This was originally drawn for the 2023 Newbie Artist Training Grounds.

Day 17: Draw a pony facing their worst nightmare / Draw a pony scared senseless.

There’s quite a few things I’m afraid of myself, namely snakes and heights. However, I wasn’t willing to look up how to properly draw a snake with fangs bared, and my amateurish background skills meant a heights-based picture was out (besides Blazewing himself is a pegasus, lol). In that case, I tried to think of what Tough Cookie and Syntax would be afraid of, and what came to mind was one creature any pony in Equestria would fear: the deadly cockatrice. Its petrification powers aren’t immediate, as we’ve seen, but just the sight of one is enough to throw anypony, even the hardy Cookie and the normally unflappable Syntax, into a panic. Shut your eyes and run, you two!