Essays Index
Remarked Timelines series: Part 1 - Overview | Part 2 - Sombra | Part 3 - Chrysalis | Part 4 - Nightmare | Part 5 - Tirek | Part 6 - Discord | Part 7 - Flim & Flam | Part 8 - Wasteland

The Tirek timeline:
In this timeline, Starlight Glimmer chooses not to use any particularly nuanced or elaborate way to derail events, instead simply coming out of nowhere and physically tripping Dash up in the middle of the race. This event is witnessed by a few of the foals, and Dash herself also gets a glimpse of her attacker as she falls. She is able to recover, but still loses the race.

Unlike in the Sombra timeline, where Dash was not believed by anypony and was led to doubt herself, the other foals in this timeline support her claim. The social standings of Dash, Dumb-Bell, and Hoops are all unaffected by the incident, since all involved know that the race wasn't fair, and word also reaches the adult staff of the flight camp that an unknown unicorn assaulted one of their students. Just as in the Nightmare timeline, authorities search for Starlight because of the incident, but because of her remote location, the past Starlight is not found.

Dash and Fluttershy still go to Ponyville, and Dumb-Bell and Hoops both pursue athletic careers, as they did in the prime timeline. Without either Dumb-Bell or Dash ever joining the Royal Guard, neither are able to derail Celestia's plan to capture Nightmare Moon, and events closely follow the Chrysalis timeline from there.

Shining Armor dies, causing Cadance to retreat from public life, while Celestia devotes her time to forcing the nightmare out of Luna. Discord and King Sombra both remain imprisoned, also preventing a plundervine attack. Flim and Flam begin the industrialisation of Sweet Apple Acres through their deal with Applejack. And most importantly, Tirek escapes from Tartarus, right on schedule.

The changeling invasion then occurs, just as it did in the Chrysalis timeline. Chrysalis kidnaps and drains Princess Cadance before launching a successful attack on Canterlot, and both Celestia and Nightmare Moon are taken captive and enslaved with mind magic. From there, the changelings attack the other major cities and the Equestrian military, as well as the Nightmare Forces in an extremely brief war. And all throughout, Lord Tirek slinks about behind the scenes.

Just as before, the fall of Equestria to the changelings is a great boon to Tirek. The changelings and nightmares are both easier to consume magic from than ponies, and this helps Tirek gather his strength and build momentum faster than he could manage in the prime timeline. Once again, he gains the capacity to drain magic from unicorns while he is preying on the small settlements around the Everfree Forest, and he decides to attack Zecora's resistance group in their hidden camp.

In this timeline, Fluttershy was never in a romantic relationship with Hoops, and so he is not there in the Everfree camp. In fact, Fluttershy herself is not in the camp either, as she only joined Zecora's resistance in the Chrysalis timeline after Hoops did. Tirek sweeps the camp without incident, and returns to the forest unmurdered.

From here, Tirek continues to prey on ponies, as well as changelings, growing stronger with each passing day. It takes a while, but in time, Tirek is able to grow to a much larger size, as well as restore his youth and good health. While at this point he is nowhere near the peak of the power he reached in the prime timeline, he has still grown strong enough by now that he no longer hides from either ponies or changelings, instead travelling openly and enjoying the resulting battles like he used to.

Word of Tirek's growing menace reaches the ears of Queen Chrysalis. Hot on the heels of her victory against the Nightmare Forces, she confidently decides to take time out of her conquest of one of the last remaining Equestrian cities to deal with him herself. The two meet in the mountains of the Unicorn Range west of Canterlot, and battle there for the right to Equestria's magic.

Changelings are easy to drain for Tirek, but Queen Chrysalis has strength eclipsing the alicorn princesses, and so he cannot simply drain her without subduing her by force first. Lord Tirek, a warrior at heart, takes this challenge gladly, and the Queen proves to be one of the toughest fights of his life, both physically and magically. When at last he kills her and throws her broken body down on the mountainside, it is one of the greatest moments of his life, and the incredible quantity of magic he consumes from her is a fitting prize.

Following the death of Chrysalis, the changeling hivemind is thrown into disarray, and the mind control spells holding the Royal Sisters are broken. The two of them reawaken in Canterlot shortly after the battle. While Princess Cadance withered away long ago, and Equestria has long fallen, Celestia and Luna are finally reunited, and are both glad to finally have each other again.

The two immediately attempt to reclaim the Elements of Harmony to stop Tirek, but arrive in the Everfree Forest to find it a warzone, fought over by the changeling remnants, the deer, and Zecora's resistance, and Tirek soon arrives as well. Unable to reach the Tree of Harmony, the sisters flee, and Tirek pursues the both of them across Equestria in a chase lasting several months. They continuously remain one step ahead of him, fleeing from one location to the next, fighting when forced to, and searching the land for ancient magical artefacts and powers to battle their enemy with, just as they once did in the Reign of Chaos. However, none are effective enough.

In desperation, the Royal Sisters eventually return to the Everfree, and attempt to fight through the chaos once again to take back the Elements of Harmony. Tirek, hot on their trail, is last seen destroying part of the forest as he pursues them.