IDW MLP:FiM Issue 28 - Wow. Just awful.

This two-parter has a lot of the problems of the last one, but I'll just focus on issue 28 itself.

It's ten pages into a twenty-two page comic, which has four pages of denouement, before anything that isn't insipid and often insulting stupidity happens.

The entire pony cast is next to useless. Part of this seems to be a carryover from the last two-parter where the legal system doesn't allow them to do anything, ever, because of reasons. Twilight's got in touch with Celestia and Luna, who indicate that they've never heard anything about the minotaur's development project, and I really don't see why, after that, the response isn't to just go up to them and say something to the effect of "By the authority of Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria, I am issuing an injunction against any further construction activity on this site. You are to report to Canterlot for a hearing on this matter immediately. Failure to comply with this order will be met with the full force of the law." Or, of course, under Twilight's own authority, whatever that may be. Or just a citizen's arrest based on applicable statutes. Instead they have a very small peaceful protest and a boycott, which predictably fail immediately.

Skipping over some merchandizing stuff, we hear that even if they evict the developers, they can't regrow the forest there because of the damage done or some such. Which I guess is fine as far as it goes, but ignores the fact that the deer's magic is causing plants to grow out of control not just in Ponyville, but Canterlot Castle! So that plot point is entirely arbitrary and nonsensical.

Back to the forest, the deer king tells the ponies to leave and just let him handle everything, but they're staying the night. The young prince sneaks out to the development site, and is followed by Rainbow and Spike, who are stunningly being proactive. The prince is captured, and the boss minotaur says how he can use him as leverage against the deer king. Dash and Spike return with news of the kidnapping, but before anything can be done about it, the minotaur and a pony mook arrive with the prince, making the last two pages largely pointless apart from revealing that the organic smoothie the minotaur will be selling can cause plants to grow even in the area that had been bulldozed. So there's an end game set up for that illogical plot thread.

Now, you'd think that having the illegal land developer show up with kidnapped underaged royalty tied up with rope would inspire Twilight and company to finally do something. Nope! Instead, minotaur guy extorts (hey, there's another law he's broken!) the deer king to be the planned amusement park's mascot, or else he'll make the prince do it instead. After all, he has a binding contract signed by the prince, who is a child, tied up, and protesting that it was signed under duress. Also, what court has jurisdiction in that matter? If it's the deer, then that's just laughable. If it's Equestria, then it's not much better: all this nonsense was witnessed by six ponies (who happen to be the Elements of Harmony) including a princess of Equestria, a dragon, and a number of deer, including the king and queen of the deer kingdom. AND THE PRINCE IS A CHILD IN ANY CASE.

Fortunately, after the deer king agrees to this, his replacement decides he's had enough and is going to take direct action, and the ponies finally decide to help out in a meaningful way. Fluttershy helps recruit the wildlife, and they show up at the park site the next day. Battle happens after the minotaur makes a speech about how "business is [his] business" and all of them will just need to accept change and offering them all half off admission on opening day, coupons for free small smoothies, and "Twilight Sporkle" dolls. The battle is fine, with a large part of it resolved by knocking over barrels of the smoothie, causing plants to spring up and attack the buildings and equipment. (It should be noted that Twilight's entire contribution to this comic consisted of 1. bringing Spike along to send a letter to Celestia at the start, and 2. kicking over a barrel of smoothie during the battle at the amusement park. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity did even less, as did Rainbow Dash if you exclude the entirely extraneous scene where she and Spike tailed the prince.) Anyway, boss minotaur guy ends up eaten by a hydra, the deer agree to help clean up Ponyville, and everybody is happy.

I'm seriously starting to wonder if Equestria really does have a rule that alicorn princesses have to be useless lumps barely able to get up from their chairs. Sure, it's harder to make an adventure story with stakes when you have Twilight O. P. Sparkle in the cast, but for crying out loud, making her presence meaningless isn't helping matters. (Also, you made your bed; now you have to lie in it.) Even ignoring that, half this issue was extraneous, and the ponies, apart from Fluttershy and perhaps Twilight and Spike, were only there for color commentary. This could probably have been done better as a one-shot, tightened up to leave less room for pointless, stupid nothing that ate up ridiculous amounts of space. It would also have made all the characters on Team Good Guy look better by not pursuing ludicrous nonsense instead of acting to solve the problem in a way that actually has a chance of working, and avoid the plot holes and world-building disasters inherent in the can't-regrow-here (but can in Canterlot Castle) plot thread and Equestrian contract law worldbuilding.