- Written by Jeremy Whitley, Art by Tony Fleecs, Coloring by Heather Breckel
My Little Pony: Legends of Magic wraps up in oversized fashion with this annual! The Pillars face a new danger that will test their skills as a team and take them one step closer to their fateful final encounter in ancient Equestria!
Tropes:
- Alternate Universe: The Pony of Shadows in this issue hails from another world, one where he was never banished to Limbo and succeeded in destroying Star Swirl.
- Bears Are Bad News: Among the creatures the Pillars encounter in the alternate dimension is a trio of lumber bears, bear-like creatures made of animated wood. These were turned evil and monstrous by the Pony of Shadows' influence like every living thing in the alternate dimension, and attack Mistmane, Somnambula and Meadowbrook without warning or hesitation.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The creatures found in the alternate dimension include lightning bugs, essentially fireflies nearly the size of a pony.
- Book Ends: The alternate dimension from the first issue serves as the centerpiece for the series finale.
- Broken Pedestal: Stygian no longer respects Star Swrl as he did before, calling him out for exposing the princesses to danger, and openly complaining about his tendency to go it alone.
- Call-Back: The world Luna was pulled into back in Issue #1 is revisited, and it is revealed to be controlled by an alternate version of the Pony of Shadows.
- Call-Forward:
- Star Swirl is working on mirrors that act as portals to other worlds.
- The alternate Pony of Shadows states that Celestia and Luna have the potential in them to become Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker.
- Stygian predicts that Star Swirl will be well-remembered in the years to come, while the rest of Pillars won't be nearly as famous.
- Stygian claims he'd do anything to be a hero again.
- The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: The Pony of Shadows didn't recognize Stygian as his Alternate Self until the latter told him his name as the Pillars were fleeing through the portal.
- Evil Plan: The alternate Pony of Shadows intends to use Celestia and Luna's power to help him conquer all realities.
- Foreshadowing: The creatures in the other world do whatever Stygian tells them to do. At the end of the Annual, the Pony of Shadows is revealed to be Stygian's Alternate Self.
- Green and Mean: The Pony of Shadows from the alternate universe has green highlights in lieu of the grey ones of the main universe's version.
- Living Shadow: At the beginning of the annual, a horde of living shadows with red eyes and mouths swarms out of the mirror portals, overwhelms Starswirl and kidnaps Luna and Celestia.
- Off with His Head!: When the lumber bears attack her group, Somnambula decapitates one of them with a flying kick.
- Innocuously Important Episode: The issue released after the Story Arc has concluded and seems to have no role other than to provide an action-packed finale. It ultimately sets up the Nightmare Knights miniseries.
- Our Ogres Are Hungrier: The Pony of Shadows' minions include a pair of ogres. These are depicted as hulking, long-armed beasts with dark orange skin studded with spikes, heavy underbites and large tusks, and which while capable of standing on two legs mostly go around on all fours, with the palms of their hands resting on the ground.
- Planimal: The lumber bears, living collections of branches, leaves and wooden debris in the shape of gigantic bears, appear a second time after their debut in the comic's eighth issue.
- Thunder Beetle: In the alternate dimension, Stygian and Rockhoof are attacked by lightning bugs, enormous firefly-like insects that attack by shooting jolts of electricity from their glowing abdomens.
