Written by: Ted Anderson
Art by: Tony Fleecs
Published by: IDW
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In an effort to be completely honest and to put my biases on the table: I do not like Equestria Girls on pretty much every level. The idea is a lazy cash grab, though I’m not sure who the actual market is given some of Hasbro’s mixed PR in the past. The first movie is abysmal and the second movie, while better, is still lazy and not very good. I don’t even like the art direction! The pony style wasn’t meant to work with humans, and it sure doesn’t.
That all being said, the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Holiday Special isn’t terrible, and in fact, approaches good in many respects. I’m surprised, and pleasantly so.
Twilight Sparkle takes a backseat to Sunset Shimmer, who is still coping with some shaky past events and trying to understand what it means to both be a good friend and have them. Yeah, it’s fairly standard Pony stuff, but the MLP:EGHS actually explores Sunset Shimmer in a way I had hoped both of the movies would.
What is it like for a person who left her home for a different one to live and be happy?
Sunset Shimmer’s gut reaction upon entering Human Equestria was to be a dominant figure, to try and gain power. I don’t blame her. She went from being a unicorn with magic to a high school girl. That’s a downgrade in every aspect of the word.
She’s lost her power but gained friends, and she seems to think that an apt trade. However, she still has no home, no family, and no real idea what to do with herself.
Human Equestria is getting ready to celebrate their version of Christmas, and the other five ponies people have noticed that Sunset is looking blue. I guess feeling down during the holidays is a universal concept. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, etc want to help stave off her loneliness, and their answer is to just be there, which is actually kind of nice and normal when you think about it. The first leg of the comic moves fairly slow as the six characters just hang out. It’s not all that funny, and it does little of real interest, but it’s kind of relaxing and sweet.
And then someone on the Human Equestria equivalent of Facebook starts posting nasty secrets about everyone while pretending to be Sunset Shimmer. Of course, everyone suspects Sunset given her past, and the girl who has nothing but five friends winds up having just nothing.
Given the context behind Sunset Shimmer, the whole thing is actually kind of heartbreaking, though it’s never executed well enough to truly break a heart. The comic isn’t quite long enough for that. Still, the whole thing is sad.
Sunset begins talking to Twilight via a magical book introduced in Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, and Twilight inquires about Windigo monsters, which feed off hatred and chaos. Sunset responds with, “I don’t think there need to be [Windigos]. I think anyone can spread hatred and chaos. It doesn’t have to be caused by Windigos, or magical spells, or curses.”
I think that above quote is my favorite part of the whole comic. It’s realistic, bleak, and terribly true.
I am very happy that Twitter and Facebook did not exist while I was in high school. We had crappy Myspace, and that was fairly tame. What social media has become now is its own monster, and MLP:EGHS shows but a glimpse of what it can do to hurt relationships. Lies spread quickly enough without adding hashtags to them.
If anything, the only real fault with this holiday special is the ending, which like everything Equestria Girls (and a handful of MLP:FiM episodes and comics) related, is rushed and kind of anticlimactic. There’s no real twist or anything, and in fact, the punchline is one that shows up in season two of the show.
Then the comic is over.
I look at Sunset Shimmer and I can’t tell if she’s some kind of crazy plot hole or a character with unforeseen depth. Why she stays in Human Equestria at all is a mystery to me, especially given her status as, “just another human” over a gifted unicorn.
And she also has to realize that once high school ends, most friendships—no matter how great—fizzle out as people move on to college. But then, she did try and mind control a bunch of students to take over the world in the first Equestria Girls movie, so I’m not sure she’s ever working with long-term goals. I just can’t help but think she’s in for a depressing dose of reality come graduation day, though that might be true of everyone. Friendship isn’t actually magic in the realm of humans. What happens when Rainbowdash gets a soccer scholarship to one college while Rarity goes to a fashion university half the country away?
I don’t like Equestria Girls, but I’m intrigued by Sunset Shimmer. If the series can continue to explore her like this comic did, I might be on board. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, though as you can tell by how many words I vomited out, I’ve maybe put more thought into the whole thing than required.
