My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (comic book)

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Cover of Issue 4, art by Katie Cook
Publication information
Publisher IDW Publishing
Schedule Monthly
Format Ongoing series
Genre
Publication date November 28, 2012 – present
Number of issues 37 (main series)
10 (micro series)
23 (Friends Forever)
5 (Fiendship Is Magic)
2 (Annual Edition)
2 (Holiday Special)
(as of December 2015)
Main character(s) Cast of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Creative team
Writer(s) Katie Cook (issues 1–4, 9-12, 17-20, 25-26)
Heather Nuhfer (issues 5–8, 13-16)
Ted Anderson (issues 21-22)
Jeremy Whitley (issues 23-24)
Artist(s) Andy Price (issues 1–4, 9-12, 17-20, 25-26)
Katie Cook (issues 1, 4, 10, 11-12, 17-20)
Amy Mebberson (issues 5–8, 15-16, 23, 24)
Brenda Hickey (issues 13-14, 24)
Agnes Garbowska (issues 21-22)
Letterer(s) Robbie Robbins (issues 1–2)
Neil Uyetake (issues 3 and onward)
Colorist(s) Heather Breckel (issues 1–20)
Agnes Garbowska (issues 21-22)
Lauren Perry (issue 21)
Zander Cannon (issue 22)
Amy Mebberson (issue 23)
Sara Richard (issue 23)
Bill Forster (issues 21-22)
Brenda Hickey (issue 24)
Editor(s) Bobby Curnow

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a monthly comic book series based on the animated television show of the same name. The first issue was published in November 28, 2012 by IDW Publishing, under license from Hasbro, the parent company of the My Little Pony franchise. The series is typically written in story arcs that span either two or four issues apiece; Katie Cook and Andy Price write and illustrate the first arc, respectively, while Heather Nuhfer and Amy Mebberson perform the same on the second. A separate limited run of "Micro Series" comic stories around a single character was also ordered, with Thom Zahler writing the first issue and various writers and artists providing other series. This run ended in December 18, 2013 and has since been replaced by a second ongoing title, subtitled Friends Forever and involving single-issue stories centered on a pair of characters. Friends Forever made its debut in January 22, 2014 alongside the main series, with the first issue penned by Alex de Campi.

The series provides stories based on the established fictional universe of the television show. It follows the studious Twilight Sparkle (originally a unicorn, later given wings and made an alicorn) and her friends in adventures throughout the empire of Equestria. Though the comic, like the show, is aimed at young children, the writers and artists included material to appeal to bronies, the older, predominately male fans of the show, featuring cultural references and show elements enjoyed by the older fandom.

The first issue saw more than 100,000 pre-orders prior to its release, making it one of the best-selling comics of both the month and the year, requiring IDW to issue a second printing; it was only one of two non-DC or non-Marvel comics to be in the top 100 comics sold in 2012. Subsequent issues were monthly best sellers and represented IDW's highest-selling property. Journalists in the comic industry noted that with the older fans likely buying comics for the first time in many years, along with child fans purchasing comic books for the first time, the success of the My Little Pony comic could aid the ailing industry. The first issue was highly praised for capturing the spirit of the characters and presentation of the show while providing a good introduction to its mythos for those who were unfamiliar with it.

Concept and creation

Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise, started in the 1980s, has had several animated television series and direct-to-video movies to help promote and sell the associated toy line collection; over the years, there have been four "generations" of designs and associated characters and setting.[1][2] In 2010, Hasbro aimed to relaunch the My Little Pony line, following the recent success of the re-envisioning of the Transformers franchise, and brought in animator Lauren Faust as the creative developer for the show; in addition to developing the looks and characters to be featured in the toy line, Faust was also tasked with creating a new tie-in show as to provide programming for its new cable network, Discovery Family (owned by Discovery Communications and Hasbro).[3][4] Faust's previous experience on shows like The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends led to her developing a show that would have cross-generational appeal to young girls and the parents that would watch the show with them. Her characters were designed to challenge the norm of girl stereotypes while still keeping the archetypes as familiar figures. Faust worked with several former co-writers from her previous shows (including her husband and animator Craig McCracken), and with the directors at DHX Media/Vancouver (formerly Studio B Productions) in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the show would be produced to fill out the world.[5]

The resulting show, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, was well received by parents, but found another unexpected target audience through the Internet photo-board, 4chan, primarily adult males from 13 to 35 years old. Quickly expanding through the Internet, the fandom came to use the term "brony" (a portmanteau of "bro" and "pony") to describe themselves.[6][7] The brony fandom is attributed to Faust and her creative team for including strong characters, cross-generational appeal, cultural references, the show's expressive Flash-based animation, and the ability for the showrunners to communicate and reciprocate with the fandom, such as including fan-derived elements within the show.[7][8][9] Hasbro was also caught off-guard by this surprise demographic but have come to embrace it, using licensing deals to market clothes, media, and other merchandise beyond the toys to the older audience.[4][10]

One such avenue was the creation of a comic series; there had previously been no mass-market My Little Pony comics, albeit it does have "stock comics" featured in various licensed children's magazines such as Sparkle World, which even continues to do so. Hasbro's Director of Global Publishing Michael Kelly had introduced the idea to Hasbro following success of IDW Publishing's publications of G.I. Joe and Transformers comics, where it initially met some skepticism.[11] Kelly and IDW helped to show internally that the current iteration of the My Little Pony show was readily transferred to comics due to its style and humor.[11] Hasbro and IDW announced its licensing deal at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2012. Katie Cook and Andy Price were announced as the first arc's writer and illustrator, respectively; Cook had previous experience at both DC Comics and Marvel Comics, along with her own webcomic "Gronk", while Price had been involved with DC and the Batman Archives series.[12] Cook stated that she has been a My Little Pony fan from the first generation of toys, and found that with this series, "the characters are strong and lovable, the stories are well-written, and there's an underlying sense of humor to the show that's very hip", making it a "great all-ages property".[13]

Cook aimed to write the stories for the comic to be something that she herself would enjoy "as a Pony fan and an all-ages writer", and planned to continue in the spirit of the show,[13] avoiding the feel of a "freebie Barbie comic" that would otherwise be packaged with toys.[14] She further stated that she wanted to write an all-ages book, something that parents can share and read with their children.[15] Like the show, she had included pop cultural references that adults will get, but does not try to shoehorn these in.[15] She used the first four-story arc as a means for herself to get comfortable in writing for the characters, thus bringing back an established villain as the antagonist for the first story.[15] Cook does plan to introduce new characters and settings in later issues.[15] She noted that the first story include dark and scary elements, but she does not consider them any darker than the show itself.[15] At the 2013 San Diego Comic Convention, Cook commented that in considering how dark to take the stories, "My personal gauge is Dark Crystal. If it’s darker than the Skeksis sucking the life out of a Podling, I don’t go there."[16] Though normally Cook would write and draw her own comics, her work in the My Little Pony comic was her first foray into writing out a script and directing others to draw out the art.[14] She expressed pleasure at working with Price has they have worked well together in the past.[13] However, Cook does continue to do some of the art; the first issue contains a short two-page comic written and drawn by herself.[15]

Price himself is influenced by works of comic artists including Don Newton and José Luis García-López.[17] He himself includes some of the pop cultural references within the art beyond those written in by Cook.[17] Price noted that his popularity, measured by Twitter followed, grew explosively after the comic's announcement, and compares working on the comic to his previous efforts at DC and Marvel, "being the artist on this book is an experience completely unlike any other".[17]

Friendship Is Magic artists Tony Fleecs (left), Heather Breckel, Andy Price, and Katie Cook at the 2014 BronyCon Convention

Price has stated that Hasbro does give them freedom to write and draw the comic as they see fit, typically only asking for changes to achieve "a little bit more show accuracy".[18] In one case, they had a story planned that Hasbro told them was being done within the show, and had to scrap it; in another case, they had initially planned to open the first issue with the Cutie Mark Crusaders camping, but found that the show already had a similar scene, within the Season 3 episode "Sleepless in Ponyville", and altered these pages for something different.[18] Other elements of the show have been considered "off limits" for the comics until blessed by Hasbro; the villain Discord was considered one of these until the start of Season 4 of the show which changed aspects of his character, after which Hasbro allowed the comic to use the character.[19] Price states they tried to keep their novel stories "copacetic" with the show, giving them the chance to take some risks; he stated that Hasbro was initially "scared to death" with their "Reflections" arc, which incorporate many science fiction elements such as alternate universe, but ended up pleased with the result.[20]

A "micro-series" of comics, each with a single-issue story centered around the main six characters, was an idea born out from comic writer Thom Zahler. At the time of the main comic series announcement at the 2012 Comic-Con, Zahler had interest in doing cover art for the series, and approached IDW editor Bobby Curnow at the Con about his interest. Curnow later contacted Zahler and asked him to pitch stories for a smaller series; one such pitch included a crossover with Mars Attacks! penned during a convention panel in Baltimore.[21] Though Zahler had pitched stories for all the main characters, he ultimately was the author for the Twilight comic.[21] Zahler stated that prior to the comics he had seen a few episodes, and considered the characters as developed by Faust to be "wonderfully represented" and that the show itself had "a very classic cartoon element" that made cross-generational writing easy to do.[21] Cook herself wrote the third micro-issue featuring Rarity, and saw the single-issue format as more like "episodes of the TV show" compared to the larger arcs of the main series, and can be "slice-of-life stories that really explore the character" without bringing in the full cast.[22]

Three additional 48-page comics have been released to date, under the title My Little Pony Annual. The first served as a tie-in to the 2013 feature film My Little Pony: Equestria Girls;[23] published on October 30, 2013, it contains two prequel stories set before the events of that film. The second, published on September 24, 2014, is an offshoot of "Power Ponies," an episode from the fourth season of the Friendship Is Magic television series. The third served as a tie-in to the 2014 feature film My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, published on December 17, 2014, it contains two sequel stories set after the events of that film.

Synopsis

The comic takes place in the same fictional universe as the television show, in the land of Equestria which is populated primarily by ponies (including unicorns and pegasi), along with numerous other sentient and non-sentient creatures. The primary characters of the comic include:

The comics chronologically occur alongside the show, featuring characters and elements introduced in later seasons. For example, the first four-issue story includes the return of Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, a major villain introduced in "A Canterlot Wedding", the Season 2 finale. As of issue #13, Twilight Sparkle is depicted as an alicorn, reflecting her coronation as Princess and her transformation that occurred in the Season 3 finale "Magical Mystery Cure".

Issues

In addition to monthly single issue releases, IDW has also published collected volumes covering the individual story arcs.

No.TitleUnited States release dateUnited States ISBN
01My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Volume 1May 15, 2013ISBN 978-1613776056

The Return of Queen Chrysalis:

  • Issue 1 (released November 28, 2012)
  • Issue 2 (released January 2, 2013)
  • Issue 3 (released February 6, 2013)
  • Issue 4 (released March 6, 2013)
The changeling Queen Chrysalis plans to exact revenge on Twilight Sparkle for her defeat by absorbing her magic. Twilight and her friends discover that changelings have captured and replaced the citizens of Ponyville, and are able to rescue all of them except the Cutie Mark Crusaders, whom Chrysalis has imprisoned in her kingdom. Chrysalis challenges the six friends to save the fillies in three days time. Unable to contact Princess Celestia, Twilight worries that the deadline coincides with the passing of the Secretariat Comet, which will amplify her magic. En route, Chrysalis uses her changelings to cause rifts between the six and separate them. The six overlook the fight and reach Chrysalis, who traps Twilight's friends with the fillies. Chrysalis decides to make Twilight her pupil instead of absorbing her magic, threatening to kill her friends if she does not accept. Twilight opts to save her friends and, empowered as the comet flies overhead, defeats Chrysalis and her minions with a powerful burst of magic, and traps them in her castle. Twilight and the freed ponies are rejoined outside by Princess Celestia and Spike, who have been battling a horde of giant cockatrices in Canterlot.
  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Robbie Robbins (lettering, 1–2)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering, 3–4)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
02My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – Volume 2October 16, 2013ISBN 978-1-61377-760-2

Nightmare Rarity:

  • Issue 5 (released March 27, 2013)
  • Issue 6 (released April 24, 2013)
  • Issue 7 (released May 15, 2013)
  • Issue 8 (released June 12, 2013)
Twilight Sparkle and her friends have been suffering from nightmares for a week, and decide to hold a slumber party together to figure out what is going on. During the night, Rarity is abducted by a dark miasma. The others learn from Princess Luna that Rarity has been taken by the same forces that transformed her into the evil Nightmare Moon to serve as their queen. Accompanied by Luna and Spike, the five friends venture to the forces' domain to rescue Rarity. When they arrive, they find that Rarity has been transformed into the nightmare forces' new queen, Nightmare Rarity, after being convinced that her friends care little for her. The friends are overwhelmed by the nightmare forces and locked up. Twilight urges Luna to return to Ponyville to prepare the citizens there. Spike manages to elude Nightmare Rarity as she departs for Ponyville with her forces, and rescues the others. Luna and the other citizens of Ponyville defend themselves against Nightmare Rarity, giving enough time for Twilight, Spike, and the others to arrive. Using the power of their friendship, the friends revert the corrupted nightmare creatures into docile moon creatures. They turn this and their thoughts of Rarity to Nightmare Rarity, and finally dispel the evil spirit. Luna and the moon creatures thank the ponies for their help before leaving, while Rarity is thankful for her friends' support.
  • Heather Nuhfer (writer)
  • Amy Mebberson (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
03My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Volume 3January 13, 2014—

Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair:

  • Issue 9 (released August 1, 2013) (SDCC variant: July 18, 2013)
  • Issue 10 (released August 28, 2013)

Neigh Anything:

  • Issue 11 (released September 25, 2013)
  • Issue 12 (released October 30, 2013)
Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair: Big McIntosh embarks to the hardware store for nails to repair the farm's gazebo. He is waylaid by several of Ponyville's citizens as he goes through the Summer Wrap-Up fair, only to find that the hardware store is in ruins from the antics of the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to build their own fireworks launcher. Big Mac returns to the fair to locate the hardware store owner, Lugnut, continuing to be waylaid by the other activities of the fair. Although Big Mac is flustered at having wasted the day, Zecora reminds him to think of the happy memories he had from the events. Big Mac eventually finds the store owner, who reports that Apple Bloom had taken all the nails on the farm for their launcher, and gives him the nails he needs as well as a promise for delivery of lumber the next day. Big Mac returns to the farm to find the gazebo in ruins from another errant launch from the Crusaders' launcher. However, in the concluding photos, the gazebo is repaired by Big Mac with the help of Lugnut and the Crusaders.

Neigh Anything: Shining Armor and Princess Cadance relate the story of how they meet as high-school students at Canterlot Academy to Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Shining during school is a nerd who is stricken by Cadance's beauty and kindness and, with his other nerdy friends, vows to ask her to the upcoming dance before the top school's athlete Buck Withers can. Shining and his friends try to win Cadance over with a rock song, and then try to sabotage Buck during the championship polo match, but both plans backfire. Shining watches heartbroken when Buck asks Cadance to the dance. Cadance, who is also infatuated with Shining on the chance meeting, ditches Buck at the dance at the first chance she gets to catch up to Shining and affirm their shared love. Cadance and Buck are crowned the dance's Queen and King, but as Buck brags and openly humiliates Shining, Cadance, their friends, and the rest of the student body reveal how much of a bully he has been to them, and to cheers from the crowd, Buck is hoisted to the rafters while Shining and Cadance share their first dance and kiss.

  • Katie Cook (writer)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
My Little Pony: Omnibus, Vol. 1October 21, 2014[24]—
Collection of Issues 1 through 12 of the comics.
04My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Volume 4May 20, 2014[25]—

Friendship Ahoy!:

  • Issue 13 (released November 20, 2013)
  • Issue 14 (released December 18, 2013)

TBA

  • Issue 15 (released January 15, 2014)
  • Issue 16 (released February 5, 2014)
Friendship Ahoy!: The six ponies go to the beach for a vacation, where Fluttershy reluctantly prepares to return a rescued fish named Gil to the ocean. A pirate ship soon washes ashore, its captain Hoofbeard disembarking in search of a crew to help him find a certain treasure. The ponies accept, with Fluttershy hoping to find Gil again after losing him in the waves, eventually reuniting with him. Over the course of the voyage, the ponies learn that Hoofbeard was mutinied upon by his original crew after becoming obsessed in his search for the "treasure", and grow increasingly suspicious of his intentions. Once he leads them to a windless portion of the seas, the ponies mutiny in an effort to return home. They are attacked en route by a pod of mermares, one of whom Fluttershy realizes is Hoofbeard's "treasure" named Jewel, while the others are trying to keep the two apart. Fluttershy convinces Hoofbeard and the mermares to make amends by returning Gil to the sea. Twilight casts a spell on Hoofbeard, giving him gills and fins to be with his beloved, and the mermares help the ponies return home.

Issues 15-16: Twilight finds her books are being eaten by a magical bookworm, while the rest of Ponyville find strange pods around the town. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity magically enter the books to try to stop the bookworm and repair the damage, but become sidetracked when they find themselves enacting various stories and overembellish the original tales. Eventually, they are trapped in a white void, believing that the worm has completely eaten all their books. Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Applejack and Fluttershy find that the fictional characters from the books are emerging from the pods and plan to take over their world. Twilight and her friends realize they can create their own stories to lure the bookworm to them, while Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike, trapped by the evil characters, send a message via a comic book to Twilight about their plight. Twilight shows the bookworm the damage its voracious eating has done to their friends, and the bookworm offers to help fix everything. Twilight, her friends and the bookworm return to Ponyville, and the bookworm's recollection of the stories returns the library to normal and wipe the fictional characters away.

  • Heather Nuhfer (story)
  • Brenda Hickey (art, coloring)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
05My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Volume 5September 15, 2014[26]—

Reflections:

  • Issue 17 (released March 19, 2014)
  • Issue 18 (released April 30, 2014)[27]
  • Issue 19 (released May 28, 2014)[28]
  • Issue 20 (released in June 25, 2014)[29]
Twilight and her friends investigate Princess Celestia's week-long disappearance beyond a magic mirror created by Star Swirl the Bearded. The ponies learn through Star Swirl's notes that he and Celestia traveled to many different universes through the mirror until Celestia began recklessly using it to visit one particular world. Celestia returns from the mirror and explains that she has been visiting an alternate Equestria ruled by a benevolent King Sombra, whom she is in love with. She sends the Element bearers to this world to help Sombra defeat her and Luna's evil counterparts. When they fight the evil princesses, however, the six discover that Celestia's overuse of the portal causes any harm they inflict to the evil princesses to affect the good princesses as well. Eventually, their confrontation causes both worlds to begin merging entirely, bringing the good princesses to battle their counterparts. Celestia requests the others to seal herself and the evil Celestia by combining the Elements of Harmony with Sombra's crystal magic. Instead, Sombra sacrificially uses the Elements to absorb the evil of his world's princesses, restoring balance to both worlds. Everyone returns to their original worlds and the mirror is destroyed, with a single piece kept by Celestia in memory of Sombra.
  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
06My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Volume 6January 20, 2015[30]—

Manehattan Mysteries:

  • Issue 21 (released July 16, 2014)
  • Issue 22 (released August 13, 2014)

TBA:

  • Issue 23 (released September 3, 2014)

Discord in Time:

  • Issue 24 (released October 8, 2014)
Manehattan Mysteries: Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Apple Bloom, and Babs Seed visit Manehattan to watch a magic show hosted by Trixie. The magician makes the prized Ostlerheimer Diamond to disappear as part of her act, but when she fails to reproduce the diamond, the police accuse her of theft. Applejack and her friends become entangled in the crime when the diamond reappears in Applejack's hat, and they go on the run with Trixie, who explains her magic act had been a trap to lure out a diamond thief named Rough Diamond. The ponies set out to clear their names by catching the real thief at an art museum. They discover a clue to Rough Diamond's identity and her next target, and sneak into the museum to trap her, only to find themselves caught by the police. Babs, who has taken a liking to Trixie due to similar troubled pasts, realizes one of the officers is acting strange. The group provides enough of a distraction to reveal the officer as Rough Diamond in disguise, having used her position in the police to frame Trixie for the theft. Trixie thanks Babs for her help, and she returns to the stage to finish off her performances.

Issue 23: Angel Bunny wakes to find Fluttershy missing and the rest of her animals running wild in the cottage. Getting no help from them or the woodland creatures, he goes to Ponyville only to find it empty of ponies. Angel finds the pets owned by the rest of the Mane Six, and Winona follows Fluttershy's scent and leads the group to the town's dam. There they discover a water sprite, whose singing has hypnotized the ponies into doing its bidding to tear down the dam. In order to prevent Ponyville from being flooded, Angel organizes the pets to lead an attack on the sprite. Winona and a growth-enhanced Opalescence scatter the ponies so that Angel and Gummy - flown in by Owlowiscious and Tank - can distract the sprite long enough to break its spell on the ponies. The sprite apologizes, explaining that it was only trying to help weaker sprites reach the ocean. As the ponies start working to find a new way for the sprites to make their journey, the pets are grateful for having had the chance to work together.[31]

Discord in Time: As Fluttershy is getting ready to take the Cutie Mark Crusaders on an animal-watching field trip, a meteorite lands in her front yard. Discord emerges from it to visit her, but he has arrived one week ahead of their scheduled time. Tagging along with the group, he quickly becomes bored and offers to take them into Equestria's past so they can see much more exciting creatures. Their first stop is the civilization of Anugypt, very similar to ancient Egypt, whose ruler Anubis captures the group over an old grudge against Discord. They escape with the help of an army of cats, whose leader is a friend of Discord's, and flee through several other time periods before arriving in the prehistoric era. Here, a roc snatches up the Crusaders before Discord can react, and Fluttershy chastises him for always using his powers just to have fun, rather than to help others. Realizing his mistake, he calls in a favor from an animal friend of his in this time and saves the fillies. Discord understands that he still has much to learn about being a good friend and returns the group to the present day, first making sure that Fluttershy gets to see the beauty of the prehistoric creatures.

  • Ted Anderson (story) (Issues 21-22)
  • Jeremy Whitley (story) (Issues 23-24)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art, coloring) (Issues 21-22)
  • Amy Mebberson (art, coloring) (Issue 23)
  • Brenda Hickey (art) (Issue 24)
  • Bill Forster (coloring) (Issues 21-22)
  • Sara Richard (coloring) (Issue 23)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring) (Issue 24)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor) (Issues 21-23)
My Little Pony: Omnibus, Vol. 2October 1, 2015[32]—
Collection of Issues 13 through 24 of the comics.
07My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Volume 7June 2, 2015[33]—

The Good, The Bad, and the Pony:

  • Issue 25 (released November 19, 2014)
  • Issue 26 (released December 24, 2014[34])

The Root of the Problem

  • Issue 27 (released January 28, 2015)
  • Issue 28 (released March 18, 2015)
The Good, The Bad, and the Pony: The Mane 6 travel to Canter Creek, where Chili Pepper, one of AJ's relatives, lives and who has implored the Mane 6 to come up. They meet up with Sheriff Tumbleweed, who says that the town is being ravaged by Cattle Rustlers who really want to gain control of the Peppers' ranch, and do this by intimidating the townsponies and make them give them their food; as such, ponies like Chili Pepper and others have already left town, figuring there's no hope. When the Cattle Rustlers, led by Longhorn, arrive after the Mane 6, AJ attempts to stand her ground only to be outpowered by Longhorn. They come up with a plan with the help of the other townsfolk, but before they can set it in motion, the Cattle Rustlers create a cow stampede that damages more of the town, and even more of the ponies flee, Sheriff Tumbleweed gives up hope and leaves his badge behind, which AJ takes up and promises to end the Cattle Rustler threat for good. The next day, after learning of AJ's persistence, Longhorn files official paperwork that as the owners of the ranch have abandoned it, the Cattle Rustlers are due to become rightful owners as long as they remain camped on the property for 7 days. Twilight deems the paper all legitimate and within Equestrian law, but AJ comes up with a plan to dupe the Cattle Rustlers, While Twilight and Fluttershy pose as town officials, noting small mistakes in the signing of the document, forcing Longhorn to leave camp to fix it, the others, along with help of some of the braver townsponies inspired by the Mane 6, distract the other, more dimwitted Rustlers long enough to move their entire camp piece by piece so that it's outside the ranch's property. On the last day, Longhorn and the other Rustlers find the Mane 6 rebuilding the barn, and believing they are still on the ranch property, proceed to destroy it. However, AJ points out that where they are is no longer on the ranch, and thanks to a few favors Twilight was able to pull with the Princesses, had gotten the barn marked as an historical landmark. Since the Rustlers now have committed a crime within Equestrian law, Twilight willingly steps in with her magic to reconstruct the barn as the town's new jail for the Rustlers. With the threat ended, AJ returns the sheriff's badge to Tumbleweed, who has been re-invigorated by the Mane 6. The Mane 6 ride off into the sunset.

The Root of the Problem: When Ponyville is threatened by creatures and plants from the Everfree Forest, the Mane 6 enter it to find that the sentient deer, led by King Aspen and Prince Bramble, have taken to using the forest to take over Equestria. King Aspen points out how part of the forest is being razed by the minotaur business tycoon, Well-To-Do, for the construction of a theme park, and his activities has rendered the plants nearby unable to grow, and so they see their actions as taking back what is rightfully theirs. Twilight and her friends offer to try to negotiate with Well-To-Do, but the minotaur assets his activities are all within Equestrian law, if not morally suspect. One night, Bramble sneaks off to try to figure out what is going on, noticing that a smoothie mix used for the park has plant growth powers, but he is kidnapped by Well-To-Do. The minotaur forces King Aspen to agree to work for Well-To-Do as a park mascot to return Bramble, and Blackthorn, Aspen's second-in-command, decides it is time to fight back, and with help of Fluttershy convincing the creatures of Everfree and the other deer and ponies, they lay an attack on the construction site. Bramble sees more of the smoothie mix and directs their army to knock it over. The mix causes the forest to quickly grow back, ravaging the site, freeing Aspen, and quickly ending the battle. Well-To-Do asserts that he will be back with more equipment, and Aspen realizes that he can't stop him, but the Everfree creatures might, upon which the minotaur is eaten by a hydra. With the situation resolved, the deer apologies to the ponies, and offer to help restore Ponyville and other areas affected back to normal.

  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Andy Price, Agnes Garbowska (art, coloring) (Issues 25-26)
  • Andy Price, Tony Fleecs, Sara Richard (art, coloring) (Issues 27-28)
08My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Volume 8November 3, 2015 [35]—

TBA:

  • Issue 29 (released March 25, 2015)

Ponyville Days:

  • Issue 30 (released May 20, 2015)
  • Issue 31 (released June 10, 2015)

Night of the Living Apples:

  • Issue 32 (July 22, 2015)
  • Issue 33 (August 19, 2015)
Issue 29: Cheerilee and the Mane Six visit Manehattan to watch Cheerilee's twin sister, Cherry Blossom, compete in a wrestling tournament. The two have not seen each other for years, and Cheerilee is nervous about seeing Cherry again. At a welcoming tea party organized by Rarity, the sisters get into an argument and Cheerilee storms out; Cherry follows, but trips and injures her leg severely enough to leave her unable to wrestle in the championship match against her rival, Iron Hock. However, since Cherry wears a mask in the ring, she realizes that Cheerilee could take her place for the match. Cherry and fellow wrestler Cloverleaf train Cheerilee, and Rarity boosts Cheerilee's confidence by pointing out that both sisters strive to cheer up children in their own ways. Cheerilee defeats Iron Hock to win the championship, then wins a surprise tag team match with a masked Rarity as her partner. Cheerilee and Cherry reconcile, and Cloverleaf reveals herself as Iron Hock, having played a role in the plan to bring the two back together.

Ponyville Days: As Twilight takes an overnight trip to Canterlot on royal business, the Ponyville residents gather to prepare for the annual Ponyville Days festival celebrating the founding of the town. Mayor Mare announces that a commemorative plaque will be placed at the site of the town's first structure, and that the youngest filly in that family will be crowned Ponyville Days Princess. An argument quickly springs up between Applejack and Filthy Rich over which family should receive the honors. Granny Smith had cultivated the unique Zap Apple strain at Sweet Apple Acres, but Filthy's grandfather had opened a shop to sell the fruit, causing the new settlement to prosper. Since the Carousel Boutique now stands on the site of that first shop, Rarity takes Filthy's side; the town quickly splits into two factions, with Applejack's faction threatening to secede from Ponyville. By the time Twilight returns from her trip, the argument has deteriorated into a melee of flying pies and pioneer outfits. She had spent her time in Canterlot raising interest in the festival, but is now ready to cancel it due to all the strife. However, a crowd of tourists is already on its way to Ponyville, leaving her at a loss as to what to do. She decides to visit her friends and other leading citizens individually, persuading them to each focus on one aspect of the festival and work separately from one another. The sheer size of the crowd quickly overwhelms the town, throwing all the events into chaos, and Twilight begs everypony to help each other out as best they can so that the visitors will be happy. The advice works, and even Applejack and Rarity put their differences aside and turn Sweet Apple Acres into a campground for the visitors, using Rarity's unsold pioneer outfits to make tents. As the festival draws to a close, Twilight presents a plaque to each of them - one to mark Ponyville's first residence at Sweet Apple Acres, the other for its first commercial building at what is now the Carousel Boutique.

Night of the Living Apples: After Celestia banished Nightmare Moon from Equestria, the latter sent debris from their battle into space in a fit of rage, vowing to return. In the present day, the debris, now tainted by Nightmare's magic, lands at Sweet Apple Acres and affects the apples there, making them sentient. When Applejack goes outside to investigate, she is attacked by them. The next day, the rest of the Mane 6, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders discover what has happened and are quickly captured despite their attempts to escape. The apples prove impervious to magic and easily conquer Ponyville; not even Luna can stop them. The Apples soon make plans to conquer all of Equestria, starting with Appleoosa. In hiding from the apples, Twilight temporarily turns Pinkie Pie into an apple to infiltrate Sweet Apple Acres and rescue a captured Spike. Pinkie also discovers an apple prisoner, named Good Apple, who does not share his fellow apples' desire for conquest. Pinkie is forced to leave both Spike and Good Apple behind after her cover is blown. Upon learning of this, Applejack wonders if the vampire fruit bats could be of any help, but Fluttershy expresses doubt of being able to communicate with them. Fortunately, Twilight has a solution. Using hypnosis, Twilight reawakens the thirst for apples Fluttershy gained during the period she was a pony/vampire fruit bat hybrid within her, causing her to transform back into Flutterbat.

However, as she is still unstable, they secure Flutterbat under the watchful eyes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Twilight uses a spell to transform herself and the other Mane 6 into vampire bat ponies, with more control of their sense. They fly off and begin to fight against the apples, freeing Spike and Good Apple. They learn that while they might be able to get rid of the meteor, that will not stop the sentient apples. While they are gone, Flutterbat, still struggling to keep control of her Fluttershy self, manages to break her bonds. As the other Mane 6 struggle against the mass of apples, Flutterbat arrives, having successfully contacted the vampire fruit bats, and they begin sucking the apples dry. With the tide turning against them, the lead apple has the others form a giant Spike-like monster to destroy Ponyville, Twilight, Pinkie and Spike let the others tackle the monster while they seek out the meteor. Twilight senses the magic from Celestia and Luna's battle centuries ago, and uses some of it to super-charge Spike's fire breath, which he uses to power Pinkie's party cannon to launch the meteor into the depths of space. Meanwhile, as the giant apple monster ravages Ponyville, Rainbow Dash manages to put on a burst of speed to crash through the monster, replacing the bad apple leader that powers the apples with Good Apple. Good Apple is able to convince the others to stop attacking, and the situation is quickly resolved. With Celestia and Luna's help, the apples are relocated to a remote part of Equestria to allow them to develop their own society hidden away from other beings. Good Apple insists that the bad apple leader come with them, and Celestia reflects that every one can have a bad side but it is knowing how to overcome that is what makes a pony a better being.

Issue 29:

  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Jay Fosgitt (art)
  • Jay Fosgitt, Kathryn Longua (art, coloring)

Ponyville Days:

  • Christina Rice (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Paul Abtruse (cover artist)

Night of the Living Apples:

  • Thom Zahler (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art, cover artist)
09Siege of the Crystal Empire——

Siege of the Crystal Empire:

  • Issue 34 (released September 16, 2015)
  • Issue 35 (released October 21, 2015)
  • Issue 36 (released November 18, 2015)
  • Issue 37 (released December 16, 2015)
A cloaked pony starts showing up in Equestria, convincing the Flim-Flam Brothers, Iron Will, Lightning Dust, Queen Chrysalis, and the Changelings to stand by her in exchange for things they want the most. Meanwhile, the Mane 6 have been assigned to help in the preparation for the next Crystal Faire. One by one, the villains sneak in and distract them; Lightning Dust gets Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to chase after her while the Flim-Flam Brothers and Changeling army distract Applejack and Twilight once again faces Chrysalis. Iron Will tries to make off with the heart, but he gets shot by a party cannon courtesy of Pinkie Pie and Rarity and crashes into Chrysalis, defeating her as Applejack manages to tie up the Flim-Flam Brothers. Rainbow and Fluttershy manage to catch Lightning Dust and all the villains are imprisoned. When Shining Armor investigates Iron Will's bag, he finds it to be empty and Chrysalis admits to the whole scuffle being a diversion. Meanwhile, the cloaked figure makes her way down to King Sombra's study, where she is revealed to be Radiant Hope, Sombra's best friend from their childhood. Discovering Sombra's horn on the ground and that his essence still lives within it, she casts a spell that restores him to his original form. Radiant Hope's history is then more fully detailed, including how she left Canterlot after the Crystal Empire's disappearance and entered into an alliance with Sombra's people, the Umbrum or shadow ponies. With the Crystal Heart in Hope's possession, Sombra launches an attack to retake the empire, freeing the villains to aid him. Princesses Celestia and Luna then arrive in response to Cadance's summons and engage Sombra and Chrysalis, but Hope acts to prevent them from harming Sombra, allowing him to turn them into stone. Upon discovering that Sombra intends to release the umbrum hidden away centuries before, Chrysalis flees with her Changelings after Sombra retreats to his study, while Lightning Dust, Iron Will, and the Flim-Flam Brothers begin to realize that they may have been in over their heads. Before leaving, Chrysalis inadvertently frees Twilight, whose magical abilities are restored by the inert magic of friendship from Shining Armor, Spike, and the rest of the Mane 6. Meanwhile, Cadance confronts Hope and she takes her to the umbrum's home, where Cadence's love magic reveals them to be the monsters they really are; the umbrum having deceived Hope into serving them. Cadence and Hope manage to escape and end up in Sombra's study, where the Mane 6, Spike, and Shining Armor arrive to confront him. Hope, still believing there to be good inside of Sombra, takes a magic blast from Twilight to save Sombra and is knocked out. Enraged, Sombra opens a secret door in the study and unleashes the umbrum at long last. With the umbrum, Sombra finally retakes the Empire, capturing Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor while the rest of the heroes escape. After Shining Armor is turned to stone, Sombra visits a recovering Hope, who resents him for his decisions. As Twilight and Cadance are about to be turned to stone in the dais where the Crystal Heart once stood, the rest of the Mane 6 return with reinforcements which include Derpy, Discord, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Realizing that Hope will never be happy with him so long as he remains with the umbrum, Sombra reactivates the Crystal Heart (hidden in Hope's saddlebag since the beginning of the story) and uses it to banish the umbrum back to their homeland. Without the presence of their dark magic, Celestia, Luna, and Shining are freed from their stone imprisonment. As Sombra is about to be killed by the Crystal Heart's energies, the princesses turn him into a unicorn so he can be with Hope. Sombra apologizes for everything he's done and he and Hope leave to find the pieces of Princess Amore, the former ruler of the Crystal Empire, who was turned into a crystal statue back when Sombra originally became ruler of the Crystal Empire, hoping to restore her so Sombra can make amends with her.
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Sara Richard, Andy Price (cover artist)
10Don’t You Forget About Us——

Don’t You Forget About Us:

  • Issue 38 (released January 13, 2016)
  • Issue 39 (released February 10, 2016)
Cherilee, along with Applejack and Rarity, lead the students on a wilderness hike. The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Snips, and Snails wander away from the main group and find themselves lost. The conflict between the Crusaders and Diamond Tiara prove no luck to find their way back, and then they are further chased off the main path when a bear finds them. After the group takes shelter and waits for the bear to leave, they try to figure out how to get back. Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle, Snips, and Snails' magic is too weak to send off a signal flare, and Scootaloo is unable to fly high enough to get a lay of the land. Apple Bloom leads the Crusaders to climb higher; Snips and Snails follow, not wanting to be around Diamond Tiara. When Silver Spoon decides to go with the others, Diamond Tiara eventually relents and races to catch up with the others. She trips and falls over a cliff-face, hanging for her life off a tree branch. The others all try to rescue her, and Apple Bloom ends up falling over the edge as well, handing onto Diamond Tiara in a cliffhanger.
  • Christina Rice (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska, Sara Richard, Mary Bellam, Lea Hernandez (art, cover artist)
11Issue 40——

Issue 40:

  • Issue 40 (released March TBA)
The untold first meeting of Twilight and baby Spike! Twilight is given her most difficult task yet by Princess Celestia when she is told to take care of a baby dragon who is quite a handful! Will Twilight learn the right lesson in caring for another?
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Brenda Hickey, Sara Richard, Jennifer Myer (art, cover artist)
12Rainbow Dash's Very Bad Day——

Rainbow Dash's Very Bad Day:

  • Issue 41 (released April TBA)
A good day turns bad and Dash can’t shake her bad mood. Before long, it infects all of those around her. What can cure this case of the grumpies?!
  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Andy Price (art)

Micro Series

This is a companion series of single-issue stories that each focus on one main character. IDW had originally planned to publish six issues, one for each pony in Twilight Sparkle's circle of friends; however, their success prompted Curnow to state that the series would be extended to feature supporting characters from the show.[36] The micro-series ended after issue #10,[37] replaced by another series subtitled Friends Forever that began in January 2014.[38]

No.TitleUnited States release dateUnited States ISBN
01Twilight SparkleFebruary 20, 2013—
Twilight Sparkle is sent by Princess Celestia to help the injured Royal Archive librarian, Summer Mane, to shelve books. Summer is reluctant for help until Twilight lies about her possibly being replaced if she doesn't accept the help. Summer's demands for shelving are strict, and orders Twilight to stay out of her office. Despite Summer's coldness, Twilight finds she and Summer share a love of books, including the solitary work of author Jade Singer, who since disappeared after its publication. One day, Twilight is caught peaking into Summer's office, and Summer orders her away, until Twilight reveals that she has known Summer to be really Jade Singer for some time. Jade admits she hid herself away at the Archives, afraid to release another book that would fail to meet the expectations from her first, but Twilight explains that as Celestia's student, she has to live with that every day but is supported by her Ponyville friends and offers the same friendship to Jade. Inspired, Jade publishes her next book with great success, and Celestia thanks Twilight for helping her old friend.
  • Thomas Zahler (story, art, lettering)
  • Ronda Pattison (coloring)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
02Rainbow DashMarch 20, 2013—
Two cloud gremlins bring in a thundercloud during Ponyville's Summerfell Festival, and when Rainbow Dash tries to dispel it, the gremlins are able to stop her, injuring her wings in the process. A month later after Rainbow's wings are healed, with the cloud still over Ponyville and depressing its residents, Rainbow Dash tries other means to get rid of the gremlins, but they are able to feed off the negative emotions in town. Inspired, Rainbow pushes herself to dangerous speeds to create a Sonic Double Rainboom, cheering up the residents and breaking the gremlins' spell, allowing Rainbow to finally get rid of the cloud. However, this severely injures her wings, and she believes she won't fly again. Applejack gets her to help with selling apple dishes made from apples infused with the magic from the Double Rainboom, and tricks Rainbow into showing that she can fly again, cheering the pegasus up.
  • Ryan K. Lindsay (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
03Rarity (a.k.a. "How Rarity Got Her Groovy Back")April 24, 2013—
Prior to a big fashion show in Canterlot, Applejack arranges a rural spa retreat for Rarity to help her relax. The spa, run by hippies Wheat Grass and Flax Seed, is more like a farm, where Rarity reluctantly helps them with manual labor to collect natural materials they use to make "spiritual enhancers" which Rarity finds to be great health and beauty products. However, as she reaches her breaking point and demands a refund, she learns that the farm is in danger of being sold to Flim and Flam to make way for a new Filthy Rich megastore. Rarity gets the idea to help commercialize their health and beauty products to raise money to help keep the farm, premiering the new line alongside her fashion show in Canterlot with great success for both endeavours.
  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
04FluttershyMay 29, 2013—
Princess Celestia announces an art contest in Canterlot. Fluttershy, who secretly is highly adept at creating fantastic knitted works, wants to enter but fears rejection of her art from her friends and the judges, but Angel Bunny helps to convince her to go. She disguises herself at the contest. The Canterlot elite snub all of the works, including Fluttershy's. Fluttershy tries to defend her work as something that she loves, but the elite ignore her reasoning. Rarity, who has been with the elite, recognizes Fluttershy and tells her to be proud of her work and stand up for it. When Princess Celestia herself arrives to judge the works, she loves Fluttershy's, and awards her a top prize; the Canterlot elite quickly agree with Celestia's assessments. Fluttershy realizes she can share her knitting skills with her friends without worrying about being judged.[39]
  • Barbara Kesel (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
05Pinkie PieJune 19, 2013—
Pinkie Pie wins tickets to see a show by her idol, the famous clown Ponyacci. She and Twilight Sparkle go to the show but while waiting in line, Pinkie finds an older depressed pony whom Pinkie cannot cheer up. They enjoy the performance by Ponyacci and Pinkie goes to look for him backstage, only to find that Ponyacci was the older pony they met earlier. He reveals that his sadness was from this show being his last, as he is retiring from being a clown due to his age. Pinkie comes up with an idea to perform a large routine for Ponyacci to convince him to return to show business. Her display does not change Ponyacci's mind, though he does offer her several bits of advice for improving her own acts. Pinkie comes across the idea of Ponyacci opening a clown training school, allowing him to still be part of the profession he enjoys, and he readily agrees with that. Though Twilight suggests Pinkie take part in the school, Pinkie is more satisfied with helping Ponyacci continue to realize his dream.[40]
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Ben Bates (art)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
06ApplejackJuly 10, 2013—
As Applejack and her family prepare numerous apple products for the Hearths Warming Eve season, they find their precious crop of apples are being transformed into squashes by the legendary Sass Squash monster, which Granny Smith had once witnessed as a filly. Applejack promises to go capture the beast on her own, refusing her family's desire to help. The Sass Squash proves too elusive for Applejack, causing her traps to backfire on her, and Applejack soon accepts she'll need the help of her family. As Granny runs into the forest to lure out the creature with pots and pans, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh prepare a trap. The Sass Squash soon appears and is captured, but the three are surprised to find the "creature" is really Granny in a large suit. She had made the suit as a way to bring their family together during the hard work of the season as a way to break from the chore. As they settle back into routine, Applejack is surprised to find a photo of a younger Granny having met the real Sass Squash, while elsewhere, Granny leaves a freshly-baked pie for the creature, thanking it for its work over the last few days.[41]
  • Bobby Curnow (story)
  • Brenda Hickley (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
My Little Pony: Pony Tales, Vol. 1November 13, 2013ISBN 978-1-61377-740-4
Collection of Volumes 1 through 6 of the micro-comics.
07The Cutie Mark CrusadersAugust 21, 2013—
The Cutie Mark Crusaders discover a young Mimicker, a creature able to take the form of any non-pony object, while on a hike, and decided to call it Imp and have her join their club. They try to help Imp practice her mimicking abilities, but they get a bit too excited and start having her try more complex items. Imp soon runs away, and the fillies realize that they have only been considering themselves and not Imp's feelings. They soon find Imp and apologize, and realizing that it would be better to return Imp to where they found her, and consider the possibility of being friends once they all have matured.[42]
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Ben Bates (art)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
08Princess CelestiaSeptember 11, 2013—
When a banquet gets out of hand and causes the food to become enchanted at Princess Celestia's school, the elderly teacher Inkwell steps in to stop it with powerful magic that scares the fillies. The Pony-Teacher Association, led by the haughty Floribunda, demand Celestia force Inkwell into retirement, but Celestia considers Inkwell a long-time friend and a key professor at the school despite her age. Celestia finds a line in the bylaws that allows her to pick the test to prove Inkwell's competency. At the meeting the next day, Celestia challenges Inkwell to transform an ugly frog into something beautiful, but Inkwell refuses, already considering the frog beautiful. Floribunda and the other parents start to complain until Celestia points out that when they were fillies in school, Inkwell provided the same confidence for them during rough times. The parents withdraw their request and apologize to Princess Celestia and Inkwell.[43]
  • Georgia Ball (story)
  • Amy Mebberson (art)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
09Spike[44]November 13, 2013—
Spike is jealous of his friends having pets, and when he spots an ad for "Sea Beasts" in a comic book, he races to order them, hoping to raise them as pets. The Beasts, as delivered, are unimpressive, but Spike gets an idea and feeds them magical growth formula. They do grow and Spike is able to teach them tricks, but rewards them with more of the growth formula, causing them to replicate and start to ruin the library, Spike stepping in before two sides go to war with each other. Spike is inspired and starts to teach the Beasts from the library books, but falls asleep mid-lesson due to exhaustion. The Beasts continue to read on their own, and by the time Spike wakes up, the Beasts have grown peaceful and intelligent, and thank Spike for raising them before they embark to explore the world on their own.[45]
  • Rob Anderson (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
10Luna[37]December 18, 2013—
Princess Luna describes her excitement from her duties the night before to Princess Celestia, who thinks the events were otherwise mundane compared to her daylight tasks. Luna takes this as a challenge and offers to rule Canterlot for the day. Celestia puts her in the capabilities of her aide Kibitz that keeps Luna to a tight schedule of otherwise boring administrative activities. As the day progresses, Luna's sleepiness and boredom begin to take its toll, and when Kibitz tries to adhere to the demanding schedule, Luna foregoes it, and continues to do the royal duties but at her own pace. Celestia, who secretly spent the day at a spa, returns and congratulates an exhausted Luna for handling the day shift, before retiring for the night and letting Luna return to her night duties.[37]
  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
My Little Pony: Pony Tales, Vol. 2February 18, 2014[46]ISBN 978-1-61377-873-9
Collection of Volumes 7 through 10 of the micro-comics.

Friends Forever

The monthly Friends Forever series will focus on pairings of characters from the show, including the main cast as well as fan-popular minor and background characters.[47] Series editor Bobby Curnow compared the concepts of these stories to buddy comedies, allowing them to explore other characters and give various fan-favorite characters the chance to be in the limelight of a story.[48]

No.TitleUnited States release dateUnited States ISBN
01The Pie's the Limit (Applejack and Pinkie Pie)January 22, 2014—
Pinkie Pie and several others enter an Equestria baking contest, while Applejack, there to deliver catering for the event, is mistaken as the final competitor, Marine Sandwich, who vows revenge on the contest. As the contest proceeds, Pinkie and Applejack find one of the competitors, Toffee Truffle, is trying to win to reopen a favorite Dodge City restaurant, and Pinkie and Applejack agree to try to lose to help Toffee win. Going into the last event, Marine suddenly barges in and uses a fondant thrower to cover the other contestants and audience. Pinkie, Applejack, and Toffee use Toffee's desserts to clog the device and stop Marine's rampage. The judges award Toffee the grand prize for both a tasty and practical dessert, much to Pinkie and Applejack's delight.[47]
  • Alex de Campi (story, lettering)
  • Carla Speed McNeil (art)
  • Jenn Manley Lee, Bill Mudrow (coloring)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
02Cutie Mark Crusaders and DiscordFebruary 26, 2014—
The Cutie Mark Crusaders have run out of ideas for how to get their cutie marks. Finding Discord outside, they ask for his help in creating scenarios with his magic for them to try. Discord creates a reality bubble and starts inventing situations for the Crusaders, but slowly becomes annoyed at their antics and makes more fantastical situations. He is unaware that the stronger magic is causing the reality bubble to grow and overtake Ponyville. After numerous attempts, the Crusaders admit that even with Discord's help, they still won't likely get their cutie marks, and show their appreciation for his help, offering to make him an honorary Crusader. Discord is touched by the offer and dispels the bubble, apologizing to the town for putting them in jeopardy.[46]
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Lauren Perry (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
03Spike and CelestiaMarch 12, 2014—
Spike asks Princess Celestia for help for getting Twilight a new telescope as a birthday gift for her. Celestia's astrologer can make one, but needs crystals to make the lens from a distant mountain. To Spike's surprise, Celestia cancels her duties for the day to come with him and help. During their travels, Spike complains that he is not an adventurer like Twilight and her friends, but Celestia asserts that he can be if he wants. Despite various dangers they encounter, Celestia encourages Spike to help save them instead of using her own abilities. The two make it safely to the mountain and retrieve a lens, though when they get trapped in a cave after a volcanic eruption, Celestia steps in to remove the obstacle blocking their way, noting that at times the teacher needs to help the student. They return safely to Canterlot, and Spike is able to give Twilight her new telescope, while he later gets a letter from Celestia thanking him for the adventure and assuring their friendship.[49]
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
04Twilight Sparkle and Shining ArmorApril 9, 2014—
Twilight Sparkle travels to the Crystal Empire to spend some quality time with her older brother, Shining Armor, and recounts their childhood game of "monster hunters" they used to play. At the Empire, Shining is overwhelmed by business for the kingdom while his wife Cadance is away, and apologizes to Twilight. That night, one of Twilight's books is stolen, and she learns that several other books have gone missing, with the other residents fearing a ghost exists. Twilight and Shining, doubtful of this claim, stumble onto a secret passage into the depths of the castle originally created by King Sombra, and decide to go "monster hunting" once again to find the culprit. Avoiding numerous traps, they come across a crystal bard creature, who had been captured by Sombra to read to it in its soothing voice, but managed to escape; Sombra had laid the traps to try to recapture it. Finding the crystal bard with all the missing books, which it liked to read from and had only intended to borrow, Shining and Twilight explain that Sombra is long gone and offer the bard the task of helping in the royal library. Twilight and Shining finish out their visit peacefully.[27]
  • Rob Anderson (story)
  • Amy Mebberson (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
My Little Pony: Friends Forever, Vol. 1July 8, 2014[50]—
Collection of Issues 1 through 4 of the "Friends Forever" series.
05Fluttershy and ZecoraMay 21, 2014—
Fluttershy wakes up one day to find that all her animal friends can speak normally with her, shocking her. As no other pony seems to have heard the animals talk, Fluttershy thinks she is going crazy and goes to talk to Zecora. Zecora can find nothing wrong with her and starts to suspect the animals. Fluttershy runs off after one of the critters to find that they have been planning a large tea party for her, and she gladly joins in, telling them her tales of adventure. Zecora concludes someone enchanted the animals, who is revealed to be Discord. Discord only wanted to give the animals the temporary ability to talk as a gift to Fluttershy to show his friendship for her, which Fluttershy happily accepts.[28]
  • Thomas Zahler (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
06Trixie and Rainbow DashJune 18, 2014—
Rainbow Dash is summoned to a distance kingdom to perform, and is surprised to find Trixie there as ruler of the Diamond Dogs. Trixie is trapped there as their ruler after mistakenly leading the Dogs to believe that she can douse for gems whereupon they made her their queen, using a magical crown that prevents her from leaving. Rainbow learns that the crown's magic is only powered by the faith the Dogs have in their rulers, and together with Trixie, create a plan that puts the Dogs' faith in Trixie in question and giving Rainbow enough time to distract the Dogs during the show to help Trixie escape.[29]
  • Thomas Zahler (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (coloring)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
07Luna and Pinkie PieJuly 23, 2014—
Princess Luna worries that she is not funny enough for the upcoming "Chuckle-lot" festival. She first goes to Twilight for help but Twilight instead suggests Luna learn from Pinkie. Pinkie helps Luna to show aspects of practical jokes and slapstick comedy both around Ponyville and in Canterlot. However, when it comes to preparing the routine the next day, Luna is worried that she will be mocked at in trying to outdo her sister. Pinkie reminds her that comedy is not only about making others laugh, but being able to laugh at yourself. At the festival, Luna appears and gives Celestia a gift, which turns out to be loaded with a cream pie. A pie fight soon breaks out among the guests. Luna slips and falls in the creme and crashes into Celestia. After a pause she realizes the humor of the situation and laughs at herself along with everyone else, accepting Pinkie's advice.[51]
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (coloring)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
08Applejack and RarityAugust 20, 2014—
Applejack is told by Granny Smith that their cousins on the west coast need to buy some of their apples, and when Applejack tells Rarity this, she wants to come along in part to see the sights of Applewood in the west and sightsee along the way. Their travels become muddled when Rarity's sightseeing causes them to mistakenly get on the wrong train and go on a detour. They continuing get into transportation problems, all while Rarity is enjoying the trip much to Applejack's anger. Soon, Rarity learns that this was a business deal, and that Applejack's sales plan is woefully underthought, and she helps Applejack to develop a better plan and focusing on getting to Applewood. Once safely there, Applejack thanks Rarity for her help and takes her to a day at the Whinney Land amusement park before going to meet her cousins. However, her cousins are just as surprised to see her; meanwhile Granny Smith realizes she misread the letter and that it was their east coast cousins that needed the apples.[52]
  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
My Little Pony: Friends Forever, Vol. 2December 2, 2014[53]—
Collection of Issues 5 through 8 of the "Friends Forever" series.
09Granny Smith and the Flim Flam BrothersSeptember 10, 2014—
While helping the rest of the Apple family to sell their produce at an apple convention, Granny Smith finds that the dubious con artist brothers, Flim and Flam, are no longer worker together despite trying to sell the same product at different sides of the con. She finds out that, weeks prior, the two had fallen in love with Marian, a librarian from Dodge Junction, but as they each tried to win her heart, their bickering caused her to turn them both down, and the two went their separate ways. Granny realizes that she had caused a similar brotherly separation when she was younger that was never repaired, and despite Flim and Flam's past altercations with the Apples, helps to bring the two brothers back together by the end of the con.[31]
  • Christine Rice (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (coloring)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
10Fluttershy and Iron WillOctober 22, 2014—
Fluttershy's friends are alerted that Iron Will is back in town and looking for her, and they race to her cottage to help protect her from him. However, Fluttershy is more than happy to see what Iron Will wants, where they learn that he's been kicked out of his maze by his wife for being too assertive and is looking for Fluttershy's help to calm down. She is happy to help, and tries to put him through several situations to help learn patience and understanding. Fluttershy suggests a bit of time at the spa but when Rainbow Dash comes in and teases Iron Will for finding his "inner pony", he storms off to Everfree Forest. Fluttershy follows the minotaur to the forest, where he reveals that the reason he was kicked out was that his son, who he is proud of, has been taking too many of his assertive mannerism and has been using that against his mother and his teachers at school. Fluttershy helps to remind him that while being assertive can be good, that there's a time and a place for it, and if he can show more care around his family, his son will pick up on his good habits as well. Iron Will is impressed by this advice, and before he goes, treats Fluttershy and her friends to a meal.
  • Christine Rice (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (coloring)
11Spitfire and Rainbow DashNovember 12, 2014—
Rainbow Dash is summoned to Cloudsdale for a very important mission under Spitfire's orders, abandoning her plans with Scootaloo. Expecting something major, Dash is surprised that Spitfire needs her help to train a class of colts and filly pegasi to learn how to fly. Dash easily starts to help, but clearly sees Spitfire struggling to articulate anything. While she has no problem training the Wonderbolts' ranks as she can use commanding voices to them as adults to command respect, she doesn't know how to same to the younger fliers. Dash suggests she tries it the next day, which turns out to be a disaster when Spitfire goes overboard with her command style and has the whole class break down into tears. At the next class, Spitfire is there alone with the huddled mass of frightened colts and fillies, when Dash barges in and warns that a rogue tornado is approaching the school. Spitfire expertly undoes the weather pattern and dispels the storm, and as she returns the class cheers for her. Amid the celebration, Spitfire realizes it was Dash that has created the tornado, but for good reason, as the class now look up to Spitfire and ask for more of her lessons the next day. Spitfire admits she feels more confident in training the class now, and thanks Dash for her help. Rainbow then returns to Ponyville, where Scootaloo berates her for not telling the filly that she was coming back. Rainbow apologizes and takes her on a flying trip.
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Jay P. Fosgitt (art)
12Pinkie Pie and Twilight SparkleDecember 10, 2014[54]—
The annual street vendor fair has come to Ponyville, and just as Twilight and Spike are about to go enjoy the wares, Pinkie barges into the castle asking for Twilight's help in breaking her addiction to a snack known as Phenomnomenons. Twilight first tries to use aversion therapy techniques, but Pinkie is too easily drawn by the snack to stay in one place. Next Twilight locks up the castle and constructs an elaborate system to trap Pinkie if she tries to escape, but Pinkie's hyperactivity allows her to avoid the traps and break out. She begins to gorge herself on Phenomnomenons and urges Twilight to try them; the first bite overwhelms her, and both eat until they are sick. Realizing that Pinkie must decide to quit on her own, Twilight feigns an emotional breakdown due to the failure of her plans. Pinkie rushes to her aid, forgoing the snacks, and Twilight points out that she has resisted her urge through force of will. Pinkie successfully wills herself not to eat a Phenomnomenon offered to her, then thanks Twilight for her help before going off in search of a different snack.
  • Barbara Kesel (story)
  • Brenda Hickey (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (art, coloring)
My Little Pony: Friends Forever, Vol. 3April 14, 2015[55]—
Collection of Issues 9 through 12 of the "Friends Forever" series.
13Rarity and Babs SeedJanuary 7, 2015—
Rarity and Sweetie Belle are about to go to Manehattan, with Sweetie planning to visit Babs Seed while Rarity works on some outfits for Sapphire Shores. However, Sweetie comes down with an ear infection, and Rarity is forced to go on her own. As she is preparing the outfits in Manehattan, Babs stops by, disappointed that Sweetie had to miss the trip. Rarity offers to take her around town instead, but her choice destinations - a spa, a hair stylist, and a clothing shop - are of no interest to Babs, who thanks her for the effort but decides to go home. Later, during a fitting, Sapphire listens to Rarity's account of the day and suggests that she should find a way to encourage Babs' interests even if she does not share them, as Rarity's parents did for her when she was young. Inspired by this advice, Rarity surprises Babs with tickets and post-game passes to a roller derby event that evening. Babs meets one of her favorite athletes, who reveals that her own mother did not understand her interest in the sport at first but is now one of her biggest fans. Once Rarity returns to Ponyville, she and Sweetie send Babs a custom-made roller derby outfit and write in their journal about the importance of letting children follow their own interests and supporting them along the way.
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
14Princess Luna and SpikeMarch 4, 2015—
Princess Luna asks Spike to help her stop an arson crime spree in the city of Fillydelphia. En route, she explains that the unicorn police believe dragons from the city's Dragon Town district are responsible and asks Spike to find out whatever he can. Once they arrive, the police show them a trail of slime leading from the site of the latest fire. Spike considers this to be unnatural for dragons and starts to canvass the neighborhood, while Luna works with the police. None of the dragons Spike questions prove cooperative except for Mina, an excitable young female who runs a comic shop. Mina explains that Fillydelphia's ponies and dragons have a long-standing resentment and understands why the police are blaming the dragons. She thinks that a unicorn may be responsible for the fires, but Luna and the police dismiss this theory; frustrated at having found no new leads of her own, Luna leaves Spike to continue investigating alone. Spike notices a fresh slime trail leading from the sewers to a building and follows it to find a fire snail. He captures it, but not before it ignites the slime and sets the building ablaze. As the fire spreads, Spike persuades the police to let the dragons help by evacuating nearby buildings to prevent injuries, and Luna returns in time to wake the sleeping residents so they can get out safely. With the dragons cleared of any wrongdoing, the police agree to make sure the fire snails do not cause any more trouble, and Luna apologizes to the dragons for distrusting them. Spike takes her to meet Mina, who is a huge fan of reformed comic villains, and promises to visit the dragons of Fillydelphia again as he and Luna start for home.
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (art, coloring)
15Mayor Mare and ApplejackMarch 25, 2015—
Applejack gets a citation about the height of her barn and goes to the town hall to try to have it voided. After some initial runaround, Mayor Mare arrives and promises to help her, taking her on a tour of the offices. Applejack is stunned to see how dysfunctional the government appears to be, but the Mayor assures her everything is working, and offers to let her observe some of the functions and perhaps offer ideas for improvement. Applejack is able to solve many of the problems stalling the departments. As the day nears its end, there is a sudden commotion outside, as Sweetie Belle's magic is turning ponies into fruits and vegetables. Applejack is stunned, but the Mayor quickly and calmly orders her assistant to manage and solve the problem. The spell is quickly reversed and everyone is turned back to normal. Applejack is surprised by the Mayor's aptitude in the situation, and the Mayor explains that she learned from her past that she needed to learn how to make the various types of ponies all work together to run Ponyville successfully, and hopes that Applejack will follow in her footsteps, being as practical as she is. The Mayor reveals this was her plan for the day all along and voids the barn height citation.
  • Bobby Curnow (story)
  • Brenda Hickey (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (art, coloring)
16Diamond Tiara and Silver SpoonMay 13, 2015—
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon want to beat the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the Ponyville schoolhouse's annual scavenger hunt, but only groups of three can enter. Diamond's father, Filthy Rich, hires the famous filly detective Prancy Drew as their teammate. Prancy is able to quickly decipher the hunt's clues, but due to luck and coincidence, the Crusaders end up close behind; even Silver's attempt to throw them off track does not slow them down for long. Prancy injures her leg on the final sprint to the finish line, but Diamond leaves her behind as she and Silver complete the course. The Crusaders help Prancy across the line, but end up losing the contest due to a technicality in the rules. Diamond and Silver win first prize, tickets to a bluegrass concert they have no interest in attending, but Filthy loves the music and drags them along. For second place, the Crusaders receive tickets to a second concert, donated by the band after they saw how many teams had signed up, and have a much more enjoyable time. Diamond and Silver realize that there is more to life than winning.
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Jenn Blake (art)
  • Amy Mebberson, Jenn Blake (cover artist)
My Little Pony: Friends Forever, Vol. 4September 1, 2015[56]—
Collection of Issues 13 through 16 of the "Friends Forever" series.
17Twilight Sparkle and Big MacintoshJune 3, 2015—
As Twilight struggles to resolve the steadily growing pile of friendship problems being sent to her, she begins to feel stress and lose sleep. At Spike's urging, she talks to other ponies around town to see how they handle stress. Applejack, about to start a delivery run to Canterlot, suggests that she talk to Big Macintosh. However, his taciturn responses give Twilight no insight into how he maintains his composure. She casts a spell on him that will let her enter his mind and see its workings. She is surprised to find Big Mac's mind laid out as a well-organized apple farm, with ideas slowly growing and ripening as fruit on the trees. There are also several alternate versions of Big Mac, each representing a different aspect of his personality. His curiosity becomes intrigued by Twilight's own stress and pulls her, himself, and the other Big Macs into her mind, which appears as a vast but disordered library. The Big Macs suggest that she needs to take some time off from her problems and try to concentrate on one thing at a time. Twilight ends the spell, returning herself to the real world, and offers to help Big Mac with his chores so she can clear her mind. Once the work is done, she returns to her castle and gets back to work, seeing new ways to solve the friendship problems.
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Brenda Hickey (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (cover artist)
18Fluttershy and Rainbow DashJuly 1, 2015—
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy receive invitations to a flight camp reunion in Cloudsdale. While Rainbow Dash is excited to attend, Fluttershy decides at first to stay home, remembering how the other foals bullied her for her weak flying skills. Rainbow persuades her to go, promising to stand by her if the other pegasi give her a hard time. When they arrive, though, Rainbow finds herself accepting multiple challenges to race and show off her stunts. Left on her own, Fluttershy happens across Cirrus Cloud, the reunion organizer, who had been one of her worst bullies at camp. Cirrus says that she has a surprise planned for Fluttershy at that night's party, but Fluttershy begins to think that she is being set up for a cruel prank. Several other pegasi act strangely and hurry off at her approach, worsening her fear, and she hides under a table as soon as the party starts. She confesses to Rainbow that she never felt at ease in Cloudsdale, and that returning to let everypony laugh at her all over again is painful for her. Rainbow apologizes for failing to keep her promise and reassures Fluttershy that her friends in Ponyville are the only ones whose opinions really matter. Fluttershy emerges and, with Rainbow by her side, goes onstage to receive Cirrus' surprise - an apology, an aerial display, and a special award in recognition of all she has accomplished since moving to Ponyville.
  • Christina Rice (story)
  • Jay P. Fosgitt (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (cover artist)
19Rarity and Cake FamilyAugust 5, 2015—
After attending a wedding catered by the Cakes, Rarity sees the potential of she joining business forces with the Cakes. The Cakes are worried but agree to see what happens. Rarity heads to Canterlot to get some fabric, where she runs into Touring Wind, an influential fashion magazine editor. Touring Wind has heard of Rarity and welcomes the chance to see her outfits and makes time in her busy schedule to come to Ponyville a few days from now. Rarity is a bit panicked but believes she can do it, until she gets back to Ponyville and finds that the Cakes have accepted catering another wedding the day after Touring Wind's visit. The ceremony is for AJ's cousins, Ginger Gold and Apple Crisp, who want a rather simple wedding. Rarity, knowing she can't work to impress Touring Wind and design for the wedding in the limited time, pushes the Cakes and the wedding couple to go with a much fancier ceremony. The day of Touring Wind's visit comes and Rarity goes to see her at the train station. When they get back to Sugarcube Corner, however, they find that Ginger Gold has come down with an allergic reaction to the strawberries Rarity insisted they use for the cake, and that the giant cake Rarity demanded is on the verge of collapse. Touring Wind walks out, and works out how to get back to Canterlot as soon as possible. Rarity breaks down, but is surprised at how calm the Cakes are taking the situation, having prepared a quick remedy for Ginger and cleaned up the mess the Cake had made. They explain that having twins helps them keep their cool in tough situations, as well as to be extra prepared and had prepared the batter and frosting for the simpler cake that the couple wanted in the first place. The next day, the Cakes are able to stop Touring Wind from leaving, and invite her to attend the wedding. After Spike causes the trains to become delayed, Touring Wind has little reason to decline. At Sweet Apple Acres, she finds that Rarity has developed a fashionable yet simple dress for Ginger, and that the Cakes' new wedding cake Touring Wind promises to write this up in her magazine, and Rarity apologizes to the Cakes for going overboard, but they remind her that her confidence is part of the reason why they love her.
  • Christina Rice (story)
  • Brenda Hickey (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (cover artist)
20Discord and Princess LunaSeptember 9, 2015—
Discord is having a hard time sleeping, and when his powers activate unintentionally during one bad nightmare, wrecking havoc on Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle calls in the help of Princess Luna to see what is wrong with Discord's dreams. After zapping him to sleep, Luna finds that while Discord's mind is as chaotic as his normal self, his inner psyche tries to latch him down, forcing him to think in an orderly, business-like fashion. Luna helps to free Discord from this, helping to escape this to see what is really going on with Discord. They come to a hallways of doors, which one particular door is locked up with numerous warning signs on it. Luna wants to investigate that one, but Discord refuses to, instead going into other doors marked with the cutie marks of the Mane 6. In each of these, his actions, while well intentioned, turn into catastrophe for that pony. Luna suspects what is behind the locked door, finding that it belongs to Fluttershy. Inside, in a more tranquil setting, the two watch as another version of Discord prepare to take Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders on another wild adventure. Luna realizes Discord cares deeply for Fluttershy, but Discord notes that he had cared for others in his past, such as Tirek, and it always turned out bad. Luna notes that caring for others is not a bad quality, and can help empower others to do good. Discord takes this to heart, and lets his concerns about harming Fluttershy go. Later, Discord helps to repay Luna's favor by joining her during her nightly duties.
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Brenda Hickey (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (cover artist)
My Little Pony: Friends Forever Vol. 5December 17, 2015[57]—
Collection of volumes 17 through 20 of the Friends Forever series.
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (cover artist)
21Spike and ZecoraOctober 7, 2015—
A strange aliment strikes every pony in Ponyville, and Spike, immune to whatever it is, rushes out to Zecora in the Everfree Forest to get her help. Zecora collects a number of potions and tools to help out, as well as a bird named Avery, trained by Fluttershy, that can help to intercept any coughs directed her way. In town, Zecora goes to work to try to understand the illness. She sees that it has traveled as far as Sweet Apple Acres, and tries to understand how it could travel so far so far. After they see the Apples, Spike recognizes he is a different species from the ponies, which likely has made him immune to whatever it is; but this also leads to both realizing how far they are from others of their kind and feel a bit of homesickness. They stop at Fluttershy's cottage, but she has been so sick that she's been unable to feed her animals properly, and just has laid out stashes of food for them. Avery is distracted by a pile of birdseed that when Fluttershy coughs on Zecora, he is not there to block it. Fearing Zecora is now infected, they race off to isolate Zecora, but surprisingly, she does not come down with anything, and now they suspect that zebras are also immune. With this, the two set to work to try to find anything pony-related that might caught it, but still cannot find a solution. The two take a break to have a meal, and discuss the results. Shortly, Zecora suddenly feels ill and has caught whatever the ponies have had. Spike deduces that it is not an infection but something on the hay that Zecora and the rest of the town would have eaten, while he had his normal gem diet. Quickly discovering the fungus that has covered the town's hay supply, Spike begins to prepare a broth to help cure Zecora. By the time the Canterlot Disease Corps have arrived, everypony is cured. Spike goes off to thank Zecora for her help, and he offers to visit her more and invites her to visit him in town.
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)
  • Amy Mebberson (cover artist)
22Princess Celestia and Pinkie PieNovember 4, 2015—
Twilight and Pinkie are invited to Canterlot by request of Princess Celestia. Once they, they learn that Princess Luna's birthday is coming up, and Celestia wants Twilight to give a toast speech for her sister, while Pinkie is to help bake a cake for Luna. Pinkie offers several suggestions, but Celestia asks her to come up with something both grand and fun at the same time, and gives her run of the royal kitchen to create something with help of her head chef Chase Palomino. Pinkie takes to the task with gusto, but when Celestia starts taking a keen interest in how she's doing, Pinkie starts panicking that her creations won't live up to Celestia's expectations. When Celestia checks up on her again, she finds Pinkie has starting talking to her imaginary friends. Celestia quickly helps to talk Pinkie back to normal, and explains why this cake is so important to her: that she still feels guilt over banishing her sister to the moon a thousand years in the past, and really wants to make sure this celebration goes well. Pinkie realizes what Celestia is looking for and is inspired for a new cake design, offering Celestia to help out. At the birthday party, Luna is initially dismissive of the cake, but when she realizes that it is how Celestia shows her love for her, she knows how much it meant to her and gratefully hugs her sister, while Twilight congratulates Pinkie on a job well done.
  • Christina Rice (story)
  • Jay Fosgitt (art)
  • Amy Mebberson, Jay Fosgitt (cover artist)
23Applejack and FluttershyDecember 2, 2015—
Applejack and Fluttershy are spending a quiet weekend camping in woods near Ponyville when a swarm of eager ponies arrive, excitedly looking for something. They find out from one of the lead searchers, Nosey News, that they are looking for the legendary "pigasus", a pig that can fly, which she had claimed was recently photographed in the area. Both AJ and Fluttershy avoid getting caught into the search, but the presence of the other ponies intrudes on their camping. When they return to their tent, they are surprise to encounter the real pigasus, which Fluttershy quickly helps to calm down, and both quickly agree that they have to keep quiet about it, as the other ponies would want to drag it away and take it out of its natural habitat. However, they know the other ponies will likely ask them if they have seen it. AJ, knowing Fluttershy will likely crumble at the first hint of agression, offers to try to lie to the others, even though it both goes against her Element as well as knowing that a lie can hurt the one that tells it. AJ goes to address the crowd of ponies, but manages to dodge the various questions without lying, but this only serves to make the crowd suspicious, and they start to approach their tent. AJ arrives first, and tries to keep the other ponies at bay, and when Nosey asks her directly if she had seen the pigasus, AJ is on the verge of telling the truth when something bursts out of the tent and flies away. The ponies follow it, only to find it was Fluttershy, taking a fly in her sleeping bag. Nosey berates her for fooling them, telling her it will ruin her scheme. Nosey realizes she just admitted to faking the picture of the pigasus, and the other ponies chase her out of the forest, while AJ, Fluttershy and the pigasus watch from their quiet camping spot.
  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Amy Mebberson, Tony Fleecs (cover artist)
24Gilda and RarityJanuary 6, 2016—
Rarity is surprised when Gilda shows up at her boutique and sheepishly asks for her help in designing the new team uniforms for Griffonstone's boffyball team, who have managed to make it into a playoff games. More than happy to help, Rarity returns with Gilda to Griffonstone and finds that the team struggles with coordination, particular from a fumbling Firegem. Due to a lack of other griffons that have trained in the sport and that haven't come down with a flu that has been going around, Firegem tries to contributed despite Coach Klaus' reprimands for his poor performance. Rarity tries to take sympathy on him, but Gilda assures her he's okay. The next day, as the game against the yaks is about to start, the griffons find they are down yet another player, and would forfeit without a substitute. Rarity offers to take the spot, having watched enough of the practice to get the gist of the sport. The game goes about as expected, with the griffons unable to score against the yaks. Firegem has been getting trounced by the yaks, and Coach Klaus flies off the ground in anger, resulting in his eviction from the game. Gilda, now the assistant coach, decides to change their strategy to put Firegem out of harms' way and try a risky play that assures they will score a point. Rarity manages to use her head, literally, to make the scoring play. The game ends shortly thereafter, with the yaks having won 53-1. Though the griffons knew they wouldn't win, scoring at least one point helps to encourage them for the next season, now with new uniforms supplied by Rarity. Rarity returns back to her boutique, and surprises one of her customers with her newfound knowledge of the sport of boffyball.
  • Georgia Ball (story)
  • Jay Fosgitt (art)
  • Amy Mebberson, Jay Fosgitt (cover artist)
My Little Pony: Friends Forever, Vol. 6April 26, 2016[58]—
Collection of Issues 21 through 24 of the "Friends Forever" series.
25Rainbow Dash and Twilight SparkleFebruary 3, 2016—
Rainbow Dash wakes up to discover that here wings have VANISHED! It’s up to the relatively newly-winged Twilight to help her friend find out the source of the mysterious occurrence.
  • Barbara Kesel (story)
  • Brenda Hickey (art)
  • Tony Fleecs, Brenda Hickey (cover artist)
26Shining Armor and Prince BluebloodMarch TBA—
Shining Armor will have his hooves full when Prince Blueblood gets involved in a sensitive diplomatic mission. Will Shining Armor be able to make use of the Prince’s unique talents?
  • Jeremy Whitley (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Tony Fleecs, Sara Richard (cover artist)
27Pinkie Pie and Granny SmithApril TBA—
It's cider season and things are busy at Sweet Apple Acres! Unfortunately, Granny has broken her hip and Pinkie Pie is called in to look after the cantankerous elder! Will Pinkie's optimism triumph over Granny's stubbornness?
  • Christian Rice (story)
  • Agnes Garbowska (art)

Special editions

No.TitleUnited States release dateUnited States ISBN
My Little Pony: Annual 2013October 30, 2013—
Stories based on the spin-off movie, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, including an 8 page story original published in the 2013 San Diego Comic Con variant of the main series, issue #9 (in July 2013), telling the origin of the character Sunset Shimmer. In the short, Sunset is shown as Princess Celestia's prized student in magic arts, whom Celestia hopes to groom into a princess. However, when Sunset becomes corrupted by images she sees in a magic mirror, Celestia realizes that Sunset may be too greedy and vain. Sunset goes against Celestia's wishes and breaks into the dark magic wing of the library, learning about the mirror's function and magic that can transform her into an alicorn. Celestia discovers this and expels Sunset as her student, but Sunset manages to escape and pass through the mirror, ending up in the human world.

In the main story, a prequel to the events of the movie but told in flashback from a series of interviews, the five humans, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash struggle as freshmen to Canterlot High. Pinkie cannot find a school club that makes her happy, while Rainbow Dash wants to be the star player of the Wondercolts soccer team despite her inability to play on the team. Meanwhile, Applejack is initially glad to see her cousins Babs Seed and Sunflower, but they ridicule her fashion while making friends with Rarity, the fashion expert. However, when Rarity asks Fluttershy, who has been worried about Sunflower's sick dog but unable to speak up about it, to join them for lunch one day, Babs Seed and Sunflower refuse to allow her.

On the day of the first game, Pinkie has found her true calling, as leader of the school's glee club, and gets Fluttershy to help distribute cheering equipment to the crowd. When Babs and Sunflower refuse Fluttershy's help, both Applejack and Rarity decide to abandon the two, and join Fluttershy. The crowd helps Rainbow Dash to remember the team spirit, and foregoes her ego to help her team to win. The five become fast friends, though all this is detailed in the present by Sunset to be used for her own gains.

  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Andy Price (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Lauren Perry (coloring)
  • Tom B. Long (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
My Little Pony: Annual 2014September 24, 2014—
The Power Ponies stop three of Maretropolis' villains and send them to Balkham Asylum, earning the praise of the city. However, once the heroes have returned to their tower headquarters, private disagreements between them start to boil over, much to the dismay of their sidekick Humdrum. The captured villains ally themselves with two other inmates, Smudge and the Mane-iac, and a sixth - the fugitive Shadowmane - breaks them out of the asylum and joins the team as well. The Power Ponies' squabbles foil their attempts to stop the gang, and they are captured and their powers transferred to the gang.

Humdrum frees the Power Ponies, who fear that they will be unable to stop the gang from ravaging Maretropolis in a crime spree. He tells them of a television show that teaches the strength of friendship, and puts them through an intensive training course to help them become friends with each other again. When they go up against the gang, though, they are captured just as easily as before. Once they escape this trap, they rewire the power-transferring machine and trick the villains into distrusting each other. The villains, caught off guard by their own infighting, lose their stolen abilities to the Power Ponies and are quickly subdued and arrested. The Power Ponies ask Humdrum about the show that gave him the idea about friendship, and at the tower he shows them an episode of the animated series My Little Donkey.

In a short side story, the Mane-iac escapes from prison and finds her old lair and hair-dryer superweapon in ruins. Amid the rubble, she unearths a magic mirror that transports her to the human world seen in the Equestria Girls film. She retains her pony form in this world and soon encounters her human counterpart; the two do not recognize each other at first and fight briefly, but they soon realize that they are identical except for the species difference. They reminisce over their past criminal schemes and agree that they can work together in their separate worlds to achieve their evil goals. After Pony Mane-iac returns to her own world, this entire story is revealed to be part of a comic book that Human Rainbow Dash is reading; she is puzzled over the existence of Pony Mane-iac.

  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Ben Bates (art & coloring)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
  • Heather Breckel, Lauren Perry (coloring)
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Holiday SpecialDecember 17, 2014—
As the holidays approach at Canterlot High, Sunset is reminded that she is far distant from her family. Applejack hatches a plan with the rest of her friends to help cheer Sunset up with a series of slumber parties. During the first one, Applejack gets a call from Apple Bloom, who teasingly refers to her by an embarrassing childhood nickname. Applejack gladly explains its origins to the other girls, and Sunset writes to Twilight via her magic journal about the way her friends are helping to lift her spirits.

The next day, Applejack is shocked to discover that a social media user called "Anon-a-miss" has posted a message about the nickname, and that everyone at school has read it and begun to tease her. The situation worsens after the next slumber party, held at Rarity's house, when Anon-a-miss posts photos that the girls took of one another while trying on silly outfits. They begin to suspect Sunset, as she was the only person present at both events and the colors on Anon-a-miss' social media page now match the ones she favors. Soon, embarrassing secrets about other students begin to show up online, causing the student body as a whole to turn against Sunset.

When Sunset writes to Twilight for help, Twilight reminds her of the Windigos in Equestria, which feed on hatred and distrust between friends, and reminds her of the importance of family. Sunset shows these messages to the other girls the next day and asks them if they honestly believe that she could be responsible for stirring up this trouble. The mention of family prompts Sunset to question Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity about the events leading up to their secrets being exposed. Their answers lead her to realize Anon-a-miss' identity, and she is proven right when Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle confess their involvement. Apple Bloom had created Anon-a-miss as a way to get back at Applejack for spending so much time with Sunset rather than her family, and the other two soon joined in, with other students feeding them fresh gossip. They delete the profile, and everyone gets back on good terms with one another in time for the final party at Sweet Apple Acres.

  • Ted Anderson (story)
  • Tony Fleecs (art)
  • Heather Breckel (coloring)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
My Little Pony: Fiendship Is MagicApril 1 to April 29, 2015—
A special five-issue series focusing on the backstories of five of the show's villain characters, specifically King Sombra, Lord Tirek, the Sirens, Nightmare Moon, and Queen Chrysalis.[59]
  • Issue 1 (released April 1, 2015)
    • Cadance and Twilight find a diary left behind by Sombra. They learn he was found as an orphan colt by the Crystal Empire, and though teased by other foals and fillies, was friended by a filly named Radiant Hope. During their time together, they both gazed on the Crystal Heart - Radiant saw herself as a princess, while Sombra saw himself become evil; Princess Amore, the leader of the Crystal Empire at the time, told him to not worry too much about the vision. The two planned to go to the Crystal Faire together, but on the day of the Faire, Sombra's body was unable to move, Radiant Hope staying by his side. They tried to do this for several more years, but the force that held his body became stronger, and Radiant Hope discovered her talent of restorative magic and prevented Sombra from dying. When Radiant Hope is offered an opportunity to study under Princesses Celestia and Luna, Sombra knew that the vision was coming true. He ran away, but came across a strange crystal form in the wilderness that revealed he was a creation of umbrum forces waiting beneath the palace, and that the Crystal Heart was trying to destroy him. Recognizing his true nature, Sombra tries to destroy the crystal but Amore stops him. In his anger, he turns her into crystal and shatters her, which Radiant Hope cannot undo. Sombra subsequently took over the Crystal Empire, while Radiant Hope warned the princesses about his turn, eventually sealing his fate. In the present, after Twilight and Cadance leave the study, Sombra's disembodied horn makes its way down the staircase, revealing to still contain Sombra's essence.
  • Issue 2 (released April 8, 2015)
    • Prince Tirek goes against his father, King Vorak, and visits the hermit Sendak the Elder, despite his brother Scorpan tagging along. Sendak shows that he has returned from Equestria with a unicorn to study, planning on how to use the unicorn magic for himself. Sendak warns that he knows Tirek has a thirst for power, but his young, untamed magic would be too dangerous to use on the unicorn. Tirek and Scorpan return before their parents can find out, though Vorak is suspicious that Tirek has visited Sendak and tells him not to do. Tirek sneaks out alone that night to Sendak, and after restraining the hermit, attempts to drain the magic from the unicorn. As Sendak warned, Tirek's magic causes a massive explosion that collapses Sendak's home. Tirek flees without stopping to help. The next morning, Tirek is brought to Vorak, who learned of the destruction of Sendak's place, and while Sendak is alive, Vorak plans to send him to work the mines for the rest of his life, and arranged a delegation to Equestria to return the unicorn to Princess Celestia. Tirek admits no knowledge of the events of the previous night, but Vorak senses that Tirek has a thirst for power. Later, Tirek begins to plot on how he will dispose his father and take over Equestria.
  • Issue 3 (released April 15, 2015)
    • In ancient Equestria, the Sirens - Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk - have been feeding off the emotions brewed by the discord created by their singing in smaller towns but have turned their attention to the populous Canterlot. They arrive at the height of a multi-day musical competition. Their first attempt to sing with their traditional song is cut short as their song is far outdated, and Adagio comes up with singing "pop music" at the next chance. Their new song quickly enraptures the audiences, except for the wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded. Recognizing that their singing is turning the ponies of Canterlot against each other, Star Swirl finds the only way to fight back is to counteract the Sirens with his own music. The Sirens and Star Swirl begin to try to one-up each other over several days, until Star Swirl finds he cannot hope to best the Sirens in musical ability. Remorsefully he uses the magic mirror to banish the Sirens to a world without magic, hoping the trio will come to use their powers for good. In this new world, the Sirens find themselves as humans, their magic weak but still strong enough to feed from with the power of their song.
  • Issue 4 (released April 22, 2015)
    • Shortly after her banishment to the moon by Princess Celestia, Nightmare Moon comes across the nyx, creatures that can enter and manipulate the dreams of ponies to help them rest easier. Feigning friendship with Doran, one of the nyx, Nightmare Moon learns how to do this herself and soon converts the nyx to become her nightmare forces. She tries to enter Celestia's dreams but the Princess' mind is well-protected. Instead, Nightmare Moon attempts to sway the population via dreams to make them think Celestia is a tyrant. Celestia is able to dispel this, but weakens her mind's defenses, allowing Nightmare Moon to enter her mind. There, Nightmare Moon plays on Celestia's emotions, but after showing her Princess Luna trapped and alone, Celestia is emboldened by the love for her sister and ejects Nightmare Moon from her mind. The nightmare forces claim they cannot return Nightmare Moon to Celestia's mind, though secretly vow to protect the princess. Nightmare Moon continues to plot how to use her nightmare powers to her benefit.
  • Issue 5 (released April 29, 2015)
    • The Mane 6 visit the imprisoned Queen Chrysalis after learning she has become depressed and lethargic. They discuss her involvement with Equestria's past, recounting her overthrow of the pegasus city of Timbucktu and the unicorn civilization of Trot. Defeated by Princess Celestia and imprisoned in a volcano, she outwitted a passing dragon in order to escape with her minions. When the Mane 6 reach her cell, she offers to tell the story of her origin in exchange for a book. Ignoring the others' warnings, Twilight enters the cell with the book, only to find that this Chrysalis is actually a minion in disguise. The real Chrysalis lunges from the shadows and explains that she and her species were born from a mutated carnivorous tree that grew in a magic swamp; they broke loose when Star Swirl the Bearded drove a nail into the tree to hang up a warning sign. As the prison guards and Twilight's friends rush to her aid, Chrysalis and her minions overpower them and escape from the prison.
  • Jeremy Whitley, Christina Rice, Ted Anderson, Heather Nuhfer, Katie Cook (story)
  • Brenda Hickey, Tony Fleecs, Agnes Garbowska, Andy Price (art)
  • Amy Mebberson, Sara Richard (cover artist)
  • Bobby Curnow (editor)
  • Neil Uyetake (lettering)
My Little Pony Holiday SpecialDecember 2, 2015—
Twilight Sparkle and Spike are trying to get from Canterlot to Ponyville for Pinkie Pie's Hearth's Warming Eve party, but a snowstorm has blocked the train tracks and making it impossible to fly back or return to her parents. With a lonely coffee-stall clerk, Cuppa Joe, as the only other pony there, Twilight decides to dig into a book she brought, only to find it missing. Joe's stand has a number of books, but all aimed at fillies, but with nothing much else to do, Twilight offers to read them to Spike.

The stories include:

  • "The Flying Reindeer", a take on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and supposedly written by Princess Luna, where Rainbow Dash the reindeer is the only one that can fly, but teased by the other reindeer. However, when Princess Luna on her way to deliver gift baskets runs aground after an encounter with geese, breaking her wing, she offers Rainbow the opportunity to help her complete her deliveries.
  • "The Toy and the Mouse", a take on The Nutcracker, with Rarity as the young filly that adores her soldier nutcracker. The toy comes to live, but as soon as the Mouse King shows up, Rarity deems herself too good for this book and storms off.
  • "'Twas the Night of Hearth's Warming Eve", a take on Twas The Night Before Christmas, told in prose by Big Macintosh, being woken on the titular night to find AJ and Apple Bloom making his gift, a house for his Smarty Pants action figure.

As Twilight finishes the last story, the doors to the station burst open, and the other Mane 6 are there, Pinkie refusing to allow her party to go on without Twilight and so bringing the party to her. The Mane 6, Spike, and Joe enjoy the Hearth's Warning Eve celebration.

  • Katie Cook (story)
  • Katie Cook, Andy Price, Agnes Garbowska, Brenda Hickey, Heather Breckel (art)
  • Brenda Hickey, Agnes Garbowska, Katie Cook (cover artist)

Marketing

The first issue of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was marketed by IDW by creating nineteen unique cover variants. Six of the covers, drawn by Price, feature each of the main cast, and form a continuous six-panel work. IDW will publish a boxed set of these covers separately.[60] The other covers are unique to specific comic stores and Internet retailers such as Midtown Comics and Lone Star Comics, and are available as pre-order bonuses for purchasers.[60] The second issue will also have several, but fewer, store-specific variants.[61] Subsequent comics, including those in the micro-series, have typically had between two to four additional vendor-specific variants.

IDW published limited copies of each of the micro-series in a "comicfolio", containing the comic with one of the limited edition covers, a lithograph, and other materials in a hard-paper binding; the presentation would also be extended to other micro-series they are publishing including for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[62] IDW also published limited hardcover runs of the first four issues of the main series in six varieties, each featuring one of the main pony characters; the sets included art prints and collectable cards related to that specific character.[63]

Within North America, the comic series are available digitally through both the iTunes Music Store and Comixology. In the United Kingdom, the series has become published digitally through a mobile app created by Made in Me, alongside other children's comics.[64] Motion comics of the My Little Pony series and other IDW properties were published through a licensing deal with Madefire, as announced at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con with releases starting in August 2013.[65][66][67]

A "micro fun pack" version of the comics have also been developed by IDW; these packs feature pages from the comic reprinted on collectable cards, along with stickers, posters, and tattoos, for sale in larger retail stores. IDW believes these will help further attract children to the comic and have plans to do this with another ongoing series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more in the future. The first printing of 150,000 sets were fully sold out by retailers after they were announced.[68][69] As of July 2014, IDW has sold more than half a million of these packs, and have taken steps to trademark the line as well as expand to include their Skylanders comic series.[70]

Reception

The first issue of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic received favorable commentary by comic reviewers. Dan Hart for Bleeding Cool News, who had not previously seen the show, praised Cook's script for quickly introducing the characters and the world, and Price's ability with facial expressions. Hart stated that he had "the same feeling of light-hearted fun as [he] got from (the much-missed) Tiny Titans and that's no bad thing".[71] Mike Fahey of Kotaku further praised the ability of the comic to surpass some of the visual aspects of the television show, noting that the main characters "are more expressive and dynamic than their television counterparts, aided by black outlines that contrast strikingly with the show's colored ones", while the writing style captured the characters' personalities.[72] Dakster Sullivan, writing for Wired's GeekMom column, further praised Cook and Price for doing "an amazing job bringing the spirit of the characters from the small screen to the comic book world".[73] Comic Book Resources's Jennifer Cheng was positive of the issue, though she noted that the comic itself was weakened by the established nature of the television show. However, she praised that "Cook and Price's enthusiasm and skill" helped to overcome the predictability of the show, making it "a lot better than it needs to be for a property with an existing, devoted fanbase".[74] Paste considered that while the first four-issue comic arc did not quite reach the humor of Adventure Time, it "still bustles with passion, fun, and personality despite a few rough edges".[75] Bleeding Cool magazine placed Katie Cook as one of the top 100 Power List people in the comic book industry for 2013 for her contribution to the success of the My Little Pony series.[76]

According to IDW, the first issue had reached over 90,000 pre-orders by October 2012[77] and exceeded 100,000 just before its release;[78] most single issues of comics do not see sales in excess of 10,000 to 12,000, particularly for publishers other than DC Comics or Marvel, according to Price.[17] In light of this number, IDW announced plans to run a second printing of the first comic along with the collectible box set in December,[79] and ultimately ended up reprinting the issue four times.[80] The large number of pre-orders for an all-ages comic has been considered a boom for the comics industry; the pre-order numbers exceeded those for other, more traditional comics like DC's The New 52 and Marvel NOW! relaunches, putting it on track to be one of the best-selling issues for 2012.[77] As many of the purchasers of these comics are likely to be first-time comic buyers, the comic's success may also filter to improved sales of other comic titles.[77][81] Total sales of the standalone first issue, as tracked by Diamond Comic Distributors, exceeded 80,000 units, making it the fifteen best comic for the month and an uncommon occurrence of a non-DC, non-Marvel comic breaking the top 20, according to Russ Burlingane of Comicbook.com.[82] The first issue of Friendship Is Magic was one of only two non-DC/Marvel publications (the other being The Walking Dead #100) to be in the top 100 issue quantity sales for 2012, ranked at #90, and ranked #61 based on revenue.[83][84] According to Heather Nuhfer and Amy Mebberson, the first issue of the comic is the best-selling issue published by IDW as of March 2013.[85] John Mayo of Comic Book Resources points out that even with lower sales figures, the 7th issue of the comic sold more than three times the number of copies of the combined Star Trek and Doctor Who IDW-licensed and fan-heavy series, and believes that "whatever IDW is doing to promote My Little Pony is working".[86] The success of My Little Pony and other children's comics like Adventure Time help to boosting overall sales in the comics industry by 15% in 2012.[87]

By October 2013, a total of one million copies across both series, including reprints and collected editions, have been sold at retail, according to IDW.[80] Adams also states that digital sales remain strong, with the comics often holding spots within the top 10 selling books on the iTunes Stores.[88] To celebrate the milestone, a special variant cover of issue #12, drawn by Price and limited to twelve copies, was printed and auctioned or given away as prizes,[89] while only a single copy of another variant cover of the same issue, drawn by Sara Richard, was published and later auctioned by IDW and Heritage Auctions in August 2014.[90] The issue sold for more than $6,500 with Richard's original art selling for more than $3,500.[91]

Subsequent issues placed within the top 100 monthly sales charts as recorded by Diamond, and represented the top selling IDW comic in these months. The second issue ranked at #54 in December 2012 sales.[92] The third issue and the first micro-series placed at #45 and #62, respectively in the February 2013 charts.[93] In March, the fourth and fifth issue and the second micro-series placed at #55, #65, and #91, respectively.[94] Similar placement numbers within the top 100 were held between April to July 2013.[95][96][97][98] The first four-issue trade paperback was the seventh top selling such book in May 2013.[99] The first collected volume featuring the Queen Chrysalis arc won the 2013 Diamond Comic Best Trade Paperback/Hardback award.[100] The main series was named as the Best All-Ages Comic by Diamond Comic Distributors for their 2014 Gem Awards.[101]

The IDW comics are credited with helping to get young children interested again in reading; Hasbro's Director of Global Publishing, Michael Kelly, has heard stories from comic shop owners who have seen young girls in their shops for the first time in years,[102] a facet later noted by IDW's CEO Ted Adams.[103] Adams further noted that while many of the direct sales of the comics go to the older audience, the sales for young children are significant and have helped to expand the variety of the demographics of its customers.[104] Comics Alliance named the My Little Pony series as the 2013 "Best In-Your-Face To Opponents of All-Ages Comics", citing that the series "hold[s] up well enough for adults ... but more importantly are also accessible and fun for kids".[105] The success of the My Little Pony series along with other Hasbro properties that IDW prints, like Transformers and G.I. Joe, has led the two companies to review Hasbro's catalog and consider other titles, particularly those from the 1980s, that could successfully be brought to comic form.[11]

References

  • Justin Eisinger and Alonzo Simon, ed. (2015). My Little Pony: Art is Magic. IDW Publishing. ISBN 978-1-63140-467-2. 
  1. ↑ Tyrrel, Rebecca (2004-12-24). "Pony tale". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  2. ↑ Hix, Lisa (2012-06-28). "My Little Pony Smackdown: Girls vs. Bronies". Collectors Weekly. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  3. ↑ 'Tekaramity' (2011-09-15). "Exclusive Season 1 Retrospective Interview with Lauren Faust". Equestria Daily. Retrieved 2011-09-16.
  4. 1 2 Griffiths, Daniel Nye (2011-09-27). "Friendship is Massive - Ponies, Internet phenomena and crossover audiences". Daniel Nye Griffiths. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
  5. ↑ Strike, Joe (2011-07-05). "Of Ponies and Bronies". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  6. ↑ Watchcutter, Angela (2011-06-09). "My Little Pony Corrals Unlikely Fanboys Known as 'Bronies'". Wired. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  7. 1 2 Ostroff, Joshua (2011-08-03). "All-ages show: Hipsters love children's programming". National Post. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  8. ↑ Burnett, Sam (2011-07-02). "Show Pony". The Mercury. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  9. ↑ Vara, Vauhini; Zimmerman, Ann (2011-11-04). "Hey, Bro, That's My Little Pony! Guys' Interest Mounts in Girly TV Show". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  10. ↑ Griffiths, Daniel Nye (2011-08-15). "Colt Success". Wired UK. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
  11. 1 2 3 Arrant, Chris (2013-12-23). "IDW and Hasbro: A New Kind of Comic Book Dynamic Duo". Newsarama. Retrieved 2013-12-23.
  12. ↑ "IDW corrals "My Little Pony" comics in November" (Press release). IDW Publishing. 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  13. 1 2 3 Bell, Josh (2012-08-16). "Katie cook and idw bring "my little pony: friendship is magic" to comics". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  14. 1 2 "The comiXologist #84 – Katie Cook on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #1" (Podcast). Comixology. 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Renaud, Jeffrey (2012-11-28). ""my little pony" writer katie cook declares "friendship is magic"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  16. ↑ "Comic-Con Liveblog: The New Hunger Games Trailer, Doctor Who Panel". Wired. 2013-07-21. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Wake, Matt (2012-12-12). "'My Little Pony' comic book artist Andy Price: 5 things to know about Madison resident's work". Huntsville Times. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  18. 1 2 Comicbook, Joe (2013-01-20). "My Little Pony Artist Andy Price Talks About The Comic". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  19. ↑ Alvaraz, Daniel (2013-12-16). "Interview with Jeremy Whitley, Writer of Upcoming My Little Pony Friends Forever Comic". Unleash the Fanboy. Retrieved 2013-12-17.
  20. ↑ Kahn, Juliet (2014-08-21). "Big In The Marines: Artist Andy Price On ‘My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic’ [Interview]". Comics Alliance. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  21. 1 2 3 Keily, Karl (2013-02-12). "Zahler Trots Out "My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  22. ↑ Keily, Karl (2013-03-26). "Cook Adds Horsepower to IDW with "My Little Pony: Rarity"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  23. ↑ "Hasbro Builds on MY LITTLE PONY Brand Growth Catering to Fans Worldwide" (Press release). Hasbro. 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
  24. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Omnibus-1/dp/1631401408/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416056198&sr=1-1&keywords=my+little+pony+omnibus
  25. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Volume/dp/1613779607/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1KMBG9061V87MZBMMC12
  26. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Volume/dp/163140105X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z
  27. 1 2 ""24" Returns, "Transformers" Celebrates 30 Year In IDW'S April Solicitations". Comic Book Resources. 2014-01-17. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  28. 1 2 "IDW's May 2014 Soliciations: "TMNT" 30th Anniversary, "Hellboy" Artist's Edition & More". Comic Book Resources. 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
  29. 1 2 ""Angry Birds", "Winterworld", & "Turtles in Time" Launch in IDW's June 2014 Solicitations". Comic Book Resources. 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  30. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Volume/dp/163140203X/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QK8JFCX56JN2N7GVBTP
  31. 1 2 ""GI Joe" Regroups, Maberry's "Rot & Ruin" Debuts in IDW'S September 2014 Solicitations". Comic Book Resources. 2014-06-18. Retrieved 2014-06-18.
  32. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1631404091/ref=s9_newr_gw_d0_g14_i6?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0EQFNBYD9AX9953Q0D4D&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop
  33. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friendship-Magic/dp/1631403249/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421926301&sr=1-1&keywords=Friendship+is+magic+volume+7
  34. ↑ http://www.midtowncomics.com/store/dp.asp?PRID=MY+LITTLE+PONY+FRIENDSHIP_1385036
  35. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/1631404466/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=N9N9ELDROY4Z&coliid=I28WF689LJXCEC
  36. ↑ Burnow, Bobby (2013-04-15). "Hello from the My Little Pony editor!". IDW Publishing. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  37. 1 2 3 "IDW Publishing Soliciations for December 2013". Comic Book Resources. 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2013-09-26.
  38. ↑ Johnson, Rich (2013-10-12). "Second My Little Pony Ongoing Series, Friends Forever, From IDW Next Year". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  39. ↑ "IDW May 2013 Solicitations: Beast Hunters Launches & More!". Newsorama. 2013-02-15. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  40. ↑ "Exclusive: IDW Publishing Solicitations For June, 2013". Comic Book Resources. 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  41. ↑ "IDW Publishing July 2013 Solicitations". Newsarama. 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
  42. ↑ Johnson, Rich (2013-05-15). "Launch Of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents And Dave Sim Draws The Doctor – IDW Solicitations For August 2013 Without The Covers!". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-05-15.
  43. ↑ "IDW Publishing Solicitations for September, 2013". Comic Book Resources. 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
  44. ↑ Dadon, Jacob (2013-07-20). "Ponies, Ninjas, and Giant Robots – Hasbro and IDW at SDCC". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
  45. ↑ Johnson, Rich (2013-08-15). "Transformers, My Little Pony, GI Joe, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Maxx, Joe Hill, And Some New Things – IDW’s Solicitations For November 2013". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  46. 1 2 ""ROGUE TROOPER," "X-FILES" CROSSOVER HIGHLIGHT IDW'S FEBRUARY SOLICITS". Comic Book Resources. 2013-11-15. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
  47. 1 2 Johnson, Rich (2013-10-18). "Alex De Campi And Carla Speed McNeil To Create Second Ongoing My Little Pony Comic". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  48. ↑ Burlingame, Russ (2013-11-27). "My Little Pony: Friends Forever Launches in January From Star Creators". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 2013-11-27.
  49. ↑ ""G.I. Joe," "Transformers" Hit Milestones in IDW Publishing'S March 2014 Soliciations". Comic Book Resources. 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2013-12-13.
  50. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friends-Forever/dp/161377981X/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=0J406Z5ZTRXN78K307NH
  51. ↑ ""Transformers vs. G.I. Joe", "Ragnarok" Debut in IDW's July 2014 Solicitations". Comic Book Resources. 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  52. ↑ "The War for Cybertron Begins in IDW Publishing's August 2014 Solicitations". Comic Book Resources. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  53. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friends-Forever/dp/1631401599/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=014X39S6SS80ABYRGCB8
  54. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/my-little-pony-friends-forever/id940894629?mt=11
  55. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friends-Forever/dp/1631402439/ref=pd_sim_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GFQ22SNZNKBXP644AH3
  56. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/dp/163140377X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=N9N9ELDROY4Z&coliid=I3OB1OAVTLD7L7
  57. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friends-Forever/dp/1631404881/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439980592&sr=8-1&keywords=my+little+pony+friends+forever+volume+5
  58. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/My-Little-Pony-Friends-Forever/dp/1631405969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452026485&sr=8-1&keywords=my+little+pony+friends+forever+volume+6
  59. ↑ ""UNCLE SCROOGE," "MY LITTLE PONY: FIENDSHIP IS MAGIC" ARRIVE IN IDW'S APRIL 2015 SOLICITATIONS". Comic Book Resources. 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
  60. 1 2 Johnson, Rich (2012-10-30). "Eighteen Of The Nineteen Covers For My Little Pony #1". BleedingCool.com. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  61. ↑ Johnson, Rich (2012-11-08). "My Little Pony #2 Gets A Doctor Whooves Cover From Midtown Comics". BleedingCool.com. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  62. ↑ Johnston, Rich (2013-03-19). "The My Little Pony Comifolio From IDW". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
  63. ↑ Johnson, Rich (2013-08-02). "My Little Pony Deluxe Hardcover – Here Comes Ponypalooza". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
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