History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E25TwilightsKingdomPart1

The episode begins with the group arriving in the Crystal Empire for Twilight's royal duties in helping to greet dignitaries of Maretonia. The job is pretty simple and hardly worth the trip, making Twilight feel she isn't doing enough as a princess. However Celestia, Luna and Cadance assure her she's just as important as they are.

* MythologyGag: Tirek was originally the villain in the first ''WesternAnimation/{{My Little Pony TV Special|s}}''. Scorpan is mentioned in Lord Tirek's backstory, and both have designs very reminiscent of their original forms, and also ends up betraying Tirek. In a larger sense, this two-parter is a celebration of the 30th anniversary (late by one month) of ''My Little Pony'' as a cartoon franchise.

* ColorfulContrails: After Twilight temporarily [[spoiler:absorbs the other four princesses' magic]], she leaves a trail of white sparkles and indigo and purple stripes in the same color as her mane while flying.

* YouHaveGOTToBeKiddingMe: When most of Twilight’s friends are shocked upon hearing that Discord is needed to capture Tirek, Fluttershy pipes up to Twilight that she doesn’t consider it THAT much of a surprise, and adds that he can be very helpful. She looks back at the rest expecting them to back her up, but they just stare at her with a mixture of skepticism and incredulity.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: This is the argument Tirek gives Discord; if he is so important to friendship, then why is only Fluttershy nice to him. This is the seed of doubt that makes Discord change his mind about working with Celestia and the Mane Six.

* AdaptationalBadass: The original Tirek was no pushover by a long shot, the original VileVillainSaccharineShow, but his main threat was being the wielder of the Rainbow of Darkness and having an army whom he mutated with it at his command. Lord Tirek? He has no army and is still such a massive threat that sending ''Discord'' after him is considered [[GodzillaThreshold the best means of defeating him]]. Somewhat played with, though -- he starts out far weaker than his G1 incarnation, Tirac, due to his imprisonment, and Discord was sent out because his abilities let him sense Tirek's magic and track him down effortlessly. It's only after he drains enough ponies that he becomes a real threat.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: The original Tirek was the long-running king of this trope for awhile. This Lord Tirek lives up to the original's vileness, as a creature quite literally from the pits of the Underworld.

* AdaptationalBadass: The original Tirek was no pushover by a long shot, the original VileVillainSaccharineShow, but his main threat was being the wielder of the Rainbow of Darkness and having an army whom he mutated with it at his command. Lord Tirek? He has no army and is still such a massive threat that sending ''Discord'' after him is considered [[GodzillaThreshold the best means of defeating him]]. Somewhat played with, though -- he starts out far weaker than G1 Tirek due to his imprisonment, and Discord was sent out because his abilities let him sense Tirek's magic and track him down effortlessly. It's only after he drains enough ponies that he becomes a real threat.

* ChekhovsGun: The history sequence shows Scorpan wearing the same medallion that Tirek wears now.

-->-- '''[[CaptainObvious Lord Tirek]]'''

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Twilight's eventual title and role is all but spelled out in the Princesses' song in the beginning. "As the sun rises, so does the moon/As love finds a place in every heart/You are a Princess, you'll play your part." [[PowerOfFriendship What is to love as the moon is to the sun, and is also, y'know, a pretty regular theme in this show?]]

* IWantSong[=/=]PepTalkSong: Twilight laments that she doesn't have any actual duties in her first song. Later, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance sing to her to assure her that she has a place in helping Equestria.