Characters / Mass Effect The Equestrian Equation

For characters originating from either Mass Effect or My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, refer to the character pages associated with those franchises for in-depth analyses. For simplicity's sake, please only provide examples of tropes for these characters that apply primarily to the Equestrian Equation series on this page.

From the "Mass Effect" series

Commander Shepard

War hero. The first human SPECTRE. Hero of the Citadel. Brought Back from the Dead to defeat the Collectors. Turned into a pony. Shepard is the hero and main character of The Equestrian Equation.

• Brought Down to Badass: Even when turned into a pony, with no access to any of his weapons, or even fingers, he still holds off a literally endless swarm of Royal Guard security programs long enough for his companions to complete their objective.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Adds Celestia and Discord to the list of godly-powerful being who opposed him and lost.
• Genius Bruiser: Strong enough to kill a manticore bare-hoofed and a excellent tactician who correctly deduced the nature of the Equestria simulation before it's confirmed.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: While never appearing in Shades of Twilight he's out and about dealing with galactic threats while Twilight deals with smaller ones at home. He even kills the Greater-Scope Villain with Twilight being none the wiser.
• Interspecies Romance: With Liara (in the past) and Tali (currently).
• More Dakka: Has the Revenant Light Machine Gun.
• The Paragon: Was presented as having followed the Paragon path prior to The Equestrian Equation, and voter-based decisions throughout the story typically bore this out.

Councilor David Anderson

Former captain of the Normandy and humanity's representative on the Citadel Council. He is a good friend and supporter of Shepard, and the equestrians by extension.

• Big Good: The Equestrian Herd's staunchest advocate on the Council.

Councilor Gladior Sparatus

The Turian Council member. Master of the air quotes, and just as much of a jerk toward equestrians as he is toward humans.

• Jerkass: The only Councilor to take a stance against the equestrians and vote against granting them "endangered species" status.

The Shadow Broker

The head of a massive underground information trading network and one of the most influential beings in the galaxy. It's questioned if they're even a single individual or not.

• Greater-Scope Villain: For Arc 2 of Shades of Twilight, being the one who hired the asari kidnapper. They never show up in person and everyone can only speculate their motives yet operates an organization far beyond what the protagonist have ever dealt with.
• Heel–Face Turn: The new Shadow Broker (not that it's revealed they replaced the original) regrets the organizations prior actions against the equestrians and seeks to make amends.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Gave orders to avoid harming the equestrians, which is assumed due to their being too rare and thus valuable to risk killing.
• Walking Spoiler: Their even being involved in the story is a major reveal. One can't discuss what they were doing without giving away key plot details.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Their motivations for the kidnapping are revealed by Liara due to believing the species held the means to surviving the Reaper invasion as it was old enough to have lived though many prior (unaware it was due to their facility as opposed to the species themselves).

From "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"

Twilight Sparkle

The duly elected "Madam President" of the Equestrian Herd. She is the main character of Shades of Twilight. As the end result of Celestia's biotics breeding program, she is the most powerful and evolved equestrian to ever have lived.

• Authority Equals Asskicking: She's the leader of the Herd thanks to her wide skill base, sociology training and general intelligence and charisma. It also helps that she is arguably the most powerful biotic in the galaxy (and without an implant no less).
• Brought Down to Badass: Even outside Equestria, she's a very powerful biotic (arguably the most powerful in the galaxy, even without implants).
• The Chains of Commanding: Twilight really understands that being a leader means being faced with great responsibilities. At one point, she wonders why anyone would want to be in a position of power.
• Good Is Not Soft: One of the challenges she faces early on as leader of the Herd is demonstrating that despite their cuddly appearance, low numbers, and friendly personalities, equestrians are not weak, and won't be bullied.
• Heroic RRoD: At the end of Arc 2 she's hospitalized for internal hemorrhaging due to overextending her biotics combined with stress accumulated throughout the story.
• Mama Bear: To the entire Herd. She wasn't bluffing with the krogan.
• Mind over Matter: After being extracted from Equestria, her "magical" abilities have been reduced in scope to the range of effects made possible by biotics. The most obvious and practical of these is her use of telekinesis.
• One-Woman Army: Goes into this mode when rescuing her abducted people from the asari merc who attacked New Ponyville. Her biotics allow her to plow through the security mechs between her and the asari (and this without a biotic amp), and she isn't truly in danger of being overwhelmed until the asari breaks out a pair of YMIR heavy mechs.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Twilight has one of these moments after she kills Doctor Milligan in the Harmony Core chamber.
• These Hands Have Killed: After exiting the simulation, an arrogant Milligan attacks her, thinking she's powerless, only for her biotics to stop the bullets. Since she gave him his Last-Second Chance, she then proceeds to follow her ancestor's policy and give him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown with her powers, ultimately sending him through a railing and into the Harmony Core. She then has a moment of remorse, but Shepard is there to comfort her.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: Has the "Singularity" biotic power.

Pinkie Pie

Director of Technology for the Equestrian Herd, and head of Sugar³^note pronounced "Sugar-Cubed" Technologies.

• Expressive Hair: Averted outside the Equestria simulation, as her mane is perpetually in its flat "Pinkamena" style regardless of her mood.
• Gamer Chick: She's a Galaxy of Fantasy player.
• Mad Scientist: A friendly version when in the real world. Initially deconstructed when Twilight warns they don't have unlimited resources and she's too valuable to risk her well being with such methods.
• Playful Hacker: Having Administrator access while being aware that she's living in a virtual world, but being unable to share this fact with anypony and getting their immediate memories erased when she tries, Pinkie spends her time in Equestria having fun bending the rules of the simulation.
• Shock and Awe: Her omni-hoof has the "Overload" power.
• The Smart Guy: For all her eccentricities, Pinkie undoubtedly has one of the most brilliant minds in the series.

Rainbow Dash

Director of Defense for the Equestrian Herd. She is also an "Apex Specimen" of the pegasus subspecies, and the most highly evolved pegasus among the survivors.

• 10-Minute Retirement: Was about to resign as Director of Defense until Scootaloo pulls a You Are Better Than You Think You Are.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Has elements of this in Shades of Twilight. Her arrogance and self-confidence in her own abilities prevents her from listening to Lt. Pyres when he criticizes her about her performance.
• Break the Haughty: Her failure and injuries in Shades of Twilight erase all her prior arrogance.
• Broken Angel: She gets her wings shot. It's clear she'll likey never fully recover her flight, if at all.
• Glass Cannon: Strong enough to trash security mechs with her bare hooves, but goes down as soon as a blow is landed on her.
• Leeroy Jenkins: While her rash, head-on style worked against Mecha-Mooks, against a competent, capable adversary, it ends in disaster for her.
• Required Secondary Powers: As explained here (spoilers), pegasus wings allow them to control their direction while flying with their biotics. Rainbow's wing injures means even if she could still technically fly, she'd be unable to control her movement.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Her recklessness drove her to attack the pony-abducting asari mercenary without backup. This resulted in her getting badly beaten and shot in the wings.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Her relationship with Lt. Pyres is this at best. At worst, it's outright nonfunctional, even actively antagonistic.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: The way she acts, it seems like she believes that the abnormal pegasi resilience she had in the simulation carries over to the real world. Nope.

Rarity

Self-proclaimed "Director of Culture" for the Equestrian Herd.

• I Did What I Had to Do: Her bringing up the equestrians lack of nudity taboo on public television. While it was embarrassing to everyone, she insisted it was necessary to get them to realize that it was a significant issue that was being ignored and that they had to deal with it.
• Like a Duck Takes to Water: Proves herself to be the member of the Mane Six who needs to change the least in order to adapt to life outside of Equestria. In Arc 1 of Shades of Twilight, she's the one who points out that equestrians' tendency to go naked is an issue with other species that needs to be addressed, adapts very quickly to the advanced technology of the Citadel, and shows considerable business savvy in the cross-species market.
• Skewed Priorities: Twilight and everyone else thinks she has this going on when she's adamant that the equestrians need to start wearing clothes as a species. Rarity finally spells out for them that other species are embarrassed or ashamed by their relative nudity, and it is in fact a very big deal in the minds of other races.

Applejack

Director of Labor for the Equestrian Herd. She is also an "Apex Specimen" of the earth subspecies, and the most highly evolved earth pony among the survivors.

• Boring, but Practical: Her plan for building up the starting capital needed to get New Ponyville running is simply to send out a workforce to get employment in the neighboring districts. The intent being that they would be able to build up the needed funds without putting the Herd into debt, albeit more slowly than if they took out a loan.
• Oh, Crap!: Her face when Twilight and 42 spell out for her that punishments in the Citadel are a lot worse than in Equestria, and she's looking at something like 25-30 years in jail, at the least, for taking Dr. Hern from the hospital.
• Wrong Genre Savvy:
  • Figures that gumption and hard work are all that will be needed to get New Ponyville on its feet financially, without considering that a workforce of hooved quadrupeds who have considerable difficulty using tools designed for other species (not to mention the increased liability that comes from them being an endangered species) makes them less than viable to many employers.
  • At the beginning of the second arc, she abducts the comatose Dr. Hern from the hospital when she believes that she is in danger. Twilight and Forty-Two have to explain to her that, unlike in Equestria, it'll take more than a heartfelt apology and a friendship report to make up for the multiple felonies she's committed, even if it was with good intentions.

Fluttershy

Director of Interspecies Relations for the Equestrian Herd.

• Awesome by Analysis: Possesses enough knowledge of alien biology to detect a minor skin blemish on Lt. Pyres that would go unnoticed by most non-turian medical professionals.
• The Bully: Surprisingly, Fluttershy was one when she was a filly, as she would abuse The Stare (actually an expression of her Administrator status within the Equestria simulation) to force others to do whatever she wanted. This ended when she was sent to Bedlam and mentally re-conditioned into a Lovable Coward instead.
• Good Is Not Soft: Takes this lesson to heart after the "Krogan Incident", adopting a gentle but firm approach to negotiating with other species.

Princess Celestia

One of the three A.I.s responsible for overseeing the Equestria Facility. Her primary task was looking after the virtual world of Equestria, and ensuring the continued survival and perpetuation of the ponies as a species. Her real name is Solaria Epona, granddaughter of Lord President Solarius, the last leader of the Equines. Her mind, like those of her siblings, was uploaded into the system by Dr. Hour Glass.

• Anti-Villain: Regardless of her methods, she never stopped caring about her little ponies, and everything that she did was in the name of keeping them safe.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The main antagonist of The Equestrian Equation alongside Discord, though they have opposite goals.
• Love Makes You Crazy: After over 36 million year of caring for her ponies, she will go to any reckless extreme to keep them safe.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Once she gets so desperate to stop Shepard and co. that she transfers her authority to Discord, who proceeds to summon a simulated Reaper invasion, she realizes her error and spends the rest of the story trying to fix it.
• Rebuilt Pedestal: Twilight discovers she was far from the paragon of virtue she idolized, then accepts she did the best she could and what was necessary. They make peace before saying their final goodbyes.
• Redemption Equals Death: When Shepard makes her realize that the Reapers will inevitably discover Equestria regardless of her best efforts, she ceases to be antagonistic and makes peace with her faithful student before her systems shut down.
• Tragic Hero: She's as nice (and ruthless when pressed) as in canon, but had to do millennia of antagonistic things to keep her ponies well off. By the time the heroes agree to the merits of her actions, she's forced to sacrifice herself and the world she worked so hard for to save them.
• Villain Has a Point: Shepard begrudgingly agrees with her argument for keeping Equestria secret that, even in the seemingly impossible event he stops the Reapers, the Council would be unable and uninitiated in her subjects wellbeing in a galaxy more moral gray then they're prepared to face. Twilight also confirms her claims that she would have gone along with her plans once she realizes what's at stake. Ultimately, it takes a Debate and Switch to get her to stand down.

Princess Luna

One of the three A.I.s responsible for overseeing the Equestria Facility. Luna's main task was to look after and maintain the physical facility, as well as monitoring the outside galaxy to see if conditions were right for the ponies to be awakened, and preparing the ponies to return to the galactic community when that day arrived. Her real name is Astrolia Epona, granddaughter of Lord President Solarius, the last leader of the Equines. Her mind, like those of her siblings, was uploaded into the system by Dr. Hour Glass.

• Aliens Steal Cable: As part of her task of monitoring civilizations throughout the galaxy.
• Big Good: She is the one who brings Shepard into Equestria, after having watched him for a long time, and concluded that he might finally be the one who can defeat the Reapers once and for all.
• Stealth Mentor: She reveals herself to be this to Twilight in her final message to her, saying that she manipulated many events in her life in order to groom her to serve as the Equestrian Herd's leader when it came time for them to awaken.

Discord

One of the three A.I.s responsible for overseeing the Equestria Facility. Discord's duty was to create fresh imaginings of the virtual world to prevent cultural stagnation, as well as creating new characters and artificial conflicts for the ponies to engage with. His real name is Cosmos Epona, grandson of Lord President Solarius, the last leader of the Equines. His mind, like those of his siblings, was uploaded into the system by Dr. Hour Glass.

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: It's Discord!
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The main antagonist of The Equestrian Equation alongside Celestia, though they have opposite goals.
• Dirty Coward: His main motivation is to save himself from the imminent failure of the Equestria simulation when the Harmony Core goes dead and is more than willing to doom all the ponies to do it.
• Dissonant Serenity: After his plan to free himself from the Equestria servers by getting Dr. Milligan to upload his program out fails, Discord actually gets so furious that he overloads some of his emotional subroutines. After that, he sits back and calmly enjoys watching Equestria burn courtesy of his simulated Reapers.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Revealed to be The Man Behind the Man for many, if not all, of the villains and conflicts in Equestria. He also does this to Celestia, manipulating her into handing over her authority over the simulation.
• Necessarily Evil: His intended role in the Equestria simulation was to create antagonists and obstacles for the inhabitants to overcome so that they wouldn't grow overly complacent and lethargic. It's revealed that, at one point, Celestia took him offline in an attempt to create a true utopia, not realizing that without the essential services Discord provided, the ponies would grow so bored as to have their minds deteriorate.

Princess Cadance

Cadance is the A.I. in charge of overseeing and maintaining Lunar Security Station One, in orbit around the planet housing the Equestria Facility. She also has responsibilities to render assistance to guests as a greeter and a caretaker, provided the guests do not present as hostile. Her real name is Pitch Perfect. She was the ESC's Public Liaison Director before the Daemons attacked, and her mind, like those of the Epona Siblings, was uploaded into the station's systems.

Silver Spoon

• Break the Haughty: Her best (and only) friend turns out to have been just a program and so is erased with Equestria. She's lost the cutie mark that was her reason for considering herself superior in the confines of the program, and in the real world her mother's former wealth, and thus her own status, are totally gone.
• Closet Geek: Implied. Her mothers extranet activity included, in contest to their usual business use, include purchases of numerous comics filled by a search for "how to restrict child from credit account".
• Heel–Face Turn: Around the end of The Equestrian Equation and beginning of Shades of Twilight.
• The Smart Guy: The most thoughtful and mature of the "New Equestrian Crusaders". She also has quite a bit more of her mother's talent for finance and economics than one would expect from a filly her age.
• That Man Is Dead: Renounces her spoiled, selfish ways after leaving Equestria and befriending the CMC.

District Attorney Lyra Heartstrings

• Batman Gambit: Pulls one on Dr. Hern's husband to make him think he can get her back by dropping his kidnapping charges against Applejack, which actually moves the call to medics, who keep her out of Cerberus hands.
• Cassandra Truth: In Equestria, she was subconsciously aware of data gathered on the many species of the Mass Effect universe, but she had no awareness of the simulation itself, causing her to be treated as a Cloudcuckoolander for being obsessed with "imaginary" alien races.
• Guile Hero: She's in the lower tier of biotic potential for an equestrian, so she relies more on her recent legal training to help the Herd.
• The Only One: As the first (and currently only) equestrian to have passed the Citadel Litigation Association's Bar exam, she's pretty much the District Attorney by default, and the only one who can represent the Herd as a litigator.

Original Characters

Doctor Horace Milligan

Chief scientist of the Cerberus team investigating the origin point of the Harmony Cannon. Like Shepard, he and one of his subordinates were trapped within the Equestria simulation. When Shepard first meets him, he is an inmate in Bedlam while the programs there try to force him to believe that he is a pony.

• Brainwashed and Crazy: It's subtle, in the same vein as Reaper Indoctrination, but his plan to upload all the information in the Equestria Servers to The Illusive Man comes from mental suggestions that Discord implanted in him during his stay in Bedlam.
• Oh, Crap!: Milligan literally says this (albeit more colorfully) when he realizes that Twilight Sparkle is a biotic, and the bullets he fired at her are stopped by her kinetic barrier.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Discord.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Shepard confronts him in the Harmony Core chamber over how Discord has been manipulating him the whole time, he becomes increasingly irate and incoherent to the point where he's shouting like a crazy person.

Doctor Patricia Hern

One of the members of Milligan's science team, also brought in to the Equestria System alongside her superior. She is found dazed and confused by Applejack, who takes her in and gives her the name of Patch on account of her coat colors.

• Freudian Excuse: Her dream growing up was to be a xenoarchaeologist, only to face so much red tape she turned to Cerberus since they gave her the opportunity and funding her carry out her ambitions.
• Mind Rape: When she and the other ponies are captured by Celestia, the Princess uses her power over the system to wipe out Patricia's human memories and persona (which is incredibly painful to her), resulting in her forgetting who she really is and thinking she's always been a pony.

42 of 50

A helpful Changeling Drone who makes appearances throughout The Equestrian Equation. By the end of that story, Twilight makes 42 her personal assistant. This is because he reveals himself to be a sentient AI whose code is very similar to that of her "number one assistant" Spike. Pretends to be an emotionless VI in public, but in private displays a familiar sense of humor.

• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He can implement requests before one finishes their sentences. He even subdued Commander Shepard in a fight.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Delivers some to Councilor Sparatus. After the Councilor votes against granting the Herd "endangered species" protections, 42 accesses C-Sec's databases to get Sparatus's car impounded. This has the added benefit of pulling Sparatus out of the meeting when it comes time to decide on granting the equestrians a district in which to settle.
• Legacy Character: Serves the same function as Spike. Inverted in that Spike was based off him.
• Playful Hacker: Hacks into C-Sec to get back at Councilor Sparatus by having his vehicle impounded. More seriously, he hacks into the YMIR mechs when Twilight is outmatched.
• Sole Survivor: The last remain being of ancient equis civilization 36-million years past.

Sterling Silver

Mother of Silver Spoon. In the Equestria simulation, she was Ponyville's wealthiest banker. In the real world, she serves as Treasurer for the Equestrian Herd and as the Madam President's financial adviser.

• Sour Supporter: Somewhat more surly and aloof than the rest of Twilight's inner circle, but whatever course of action the Madam President decides on, she'll crunch the numbers and work tirelessly for the best possible outcome.

Jex Kailer

A volus entrepreneur who was the highest bidder for control of District 1286 before the Council designated it a protected reservation for the Equestrian Herd. Despite having received a full refund, he still asserts that District 1286, now "New Ponyville", rightfully belongs to him.

• Big Bad Wannabe: Arc 1 of Shades of Twilight has his attempts to sabotage the equestrians thwarted without incident. His Malicious Slander in Arc 2 might have been significant, but once the Shadow Broker leaks proof of his illicit intent, it completely collapses.
• The Bully: Tries to threaten the equestrian to get his way despite having no legal legs to stand on, backing down as soon as they stand up to him, which leads him resort to more subtile methods to undermine them.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Jex's firm, Expanding Reaches, has a reputation for intimidation and unsavory business practices, and Jex himself is portrayed as a nasty, selfish person who would go to any length to get what he wants.
• Evil Is Petty: Mr. Kailer put down a great deal of credits for control of District 1286 while the bidding was going on. The Herd showed up and was granted the district, Kailer gets a full refund. He treats this a unbearable affront and has put the Herd under constant legal pressure instead of moving on to other ventures. He has also sent people to place surveillance equipment in the District, and has now timed an inflammatory documentary to come right after the Hern Scandal.
• Malicious Slander: Expanding Reaches has a large share in Hard-Press Media, which produces xenophobic conspiracy theories under the guise of "documentaries", including the equestrian-bashing The Cost of Grazing.
• Misplaced Retribution: Opposes the equestrians for "stealing" the land he was the highest bidder for, despite it being the Council who put them their without their knowledge or say-so.
• Slave to PR: Back off his threats once he realizes he risks being caught doing something incriminating, instead resorting to methods legal or that supposedly can't be traced back to him.

Lt. Taxar Pyres

A turian C-Sec officer assigned to be New Ponyville's liaison with Citadel Security. A ten-year veteran on the force, he has a record of abrasiveness and disrespect for authority, but also for going above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to bringing criminals to justice and protecting the innocent.

• Compassionate Critic: How he sees himself in Arc 2, Part 1; he has nothing against Rainbow Dash on a personal level, and indeed he thinks she has a lot of potential as a law enforcer and security guard. However, he also thinks she's brash, arrogant, headstrong, temperamental and otherwise full of herself and so, like any good turian, he refuses to let that go unchallenged.
• Consummate Liar: He can be when the situation calls for it.
• Cowboy Cop: As noted, he's notorious for his disrespect for authority and willingness to break the letter of the law in pursuit of enforcing what he considers its spirit. Ironically, he seems to be shaping up to be the Reasonable Authority Figure in New Ponyville.
• Defrosting Ice King: Starts to warm up to Twilight when she demonstrates that the equestrians aren't just colorful balls of fluff for him to babysit.
• Guile Hero: The way he deals with the scandal surrounding Applejack's well-intentioned but illegal actions, he maneuvers Dr. Hern's husband into dropping the charges while at the same time ensuring that Dr. Hern will remain on the Citadel where she can be treated without the risk of exacerbating her condition that would come with interstellar travel. And then to top it all off, he gives a very pointed hint that he knows Dr. Hern and her husband both work for Cerberus, something that, if brought to light, would make it virtually impossible for Cerberus to extract Dr. Hern.
• I Call It "Vera": His sniper rifle "Freya".
• I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Makes this claim in Arc 1 Part 3.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Much of his antagonism twards Rainbow Dash is that he claims her recklessness is a liability that will get her shot, exactly what happens in Arc 2 Part 3.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: According to his records, despite his abrasiveness and disrespect for authority if it gets in the way of results (an unusual, but not unheard of trait among turians), he is truly dedicated to his job and the protection of the innocent, often going above and beyond the call of duty to do so.
  • He complains when the Cakes send him a basket of their baked goods, which are inedible and poisonous to him, but he still kept the basket instead of throwing it away.
• Kicked Upstairs: Averted in his records, as he turned down a number of promotion opportunities so that he could continue to fight street-level crime.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: How he feels about his current posting as liaison officer.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He seems to be shaping up this way. Once Twilight tries communicating with him and makes it clear that he isn't going to be some sort of glorified babysitter, he's a lot more approachable.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A Deadpan Snarker turian C-Sec Cowboy Cop sniper who's at odds with the rules and his species stereotypes. Are we talking about Taxar or Garrus Vakarian?

Dr. Hour Glass

An Equine scientist and technical genius who was a chosen to head the Equestria Project back when it was little more than a luxury resort. Not long after, the Reapers came to the galaxy, forcing him to give the facility a new, more urgent purpose: to ensure to survival of the Equine race in case the worst happened.

• Expy: In-universe, the "Time Turner" character program was created as a tribute to Dr. Hour Glass.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Which prevented the Reapers from discovering the Equestria facility.
• Posthumous Character: Hour Glass had been dead for millions of years before the events in Equestrian Equation.
• Shoot the Dog: Destroyed a ship containing over three hundred Equine due to the presence of indoctrinated individuals who would have risked compromising the whole facility, something he still felt horrible about.

Valdiv

An asari merc who was hired by the Shadow Broker to abduct several ponies for an unknown purpose. She set off a series of firebombs in New Ponyville to distract the authorities while she carried out the kidnappings, and grievously wounded Rainbow Dash while making her escape.

• The Chessmaster: Her use of firebombs on New Ponyville was the perfect distraction, creating widespread panic with a minimum of actual casualties while she went about her work. When facing Twilight, she deploys her Mecha-Mooks in such a way that they would have overwhelmed her if not for 42 of 50, after which she surrenders gracefully and negotiate her walking away by threatening to reveal the Heard illicit secrets otherwise.
• Mecha-Mooks: Fields a large number of LOKI mechs that serve as Cannon Fodder and a pair of YMIR mechs deployed once her foe are exhausted from fighting the former.
• Karma Houdini: Talked Twilight into letting her go by threatening to reveal dirt on the Heard if arrested and the only other option is for Twilight to kill her, which she's unwilling to do, leaving with nothing worse than a bruised ego. Even once the Shadow Broker is replaced by one sympathetic to the ponies, it's stated Valdiv's valuable enough their grateful for them sparing her and she remain s in their employ seemingly without consequence.
• Knight of Cerebus: Shades of Twilight was a largely Slice of Life story who's antagonist were talked down with little trouble. Her actions result in life-and-death stakes, morally difficult choices, and the first time the the equestrians faced a "real" fight.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Having watching Twilight single-hoofedly demolish her security mechs, she opts to lay down her weapons and remove her biotic amp once face-to-face with her, lampshading it would be dumb fight Twilight after she demonstrated such power. She also make clear that she has no intention of crossing paths with them again.
• No Name Given: There name was unknown by the time of the fics original cancelation. It's only after it returned that their name Valdiv was given in the rewritten Arc 2 finale.
• Only in It for the Money: Is utterly apathetic to what becomes of the ponies she abducted as long as she's paid.
• Really 700 Years Old: Mentions in her entries she's centuries old.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Points out that she merely injured Rainbow Dash when some of the Brokers other agents would have killed her For the Evulz, which understandably fails to improve Twilight's option of her.