Wings Over Yakyakistan
- Story by Christina Rice, Art by Agnes Garbowski
As one of her first official duties as the Friendship Ambassador to Yakyakistan, Pinkie Pie arranges for the Wonderbolts to perform a show for the Yaks. Rainbow Dash's parents, Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof also tag along, excited to see their daughter perform again. The yaks remain stoic through the show, but Prince Rutherford assures them that the yaks enjoyed it very much.
Suddenly fireballs start striking the ground, and they see a horde of dragons attacking Yakyakistan. Prince Rutherford and the other yaks cover for the ponies and younger yaks as they take shelter in nearby caves. As the dragons continue to strike at the village, Rainbow Dash has Fleetfoot fly back to Ponyville to get help while trying to convince Spitfire that the Wonderbolts should lead a counterattack against the dragons. Spitfire refuses, saying that they are not warriors. Rainbow Dash felts that Spitfire doesn't have the courage to fight, and her parents tell a story about how much fear the young Dash had at performing in her first flying competition, but they managed to convince her to be brave. Spitfire realizes she was wrong, and she and the yak warriors make a plan of attack to fend off the dragons.
Though they are able to slow the dragons' attack, they still can't do enough harm to stop their attack, but soon Fleetfoot returns with Twilight, Starlight, Spike, and the rest of the Mane 6 in tow. With their combined efforts, they are able to stun and stop most of the dragons. During a lull in the battle, the ponies and yaks try to figure out why the dragons suddenly decided to attack, when they see some dragons approaching them. Spike is shocked to see they are led by a very angry Ember.
Ember insists that the Yaks have broken a sacred bond, and insists they must go to war with the yaks. As night descends, Twilight tries to read ancient yak scrolls to try to find the origin of the bond, but there's no word. Spike, frustrated that the ponies forget that he's also a dragon, steps outside and is taken by a dragon to the yak village, where Ember and the others have taken it over. Spike tries to remind her about why he turned over the Dragon Scepter to her, but she insists that while they have been trying to get along with the other species in Equestria, the ancient bond was broken. Spike begs for her to tell him what that vow was. Ember explains that many generations ago, the dragons and yaks had fought over the same areas of land, but the war left it devastated. Dragon Lord Scintilla and Prince Ulysses of the yaks agreed that they would establish their homelands at separate ends of Equestria, resolving the matter peacefully. To that end, Ulysses had named Scintilla an honorary yak, a bond that could not be broken. Spike realizes that Pinkie's recent trip to Yakyakistan had caused Rutherford to give Pinkie the honorary yak title, breaking that bond.
The next day, the ponies and yaks ready for the dragons as they march towards the cave, Spike leading them. However, before conflict sets out, Spike immediately accosts Ember and Rutherford for making a big deal out of nothing. Spike explains Ember's story, and Twilight realizes that this was in the yak scrolls, just misunderstood by Rutherford due to the bad art making them think Scintilla was a volcano. Realizing they were about to go to war over a misunderstanding, all sides drop the hostilities, and the dragons and ponies help to repair the yak village.
Tropes appearing in these issues
- Big Damn Heroes: Subverted. Fleetfoot brings Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6, Starlight, and Spike to help the Yaks and the Wonderbolts, but even they end up being forced to retreat after how overwhelming the odds are.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Besides building on much of the existing show's mythos, it introduces two elements of Season 7 that would have just been broadcasted by the time this is released: Rainbow Dash's parents from "Parential Glideance" and Pinkie being the pony ambassador to the Yaks from "Not Asking for Trouble".
- Didn't Think This Through: At the end, Spike calls out everyone for this.
- Disproportionate Retribution: After learning that the "sacred bond" between the yaks and the dragons has been broken, Ember decides the best course of action is to wipe out Yakyakistan.
- Fantastic Racism: The episode pits the yaks against the dragons, with the ponies siding with the yaks, and Spike stuck in the middle due to being a dragon but more seen as a pony.
- Happy Ending Override: Played with.
- Pinkie's "honorary Yak" status bestowed upon her in "Not Asking for Trouble" turns out to have violated an ancient treaty and therefore pissed Ember and co. off, though the latter do end up retroactively changing that treaty at the end (thus allowing Pinkie to keep said status without instigating any more war).
- "Gauntlet of Fire" has Spike win the Bloodstone Scepter and immediately give it to Ember, trusting that she is the new leader the dragons need to maintain peaceful relations with the other species. Here, one of her first acts as Dragon Lord is to start a war against the yaks over a perceived violation of an ancient treaty, making no attempt at a diplomatic resolution until after much prodding from Spike.
- Hypocrite: Ember complains about how ponies see dragons as only bringing "destruction and total ruin", yet she leads her kind in an attempt to wipe out Yakyakistan, acting exactly as the ponies perceive them to. Spike later calls her out on this.
- Innocently Insensitive: In the second part of the story, the ponies make several prejudiced remarks towards dragons while Spike is in the vicinity, deeply annoying him.
- Insane Troll Logic: Ember believes that the Yaks genuinely not remembering their "sacred bond" would be even worse than them deliberately going back on it. Even she seems to realize this at the end — as the modern-day Yaks, upon discovering that they've been misinterpreting their history all along, do indeed try to resolve said "bond". Plus, it is claimed that the "sacred bond" between yaks and dragons is "one that never would be replicated", but at no point does Ember point out anything in their treaty where the yaks agreed not to grant the title of "honorary yak" to any other creature.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The synopsis for this two part story (and a cover for issue #55) implied that Pinkie Pie would play a part in negotiating peace between the dragons and yaks. She ends up doing nothing of the sort, and only plays a minor role in the second part.
- Oh, Crap!: At the end of the first issue of the arc, the ponies and yaks regroup and try to think up a plan, when they see some dragons coming toward them. When Spike uses the telescope to get a closer look, he sees Ember leading the group.
- Poor Communication Kills: Ember does little in the way of explaining her actions at first, saying only that the yaks have broken their "sacred bond", and not elaborating on it. She even refuses to explain the matter to Spike until he insists upon it.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Spike deals one out to all three factions, calling out Twilight and the ponies for their generalizations regarding dragons, pointing out to Ember that her actions are only serving to prove those generalizations right, and derides Prince Rutherford for not being able to comprehend his own species' history.
- Silly Reason for War:Spike: What? You're telling me that all this happened because ancient yaks were lousy artists?
Ember: Well, this is embarrassing. - Spoiler Opening: The cliffhanger of the first part reveals that Ember is leading the dragons' attack on the yaks, much to the shock of Spike and the other ponies. However, one of the covers for the issue spoils Ember's appearance.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- When Rainbow's parents reveal how when she got past her Stage Fright and mustered up all her courage for her first flight competition, Soarin' guesses that she managed to win first place. Rainbow replies that she placed fifth, reminding him that it was still her first ever competition.
- Even with the Wonderbolts leading the charge with the yaks to fight back against the dragons and the rest of the Mane 6, Starlight, and Spike all arriving to also lend assistance, it's still just one village fighting against an entire army of Dragons, who end up overwhelming them and forcing them to retreat.
- Even though the Yaks and Dragons ultimately resolve their "sacred bond"-related problem, the Dragons aren't just Easily Forgiven after rampaging through Yakyakistan; they have to agree to help repair said damage first.
- Team Power Walk: During the climax between the yaks and dragons, the two sides walk toward each other in this way. The moment is so engrossing that it takes a few panels for Twilight to realize Spike is walking with the dragons instead of them.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Prince Rutherford making Pinkie Pie an honorary yak turned out to be the catalyst for Ember's actions.
