Comics, and Canonicity of Concepts · 5:20am Jan 25th, 2016
There are those among us who declare the IDW comics null and void on their face, that no part of them should be considered part of the MLP universe as far as further fanworks are concerned. "Sombra is not the scion of a long-forgotten race of monsters opposed to the Crystal Ponies and their empire," they say, "and he does not have a mirror universe double with whom Celestia is mutually enamored." "Rarity was never possessed by the Nightmare which was born of Luna's pain and jealousy," they say, "nor is there a group of beings on the moon who can guide or guard the dreams of the planet's inhabitants."
Whatever their reasons, I accept the comics as canon for the purposes of my own derivative stories. If the specific details flatly contradict the show, of course I will choose the show. But if I can find a way to reconcile the two, I will. I will also treat the general concepts as historical to our favorite little horses' lives, as of the time I write anything. In my stories, Rarity has been a Nightmare Queen, and has played boffyball with griffons. In my stories, misuse of Starswirl's mirror nearly caused a multiversal collapse, and Sombra's sacrificed of his sanity saved them all.
And in my stories, Luna, mare out of time, has a pet opossum.
I like to take more of the approach is the comics are cannon where they conflict either with official cannon, or head cannon (except where I feel the official cannon is worse then comic cannon where the comics rule supreme.)
Yeah... probably not the fan favorite way to look at it, but it allows me to pull a little more enjoyment out of the series.
My approach is to take from the comics what I like and what suits my headcanon, and ignore the rest. Tiberius? Definitely in! Siege of the Crystal Empire? Not so much! Snooty elfdeer? Yup, though not necessarily the story itself. And so on.