Remember to bring your umbrellas for this story contains sudden heavy showers with a chance of spoilers!
Despite her best efforts, Misty can't get them through the storm, leading her to conclude it's magical in nature. Zipp, while momentarily tempted to take on the seemingly impossible challenge of breaking through the walls of wind keeping them in herself, pulls herself back. She realizes she needs to provide leadership and not function as a rogue adventurer right now.
At Misty's suggestion, they lead the evacuating ponies and critters to the castle, which is likely the safest location available to them and the only one that could comfortably hold the entire city's population. For once, excessive royal extravagance in architecture and massive space comes in handy!
We go from Misty apologizing and asking for ponies not to be mad at her when she tells them the storm is magic--to her being hailed as a genius. Misty's self image =/= how her friends see her.
We then have a two-page spread of Zipp personally going through the city to rescue additional pegasi and bring them to the castle, utterly exhausted.
While some of the group hope they can wait out the storm, Hitch points out the prospect of losing power from a storm this big, and Misty again states the clearly magical nature of it. When she expresses the wish for a boat to carry everypony out, Pipp gets inspired.
Misty's two for two for being called a genius this issue. Can we get three?
Pipp brings the group down to the abandoned transit station, the one Zipp brought Sunny and Izzy to after breaking them out of the dungeon in the G5 movie. There's an old abandoned airship there, but Zipp could never fix it up sufficiently to get it into the air.
Anyone else hearing the suddenly triumphant music that plays when the Enterprise or any other wonderful spacecraft appears in the sky?
Misty, Izzy, and Hitch will tackle getting the ship up and running, Misty looking very excited at the prospect, as Zipp had hoped. So yes, I'm calling this three for three of Misty being acclaimed as a genius. While the hoof and horn crowd gets to work on the ship, our winged trio are the backup plan, Zipp being smart enough to recognize the need for one.
Sunny needs a little encouragement, but Zipp insists that the three of them are the strongest fliers in Zephyr Heights ... then we get an odd bit where she says they're better than anyone at Zipp's "old flight school." Unless Zipp means that impromptu training course she was nudged into arranging in Tell Your Tale (which was not that long ago), then I have to wonder what in Equestria Zipp's talking about here.
Anywho, there are still some doubts but they stick by Zipp, resolved to help her however they can.
Courtesy of an off-panel dressing montage, the gang is in in goggles and trapper hats. As with everything else, ponies in different outfits are quite cute, though the goggles seem to make the ponies' already large eyes seem even larger.
The trio are tied together by a chord, Zipp in front, Sunny taking up the rear, and Pipp in the middle.
This version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is just weird.
Zipp tries building up speed and dashing through the wall of wind, dragging Pipp and Sunny with her. It seems like being tied to them would actually slow her down and make her even less likely to succeed when neither are as skilled or fast as her--but then again her breaking through on her own wouldn't accomplish all that much and neither would the three of them getting separated in the storm. So I guess this is the best of several less than ideal choices.
I'm momentarily reminded of Hurricane Fluttershy and I wonder if this was a case of deliberate homage or not. As Zipp prepares for attempt number three, Pipp cautions her against it, pointing to how Sunny hasn't been fairing too well. It seems very similar to Twilight advising Rainbow Dash to stop after the first attempt at forming a hurricane failed. Zipp at first digs in her hooves, insisting that she can't fail after their mom entrusted the city to her.
However, unlike in Hurricane Fluttershy where Rainbow Dash's second attempt was successful, here Pipp gets Zipp to recognize that she's hit a wall and this method simply isn't working. It probably helps that it's just the three of them and they'd already tried at least twice that we've seen.
As is the running theme of the issue, a stray comment provokes a new avenue of thought and Zipp decides for trying to fly over the storm. It's arduous and things get so cold that frost starts forming on their wings.
Many fans may like the wet mane look, but I don't know if the frostbitten look will catch on.
Wait, it's the internet, what am I talking about?
Despite things looking about as bad as before, this time Zipp does channel her resolve and breaks through in a way reminiscent of Rainbow Dash and the pegasi from Hurricane Fluttershy. The art tries and I don't think totally succeeds in giving the impression that her cutie mark lights up as they often did in Tell Your Tale.
Regardless, the trio have made it through the clouds to find something rather remarkable.
"Cloudsdale!" "Cloudsdale!" "It's only a model." "Shh!"
That ends the first half, which would've been issue two of five. Now
we go on the second half, or issue three, depending on how you choose to
look at it. Here is where the art shifts from Kate Sherron to Andy Price.
Dramatic narrator tells us of what we already knew and would probably have worked better had this been a separate issue as originally planned. We see Hitch trudging through the storm to bring something of great importance to the castle, something upon which their entire plan to save the population of Zephyr Heights depends on!
We then see Misty has become Montgomery
Scott (i.e. Scotty) of the Enterprise as she proclaims she's about to defy
the laws of physics. Or as it's known in Equestria: Tuesday.
Cutting back to the winged-half of the Mane Six, they're gawking and marveling at the reality of standing on clouds, something they don't think should be even possible. Of the three of them, it's Sunny who's the most excited while Pipp is disbelieving and Zipp ... has an interesting expression on her face, which matches with what we saw last issue. More on that in a bit.
If I were Zipp I'd have so many questions about wing waxing and would be afraid of the answers.
They marvel at how well preserved everything is, with no real damage or decay, giving the impression that everypony just up and left at some point, as if in a big hurry. Sunny attributes the pristine condition to being above the clouds and so not being subject to the weather. I'm not a scientist, but I am very skeptical about that explanation.
At any rate, Pipp comes across an egg-like cloud
containing a creature called an Arkan Sonney. This is a Manx term (i.e. from the Isle of Man) for a hedgehog while also being the name for a mythical fairy animal that resembles a white pig. I suspect this might be connected to personal preference on the part of Andy Price, who earlier gave us the pigasus for the FIM comics.
The girls are initially ecstatic, thinking Haven would love one.
Those expressions are adorable and I love when these two share a brain cell.
A conveniently placed sign at the Mogwai Curio Shop gives the game away for what the deal is with these critters. Before Zipp can stop her, Pipp flashes a photo on her phone.
I enjoy homages as much as the next guy but this one feels a little too on the nose.
The result of this is that this causes the critter to develop spines that it fires at them, not unlike the pukwudgies that menaced the Student Six in their first outing.
Better hope these hedgehogs aren't the fastest things alive. Though even if they were, I'd still take them over being stuck with Grubber.
Back in Zephyr Heights, the storm worsens as lightning strikes cause a brief blackout.
It's days like this makes ponies look at one another and go "You know, this is proof that Fausticorn hates us, specifically."
Misty meanwhile is embracing her inner Frankenstein or at least, her inner Yzma.
"It's alive! ALIIIIIVE! ... I always wanted to say that."
Misty's apparently mad genius has gotten the ship capable of flight, but it lacks the power to stay up in the air. They need more power than they can currently get. Hitch groans as he has a wonderful, awful idea.
I want to see if folks can guess who is who here.
Up in Cloudsdale, the other half of the gang continues to flee, coming across more cloud-eggs that hatch more Arkan Sonneys.
This might not be too plot relevant, but Andy Price can somehow draw the cutest angry ponies and its a real treat.
The trio seek refuge and find it in the Cloudsdale library. This not only confirms where they are but makes Sunny's day as well.
I can relate.
But as Pipp notices, Zipp isn't looking like somepony who just was proven right or somepony who found someplace she always dreamed about. She's glum and Pipp isn't sure why. Zipp explains: even leaving aside the question of Zephyr Heights, Zipp used to dream of Cloudsdale not as an ancient city, but someplace that was alive and vibrant.
We get a really raw, well-written and drawn panel that perfectly captures her character. She thought she'd find a lost civilization, full of incredible warriors, athletes, and adventurers--ponies more like Zipp herself. Finding it like this, empty and lifeless, is worse than it never existing at all.
Adventurers like Rainbow Dash! Derpy Hooves! Bulk Biceps!
Oh, and also pictured are Spitfire and the Wonderbolts. Meh.
As Zipp says to Pipp: "Every time I didn't fit in the way you did or I wasn't happy sitting on the throne and going to endless parties...I imagined that Cloudsdale was out there somewhere and it was full of pegasi like me, who wanted to fly fast and go on adventures."
This really speaks volumes about how lonely Zipp must've felt in Zephry Heights before the events of the movie, where everypony else was happy and content without flying or (in the case of her own sister and mom) content with living a lie. This is good stuff. Points also to the look Pipp has when Zipp is explaining this. It's great writing and art coming together.
Pipp tries to bolster Zipp, saying they can bring all that back with them to Zephyr Heights, though Zipp is more worried about the storm. A stray query spoken aloud triggers a recorded response by none other than Flash (A-ah! Saviour of the Universe!) Magnus!
I'd question this more, but if Twilight Sparkle as able to project some sort of magical hologram message of her in Make Your Mark, then this shouldn't be that far out of field. Granted, the fact that it's coming from a computer console rather than a magic crystal is eyebrow raising. This gives the suggestion that within Magnus' lifetime (i.e. sometime within the next two or three decades of Season 7, going by how young he still looks) Equestria develops computer and hologram technology. Equestria's always had a rather schizophrenic technological level. To paraphrase SF Debris, you've all heard of the land that time forgot, but you haven't yet been to the land where time became senile until you visit Equestria.
Something interesting to note is that Sunny's had mentioned right before this that she was unfamiliar with Somnambula. This follows up from last issue where she mentioned while reading a book in Zephyr Heights that she never heard the name Flash Magnus either, and we saw that earlier shop sign with Somnambula.
At the time, since the cover of the book she was reading was called "Love at Twilight" I had speculated that this was meant to be a joke about the Flash Sentry-Twilight Sparkle non-ship (remember, Twilight never exchanged a word with the pony Flash Sentry) but that there had been a goof-up with the names Flash Sentry and Flash Magnus. Now I'm not so sure, especially with what comes next. I think now that it was indeed supposed to be about Flash Magnus, but the cover art was just inserted as a throwaway gag unrelated to the dialogue.
It's interesting that the Pillars seem to be getting quite a bit of attention here. One can speculate about why the Pillars are so little known, especially when they later turned up and coexisted with the Mane Six (and there was a two volume book about Starswirl in the Zephyr Heights library, though that may also have been a throwaway visual gag and nothing more). I'd just observe from a fandom perspective that the Pillars as a concept don't seem to have caught on as a whole. Perusing vendor halls at conventions, I tend to see more merchandise of the Student Six, for instance, than I do stuff with the Pillars. I have nothing against them, I don't dislike the Pillars at all, I'm merely giving my impression that they haven't left quite as much of a mark with the fandom. I'd be curious if others have similar or differing impressions and why that may be the case.
But for whatever reason, here we're getting more with the Pillars than we usually do. I briefly wished it was Rainbow Dash who was giving this breakdown, but for a historical lesson a historical figure like Magnus does make the most sense. Plus if she was the one talking about the weather factory, that'd just open the door to a lot of Rainbow Factory jokes that I don't wanna delve into. Best to avoid that.
In any event, holo-Magnus is here to provide with a historical exposition dump about Cloudsdale. Back in olden times, seven great pegasi cities came together to build Cloudsdale together. Begs the question if Pegasopolis was one of the seven or was the name for some collective pegasus entity that was made up of the seven cities. Also, apparently this was back when they had cave-ponies because there's a Wilma and Fred Flintstone pony cameo.
I'd also delve more into the parallel between there being seven pegasi cities and seven seapony kingdoms in the last arc, but that's just part of the old mythos surrounding "the seven seas" and the fact that seven is just one of those numbers that come up a lot in mythology and religion.
Magnus discusses pegasi magic that lets them walk on and manipulate clouds but couldn't create the weather. That was where technology came in. At the heart of Cloudsdale is the weather factory, a feat reliant on technology and pegasi magic that gave them the ability to control the weather. Admittedly, some of what he says seems off. Flash Magnus mentions that they gave the Everfree Forest water when the Everfree's whole thing was that ponies don't control it.
Applejack: The Everfree Forest just ain't natural. The plants grow...
Fluttershy: Animals care for themselves...
Rainbow Dash: And the clouds move...
Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash: All on their own!
--Bridle Gossip, Season 1, Episode 9
The way most fans interpreted this, the weather over the Everfree just operated under its own rules, not subject to pegasi control. But that's neither here nor there, and it does set up a funny joke about "always keeping Fillydelphia sunny," so kudos there.
Our heroes deduce the problem. When magic left Equestria, the factory shut down since it required it and technology to function. But when the magic came back, it reactivated somehow and has been churning out clouds nonstop without any supervision.
For those keeping track, this seems to be another case where parallel mediums of G5 (comics, YouTube shorts, and Netflix episodes) were treading the same ground without quite syncing up. "Where the Rainbows are Made" (Season 2, Episode 12) of Tell Your Tale had a similar concept. There rainbows were being sucked up by something up in the clouds, reminding Zipp and Pipp of ancient pegasi legends about the place where rainbows are made. The group journeys up and its revealed to be a faulty ancient weather-making machine that they have to set to rights.
Zipp concludes the issue with a a stony look on her face and a declaration that they need to save Zephyr Heights from Cloudsdale.
Another big mystery is what happened to Cloudsdale and why was it abandoned. I will avoid commenting on the information provided in the leaked G5 pitch bible since (a) we're unsure as to its authenticity and (b) not everything in a pitch bible ends up being used anyway, so that wouldn't necessarily provide an answer even if it is legitimate. Maybe the pegasi simply bailed when they sense magic was failing and knew they'd lose the ability to fly, but that wouldn't answer why there was a hole in the Zephyr Heights archives about pegasi history during the era of Princess Twilight. I really hope the Arkan Sonneys are not meant to be the answer to why the pegasi left Cloudsdale but rather are just a kind of wildlife that took over the city after the ponies abandoned it. Time will tell if they were a one-off obstacle meant to hurry the gang into the library or if they're actually more relevant to the overall plot.
But what is the answer and what will actually happen? For that we'll have to come back for the third and final issue (or the fourth and fifth issues, depending again on how you look at it) which is due out on November 20th.
See you next time!
