“He was a chump,” Rainbow Dash said. “In the end, Zaap Nator was all talk and no guts, and I introduced his skull to my hooves as a reminder of how lame he was.”
- Ynanhluutr ch. 13

Duke Zaap Nator is a noble pony of Darkstine. He is first briefly mentioned by Constable Steelteeth as being the loser of a recent election for the position of head of Darkstinian industrial affairs in the city of New Ring between the duke and his rival, Governor Mintelle.

Bid For PowerEdit

After the entire country of Darkstine began suffering from severe drop in power reserves, the citizens began looking to Governor Mintelle for help. She told them not to worry, and attempted to handle things calmly and rationally. Duke Zaap Nator used this opportunity to take up a seat of power in the western districts of New Ring, telling everyone that Mintelle was wrong, and that only under his leadership could they restore power. From there, he was able to incite a near civil war by making broad, maniacal claims that the spirit of industry was deteriorating across the land, causing the loss of power.

He claimed that only a great shift in their society could bring back that spirit, and thus restore power. Nearly half the population of Darkstine sided with him, and the city of New Ring was divided right down the middle. The ponies that supported Duke Zaap Nator moved to the western districts, and called that half of the the city the true New Ring. The ponies that supported the current leadership of Mintelle moved to the eastern districts, and renamed their side East New Ring. A massive wall was erected between the two sides, and tensions between them increased rapidly.

Governor Mintelle insisted that Duke Zaap Nator was only using the current crisis to his advantage in an attempt to seize leadership after the loss of the recent election.

Dark SecretEdit

When the power outages started, a greak obelisk in the center of New Ring sank into the earth. A great many ponies, most supporters of Duke Zaap Nator, beleived that this was a sign that Darkstine lacked the spirit of Industry.

It is later revealed that Zaap Nator was sacrificing foals to the obelisk in the name of Industry. He kept them locked in camps in western New Ring , bringing them out one at a time and tossing them into the great pit in the center of the city that contained the fallen obelisk.


Duke Zaap Nator is a tall unicorn stallion. He wears a black gas mask and trenchcoat, with some of his curly, black mane visible on the back of his head. His design is seemingly based on zee captain , a character from a webcomic called Romantically Apocalyptic.
