Editorial: My Relatable Villains 2

Back by very moderate demand, more of those do-badders and their relatable traits.

With so many antagonists to choose from, there was no way only one post would be enough. For being such a harmonious place, Equestria sure has a lot of ponies with hang-ups. Their faults are a reflection of us (or people we know if you're perfect like me) even if we never go to the extremes that they do.

If you're ready to relate, let's get started!

Gilda- Feeling Betrayed

I can't say this enough, MORe BABY GILDA PLEASE!

Gilda came from a society that didn't value friendship. Rainbow Dash may have been the first real connection Gilda ever made. Rainbow Dash was so cool and fun to be around it made all the loneliness of growing up in Griffinstone fade away.

Back in Junior Speedster Flight Camp, the other ponies all made fun of Gilda but Rainbow Dash stayed with her. According to the episode Newbie Dash, Rainbow Dash was also often teased. Gilda probably felt that rainbow was a kindred spirit.

When Rainbow Dash seemed to favor her new friends, Gilda felt like Rainbow Dash had betrayed that friendship. (Whether RD did or not doesn't matter, Gilda felt that way.)

There was always a friendly Gilda, her society just didn't value it.

When we grow up in an environment that doesn't teach us good emotional coping skills, it can be hard to understand why our friends seem to change and no longer support us. Just like Rainbow Dash was expecting Gilda to learn and grow into a better person, the people in our lives are going to set expectations for us that we might not reach. We shouldn't take it as a betrayal as we might be the ones at fault, but we do.

If you've ever lost a long-term friend for whatever reason, you probably relate to Gilda’s feelings of betrayal. Likewise, please don't leave them hanging over a cliff.

Lightning Dust - Thrill seeking

Don't try this at home!

Lightning Dust is an adrenaline junkie. These kinds of people will do anything for a rush. They will do drugs, criminal activity, engage in risky relationships, and of course extreme sports activities; they will do anything to feed their addiction to excitement.

Lightning Dust Might just be addicted. Even joining the Wonderbolts wasn't about being the best for Lightning Dust, she wanted to be with them because they did stunts and it looked thrilling.

Fun Fact: I wanted to be a storm chaser as a kid, so I do relate to this slightly.

Her cruelty, rule-breaking, and blind determination were solely to keep getting that adrenaline high. She would probably be an all-around great pony if she weren't so obsessed with danger. In fact, I found her speech for creating the Washouts to be quite noble. However, it all falls apart because Lightning doesn't care if she hurts herself or others.

Even Evel Knievel would have known Children and extreme stunts don't mix.

It's hard to speak sense to anybody who's addicted. We've obsessed over things at times or maybe you do have an addiction and you understand what it's like completely. It's hard to say no to the thing you want most and anything that stands between you and that high is subject to suffer your wrath. Even if it's a child saying they’re afraid to participate in your stage show, you'll take it as an affront to your addiction and you'll fight it.

Parasprites, Vampire Fruit Bats, Roc - Hangry

I know these animals seem like a strange thing to put on an antagonist list, but they are. All of these animals are just doing what comes naturally to them but it's inconvenient for others. They have to eat. It is an unfortunate fact of our reality that in order for one organism to live it may have to eat another organism.

The Roc isn’t hunting Spike out of spite, it’s just trying to get dinner.

The vampire, while I understand the long run benefits, are eating up Applejacks livelihood. There were just too many bats taking apples all at once.

At the risk of sounding too environmentally friendly, I can't stand how inconsiderate we humans are when we take from nature without considering other animals. Just like the vampire bats would have been bad for the orchard if they weren't spitting out seeds, we are bad for the environment if we don't put back what we take.

Parasprites remind me of children; constantly needing more and more but never paying for it. There are times in our lives where we are like a parasite to the people around us. Maybe it's not food, but just like the parasprites, there are times we sit comfortably on the receiving end of a friendship. Just remember not to take too much and give back unlike our winged friends.

The Smooze - No-Fault

If someone threw a mirror ball I'd chase it, you can't blame me for that!

Giant slime monster that can absorb all magic, yeah I pretty sure the ponies consider that an antagonist (Even though we know who's fault it really was). What makes the Smooze relatable is that he wasn't in any way trying to be antagonistic. He was invited as an accessory to a party, was ignored all night, and went to entertain himself.

I'm kind of mad at all of them for this introduction.

Maybe you were the third wheel once. The people you came with leave you and you're not really sure what to do or how to have fun. Or maybe you were used/ tricked into doing something wrong. Those jerks shouldn't have left you, or better yet they should have never involved you in something you didn't understand.

What's relatable is how much trouble we can cause without even realizing it.

See, the Gala really does have something for everyone: an all you can eat buffet!

You know how unfair it would be to blame Smooze for eating a bunch of things and sliming ponies. He probably didn't even know that was unacceptable behavior. Regardless, he ended up putting others in danger and ruining the evening simply by being himself. Poor Smooze.

Suri Polomare - Desperate

Suri: MY collection is gorgeous, okay.

Let me tell you, any creative business can be very cut-throat. Everyone around you is gripping for the same opportunities as you. That kind of competition can really test the cusp of your character. It can make you desperate for a chance to be noticed.

Suri has probably been taken advantage of thousands of times in order to develop her "everypony for herself" attitude. She wants to make it in an industry that doesn't acknowledge second place. Her life's work and soul ambition might finally be realized if she could win this one competition. Of course, what she did was wrong, but we understand her desperation to make it to the top.

Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame!

If you really wanted something, wouldn't you be tempted to do whatever it takes?

Suri’s been working in the fashion industry for, my guess, several years. Suri probably feels like her time is running out. It's hard not to sympathize with her desire to realize a dream, but hopefully, we can find it in ourselves to take our losses gracefully and be willing to wait for that dream as long as it takes.

Spoiled Rich - Privileged

This is not a Pinkie Pie approved party being arranged.

I know this is a character nobody wants to say they relate to. Spoiled Rich is a horrible pony. She's mean to her daughter, demanding toward her husband and staff, and generally a jerk toward her community. She's a spoiled brat who has always gotten every material thing she's wanted.

Her fiance literally makes his money of the work these farmers to and yet Spoiled still stuff them.

Spoiled Rich grew up rich and then married into money. She doesn't relate to the struggles of other ponies. She doesn't have to work hard to get clothes, food, water, entertainment. She takes for granted all the good things in her life. I'm sure we do this from time to time.

Maybe you treated a cashier poorly or made fun of "stupid" people. It's easy to judge others from our place of entitlement.

Spoiled Rich: I feel the need to remind everypony in this line that I live in a mansion!

Spoiled Rich certainly thinks her opinion matters most. The worst part about being privileged is that its part of the privilege to not know you have it. She's unaware of just how awful she's behaving right up until her daughter sets her straight.

It's okay to relate to her, assuming you notice you do.

Wind Rider - Reputation

Ah, look at that has been. 

Reputation can be a very important thing. What others think of us impacts how we are treated and how we are remembered. Reputation can become even more important with age because the older you get the harder it is to set records.

Wind Rider was faced with the reality that his legacy was about to be forgotten. Sure he held the record for a time, but Rainbow Dash could get his name stripped from the book of records. That can be a hard reality to face especially because he's no longer able to be a full-fledged Wonderbolt anymore.

Wind: Speed defines who I am!

Hopefully, none of us have stooped to his levels of low, but we all feel a kinship to Wind Rider whenever we try to get others to think positively about us. We all want to be remembered for being great because, in a way, it means we are still great.

I think more of us older bronies sympathize with Wind at least a tiny bit.

Tempest -Blowing things out of Proportions

Much like Starlight, Tempest had a bad friendship experience as a kid. She was injured in an accident and the foals of her home town rejected her. She was left marred and lonely because of that one town’s actions. Then she grew up and, instead of learning that there are nice ponies in the world as well as bad, she hated everypony and assumed they were all heartless!

She passed judgment on a whole group based on the actions of singular members. Can you relate?

I know I did something similar with my bullies from middle school. Believe it or not, I struggled to make friends because certain people I'd write off as being just like my bullies without even getting to know them. I know I’m not alone in this. Plenty of us had negative experiences that we let taint every encounter from then on. We chose to hate/fear whole groups of people based on the actions of a few.

Tempest was willing to turn her back on all ponies because of her pain.

Her hurt grew to hate everyone who supported that group she no longer trusted too. 

Yes, what happened to her was bad, but her inability to deal with her personally hurt was worse. If you can think of a group that you don’t like simply because of one bad experience, you, like Tempest, might need to reassess your original judgments.

There are still more villains and Antagonists

There’s no way to cover every antagonist without these posts becoming way too long, but even with only a few examples, it’s easy to see how much we share with these villains.

Bad guys never really view themselves as evil. They feel that their causes are worthy. They’re the heroes of their own stories.

We too can get it into our heads that we’re right and those around us are the crazy ones. One nice thing about MLP is that they have such relatable villains that give us a chance to safely observe characteristic in our own nature. But since I have so little in common with these evil creatures, feel free to list anything I missed!