My Little Pony: Friends Forever #28 — Luna and the Cutie Mark Crusaders
- Story by Jeremy Whitley, Art by Jay P. Fosgitt
Princess Celestia has invited fillies from all over Equestria for a sleep-over at her Canterlot castle, but just as they are arriving, she heard that war has broken out between the griffons and the yaks, and she's needed to help calm tensions. Princess Luna, seeing the disappointment that Celestia would have for cancelling the sleepover, offers to take over for her sister.
Luna finds she hasn't the first idea of how to handle a sleepover, but fortunately, the newly-cutie marked Cutie Mark Crusaders are among the guests, and they offer to help her, as she had previously helped them in their dreams. With their advice, things seem to go well, until one unicorn filly, Thestra, is teased endlessly by two others and runs off into the bowels of the castle on her own. Luna and the Crusaders help to track her down, and she explains that she recently got her cutie mark — a skull and a bone — and has been teased by the others because of the oddness of it. The Crusaders try to help Luna provide Thestra with some comfort, but Luna is still socially awkward around children, only serving to make the situation worse.
Suddenly, they find themselves being attacked by a Mirrorca — a magical orca with skin made of a mirror-like substance that reflects all of Luna's magic. The group cowers in fear but Thestra recognizes that the mirrored skin is causing Luna's magic to fail and uses her own magic — which causes everyone's skin and muscles to become temporarily invisible, leaving them appearing as living skeletons. Without the visibility of its skin, Luna is able to use her magic to dispel the Mirrorca. The Crusaders are impressed by Thestra's magic, offering her several suggestions of how she can put that magic to beneficial use, and Luna also shows her appreciation and commends Thestra for her quick thinking. The sleepover concludes without further incident, and Luna and the Crusaders both gain a new friend.
Tropes appearing in this issue:
- Call-Back: The Cutie Mark Crusaders' talent for helping other ponies with their cutie marks comes up again.
- Continuity Nod:
- Eldritch Abomination: The Mirrorca. More or less cemented by the fact that it's made of pure chaos magic, which is mainly associated with a certain Draconequus.
- Flying Seafood Special: The Mirrorca, an orca-like monster that flies through the air like a regular dolphin swimming in the sea.
- Karma Houdini: Those two foals that made fun of Thestra are never reprimanded. However, Scootaloo does give her a list of pranks to get back at them with in the future.
- Kids Are Cruel: The other foals harassing Thestra about her unusual cutie mark causes her to run off.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After trying to convince the CMC that the sleepover in Celestia's castle will not be like the adventures in a Harriet Pinto book, Twilight thinks of some of her past adventures there and reconsiders.Twilight: Do you ever worry you might be a character in a book, Rarity?
- Logical Weakness: The Mirrorca has skin made of mirrors. Mirrors work by reflecting light that hits them, so making its skin invisible makes things pass through it too.
- Shout-Out: Thestra's name refers to the Thestrals, skeletal horses in the Harry Potter series. Twilight also references it with mentions Harriet Pinto novels.
- Space Whale Aesop: Or orca, close enough, to help teach the lesson that one should not dismiss their unique talents, or you will be caught completely unprepared when facing a magic monster only vulnerable to said unique talent.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Thestra's unique talent was just too perfect and convenient to fight a giant orca made of mirrors.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Thestra main problem and the reason she is made fun of as she feels having the power to show a creature's bones is useless. The CMC convince her otherwise and it even comes in handy against the Mirrorca.
