#pony of shadows

[heilos]

Living Harmony AU relevant character sheets/info: Harmony aka the "Tree of Harmony" Shadow Lock Somnambula Starswirl the Bearded Stygian might be my favorite of the Pillars of Equestria and it's always made me sad that he wasn't used more in the show. So I decided to team up with my new friend Orin who's taken the time to make a bunch of amazing Pillar redesigns (same person I made this Starswirl animation rig for as a gift) that i'll be incorporating into my future animation project. The Pillars are very important characters to Harmony's story so I wanna do them justice. Listed below is some context for these sketches provided by my friend Orin and some written bits from myself. This is a Stygian who's been separated from the Pony of Shadows for some time, but is now dealing with the consequences of dark magic. I've had so much fun throwing ideas back and forth for this AU and I can't wait to share more in the near future.

Unicorn from a small sea side village in ancient times

Dedicated scholar and battle strategist

Special talent is writing. An incredible wordsmith in his own right

Wrote a very popular autobiography about his time possessed by the Pony of Shadows called “Me and My Shadow” (his third novel)

Name means "dark and gloomy" and also relates to the river and deity "Styx" of Greek mythology

Brought the Pillars of Equestria together in a bid to save his home town from the Sirens (the Dazzlings)

Wanted to become a hero in his own right even though he tried to convince himself otherwise

Lacks the physical strength and magical prowess of his fellow Pillars. Compared to any other run of the mill unicorn, however, Stygian is actually decently above average in terms of magical ability, though he downplays himself significantly

Ousted from the group after a misunderstanding involving him taking the other pillar’s relics to make copies of them so he too could be a hero and join them as an equal. His friends thought he was out to steal their power instead

Becomes bitter and seeks revenge afterwards when discovering the Well of Shade, which leads to the Pony of Shadows claiming him as its vessel

Banished along with the pillars to “limbo” for 1000 years through a powerful spell conceived by Starswirl and planned out by the rest of the pillars

Is freed from the Pony of Shadows' influence in modern Equestria thanks to the Mane 6 and the pillars with Twilight and Starlight being the main catalyst in helping Stygian where Starswirl had failed before

While no longer claimed by the Pony of Shadows, the consequences of using such powerful dark magic as well as being possessed by a being of pure shadow left its mark on him

Has dark magic scarring visible on his body. His eyes, inner mouth, teeth and magic color are permanently altered in appearance. It gives him a rather unsettling aura, much to his displeasure

The Pony of Shadows mark is not so easily purged, even with the combined strength of the past and present Elements of Harmony. A fragment of the shadow lives on in Stygian, inextricably bound to him, but small enough that it can no longer influence him.

Has abilities superficially similar to King Sombra's, albeit on a much smaller scale, and needs extensive practice before he can comfortably wield this new strength.

Luna becomes Stygian's second mentor, after Starswirl, to help him gain control over his new abilities. Her direct experience using dark magic to become Nightmare Moon makes her an effective teacher

As Stygian exerts better control over the shadow fragment, he eventually gains the ability to "Shadow Walk" or travel between shadows. This temporary form makes him look eerily similar to the Pony of Shadows. Pretty spooky

Can tell when the Pony of Shadows is close in proximity due to the shadow fragment, like a magic tracker

Stygian is a lucid dreamer. He appreciates dreams a lot more now that he’s sleeping on a proper schedule. Once in a while he’ll meet up with Princess Luna in the dream realm when they can’t find spare time in the waking world, outside of mentoring sessions, to enjoy each other's company as friends

Stygian redesign by Orin331

[aleydraw]

VILLAINS PART 2

Pony of Shadows 🕸️

Daybreaker 🔥

Cozy Glow 🎭

Windigos 🌨️

The Dazzlings 🎶🧜‍♀️

[aupermittymeowmeow]

Pillars Redesign + Stygian!! Theyre canon designs are SO boring, i had to at least make em all special meow meows

Starswirl the Bearded: Kept his og design, but more magically? His right eye has no pupils and he has a wing on the left side of his body(like a half alicorn situation) Somnambula: Made her a sphinx as well! I didn't really like her outfit, so I made it more accurate to ancient egyptian wear, same with her hair

Mistmane: She is a Qilin, which is basically a Chinese dragon-horse. Her species is an ancestor of modern Kirin.

Rockhoof: Based his design on more traditional Norse attire. He is based on the Sleipnir, an eight-legged horse.

Meadowbrook: In one episode she was called a unicorn, so thats what I did lol. She is based off the Kongo creature Adaba, which is a unicorn with two horns.

Flash Magnus: Didn't change him much, but I did give him burn scars from his fight with the dragons. That's why his cutie mark is smudged. He is an ancestor of Flash Sentry.

Stygian/Pony of Shadows: After his reformation, I made his body have marks from his form as the Pony of Shadows. Also, said Pony of Shadows is an Umbrum AND smaller(Like what happened to Crona in Soul Eater)

[wary-taru]

Little Stygian doodle 💙 he is 🍎 3 sauces big

[girl-of-stupidology]

"What can be said about him. A gifted young scholar born from humble beginnings, yet he wanted to do more. He could've done more...But now there's nothing more to be said. I am not a hero, I am not a hero..."

——————————————————————————————————

The scan is not the same. The scan is not the same. The scan is not the same. :'-)

[uta-aydote]

[mylittleponyauprompts]

CMC Alicorn AU / Ever Free Runaways-

The ponies that make up Celestia and Luna. I’ve been thinking about it off and on and I think it would be fun if the pillars of old Equestria were the ones that made Celestia and Luna.

Luna- Stygian, Flash Magnus, and Mage Meadowbrook

Celestia- Mistmane, Somnambula, and Rockhoof

These ponies were friends that came together under the guidance of the Wizard Starswirl the Bearded, during the early years of the new Kingdom of Equestria. They worked together to keep the infant kingdom stable. Especially with the lingering threat of Discord. The Draconequis refused to leave the ever free area. Which for a while was a good thing. Until ponies decided to try and settle right outside the forest walls.

Discord was seemingly protecting something or someone, but driven mad by his powers overflowing. When ponies intruded on his territory he was startled. The ancient god not in the right of mind froze the sky in place in an eternal eclipse and started causing havoc in his confusion and grief. These six ponies entered the Ever Free forest for an answer while their mentor Starswirl held off Discord. These six ponies don’t come back, at least not as who they were before. Two Alicorns exit the forest wielding weapons made from pure harmony, and trap the ancient god in stone.

Nightmare Moon / The Pony of Shadows- Nightmare Moon and The pony of Shadows have been combined into one being. I think it would be fun if Stygian was Starswirl’s kid. So Starswirl lost his child in the Discord conflict, to his knowledge. Celestia and Luna didn’t want to tell him or others how they just suddenly showed up. But then the nightmare moon incident happened when Luna started feeling grief over not being able to tell Starswirl the truth, and jealousy over how Celestia got most of the public eye. After having to imprison her own sister Celestia told everyone the truth. She became more withdrawn for a good hundred years afterwards.

[thewandie]

- "I am you... FOREVER!"

(YCH OPEN)

! YCH price - 25$ !

Y/C: - Any species(pony or another creature like dragon, hippogriff itc.) - Any gender

If you want to see your character in this YCH, let me know ^^

Payment upfront via PayPal

The Pony of Shadows and "My Little Pony" by Hasbro(c)

[onebadpunspoilsabunch]

A younger Scorpan and Star Swirl.

Headcanons about Scorpan:

Scorpan was Star Swirl's first real friend!

Despite being bigger than them (and most ponies) Scorpan is younger than the Pillars.

After Tirek's imprisonment, Scorpan had returned home to tell his parents the news. But after that, he had returned to Equestria. By the time Scorpan came back, Stygian had already brought the Pillars together to defeat the Sirens, so Scorpan wasn't around for that. Scorpan reunited with Star Swirl and became friends with the other Pillars.

Scorpan helped the Pillars create the seed that would become the Tree of Harmony, but asked Star Swirl not to record his involvement (for unknown reasons).

After the Pillars sacrificed themselves to defeat the Pony of Shadows, Scorpan returned to his homeland once again.

Scorpan had found Spike's egg by itself in the middle of nowhere, and decided to take it with him. Scorpan decided to give it to Star Swirl, who gave it to Celestia and Luna. This is a reference to Generation 1 obviously.

The same way the Mane 6 got their elements from the Pillars, Spike got his element from Scorpan.

Scorpan's friendship with Stygian is similar to Spike's friendship with Starlight Glimmer.

Years after the Tree of Harmony grew, Scorpan returned to Equestria to take a branch from the Tree, and created the Staff of Sacanas.

[bonbonthepony]

Pony of Shadows

They don’t miss with their villain designs 🔥

[heilos]

Living Harmony AU relevant character sheets/info: Harmony aka the "Tree of Harmony" Shadow Lock Stygian Back to dabbling in my horse AU again with more of these two. Shadow Lock on the left is a comic canon only character, who is Stygian's descendant in modern Equestria. Stygian on the right is from Season 7 of MLP:FIM. More context below!

There's a huge emphasis on their relationship to one another as eventual family in this AU, but their first real meeting doesn't go well at all. Shadow Lock has an ingrained fear of the Pony of Shadows in his comic arc, while Stygian is "dark magic scarred" from his time as the Pony of Shadows, which manifests itself as temporary spooky eyes, a discolored mouth, and his magic color turning dark grey to black. It immediately puts Shadow Lock on the defensive thinking the Pony of Shadows is still residing within Stygian.

[ponysciencesworld]

AU-based crackship. Limbo is part of Tartarus, and that’s how Tirek and Stygian met. Now they’re gay. Don’t ask how their daughters happened, it was magic or something.

[studentsixer]

You cannot bring us back! // But I did! I brought all the pillars back // You cannot bring ONLY the pillars back!

S7x25 - Shadow Play Part 1

[chimmycherrr]

25. Origin Story

26. Defeat

27. Rainbow Power

I like the episode about the pony of shadows, because we finally saw him and also saw the story of the old mane 6.

The second art is a redrawing from the last episode of season 4. I think that counts as a defeat. Temporary. But after it comes a bright victory and rainbow power Applejack proves it! By the way, season 4 is my favorite. I think you've already figured it out hehe

[littlecowmoo]

I love pony of shadows