Characters / Astral Disaster

Characters from the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Fanfic Astral Disaster.

WARNING! This page contains multiple unmarked spoilers!

Protagonist Original Characters

Quivering Star

The last member of the Stellmare Clan, a clan of unicorns that was amongst the best magic users a thousand years ago, but mysteriously declined and stopped using magic altogether. Sporting the same, hereditary bent horn as his ancestors, and sharing the same talent for magic, he took possession of some of his family's belongings; namely an old flying tower and a powerful magical orb serving as its engine, and set out to search for his clan's past.

His travels lead him to encounter Sol and take him as his assistant before the events described in the actual story, and lands near Ponyville because he forgot to refuel his magic orb. Quivering then decides to stay for a while in order to search for eventual clues, before finding more fuel, i.e. gems and crystals, and setting off once again.

Little does he know that the little village has a few things just for him...

• Badass Cape: Not exactly badass, but he still has a nice cape.
• Ditzy Genius: About as intellectual as Twilight, but error-prone, especially after his orb has a malfunction and zaps him, making his magic unstable.
• Evil Costume Switch: A short time after he becomes Antarès.
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: Aside from Sol, there doesn't seem to be anyone who constantly sticks around him, and he was traveling alone before meeting him. He might be alone by choice, though.
• Non-Elemental: Whenever he uses magic, it manifests as pink, non-descript energy. Even his attack spells are Frickin' Laser Beams. Switches to Shock and Awe when he becomes Antarès.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Sol's red.
• Sharing a Body: When his good side manages to separate from Antarès and gets in Sol's mind.
• Socially Awkward Hero
• Squishy Wizard
• Superpowered Evil Side: See Antarès.
• The Stoic: The guy never smiles, and even when frustrated/angry, he doesn't up his voice that much. Things go differently once Antarès takes over.

Sol

Quivering Star's assistant. This young and short-sized earth pony took his chance at getting out of the suburbs by joining the travelling unicorn. He doesn't do much at assisting him, though, since Quivering either doesn't need help at what he does or is the only one who can do it.

He still stays by his side, tries to put some order in his flying tower, and has to constantly get him back to reality. However, he does it a little late at the start of the story, when he warns his employer that the towers magic engine is out of fuel, leading the duo to crash near Ponyville.

From then on, he follows Quivering around as he searches for clues about his Clan, all the while snarking about pretty much everything.

• Captivity Harmonica: Isn't a criminal and didn't get incarcerated at any point, but him owning an harmonica kinda fits with the place he lived in before going with Quivering...
• Delinquent: Has traits of it, but avoids actually being one, unlike those that lived in the same suburbs as him...
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially towards Quivering.
• Gatling Good: Briefly makes use of one during a fight against Antarès.
• Hot-Blooded: Doesn't hesitate to directly fight Arcadès, even tought it doesn't work out that well...
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: A brief one with Antarès. It kinda works.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Is stunted in growth, but is as physically strong as Applejack, or even Big Macintosh.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's actually quite enthusiastic at the idea of going at the spa.
• Sharing a Body: Allows Quivering to stay in his mind for a while when he separates himself from Antarès.

Sylas Stellmare

The founder of the Stellmare Clan, and therefore Quivering Star's ancestor from a thousand years ago. He put his own soul inside a book some time after the fall of his Clan, and managed to free himself when Antarès arose, in order to help the Mane 6 (minus Twilight), Sol, Derpy and a few other Ponyville residents to stop this new threat.

• The Archmage
• Astral Projection: Since he's technically dead, he can only manifest as a magic ghost from the book he put his soul in. He later transfers his soul into a crystal orb, which can contain magic more efficiently.
• Barrier Warrior: When he takes parts in a fight, he spends much of his time casting magic barriers to protect himself and the heroes from oncoming harm.
• Cool Mask
• Mr. Exposition: He tends to omit some details, but he still proves useful since he's one of the few characters who knows what happened with the Stellmare Clan and the Crystal Dragons a thousand years ago.
• Sealed Good in a Can: He was hidden inside a book, but couldn't do anything for a thousand years since there wasn't enough magic around him. After Antarès managed to bring the Star of Sylas back to its full power, Sylas absorbed some of its power and came to the heroes' help as a ghost.

Guardian Blade

One of Sylas' friends from the time he was still alive. Like his friend, Guardian Blade put his mind inside an artifact in order to "survive" and still be of help in case Stellmare rises again. He appears first when Trixie discovers the Guardian's Eye; Guardian Blade's personal artifact, although not the one that he put his mind in. Instead, he's communicates through it from an unknown location and provides some instructions so that him and his allies can get in the flying city and prevent a disaster.

• Cool Mask/Cool Shades: His face doesn't appear clearly, so it's still unknown what he's actually wearing on his face.
• Sealed Good in a Can: The same as Sylas.

Antagonist Original Characters

Arcadès

A Crystal Dragon who appears in Ponyville shortly after Quivering Star's tower crashes next to it, and is seemingly trying to destroy the magical artifact seving as its engine. He doesn't clarify his motivations at first because he considers all ponies as foes, especially when he notices Quivering Star and recognises him as a Stellmare because of his bent horn; which fuels his aggression.

It's later revealed that his race had something to do with the Stellmare Clan's decline, and that he is trying to destroy the magic orb in order to prevent Stellmare Magic from being used once again and create the same kind of catastrophe it did one thousand years ago.

Whatever happens and whatever his intentions may be, he's always determined to fulfill his goal.

• BFS: Not that big compared to him, but still bigger than the ponies he attacks with it.
• Flaming Sword
• Heel–Face Turn: He was technically doing the right thing, but thought of ponies as enemies. When things turn into an Enemy Mine situation, he quickly understands what's going on and that the ones he thought of as opponents are trying to do pretty much the same thing as he did. He doesn't exactly join the heroes after that, but still calls a truce and cooperates with the Princesses when they find him, even though he tried to kill Luna earlier.
• Hellfire: His fire breath as well as the flames surrounding his sword are crimson red and have different properties than classic fire; such as burning everything to a crisp nigh-instantly, and allowing Arcadès to absorb the energy of whatever it burns. It helps that his sword was forged in the Tartarus, even if there isn't anything actually infernal about it.
• Hero Antagonist: He's just trying to prevent the same kind of catastrophe that happened to his race one thousand years ago, but since he thinks ponies are his enemies and refuses to explains his intentions at first, he stays the main antagonist until Antarès pops up and creates an Enemy Mine situation.
• Playing with Fire
• Wings Do Nothing: Has huge wings, but they're apparently too huge and just drag behind him like a cape.

Emperald

Arcadès' older brother. He spends most of time hidden in an underground lair, watching his brother's action trough a magic dome and taking care of his nephews. Like Arcadès, he wants to prevent the Stellmare Clan's magic from coming back, but can't intervene directly since Quivering's artifact can potentially kill him.

• The Chessmaster: Oversees his brother's actions and has a few plans and ideas up his sleeve to stop Quivering Star from reactivating his orb.
• Energy Weapon: He can shoot lasers from his claws.
• Gentle Giant: He's huge and intimidating. But he's apparently a good uncle to his brother's children.
• Hero Antagonist: For the same reasons as his brother.
• Lightning Bruiser: Despite his size, he can fly and ram into his enemies at terrifying speeds.

Antarès Stellmare

Quivering Star's real identity, who reveals himself and takes over when he manages to bring his orb back to full power; a reckless, wannabe tyrant who is trying to revive his Clan's magic in order to use it for himself and Take Over the World. In complete contrast with his undercover persona, Antarès is violent, rude, reckless and an overall Psychopathic Manchild, and doesn't hesitate to use his magic to destroy or corrupt whatever stands in his way.

Antarès is actually Quivering's "Id", which became independent because of Nebula Shade's influence from within the orb, and Quivering's REAL real personality is still struggling somewhere in his mind, unbeknownst to almost everyone, including Antarès himself.

• Arrogant Wizard: Thinks of his magic as peerless, and can actually back it up on a few occasions.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Acts like a wannabe cunning tyrant, but quickly shows how imperfect his plans are the more resistance he faces from the heroes, devolving into fighting his opponents with improvisation and luck. Also, Nebula completely supplants him once she appears.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: What he inflicts to Twilight Sparkle. Also, what Nebula Shade did to him to an extent; he's not exactly under her control, but gave in to his dark side because of her and is convinced he was always evil.
• Combat Tentacles: What he was hiding under his cape all this time.
• Enemy Within: Inverted, he's Quivering's evil side, but didn't realise his good side was still struggling in the back of his mind after taking over.
• Enemy Without: Inverted again. It's his good side that managed to physically separate from him at the cost of leaving his body.
• Unskilled, but Strong: His offensive spells and fighting style are less-than-subtle, and he relies more on cheap shots and overwhelming force than on actual strategy or technique. He still has some fighting-wit, and can muster up clever counterattacks from time to time. Celestia and Twilight learn this the hard way.
• Unwitting Pawn: To Nebula, even though he quickly turns on her when he learns about her existence and influence.

Nebula Shade

Sylas Stellmare's wife, and leader of the near-extinct Dethicorn race. By marrying with Sylas and uniting her race with his family, she technically co-founded the Stellmare Clan. However, she had next to no concern for the Clan or even her own brethren, and instead looked after the Stellmares' power. After years of unsuspected manipulation, she became too hungry and tried an outright coup, resulting in a war between the Crystal Dragons and the Stellmares, be they under her control or not. Sylas managed to defeat her, but not before trying to convince her to stop, and she was completely forgotten about for a thousand years

However, she managed to survive by putting her soul inside the Star of Sylas just before dying, without Sylas himself noticing, and came back when Antarès re-powered the artifact she was in. When Sylas realises she didn't actually die and is probably behind everything that's happened since the beginning of the story, the heroes shift their attention towards her instead of Antarès, who was actually manipulated by her...

• Above Good and Evil: Her morals and values make some sort of sense, what with her refusing to be influenced by anyone and seeing some values as arbitrary and outdated; but she ultimately is an extremely egotistical witch with a severe Lack of Empathy.
• Astral Projection: Like Sylas, she doesn't have a physical body anymore and manifests from the artifact she put her soul in. However, she has enough magic to make her projection tangible and can "physically" fight her opponents.
• The Baroness: She may be more than a thousand years old and reduced to being a ghost, but she still takes the time to walk around in a seductive manner while being very evil and proud of it.
• Card-Carrying Villain: She knows she's evil, or at least that she is considered evil by others; and seems pretty proud of it.
• Color-Coded Wizardry: Crimson red.
• Combat Tentacles: A common trait with Dethicorns, apparently.
• Demonic Possession: Can take control of others' bodies, but it's easier if her puppet is weak, or dead; as she briefly mentions it after she (temporarily) kills Twilight and thinks about using her corpse as an host body for a while.
• Evil Matriarch: In complete contrast to her husband. How did he even fall in love with her?!
• Faceless Eye: When inside of the Star, only her eyes appear on the artifact's surface.
• Fangs Are Evil: A common staple with Dethicorns, again.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: It doesn't happen to her, but she seems to like this method, as she uses it to kill Twilight. It doesn't stick for long, though]].
• It's All About Me: Oh boy, is it. She doesn't even care about her own kin, which is described as being Always Chaotic Evil; and didn't hesitate to use everyone around her as stepping stones for her own rise in power.
• Makeup Is Evil: More akin to tattoos under the eyes, but it does make her look demonic. Heck, these blood-red marks might as well be evil themselves.
• Manipulative Bitch
• No-Sell: She does little more than raise an eyebrow and openly wonder what that was about when Fluttershy tries her "Stare" on her.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over
• Red Eyes, Take Warning
• Shock and Awe: Like Antarès, she likes using electricity on her opponents.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: She cannot be bothered with whatever the good guys have to say, and often shuts them up with a loud, firm "No".
• Talk To The Hoof: In addition to the above trope, she has a tendency to interrupt every Kirk Summation or Shut Up, Hannibal! that the heroes try against her by backhoofing them or downright trying to fry them right then and there.
• You're Insane!: She's apparently heard this quite a few times, and interrupts Twilight Sparkle once again when she hears it coming.

One-Pony Band

A pegasus musician that appears during a Crossover chapter. He isn't exactly a villain, but is quite a Jerkass, especially when people aroung him don't share his opinions or knowledge about music. He unwittingly becomes a dangerous opponent and tries kill to Quivering Star because of a hate-inducing spell cast by the villain of the fanfic his chapter crosses with, altough he already antagonized him for being musically ignorant when still in his normal state.

• Cruel and Unusual Death: Quivering Star bites his throat off with his teeth and rips his body to shreds. It helps that he also was under the hate-spell influence and saw his Dethicorn blood trigger because of that, allowing him to use his sharp fangs, tentacles and more powerful magic.
• Curbstomp Battle: Goes both ways. First, he easily defeats Quivering Star, who didn't even try to fight back and focused on running away and protecting himself with his magic. Then, Quivering gets an Heroic Second Wind, fueled by the hate spell (which also temporarily turns him into a primitive, inarticulate version of Antarès), starts using much more aggressive spells, destroys his instruments one by one and brutally executes him.
• Elemental Powers: Can generate lightning with his guitars, create sonic shockwaves with his battery and create a shower of homing fireballs by doing a solo.
• Jerkass: Is already cynical and uncooperative even before having any reason to dislike Quivering, then goes full jerk when he starts talking about music with him and discovers their opinions on the topic are diametrically opposed. And he then decides to kill him simply for not liking or even caring about the same kind of music he's so passionnate about, although his anger and murderous intent were enhanced by a spell.
• Lame Comeback: He ends an argument with Quivering by calling him out on his lack of success with females, even though they just met a few minutes ago and were talking about music. Even his "opponent" is appaled at how it doesn't have anything to do with what they were arguing about in the first place, and is quite ironic coming from someone who previously called him out on his lack of argumentation.
• Musical Assassin: Uses his guitar, bass and battery during battle to generate lightning, sonic shockwaves and even a rain of fireballs. All while performing an instrumental version of Uprising from Muse.
• The Power of Rock: A technically evil version, even though he was probably just a jerk and not an outright villain, was it not for the hate spell.
• Serious Business: He's the one to start talking about music to someone who doesn't really care or know much about the subject. He apparently doesn't like it when other people don't know as much as he does about certain bands, and becomes downright condescending and elitist to Quivering when the latter innocently states that he prefers electronic, "soulless" music over "real" music.
• Single-Issue Wonk: Goes nuts when he discovers that Quivering has no interest or knowledge about music, and starts berating him about his ignorance and lack of respect for that form of art.
• Tranquil Fury: While he's quite quick to insult and threaten Quivering, he remains relatively calm even when trying to murder him under the influence of the hate spell, which doesn't change his behavior that much.

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