| My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #58 | |
|---|---|
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| Issue №: | 58 |
| Published: | September 13, 2017 |
| Writer: | Thom Zahler |
| Artist: | Agnes Garbowska |
| Colorist: | Heather Breckel |
| Letterer: | Neil Uyetake |
| Editor: | Bobby Curnow |
| See also | |
| Credits • Gallery • Allusions | |
| Issue guide | |
| Previous Friendship is Magic #57 |
Next Friendship is Magic #59 |
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #58, titled The Vines That Bind in trade paperback, is the fifty-eighth issue of IDW Publishing's Friendship is Magic comic series. In the issue, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Zecora follow the notes of Mage Meadowbrook search for a flower said to cure any ailment.
Summary[]
Following the events of the season seven episode A Health of Information, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Zecora look through more of Mage Meadowbrook's plant research notes at the Castle of Friendship—with the help of Meadowbrook's descendant Cattail. During their search, they discover several unsent love letters addressed from Meadowbrook to someone named Aqua Vine and research notes about a magical plant called the Magenta Bloom that could theoretically cure a wide variety of illnesses and amplify unicorn magic. Twilight is interested in the Magenta Bloom's medical applications, and Fluttershy wants to deliver the love letters to Aqua Vine's descendants—both routes point the group toward Fillydelphia.
At the Fillydelphia Hall of Records, the group is informed that one of Aqua Vine's descendants now runs a greenhouse in the city. At the Vine greenhouse, they meet with the owner, deliver Mage Meadowbrook's old letters to her, and ask about the Magenta Bloom. Ms. Vine explains that her family has been looking for the Magenta Bloom since Aqua Vine began his long ago, and she has had its supposed location narrowed down for some time but was unable to conduct her own search due to family and work. She decides to join Twilight and the others' expedition for the flower while her brother watches the shop.
As Twilight, Fluttershy, Zecora, Cattail, and Ms. Vine make their way through the woods, Twilight becomes increasingly obsessed with finding the Magenta Bloom and making her mark on Equestrian history. When Ms. Vine asks Cattail about his ancestor, Cattail tells a story about a town called Bridleberg that was stricken by a horrible plague. Despite the quarantine that was in place, Mage Meadowbrook entered the town and tried to find the cause of the disease, eventually tracing it to a lichen that contaminated the town's water supply. Against the mayor's wishes, Meadowbrook decontaminated the water and saved the town's population.
Ms. Vine loses the trail leading to the Magenta Bloom's location, but after Fluttershy consults some local squirrels, the group manages to get back on track. They soon find the Magenta Bloom growing on the side of the Coastal Cliffs. Twilight tries to fly up to it, but the heavy winds and saltwater sprays prevent her from reaching it. She suggests using a nearby trail to reach the top of the cliffs. As Twilight leads the group, Fluttershy mentions her growing obsession to Zecora, and Zecora shares Fluttershy's concerns. At the top of the cliffs, Twilight tries again to claim the Magenta Bloom, but some of the cliff rock gives way underneath her, and the heavy winds are made even worse by the flower's pollen. Fluttershy pushes the winds back with her wings long enough for Twilight to make it back to the cliff.
That evening, the ponies set up camp, and Twilight realizes how obsessed she's been about getting the Magenta Bloom and leaving something behind like Mage Meadowbrook's research notes and Princess Celestia. Fluttershy tells her that friends help to keep one grounded. Twilight considers leaving the Bloom's retrieval to an official expedition team, but the others say they can pull it off themselves and as a team.
The next morning, the ponies try once again to get the Magenta Bloom—with Twilight flying down the cliff, Fluttershy holding the winds back with her wings, Cattail serving as Twilight's eyes through the dense pollen, and Zecora and Ms. Vine serving as Twilight's anchor. Through their teamwork, the group successfully claims the Magenta Bloom. As the ponies make their way back to town, Cattail decides to stay in Fillydelphia a little longer. Twilight confides in Fluttershy that she's still embarrassed by her earlier obsessions, but Fluttershy tells her that she was driven by all the good that the Magenta Bloom could do, not out of personal glory.
Fluttershy and Zecora agree that this is what makes Twilight different from Mage Meadowbrook: she has friends and family to help keep her on the right path whenever she loses sight of what's important.
Quotes[]
- Zecora: It seems it was Mage Meadowbrook who was obsessed with this magical Magenta Bloom.
- Twilight Sparkle: How could she not be? Look at what it would have been able to do. I think it could cure at least the blue flu and juvenile croup! Plus, it could easily enhance almost any unicorn spell! It could change the course of Equestrian medicine forever!
- Twilight Sparkle: Princess Celestia says there are moments where everything can change. This is one of those!
- Squirrel: Chirp! Cheep cheeps! Squeak!
- Fluttershy: Left at the Fallen Evergreen, right at the field, and then we'll find the trail again? Thank you so much.
- Squirrel: Squeak chirppeter chirp!
- Fluttershy: Why, thank you! Your family seems lovely as well.
- Aqua Vine's descendant: You ponies are very interesting.
- Zecora: We have had more than one chance to call upon Fluttershy's ability to talk to animals all. Though her ability to have an exchange can oftentimes seem quite strange.
- Aqua Vine's descendant: Right. She talks strange.
- Fluttershy: Zecora, does Twilight seem... fixated on the Bloom?
- Zecora: Fluttershy, that does seem to be. I'm afraid the flower's possibilities are all she can see.
- Fluttershy: She wants to leave something lasting, like Mage did.
- Zecora: Mage Meadowbrook was consumed by her quest for the Bloom. We must make sure that Twilight doesn't also succumb to that doom.
- Twilight Sparkle: I was so foolish! I got so caught up in that flower and what it could do... Who it could help... What secrets it might have... I just wanted to leave something behind. Like Mage's journals. Or all that Princess Celestia has done. I couldn't think straight. And I almost got myself hurt or worse.
- Zecora: Take to the sky, Twilight! Our mission must take flight!
- Fluttershy: You were caught up in making history, but not for your personal glory or your own benefit. You were caught up in the good it could do. Twilight, you're one of the most caring ponies I know. How could you not be obsessed by something that could help so many?
- Twilight Sparkle: Yes, but I lost sight of things, didn't I?
- Fluttershy: And that's why you have friends, isn't it? To keep you on the right path.
- Zecora: That's where Mage Meadowbrook went off the trail and the thing we should learn from this tale. Friendships and family, those should not be pushed away, those are the things that need to stay.
- Fluttershy: And sometimes, those relationship even take root and bloom later, don't they?
- Twilight Sparkle: They do indeed.
