Hello and greetings one and all! We're back with a very unique entry, a one-shot comic revolving around some characters introduced in the comics themselves, which I think might be a first for the My Little Pony run on IDW!
Let's check out what we get in this latest from G5 but as ever, be wary of spoilers.
The comic jumps right into things, so swiftly and without setup that I briefly wondered if my preview copy was missing a page. Skye's mother Mariama starts things off by asking her daughter if she wants to keep "that" a secret from her friend, Violette Rainbow. Skye demurs, fearing that she won't have a friend if she does.
Adorableness abounds!
Violette apparently had a sleepover at Skye's and wants to return the favor, inviting Skye to go to Bridlewood with her. Mariama expresses her reservations about Skye going to Bridlewood on her own but she's okay with her going with Violette. She bids the two farewell and reminds them about a report they have to complete. Skye, not looking where she's going, steps right on a small rock.
It's amazing the simple things that can mess us up. I'm especially feeling this as this past Friday I purchased some Valentine's chocolate at work and cracked my ever-loving tooth.
For folks not in the know, while a hoof is fairly solid and tough, the center of the hoof is actually a soft pad known as the frog, responsible for pumping blood up and down the leg. So equines are fully capable of knowing the agony of stepping on a LEGO in the middle of the night.
While this naturally would be painful for most, Skye's reaction is significantly more pronounced than that.
She looks like she was briefly possessed by the spirit of Denzel Crocker when someone said "fairy godparents!"
Skye is horrified that this was witnessed, and we get the sense that her concern isn't for her public image. She immediately tries to minimize what happened, playing it off as her just "horsing around."
No, not like that.
Her mother's "filly, please" kinda says it all.
On the way to Bridlewood, the fillies pass through Zephyr Heights and are distracted by all the bright shiny things, as one does.
We sure it's Violette who's meant to be Izzy's protege? She has some stiff competition it seems!
Skye wants to take the time to explore instead of proceeding straight to Bridlewood without delay, as her mother had insisted. She justifies this in the name of completing the report assigned by Violette's mother. Ah, children justifying not following instructions. I work in a school, I'm quite familiar with this tendency.
Being diabolical has never been this adorable. No, Cozy Glow does not count.
The next thing they see is an advertisement for the Pasturelands Fair, today only, with a special magic show later that night. The two encounter the Pippsqueaks who eagerly talk it up, firing up Violette's imagination and wanting to get Izzy to bring the two of them to the fair.
This is such adorable gremlin-child energy.
This prompts a nervous look from Skye and a confused one from the Pippsqueaks, who begin to ask a question about Skye's mom but they get distracted and don't complete the thought before they head off. It's enough for Violette to ask Skye if she wants to talk about it--despite not knowing what 'it' is. For her part, Skye is afraid of ruining it for Violette which in turn would ruin their friendship--at least in Skye's mind. So she puts off talking about it, again.
All those inner fears, those inner doubts--they're a lot for anyone to deal with. Fluttershy can relate, and she ain't the only one.
The two cut through a meadow, with what I believe is an imagination spot by Skye of all the things she wants to do. Skye's inner voice pipes up to beg to don't do too much. It's unclear if that's a silent plea aimed at Violette or at Skye herself, probably the latter. Things take a turn and we learn that Skye's striped legs--actually aren't striped. Or at least, one of them isn't or not fully at any rate. It's actually some sort of camouflaged binding or brace that gets snagged and unravels.
Skye fails to notice this as she's looking at the clouds and ruminating on what it would like to be a pegasus and fly, wanting to be the fastest one there is and is depressed since it won't happen.
I mean, if ponies can have wings and horns, why can't there be winged or horned zebra?
This acquires more significance once we reach the end. Violette offers to race Skye and we're treated to an imagination spot of a herd--perhaps even a horde--of Skyes cheering herself on as she races ahead to win, having gone from her channeling a Fluttershy moment earlier to now embracing her inner Rainbow Dash. If any word sums up her character, it's the one she use to describe Zephyr Heights: she's exuberant.
Skye wins but her leg is clearly sore and she's starting to regret going all out--though hearing Violette praise her and call her amazing seems to fire her back up again. But her body still pays the toll for the effort and she briefly blacks out.
She comes to a minute later, seeing Violette's understandable concern. I'd say it's time to rip the metaphorical bandage off, but she actually breaks out more tape to re-wrap her leg.
Right in the feels.
Before she can even say what's the matter, Violette rushes to assure her that Skye doesn't have to tell her anything she doesn't want to share, she just wants to know that her friend is okay. I really like that they avoided having anyone put pressure on Skye to open up.
Skye is just relieved to know that Violette is still her friend, given her fears that she would lose her if she found out about her issues. This wasn't some idle fear on Skye's part as apparently this happened to her before. We see a flashback of her with her mom and playing with some pony and zebra foals her own age.
As present-Skye narrates, everyone is your friend until you ruin their fun. While running around with the other foals her legs starts to hurt and she collapses. She's taken to a hospital and diagnosed with Zebra Ehlers-Danos Syndrome. EDS (sans the Zebra part) is very much a real condition, with joints that are too flexible or skin that's too stretchy and fragile.
At least her family is supportive.
After getting out of the hospital and recovering, she finds those same foals from before don't want to play with her anymore. Apparently this incident and her condition was known among some younger ponies as it's implied that the Pippsqueaks at least knew about it from earlier. I half-wondered if it'd be revealed that it was some misunderstanding, that her old friends--taking a cue from Skye's parents--were afraid of overtaxing her leg. But it never comes up again and it's possible that Skye's interpretation of events was indeed how it played out.
We went from Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash to Pinkie Pie--and apparently now we're getting a bit of Tempest with that backstory. Skye's got a lot going on!
The fillies have a heartfelt moment, Skye confessing that she hid her disability out of fear of losing Violette as a friend, Violette affirming that she'd never abandon her, and Skye accepting her help in getting her to Bridlewood.
They make it to Izzy's place where Skye tends to her leg and both girls' parents show up. Skye's are worried at first, but Mariama calms her father down. Izzy, it turns out, had gotten them together because she had designed something for Skye so she could get out and have more fun without exhausting herself so easily: a designer wheelchair.
It also turns out that Violette's mom had "assigned" them to do a report in order to get them to write about and help remember all their fun adventures later on in life. Mariama apologizes for being so cautious and tells Skye to soar high.
With that, Izzy calls up Zipp to transport them in the Marestream to Zephyr Heights so the girls can have a fun time at the fair. They do a lot together: bumper cars, roller coasters, zip-lining--all without getting covered in tree sap while trying to earn their cutie marks!
We cut to later where the girls are turning their report on their trip into a comic. When Violette's mom asks why, they answer: "Pictures are superior, Mrs. Z." That is such a comics writer line that I kinda love it. Respect.
Two girls: one brain cell. The best kind of friends.
The story ends with Skye in her wheelchair, Violette, and the Pippsqueaks going off to have more fun in a friendship quest, cheered up by Skye's inner cheer squad of herselves.
Thoughts
This was an interesting one-shot. As I alluded to at the start, we really haven't gotten many projects that focus on characters created in the comics principally for the comics. Yes, Violette Rainbow debuted in the comic and made the leap to appearing in Tell Your Tale, but that was part of how the comics and YouTube series interacted with each other in general for G5. After all, I don't recall any of the characters who appeared in the Friendship is Magic comics ever appearing in the show itself. And no, the mention of King Vorak by Discord in the Season 9 finale doesn't count (and honestly felt so disconnected from what was going on in the show that they probably should've mentioned Scorpan instead, in my opinion).
The long and the short of it is that given that both characters were created by today's writer, Tee Franklin, and as they are principally comics-characters, it feels like the writer had a lot of free reign to write them the way they wanted to.
Tee Franklin (they/them) is a non-binary, queer, Black comics writer with a very impressive resume. They started with their own mini-series Jook Joint and an award-winning graphic novel, Bingo Love, before going on to work for Image, DC, and Marvel. They've written for Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Sun-Spider, and is the creator of Violette Rainbow and Skye.
Franklin has experienced a lot in their life and makes no bones about using those experiences to fuel their creativity. In fact they got into comics as an outgrowth of working through their own trauma. Among the things they keep coming back to are matters of representation for characters with disabilities, Franklin being physically disabled following a car accident in 2014.
Skye isn't the first character Franklin has written with a disability. Violette has vitiligo and Sun-Spider was also written to have Ehlers-Danos Syndrome as well. As a matter of fact, one of the two covers was done by artist (and queen of pin-makers) Sophie Scruggs (top left, the one with Misty) who herself also has mobility issues stemming from cerebral palsy.
It's kind of a lot to take in once you've actually met someone with a disability and realize just how much exhausting crap they have to deal with. It's a topic that doesn't get talked enough about; tons of petty abuses and humiliations by people and institutions that have (at best) a very blinkered view on what being disabled means (I've heard some real airport horror stories). Most people probably know about people who are blind or deaf or require the constant use of a wheelchair and recognize them as disabled--but struggle with the idea that disabilities cover a lot of ground beyond those and just because one doesn't need to use a wheelchair 24/7 doesn't mean that they don't have a disability that requires accommodations. Walking sometimes and needing a wheelchair other times doesn't mean they're "lazy" or "faking it" but it seems like there's a certain stratum that does not understand that reality.
While I spent a lot of time talking about the writer as they created the characters and obviously shaped them by drawing on their own experiences, the story itself should be broadly accessible to most people. While this likely will resonate more strongly with people who have some manner of disability, the premise is straightforward and I think understandable to people who've felt the need to hide some manner of problem from a friend out of fear that it'd cause an issue with their friendship.
The characters are very sweet, likable fillies with a lot of personality (as can be seen by Skye making me jokingly compare her to about half the Mane cast of Friendship is Magic) while never being written as tiny adults in a children's bodies. The stakes are personal and if you're engaged by the characters, the story will likely connect with you.
It's sort of the mirror image of Rise of Cadance, which I looked at last time. The scope there was much bigger, but the characterization felt off and so the story felt a touch shallow, not a lot of investment despite it involving some appropriately big moments that should've led to tension and emotional investment, but largely didn't. This story, by way of contrast, is focused on something much "smaller" than a dragon attack or magic-stealing or destiny and such, but because there's more done with the characters and their emotional state I think there's a lot more to chew on.
The art, by Yancey Labat, and colored by Céli Godfried, is very expressive with big emotions, big gestures, and a lot of exuberance. There's quite a few pages of the comic that are a single full-page panel, stuffed to the brim with Skye and her imaginary support squad or something else to convey a lot of energy. It really works when the protagonists are two wide-eyed little fillies with big imaginations. All in all, a very fun one-shot that can pack quite a bit of feeling into it.
That's about all that I got, thanks for coming on by!
Credit: AndoAnimalia on DeviantArt.
