@Background Pony #C9C4
 
Seeing as the cover of issue 12 is the only thing hinting at true identity of the Pony of Shadows, and said issue isn’t even out yet, I’m pretty sure you’re just making stuff up.
 
Pre-finale, the fact that its Stygian’s journal doesn’t mean anything. For all we knew, Starswirl went bad, became the Pony of Shadows and Stygian was the one who had to seal him away.
 
Thats a horrible example. By that logic, the Star Wars Prequels should’ve been about Palpatine and the clone troopers.

@Background Pony #8DDF
 
Issues 7-12 are meant to be read AFTER the finale. Otherwise, the finale would be spoiled for anyone who kept up to date on things. They’d already know Stygian’s story and the true identity of the Pony of Shadows.
 
Even the framing device involves Sunburst reading Stygian’s journal right after the big adventure.
 
It’s kind of like the Star Wars Prequels. If you watched the prequels before the original trilogy then you’d already know Darth Vader was Luke’s father and the plot twist wouldn’t really be a plot twist. The finale is supposed to be watched FIRST, and then the comics go into more detail on the events leading to Stygian’s transformation.

@Background Pony #2275
 
The show showed us everything we need to know.
 
We know their personalities, we know their backstory/personal myths, we know Stygian was the one who brought them together, we know Starswirl was a teacher to the two princesses and we know what ultimately happened to them. The only thing we don’t know is when they planted the Tree of Harmony and the details of their meeting but thats not something you need a 12-issue comic book for.

@Background Pony #8DDF  
How? Issues 7-12 are clearly meant to take place after the season 7 finale.

IDW/Hasbro really needs to work on their timing. The season 7 finale spoiled pretty much the whole series.