G4 Lore Dump: "The Storm of Zephyr Heights"

Big, steamy lore dump incoming.

So the new g5 miniseries, "The Storm of Zephyr Heights," just released its last issue. I've quite enjoyed the G5 comics (for the most part--I'm looking at you, "Camp Bighoof"), but this series in particular was really great--it explicitly engages with the transition between G4 and G5, and what parts of the Equestria we know and love remain in... well, the Equestria we know and love(?).

There were a lot of cool reveals in this comic, which I'm going to write out here for folks who haven't been following along. I will add, however, that I have not been following along with the g5 shows (RIP), so I apologize if any of this is old news.

The Plot Outline (y'know, in case you need inspiration for a fic or something)

• Queen Haven goes to hang out with Alphabittle, leaving Zipp as acting Queen.
• Shortly after Haven leaves, an unusually strong storm rolls into town. It's strong enough to knock pegasi out of the air, and the storm wall keeps anyone from leaving the city.
• Zipp, Pipp, and Alicorn Sunny investigate the storm--and, on top of the storm clouds themselves, find the lost city of Cloudsdale!
• Cloudsdale is in surprisingly good condition, except for the fact it's full of wild packs of winged animals.
• The ponies discover that the Weather Factory is still active, and has been pumping out stormclouds, unchecked, for Celestia-knows how long.
• It's still active because a Thunderbird built a nest on one of the machines, and her ambient electrical energy is keeping them activated.
• The ponies manage to calm the animals, including the Thunderbird, with song, and move the nest to another location.
• Meanwhile, ponies have gathered in the Zephyr Heights Palace to take refuge from the storm.
• However, the storm is strong enough that it's blowing out the fires in all the fireplaces, threatening to freeze the remaining residents solid.
• Misty, Izzy, and Hitch work together to soup up a remaining zeppelin, and try to evacuate.
• However, the winds are too strong for them, and they almost crash.
• Zipp, Pipp, and Sunny show up--wearing Wonderbolts uniforms--and start to clear the clouds to let the zeppelin through.
• !!Zipp does a Sonic Rainboom!!
• They manage to break up the storm enough to save the zeppelin, though it's damaged enough that it almost crashes anyways.
• Zipp saves the day, but is badly injured.
• The ponies decide to keep Cloudsdale around so they can study it and learn more about G4, especially pegasus magic.
• Not sure where else to put this, but: Cloudsdale apparently has a giant anchor and chain that it can use to stay in one place for extended periods. That's how the G5 ponies are going to keep it around.

Pegasus Magic

• As we know, the ability to fly is linked to pegasus magic--but there's more.
• Specifically, the ability to treat clouds as solid is part of pegasus magic as well.
• Further, the ability to break up clouds is specifically identified as part of the pegasus magic--it's not just a physical process.
• In fact, Pipp actually points out that, even though she can't fly very fast, she's still breaking up the clouds just fine--she says she gets the feeling she's doing so with "just vibes."
• Sunny, as an Alicorn, is able to access pegasus magic, at least to the point where she can help break up the clouds too.
• The Wonderbolts uniforms are implied to have some sort of magical properties as well, though what those properties are aren't super-clear--it might even be one of those "The Magic Was Inside You All Along" things.

The Wonderbolts

• In one scene, we see some historical Wonderbolts uniforms. There's some interesting ones--I thought I spotted two that looked like Spider-Man and Mysterio, though I might have been wrong.
• One pony, identified as "Our Founder," is pictured in a military-style uniform, complete with a picklehaube, a WWI-era German spike-helmet. Do with that information what you will.
• At least one uniform appears to be a retrofuturistic space outfit, with giant bubble helmet. They don't tell us anything about its functions, but it gives one hint as to where RD got the inspiration for that one Nightmare Night costume of hers.
• RD apparently became Commander of the Wonderbolts, and seems to have done so while she was still fairly young--the RD holo-projection that explains this appears as her standard, "young adult" G4 appearance.
• Commander Dash loved the Wonderbolts so much that she established a museum about them--which is where the G5 ponies are getting all this information, including the irreplacable historical Wonderbolt uniforms they use in the finale of the comic.

Okay, But What The Heck Happened In G4???

• The events of G4 appear as historical records in G5--for example, Sunny reads about Twilight et al. in books she finds in the Zephyr Heights's (delightfully Art Deco) Palace library.
• One of the books that Sunny reads appears to be a romance novel that ships Twilight and Flash Magnus--though it might also be a historical record??
• In multiple sets of records, there's a notable gap in the history, suggesting that knowledge of whatever happened to end G4 is a complete mystery by the time of G5--perhaps it was even purposely suppressed or destroyed.
• At some point, Twilight deliberately "sealed the magic," though this comic, at least, doesn't explain why.
• Slight digression: IIRC, one of the first G5 comics suggested that a rising Unicorn Supremacy movement was to blame--but I'll admit it's been a hot minute since I read those.
• The "Sealing" is explained to the G5 ponies by an holo-projection of an older, "The Last Problem"-era Rainbow Dash. This suggests that Magic didn't last much longer than G4 itself, and that the Mane 6 were there to see it come apart.
• The way it's presented, ponies knew that the sealing was going to take place far enough in advance to make preparations. So, whatever made Twilight want to do it in the first place apparently wasn't a DEFCON 1-level emergency snap decision.
• In particular: RD explains that, without pegasus magic to make the clouds walkable, Cloudsdale would be uninhabitable, so pegasi evacuate the city for the surface.
• RD herself says that she's been spending most of her time at Sweet Apple Acres, so, despite the fact that she won't be able to fly anymore, she'll at least have a place to go--one more nail in that particular coffin. [Link to reddit post with those panels]
• The Pegasi aren't sure what to do with Cloudsdale, so they plan to just let it drift.
• However, RD is hopeful that the magic will return, and that pegasi will come back to Cloudsdale one day--and begs her listeners to re-found the Wonderbolts.

So, yeah, that's a lot. There's at least one or two more G5 comics on the way, but this series in particular feels like a send-off to G5, and delivers most of what I would want to see from a G4 lore-heavy G5 comic. I quite liked it, and would recommend it to anyone curious. The story is really good--in fact, I think I want to steal it for one of my own RPG games--and the lore is *chef's kiss*.

Personal Update: Still working on my dissertation, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have one fic I've been sitting on for a while, and a couple more I have planned, so I hope to see you all soon!!

Comments

[Sugar Spoon]

God the ending is so genuinely depressing for our mane 6 friends.