanding led the Pillars betrayed and banished him for his actions.
		- Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon after consuming her jealousy inside of her.
	+ Both facing their former allies for their vengeance before they were banished.
		- The Pony of Shadows attacked the Pillars before they sacrificed themselves to trapped him inside limbo.
		- Nightmare Moon faced Princess Celestia before she was banished to the moon.
	+ Both were able to escape from their banishment to complete their revenge.
		- After the Mane Six released the Pillars from limbo, they realize that they accidentally released Pony of Shadows from limbo as well.
		- Nightmare Moon was released during the Summer Sun Celebration before facing Twilight Sparkle and her new friends.
	+ Both became archenemies to Mane Six, beside from their former allies.
	+ Both were followed by Mane Six to the new places they go to.
		- The Pony of Shadows goes to an abandoned ghost town on the edge of Equestria.
		- Nightmare Moon goes to a forbidden Everfree Forest.
	+ Both were attacked by the Elements of Harmony.
	+ Both were reformed by Mane Six, which leading them to make amends with their allies they betrayed and abandoned their alter-egos, though their alter-egos still be mentioned.
		- Twilight and Starlight go inside the Pony of Shadows and convinced Stygian to turn over the new leaf so he could make amends with the Pillars, leading the Pony of Shadows to get sent back to limbo.
		- The Mane Six defeated Nightmare Moon with Elements of Harmony, leading her to turned back to normal and make amends with Celestia.
* The Pony of Shadows is similar to Venom from Marvel Comics, as they were both disgraced by famous heroes (The Pillars of Equestria for Stygian and Spider-Man for Eddie Brock), and so they become consumed in their hatred which attracted a sentient darkness which transformed them into supervillains.
* Stygian is similar to Buddy Pines, as both of their heroes shunned them for their actions (Pillars of Old Equestria to Stygian and Mr. Incredible to Buddy), which caused them to fall into darkness while adopting new identities (Stygian became Pony of Shadows and Buddy to Syndrome) as a result. However, while Stygian eventually redeemed himself after being convinced by Twilight and Starlight, Syndrome ended up getting killed after his cape gets caught on a jet turbine.