• Alto Villainess: Voiced with a low-pitched female voice.
• And I Must Scream: Luna herself was still stuck inside her Superpowered Evil Side, and was very aware about it.
• Awesome McCoolname: Nightmare Moon is admittedly a pretty awesome name.
• Beneath the Mask: The evil and confident Nightmare Moon was actually a scared pony who missed her sister.
• Big "NO!": She does this after she is blasted with the Elements of Harmony.
• Cain and Abel: The Cain to Celestia's Abel.
• Classic Villain: Envy and Wrath.
• Dark Is Evil: In contrast to Luna being The Sacred Darkness.
• Dark Magical Mare: She is driven to evil by jealousy and eternal loneliness, gets a Plot-Relevant Age-Up and green eyes, dons a goth-esque outfit, and is promptly sealed away for a thousand years. When she escapes, she uses her powers to fight the even younger Magical Girl sent unwittingly to redeem her, who defeats her with The Power of Friendship and reunites her with her sister.

• Demonic Possession: She is the product of the Nightmare Forces possessing Luna.
• The Dreaded: During her absence she has become ponykind's boogeyman. Nightmare Night is dedicated to how scary she is.
• Evil Counterpart: For both Celestia (sun/moon, day/night, etc) and Luna (see The Sacred Darkness). Her Shadowbolts form is this to the Wonderbolts.
• Evil Former Friend: Towards Princess Celestia. She used to be a co-ruler, prior to her Face Heel Turn.
• Evil Is Bigger: Turning into Nightmare Moon makes her about the same size as Celestia.
• Evil Is Hammy: Averted. Luna Eclipsed shows that she was hammy before she was evil.
• Evil Laugh: A big fan of it; see her page quote.
• Evil Plan: Eternal Night, with an era of evil as a side dish! Not to mention it would've actually killed every living thing under the sky.
• The Evil Princess: She is in a literal sense an "evil princess", but her position seems to (and was supposed to) be that of a queen. There isn't anyone higher in position than hers to overthrow with the exception of her equal and fellow princess, Celestia.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Has a throaty, regal and commanding voice.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Hers look more like dragon eyes than pony eyes.
• The Fair Folk: Nightmare Moon's legend post-Elements was told like this. Disguise yourself so she can’t recognize you, give her a candy offering so she could fill her stomach with that instead of you, and above all, never piss her off. Only then she may just might decide against devouring everyone on Equestria... until next year, that is.
• Fangs Are Evil: The actual Nightmare Moon doesn't have fangs, but Nightmare Night portrayals of her sometimes do.
• Fisher Queen: Naturally, when she seizes control of Equestria, the land is plunged into never-ending darkness.
• For the Evulz: Unless she was too self-absorbed to notice, eternal night would have made Nightmare Moon a genocidal villain, albeit more indirectly than most. Without sunlight, plants cannot live, thus no food to eat. Word Of God confirms that their food can't grow without sunlight.
• Four Temperament Ensemble: Amongst the main villains (Discord, Chrysalis, King Sombra and herself) she's Melancholic.
• Fusion Dance: The fusion of Luna and the Nightmare Forces, as revealed in the comics.
• Goddess of Evil: Downplayed; there is nothing evill about night or dreams (again see The Sacred Darkness) but she uses them for evil.
• God Save Us From The Queen: Even though she's called a princess, her power, as with Celestia, is that of a queen. Word Of God states that it was due to Executive Meddling to prevent this very trope from being invoked that Celestia and Luna were given the title of Princess. Nightmare Moon remains a straight example of this regardless of title change.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: She's essentially Princess Luna turned into an Omnicidal Maniac out for revenge.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes, Glowing Eyes of Doom and Hellish Pupils: Has all three.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Has feathery wings like any Pegasus, but they're drawn with a noticeably more bat-like outline.
• Green-Eyed Monster: According to the Creation Myth, the problem started when she grew jealous of how their subjects went out and enjoyed the daytime but slept through her beautiful nights.
• Hellish Horse: Unlike Luna, she's truly malevolent and frightening.
• Hellish Pupils: Has vertically slitted pupils.
• Hot Goddess: For the same reason as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, considering that Nightmare Moon is their Evil Counterpart.
• Large Ham: Like most of the villains in this show, she loves to ham it up and particularly when making declarations of victory.
• Mare In Black: She's even a significantly darker shade than her true self.
• Meaningful Name: She rules the moon and is most certainly a thing of nightmares. "Sleepless in Ponyvillie" revealed Luna has power over dreams, meaning her evil self can give others nightmares.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Nightmare is enough.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Twilight Sparkle sets off with her new friends to find the Elements of Harmony, they only have a partial idea of what they are looking for. Nightmare Moon's attempts to stop them provide the clues that are needed to figure out the rest of the missing information.
• The Night That Never Ends: Her ultimate goal.
• Oh Crap: When Twilight Sparkle discovers the sixth element of magic and the mane six proceed to use the Elements Of Harmony to stop her.
• Prehensile Hair: Her mane and tail are made up of the purple smoke stuff she's also capable of entirely transforming into; it can move as she pleases.
• Psycho Electro: Her lightning powers accompany her hammy moments.
• Punny Name: Nightmare Moon.
  • She went mad from jealousy and The Mare of the Moon was a lunatic.
  • Also her change of name. Luna is Latin (and Spanish) for "moon".
  • The dark areas or "seas" of our moon are all named "Mare something-or-other". It's too bad they're not pronounced the same^note "mare" is Latin for "sea" and is pronounced "mah-ray".
• The Resenter: See above under Green-Eyed Monster.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: She was sealed in the Moon for a thousand years as "The Mare in the Moon".
• Self Duplication: Combined with Voluntary Shapeshifting. Nightmare Moon transforms into a fictional trio called the Shadowbolts based on Rainbow Dash's idols, the Wonderbolts, in order to distract her from helping her friends. However, only the female member speaks (in Nightmare Moon's voice), so it is also possible that the two male members are non-sentient dummies or she couldn't make a convincing male voice for them.
• Shadow Archetype: For both Celestia and Luna.
• Shock and Awe: She uses lightning to escape the Summer Sun Celebration in the second episode.
• Shout Out: To Maleficent. "STAND BACK, YOU FOALS!" BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!
• Spell My Name with an S: "Nightmare Moon" has been used by Hasbro and its toy line, by the trading cards, by The Hub, by WeLoveFine, and by Lauren Faust, while "Night Mare Moon" has been used by Hasbro, by at least one episode synopsis, by Lauren Faust, and partially by the single-volume storybook adaptation of the pilot episodes.
• Starter Villain: The first villain in the series.
• Superpowered Evil Side: A literal case, as Nightmare Moon was born from evil magic taking over Luna.
• Super Smoke: Can transform into smoke to move more rapidly and then reform.
• To Create A Playground For Evil: According to Lauren Faust, this is what Nightmare Moon's eternal night would have resulted in. Confirmed in the IDW comics as the goal of the Nightmare Forces.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: An odd case as her introduction is the first episode before the Slice of Life comedy format was set up.
• Villains Blend In Better: Did a much better job of adapting to modern Equestria than Luna did in her first appearance, even though she/both of them were sealed inside the moon for a millennium. Then again she wasn't trying to make friends like Luna. Also Nightmare Moon seemed to have some awareness of Equestria during her imprisonment. Princess Luna was dormant during that time, so she wouldn't know of the changes during her absence.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Takes on several different forms throughout the episode, including a thorn to enrage a Manticore and the Shadowbolts to tempt Rainbow Dash.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Was born from the jealousy and resentment Luna felt towards her sister when the ponies ignored her night and stayed awake during the day. Basically, she's driven by an urge to be as loved as her sister.
• You Don't Look Like You: Her official toy is relatively show-accurate, but she's given a purple mane. Justified, as a mane made of stars is pretty hard to translate into a Real Life sharable format.
• You Gotta Have Blue Mane: With a space pattern of stars flowing in it as well. Justified as she is a goddess.

• Achilles Heel:
  • His only weakness is the Elements Of Harmony.
  • In addition, his pride can get the better of his judgment; see Fatal Flaw below.
• Actor Allusion: John De Lancie once again plays a reality-warping, finger-snapping, teleporting trickster with a cruel sense of humor. Confirmed by Word Of God to be intentional.
• The Ageless: He states he's several eons old.
• And I Must Scream: According to him, he was fully aware of being a statue during his imprisonment. This happens to him again after being beaten and resealed.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: The mane cast are given a big party in Canterlot celebrating his defeat, complete with a stained glass window depicting it.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony. Fittingly enough, he is composed of bits and pieces from a lot of different creatures.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • He enjoys causing chaos in Equestria, Mind Raping the Mane Cast, and bringing chocolate rain to Ponyville.
  • Brought up again in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" as the Mane Cast cite reasons to Celestia why they don't relish the idea of working with Discord, "Turning them into the opposite of their true nature", "Turning Ponyville into Chaos Central" and "Had Chocolate Rain with not a dollop of whipped cream to be found."
• Badass: Despite his flair for the dramatic, and extremely juvenile behavior, he's an incredibly competent schemer, and easily the strongest characters that the show has seen thus far. Discord has amassed the fandom that he has for a reason.
• Badass Finger Snap: Much like de Lancie's old role as Q, he frequently snaps his fingers to appear nonchalant while warping reality.
• Beard of Evil: Has a beard, though it isn't particularly menacing in and of itself.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: He uses each of the Mane Cast's specific Element of Harmony against them: he tells Applejack the truth about them splitting up, but not how it happens; he laughs, first with, then at Pinkie Pie; he "generously" gives Rarity a giant (fake) diamond; he tries being overly kind to Fluttershy, but she's too nice; he tests Rainbow Dash's loyalty between home and the world; and, finally, breaks Twilight through her friends.
• Becoming the Mask: Pretends to be reformed by Fluttershy to trick her, but after discovering she really does see him as her friend, he ultimately can't bring himself to do something that would destroy that friendship.
• Berserk Button: Winning against his mind games. In which case he will promptly cheat to win.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Discord might have a silly personality and appearance, but he's an extremely skilled Manipulative Bastard with reality-warping powers and is a lot more dangerous than said personality and appearance would imply. By the end of his first episode, he's done more damage than all the previously introduced villains combined.
• Big "NO!": He does this after getting blasted with the Elements of Harmony.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Part of his silly appearance.
• Blue and Orange Morality:
  • What 'makes sense' to him doesn't make sense which does make sense. Confused yet?
  • He honestly doesn't get the whole friendship thing until Fluttershy makes the Last-Second Chance work.
  • He attempts to claim some moral high ground by saying that for all the terrible things he did, at least he never turned ponies to stone. This may sound hypocritical until you realize that for an embodiment of chaos, being denied the freedom to move and act, and being completely under someone else's control, would be the most terrible fate imaginable. Whatever he did to any pony, at least they were able to act on it.
• Break Them By Talking: Combines this and Mind-Control Eyes to brainwash the Mane Cast. Worth noting is he doesn't have to do this, as his supernatural mind control works just as well without it; he just gets a sick kick out of it.
• Breath Weapon: In The Hub's Web Game Adventure Ponies.
• The Bully: Removing the Mane Six's wings and horns looks like a bully taking someone's lunch money.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: As shown in his second appearance, he can don outfits at will.
• The Caligula: His reign over Equestria was a time of madness and suffering, and he causes incredible mayhem once he takes over again.
• Card-Carrying Villain: "Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. Helloooo?"
• Chaos Is Evil: The Spirit of Chaos and one of the most vile beings in the series. He also represents disharmony, which is played up in his more evil actions.
• The Chessmaster: He pulls several very successful plans during his "game" with the group.
• Classic Villain: Fits all of the criteria as a Wrath and Pride villain.
• Cloudcuckoolander/Mad God: He makes Pinkie Pie look like a dullard.^note Literally. He turns her into a complete dullard. Fitting, considering he's the spirit of chaos and discord.
• Cool Shades: Has green-framed ones in Part 1 and red-framed ones in Part 2. Would count as Sinister Shades, but he doesn't do anything particularly sinister while wearing either pair.
• The Corrupter: He emotionally breaks the Mane Six, then brainwashes them into jerks.
• Creepy Circus Music: His Leitmotif incorporates a particularly sinister version of this.
• Cry Cute: In "Keep Calm and Flutter On" He sheds a Single Tear with Puppy-Dog Eyes when he learned that Fluttershy does genially care for him as a friend and that he almost destroyed their friendship.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He gets the better Mane Six numerous times before they finally return the favor.
• Cute Little Fangs: He has one next to his creepier body parts; all part of the 'disharmony' affect.
• Cutting the Knot: After trying and failing to break Fluttershy, he opts to straight-up hypnotize her.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy:
  • After he's freed, he steals the only things that can defeat him, forces the Mane Cast into a game on his terms, and, just in case, separates and manipulates (both verbally and magically) all of them into utter disunity, leaving him free to do whatever he darn well pleases. It doesn't last when he thinks he's completely won and gets complacent by letting the Mane Cast beat him.
  • He's still remarkable genre-savvy in "Keep Calm And Flutter On", when, knowing that Celestia has proofed the Elements of Harmony against his magicks, he instead removes all the "reformation spells" from the books in Twilight's library, because that those haven't been protected by Celestia's magic.
• The Dark Times: His rule 1000 years before the time of the show is referred to as a time of endless suffering by Celestia.
• Deadpan Snarker: The single biggest ones in the entire show because he local trickster. Given he doesn't appear in a whole lot of episodes, that's saying a lot.
• Defeat By Irony: He uses the group's personality flaws and his knowledge that the Elements of Harmony won't work if their friendship is destroyed to break them. In the end, it's his own personality flaw — being too prideful to believe they're a genuine threat to him — combined with that knowledge that renders him incapable of realizing that the Elements of Harmony are working for real until it's far too late.
• Defeat Means Friendship:
  • Defied; he sarcastically tells the Mane Six to "friend" him before they turn him back to stone.
  • A variation in "Keep Calm and Flutter On". There he's defeated by friendship.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • He plans for everything except two things: first, that Celestia will send Twilight Sparkle her letters back, breaking her out of her Heroic BSOD and pulling her back from the Despair Event Horizon; second, that Twilight will somehow free and reunite her friends and wield the Elements of Harmony against him. The first he couldn't see coming at all; the second he doesn't even consider a possibility.
  • In "Keep Calm and Flutter On", His plan is to take advantage of Fluttershy's hospitality and kindness to drive a wedge between her and her friends, thus rendering the Elements of Harmony ineffective against him. However, while he fully expected Fluttershy to put up with his antics, he never expected her to genuinely like him and consider him a friend.
• The Dreaded: When Princess Celestia is genuinely intimidated by someone, they're truly a force to be reckoned with.
• Dressed In Drag: Briefly dons a granny outfit in "Keep Calm and Flutter On", as seen on the picture from the episode's page.
• Dystopia Justifies The Means: His goal is nothing less than plunging Equestria into never-ending chaos for his own amusement. He's done this before, and Celestia's words imply it was far from pretty. That and the cries of pain in the background as she gives his back story tell you all you need to know.
• Easily Forgiven: Downplayed. Nopony forgives him except Fluttershy and he had earn that by toning down his chaos and fixing a mess he made. Furthermore, Celestia decided to leave the Elements with their Bearers, "just in case".
• Emotion Eater: It's implied that the Cutie Mark Crusaders fighting in front of his statue prison (creating discord) gives him enough power to break free.
• Establishing Character Moment: When he appears in the stained glass windows, he demonstrates a sense of humor and mystery, as well as great knowledge of the Mane Cast.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Despite his savviness and knowledge that the Elements run on The Power of Friendship, he doesn't seem to realize there's more to it than that and just how difficult a bond it is to truly break. He assumes The Power of Friendship could never overcome his brainwashing, and that the Mane Cast's friendship is destroyed beyond repair. As such, the one thing he doesn't prepare for is the heroines breaking free of it and activating the Elements.
  • Ironically, it's finally understanding friendship that results in him doing a Heel Face Turn.
• Evil Counterpart: To Princess Celestia. She is the current ruler of Equestria, has great magical powers and takes the well-being of her subjects seriously and values good relationships between them, but isn't above a little mischief. Discord, on the other hand, is the former ruler of Equestria and uses his powers to torment the ponies and break their friendships.
• Evil Is Hammy: It's John De Lancie playing a much more malicious version of Q as a cartoon dragon.
• Evil Laugh: He often mixes it with or switches it to an "Oh; that's just hilarious!" kind of laugh, but it's still undeniably evil. He's also capable of producing a very menacing one if he feels like it, such as when he's freed from his prison.
• Evil Overlord: Ruled Equestria over 1000 years ago. Celestia implies his rule was far from pretty. He becomes this again during his brief reign over Equestria after being freed.
• Evil Plan: Return Equestria to its former state as a world of endless chaos.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Averted; while John De Lancie does have a deep voice, he doesn't give Discord a commanding, threatening tone, but a jovial, excited, and sarcastic one, suiting his deceptive characterization.
• Exact Words: Twists and turns are indeed his master plan, but he never says the Elements are in the maze. They are, however, "back where you began." Twilight finds them in her book on the Elements. Take a guess what the very first frame of the very first episode shows.
• Extreme Omnivore:
  • When he got a glass of chocolate milk, he drank the glass, then threw away the milk. Which exploded.
  • Confirmed in "Keep Calm and Flutter On", when he foils Twilight's plan to magically reform him by eating the pages to her spell books.
• The Fair Folk: He doesn't look much like an old school fairy, but he definitely has a lot of their more malevolent features. Despite possessing Reality Warper powers, he delights in playing mind games with the ponies as well as manipulating them into his power, even though he can just hypnotize them right off the bat. He's also not above ignoring the rules he sets for others or ruthlessly undermining his game to suit his own ends.
• Fan Nickname: DisQord, to further underline the Actor Allusion aspect of the character.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: See Mad Eye and Mix-and-Match Critters.
• Fatal Flaw: Loves exploiting these in other people to manipulate them. Ironically, it's his own Fatal Flaw — his refusal to take the Mane Cast as a serious threat — that leads to his downfall.
• Faux Affably Evil: Discord treats the ordeal as a "game" and seems good-natured... then we see the absolute joy he takes in manipulating and breaking the Mane Cast.
• Final Boss: He's the boss of Level 6 of The Hub's Web Game Adventure Ponies.
• Fisher King: Justified, as he is a Reality Warper; under his rule, Equestria is every bit as chaotic and twisted as he is. He even spends his time atop a creepy-looking throne after taking over. The moment he's vanquished, a World Healing Wave returns it to normal.
• Flaw Exploitation: His MO for breaking ponies. He loses thanks to the heroes taking advantage of his flaws.
• For the Evulz: His raison d'etre. He's not called "Discord" for nothing.
• Four Temperament Ensemble: Among the four main antagonists, he's definitely the Sanguine.
• Friendless Background: Unsurprisingly, given his past as an Evil Overlord, but officially confirmed in his second appearance via Freudian Slip.
• The Gadfly: Loves tap dancing on every Berserk Button in a pony he can find For the Evulz. Most notable with Celestia, who he goes out of his way to enrage.
• God of Evil: Closer to God of Chaos and Disharmony, but a much more literal example than Nightmare Moon. Not only is he truly evil, but his powers are far more god-like than hers were, and he claims to be several eons old.
• Good Is Boring: Considers harmony and good to be no fun; disharmony and broken friendships are hilarious!
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Has mixed angelic (pegasus) and demonic (bat) wings, one of the more sinister types.
• Go Out with a Smile: Certainly did so off-screen when Celestia and Luna sealed him away a thousand years ago, as he's got a big open-mouthed smile when Cheerilee's class looks at the statue. Does not do so when the Mane Six seal him away.
• Great Gazoo: Has some features of a Great Gazoo and The Fair Folk (above). However, he is far more evil than the typical version of this trope.
• Hate Plague: One of his abilities is breaking friendships.
• Heel Face Turn: Undergoes one in "Keep Calm And Flutter On".
• Heel Realization: "I guess when you're friends, you can't always have things exactly your way all of the time".
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Downplayed by the end of "Keep Calm And Flutter On" in the sense that while he has ultimately pledged that he'll use his powers for good, everyone except Fluttershy is still understandably cautious toward him.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He lets them find the Elements of Harmony, knowing they can't use them since he has destroyed their friendship at this point and allows them a "free shot" at him, aware it will fail. He tries to repeat this a second time, only to realize too late that their friendship is back together. Heck, Applejack tells him this, but since he turned her into a liar, he doesn't believe her because he thinks she's still lying.
• Humiliation Conga: After thinking he's attained total control of the world and considering the Mane Cast to be no more than an amusing distraction, he watches in shock as those same six completely obliterate his Evil Plan, return Ponyville to normal, and turn him back to stone with an Oh Crap look frozen on his face — all in the span of less than a minute.
• Hypnotic Eyes: What he uses to brainwash the Mane Six.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: He tries this on multiple occasions with the Mane Six, particularly Twilight Sparkle.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: At the end of "Keep Calm And Flutter On" this is the main reason why he's upset when Fluttershy says that she doesn't want to be his friend. Luckily, he wins her over in the end but he didn't know or CARE he felt this way until he actually HAD a friend to lose.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Fluttershy by the end of his second appearance.
• It Amused Me: The main reason he toys with the Mane Six before he corrupts them. Also, the chaos he spreads is less malicious than breaking their friendship.
• It's All About Me: "It's all about my lulz" is more accurate, but the principle is still the same. The biggest part of his character development in his second appearance, is learning that having friends means it isn't always about himself.
• Jackass Genie: His Sadistic Choice to Rainbow Dash: either watch the foundations of her home crumble without her, or continue wandering aimlessly in his labyrinth. However, he never says which choice is right, or that Cloudsdale is the home that would crumble without her. Rainbow goes to save Cloudsdale, letting Discord have his way with Equestria, paying special attention to Rainbow's new home of Ponyville, his "chaos capital of the world".
• Jerkass God: He's the spirit of chaos and disharmony. However, he is more than a plain old Jerkass.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Subverted when he tries to call Princess Celestia out on turning him into stone in front of the Mane Six. He only avoided things like that because it wouldn't be any fun for him.
• Just Toying with Them: Since he's more powerful than anyone else, obviously it would be boring to use those powers straightforwardly to beat them.
• Kansas City Shuffle: The hint he gives is "Twists and turns are my master plan, then find the Elements back where you began", causing the Mane Cast to search the maze for them... except he never says the Elements are in it; it's just a ploy to lure them into his trap.
• Keet: A more malevolent and manipulative example than most, but there's times where he lives up to this.
• Kick the Dog: Throughout the two-parter episode he appears in. The best example is in Part 2, when he gives a Big "YES!"/Victory Pose after realizing he's broken Twilight Sparkle.
• Knight of Cerebus: Though he has many humorous qualities, there's a reason Celestia is serious around him.
• Lack of Empathy:
  • His reaction to Twilight crossing the Despair Event Horizon? To give a Big "YES!" and celebrate.
  • Ultimately inverted during his second appearance, though it takes a lot for him to realize what it means to care for someone else.
• Laughably Evil: He's fun to watch, that's for sure, but he's more like The Joker in this respect, as it just makes him more creepy and disturbing.
• Lean and Mean: Has a serpentine body.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: His riddle is "Twists and turns are my master plan; then find the Elements back where you began". Where do they find the Elements? In the reference guide which was the very first thing we saw in the very first episode, literally back where the series began.
• Leitmotif: Can be heard here.
• Light Is Not Good: Much of his reality warping and teleportation are accompanied by a bright light.

• Mad God: He even provides the page image; did you expect the spirit of chaos to be sane?
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • Tricks the Mane Six to go on a (fruitless) search for the Elements of Harmony, separates them, and uses trickery and magic to turn them into the opposite of their personality, thus making the elements useless against him. Fortunately for everyone but him, he fails to account for Princess Celestia and Twilight's friendship letters.
  • In "Keep Calm And Flutter On", his new Master Plan is to pretend he's reforming so that Fluttershy wouldn't agree to use the Elements against him. At the end of the episode, he makes Fluttershy promise she wouldn't use her Element and drops all pretense entirely, certain that she will keep her word. Ironically, his new Spanner in the Works is... himself, as he realizes friendship is more important to him than he had given it credit for.
• Meaningful Name: The polar opposite of harmony, to be specific.
• Mind Screw: How he corrupts four of the Elements; he messes with their heads.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: To further cement that he is chaos incarnate, Discord looks generally like an Eastern dragon, but with the head of a goat (not a pony as Cheerilee would have you believe), one goat horn, one stag horn, one fang, the tongue of a snake, the mane of a horse, a snake-like torso covered with eagle feathers, one eagle talon, one lion paw, one bat wing, one bird wing, one green dragon leg, one horse leg, and a red dragon tail. Even his species name is a combination of "dragon" and "horse".^note Presumably "draconequuscervuscaperleonaquilalacertavespertilioserpens" would have been a bit too long.
• Morality Pet: Fluttershy becomes this to him during his second appearance, by virtue of her being the first real friend he ever made. In the end, he can't bring himself to throw Equestria into chaos again knowing it'd cost him her friendship.
• Moral Myopia: Has absolutely no qualms about sadistically torturing innocent ponies mentally and physically, turning all of Equestria into a World Gone Mad, driving everypony insane, and generally doing whatever he wants to for his own amusement with no sense of morality... but gives Celestia a What the Hell, Hero? for turning him to stone for the aforementioned acts.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When he realizes he truly does value Fluttershy as his friend and just alientated her with his actions.
• Narcissist:
  "Congratulations. You've found the one thing in Equestria that can match my face for sheer beauty."
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Twilight Sparkle complains about the hedge maze being taken away, he corrects her error in reasoning by proving he never said the Elements were in the maze, instead of keeping quiet and letting her continue to believe they've already lost because of his cheating. He is completely aware of this and never lets Twilight know that the Elements won't work if the team isn't completely united. In fact, he was banking on their failure increasing their despair to the point where it will drive them apart permanently, thus granting him long-term security from the only viable threat to his power. It still comes back to bite him, as the Elements are ultimately used to defeat him later on.
• No Sense of Personal Space: As an intimidation technique, he will sliter around his marks or drape an arm over their shoulder.
• Not So Harmless Villain: At first, he only seems mischievous by doing things like making cotton candy clouds that produce chocolate rain. Then he steals the Elements of Harmony, and things just get worse from there...
• Odd Friendship: The first pony he ever befriends? Fluttershy.
• Oh Crap: He gets that very look just before the Elements of Harmony hit him full force.
• Order Vs Chaos: This is his conflict with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. However, it's more Harmony vs. Disharmony, harmony in this case being more compromise and working together while disharmony is self-centered and breeds strife and hatred between them. Discord, obviously, is disharmony incarnate.
• Our Dragons Are Different: His species name is draconequus and, while he's more of a chimera, he seems to be at least partly modeled off an eastern dragon. His left leg and part of his tail also seem to be those of a dragon.
• Pass the Popcorn: At the beginning of Part 2, he finds the sight of Twilight's bickering friends to be so entertaining that he gets a movie theater seat with a bag of popcorn to properly enjoy the show.
• Playing With Puppets: Discord's favorite trick.If you look at the windows in the Equestrian palace as Princess Celestia talks about Discord, Fluttershy sees one of them with an image of Discord holding ponies up with puppet strings screaming over a pit of fire.
• Poke the Poodle: In comparison to all the harm he inflicted on the Mane Six in "The Return Of Harmony", his actions in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" are somewhat tame. Justified because if he went to the big stuff the Mane Six would petrify him again.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Unlike a certain princess, he doesn't turn ponies into stone! This has nothing to do with morals; he's "chaos", and chaos is "active", so turning ponies to stone is just too boring.
• The Prankster: When he's not breaking ponies or driving them insane he's making unruly clouds and chocolate rain.
• Pride: His Fatal Flaw; see Death by Irony.
• Psychopathic Man Child: While he's aware of his actions and how horrific they are, he has nothing better to do than have whimsical and nonsensical fun at the expense of other characters, no real business to take care of, and no compassion for the beings he's toying with to restrain him.
• Psychotic Smirk: His default expresson.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: During "Keep Calm and Flutter On" when he wants Fluttershy to forgive him for flooding Sweet Apple Acres.
• Rage Quit: His reaction to Fluttershy beating his mind games is cease the mind games and outright brainwash her.
• Reality Warper: He can do just about anything. For instance, he holds out a glass under a cotton-candy cloud that rains chocolate milk, and it fills up from top to bottom rather than bottom to top. He then proceeds to drink the glass. Not the milk; the glass itself. He then throws the milk over his shoulder and it explodes. He's a crazy one, that Discord.
  • Master of Illusion: A rare example of the two tropes overlapping, his method of corrupting Rarity is closer to an illusion than true Reality Warping.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He carries a pink umbrella and at one point wears a pink robe. There's also his pink cotton candy clouds. Plus when he remakes a broken lamp in his image, it's wearing a pink tutu.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are red, and there's hardly a minute goes by he's not doing something evil.
• Reformed But Not Tamed: At the end of "Keep Calm and Flutter on" he vows to Celestia that he will use his powers for good 'most of the time'.
• Red Right Hand: Anyone made up of thirteen different creatures HAS to be evil.
• Remember the New Guy: Inverted. Because his reign over Equestria was such a time of suffering, and Celestia and Luna battled him to become rulers themselves, there is no reason that the general Equestrian public shouldn't have a basic idea of him, but nopony except Celestia and Luna have any idea of his existence, not even Twilight, who is very well-versed in history. This is most likely a case of Legend Fades to Myth since his reign was both very long ago and he himself is more of a primal force of nature than even Celestia and Luna.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: He is part dragon after all.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Not as often as Zecora, mind you, but loves handing out torturous riddles. He normally sounds far more menacing while doing so as well.
• Riddle Me This: Varies between this and conventional challenges.
• Right For The Wrong Reasons: He's right for calling out Princess Celestia for turning him to stone, considering that he had never done that to anypony in the past, but it isn't because he was a decent ruler; it's because having a kingdom of stone subjects would be too boring for him.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!/Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: See Berserk Button and Villainous Breakdown.
  "I'm not playing fair? Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord: spirit of chaos and disharmony. Helloooooooo!"
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Discord had been imprisoned in a stone statue by Celestia and Luna since ancient times for the suffering his rule brought everyone in Equestria. The Cutie Mark Crusaders release him by creating discord (fighting) in front of it, giving him the power to break free from his weakened prison. He's put back in his can at the end of Part 2.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Right after Celestia has explained how horrible things used to be thanks to Discord, he reveals himself and they have this little exchange:
  Celestia: Discord! Show yourself!
  Discord: (chuckling) Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you. It's quite lonely being encased in stone. But you wouldn't know that, would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone!
• A Sinister Clue: He tends to favor the eagle talon he has for a left arm when snapping or holding things.
• Slasher Smile: He briefly sports one when he finally decides to directly engage the newly bonded Mane Cast with his magic.
• Smug Snake: Zig-zags between this and Magnificent Bastard. Granted, his plan to deal with the Elements of Harmony is a genuinely well thought-out one, and he's quite effective and cunning in achieving his goal. However, he quickly grows complacent as soon as he thinks he's won, and refuses to take Twilight and her friends seriously until it's too late for him.
• Smug Smiler:
  • Outside of his reaction to Fluttershy withstanding his taunts and his reaction to the Mane Six reactivating the Elements of Harmony, Discord has two smiles that function as his standard facial expressions: the first is the aforementioned "psychotic" one that appears anytime he successfully tricks someone into doing something; the second is the silly grin that appears anytime he does something particularly outlandish. The contrast between the two is quite unsettling.
  • "Keep Calm And Flutter On" features him finally giving a genuine, non malicious smile. It's adorable.
• Smug Super: Since he's far more powerful than anyone in the series, he doesn't see anyone as a threat and tends to see everything as a game. The fact that he he never takes Twilight and her friends seriously eventually leads to his undoing.
• Spell My Name with an S: The spelling of the name of his species, draconequus, has been mangled by both The Hub's web site (Dragonokis) and the closed captioning (draconequis). Word Of God is clear on the subject, though, and his trading card◊ and a tweet by Hasbro's My Little Pony Twitter account both use the correct spelling.
• The Sociopath: He doesn't care who or what he hurts so long as it's entertaining to him. He's also sadistic and very manipulative.
  • Then he finally finds someone he does care about.
• Stalker Without A Crush: Towards the Mane Six themselves, but more so towards Twilight.
• Superpower Lottery: He takes home the grand prize as far as characters in this show go.
• Surreal Humor: Thrives on it. This is why he turns Ponyvile into Wonderland.
• Sweet Tooth: He sure likes to make sweet and tasty food while he's causing chaos.
• Taken for Granite: What the power of the Elements of Harmony does to him.
• Tarot Motifs: A stained-glass window of Discord has him hanging tied-up ponies over a pit of fire, bringing to mind the Devil card.
• This Cannot Be!: His reaction when the Elements of Harmony are activated after being so certain he's completely broken the Mane Six's friendship.
• Time Abyss: Possibly. All we know is that he was imprisoned by the Elements of Harmony some time before Nightmare Moon appeared a thousand years ago. He states that he's "eons" old; in astronomy and geology, an eon is half a billion years or more, but immortal beings in fiction use the word much more loosely.
• Too Clever by Half: He is well aware he's an omnipotent Reality Warper and never views anyone as much of a threat to him as a result... not even the Mane Cast. This is ultimately his downfall. He's so confident he's broken up the Mane Cast, he never considers they'd be able to regroup and truly use the Elements of Harmony against him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: By the end of his second appearance he finally realizes what it means to care about someone else can do that.
• Too Powerful to Live: Given that his powers make him stronger than every character in the series we've seen thus far, there's no way that he could stick around without the series ending on a downbeat note. Until his Heel Face Turn.
• Touché: "Well played Fluttershy, well played."
• The Trickster: Discord treats his fight with the Mane Cast as a game and enjoys messing with their heads. He laughs at the shock taking away their wings and horns causes them. Unlike some other tricksters, he also has a more malicious aspect which is barely hidden beneath the surface.
• Underestimating Badassery: Due to his power, he viewed everyone as amusing distractions at best, blinding him to the fact they potentially could beat him. This is his undoing, as he counts Celestia and the Mane Six out far too early and refuses to treat them as a threat afterwards.
• Unreliable Narrator: He claims that he is conscious when petrified by the Elements of Harmony, but given his track record of lying, it's possible that he made that up to start a fight between Celestia and the other heroes. He was telling the truth. In "Keep Calm and Flutter On" he knew about the plan to reform him immediately after he was freed.
• Victory Is Boring: Inverted. At first, it looks like he's sad when Twilight gives up trying to fight him, but then he cheers up and celebrates with more chaos. Now he has a free hand to have as much fun as he wants.
• Villainous Breakdown: Twice. First he throws a hissy fit when Fluttershy doesn't give into his mind games. Then he goes from cocky to terrified when he realizes the Elements of Harmony are working again after he becomes so certain he's broken the Mane Six's bond.
• Villainous BSOD: Undergoes a brief one after realizing how much he's come to care about having a friend.
• Villain Teleportation: Utilizes this more often than walking; it goes well with his lack of personal space to teleport in someone's face.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Is capable of transforming into anything he desires, though he seems incapable of hiding some of his traits such as his horns.
• Wacky Guy: Albeit one more actively malicious than most, but he's certainly wacky.
• Was It Really Worth It?: Does this to himself by asking Fluttershy if she thought he'd think his World Of Chaos wasn't worth losing their friendship. To everyone's surprise, including his own, he discovers it really wasn't worth it.
• Where's the Fun in That?: See his quote.
• White Hair Black Heart: Initially, he is a Jerkass God with white hair.
• World Gone Mad/World Of Chaos: He's the Spirit Of Disharmony; what else would he turn Equestria into?
• Would Hit a Girl: He has no problem picking up Twilight Sparkle and dropping her, or abrasively tapping Fluttershy on the head when she resists his taunts to make her angry.

Queen Chrysalis

"First, we take Canterlot! And then, all of Equestria!"

Debut: "A Canterlot Wedding"^note She appears in Part 1 masquerading as Princess Cadance. She makes her full physical debut in Part 2.

Voiced by: Kathleen Barr^note according to this tweet by Jayson Thiessen

• 100% Adoration Rating: The comic book made obvious that her Changelings are very content with her as their ruler because Chrysalis is an effective leader and takes on herself the duty to provide food for her kin. They are close enough as to joke and share a few laughs together with their Queen.
• All There in the Script: Her name was originally revealed by Word Of God, and has since been used in the iTunes and Netflix synopses of "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2", in the episode's Italian dub and in The Merch. Issue #1 of the IDW comic is the first time her name is mentioned in-universe. Further used by The Hub as part of their 2012 "Naughty or Nice" Awards (in which she won for Naughtiest Use of a Villainous Power).
• Beam-O-War: Chrysalis is able to cast an offensive magical beam, and thanks to Shining Armor's love she can overpower even Princess Celestia!
• Big Bad: Of the second season's finale and the IDW comics.
• Big Bad Friend: Towards the Mane 6 and Princess Celestia when she's disguised as Cadence.
• Big "NO!": In Big Bad tradition, she gives one just before her defeat by the real Cadence and Shining Armor.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: As the Fake Cadance she acts snotty and unpleasable.
• Body Horror: Her legs, wings, mane, tail, and horn have holes in them, which give her kind a moth-eaten appearence. No blood, just... holes... she looks like a partially decomposed corpse.
• Brainwashed: She magically brainwashes Shining Armor to feed off his love for Cadence and prevent him from maintaining the force field stopping her minions from invading Canterlot.
• The Chessmaster: As she points out, she outsmarted everyone, even Celestia. The Mane Six are a little more Genre Savvy about this in the comic, but she still leaves them with no choice but to play into her hands.
• Classic Villain: Pride and Ambition.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Her magic aura is sickly green.
• Control Freak: Seen mainly when she's disguised as Cadance. Justified, as she is the Hive Queen of a swarm, so of course she'd expect to get her way one hundred percent of the time.
• Crocodile Tears: Whenever someone calls Chrysalis (as Cadance) out on her questionable ways, she bursts into fake tears and accuses that they "just want to ruin her special day". Fools everypony, even Princess Celestia. Except Twilight Sparkle.
• Dark Action Girl: Is notably the first villain to win a straight-up fight.
• Dark Is Evil: Her body is solid black to contrast the technicolor ponies.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Not the most obvious example, but the very first time we see her in disguise, she smiles wickedly, and then proceeds to treat everypony around her like crap. Thankfully for her, everypony readily writes it off due to the circumstances except Twilight Sparkle.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: She won a Beam-O-War with Princess Celestia after absorbing enough of Shining Armor's love. Even she was shocked at her victory. Unfortunately for her, the exact same love is used by Cadance and Shining Armor to return the favor.
• Emotion Eater: Feeds off The Power of Love.
• Enfant Terrible: While we don't see her as a child, she admits she's dreamed of watching her minions ransack a city, causing mass panic and suffering, since she was small.
• Equinoid Abomination: Like the rest of her changelings, Chrysalis has a pony-like appearance, but her body structure specifically resembles the alicorn princesses.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good/Blue and Orange Morality: She understands The Power of Love, but only as a power source. She doesn't truly feel it and outright says there's no room in her heart for it. In the end, The Power of Love defeating her is so alien to her that she doesn't consider it a threat until it's too late to stop it.
• Evil Counterpart: To both Princess Cadance (both empowered by love) and Princess Celestia (tall and powerful queen).
• Evil Gloating: She saves most of it for when she's alone or when it's Genre Savvy to do so.
• Evil Laugh/Giggling Villain: Has a pretty good laugh, and giggles rather menacingly when she's overlooking her handywork.
• Evil Plan: Invade Canderlot and uses it to invade the rest of Esqueria and transform the country in a love buffet for herself and her subjects.
• Fangs Are Evil: Goes with the vampiric theme the Changelings have going on.
• The Farmer And The Viper:
  • Issue #3 of the comic shows that Chrysalis and her changelings landed in a village of happy kittens who welcome them with open arms, and they conquer it and drain the love from them, turning them into husks.
  • Also, in her appearance during the cartoon's second season finale, Twilight's friends learned the hard way that being nice to a Doppelganger bride won't change her heart.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Very haughy but it's not about her apperance. In her Villain Song she declares I could care less about the dress!
• Four-Hooved Insect This is what makes her look pony-like.
• Four Temperament Ensemble: Chrysalis is the resident Choleric amongst the four main villains.
• Genre Savvy: Twilight was the only one catching onto her scheme, so she use emotional guilt to trick everyone else into turning their backs on her. When Twilight felt she had made a terrible mistake after Shining Armor told her to not come to the wedding, Chrysalis sent Twilight down into the forgotten catacombs underneath Canterlot to trap her and just under the possibility she might escape, she had her old brainwashed bridesmaids to guard the exit. She doesn't reach Dangerously Genre Savvy due to her underestimating The Power of Love.
• God Save Us From The Queen: Celestia tries. However, Chrysalis had absorbed enough of Shining Armor's love to defeat Celestia at that point. She's the first villain ever to physically defeat Celestia (though it's implied Discord could do so if wanted to).
• Glamour Failure: When posing as Cadance, her eyes briefly flash to their true form.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The first sign something is off with Cadance is her eyes lighting up green.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Her eyes are more reptilian-like than pony-like.
• Hellish Pupils: They're almost reptilian.
• Hoist By Her Own Petard: Became as powerful as she did from Shining Armor's love for Princess Cadance, which she notes is stronger than she imagined. In the end, Cadance and Shining Armor let her have it with that same love.
  • In the comics, she intended to drain Twilight Sparkle of her magic once the supernatural-enhancing comet caused her powers to reach their peak. The thing is, the comet bolstered Twilight's power far beyond anything Chrysalis had ever expected...
• Horny Devils: Her MO makes her a G-rated succubus.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: As Fake!Cadance, she nuzzles, clings to, and otherwise gets really close to Shining Armor. Just her keeping up the pretense of being a bride-to-be, right? Nope! She also does the same to the mannequin serving as her surrogate groom during her Villain Song (where there is nobody around to fool) and indulges in a little privacy invasion towards Shining Armor after she's transformed and revealed herself, though she probably did it to mock the real Cadance.
• I Have Your Wife: In the comic, she ensures that the Mane Six will obey her orders by holding the Cutie Mark Crusaders hostage.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: She doesn't understand Twilight's Sunshine rhyme that she used to sing with the real Cadence, which results in the latter being suspicious of her.
• Knight of Cerebus: She has zero comedic quirks to her and is much more threatening than Nightmare Moon.
  • And the comics make her even more terrifying.
• Lack of Empathy: For a being that feeds off of love, she has a major lack of compassion. To her, compassion is food.
• Lady of War: She has no problem getting into combat with Princess Celestia to feed her changeling army.
• Large and in Charge: The normal changelings are the size the rest of the ponies in the show; she's as a big as Celestia.
• Large Ham: Par for the course of big-name villains in this show. She even gets a Villain Song!
• Laughing Mad: Has a crazy sounding laugh.
• Lean and Mean: Is considerably more spindly than a normal Alicorn.
• Let's You And Her Fight: This is the main reason she taunts Twilight Sparkle right after she imprisons her in the Canterlot Caves right next to the real Princes Cadance.
• Manipulative Bitch: She gleefully points out in her Villain Song that she fooled everyone.
• Master of Illusion: She's a Changeling, so this is to be expected, though she is poor at copying personalities and keeps her cold, cruel ways even when disguised (forcing her to supplement disguise with a brainwashing beam). She also creates images of herself inside crystals when taunting Twilight Sparkle.
• Meaningful Name: A chrysalis is the hard shell that envelops a caterpillar before they become a butterfly and Chrysalis, like all the other Changelings, is a bug-like pony creature. On top of that, the fake Cadance is exactly that: the shell that hides her true form. She and her subjects also imprison ponies in giant green cocoons.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: She's a cross between a pony and a bug.
• Morphic Resonance: Even when in a shapeshifted form, she seems to keep the Sickly Green Glow of her magic.
• Musical Spoiler: Very, very subtle one only a trained ear could catch. The song "B.B.B.B.F. Reprise" ends in a deceptive cadence. The moment the song ends, "Cadance" walks over and appears to comfort Twilight before showing her true colors. The original song ends in a normal cadence.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: She's a magic-wielding, shapeshifting, insect queen, Alicorn, succubus.
• Obviously Evil: Let's see, dark coloring, fangs, holes everywhere, very skinny, sickly green magic and creepy eyes... and she's a queen to boot!
• Oh Crap: Her reaction to realizing that a Heart Beat Down is about to hit her head on.
  • Gets this again in the comics once she realizes that Twilight is just as empowered by the comet as she herself is.
• One-Winged Angel: When she sheds her disguise of Princess Cadance and reveals her true form.
• Outside Context Villain: It seems that no one even knew she existed besides Cadance, who probably only knew it from Chrysalis kidnapping her. She was Dangerously Genre Savvy enough to take full advantage of this fact.
• Pity the Kidnapper: In the comics, she kidnaps the Cutie Mark Crusaders in order to lure the Mane Cast into her trap. In response, The CMC proceed to annoy the hell out of Chrysalis.
• Playing with Fire: It may only be an effect, but she uses green flames frequently such as her abduction of Twilight.
  • Evil Is Burning Hot: Naturally, she's also evil.
• Power Echoes: After assuming her true form.
• The Power of Love: She turns this trope on its head as she feeds off Shining Armor's love for Princess Cadance. It empowers her enough to defeat Princess Celestia. Later on, however, it's what defeats her.
• Pragmatic Villainy: It's implied that she didn't outright kill Cadance or Twilight because she still needed their love to feed on.
• Punch Clock Villain: Played with. Chrysalis mentions that everything she has done is just part of her duty as Changeling Queen to feed her people. Still, she enjoys making others suffer and sacking Canterlot far too much.
  • The comics shows this isn't the case.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: It's her duty to provide food sources for her people, and she single-handedly makes it possible for the changelings to invade Equestria.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: After her second defeat in the comics, she and her minions are imprisoned in her own castle.
• Shadow Archetype:
  • To Princess Cadance. One's a cold-hearted, manipulative, brainwashing love vampire and the other us a genuinely kind and caring Love Goddess (whether one wants to take the "goddess" part literally or not). Suddenly the former impersonating the latter makes more than a little twisted sense.
  • A tall, slender, winged magic-using ruler who towers over her subjects and wields tremendous power, who displays Chessmaster capabilities and works to give her subjects what they want and need — are we talking about Chrysalis, or Celestia?
• Show Accuracy/Toy Accuracy: While her brushable toy does have a crooked horn and transparent wings, she has the wings of a bird instead of the wings of an insect. Her smaller toy uses the correct wing shape. Both toys manage to have some form of holes, the brushable using paint applications and the smaller having notches. Given that the character was designed for the TV show, that level of accuracy is impressive.
• Sickly Green Glow: The color of her magic.
• Smug Snake: Like Discord, she zig-zags between this and Magnificent Bastard. Her plan is certainly a good one and she competently carries it out. Still, her impatience and vanity are established early on. She is too distracted by the sight of her victorious forces to care about the heroes she feels are already beaten]]. She's wrong. She also messes up when she sends Twilight Sparkle to the same caverns where she imprisoned Cadance (allowing the former to rescue the latter). To top that, she retains her arrogant mannerisms even when impersonating Cadance, which is what tips Twilight off in the first place.
  • In the comics, for all of her planning, she didn't bother to consider that Twilight's magic would be powered up by the comet just like her own...or that Twilight's ensuing destructive potential could exceed her own.
• Stealth Pun: She's a combination of a pony and a bug with wings that feeds off of the energy of other ponies, which makes her a horsefly.
• Take Over the World: Equestria but it still fits considering there is little known about the planet outside Equestria.
• This Is Gonna Suck: When she gets into a Beam-O-War with Celestia, she cringes in preparation of being fried, and is just as surprised as everpony else when she wins.
• Uncertain Doom: Shining Armor and Princess Cadance use the power of their love to send Chrysalis and her entire army flying over the edge of Canterlot, which is a long way to fall, and seemingly unable to use their wings. However, she returns in the comics via Joker Immunity.
• The Vamp: Poor Shining Armor was wrapped around her hoof because of brainwashing.
• Vampire Monarch: Queen of a race of Emotion Eaters who specialize in Vampiric Draining.
• Vampiric Draining: The result of her Emotion Eater powers.
• Verbal Tic: When disguised as Cadance, she tends to give an "Ah-huh" when annoyed or unimpressed.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: She has none of Discord's wackiness, nor Nightmare Moon's backstory.
  • Taken Up to Eleven in the comics where she and the Changelings are a lot more terrifying and viscious.
• Villain Ball:
  • If she had put a token effort into deceiving Twilight Sparkle, her plan would have gone off without a hitch. Instead she acts snotty which does not fit with Twilight's memory of her as 'gentle, kind and caring'.
  • Kidnapping Twilight at the end of part 1 is more complicated. On one hand it justifies Twilight's 'you're evil' suspicions and allows her to find the real Cadance. On the other hand, it's implied she wanted Twilight to kill the real Cadance or for them to kill each other/keep each other busy. Either way, it's still the villainous thing to do and she would have been better served by pretending niceness.
• Villainous Breakdown: In the comics. When being overwhelmed by Twilight Sparkle's comet-enhanced powers, she's reduced to a dazed, stammering wreck who's trying desperately to convince her foe that she's unbeatable. To add insult to injury, she's practically on the verge of defeat, so said argument has been proven invalid by this point.
• Villainous Glutton: She constantly gorges herself on love.
• Villains Blend In Better: When disguised as Cadance, she's bad at staying in character. Despite this, Twilight is the only one who suspects something's wrong, as everyone else assumes she's suffering premarital stress.
• Villain Song/Dark Reprise: Her half of "This Day Aria" and a brief reprise.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Like all Changelings, but she comes with a dramatic Transformation Sequence.
• We Can Rule Together: Tries to pull this on Twilight in the comics it doesn't work. She planned to drain Twilight's love to make her more loyal which is more thought-out than most instances of the trope.
• Winged Unicorn: Like her subjects, she's similar to one but isn't actually a pony.
• Would Hurt A Filly: In the comics, she makes it very clear that once she doesn't need the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore, she does NOT plan on letting them go...
• Xanatos Speed Chess: While most of her plan was likely formulated from the get go, she's able to work things she didn't expect (such as Twilight catching on and accusing her) into it and twist them to her advantage (use a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to turn everyone against Twilight in a single move).
• You Gotta Have Blue Mane

The Changelings

Debut: "A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2"

• Adorable Evil Minions: Unlike their queen, these guys have an Ugly Cute thing going for them.
• Alien Invasion: Their attack could be viewed as such: Nopony saw it coming and they're different from the other threats faced so far. Chrysalis also mentions that "Equestria has the most love" of any place she's encountered, implying that they're migratory.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Supposedly this if the viewer is to go by Chrysalis and the invading army alone, but not enough is known about the species as a whole to make a full judgement.
• Ambiguous Gender: Their design is fairly masculine, but with them never speaking in their own forms, good luck figuring out what gender they are, or if they even have a gender in their true forms.
• Bee People: They follow a single, larger queen without question, attack and move in a swarm, and encase ponies in a kind of mucus membrane.
• Blue and Orange Morality: The Power of Love? That's their lunch.
• Body Horror: They have the same holes in their bodies as their queen.
• Bug Buzz: Emitted when they fly. It's unnerving.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Though they don't cast spells like Chrysalis does, they have a similar green magic aura that appears when they try to dive bomb into the Mane Six, whenever they shape shift, and when they fire bolts of magic.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Despite their flashy entrance, they are only a threat through Zerg Rush, doing poorly in one-on-one combat. The Mane 6 beats dozens of them without difficulty.
• Creepy Icy Blue Eyes
• Death from Above: Have a habit of divebombing targets while coated in magic.
• Emotion Eater: Feed off of The Power of Love.
• Equinoid Abominations: They're only vaguely pony-like in shape.
• Fair Folk: A whole race of Emotion Eater shapeshifters, though departing from this trope, they're not dangerous individually.
• Fan Nickname: The changeling that Pinkie Pie asked to change into her ("Do me! Do me!") is called "Doomie".
• Fangs Are Evil: Just like their queen.
• Four-Hooved Insects: Despite being insects, they have four legs like a pony.
• It's Raining Changelings: Although it's more like a meteor shower.
• Made of Iron: Played With. These things can charge at a magic barrier until it shatters, then hit the ground at full force and get right back up, but when it comes to actual fighting, they go down to Fluttershy accidentally tripping them while cowering in fear.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Solid icy blue, likely a stand-in for arthropodic compound eyes.
• Mook Lieutenant: Look closely enough and you'll see one or two wearing officer's helmets in the crowd.
• Pony Shifting: Goes with the name.
  • Spot the Imposter: Made easier by them not even trying to get in character since they can't comprehend love.
  • This Was His True Form: If they've transformed into somepony, knocking them out causes them to revert to their true form.
• Ramming Always Works: Their method of choice of dealing with obstacles.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: They're imprisoned in their castle along with their queen at the end of their Arc of the comic. Though they have some fun with the animated Pinkie suit, much to Chrysalis' annoyance.
• The Swarm: They are not too tough, but there are hundreds, maybe thousands of them, leading to the Zerg Rush tactic.
• To Serve Ponies: They planned on taking over Equestria and then using the population as a food source.
• Undying Loyalty: To Queen Chrysalis, naturally.
• Winged Unicorn: Like their queen, they're similar to these, but aren't actually ponies.
• Zerg Rush: Not the only tactic that they can use, but it is the only one that we see.

^{Click here to see his pony form} 

"My crystal slaves..."

Debut: "The Crystal Empire - Part 1"

Voiced by: Jim Miller^note according to tweets by Jim Miller

• Advancing Wall of Doom: He is one in "The Crystal Empire", continuously advancing towards the empire he once ruled.
• And I Must Scream: Been on both ends of it. Celestia and Luna inflicted this upon him by turning him to living shadow and sealing him in ice for a thousand years. This was because his reign over the Crystal Ponies amounted to this for the poor things.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: While not a literal example like Discord, both his role in the episode and McCarthy's description of the character make him out as more of a living embodiment of Fear rather than a pony.
• The Arch Mage: Not a lot of backstory, but he seems to be this considering the traps he set up.
• Ass Kicking Equals Authority: He's so powerful that he maintained an iron fist over the Crystal Empire because the crystal ponies are too terrified of him to challenge his reign.
• Badass: He's by far one of the most competent and dangerous villains. The only reason he loses is that Spike decided to go with Twilight.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: He uses more or less unicorn black magic powered by hatred and fear. Not to anyone's surprise, he's an Evil Overlord.
• Black Magic: His magic generates black crystals and is powered by hatred and fear.
• Casting a Shadow: He was turned to shadow by Celestia and Luna so now he takes the form of a giant, amorphous shadow being.
• The Chessmaster: Just look at the steps he took to keep the Crystal Heart from being found in the first place. In fact, most of the threat he poses is a result of his actions before the episode started.
• Cool Crown: He is a king, after all, so it's only natural he has one.
• The Corruption: Contact with him sealed Shining Armor's magic. Later, when a fragment of his own horn is cut off and lands inside the barrier, he uses it to spread a plague of dark crystals over the Crystal Kingdom despite being unable to enter himself. The sole purpose of his dark magic seems to be corrupting and controlling the crystals of the Crystal Empire.
• Crazy-Prepared: See Dangerously Genre Savvy. He nearly won due to the preparations he took before he was beaten the first time.
• Creator Cameo: His few lines and other noises were provided by storyboard supervisor "Big" Jim Miller.
• Cursed with Awesome: Played with. Turning him into living darkness was Celestia's doing, though whether he's more powerful in this form than in his true form is anyone's guess. On one hand, he's less of a flesh-and-blood pony and more of a manevolent force of nature which makes him much harder to fight directly. On the other hand, he's little more than a beast in shadow form while his Crazy-Prepared status suggests he was far more intelligent before.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy:
  • He hid away the Crystal Heart, which was required to defeat him, and erased all the Crystal Ponies' knowledge of it having ever existed at all. While not outright stated to be his doing, the last page of the Crystal Empire history book Twilight finds (which told what the Crystal Heart was) was also torn out.
  • The trap he laid at the bottom of the staircase of his throne room shows ponies an illusion of their greatest fear, meaning had Spike not gone with Twilight, she would have been frozen by the illusion and he would have won. This was on top of the fact he put the Crystal Heart in his castle because he was The Dreaded, meaning the Crystal Ponies would be too terrified of him to even try looking for it there. Then hid the entrance to the chamber so that the only way to open it was to be able to use his magic (dark magic that, presumably, a truly incorruptible hero would be unable or unwilling to use). And finally, stepping on the platform allows him to trigger a spell, beginning to spread his dark crystals inside the castle and trapping whoever got that far at the top of the tower unable to use the Heart. Not to mention the anti-teleport spell he cast on the trap, so that even a powerful magician cannot leave so easily.
  • This is the reason he comes within a hairsbreadth of succeeding while barely having to lift a hoof; Nightmare Moon and Discord spent an episode trying to stop the one thing that could beat them, Sombra already did a very good job of it preemptively.
• Dark Is Evil: He's a dark shadow cloud and The Dreaded.
• The Dark Times: His rule over the Crystal Ponies, as explained by Celestia, is outright slavery (see his above quote). Even after being freed, the Crystal Ponies shudder in fear at the memory of his rule.
• Death Cry Echo: Instead of the Big "NO!" previous villains were accustomed to using.
• Death Glare: He has one so terrifying that the Crystal Ponies shudder just thinking about it.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Unlike Discord, he sees his victims as slaves instead of playthings and goes to great lengths to maintain control of the Crystal Empire and keep the Crystal Ponies under his hoof through fear and dark magic.
• The Dreaded: The Crystal Ponies don't want to remember his rule, and shudder in fear at the thought of it. This is why he hid the Crystal Heart in his palace; he knew they'd be too afraid of him to look for it there.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • He made his first appearance◊ unnamed on Hasbro's Pony Wedding microsite in the "Your dream wedding location!" quiz, as the choice related to "the cultured Crystal Empire" in the question "Who should be the MC?" (the other three choices being Princess Celestia for the royal court of Canterlot, Zecora for the Everfree Forest, and Chief Thunderhooves for Appleloosa). Now that we know who Sombra is, the idea of him as a wedding MC is completely ridiculous.
  • A differently-shaded version of his neck armor is used for Steel Masquerade's armor in Hasbro's 2012 Design a My Little Pony Finalists poster.
• Eldritch Abomination: His Living Shadow form is able to easily evade unicorn magic, and is basically a giant tidal wave of darkness that's constantly roaring beastially. Becomes a Ponified Abomination towards the climax of the season premiere as well. The transformation to shadow creature seemed to have affected his mind, as he went from a canny sorcerer to a monster that did little more than prowl around the outside of Princess Cadance's barrier.
• Evil Counterpart: To the Crystal Heart (and thus Cadence). He's a being of shadow whose magic is fueled by The Power of Hate and fear while the Crystal Heart is powered by the light, love, and hope of the Crystal Empire.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: According to the story, he is supposed to be a unicorn. He has a sharp, curved horn that looks like a dagger, slitted eyes, and fangs. It seems to have bled over into his personality, as he's very animalistic in his actions and personality.
• Evil Overlord: This is what he was before Celestia and Luna overthrew him; a tyranical slavemaster of the Crystal Empire.
• Evil Plan: He was banished from his domain and he's back to reclaim it and re-enslave the Crystal Ponies.
• Evil Sorcerer: Has extremely powerful black magic.
• Evil Sounds Deep / Guttural Growler: The few times he speaks it is like this. (Unlike Discord, this is played completely straight.)
• Evil Tastes Good: Licks his lips in anticipation of whatever he intended to do to Spike when he caught him.
• Expy:
  • His role in his two-parter is based on that of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, in that he is an Evil Overlord whose threat is mostly due to actions he took prior to the story, and his direct role in the story proper is little more than to try to stop the heroes. (This was the intent of Megan Mccarthy.)
  • His shadow form, powers of darkness, scary competence, and desire to rule those he regards as inferior also bring to mind Makuta Teridax of BIONICLE fame.
• Family Unfriendly Death: Shatters into pieces upon his defeat.
• Fangs Are Evil: Even creepier because this guy is supposed to be a unicorn.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Before his official name was revealed, fans dubbed the character "Lord Donut Steel"^note "Do not steal".
  • "Crystallion" was also reasonably popular.
  • Once his official name was released, "King Sombrero".
• Four Temperament Ensemble: The Phlegmatic among the Big Bads of the series.
• Gemstone Assault: One of his powers is to create jagged, dark crystals.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: He's not really given motivation for his actions. The show treats him more like a powerful malevolent force than a character in his own right. According to Word Of God, he was intended to be more of a menacing and terrifying presence lurking over everything. In other words, fear itself.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: His eyes glow green and are trailed by a purple aura.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: His crystals are colored black in contrast to the technicolor crystals found in the empire.
• Good Hurts Evil: Can be repelled by Cadence's shield of light and love, and contact with it cuts him like a blade. In the end, the Crystal Heart powered up by the combined light and love of the Empire obliterates him.
• Hellish Pupils: Instead of black pupils, his are red.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Tries to reach Spike and the Crystal Heart by launching into the air on crystal pillar, reverting back to his pony form in the process (either from regaining strength or simply being close to the Crystal Heart). This leaves him standing on said pillar, several hundred feet in the air without his far more agile Living Shadow form, giving him no way to escape the Crystal Heart's energy wave.
  • Being so horrible to the Crystal Ponies makes it worse. It's why they had no qualms about killing him when the opportunity presented itself.
• Karmic Death: The Evil Overlord is obliterated by his former slave race.
• Killed Off for Real: Meghan McCarthy even confirmed it at Unicon 2013. This makes him notable as the only character to die.
• Knight of Cerebus: More so than previous villains as he's never played for laughs and the mood immediately becomes grim at the slightest mention of him. He's also the first villain on the show to be Killed Off for Real.
• Leitmotif: Has a pretty ominous one. It definitely serves to give what screen time he has a good deal of impact.
• Living Shadow: His fate when the Princesses stand up to him.
• Literally Shattered Lives: What happens to him upon his defeat.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Sombra" means "shadow" in Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician. It becomes even more meaningful when the Princesses turn him into a Living Shadow when overthrowing him.
  • It also sounds like "Somber", which makes sense given his keeping the Crystal Ponies in utter despair.
• Mind Rape:
  • Did this to the Crystal Ponies. Not only are they incapable of remembering anything before his rule, they're left in a perpetual state of unhappiness and despair. The former is implied to be psychic, but the latter might be mundane, considering his treatment of them.
  • He also booby-trapped the door to the Crystal Heart to do this to whoever tried to enter it.
• Mysterious Past: Absolutely nothing about his backstory or the reasons behind his great power in pony form is remotely hinted at.
• No Nonsense Nemesis: The moment Cadence's shield drops, he's swarming the Crystal Empire. Every chance he gets, he spreads his influence he takes and that's not even getting into how thoroughly he guarded his Achilles Heel. The defenses protecting it weren't run-of-the-mill super villain traps, but dead-serious and very well thought-out. The moment he sees Spike with the Crystal Heart, he instantly makes a grab for it himself without a moment's hesitation.
• Obviously Evil: Just look at all the tropes listed here. It's as if the staff took every evil trope they could find and crammed it all into Sombra.
• Oh Crap: He has this reaction to realizing the Crystal Heart is being powered up.
  King Sombra: No... No! Stop!
• Orcus on His Throne: Straddles the line. He is one to be feared, there is no question about that, and his villainy is documented from a millenia before. However, the present day threat he presents is more of a looming evil than an active one. For the entire two-part episode he's in, for the most part, he sits outside the barrier of the Crystal Empire and waits for the magic to weaken in order to breach it. This is justified as the barrier can easily injury him. It was more or less a game of high-stakes chicken: which would run out first, the love spell or the amgic that kept him an immaterial shadow (and thus immune to the cold).
• Power Echoes: When he talks, he has this effect to his voice.
• Power Nullifier: He seals Shining Armor's magic during their encounter, which keeps Shining from using his shield spell to help to keep him out.
• The Power of Hate: According to Celestia, his magic is based off of fear and hatred.
• Race Against the Clock: The only thing keeping him out of the Crystal Empire is Cadance's love spell, which is slowly failing. The moment the shield goes down, we get to see exactly why it was so important to keep him out. He starts covering the Crystal Empire in his dark crystals in seconds.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Has this for his color scheme in pony form.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: A literal case, as simply remembering his eyes causes one of the Crystal Ponies to shudder. When he's enraged, the red overlaps the green, turning his entire iris and pupil red.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Was turned into a Living Shadow and imprisoned in the northern ice by Celestia and Luna. They were at least more thorough than with Discord.
• The Silent Bob: A break of tradition from every other villain from before, he surprisingly speaks very little, mainly growling like a monster.
• Slasher Smile: His default expression.
• Slave Race: What he turned the Crystal Ponies into. He even calls them his "crystal slaves" at one point.
• Sorcerous Overlord: The traps he set imply he was a mighty sorcerer when he was still the emperor.
• Spell My Name with an S: Word Of God has confirmed the spelling to be "Sombra" (matching the in-show pronunciation), yet a tweet by Hasbro's My Little Pony Twitter spells it as "Somber" (which proves to be a Meaningful Name in its own right, as "somber" means "unhappy" — much like the Crystal Ponies affected by his spell). Both words ultimately derive from the Latin word "umbra", meaning "shadow".
• Supernatural Is Purple: His eyes are constantly trailed by a purple aura.
• Taking You with Me: As he was being sealed, he cursed the Crystal Empire to disappear for 1000 years.
• Tin Tyrant: He wears metal armor in his unicorn form.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Continues the tradition of a terrifyingly evil creature in a show that otherwise has simple Jerkasses.
• Was Once a Pony: Before being turned into the shadow creature that is seen in his two-parter, he was a unicorn. He does briefly turn back into a pony right before the Crystal Heart kills him, though.
• Would Hit a Girl: He has no problem trying to attack (and possibly kill) Princess Cadance when she and Spike have the Crystal Heart.
• Would Hurt a Child: Tries to attack (and possibly kill) Spike with absolutely no hesitation once he sees he has the Crystal Heart. He even licks his lips at the prospect of doing so.
• Xanatos Gambit: His booby-traps to prevent ponies from reaching the Crystal Heart. They keep them out? Good, the one thing that can stop him is out of reach. They reach it? It sets off a trap allowing him to begin growing his dark crystals inside the castle itself, even if he himself can't enter, as well as trapping the pony who found it.
• You Monster!: Celestia refers to him as having a "heart as black as night."

Debut: "A Dog and Pony Show"

Voiced by: Scott McNeil (Rover), Gary Chalk (Fido), and Lee Tockar (Spot)^note Tockar was confirmed by Tabitha St. Germain at the 20:57 mark of this Comic Con 2012 video; Fido was originally believed to be voiced by Richard Ian Cox, but this has since been revealed to be an error on St. Germain's part.

• Alliterative Name
• All There in the Script: Word Of God says that the trio's names are Rover, Fido, and Spot, but in the cartoon, they were just called "Diamond Dogs".
• Big, Thin, Short Trio
• The Brutes: They're literally called this by Rarity when they kidnap her, and definitely qualify.
• Dogs Are Dumb: See Dumb Muscle.
• Dual Boss: Rover, Fido, and Spot as the bosses of Level 5 of The Hub's Web Game Adventure Ponies.
• Dumb Muscle: They're all brute force and zero brains. Their underlings, the Dig Dogs, are even dumber than them.
• Evil Counterpart: To Rarity, considering that they all love gems, but the Diamond Dogs have no problems kidnapping someone to find gems for them.
• Evil Smells Bad: The Diamond Dogs smell bad, but the Dig Dogs smell terrible.
• Greed: They don't want gems, they want all the gems.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: Their hands are full of cuts, scabs, and filth, and their nails are broken and dirty.
• Harmless Villain: Not only do they not pose much of a threat in a fight, they surrender to Rarity because she complains to them so much about her conditions that they can't stand her.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: They try this when they kidnap Rarity. It really doesn't work out well for them.
• Jerks: Even before Rarity's done anything annoying, they're giggling at the thought of making her dig up the gems for them.
• Mugging the Monster: Trying to kidnap and use Rarity as their own personal gem finding slave did not end well.
• No Name Given: The Dig Dogs, if they even have individual names.
• Our Trolls Are Different: They're basically a fusion of the two types of Kobolds: mining troll and bipedal dog.
• Parental Bonus: Their name, Diamond Dogs, references a David Bowie album from 1974, something a bit out of the intended viewer's interest range. Unintended viewers may be reminded of the character from Con Air or an SF novella by Alastair Reynolds.
  • Their underlings are called the Dig Dogs in a Shout Out to the classic arcade game Dig Dug.
  • They sound a lot like Gollum.
• Pity the Kidnapper: They learn the hard way that Rarity isn't a pony to trifle with.
• Shadow Archetype: To Rarity. While she is generous, cleanly, and well-spoken, The Diamond Dogs are greedy, filthy, and talk like the cave-dwelling beasts they are.
• Shout Out: A reference to the David Bowie album and song "Diamond Dogs".
  • The comic book crew decide to run with this, and fill a trek through an abandoned Diamond Dog mine with references to Bowie.
• Smug Snake: They're extremely confident that the ponies and a baby dragon won't give them any trouble, despite all evidence to the contrary.
• Stock Animal Names
• Terrible Trio: There's a short one (Spot), a large one (Fido), and a tall one (Rover) who serves as the leader.
• Top Heavy Dogs: Their arms appear to be much larger than their legs. However, they are burrowers.
• Tunnel Kings
• Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness: Justified because they work with dirt all the time.
• What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: They look disgusting compared to the ponies.
• Would Hit a Girl: They have no problem with hitting Rarity in order to make her find jewels for them. Or getting the jump on her friends to use them as workhorses.
• Would Hurt a Child: They have no problem with tossing Spike around in order to capture Rarity.
• You Need a Breath Mint: "Smeeeeell...?"

Red Adult Dragon's Debut: "Dragonshy"
Green Adult Dragon's Debut: "Owl's Well That Ends Well"
Other Dragons' Debut: "Dragon Quest"

Voiced by: Vincent Tong (Garble)^note according to this tweet by Vincent Tong, Ashleigh Ball (one dragon in "Dragon Quest")^note according to this interview with Ashleigh Ball, Matt Hill (the purple dragon), and Richard Ian Cox (the brown dragon)

• All There in the Script: Word Of God says the red teenage dragon's name is Garble.
• Ambiguous Gender: Crackle has eyelashes, but "Crackle's cousin" (Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Rarity in a dragon costume that also has eyelashes), is assumed to be male by the purple teenage dragon.
  • The other dragons might have not noticed the eyelashes on the costume.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The full grown dragons are huge, the average sized pony is smaller than their head.
• Bizarre Dragon Biology: Aside from breathing fire, they eat gems, have anywhere from ten to four limbs, retractable thagomizers, belly buttons, and head decorations ranging from horns to hair to, in Spike's case, what seems to be a green rooster's comb^note Spines aren't flexible, and frills don't have that kind of shape. They don't all have that full list of features, so this is also a case of bizarrely wide morphism.
• Blinding Bangs: The purple teenage dragon has these...
  • Non-Mammalian Hair: Which may bring up some questions.
• Breath Weapon: As expected, they can all breathe fire, of varying colors.
• The Bullies: In most cases they are usually this, with a special mention to the teenage dragons.
• Delinquents: The teenage dragons Spike has the misfortune to meet.
• Evil Albino: One of the teenage dragons has white scales and pink eyes.
• Extreme Omnivore: They eat gemstones.
• Fan Nickname: The red adult dragon named as "Basil" (after a previous generation dragon with a similar color scheme) and the green adult dragon as "Reginald", from a Youtube caption. As for the teenage dragons, the most popular name (at least in Ponibooru prior to Word Of God revealing his name to be Garble) for the red-scaled leader was Crim as the letters in that Fan Nickname are the first four letters found in the words "Crimson" (his scale color) and "Criminal" (definitely not a good person).
• Fantastic Racism: The teenage dragons at least, but they looked down at the ponies and possibly all the other races as well.
• Gem Encrusted: Crackle.
• Gonk: Crackle.
• Greed: It's their racial trait, and a part of their growing up. "Secret of My Excess" explained exactly why it is that both dragons encountered up to that point had massive hoards of valuables.
• Jerks: Most of the dragons fall under this, especially the teenage ones.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: Among the teenage dragons, the red one (Garble) is the leader.
• Leitmotif: Straight-up rock for the teenage dragons.
• No Name Given: With the exception of Crackle and Garble.
• Non-Malicious Monster: "Basil" was a threat mostly because his snoring was creating a huge cloud of smoke and he refused to leave until Fluttershy scolded him (for the most part he didn't even attack the Mane 6 until he was provoked); "Reginald" on the other hand is a territorial Jerkass that tried to kill Spike for entering his cave and eating his gems.
• Ocular Gushers: When Fluttershy yells at him for roaring at her friends after Rainbow Dash kicked him in the face, "Basil" bursts into tears which resembles a rainstorm to the tiny ponies.
• Only Six Faces: The adult dragons look a lot more alike than the teenage dragons do.
  • Palette Swap/Real Life Writes the Plot: The red and green adult dragons are palette swaps of one another that were used in order to save the animation team time.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Especially the teenage dragons.
• Shadow Archetype: The gang of teenage dragons is this to Spike. Unlike the kind, helpful Spike, they're a group of violent, bigoted thugs, showing what Spike might have become had he been raised among dragons
• Technicolor Fire: Dragons can breathe fire in many different colors
• Teens Are Monsters: The delinquent dragons from "Dragon Quest". The full grown adult dragons only attack when provoked and greed-filled Spike, while destructive, more or less acted out of instinct. The delinquent dragons are full-on Jerkasses and love every minute of it whether it's ridiculing baby dragons, their utter disrespect for ponies (even Princess Celestia), kidnapping phoenix chicks, or smashing phoenix eggs.
• Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: Crackle has five pairs of limbs.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The adult dragons are very territorial, and the teenagers are disturbingly similar to real life gangs of bullies.
• Would Hit a Girl: They have no problem attempting to attack the ponies, even if they are female.
• Would Hurt a Child: They have no problem harming or threatening Spike, even if he is a baby dragon.
  • The dragon from Owl's Well That Ends Well tries to eat Spike, which would be cannibalism.

Debut: "Hearth's Warming Eve"

• Cool Horse: Heh.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to a lot of antagonists in this show anyway.
• Diabolus Ex Nihilo: Where they come from or what their plans are besides feeding off the ponies' hatred is never stated, but they do their plotwise job of forcing the three races to stop fighting.
• Emotion Eater: Feed off of hatred.
• Equinoid Abominations
• Evil Is Deathly Cold
• Family Unfriendly Death: They seemingly burn to death. It's not that graphic, but it's still pretty unnerving.
• Hellish Horse
• An Ice Horse
• Killed Off for Real: They are seemingly incinerated by the friendship powered spell the union between the tribes causes.
  • Not Quite Dead: Although the end implies they or more of their species are still out there.
• Kill It with Fire: It was friendship powered fire, but they're destroyed or maybe just repelled by fire nonetheless.
• Meaningful Name / Punny Name: Windigos cause blizzards.
• No Name Given: If they even have individual names.
• Omnicidal Maniacs: It's not made clear if they have a plan, but by the looks of it, the blizzards they created could render the world lifeless.
• The Power of Hate: They run on this.
• Sadly Mythtaken / Fridge Brilliance: Wendigoes, in mythology, are beings created when one performs cannibalism; they represent a cautionary tale against a big taboo in human society. Now, translating this into the Ponyverse, Windigoes serve as a cautionary tale against a big taboo of pony society: hatred, and the refusal to cooperate.
• Spell My Name with an S: Word Of God has used "windigos" but the closed captions use the "Wendigo" spelling.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: While not to the extent of Discord or the Changelings, they're freaking scary for this show.
• Wendigo: Of the Ithaqua-esque variety.

Debut: "Family Appreciation Day"

• Big Badass Wolf: The Timberwolves can combine themselves to make a bigger version.
• Conspicuous CG: In their first appearance, the Timberwolves were animated like the other characters in Flash. In "Spike at Your Service", they are rendered using CGI, making them stand out from the rest of the Flash animation on the show, but then return to being animated in Flash when they combine to form a big Timberwolf.
• Elemental Embodiment: The Timberwolves can form from ordinary sticks and branches; this further allows them to join together to form a single giant Timberwolf.
• Everythings Worse With Wolves / When Trees Attack
• Glass Cannon: The fear Timberwolves invoke imply they can be really deadly, but they can't take a hit - they shatter apart with a rock projected by Applejack, and even the giant Timberwolf suffers from choking and its dissipation after a small rock gets stuck in its throat. (They're all bark and no bite.)
• Planimal
• Pulling Themselves Together: One of their tricks. They can even use it to combine into a single larger version.
• Punny Name: They're timberwolves made of actual timber.
• Super Persistent Predator : The possible reason they are still very feared predators; they don't give up easily, and their regenerative abilities mean they'll be back to hunting even if they get destroyed previously.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Choking to its demise on a small stone.
• You Need a Breath Mint: One distinctive quality of Timberwolves is their rancid breath - Spike points this out as the flaw in the Mane Six's attempt to create a puppet of one.

• All There in the Script: The toyline's upcoming Elements of Harmony Friends◊ character collection set names the manticore Manny Roar.
• Androcles Lion: Manny Roar the manticore in "Friendship is Magic - Part 2" is a straight-up homage to the fable.
• Ascended Extra: Manny Roar the manticore from "Friendship is Magic - Part 2" will be getting a molded toy in the upcoming Elements of Harmony Friends◊ character collection set.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The hydra, which is as big as a dragon. The Ursa Major is even bigger.
• Bears Are Bad News: The Ursa Minor, moreso its Ursa Major parent.
• Big Eaters: The parasprites.
  • Extreme Omnivore: When they got effected by Twilight's spell so they can't eat food they almost eat Ponyville.
• Big Friendly Dog: Surprisingly enough, Cerberus once Fluttershy calms him down.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The Parasprites apparently reproduce by throwing up and the resulting vomit becomes a new Parasprite. Rarity appeared to be the only one who witnessed this firsthoof much to her disgust.
• Canis Major: Cerberus.
• Celestial Body: Ursa Minor and Major serve as the trope image.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Cerberus may look scary, but his job is to keep evil beings trapped in Tartarus.
• The Dreaded: You know a cockatrice is bad news when it petrified Twilight Sparkle before it even shows up on screen; Fluttershy acts accordingly.
  • Ursa Majors seem to have this a reputation. Trixie claiming to have beaten one gets her a lot of attention and she admits that nothing can defeat an Ursa Major.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Ursa Major and Minor. To elaborate, the Minor is a huge blue Energy Being bear that is easily bigger than a house. What makes it worse is that its parent, the Ursa Major is a purple, fanged and even larger than the Minor and there are strong implications that the Minor is still an infant.
  • Lovecraft Lite: Looking at it doesn't drive anypony into insanity, and it was stopped from destroying the town thanks to Twilight Sparkle.
• Energy Being: The Ursa Minor and its Major parent is implied to be this.
• Even Monsters Love Their Mamas: The cockatrice was more than willing to leave the Cutie Mark Crusaders alone and revive its victims when Fluttershy threatened to tell its mom about its rude behavior.
  • Ditto for the Ursa Minor who lives with an Ursa Major.
• Explosive Breeder: The parasprites, who reproduce by spitting out new babies.
• Hellhound: Yes, even here! Cerberus appears as guardian of the Gates of Tartarus.
• Hero Antagonist: Cerberus briefly serves this role.
• Horde of Alien Locusts: The Parasprites while not "aliens" in the sense of being extraterrestrial in origin very much fit the other aspects.
• Kaiju: Many of the monsters are huge beasts.
• Knight of Cerebus: Not to the extent of the Arc Villains, but some creatures such as cockatrices and timber wolves make episodes that were lighthearted before their appearance dip into horror movie territory.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Many of them, including manticores and cockatrices.
  Scootaloo: The head of a chicken and the body of a snake? That doesn't sound scary, that sounds silly!
• Multiple Headcase: The hydra from "Feeling Pinkie Keen", whose heads clearly have minds of their own.
  • Also, Cerberus.
• Nature Is Not Nice: These creatures are dangerous, but for the most part are only territorial, not actively evil.
• No Name Given: With the exception of Cerberus and Manny Roar. Even the parasprites who are briefly taken in as pets don't get named.
• Non-Malicious Monster: Cerberus is big and scary and can cause a lot of damage, but he's a guard dog who ran off from his guard post.
• Planimal: The Fruitbats.
• Punny Name: Manny Roar the manticore.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The cockatrice sports them.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Parasprites. The only one who wasn't taken in by their cuteness was Pinkie Pie. Presumably because she had dealt with them before.
• Taken for Granite: The cockatrice has the ability to inflict this.
• Toothy Bird: The cockatrice, although it isn't really a bird.
• Your Size May Vary: Manny Roar the manticore's molded toy from the upcoming Elements of Harmony Friends◊ character collection set is on a smaller scale than the ponies' equivalent molded toys.
• Zerg Rush: The parasprites do this during their feeding frenzy.

Debut: "Griffon the Brush Off"

Voiced by: Maryke Hendrikse^note according to these two tweets by Kelly Metzger

• Actor Allusion: She's pretty much a G-rated version of Revy.
• Adaptation Name Change: The Hub's synopsis of "Griffon the Brush Off" refers to her as Grizelda; Word Of God says "her original name was Grizelda, but it didn't pass legal."
• Aerith and Bob
• Alliterative Name: Although she's never referred to as "Gilda the Griffon" in-universe.
• Alpha Bitch: She has elements of this trope, though she's more tomboyish than most.
• Badbutt: She's portrayed as being rougher than Rainbow Dash, but with an even heavier dose of Totally Radical and some copiously kid-friendly insults to go with it.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: It's a good thing Rainbow Dash found this out.
• Break the Haughty: Pinkie Pie's party eventually does this to her, thanks to her coincidentally triggering all of Rainbow Dash's pranks.
• Broken Pedestal: To Rainbow Dash. She shouldn't have bullied Dash's other friends behind her back in the first place.
• The Bully
• Cats Are Mean: She is part lion, after all.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Sees Pinkie Pie as a third wheel and tries driving her off.
• Evil Counterpart: To Rainbow Dash, who has her arrogance and brashness without being a jackass all the time.
• Fantastic Racism: She considers ponies in general to be "lame".
• Feathered Fiend: She is part eagle.
• Humiliation Conga: During the party at the end of "Griffon the Brush-Off", she gets pranked repeatedly. Rainbow Dash claims this wasn't on purpose, but just "dumb luck" that Gilda set them all off.
• Jerkass: Big time.
• Jerk Jock: A female version.
• Kick the Dog: Take your pick: trying to sabotage Pinkie's friendship with Dash, scaring Granny Smith out of her wits, or bullying Fluttershy until she cried.
  • For Pinkie Pie herself, it's the last one. She was the victim of the first and witnessed the other two.
• The Lad-ette: One thing she has in common with Dash is tomboyish-ness.
• Leitmotif: Gilda's entrance and establishing character moments are backed with hair metal-esque guitar chords.
• Meaningful Name: The name Gilda means "gilded" or "golden". This may not seem like much until you remember the old phrase "All that glitters isn't gold", which actually hits Genius Bonus territory when you remember that during her entrance, Gilda seemed like a cool and awesome friend, but actually turned out to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing which proves the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" completely.
• Mix-and-Match Critters:
  Pinkie Pie: What's a griffon?
  Rainbow Dash: She's half eagle, half lion.
  Gilda: And AAAAAALL awesome!
  • Basically, she's half Big Badass Bird of Prey and half Panthera Awesome.
• Noisy Nature: She can both screech like a red-tailed hawk and roar like a lion.
• Our Gryphons Are Different: With a Stealth Pun made based on other depictions of griffons: Granny Smith mistakes Gilda's tail for a snake.
• The Prankster: Unlike Pinkie and Dash, she has no reservations about scaring others for her own amusement. Course, as the saying goes, she can dish it out but she can't take it.
• Prehensile Hair: While taking a bite out of an apple she stole, the hair on her tail grips it like she had an extra pair of fingers hidden under them.
• Pride: She doesn't hold back on how awesome and superior she thinks she is compared to the ponies.
  • This fits with Animal Stereotypes common to both eagles and lions; being apex predators associated with royalty, they tend to have pride and a superiority complex as Fatal Flaw.
• Shadow Archetype: To Rainbow Dash. While both are show-offs and proud of it, Gilda is a complete Jerkass to everypony she encounters except Rainbow Dash. While Rainbow ends up backing off of pranking Fluttershy when she realizes Fluttershy would take it the wrong way, Gilda yells at the poor pony just for bumping into her. Finally while Rainbow Dash is perfectly happy with making new friends, Gilda only cares about Dash and looks down on everypony else.
  • Also to Pinkie Pie, considering they both like sweets, playing pranks, and hanging out with Rainbow Dash. The difference is that Pinkie Pie pranks others out of fun and to share a laugh with others, while Gilda does it to push others around.
• Smug Snake
• Spell My Name with an S: Her episode pretty much cemented the fact that her species is spelled "griffon" within the franchise, instead of "griffin" or "gryphon".
• Super Speed: This is the only way she could keep up with Rainbow Dash.
• Sweet Tooth: She seems to like Vanilla Lemon Drops.
• Tomboy
• Toothy Bird: When the expression requires it, she not only gains teeth but also lips that extend far beyond her beak.
• Totally Radical
• We Used To Be Friends: She and Rainbow Dash by the end of the episode.
• White-Feathered Pretty Girl
• Would Hurt a Child: She has no problem pushing Spike out of her way at her party.
• X-Ray Sparks: When she gets shocked by Pinkie's joy buzzer at the party.

Debut: "Boast Busters"

Voiced by: Kathleen Barr

• Adaptation Name Change: At one point, the two parts of her name seemed to be separate names, as everything but the toy line only referred to her as Trixie while the toy line only referred to her as Lulamoon. Hasbro rectified this by having subsequent toy releases refer to her as Trixie Lulamoon.
• The Adjectival Superheroine: She's "The Great and Powerful" Trixie.
• Adorkable: After the Alicorn Amulet is removed and the effects wear off.
• Aerith and Bob
• All There in the Manual: The European version of her Wave 4 collector card◊ reveals that she "has a favourite star!" (Her other out-of-show descriptions don't reveal anything that isn't apparent from her appearance in "Boast Busters".)
• All There in the Script:
  • Lulamoon, the second part of her name, has only been used by the toy line.
  • Her title of "the Magnificant" has only been used by the Gameloft app.
• Always Someone Better: Her view on Twilight Sparkle, after the Ursa Minor incident.
• Anti-Villain: Type IV in "Boast Busters", since she didn't actually do anything villainous — even if she was an arrogant show-off. In "Magic Duel", she's more of a Type II, since most of her wrongdoings are the amulet's fault.
• Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better: Believes this wholeheartedly, and says so word for word. In practice, though, she doesn't actually outdo anypony, just humiliate them with their own tricks.
• Arrogant Magician Girl
• Awesome Mccoolname: Her full name is Trixie Lulamoon, which is a pretty great name for a performer.
• Ax Crazy: While under the influence of the Alicorn amulet and while enslaving Ponyville.
• Badass
  • Badass Adorable: While normally, she's only really able to beat the Mane Cast by tripping them up with sneak attacks, with the Alicorn Amulet, she's capable of surpassing even Twilight in terms of magical skill and power.
  • Badass Boaster
• Break the Haughty: Twilight eventually does this to her.
• The Bully: Initially starts out as this, until her Heel Face Turn at the end of "Magic Duel".
  • This is taken Up to Eleven in "Magic Duel".
• The Caligula: In "Magic Duel", she doesn't trust wheels.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Her natural magic aura is pink, but the Alicorn Amulet makes it turn red.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Her magic easily outclasses Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity without a second thought.
  • At the receiving end against the Ursa Minor.
  • Delivers this in the beginning of "Magic Duel", and is on the receiving end of one at the end of the episode.
• Cute Witch
• Dark Action Mare
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Her Alicorn Amulet increases her power, but also makes the user Drunk with Power.
• Easily Forgiven: Twilight Sparkle forgives her for her heinous actions at the end pretty easily. Granted, she was under the influence of a corrupted artifact, but then again... why would she use such an powerful and dangerous item in the first place?
• Even Jerks Have Standards: Once she's free from the Alicorn Amulet, she's truly remorseful of how badly she treated everypony while under its influence.
• Evil Counterpart: Trixie is actually Twilight Sparkle with a few redeeming qualities. Calling her "evil" would be too much though.
  • This trope is entirely accurate when Trixie wears the Alicorn Amulet, though.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: She was warned the Alicorn Amulet was dangerous, but took it anyway to increase her power. The result is it corrupting her mind and turning her from (reasonably) bitter to a sociopathic trigger happy tyrant.
• Evil Laugh: She does this (while corrupted by the amulet) when she wins a magic duel to Twilight.
• Fake Ultimate Heroine: She claims to have defeated an Ursa Major, but can only mildly annoy an Ursa Minor.
• Fallen On Hard Times Job: After her humiliation in Ponyville, she has to temporarily become a Rock Farmer to make ends meet.
• Fluffy the Terrible: You think that "Trixie", being a cute name as it is, would mean that she's a nice pony? You'll be wrong.
• Foreshadowing: The Gameloft commercial showcased a less antagonistic Trixie.
• Freudian Excuse: After being humiliated by Twilight, Trixie was considered a laughing stock around Equestria. This prompted her to return to Ponyville later to get revenge for ruining her life (even though it was Trixie's fault to begin with). The Alicorn Amulet also makes its user go Drunk on the Dark Side, turning her from bitter to a complete tyrant.
• Friend To All Children: Inverted. The children seem to like her, but she isn't too nice to them.
• From Nopony To Nightmare: Goes from a stage magician barely powerful enough to annoy an Ursa Minor to a near unstoppable tyrant who defeats Twilight and enslaves Ponyville. Both of which happen due to the Alicorn Amulet corrupting her.
• Having A Blast: She has the ability to summon fireworks, which seems to be her only unique skill.
• Heel Face Turn: In "Magic Duel", she apologizes to Twilight for letting all the power of the Alicorn Amulet go to her head and treating Twilight and her friends so badly, and asks for forgiveness. She's still a Large Ham, but that seems to just be a part of her personality.
• Humble Pie: What she doles out to those who challenge her claims by taking whatever task they challenged her with and twisting it to her own ends. She staunchly refuses to eat the piece that's served up to her after Twilight deals with the Ursa Minor. The second time, it actually sticks.
• Insistent Terminology: She prefers to be called "The Great and Powerful Trixie" at all times.
• Insufferable Genius: She does have honest magical talent, like all unicorns. The problem is that she won't shut up about it, grossly exaggerating what ability she has and using it to lash out at anyone who tells her off.
• In the Hood: At the beginning of "Magic Duel".
• Irony: Her claims of being the most powerful unicorn who ever lived are meant to be painted as extreme narcissism and boasting, but for a brief period, thanks to the artifact, she might very well have been in the running.
  • She loses to Twilight in her rematch thanks to trickery and sleight of hand, which is supposed to be her specialty.
• It's All About Me: The reason why she likes to calls herself "Great and Powerful".
• Jerkass: How well she actually rose to the challenges of other ponies is pretty debatable; the thing she did definitely do was humiliate anyone that talked back at her while she was boasting. The Alicorn Amulet turns it Up to Eleven.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Becomes this by the end of "Magic Duel".
• Lack of Empathy: She's a little too eager to humiliate Twilight, who even Trixie's defenders admit wasn't doing anything wrong, and takes pleasure in humiliating Applejack and Rarity, who only defend their friends. Taken Up to Eleven when she's influenced by the Alicorn Amulet, turning her into a complete sociopath. Once it's removed and has time to wear off, she is actually guilty and helps Twilight with her performance out of gratitude.
• Large Ham: Justified, as she is a show pony. Even after she makes a Heel Face Turn and is genuinely apologizing for her actions.
• Magicians Are Wizards: All Unicorns have some degree of magic, but Trixie augments hers in her stage act with fireworks and smoke bombs.
• The Magnificent: She's more than happy to tell you she's the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie! The Gameloft app also literally calls her the Magnificant.
• Meaningful Name: Well...
  • The name "Trixie" means "bringer of joy" and she is first and foremost an entertainer. Plus her specialty is performing tricks.
    • Although she doesn't show much interest in bringing joy, given she ignores the lukewarm reaction from her audience and seems more interested in treating others like they're beneath her.
  • The name "Trixie" is typically a shortened version of the name "Beatrix" which means "voyager, or traveler" and she's a traveling showpony.
  • The name "Lulamoon" references her Cutie Mark which includes magic sparkles in a shape resembling that of a crescent moon.
• Miles Gloriosus: Trixie is legitimately talented, but doesn't show any talent which could be said to exceed that of your average unicorn. She claims to be mighty enough to defeat an Ursa Major, and when Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity challenge her to a duel, she defeats them by interfering with their own tricks rather than by displaying superior skill. When Snips and Snails lead an Ursa into Ponyville, Trixie runs away, and only fights back when urged to by her adoring fans. She fails miserably, forcing her to admit that all of her amazing tales were just lies to make her look more important.
• Mugging the Monster: When the crowd doesn't respond to her open challenge, the first pony she tries to pick a fight with is Twilight Sparkle. The only reason Trixie doesn't get her flank handed to her on the spot is because, again, it's Twilight Sparkle.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After the Alicorn Amulet is removed and its corruption wears off, she shows genuine remorse for her behavior and apologizes to Twilight.
• Narcissist: She puts herself above others, exaggerates her talents ("I'm the Great & Powerful Trixie"), and often cheats (buying the amulet) to get what she wants.
• Nice Hat
• Not So Harmless Villain: Originally little more than a pompous buffoon in "Boast Busters", the Alicorn Amulet gives her the power and sociopathy to outmatch Twilight and take over all of Ponyville in "Magic Duel".
• Pride: She takes this Up to Eleven and back again.
• Punny Name: She is a magician, she does tricks. Tricks. Trixie.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: When apologizing to Twilight at the end of "Magic Duel".
• Purple Is Powerful: Her eyes, hat, and cloak.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Alicorn Amulet in "Magic Duel" gives her these. It also tints her magic red.
• Revenge: Her primary motivation in "Magic Duel".
• Robe and Wizard Hat: Her stage outfit.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Her title from the Gameloft app, Trixie the Magnificant.
• Shadow Archetype: For Twilight Sparkle. Trixie's an utter braggart and flaunts her abilities, while Twilight treats them like no big deal and is quite friendly (she's also afraid of looking like a showoff).
  • Also to Rarity, considering that they are both unicorns with a lot of pride and they have younger males that are interested in them. The difference is that Rarity is very nice to Spike on the whole, whereas Trixie was pretty mean to Snips and Snails after they had done what she wanted.
  • And to Rainbow Dash, since they are both blue mares that are admired by children and love to show off their talents, but while Rainbow Dash is indeed a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Trixie is undoubtedly a Jerkass.
  • The positive aspect of the trope also comes into play: Trixie shows off her abilities to great personal satisfaction and wins a good deal of appreciation from her audience (presumably, before her ego got too big, her audience liked her even more). Twilight wants to use her magic and take pride in it, but is holding herself back for fear of being seen as a braggart. (The events of "Winter Wrap-Up" may have given her a wrong impression of Ponyvillian expectations of magic.) At the end of the episode, Twilight learns that it is okay to indulge in her talents as long as she doesn't let it go to her head, thus embracing Trixie's positive qualities while rejecting the negative ones.
• Shock and Awe: She can create a rain cloud to shock ponies with. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to subdue a humongous bear.
• Shout Out: Trixie is a stagecraft illusionist who fabricates and exaggerates her own legend for the admiration of others, and is referred to as "The Great and Powerful". It gets even more obvious, thanks to Oz The Great And Powerful.
• Small Name, Big Ego: All she can actually do are simple magic tricks and a few mean-spirited telekinetic pranks, but she talks down to everyone, including the Mane Six, who defeated Nightmare Moon and don't brag about it.
• Smoke Out: Though it doesn't last long enough to completely cover her exit.
• Smug Smiler
• Smug Super: Doesn't hesitate to boast about her superior skills, regardless of the fact that she isn't as good as she claims. Taken Up to Eleven once she gets her hooves on the Alicorn Amulet.
• Stage Magician: Her profession. Her Cutie Mark is even a Magic Wand!
• Supernatural Is Purple: Her clothes are purple to help her image of being a great sorceress. She also has Purple Eyes.
• Too Important To Walk: She pulls this on Snip and Snails, who have to drag her around on a carriage without wheels.
• Took a Level in Badass/Took a Level in Jerkass: She goes from a stage magician who's quite ineffectual at backing up her claims in "Boast Busters", to a pure Jerk Ass who changes ponies For the Evulz in "Magic Duel". Both are the result of the Alicorn Amulet both increasing her powers and corrupting her.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After losing the Alicorn Amulet and being brought back to normal, she is genuinely remorseful and attempts to tone down her ways, in her own way of course.
  Trixie: Don't you think the "Great and Apologetic" Trixie is the most magnificent and humble pony you've ever seen?
• Third-Person Pony: Only when she wants to emphasize how great and powerful she is. Which is almost always.
  • Perhaps the only challenge she wouldn't have been able to twist to make the other pony look bad would be referring to herself in the first-person.
• True Blue Femininity
• Ungrateful Bitch: She isn't very grateful that Twilight saves her life from the Ursa Minor. Subverted in her second appearance, when she helps Twilight by creating fireworks for her act out of gratitude for Twilight and company freeing her from the Alicorn Amulet.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Twilight seems to overpower her during their rematch.
  Trixie: This...this can't be!
• Weak, but Skilled: Her magical potential is leagues behind Twilight's, but the tricks she can do are accomplished with a quickness and efficency that Twilight usually only has on her better days and in routine telekinesis. The most likely explanation is that she has practice and finesse in everything she does already, while Twilight is still constantly pushing for a new, more challenging spell.
• Weather Dissonance: Her one genuine act of powerful magic is to summon a thundercloud above the Ursa. It was woefully underpowered and only serves to anger her target, but the act itself was a decent display of power.
  • She did the same thing to humiliate Rainbow Dash. It only served to shock her lightly.
• What Could Have Been: Originally, she was going to be male.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The Alicorn Amulet gives her tremendous power, but also turns her into a power-mad despot. It also doesn't do wonders for her sanity, as she has Snips and Snails pull her chariot without wheels because she doesn't trust wheels.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In "Magic Duel", we're shown the Ursa Minor Incident basically ruined her magic career and her life, forcing her to work on a rock farm just to make ends meet. This results in her trying to get revenge on those that she blames for it all. While it doesn't justify anything she did in the episode, she didn't do much at all to deserve that. She's also corrupted by the Alicorn Amulet into a complete tyrant. She's restored in the end, though, and makes a Heel Face Turn.
• Word Of God: Surprisingly, Lauren Faust revealed that Trixie had attended Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
• Would Hurt a Child: When she returns to Ponyville, she torments a number of children, especially Snips and Snails. However, she probably wouldn't have done it normally. Her corruption by the Alicorn Amulet most likely pushed her to those levels.
• You ALL Look Familiar: Multiple Trixies (all lacking Cutie Marks) appear in a shot from "Bridle Gossip" and "The Return of Harmony - Part 1".
• You Don't Look Like You: The toy line and some of The Merch lack the peculiarity of her eyes. Also in the toy line:
  • Her brushable toy's box gives her an additional bit of mane in front of her horn.
  • Her molded toys and collector cards all depict her as a Palette Swap, usually of Rarity but in one toy's case of Twilight Sparkle.

Debut: "Call of the Cutie"

Voiced by: Chantal Strand (Diamond Dazzle Tiara), Shannon Chan-Kent (Silver Spoon)

• Alliterative Name: Both of them, though Diamond Dazzle Tiara has only been referred to as Diamond Tiara outside of the toy line.
• All There in the Script: The middle part of Diamond Dazzle Tiara's name has only been used in the toyline; specifically, in the Miniature Collection's Class of Cutie Marks Set.
• Alpha Bitch: Diamond Tiara is the bitchy one out of the two.
• Annoying Laugh: They both have one.
• Attention Horses: Diamond Tiara especially.
• Beta Bitch: Silver Spoon.
• Bratty Half Pints: Diamond Tiara takes the cake on this one.
• Blowing A Raspberry: Diamond Tiara does this in "Ponyville Confidential".
• The Bullies: They take pride in this also.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Both fillies do this while teasing the other fillies. Tiara gets a particularly cruel one after Apple Bloom trips at the party.
• Cool Crown: Wears a diamond tiara.
• Daddy's Girl: Diamond Tiara is one of only two fillies to paying attention to her dad's presentation during "Family Appreciation Day". Indeed she hung on his every word with an adoring look on her face.
• Da Editor: Following Namby-Pamby's graduation, Diamond Tiara serves as the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, the Foal Free Press, until the position is stripped away from her and given to Featherweight.
  • Bad Boss: She has no problem blackmailing the Cutie Mark Crusaders into creating more Gabby Gums stories even though they don't want to because of all the ponies that have been offended by the stories.
• Et Tu, Silver Spoon?: Diamond Tiara is shocked when Silver Spoon is the first pony to applaud Granny Smith's story to the class in "Family Appreciation Day".
• Even Bad Fillies Love Their Daddies: The one time Diamond Tiara is seen smiling out of (ostensibly) pure happiness is during a business lecture by her father that has put the rest of the class to sleep.
• Evil Counterpart: Diamond Tiara, not evil per se, is this to Apple Bloom. They are both leaders, but unlike Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara can be extremely bossy and demanding. Diamond Tiara lacks the empathy and compassion Apple Bloom has for a leader ("Feelings, I don't care about feelings!!).
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin / Steven Ulysses Perhero: Both of their Cutie Marks match their names exactly. Which really makes no sense.
  • ...unless their special talent is Narcissism. That certainly seems to be Diamond Tiara's forte, at least.
• Fantastic Slur: "BLANK FLANK!"
• Foals Are Cruel: Two varying degrees. Diamond Tiara shows no pity to anyone, be it students or even the elderly. Silver Spoon on the other hand at least had the decency to applaud to Granny Smith's story (and was the first pony to applaud).
• Giggling Jerks
• Glasses Filly: Silver Spoon.
• Handshake Substitute: It involves a double high and low hooves followed by a hock bump and finishing it with a butt bump while saying this phrase in unison: "Bump, bump, sugarlump rump!"
• Hate Sink: Diamond Tiara's main purpose for being the in show seems to be as Jerkass with no entertaining qualities so the viewers can hate her.
• Hidden Depths: For her first couple of appearances, Diamond Tiara is just haughty and vindictive towards her peers but in "Ponyville Confidential", she shows she's a very organized and demanding leader that gets things done, albeit still insensitive and snide.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Implied. Silver Spoon seems to have one as shown in "Family Appreciation Day".
• Hoist By Her Own Petard: Their, or at least Diamond Tiara's, attempts to humiliate Apple Bloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders normally end up backfiring and earning at least Diamond Tiara a Humiliation Conga.
• Humble Pie: In "Call of the Cutie" and "The Cutie Pox". This continues in "Family Appreciation Day", although unlike the previous two times, only Diamond Tiara got it; Silver Spoon actually did something nice and didn't get karmic retribution this time. Diamond Tiara gets slapped in the face with a dish of Humble Pie once more in "Ponyville Confidential" (Silver Spoon barely appears in the episode).
• Hypocrite: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon have shades of this. They make fun of other ponies for not having a cutie mark, and yet in their debut episode Diamond Tiara is having a party for recently receiving hers.
  • In another episode, both girls insult Apple Bloom about her cutie mark being hoops. Even without Apple Bloom demonstrating how awesome her skills are at using hoops, one has to question what kind of talents one excels at with cutie marks like a tiara and a spoon. However, in "One Bad Apple", their reason of bullying the Crusaders is blown out of the water when they accept Babs Seed (who doesn't have a cutie mark).
• Icy Blue Eyes: Diamond Tiara.
• Jerks: Both go out of their way to insult and belittle Apple Bloom and Twist about not having their marks yet instead of having fun at their own party.
• Kick the Dog: Diamond Tiara blackmailing the Cutie Mark Crusaders in "Ponyville Confidential".
• Lack of Empathy: Diamond Tiara. The only compassion she's ever shown is for her father and Silver Spoon, she doesn't seem to give a darn about anypony else at all.
  Sweetie Belle: The gossip we've been printing is hurting everypony's feelings.
  Diamond Tiara: Feelings? I don't care about feelings!
• Laser-Guided Karma: They always get struck by this.
• Manipulative Bastard: Diamond Tiara, especially in "Family Appreciation Day".
• Meaningful Name: Silver Spoon comes from the idiom "born with a silver spoon in one's mouth" which means to be born into wealth. Diamond Tiara's means exactly what you think it means.
• Multicolored Hair: Diamond Tiara has purple-and-white swirled hair. Silver Spoon also has a noticeable stripe of lighter gray in the middle of her mane.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Jerks: See Hoist by His Own Petard above. This also happens in "Family Appreciation Day".
• Oh Crap: Have a priceless one in reaction to Babs Seed threatening to tell their mothers on them.
• Pet the Dog: Silver Spoon was the first one applauding Granny Smith's story about the founding of Ponyville.
  • Which may be a reason why there's a heart in her silver spoon.
• Pink Means Feminine: Diamond Tiara's body is a pinkish color and the outfit she wears for her cuteceañera is pink.
• Recurring Characters: Notable in that they're thus far the only antagonists to make speaking appearances in more than two episodes.
• Rich Bitches: If Silver Spoon's name is any indication, she might have a family based on old money. But as found out in "Family Appreciation Day", Diamond Tiara's wealth only goes back a few generations. Her great-grandfather worked his way up to gain said riches by selling Zap Apple Jam made by Granny Smith herself.
• Satellite Character: Although Diamond Tiara can be perfectly antagonistic on her own (as seen in "Ponyville Confidential"), Silver Spoon is never seen without Diamond Tiara around.
• Shadow Archetype: Diamond Tiara is this to Apple Bloom. While both of them are ambitious young girls who might cross the line in their endeavors to accomplish their goals, Apple Bloom at least will stop and acknowledge that she's wrong if she goes too far, while Diamond Tiara has no problem getting what she wants at any cost even if she does offend other ponies in the process. This is best seen in "Ponyville Confidential".
• Skunk Stripes: They both have these, but Diamond Tiara's is more noticeable.
• Smug Smilers: It's practically Diamond Tiara's default facial expression.
• The Sociopath: Diamond Tiara, as of "Ponyville Confidential".
• Spoiled Brat: Diamond Tiara takes the cake on this one, to the point where her own father doesn't approve of her insolence.
• Teacher's Pet: Diamond Tiara tries to be this to Cheerilee, but it backfires (or simply passes over Cheerilee's head).
  • Considering the way Ponyville's school system functions in "Call of the Cutie", it's probably the latter.
• Those Two Girls
• Ungrateful Bitch: When it's revealed that she's only rich in the first place thanks to Granny Smith, Diamond Tiara still tries to humiliate her and Apple Bloom and shows absolutely no gratitude.
• Valley Fillies: Which gets, like, totally mocked by Scootaloo.
• Vocal Dissonance: Diamond Tiara sounds much older than she actually is in "Ponyville Confidential".

Debut: "Sonic Rainboom"

Voiced by: Kathleen Barr (present-day Hoops), Richard Ian Cox (present-day "Billy Dumbbell"), and Brian Drummond (past "Billy Dumbbell")^note the last one according to this tweet by Brian Drummond

• Actor Allusion: Kathleen Barr playing a Jerk Jock who makes fun of a prideful main character? Sound familiar?
• All There in the Script: Whether it's Ascended Fanon or just a case of I Knew It, the Tie-In Novel Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell makes Hoops's Fan Nickname official.
• Blinding Bangs: Hoops (as an adult) and Billy Dumbbell.
• The Bullies
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Kathleen Barr voices Hoops.
• Embarrassing Nickname: They call Rainbow Dash "Rainbow Crash".
• Failed a Spot Check: In "Sonic Rainboom", Dumbbell and Hoops say there's no such thing as the title phenomenon. It is revealed in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" that they were in an impromptu race that produced one.
  • Possibly justified, considering that they are jerks who probably wouldn't admit being wrong if they didn't have to. Once Princess Celestia herself saw Rainbow Dash do the Sonic Rainboom, there was no way that they or anypony there could deny it anymore.
  • Actually, they were both unconscious when it happened.
    • Dizzy, yes (and in pain in Billy's case), but still conscious.
• Insult Backfire:
  Hoops: You're going down!
  Rainbow Dash: In history, maybe!
• Jerks: Though a little less so now as adults.
• Jerk Jocks: Their cutie marks suggest that they're good at sports, and they certainly are good at being jerks.
• Kick the Dog: In a flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", where two of them are shown making fun of filly!Fluttershy for being a weak flyer.
• Kids Are Cruel: As colts, anyway.
• No Name Given: With the exception of Hoops.
• Pet the Dog: After seeing Rainbow Dash perform the Sonic Rainboom, they apologize for their bullying and congratulate her.
• The Quiet One: "Score"/"Quarterback" sometimes laughs along with the other two, but never says anything.
• Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: They could remember who Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were when they meet them again.
• Shadow Archetype: To Rainbow Dash. They're athletic like her, but they take pleasure in bullying and the misfortune of others.
• Would Hit a Girl: They have no problem pushing and knocking Rainbow Dash around during the race.

Debut: "Sweet and Elite"

Voiced by: Peter New (Jet Set) and Ashleigh Ball (Upper Crust)

• Alpha Bastard and Alpha Bitch: They're not exactly Alpha, but they display all the other typical traits.
• City Mice: They do not like small towns like Ponyville.
• Expy: Very similar to Roderick and Rubella Rat from Tiny Toon Adventures.
• Favoritism Flip Flop: At first they like Rarity's style, then they hate it because they think she's a small town hick, then they change their minds again when Fancypants makes it clear he admires her.
• Gratuitous French: Why say "hat" when you can say "chapeau"?
• Happily Married: These jerks were made for each other.
• Humble Pie: Twice; both times thanks to Fancypants. First when he personally invites Rarity to her balcony seat for the Wonderbolts race right in front of them. The second is at the Garden Party when Fancypants states he likes Rarity and her friends and endorses Rarity's designs, forcing them to suck up to her to save face.
• Idle Rich: And proud of it. They think the fact Rarity makes her own hats is embarrassing once they find out she's not upper class.
• Jerks
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: They are keen to look cultured and tasteful, but it seems they know next to nothing and take all their cues from the genuinely refined Fancypants.
• One Shot Characters
• Popular Is Dumb
• Preppy Name
• Rich Bastard and Rich Bitch
• Shadow Archetype: For Rarity. They have the same fussy and selective tastes she does, and her slight shame about coming from Ponyville is amplified when they let her know they think it's a hick town. The important difference between them is Jet Set and Upper Crust use high society as a way to look down on other ponies, and don't have the strength of character to state their own opinion. Rarity on the other hand, is gracious and polite and not afraid to stick up for her friends.
• Skunk Stripe: Upper Crust has a purple-and-white swirled mane.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: One very unsympathetic Snob half at the garden party with the Mane 6 being on the sympathetic Slob side.
• Upper Class Twits
• Yes Ponies: Their approval of Rarity is tied to that of their circle of friends, who in turn take the lead from Fancypants.

Debut: "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000"

Voiced by: Samuel Vincent (Flim Skim), Scott McNeil (Flam)^note both according to this tweet by Jayson Thiessen

• Affably Evil: Downplayed as they're hardly evil at all, especially during their song. They promise the whole town a large quantity of Apple Cider that the local suppliers (The Apple family) is unable to provide, an action that is more likely to be thanked than opposed. Everyone seems to like them well enough, and when Flim requests the usage of the Apple family's orchard to show off their cider, he's very polite about it.
• All There in the Script: The second part of Flim Skim's name has only been used in the toyline; specifically, in the eighth wave of Blind Bags.
• Badass Moustache: Flam has one, and is much calmer than Flim.
• The Barnums: In every sense of the trope.
• Bastards In Sheeps Clothing: They start out as friendly but their true colors show in the latter half of the episode they're in; they boast about cheating the Apples out of their home.
• Bowties Are Cool: Duh.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 is amazing, so they're obviously talented, but they spend most of the competition relaxing and drinking cider, and panic when their machine's default settings aren't good enough. This leads to their failure in Ponyville.
• The Bullies: They are bullies who grew up and graduated from demanding lunch money to threatening someone's business.
• The Charmers/Chick Magnets: During their song sequence, they managed to make a lot of mares including Rarity swoon.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Their magic glow is a unique shade of green.
  • Good Colors, Evil Colors/Sickly Green Glow: Averted; their glow is of a natural, deep green.
• Con Artist: They sell a legitimate product through legitimate means^note Or at least, that's The Plan if they can get some apples, but they goad the Apple family into a contest that has no benefit for them in order to steal the rights to sell cider in town.
• Cool Car: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 not only presses cider, but also serves as a steam-powered carriage.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Ponyville had a massive want for apple cider, so had they just provided what the Apples couldn't and paid the Apples for the required apples, they'd probably have made a decent profit. Instead, they give the Apple Family an "accept 25% of the profits which you need to survive or we'll drive you out of business" speech and tried to take over the market, which ultimately forces them to leave with nothing. Their machine was a real wonder and apparently, prior to the deactivation of the quality control mechanism, produced cider equal to the Apple Family's (but at a much faster rate). With a little financial backing and some better business ethics, they could have made a lot of money.
• Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: As mentioned in Cut Lex Luthor a Check, the brothers' pitch wasn't a con at all (their real con was goading the Apple Family into a no-win situation); their machine appeared to be exactly as good as they claimed it was, and it gave them a handsome head start in the cider-making competition. Even with the Mane Six pitching in to aid Applejack towards the end, Flim and Flam might well have won fair and square if they'd simply maintained their production rate and counted on the huge gap the Apples needed to fill to catch up to them.
• Didn't See That Coming: When they agreed to let the mane cast help the Apples, they didn't expect Twilight to be able to organize the group to the point it'd make a difference, leading to their downfall.
• Establishing Character Moment: Before we even see their faces or learn their names, they carelessly wreck the Apple family's fence — symbolizing their lack of regard for other ponies, and the near-disastrous effect their presence will personally impose on Applejack and her family.
• Evil Counterpart: To Applejack, considering that she and the Flim Flam Brothers are all Spirited Competitors, but unlike the brothers, Applejack would never be happy with winning a contest if it meant that others would lose their home and livelihood in the process.
• Evil Plan: Exploit the Apple Family's business (75-25 percent profits) and if that fails, to drive them out of business.
• Evil Geniuses: They're highly intelligent, but they completely lack morals when it comes to business practices.
• Expy: Their style of dress and fast-talking salesman demeanor is reminiscent of Harold Hill from The Music Man, and their song is even reminiscent of the number "Trouble".
• Fatal Flaw: Theirs is pride.
• Gadgeteer Genius: They apparently built the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 themselves.
• Hoist By Their Own Petard: First, letting the rest of the Mane Cast help the Apples, seeing them as no threat. Then by turning off their quality control, which is ultimately their downfall.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Aside from both brothers having slightly different hairstyles, Flam sports a spiffy mustache. Also Flam's Cutie Mark is apple missing one segment, and Flim's is said segment his brother's is missing.
• Insufferable Geniuses: Their device is remarkably effective, and in other circumstances, would be exactly what the hundreds of thirsty ponies left over from the Apple Family's daily supplies running out would want, but despite their invention appearing to be legit, the brothers' abrasive treatment of the Apple Family ultimately dooms any chances of them both doing business in Ponyville.
• Irony: They use Granny Smith's pride to goad the Apples into a competition that, without help, they had no chance of winning. It's ultimately their own egos that causes them to let the Mane Cast help the Apples, which leads to their defeat.
• Jerks: Their Kick the Dog moment, if not their previous actions, show them to be this.
• Jerks With Good Publicity: They are charismatic, their cider-making machine is a true wonder, and their abundant machine-made cider is as good (or maybe even better) than the cider squeezed by the Apple family, so they win everyone's support as soon they arrive to Ponyville. It isn't until after they cheat the Apple family out of their farm and deactivate their machine's quality control system to produce faster (and vastly inferior) cider that makes the townfolk angry.
• Karma Houdini: They pull this twice.
  • In the cartoon, they succed at seizing the Apple Family's farm (leaving them homeless) to monopolize the Cider market. Their deal takes a bad turn after the citizens of Ponyville dislike their last batch of cider, so Flim and Flam decide to dodge the bullet and skip town, but they do it on their own, they never get called on their shady deals or in the fact that they kicked a family to the streets.
  • It gets worse in the comic book, as Flim and Flam trick a hippie couple into a bad deal, where they would seize their communal farm and then sell for a large profit to Filthy Rich so he could build a megastore there. At the end, Flim and Flam fail to get the hippie's land, but they still receive a large sum of money to cover the hippie's debt and once again, they are never called on their shady deals or suffer any consequences for them.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Openly rubbing the fact they won and cost the Apples their farm in their faces, and laughing about it. Comes back to bite them fast.
  • Repeatedly breaking Granny Smith's fence for no reason works quite well to deter sympathy from the viewers, as well. Though they could be unaware that they are doing it.
• Lack of Empathy: They show absolutely no remorse over the fact they've cheated the Apple Family out of their livelihood, thus making them The Sociopaths.
• Lean and Mean: The pair of them together have as much body mass as one member of the Apple Family but four times as mean.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Flim-flam" is another word for a confidence scheme, and these guys aren't exactly trustworthy.
  • Their cutie marks are apples that are quartered 75% (Flam) and 25% (Flim), respectively.
• Motor Mouth: Their song is very fast paced.
• Multicolored Hair: See Skunk Stripe below.
• Nice Hats: They wear vaudville-esque straw boater hats.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Their actions ultimately leaves the Apple family with enough cider to fix the problem that made these two a threat in the first place, not enough cider for everypony.
• Oh Crap: When they realize that the Apple family has caught up with them in the cider making competition thanks to Twilight's leadership capabilities.
  • When they realize just how furious the entire town is with them.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Flim is much more energetic than his calmer brother Flam.
• Second Place Is For Losers: The main reason that they turn off the quality control mechanism in the apple cider making contest, which ultimately leads to their downfall when their cider is too filthy for the townsponies to drink.
• Shadow Archetype: To the Apple family. They run another family business centered around apples, but put quantity over quality and use dishonest business practices.
• Skunk Stripe: They have them on their manes and tails.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Traveling salesponies nonpareil? Showmanship aside, their claim may not be far off. They really know how to work a crowd, they've got a heck of a sales pitch, AND their product works as well as they advertised it!
• Smug Snakes: "We don't care if the whole kingdom of Canterlot helps; it's a lost cause!"
• Snake Cider Salesponies: Played with. Judging from Granny Smith's expression when she's given a sample, their cider is pretty good but their personalities fit the trope to a T and they failed in their attempt at selling the final batch of cider.
• Theme Twin Naming: 'Flim/Flam' is a phrase in and of itself.
• Tongue Twister: Their song has a few.
• Villainous Breakdown: When the Apple team starts to win, Flim panics instantly, though Flam stays composed.
• Villain Song: Notably the first villains to have one in the series.
• Waistcoat of Style: Part of the showmanship is looking good.

Debut: "Wonderbolts Academy"

Voiced by: Brittney Irvin

• The Ace: When it comes to flying, she's as good as Rainbow Dash.
• Arrogant Flyer Girl
• Awesome McCoolname: Lightning Dust rivals Rainbow Dash in awesomeness.
• Badass: Despite her lack of discipline, she's definitely every bit as badass as Rainbow Dash.
  • Badass Boast:
    Spitfire: What about you? You look like you couldn't fly past the first flag pole without getting winded.
    Lightning: Try me, Ma'am.
• Bad Boss: She has no problem letting her subordinate Rainbow Dash get hurt if it helps her excel in her task.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Seems like a relatively nice pegasus (especially to Dash), but that mask slowly crumbles as she suggests creating a tornado to wipe out the competition. If this wasn't a red flag, then it's when she acts like the rest of the Mane Cast falling to their death is nothing.
• Blondes Are Jerks: She leaves a blonde trail when she pushes past the other cadets.
• Break the Haughty: She's heartbroken when Spitfire rips off her team leader insignia as punishment for her recklessness.
• Curtains Match the Window:Both blonde
• Evil Counterpart: "Evil" might be a stretch, but "callous" would be accurate.She's basically Rainbow Dash without any of Dash's loyalty or conscience.
• Fiery Redhead: Her orange hair and her feisty attitude qualify her for this.
• Foil: To Rainbow Dash — without the "heart of gold" part. There's a point beyond which Rainbow stops thinking only about herself, but Lightning will go cheerfully on.
• Hot Blooded: Constantly pushing herself to greater heights without thinking of the consequences.
• Insignia Rip Off Ritual: Spitfire removes her team leader badge as punishment for endangering Dash's friends. According to a Deleted Scene, she was demoted, not expelled.
• Insufferable Genius: She's a terrific flyer but has to showoff and otherwise act obnixious.
• It's All About Me: If you were to tell her that there's no "I" in team, she'd tell you that there's an "M" and an "E".
• Jerkass: Though more from her Lack of Empathy than any deliberate malevolence.
  • Jerk Jock: She shows obvious traits of this: only caring about herself and ignoring the wellbeing of others.
• Lack of Empathy: Expresses zero concern about anypony else; if they get hurt, it's their own failing and/or they're overreacting.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Her attempts at pushing herself may have earned her a spot as team leader, but they're also what cost her it.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Dash into the crevice! Create a tornado! Does she have a plan? No.
• Lethally Stupid: In this case, Lethally Reckless. She is very reckless with her flying, injuring other flyers in the way, but she didn't notice the harm she caused until Rainbow Dash tells her, but she didn't care.
• Meaningful Name: She's as fast as lightning, and leaves everyone else in the dust.
• Multicolored Hair: She has streaks of lighter orange in her mane and tail.
• No Kill Like Overkill: Despite already having a 7:1 lead at the cloud-clearing exercise, she attempts to best the other cadets even more by causing a twister to eliminate the remaining clouds.
• Never My Fault: Sending other cadets into a tail spin? They need the practice. Lossing control of a tornado and destroying a baloon with five ponies in it? They survived, didn't they?
• Pride: Her worst flaw by far is her belief and drive to be the best of the best.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The victim of an awesome one from Rainbow Dash. Wanting to be the best flier there is? Sure. Going the extra distance to make it happen? Great. Endangering your teammates and failing at the concept of teamwork and not giving a buck that you endangered ponies in the process? Get out of here.
• Reckless Sidekick: Inverted; she's The Leader of her team with Rainbow Dash acting as her more sensible wingpony.
• Second Place Is For Losers: She takes this to dangerous levels when she creates a tornado to outshine her classmates, and almost get Rainbow Dash's friends killed in the process.
• Shadow Archetype: She is all of Rainbow Dash's recklessness and competitiveness without the loyalty, empathy and friendship that makes Dash a good pony at heart.
• Signature Move: She seems to be fond of freeflying, where she tucks in her body and wings and falls in an upright position. She does this during the Dizzitron and flag-catching drills.
• The Social Darwinist: Type 4; do your best and disregard the rest.
• The Sociopath: Does not care what harm she causes others.
• Spirited Competitor: Loves competiting and strikes up a brief friendship with Rainbow Dash because Dash is on her level.
• The Unfettered: She has no problem if others get hurt, if it helps her achieve her goals.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Her color scheme is light greenish-blue fur with a yellow-orange mane. The motion trail she leaves behind reflects this, even having an electric-style distortion.