In retrospect, did Sombra have to be a unicorn?

Gharles

And other things.
 
Sombra was based on Sauron. And Sauron was one of the Ainur. Sombra had a wavy mane like the princesses, had his horn, he roared, had canines, and became a darkness monster somehow.
 
McCarhthy said he was supposed to be a presence like Sauron. If so, then why a unicorn? Having him be a unicorn into dark magic doesn’t make him all that unique since other unicorns and alicorns can use dark magic and humanizes (or ponyizes in this case) him too much. You could have had him be a darkness creature from the start which would have fit better with what McCarthy intended.
Namalsk

I think that they just wanted to show the power that a “normal” pony can gain under the right circumstances. I don’t feel like much thought went into him over all, anyway.
nyxabuse
The End wasn't The End - Found a new home after the great exodus of 2012

You’re taking a comment about Sombra’s appearance and role in the show, and then trying to graft Tolkien’s mythology onto My Little Pony. That’s a non sequitur.
AaronMk
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Sky funeral
He could have easily been an alicorn.
 
If you want to head-cannon it you could claim him to have been legit royalty, since according to Hearth’s Warming the only ever “royal” society was the unicorns and the unicorns who tended to them.
 
But we got so little out of him anyways it’s hard to say if this was supposed to be a tip-of-the-hat to that.
nyxabuse
The End wasn't The End - Found a new home after the great exodus of 2012

It’s my headcanon that the ponies actually formed several kingdoms under separate unicorn royal families after the events of Hearth’s Warming Eve, but that Celestia and Luna eventually united them. The aristos who hang around Canterlot are the descendants of those royals who accepted the sisters as rulers.
 
Sombra is one of those who didn’t accept their rule.
AaronMk
Lunar Supporter - Helped forge New Lunar Republic's freedom in the face of the Solar Empire's oppressive tyrannical regime (April Fools 2023).
Flower Trio - Helped others get their OC into the 2023 Derpibooru Collab.
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Tree of Harmony - Drew someone's OC for the 2022 Community Collab
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Philomena - For helping others attend the 2021 community collab
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Sky funeral
@nyxabuse
 
It’s my headcannon that they were all loosely broken apart in a feudalised structure.
 
Celestia and Luna could be said to have bureaucratized them.
Opalescence
Artist -

It was a big mistake to make Sombra a pony. Ponies are MLP’s equivalent of humans, and from human-esque characters, you always expect a character and a background/motivation, which we didn’t get from him.  
Sombra would have worked much better as a dragon or shadow force, since he was already written as one.
Crayv
The End wasn't The End - Found a new home after the great exodus of 2012

I actually see ponies more of the equivalent of hobbits, not exactly ambitious and generally happy with things the way they are. Which to me would also explain why their technology is kinda odd, they just don’t really care to advance much further than what they already have.
 
Sombra could have just been an evil mass of corruption and the episode would have worked exactly the same but I kinda like the fact that he was just a unicorn. As Namalsk said it does show how powerful a “normal” pony can become.
 
As for the Crystal Empire I think it is entirely separate from Equestria. They don’t really fit with the 3 other pony races.
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