| “ | My name is Princess Eris. I am this world's Lord of Chaos. Perhaps you know my idiot cousin, Discord? A poor and misled creature if there ever was one. Chaos wasn't meant to play pranks and turn rain to chocolate milk. It was meant -- to cause destruction. | „ |
| ~ Princess Eris introducing herself |
Princess Eris is the main antagonist of the My Little Pony IDW comic spinoff arc, Nightmare Knights. She's Discord's cousin and the mirror world's goddess of chaos. She was captured by the mirror universe Pony of Shadows and had her powers drained, until she one day made a collar to control Daybreaker, and the two defeated him. She then became the ruler of the mirror world, and started a casino exclusive for villains and antagonists. When the Princess Luna and Stygian of another world came to the mirror world, she stole the latter's powers with the intent of pawning them off. Later, a team of reformed villains from the other dimension known as the Nightmare Knights come to retrieve Luna's powers, and in the process they free Daybreaker of Eris' control, who then betrays her.
Appearance[]
Eris is a bipedal pink bird with pale green eyes, a light yellow beak, and orange arms and legs. She has curly hot pink, yellow and magenta feathers atop her head, and feathers that are light blue with light green tips and large purple spots, resembling peacock feathers, as her tail and on the back of her head. She has a pair of large purple bat wings and white ram horns. She has a large tuft of yellow feathers on her chest and purple eyeshadow. She wears a purple dress ending in peacock feathers identical to the ones on her tail and head, and a dark purple vest with it, as well as a matching dark purple sash. She has a white fur collar, and a light blue, somewhat crescent-shaded necklace. She also has small strings of light blue beads adorning her body, and two sets of light blue bracelets on her wrists.
Biography[]
Long ago, when the mirror world Stygian became the Pony of Shadows, the Pillars of Equestria set a trap to seal him with themselves away in the void forever. Eris, finding peace to be boring and not wanting the heroes and villains of Equestria to go away, stole Starswirl's book of spells. The Pony of Shadows then defeated the Pillars and killed Starswirl, before turning his attention towards training the young alicorns Celestia and Luna into being his successors. They had gone into hiding though, and after failing to find them, he instead sought out their counterparts in other dimensions. Knowing Eris would know where to find the two alicorns, he tried getting her to help him. She refused though, only interested in causing chaos, not taking sides.
He then imprisoned her, draining her magic to give himself power for centuries. He soon found the two he was looking for, Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon, and began training them to spread darkness. Nightmare Moon rebelled against him though, and Daybreaker had to defeat her. Afterwards, wanting to find a way to control Daybreaker so she wouldn't turn on him too, the Pony of Shadows had Princess Eris create a collar that would limit her magic. She did as he said, making Daybreaker a collar that would only allow her to use fire magic, without harnessing control over light or the sun. However, she specifically made it so that Daybreaker could only be controlled by her, not the Pony of Shadows. She then gets Daybreaker to set her free, and the two defeat the Pony of Shadows together, after which Eris becomes the new ruler of the mirror world.
Many years later, Princess Luna witnesses the alternate universe Pony of Shadows kidnapping the alternate Celestia in Stygian's nightmares. She and Stygian go through a portal to the other world, where they find no sign of the Pony of Shadows, rather the entrance of a casino only villains may enter. They're able to get in due to their history of villainy, where a Diamond Dog calls out to Luna and tells her that the princess is expecting her. They take an elevator to the top floor, where they see what looks like the alternate Celestia. When Luna rushes to her though, she sets off a trap that had been planted for her, trapping her in a cage.
Luna begs her sister for help, but Eris then reveals herself and tells her that her sister is under her control now, before ordering Celestia - who turns out to actually be Daybreaker - to attack Stygian. Princess Eris then formally introduces herself, stating that her cousin Discord is a fool for using chaos to cause pranks, when it's meant to cause destruction. She reveals that she'd disguised herself as the Pony of Shadows from Stygian's nightmares to lure Luna there. She then uses the Staff of Sacanas to absorb Luna's powers, saying she'll pawn the staff off to the highest bidder in three days, just to see what chaos will be caused by giving them the power to control the moon and dreamwalk. As she's taunting Luna though, Stygian blasts the cage off of her, and the two escape to their own dimension.
Knowing they can't fight Eris alone, Luna and Stygian return to the mirror world three days later with Tempest Shadow, Trixie Lulamoon and Capper Dapperpaws in tow. They get in with some disguises, and Tempest creates a diversion by accusing a gamespony of cheating and destroying his booth, after which Daybreaker confronts the group for property damage. She fights and quickly defeats Tempest, taking her prisoner. She's brought to a small room where Eris confronts her, figuring out that her stunt was a diversion for her friends. She interrogates Tempest, and when the unicorn refuses to give the others away, Eris uses Luna's stolen powers to trap her in a nightmare where she's forced to relive the moment her horn was broken off as a filly, but with the chaos goddess in place of the ursa. When seeing Tempest being plagued by nightmares, she then reconsiders giving the stolen powers away. She then leaves to find the other Nightmare Knights, tasking Daybreaker with watching over the prisoner.
After Luna and Trixie split off from the group, Eris ambushes Capper and Stygian while they loom for the staff, putting them both into nightmares; a younger Capper fleeing as the Storm King destroys the Patheria kingdom, and Stygian getting caught and shamed by the Pillars for stealing their stuff. Eris, pretending to be a benevolent princess, appears to each of them and says she's there to save them. She says she can make the nightmares go away, in exchange for them telling her where Luna and Trixie are. Stygian declines and tries to attack her, but as it's a dream, she's unaffected. She then drops him into the Well of Shades to continue the nightmare, before asking Capper if he's willing to help her and live a life of luxury. He asks her to tell him more about this supposed life of luxury, so she brings him back to the waking world, promising to let him have free reign of the whole casino for his assistance. He tells her the whereabouts of Trixie, who's downstairs trying to one-up the mirror world version of Twilight at a magic show. She states that they'll capture her, then wait for Luna to make her move, and the two leave Stygian to stay in his nightmares.
On the way to Trixie, Eris tells Capper of how the Pony of Shadows had imprisoned her, but she broke free with Daybreaker's help and became the queen of the mirror world, reshaping it in her image. She's interrupted by Trixie celebrating defeating Twilight, quickly knocking her out with a blast of energy. She brings the unconscious unicorn to where Tempest is being held, interested by how her other prisoner seemingly started having a different nightmare. She reminds Daybreaker to keep watch over the prisoners and relays her plan of auctioning off Luna's power before she and Capper leave.
In Eris' throne room, Capper remarks that the two of them are quite similar while performing a coin-vanishing trick. He elaborates that the two of them know how to bide their time and keep their cards close to their chests, seizing an opportunity as soon as it presents itself. Eris is impressed by his trick, asking how it works, but he replies that he can't tell his secrets. She then wonders if Capper's friends will be lured to the throne room as planned, commenting that she expected they'd have been there by now, and Capper replies that it's probably taking time because Luna found Stygian and is trying to figure out how to get him out of the nightmare without his powers.
She soon finds that Daybreaker is bringing the other Nightmare Knights right to her, before telling Capper to do another trick, threatening to send him back into his nightmares if he doesn't. He tries and fails to do a card trick, and she snaps at him that she hates them, demanding he do the coin trick again so she can figure out how it works. As he flips the coin though, he falls over while trying to catch it, knocking over the Staff of Sacanas. She yells at him to be fore careful, and silences him as he tries to apologize while handing it back. As she's about to decide how to punish him though, Daybreaker arrives with the other ponies. Eris then tells Luna that she's impressed by the alicorn's willingness to try and take back what she'd stolen, but adds that she can't have everyone show up to her throne room demanding their stuff back, and is conflicted on how to make an example out of her.
Tempest then tells her that monologuing is a waste of time, urging her to just do something nefarious already. Eris agrees, and orders Daybreaker to burn all of them. Daybreaker refuses though, and Eris tells her that she's a weapon meant for destruction, not to get sappy. Daybreaker still refuses though, so Eris tries using her collar to shock her. It doesn't work though, to which Daybreaker reveals that her collar - and the chains on the other ponies - were all mere illusions created by Trixie, and her real collar was melted off with Tempest's help. She then tries attacking, but the goddess of chaos blocks her blast of fire with a shield. Luna, Stygian, Trixie and Tempest then help, but she's still able to shield herself from their attacks. She snaps that they don't understand chaos before aiming to attack Daybreaker, but Luna jumps in front of the line of fire.
Rather than a blast of energy though, all that comes out of the staff is bubbles. Eris is confused by this, before Capper reveals that he's been plotting against her all along, and when he knocked over the staff earlier, he'd replaced it's power source with a fake without her noticing. He then tells her to inspect the staff, and she finds that its orb has been replaced with a fake. Capper, who has the real orb, then smashes it, which allows Luna's powers to return to her. She easily destroys the rest of the staff, and Eris begs for mercy, saying she was just doing what was in her nature, and the centuries spent imprisoned by the Pony of Shadows drove her mad. Luna tells her she doesn't want to hurt her, before suddenly Daybreaker blasts her far away, saying she does. Daybreaker then assumes the role as the new ruler of the mirror world.
Quotes[]
| “ | Luna: I am not without my own power, villain! Eris: I know that! That's why I lured you here. I perpared very carefully for your power. Luna: Celestia, help me! Eris: Oh, that's pitiful. The Pony of Shadows corrupted her. Celestia's not in there anymore. And you? You're powerless now. Luna: I am never powerless. Eris: I don't know if youre familiar with the Staff of Sacanas, but it absorded your powers. Luna: What are you going to do with it? Eris: There's only one real way to serve chaos. You saw all of those scum below? In three days, I'm going to auction it off to one of them. Imagine all the chaos one of them could do with the power to control the moon! The power to invade a pony's dreams! Ponies in their kingdom will never sleep again. Luna: You can't do that! Eris: Watch me! And with my goodie two shoes censor at the gate, none of your little hero friends will be able to get to me. Or you for that matter. So, I guess have a seat and get ready to watch your own power destroy the world. After all, it's not like you have enough of it to escape. |
„ |
| ~ Princess Eris revealing her plan after capturing Luna |
| “ | Eris: There's no need to be afraid, Stygian. It's only a nightmare. Stygian: It... it is? Eris: Of corse it is. You already lived through this, remember? Capper: I guess I do. I mean, it wasn't quite like this, but... Eris: Nightmares always seem a little worse than the real thing. They show how you felt when it happened. Stygian: That's right! Starswirl confronted me and my friends turned on me. The I went to the Well of Shadows and... Eris: They locked you away for centuries. They didn't even give you a chance to prove yourself. But you dont have to live through all that again. This time, it's only a dream. And I can make it all go away. Capper: You can? How are you gonna do that? Eris: It's easy. I just need you to do one thing for me. Just tell me who you came with and what your plan is, and I'll make it all stop. Stygian: Our plan? Eris: That's right. Don't end up stuck in a nightmare for centuries again because you had the wrong friends. Stygian: Wrong... friends? Wait... No! I won't betray my friends! It doesn't matter what you do to me! (Stygian tries to blast Eris with magic, but it goes right through her) Eris: Oh no, magic. That's right - I'm not really here. And this is your dream. Back into the Well of Shadows for you. Stygian: Nooooo! Eris: Such a disapointment. How about you, furball? You wanna go back to losing everything you love, or you wanna help me out and live a life of luxury? Capper: Tell me more about this life of luxury. |
„ |
| ~ Eris trying to recruit Stygian and Capper |
| “ | Centuries ago, the Pony of Shadows rose to power. He sought to eradicate light from the world and cloak it in shadow. Back then, there was a team of heroic ponies that tried to seal away the Pony of Shadows. They set a trap to create a portal that would seal the Pony of Shadows and the Pillars away. But a world without these heroes and villains didn't seem nearly as wild and chaotic to me! Sure, there would be peace, but where's the fun in that? So I stole Starswirl's book of spells. The other Pillars escaped, but Starswirl fell that day. And the Pony of Shadows began to wage war on Equestria. The Pillars escaped with the princesses, but the shadows continued to spread. The Pony of Shadows began reading Starswirl's notes about the powers of the princesses and became obsessed with training them to be as evil as he was. But he could't find them. He even tried to travel through mirrors and capture the princesses from other worlds. But I wasn't foolish enough to interfere again. These Pillars retrived their princesses. But he was sure I could find them. He was right, and I told him so. But I refused to work for him. I didn't choose sides. I was here for the chaos. The Pony of Shadows held me captive for centuries, drawing chaos magic from me. Eventually, he used me to find those princesses. | „ |
| ~ Eris telling Capper about her past |
| “ | Princess Luna, you have been an interesting conundrum for me. I've stolen plenty of things from powerful ponies before, even auctioned them off... But never have I met a pony fool enough to come back here, to my realm, to steal them back. It's almost enough to make me like you. Almost... But of course, I can't have every two-bit princess from every world showing up here and demanding I return their magic or their staff or their pet poodle. So, I'm faced with a dilemma of how best to make an example out of you. | „ |
| ~ Princess Eris confronting Luna |
| “ | Eris: Daybreaker, burn them all. Daybreaker: No. Eris: What do you mean, "no"? Daybreaker: The Pony of Shadows forced me to betray my sister once. I won't do it again for you. Eris: Oh, this. Gooey sentimentality. I was pretty sure you hadnt recognized her. She's not the same pony she once was. Daybreaker, come on, you're a weapon. You're meant to destroy weak ponies like this. Not to get all sappy. Daybreaker: All of that is done. I'm done working for you. I'm my own pony from now on. Eris: A pretty sentiment. I wonder how long I'll need to shock you for you to realize how wrong you are. |
„ |
| ~ Daybreaker betraying Eris |
| “ | You really think your troop of broken and deranged ponies can defeat a goddess of chaos?! You don't understand chaos! But that's alright, you don't have to understand right now. You'll have an eternity of nightmares to figure it out! | „ |
| ~ Eris fighting against the Nightmare Knights and Daybreaker |
| “ | Eris: Please, princess, you don't want to hurt me. Luna: You summoned my here by invding the dreams of my friend. You pretended to be the Pony of Shadows. Eris: I'm just a goddess of chaos. I'm just doing what's in my nature. Luna: You tried to destroy my friends and my sister. Eris: Please, I've learned my lesson. See, I'm a victim here, too. The Pony of Shadows had me locked up for centuries. It drove me mad. Luna: Hmmm... Eris: Please, oh merciful princess. Luna: Eris, I do not want to hurt you. (Daybreaker hits Eris with a blast of fire) Daybreaker: I do. |
„ |
| ~ Eris begging for mercy after her defeat |
