Legends of Magic Issue 5

My Little Pony: Legends of Magic #5 is the fifth issue of IDW Publishing's My Little Pony: Legends of Magic comic series. In the issue, Pinkie Pie reads to Sunburst about the legend of Somnambula and the giant snake.

Summary
Sunburst wanders through the castle feeling clueless; while he is familiar with all the characters in Star Swirl the Bearded's "Legends of Magic" series so far, he knows nothing about the next one: Somnambula. He finds Pinkie Pie putting together a birthday party for Princess Luna's pet opossum Tiberius. After Sunburst is briefly thrown for a loop by Pinkie's party cannon, she notices his book about Somnambula and briefly recalls the events of the season seven episode Daring Done?

Since Sunburst is unfamiliar with the legend of Somnambula, Pinkie decides to read him the story for a change. Somnambula's story begins after she saved Prince Hisan from the sphinx and was appointed as one of his advisors. One day, while Somnambula plays with the village foals, Hisan alerts her about a giant snake attacking the palace. As the royal guards fend off the snake, Somnambula tries to determine from Hisan where it came from and what it wants. While Hisan addresses Somnambula's endless questioning, the snake devours the guards whole.

After securing a long pole from one of Hisan's other advisors, Somnambula flies up to the snake to figure out what it wants, but it simply eats her as well. She travels deeper into the snake's belly, using her glowpaz necklace to light the way. A short distance into the throat, she finds Hisan's guards, and she gives them a piece of her glowpaz so they can find their way back to the snake's mouth. Deeper into the snake's stomach, Somnambula finds whole village huts and a small group of ponies living in them. They tell her that when the snake attacked and ate them, it was as big as a barn. Like the guards earlier, Somnambula gives the ponies another piece of glowpaz to light their way to the snake's mouth.

As Somnambula travels deeper and deeper into the snake's belly, she finds other ponies that it devoured before. Each group of ponies she meets says that the snake was smaller and smaller at the time they encountered it. At the tail end of the snake's belly, Somnambula meets an old wizard who reveals he created the giant snake in the first place. Some time ago, he was a potion maker, and the originally small snake kept eating his supplies. Unable to catch the snake due to its small size, the wizard baited it with a rock that was cursed to make it grow upon ingestion. However, the curse was too potent and made the snake grow uncontrollably, and it eventually ate the wizard.

Somnambula finds the cursed rock nearby and reasons that the curse will be lifted if the rock is removed from the snake's stomach. She flies herself and the wizard back to the snake's mouth, where the other devoured ponies have gathered. Using the pole Somnambula got from one of Hisan's advisors, she and the other ponies pry the snake's mouth open, and she tosses the rock out through the gap in its teeth. The snake starts to shrink, and it spits out all the ponies and animals that it devoured. For her boundless hope and optimism, Somnambula is heralded as a hero.

Satisfied with the story she read, Pinkie Pie returns the book to Sunburst and gets back to setting up Tiberius' party. Sunburst, having been frightened by Pinkie's snake impressions during the story, decides to read the next legend about Mage Meadowbrook by himself.

Quotes

 * Sunburst: So far I've known all of the characters in these legends... But I don't even know how to pronounce "Sum-na-ma—


 * Pinkie Pie: "The Legend Somnambula and the Snake"? I love Somnambula! Though I don't remember there being a snake in that story about the sphinx. Maybe this is a different one...


 * Sunburst: Tell me about Somnambula.
 * Pinkie Pie: She was a regular village pony who inspired the prince with her kindness.
 * Sunburst: Interesting, and that—
 * Pinkie Pie: —But then the sphinx kidnapped the prince because she had questions for Somnambula—
 * Sunburst: Huh?
 * Pinkie Pie: —So Somnambula had to listen to the prince talk while she crossed a bridge.
 * Sunburst: What?!
 * Pinkie Pie: And the lesson is to always have hope!
 * Sunburst: I feel like you left something out.


 * Somnambula: Who wants to race me to the end of the street?!
 * Village Foals: We do! We do!


 * Prince Hisan: It's not a normal snake!
 * Somnambula: Does it have a rattle? Is it a sidewinder? Does it have a hood maybe?


 * Royal Guard: Do we really want to see the inside of a snake?
 * Somnambula: The inside of a snake is there whether you see it or not. Huh, I guess that's kind of like hope. There's always hope, even when you can't see it.


 * Somnambula: Hey, you look like a wizard!
 * Wizard: Wow, it's not just your necklace, you are bright.
 * Somnambula: Aren't you just a Grumpy Gus.


 * Royal Guard: What's that?
 * Somnambula: Hope! And a wooden pole. It's also a wooden pole.


 * Pinkie Pie: Well, this Somnambula sounds like my kind of pony! I'd love to have an adventure inside of a snake, wouldn't you?


 * Sunburst: She said she did voices... but how does she sound so much like a snake? It was like a snake was in the room.