History ComicBook / MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic

Far in the past, in a distant and barren land, a young Tirek sneaks out to visit the hermit Sendak the Elder in the nether lands, tailed by his brother Scorpan. While Tirek coerces Scorpan to wait outside, Sendak shows that he has returned from the land of Equestria and has abducted a unicorn. His plan is to figure out how to absorb the power of unicorns to use for his own, but Sendak knows that Tirek will want to absorb the power for his own goods, and warns him that he is far too young and his own powerful magic untamed. Hearing bells in the distance, Tirek reluctantly returns to home with Scorpan.

Tirek, or Prince Tirek as we find out, is chewed out by his father King Vorak for traveling to see Sendak. Vorak and his wife Queen Haydon worry that Tirek's influence for disrespecting their wishes will influence Scorpan. That evening, Tirek sneaks out alone and returns to Sendak. He restrains the sleeping elder and then proceeds to try to extract the magic from the caged unicorn. The power-consumption spell goes horribly wrong, causing Sendak's place to erupting in fire. Sendak wakes and finds himself trapped under rubble, but Tirek abandons him and sneaks back to the castle. However, the explosion has alerted Vorak, and by the time Tirek arrives, Vorak and his guards have rescued Sendak and the unicorn. Vorak arranged to have Sendak forced to work in the mines for the rest of his life and prepares to sent a delegation to return the unicorn back to Equestria with apologies to Princess Celestia. Tirek lies about his whereabouts that night, but Vorak warns that Tirek needs to fall in line. Once punished to return to his quarters, Tirek plots how he will take over his father's empire on his quest for power.

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* {{Prequel}}: Except for Chrysalis' story, all the books appear to take place before events of the show proper; Chrysalis, which has the Mane 6 visiting her imprisonment, has flashbacks to earlier events. Sombra's is a flash back due to the framing device of Cadance and Twilight reading his Journal.
* SavedByCanon: Being prequels, the villains are assured to get away with their deeds insofar as to remain the threat they were in the main series. This is the reason this page does't bother with spoilers.
* StartOfDarkness: While the depth of it varies, the comics explore the events that set the five on their paths to evil. This is played with in the Nightmare Moon issue however, as we don't see how Luna became corrupted. Instead its the StartOfDarkness for the moon creatures that would become the Nightmare Forces in the Nightmare Rarity comic arc.

A ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' limited-run comic book series based on the cartoon show [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic of a similar name]], and part of the overall ''Franchise/MyLittlePonyGeneration4'' universe. Published by [[Creator/IDWPublishing IDW]], using a number of different writers and artists. The series is a special event for IDW in April 2015 (incidently the same month season 5 of the TV series premiered), temporarily replacing the normal runs of [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW the on-going comics]] and ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendsForever Friends Forever]]''. The five-issue series explores some of the major villains of the franchise -- [[EvilOverlord King Sombra]], [[SatanicArchetype Lord Tirek]], [[OurSirensAreDifferent The Sirens/The Dazzlings]], [[TheNightThatNeverEnds Nightmare Moon]], and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Chrysalis]].

* SuperOCD: Twilight has prepared a book (at least 372 pages long) documenting how Queen Chrysalis should be treated in her 1000-year imprisonment, with colored tabs, tables, and graphs.

* MoralEventHorizon: Discussed In-Universe, Sombra considers crystalizing Amore to be his, thus he doesn't regret [[LiterallyShatteredLives going further]].
-->''If my fate had not been sealed before, it was then.''

* BelatedBackstory: We learn the bulk of Queen Chrysalis' ''raison d'etre'' for the first time, particularly learning that she and the changelings were formed from a bizarre chain of natural events, how she got her crown piece (morphed from King Orion's crown), and how she came to have all the holes in her body (a result of a powerful spell Princess Celestia unleashed on her and her forces). .

A ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' limited-run comic book series based on the cartoon show [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic of a similar name]], and part of the overall ''Franchise/MyLittlePonyGeneration4'' universe. Published by [[Creator/IDWPublishing IDW]], using a number of different writers and artists. The series is a special event for IDW in April 2015 (incidently the same month season 5 of the TV series premiered), temporarily replacing the normal runs of [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW the on-going comics]] and ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendsForever Friends Forever]]''. The five-issue series explores some of the major villains of the franchise -- [[EvilOverlord King Sombra]], [[SatanicArchetype Lord Tirek]], [[EnthrallingSiren The Sirens/The Dazzlings]], [[TheNightThatNeverEnds Nightmare Moon]], and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Chrysalis]].

The main covers for the series was done by Amy Mebberson, who [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/01/22/my-little-ponys-fiendship-is-magics-covers-are-based-on-the-borges/ based them on famous Renaissance paintings]], and variant covers are done by Sara Richards, with each of the Mane 6 in Day-of-the-Dead style makeup.

** Young Tirek is seen with the bag that contains the Rainbow of Darkness, an element from the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials Rescue at Midnight Castle]]'' special. His overall design also resembles Tirac considerably more than Tirek did in FiM. Tony Fleecs admits that he drew upon the original special for design inspiration.

** Young Tirek is seen with the bag that contains the Rainbow of Darkness, an element from the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials Rescue at Midnight Castle]]'' special. Tony Fleecs admits that he drew upon the original special for design inspiration.

* {{Retcanon}}: Princess Luna's angst over "how much Equestria suffered because of [her]" in "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" only makes sense in the context of Nightmare Moon tormenting ponies in their dreams, as depicted in this issue.

* GoLookAtTheDistraction: Tirek creates a fireworks-like blast in the sky to distract the guards while he sneaks out.