Comic Review - Friends Forever #20 · 10:25pm Sep 11th, 2015
Luna. One true princess of the night, candidate for best pony, unquestioned best princess. She of the abacusshipping, the moonbutt, and the dreamwalking.
Discord. Lord of Chaos, recurring guest voice actor, fountain of fan speculation. Counts Kefka and Sheogorath among his peers. He of the mysterious past, the reality warping, and the pop-cultural references.
They come together to give us a comic.
EDITOR'S NOTE - I strongly encourage all readers to ignore this blog, go read the comic themselves, and then return for my thoughts on it afterward. This is not a comic that should be spoiled or summarized if one wishes to appreciate it in full.
So, who are our staff members manning this tour into awesome? Writer is Jeremy Whitley, previous wrote Friends Forever #2 (Discord and CMC), #14 (Luna and Spike), and Fiendship #1 (Sombra). Okay, looking good. Artist is Brenda Hickey, previously did #15 (Applejack and Mayor Mare) and #17 (Twilight and Big Mac), along with Fiendship #1, have no complaints with her. Colorist, Heather Breckel, I've repressed the memories of #18. I'm very optimistic here. Okay, Jeremy also did Friends Forever #16, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but he worked with what he had, and what he had was a disgusting bitch. So, let's begin.
We open on Discord sleeping with a teddy bear when someone, apparently Twilight, smacks him awake. A two page spread shows us Ponyville is in chaos; a giant apple has planted and is watering Applejack, a chocolate rain cloud is chasing Dashie, Rarity and Sweetie Belle are tied up in living ribbon, Spike is a dragon-pony centaur being, and yes, even pigs are flying. Also call back, Pinkie is guzzling the chocolate rain. Twilight reports to Celestia, apparently Discord was just sleepwalking and did it all by accident. Celestia muses sleepwalking is usually a sign of nightmares, but what could Discord be having nightmares about? There's only one thing to do before another night like this happens; Celestia sends a specialist.
At Fluttershy's cottage where Discord is, Luna arrives and says she's never been able to see Discord's dreams; he admits he blocked them out since, well, he used to be their enemy and he wasn't about to let them spy. Luna intends to enter Discord's dreams to try and relieve his anxiety, and casually mentions she knows it'll work because she does it for Twilight at least twice a month. Discord gets nervous, but Luna zaps him and he falls over asleep.
Discord literally falls into his dream and finds Luna waiting for him when he hits bottom. We then see Discord's world, which is every bit as chaotic as you might expect and more. Luna says Discord's mind is the most chaotic she's ever seen, which he takes as a compliment. Luna corrects she doesn't like him, since he uses his great powers carelessly, and compares him to a child that treats ponies like toys. "You are cruel and evil." Discord corrects he's chaotic, not evil; he opposes order, not good. Luna says order is good, it is harmony and unity. Discord agrees order can be a good thing, but then manifests a mental image to show her the other side.
A swarm of business ponies descend on them and the two flee. "They want me to develop a synergistic process for actualizing potential and capitalizing on untapped assets!" Luna has no idea what that means. "Nobody does!" In the woods Luna says they won't follow them here, but they do, and Luna is angry her hypnotic suggestion to Discord didn't take. Luna explains when she's in a dream that most ponies accept what she tells them, allowing her to set the rules for the dream. Discord reminds her he has no rules. Around them the trees begin to anthropomorphize and hold out business equipment, and Discord says he knows it's his doing but he can't stop it.
Discord's powers are running out of control, and though Luna says that's how it always is, but Discord can't make it stop and he changes into a baby Discord, daaaaaaw. As they run, suddenly Discord is in a business office working on a mountain of papers, which he says is a dream he's had for years. Celestia as the boss asks him why he was late and orders him to stay later with a menacing look. Discord is chained to his desk, and Celestia reminds him he doesn't want to be a statue again, right? Discord tries to work when Luna pops in in a trenchcoat and sunglasses, and we get the obvious Matrix reference. "Come with me if you want to see the truth."
Luna says Discord is throwing them into old nightmares to keep them from the real one, and perhaps he's afraid of facing up to it in spite of his wish to stop sleepwalking. Next up; a hallway of doors. Luna says it's a metaphor for the infinite number of choices one can make to progress, and they must choose one. Luna chooses a chained door with a warning sign on it, but Discord enters a door with Rarity's cutie mark instead. Discord is in Manehattan helping Rarity with her dresses like a girlfriend, but he hates it and blows up her fabric. Discord and Luna return to the hallway and engage with some fourth wall breaking as she asks if this was another references to something and she just didn't get it; Discord says it's a reference to nothing and chooses a door with Twilight's cutie mark as Luna looks at the locked door again.
On a sitcom set complete with a "filmed in front of a live studio audience" caption, Twilight is cleaning her apartment when Discord arrives to visit. He tracks mud over the clean floor and eats her sandwich, and an angry Twilight walks out, declaring they're no longer friends. Back in the hallway, Luna says Discord is avoiding the obvious door and may not take this seriously, but he claims that door is empty and keeps trying others. We see some brief panels of Discord in other dreams; Rainbow Dash is strapped to a rocket yelling she shouldn't have trusted Discord, and Pinkie is upset about some pranks he pulled hurting other ponies' feelings. Discord goes to Applejack's door next, but Luna busts out the Royal Canterlot Voice and, looming over him, orders Discord to open the sealed door. "Discord P. Sullivan!" Discord questions this name, Luna just says it felt right somehow. Discord approves since it's funny, and Luna reminds readers she hung out with Pinkie Pie to learn how to be funny.
Inevitably and predictably - the sealed door has Fluttershy's cutie mark under the warning sign.
Discord is at Fluttershy's cottage with her and the CMC, and he's helping them with another scheme to earn their cutie marks. Luna says this doesn't seem like a nightmare, but to Discord, it's the worst nightmare of all. They're happy, they care about him, and he cares about them. And as a force of nature, a being of chaos, he'll betray them. Just like he did with the Mane Six and Tirek; he can't keep friends forever. Luna says she remembers what he did, but he regrets it, and forces of nature don't feel regret. Luna says he's having this nightmare because he's worried, and that's a new feeling for him. Discord agrees it's new for him, and it's because he's not used to caring for other beings. We torpedo FlutterCord a bit here with Luna suggesting he loves them, but Discord says that's too strong a word.
Discord thinks caring makes him weak, but Luna of course says caring makes him strong, and allows ponies to accomplish things they never thought possible. Caring allows ponies to change the world, and themselves; after all, Luna still has feelings of jealousy sometimes, but she enjoys her new chance at life and it's enough to push those feelings aside.
Narrative captions accompany Discord waking up and going to play with the CMC as Luna returns to Canterlot. Luna is writing to Celestia to thank her for sending her to deal with Discord. She was angry at first, because she considered Discord a lost cause. But then she realized she once thought the same about herself, and maybe sometimes she still does. Maybe that's why she spends so much of her time alone, because like Discord, she's afraid of hurting the ponies she cares about. But darkness is not the opposite of light, just as chaos is not the opposite of good. Wonderful and beautiful things hide in the darkness, and some of the best things in life come of random chance. The comic ends with Discord arriving on Luna's tower; it occurred to him she spends a lot of time alone here, and since he couldn't sleep yet, how about a card game?
I am going to state it very simply.
This is one of the best comics the MLP series has ever produced, and one of the most emotional experiences I've had from this fandom.
The ending is beautiful. The page of Luna dictating her letter completely sets the story on its head; this isn't just about Luna lecturing Discord and helping him, it's about her learning more about herself, and advising herself as she advises him, and both of them coming to grips with their past betrayals and their conflicting feelings over it now. It is tragic and sad and hopeful and inspiring in all the right ways. What could have just been an excuse plot for a ton of jokes finds a deep emotional core under it all and gives us an amazing epilogue. Even what I just said does not fully convey the power that ending held over me. I am not crying, but I'm close.
Beyond the ending, the rest of the comic is excellent. The set-up is quick and effective, maximizing the time the comic can spend with its focus characters. The jokes hit bulleyes most of the time, the art is great (including lots of colorful and crazy chaotic stuff, then quiet peaceful scenes when appropriate), and the characters are in-character.
If you ignored the message at the top: find this comic and read it now. Download it, buy it, pirate it, steal it, borrow it, I don't care. To abuse a cliched saying, this could have been an episode. And it would have been one of the best episodes of the series if they had. So it'll have to settle for being one of the best comics.
I am now going to sit in quiet contemplation for a moment to continue my appreciation of the ending.
I wrote almost this same exact story as a Writeoff fic two weeks ago
damn it all -.-
That was seriously beautiful.
I bought it as I don't condone piracy. Money well spent!
It's sometimes a crapshoot with these comics (same with the episodes, really) but when they do it right, they really do it right. I've got my hopes up that the upcoming arc with the Crystal Empire will continue this trend of excellent storytelling and morals.
I was ready to give up on the comics ever being good agai, but this has convinced me that there may be hope for them yet.