Comic Review - Friends Forever #18

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. My OTP. Oh come on, it's so obvious! Lyra and Bon Bon was just obvious trolling, but the writers have been friendshipping RD and Flutters since Day 1. How can this comic go wrong? Well, getting Christina Rice, writer behind Main Series 30-31 and the Tirek issue, is a good start. Jay Fosgitt as artist, drawing ponies with necks like hourglasses, is another. Getting a sinking feeling here...

We open on Rainbow Dash racing... something, I dunno what, as Fluttershy times her. A mail carrier arrives and delivers a letter, inviting Rainbow to the Flight Camp reunion at Cloudsdale. Rainbow is excited at the prospect of seeing her old classmates again now that she's, ya know, the most badass pony in Equestria. Okay, Jay, I know I harp on your art about the spindly necks, but what the hell is up with the hooves in this comic? In a lot of panels the ponies have hooves bigger than their necks, and lemme tell ya, anatomy, even in Equestria, doesn't work that way! Rainbow questions why Fluttershy didn't get an invite when she went to the same camp, and of course cue the mailpony coming back to give Fluttershy hers.

Another time out to complain. The artist for this issue was Jay, but the colorer is Heather Breckel. Why do I give a flying feather who did the colors? Because apparently Ms. Breckel has not seen a rainbow and only had reference pictures to go on for Rainbow Dash without actually seeing her in an episode. For most of the comic Rainbow's hair, as well as her signature rainbow trail, only has three or four colors - red, orange, yellow, and sometimes green. Rainbow's mane has the BGV colors in the back, but her mane is much shorter than usual so they're hard to see, and her tail flat doesn't have them almost ever. In another panel the colorist just ditches red too and goes for four gradients of orange to yellow. Rainbow and her rainbow trail are colored incorrectly in every single panel of this comic, and that'd be bad enough, but it's not even consistent in its inaccuracy, like every page was colored on a different day and she forgot how she did it last time. It drives me insane the more I look at it. Even a six-year old could get this right, how hard is it to remember the traditional six colors of the rainbow and then draw them in the proper order?

Later Rainbow flies to Fluttershy's place and talks about all the awesome things she's done she can talk about. However, then she notices Fluttershy isn't packed. A sad Fluttershy tells Rainbow she always felt like an outcast in flight camp, and she's not going to the reunion. Rainbow insists she has to come, they were going to go as dates, remember? Okay, that's not what she actually says, but it might as well be. These shipping goggles are powerful things. Fluttershy insists she's not going, and cut to the next page where they're flying in, Fluttershy commenting she doesn't know how Rainbow talked her into it. I like this joke, that we don't see it either. I presume alcohol cider was involved. Enjoy the laziest "rainbow trail" of all here - not even multicolored, Rainbow just leaves a streak of yellow in her wake. Seriously, lady, what is your hang-up with coloring rainbows?

Rainbow is greeted by her old friends and tells Fluttershy to let her know if anypony gives her a hard time. It's been years since flight camp, folks have grown up.

"Look, it's Rainbow Crash and Klutzershy!"

Rainbow admits okay, not everyone has grown up. Seriously, these losers again? At least Diamond Tiara has the excuse of being a sociopath for her shallow bullying, these two are just doofuses. I can only presume their continued taunting of Rainbow after she's become such a badass is out of jealousy, knowing they can never measure up. They then challenge Rainbow Dash to a race. You have three guesses how she responds. "Zipping away in a miscolored rainbow streak before Fluttershy can say goodbye" is correct. Although this rainbow streak has five colors, still missing violet but we're getting there. Wait, next page, green, yellow, and two gradients of orange. Nevermind, we're still colorblind. And the next panel, on the same friggin' page, we're back to five colors, and then four again and red is back. Rainbow races the guys as Fluttershy watches, and she goes somewhere to hide.

Someone calls out to Fluttershy and WHOA. Um, punk pony, with piercings, tattoos, and spiked bracelets and collars. Okey dokey. This is Cirrus Cloud, one of Fluttershy's worst bullies from flight camp. Fluttershy acts like you'd expect while Cirrus talks about her life, and says that she's head of the reunion planning committee, and they've got a surprise for Fluttershy later at the reunion party. Rainbow Dash swoops in, obviously having won the race, and Cirrus heads off. Fluttershy tells Rainbow what Cirrus said, and she's terrified Cirrus has somet awful joke planned for her. Rainbow reassures her, and in a good callback Spitfire shows up showing some foals around Cloudsdale, and Rainbow is off again. Spitfire acts weird when she sees Fluttershy and takes off. More pegasi act odd when Fluttershy approaches them, and she wonders if they're in on the joke Cirrus is plotting. In a reference to, of all things, Carrie, we get a daydream of Cirrus making Fluttershy Reunion Queen, then dumping a vat of rainbow mix on her on-stage. The real significance of this fantasy is to demonstrate the colorist does know what purple looks like, so her refusal to use it with Rainbow Dash is either laziness or idiocy.

In a rather odd sequence that may or may not be real, Fluttershy tries to run but is cut off by pegasi, and then runs into some sort of science lightning lab where Cirrus is talking to a technician. Cirrus herds Fluttershy out and she runs into Rainbow Dash, carried on the shoulders of her adoring fans. Fluttershy tries to talk to her, but Rainbow orders her minions to grab Fluttershy and bring her to the reunion party with them. At the party Spitfire is giving a speech and everypony turns and cheers as our heroines make their entrance. Cirrus takes the podium and Fluttershy hides under the table skirt. Rainbow notices and heads in after her.

*lowers shipping goggles*

Let's rock.

Rainbow Dash asks whats going on, and Fluttershy admits she's terrified something awful is going to happen. Rainbow Dash is the quintessential pegasus, she was idolized and popular and honed her skills at flight camp. Fluttershy, though, just never fit in. Coming to this reunion to relive all those memories has been awful for her. Rainbow admits she didn't realized Fluttershy felt that way, and that she sucks for running off having fun all day and not being there for Fluttershy after she promised her. But pft, who cares what the other pegasi think? Fluttershy has grown up, she lives in Ponyville now, where she has tons of friends that love her. Yeah, Rainbow is badass, but that doesn't mean Fluttershy isn't awesome in her own ways, because she is. She reformed Discord, who else could pull that off? Rainbow asks for forgiveness and FluttershYYYYYYY!

The ship is real.

It's at this time they realize Cirrus Cloud is calling Fluttershy's name; yeah, while our shipmates have been bonding, Cirrus gave a speech about an awesome and famous pony who has helped a princess defend Equestria numerous times. Cirrus admits to Fluttershy she treated her terribly as a foal, but Fluttershy taught her, and a lot of other foals, to be true to yourself no matter what anypony else says. And for that, they present her with a reward for the flight camp alumni they're all proud of. Rainbow agrees with the sentiment.

This issue is pretty good, and I forgive Ms. Rice for issues 30 and 31 for this. The writing is great, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy get character growth, we get a new character worth remembering for both her design and characterization, and the humor is good and gets a chuckle frequently. The art is sub-par, due not to the artist (Jay's deformed stuff is growing on me) but to a lazy and half-assed colorist who doesn't know what rainbows look like.

Where the issue shines is its aesop. Bullies are people too, and while some of them stay that way, others grow out of it. People (and ponies) get older, they mature, they change. I love that Cirrus gives us this more sympathetic take on a bully, someone who realizes how awful they were as a kid and makes amends in the present. Against Rainbow's bullies and Diamond Tiara, it's nice to see someone on MLP give a bully some humanity, even if just in the comics.

Overall a strong issue, and probably the best one since Fiendship month ended. Fans of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, or Flutterdash, should pick it up. Really, come on.