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

The Pony of Shadows is not so easily purged, even with the combined strength of the past and present Elements of Harmony. A fragment of the shadow lives on in Stygian, inextricably bound to him, but small enough that it can no longer influence him. He has abilities superficially similar to King Sombra's, albeit on a much smaller scale, and definitely needs practice before he can comfortably wield this new strength.

The lingering dark magic corruption from Stygian's time with the shadow is visible on different parts of his body, mainly his eyes when using magic, some discoloration on the inside of his mouth and tongue, and his magic color.

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

Princess Luna ends up becoming Stygian's new mentor to help him gain better control of his magic corruption since she has direct experience with dark magic when she turned into Nightmare Moon.

Stygian's special talent is writing. His autobiography, Me and My Shadow, was an instant hit not just because he's a pony from a time long passed, but because he's a genuine wordsmith.  Stygian redesign by Orin331

I really think G5 should've been a PREQUEL to G4, instead of a sequel. It could've been about the pillars, or Celestia and Luna as kids, or the founders of Equestria, etc.

That's actually a really great idea. G5 being in the same universe as G4 was most likely a last minute decision made by Hasbro in order to get G4 fans to care about G5, which would explain a few things.

But if they really wanted to do that, why not make it a prequel that doesn't completely destroy the established world, and make everything blander by having it take place in a modern society with smartphones and social media? Lol

The prequel G5 could've shown any number of things:

The founders of Equestria bringing the three pony kinds together and creating Equestria. 

The Pillars of Equestria, who were brought together by Stygian to defeat the Sirens. It could've focused on their adventures. 

Celestia and Luna as kids. It could've shown their backstory and how they became separated from the other alicorns. Starswirl finds them and takes them in, training them to be the rulers of Equestria. 

Luna's descent into Nightmare Moon over the course of the show.

The backstory behind Alicorns and where they came from. BTW, they gave away where Alicorns come from in a THROWAWAY LINE in G5.

They could've adapted some of the Fiendship is Magic issues that showed how certain villains came to be (Tirek, Chrysalis, Sombra). Some other villain backstories too, how they rose to power, and their defeats.

Princess Cadence and Spike's origins. Their parents, how they became separated from them, and them being found and brought to Equestria. 

I could go on, honestly. But you get the point.

Hasbro doesn't actually own all of the rights to G4, they share it with Discovery Family. So whenever G5 shows or talks about something from G4, Hasbro has to pay royalties to Discovery Family…

So instead of having the prequel G5 be exclusively on a streaming service, or YouTube Kids, they could've just… made the show on Discovery Family, the same as G4. That way they don't have to pay extra money for no reason…

Whatever 😅 I'll stop b**ching

4/4 first - prev

The pillars are a legendary hypothetical group of heroes. A few old files dating from before the sisters reign have been found on the group but were heavily redacted from before the separation of Equus and Equestria. Only hypothesis can be done on its role and members. From what scholars have deciphered, Starswirl the Bearded seems to have been involved in a way or another as most redacting have been registered as being of his doing. Princess Celestia has indicated her lack of knowledge about any group her old mentor could have been a part off aside from the solar mages. --------------------------- Originally I tried another style soooo, little bonus !

Mlp dream (Long post)

// This is a dream I had last night. I don't know why I had it. (go to keep reading to read it)

So in it, the villains were attacking Equestria because they were in search of the Young and Mane 12.

It was because they heard an unknown prophecy that involved the elements (My dream never told it but there was a prophecy).

The pillars managed to drive out the villains, but the land took a beating.

After the scum were chased out, the leaders of their respective kingdoms were debating what to do with the future elements of harmony (They were babies in my dream).

They knew as long as the villains knew where future bearers were, they wouldn't stop until they captured the harmony.

Stygian came up with the idea that the bearers be taken to another land with a member of the pillar moving with them.

The dream ended with the children being taken to the new lands with a pillar going with them:

Twilight and Gallus are sent to Abyssina with Starswirl.

Rainbow Dash and Smolder are sent to Griffonstone with Flash Magnus.

Rarity and Ocellus are sent to the Dragon lands with Mistmane.

Applejack and Yona are sent to Mount Aris with Rockhoof.

Fluttershy and Sandbar are sent to Farasi with Mage Meadowbrook.

Pinkie Pie and Silverstream are sent to Yakyakistan with Somnamblua.

Starlight and a Kirin are sent to the Changeling kingdom with Sytgian.

Derpy and a bird are sent to the Thicket.

Sunset Shimmer and an Abyssinan are sent to Peril Peaks.

Trixie and a Diamond Dog are sent to Ornithia.

An Earth Pony and a Deer are sent to where the minotaurs live.

Sunburst and a Minotaur were sent to the crystal empire.

(Derpy, Shimmer, Trixie, The Earth Pony, and Sunburst are accompanied by unknown pillar members.)

the student six aren’t direct parallels of the mane six or anything, but there have been times where the elements of harmony have been applied to the students, but the two times have been contradictory (although most ppl will go with the s8 finale vers). if u were to assign them elements, which would u go with? i personally liked gallus as magic for literally no reason other than i thought twi vibes made perfect sense lmao. i’m a big fan of character parallels so i’m interested to hear ur thoughts!

So I brought up in an earlier post something about this as well. (I can’t remember if it was this blog or the previous one, but I digress…)

Basically, I had the idea that, because Twilight and her friends had different Elements than Starswirl and the other Pillars of Equestria, the Student Six would naturally gain their own unique set of Elements too. Similar to the Pillars and the Elements of Harmony, but tailored to whatever virtue the Students would embody.

I ended up calling these new elements the Elements of Unity and that each student would get the following Element…

—-

Gallus - Connection

Silverstream - Wonder

Ocellus - Discovery

Yona - Pride

Sandbar - Humility

Smolder - Acceptance

—-

Now, your question is who would get whose Element? But with this headcanon, the question becomes which Element from one set becomes which Element in the next set? In my opinion, it shakes out to something like this…

Sorcery - Magic/Friendship - Connection

Strength - Honesty - Pride

Healing - Kindness - Humility

Hope - Laughter - Wonder

Bravery - Loyalty - Acceptance

Beauty - Generosity - Discovery

—-

If you want to take it one step further, there’s a popular fan-theory that Sunset Shimmer is the wielder of a seventh Element of Harmony, which most fans refer to as the Element of Empathy.

If we’re ascribing to this fan-theory for this particular headcanon, then I would have Swift Foot inherit this seventh Element, but for her it would become the Element of Reflection.

Pillars of Old Equestria by fenwaru

https://boosty.to/fenwaru

Love these dudes 💙💙💙

The DEMIAROACE and DEMIBOY flags color-picked from STYGIAN [MLP]

Meadowbrook doodle. played around with her design a little bit.

(Omg me? Actually posting MY ART on Tumblr?? It’s more likely than you think.)

Styg from MLP pride icons! Apparently there’s more Stygian content on here than Instagram so Im posting this in hopes of sparking… conversation🫣

✨My headcanon: Stygian is asexual and bi-romantic,,,He can get pretty touch starved though,,,surprisingly good kisser,,,Styg and Sunburst are roommates

Pride may be over but…

Stygian post-exile

Just a little sketch

A younger Scorpan and Star Swirl.

Headcanons about Scorpan:

Scorpan was Star Swirl's first real friend!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1/? next Starswirl the bearded : alicorn of magic Starswirl is the first pony to ever reach alicornhood on his own mean. Son of the royal sorcerer of the time, he grew isolated in the palace of the old unicorn capital, the Crystal City. Learning all he could about magic, he was tasked very young to search for a way to beat the windigoos or warm up the grounds of Equus. Becoming the greatest magician of his time, he was the teacher of numerous talented unicorns, notably the famous Clever the Clover who became the teacher of the last unicorn princess. Though his most famous disciples were Celestia and Luna, who became the alicorn sisters. His wearing of bells is actually due to the last unicorn king who ordered him to wear them after scaring him multiple times with his untimely silent appearance. The bells never managed to stop him from surprising people. His becoming an alicorn happened thanks to his research of the unity magic discovered by Clever the Clover. He disappeared mysteriously a few years before the break between the new found Equestria and Equus. The habitants of the new-found territories wishing for a new government planned for all ponykind instead of multiples smaller ones working together. Equus alas disappeared in the years following due to the windigoos, becoming the Great Frozen North which, even to this day, is fulled of ruins of the previous pony civilizations. The only city which survived being the ancient unicorn capital, renamed at the time the Crystal Empire, which developped partially underground under the rule of the last unicorn king who offered his heart to his kingdom to offer it the warmth it needed to survive. At the very least, it is what history remembers. ------------

Stygian is an earth pony of a little seaside town. The town, which name has been forgotten, is sometimes used as an example of the deadtowns from the very beginning of Equestria. Sometimes named Seahorse Side, this very small town barely reached the few dozens habitants at its biggest. Its proximity with the sea made the grounds around extremely salted and difficult to grow crops from. The lack of monetary means of the little city prevented them from paying for weather control from pegasi or help from the unicorns. The big mystery of Seahorse though is that a few reports were found of sudden help to the town despite no hint of payment ever being found. Some historians have heard of this name due to the mystery around him. No one knows of his link to that town. The only known thing about him is his sudden appearance in Starswirl's related documentation before disappearing a few days before the alicorn. No documents were found explaining who or what he was, only that he got examined by doctors of the capital. A notebook about different kinds of monsters is sometimes linked to him due to its presence amongst Starswirl's possessions despite not having his horn-writing nor any of his known disciples. Studies of the writing revealed than it was writing by hoof which is really unsual on unicorn-ground. Some of the hypothesis are than he may have been a charity-case with a non-fonctionning horn and an accident happened with whatever cure the wizard tried. Another, preferred by the public despite being considered highly unlikely by expert is than he may have been a love-child of Starswirl with a pegasus or earth pony mare who died young, his death somehow convincing the alicorn to begin some kind of travel due to his grief. Most historians though kind of ignore his presence, considering than he is of no importance or possibly some kind of jokes due to no proof of his existance ever being found.

For sale

Breed: Holstein

Gender: Mare

Height: 1,69 m

Very interestingly bred Holstein mare with talent at the jump and nice dressage abilities

This beautiful and very well bred Holstein mare Lillie is still at the beginnings of her formation under the saddle. She realized her first jumps under the saddle with a lot of implicitness, intelligence and carefulness. And she likes to jump! At the free jump you can see her good scope and her power for higher classes! Also in the daily dressage work she gives very good feelings to her rider: She has three nice and comfortable basic gaits and an easy ans supple contact. As such we will not only be a prospect for the show jumping courses, but also for the dressage rings. She has already demonstrated her nice character at her first competition: this was a riding ability class for 3 and 4 year old horses.

Lillie is a very interesting and promising young show jumping horse, but she will also assume a very good position in dressage rings or as allrounder. Moreover she is a very suitable horse for amateur riders.

#horserider #horsedressagestore #horseriding #horse #horseracing #dressage #equestrians #holsteiner #holsteinerhorse #gelding #mare

STYGIAN

First Appearance: Green Lantern Apple Bloom (July 18, 2021)

Dimension: GLAB Universe

Allegiance: Hero

Stygian was once an ordinary Unicorn who enjoyed studying. He wasn’t as talented as others, but he was willing to help in the little ways he can. When the Sirens arrived, he tried to direct them away from the Village, but they didn’t listen to him. Luckily for Stygian he was far away enough to avoid their song’s influence. He figured if the Legends of the Sirens were true, the other Legends must be true as well. So he traveled to their likely location to find these heroes.

He went to Rockhoof for his strength, Mage Meadowbrook for her healing, Flash Magnus for his bravery, Somnambula for her hope and Mist Mane for her beauty. He feels these elements and one more are very important to help his village and defeat the Sirens. But there is one more element needed: sourcery. And that can only be done by Starswirl the Bearded. But as soon as Starswirl came in, Stygian felt his role was significantly reduced.

He is glad that he gathered them together and he is thankful that they saved his village, but deep down he felt sad because he couldn’t be alongside them. One day, he decided to take a few trinkets from them to try to copy their essence so he can be alongside them, but Starswirl thought the worst and shunned him from the group. Depressed and alone, losing the friends he made prior to Starswirl, he found the Shadows who were more than willing to give him the power.

Now corrupted, Stygian returned as the Pony of Shadows. He threatened to put all of Equestria in a never ending shadow. To defeat him, the Pillars thought at the time to banish him to Limbo. This meant sacrificing themselves to keep him there, but ensuring the hate he gained could never go away. So when the Princesses found a way to free the Pillars, they accidentally brought the Pony of Shadows back as well. But in a world of light, he found he could not gather the strength he needed.

He found a location known as Hollow Shades that would be perfect for him to hide but the Pillars and their allies found him. But seeking to heal him instead of defeat him, Stygian was eventually freed from the Shadow’s influence and reunited with his old friends, including Starswirl who apologizes for his actions. While he still catches up with each of them, Stygian is known for his stories with his fictionalized Autobiography being his third best seller. Said book is being turned into a musical.

Forms:

Pony of Shadows - This is the form Stygian took when engulfed in Shadows. It gives him a wide variety of abilities that can make him a match to the best Unicorn Wizard. But very strong light will cause more damage than anything else.

Sprite Credit

Current Version by AkumaTh.

Pony of Shadows Vector by ngrycritic

Fun Facts:

The Musical bit is inspired by a Scooby Doo song called “Me and My Shadow Demon”.

ignore the cropping but HELLO MLP REDESIGN/AU COMMUNITY