@Background Pony #52AB  
Well said!

@Blue Star
 
Nightmare Moon, he was in Canterlot, she wasn’t. Simple. (Also, Celestia having the guard there would’ve interfered with her plans to redeem her dear sister)
 
How in the world was Shining Armor supposed to do anything against Discord, a being that explicitly laughed off anything two alicorns threw at him short of the Elements of Harmony? Hell, he could probably laugh off at least three alicorns while we’re at it.
 
Chrysalis, well, she’s kind of a mind controlling villain, and suddenly having your fiance impersonated, it’s not something you can necessarily easily notice.
 
Sombra, well the guy came out on top of two alicorns by sealing his empire away. Again, he was out of his league by a noticable margin.
 
Also, while I do believe that Tirek is inefficient with utilizing stolen magic, either way, he had absorbed enough magic at that point to be confident in his chances at draining multiple alicorns. Also, he had Discord himself by his side at the time. How the fuck was he supposed to do anything against those odds? It’s about the equivalent to faulting someone for not being able to stop a nuke with their body and a flak jacket, or their bare hands.
 
Chrysalis, well, lulled into complacency. That one is less understandable, maybe.
 
As for the Movie, maybe he was in the Crystal Empire, and they caught the Princesses off-guard anyway.
 
Point I’m trying to make is, he may be a powerful unicorn, but when you’re up against giant threats like those, there isn’t much you can do other than get Worfed.

@Twi_Clown  
Agreed. Shiny at least tries… even if he gets his rump kicked six ways to Sunday.

@Blue Star
 
Because the other guards are even worse. If they appear at all, they never get things done, while Shining at least can receive a golden star for trying.

@Blue Star  
It seems in times of crisis the Equestrian military are ether useless or never seen
 
 
@Blue Star  

 
Thanks I love Terramar
 

@Spike fancy  
true. no guards anywhere. also love the profile picture :D

@Blue Star  
You Forgot the My little Pony Movie:Shining and the Royal Guards are nowhere in sight during the Canterlot invitations

@Twi_Clown  
Kitty punting is the new evil sport played by goatee wearing warlocks and Goatee Wearing Genies XD

@Edhelistar  
so uhhhh what exactly has Shining done in the face of all of the Dangerous events that have plagued Equestria?  
I agree he’s more Competent than his Guards, hence why I said almost useless but that doesn’t make him better than them.
 
let’s take a look at Shining’s track record as a Captain:
 
Season 1: didn’t exist/didn’t know about Nightmare moon’s invasion somehow when eternal night is pretty fricken hard to miss,
 
season 2: well Discord only invaded Ponyville as far as we know so he couldn’t do a thing there since apparently Royal Guards are only supposed to protect Celestia and Canterlot biased assholes finale: Mind Controlled and nearly helped an evil queen conquer canterlot
 
Season 3: got hornblocked by Sombra making him useless, unintentionally invented Wife Javelin as an event in the Equestria Games<kidding but it would be funny>
 
Season 4: well both the Royal Guards and the Captain himself failed to protect the Princesses so great job there, Tirek: I don’t even need to say any further on that.
 
Season 5: well apparently Twilight getting into Celestia’s School must have hinged Shining’s fate on being a Captain because he’s nowhere to be seen in any of the Futures
 
Season 6: helped give birth to Flurry <I’m joking of course, I’ve grown to love Flurry>, by extension putting the entire crystal empire, his own Wife and Sister and even the Princesses in danger of being Frozen out of existence, is so useless in the Finale that he couldn’t even protect his own family from getting captured by the changelings
 
Season 7: nowhere to be seen.
 
and finally, he’s in the Crystal Empire. with a family now and rules alongside Cadence, yet he’s still considered Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guards. I’m sorry but this poor guy does not take action often enough to be a Captain and his Magic only Shields, it doesn’t Attack.
 
so uhhh…. how is this guy qualified to be Captain?

@Blue Star  

 
Yes, they are. And why shouldn’t they be? Ponies are smaller than nearly every other intelligent species in their world, and if there’s one constant theme in the show, it’s that the ponies are surrounded by dangerous, aggressive creatures. So it’s no surprise they’re rabidly xenophobic.
 
Equestria isn’t always the happy cheerful place you’d think a land of pastel ponies would be. Twilight Sparkle and Celestia are exceptional in that they’re willing to reach out to other species and consider making friends with them. Chancellor Neighsay is actually a lot closer to the average pony’s attitude than they are.

@Edhelistar
 
That sounds like a good start. :)

@Twi_Clown  
Poke poodles.

Yeah nothing suspicious at all

@Edhelistar
 
Well, I’m evil, now what? Should I plot to rule the world or just being jerk to the kitties?

@Twi_Clown  
Yes, that makes you evil. /jk

@Background Pony #C18E
 
I have a goatee IRL, does that make me evil? :/
 
(no kidding with having a goatee, my family tends to mock me about it when I don’t shave myself)

It’s a rule. Ever since the 1960s Star Trek did the evil universe thing with Evil Universe Mr. Spock having a goatee, goatees have been evil symbols.
 
For that matter, if I can get serious for just a moment (as serious as the topic merits), the Devil has been portrayed with a goatee for centuries. His horns, goatee, and goat feet, of course, are borrowed from the Greek god Pan, who by 21st Century Western cultural standards was a pretty nasty piece of work himself, though maybe not on the level of the Devil.

@Edhelistar  
Equestria needs a better milicy………….and better combat training overall.

@Blue Star  
Woah there! Is not Shiny’s fault that the Guard is incompetent…In fact, he seems the only competent guard. Which would explain why he’s captain in the first place.

hey, Uploader here. so, it’s a shame that the Chancellor is such a douchebag <which is putting it mildly and that’s disappointing considering who his voice actor is.> because it’s clear from the start that he’s a racist, in Twilight’s presentation he is completely disregarding her words and being a hardarse throughout the entire 2 parter.
 
from the start of Twilight’s presentation you can tell he’s biased to only ponies because where Twilight states that the school is supposed to “Spread the magic of friendship.” he perceives the Betterment of Equestria and “education of only ponies” like they’re the only creatures that exist in Equestria.
 
so when Twilight wants the school to be “a place that communicates and Respects each other’s differences” which is Vital for international schooling by the way, he only perceives the school as “a place to teach ponies to defend Equestria from threats” I’m sorry but…. who is in charge of Employment in Equestria?
 
we’ve got Shining armour who’s almost completely useless as a Captain and now we have this guy: a Racist Headmaster of a INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD. is Twilight really the only one who’s proposed this kind of interaction between other species across Equestria? if so why? are ponies really just that separatist and speciest against everybody else who happens to live in Equestria? we’re lead to believe that Celestia has good terms with the Yaks, Crystal Empire and Hippogriffs so how has this not cropped up with the EEA before after THOUSANDS of years of Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth Pony Education.

@Spike fancy
 
Well, the later three are not villains anymore, so, bonus points there?

@Background Pony Number 17  
Yup  
King Sambra  
Sunset Shimmer  
Starlight Glimmer  
And Tempest Shadow

Accualy theres a spell that chamges people goals and thoughts about life making them good, meaning minnd control is possible but don’t worry about it, all factions in Equestria agreed to ban mind control becose its too OP and episodes would be too short

@PonyPon
 
The racist undertones (well, speciesist). Almost any racists tends to be evil in fiction.