A Thrilling Ride.
The Two Kingdoms of Caninia
- Written by Jeremy Whitley, Drawn by Brianna Garcia, Colored by Heather Breckel
Season 10 continues here! Twilight Sparkle’s mission to find friendship in all corners of Equestria has taken Rarity, Mage Meadowbrook, Maud, and Big McIntosh to the Kingdom of the Diamond Dogs! But instead of friendship, they find a feud! Can they figure out how to fix the fractured bond between six sisters?
This issue provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: The Diamond Dogs are given a wide variety of new variations, much like real life dogs.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: While most of the Diamond Dogs have colorings you'd see in real life dogs, Katherina and Moon have bright blue and purple fur respectively.
- Animal Jingoism: Katherina angrily states that the word "kat" (cat) is forbidden in Caninia.
- Appeal to Tradition: Katherina refuses to allow Moon to study magic, or Amber to redecorate the castle, by invoking this.
- Artistic License: The "diamond" Jen shows off is bright green like an emerald. There is no such thing as a green diamond in real life.
- Balloon Belly: Big Mac gains a bloated stomach after feasting on the golden apples in Jenn's side of the land.
- Berserk Button: When Rarity suggests that Katherina's nickname is "Kat", the queen reacts angrily, saying "That word is forbidden in this kingdom".
- Both Sides Have a Point: Ultimately, Jenna and Katherina admit to this; while Jenna was right about giving their sisters freedom to be themselves and needing to explore the new cavern, Katherina was just trying to protect her sisters.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Maud uses Big Mac's "yup". When Big Mac protests, she points out that he doesn't own the word.
- Commonality Connection: Rarity notes that she, Big Mac and Maud all have experience of dealing with sisterly strife, marking it as just one reason why they're willing to help the royal sisters with their feud.
- Continuity Nod: The Equestrian breed of Diamond Dogs are briefly mentioned, and referred to as the Caninian branch's "distant cousins".
- Delicate and Sickly: Jenn is suffering from an illness she developed during the mining of the new cavern.
- "Eureka!" Moment: When Maud points that the Carbunkappas have been eating the newly-discovered cavern's galena stones, causing a build up of lead dust, Mage Meadowbrook realises that the illness Jenn has been suffering from is lead poisoning.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Parent: Katherina insisted that Moon not continue her studies of magic, claiming it to be too dangerous. She also tried to forbide Amber's tastes in decoration and fashion, and Jenn's love of exploration, out of her being a stickler for tradition.
- A House Divided: Unable to take Katherina denying them the chance to pursue their own interests any longer, Jenn led Moon and Amber to create their own castle, and live apart from the others. Fiona and Indy, while choosing to stay with Katherina, are shown to deeply miss their sisters (especially Fiona).
- Magic Staff: Moon carries one, which she puts to good use in the caverns.
- Minecart Madness: Caninia is accessible only an elaborate minecart course, involving lots of rollercoaster-like curves and ramps taken at harrowing speeds.
- Miserable Massage: Big Mac is shown receiving one at the royal spa, courtesy of a very burly Diamond Dog.
- Not So Stoic: Big Mac positively Squees when he sees that Jenn's side of Caninia has an orchard of golden apples.
- Overly Long Name: Downplayed. The six royal sisters of Caninia don't have really long names, per se, but they can be a mouthful to say. Even Jenn herself points this out when she introduces herself and all of the sisters give shorter versions of their names to say instead.
- Retcon: The Diamond Dogs were shown to have a kingdom named "Diamondia" in Friends Forever Issue #6. Not only that, but said kingdom had no rulers at all, leading them to make Trixie their queen. Here, they have a kingdom known as "Caninia", with six royal sisters, and not a mention of Diamondia.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: While recapping the events that lead to their feud, Moonbeam states that digging for gems is part of the princesses' royal duties.
- Sequel Hook: The final panel of the annual features the device from the end of "The Farasian Shores", now with three lights glowing. An off-screen voice states that it's time to call the "Knights of Harmony".
- Shout-Out:
- The Diamond Dog operating the mine cart says "Go, cart, go", a nod to the classic Go, Dog, Go book.
- The gem Jenn shows off to Rarity resembles the Master Emerald from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
- The golden apples grown in Jenn's side of Caninia are a nod to Norse Mythology, where the gods would retain their Immortality by regular eating golden apples.
- Sibling Rivalry: Between two of the royal Diamond Dog sisters, with two of their sisters following one of them and two staying with the other.
- Skewed Priorities: On the way to Caninia, Rarity tells Big Mc (who is pulling the wagon carrying everyone) to try and go slower, so the bumps don't cause her to mess up the sweater she's knitting
- Strong Family Resemblance: Defied; with the exception of Amber and Fiona (who are twins), the royal sisters don't look anything like each other.
- Super-Empowering: When the royal sisters connect to the Tree of Harmony, they gain new abilities. Moon gains enhanced digging abilities, Jenn can produce light, Indy gains enhanced vision, Fiona gains prehensile ears, and Katherina gains the ability to create forcefields with her hands.
- There Is Another: A Tree of Harmony is discovered deep beneath Caninia, with the royal sisters being its Elements of Harmony; Moon is the Element of Magic, Indy is Honesty, Amber is Kindness, Fiona is Laughter, Jenn is Genorosity, and Katherina is Loyalty.
- This Is My Side: The conflict between Jenn and Katherina lead Jenn to take Moon and Amber and build their own castle on the other side of Caninia (conveniently seperated by a gorge). After the two sides reconcile (and the old castle is destroyed), the sisters all decide to live together in the new castle.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Amber and Fiona. While Amber wears a fancy dress, Fiona wears a simpler, more casual outfit.
- Unreliable Narrator: During her letter to Twilight, Rarity states that Big Mac is missing Apple Bloom, but it's hardly noticeable unless one pays attention. This is in the same panel as Big Mac loudly bawling "I miss Apple Bloom!"
- Understatement: After the harrowing minecart ride the group goes through to reach Caninia, Rarity flatly remarks "I disliked that tremendously".
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Carbunkappas were only fulfilling their need to feed, but in doing so inadvertantly caused Jenn to fall ill, and compromised the foundations of the kingdom's original castle.
