As Flash and the others race to save the hybrids, Tirek's past, his goal, and his treachery are all revealed.
Tropes:
- Arc Welding: It is revealed that when Flash fought Vilgax as Way Big during the events of "Secrets of the Omnitrix", Tirek's ship was unknowingly caught in the crossfire between Way Big and Vilgax's ship, resulting in the hybrids accidentally being put into stasis and jettisoned, setting up the main arc of this season.
- Broken Faceplate: When Tirek first confronts Flash and the others on his ship, he wears some armor and a glass helmet to hide his identity. During the battle though, XLR8 breaks the helmet's glass, allowing everyone to see Tirek.
- Broken Pedestal: Tirek is this for everyone when his true colors are revealed. Everyone saw him as a friend and ally, and more importantly they thought he was a hero due to being a former Plumber. Shining Armor and Azmuth are the most shocked by this reveal.
- Chekhov's Gun: When trying to figure out how to track the hybrids, Flash realizes they never removed the tracking device from Scoop.
- Cliffhanger: The chapter ends with Tirek mutating into a giant alien hybrid, resembling his Equestrian counterpart combined with a mishmash of other alien features, with Flash and the others heading out to stop him before someone gets hurt.
- Contrived Coincidence: The hybrids were jettisoned from Tirek's ship before he could begin his mass production plan all because his ship exited the dimensional portal at the climax of "Secrets of the Omnitrix".
- Hero Killer: It's revealed that Tirek had killed Max Tennyson, and retroactively prevented Ben and Gwen from being born.
- Internal Reveal: Flash and the others finally learn the truth about Tirek.
- Karmic Transformation: Tirek ends up getting knocked into one of the pods he was using to experiment on the hybrids and other alien DNA, and ends up getting injected with multiple alien DNA samples himself, transforming him into an alien hybrid himself.
- Mythology Gag: Upon falling into his gene splicing machine, Tirek ended up getting injected with enough alien DNA samples to look like his Equestrian counterpart crossed with Kevin's mishmash form from the original series.
- Never My Fault: When his ship was about to overload and explode, Tirek blamed the heroes for damaging the main power relays. Sunset pointed out that it was his blaster that did it.
- Origins Episode: The first half of the chapter focuses on Tirek and reveals his backstory via flashbacks. It is revealed that he is the one who killed Max Tennyson, stole the alien ship they were investigating for himself, and used it to reverse-engineer alien technology. He also gained access to Equestria thanks to the Interdimensional Engine on the ship, and gained DNA samples from the creatures there to create his hybrids.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: The death of Max Tennyson has been a vague event in the story up until now, with only Vilgax and a few Plumbers commenting on it but not going into detail. Here, it is revealed that he was murdered by his partner, Tirek, in order to cover up Tirek stealing an alien ship for himself to reverse-engineer the tech on it and advance Earth’s own tech, while also making him rich.
- The Reveal: Several.
- It's revealed that Tirek created the hybrids to act as Super Soldiers and the reason he used Equestrian DNA in the creation process was because his previous creations were deformed and unstable with human and alien DNA alone.
- It's revealed that the hybrids were jettisoned from Tirek's ship when Way Big and Vilgax's ship fired their lasers at each other in the previous season finale, due to Tirek's ship unknowingly getting caught in the crossfire.
- Save the Villain: Despite everything he had done, Flash attempted to save Tirek before the ship exploded. Unfortunately, due to it being rocked, Flash wasn't able to get to him before he was teleported out, leaving Tirek to fall into one of his gene splicing pods.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: Upon learning that Tirek intended to mass produce the hybrids, Fluttershy asked him why he didn't just start over and make more from scratch instead of recapturing the originals. Tirek responded that he was lucky to have gotten the process right on the first attempt when he made the hybrids, meaning that he required them for a cloning template to ensure the rest of his creations were just as perfect.
- Spanner in the Works: It's revealed that Flash was inadvertently responsible for the hybrids getting away from Tirek, due to his ship being caught in the crossfire when Way Big and Vilgax's ship fired at each other.
- Tempting Fate: Tirek gloats that he's been "a monster" ever since he shot his partner in the back. Not long later, he ends up turning into a real monster when he is mutated into an alien hybrid resembling his Equestrian counterpart and a mishmash of other aliens.
- Would Hurt a Child: Tirek is this, since he is not only willing to attack Flash and his friends, who are all still teens, but he reveals he is planning to clone all five of the hybrids, who all Really Was Born Yesterday, to create an army of Super Soldiers, even outright admitting the process will be fatal for them.
