The Fast and the Furriest
- Story by Ted Anderson, Art by Tony Fleecs, Colored by Heather Breckel
Hooves on Fire, Strong Desire, Rages Deep Within.
Also conversely, final comic of the regular series. (Click here).
Onward to season 10!
Strap in, sports fans, because it's time for the biggest race in Equestria - the Draytona Breach 500! And where there's a race, there's Rainbow Dash, ready to be trained by the most unlikely of ponies... Big Macintosh?! Meanwhile, a plunderer of ancient antiquities known as Sacks Roamer throws a wrench into the competition when he steals a priceless artifact. It promises to be the fast and the furriest in this brand-new My Little Pony adventure!
These issues contain examples of:
- The Bet: After being riled up by Rainbow, Silver Streak demands that Big Mac take part in the race, with Rainbow telling Silver that he will have to face up to what he did to his best friend is Big Mac wins.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just as Dr. Sacks Roamer is about to cross the finish line into Yakyakistan (where the dragons will be unable to follow due to the cold), Yona drops down via parachute, landing on top of him and stopping him in his tracks.
- Continuity Nod: Dr. Sacks Roamer leaves a Smartypants doll in place of the Mangalese Drake.
- The Cameo: The Cutie Mark Crusaders and the rest of the Young Six briefly appear during Rainbow Dash's Training Montage.
- Deadpan Snarker: Yona.Rainbow Dash: (to Big Mac) Somepony we've never met before just showed up and told us you've got some kind of previously unknown backstory with him!
Yona: Seems to happen a lot around here. - End-of-Series Awareness: Kinda, the cover of the 88th issue features all the known main characters and the final page has Dash stating it's "the end of an era" (in the context of the story, she's talking about losing an event). This was due to this issue being the last of the stand-alone stories for the comic. The next issue will begin season 10 and directly follow from the TV series (or the Ending of the End at least).
- Foreshadowing: When Spike and the two dragons fly down to find the Mangalese Drake, Yona glances at an "emergency parachute" hanging on the wall. Near the end of the story, she uses the parachute to stop Roamer from crossing the finish line.
- Hidden Depths: Lumpy earned a law degree at some point, and responds to Roamer's plan to smuggle the Mangalese Drake across the Yakyakistan border by mentioning "extradition treaties".
- Insistent Terminology: Played with when Lumpy claims Roamer is an "artiquities dealer".Spike: You mean he steals artifacts and sells them?
Lumpy: Yeah, that's the ticket. - Jerkass Realization: Silver Streak wins the race. But in the midst of his bragging, he sees Big Mac helping Rainbow (whose cart had been demolished by Roamer), and realises that he has no-one who would do the same for him, due to his obsession with racing keeping him from making any friends. This spurs him to make ammends with Big Mac.
- Karma Houdini: Lumpy was complicit in Roamer's crimes, and states that he's "wanted everywhere" by authorities. He manages to escape any punishment for this.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: Inverted with Silver Streak. He has a square jaw, but is bitter and resentful of Big Mac.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At the end of the story, Rainbow states that her being unable to finish a race for the fist time is "The end of an era". Spike retorts, "Eh, there's always next season". The season 10 comics are due to start immediately after Issue #88.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Sacks Roamer is a thief who steals valuable artifacts and sells them on the black market. His cloud gremlin minion, Lumpy, implies that he hasn't actually earned his doctorate yet.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The two dragons pursuing Roamer are far more polite and less confrontational than most dragons.
- Never My Fault: Silver Streak claims that Big Mac is the one who stopped being his friend after proving better than him him at racing. As Rainbow points out, this disregards the fact that he was the one who encouraged Big Mac to race in the first place.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The arc's title is a parody of The Fast and the Furious film series.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rainbow delivers one to Silver Streak while they're racing.Rainbow Dash: You wanted Mac to race - but couldn't handle it when he was better than you! You lost a friend because you cared more about winning!
- The Resenter: Silver Streak hated how Big Mac was better than him at racing, ending their friendship after Big Mac won the Draytona Breach instead of him.
- Saying Too Much: Invoked by Lumpy when Spike interrogates him.Spike: You're the funny guy! I mean, the thief!
Lumpy: Who, me? I'm nobody! I'm no thief! I just work for the thief! Wait, that's the wrong thing to say. - Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After getting away from Spike, Lumpy decides to quit thieving and join the circus.
- Shout-Out:
- Sacks Roamer is named after Sax Rohmer, the creator of Fu Manchu.
- The way Sacks Roamer replaces the Mangalese Drake with Smartypants references Indiana Jones' similar maneuver in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- The Mangalese Drake is a parody of The Maltese Falcon.
- The Draytona Breach 500 is one for the Daytona 500
- 6 Is 9: Lumpy accidentally hides the Mangalese Drake in Rainbow's cart (#91) instead of Roamer's cart (#16) due to having the card with the number written on it upside down.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- When Rainbow practices on the actual Draytona Breach course, she does badly, having trained in the much more even and much less rocky terrain around Ponyville.
- Spike tries to inform Rainbow Dash that she has a stolen artifact in her cart, but is unable to keep up with her due to his little wings.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Rainbow reveals that she plans to take part in the race, Applejack's response is a subdued "Oh, mercy".
- Voice for the Voiceless: Spike speaks for Big Mac multiple times in part one, including describing his history with Silver Streak. When Yona asks how he can do this so well, Spike states that he's learned how to read Big Mac's body language and "subtle cues".
- We Used to Be Friends: Big Mac and Silver Streak were friends in farm school, before racing tore them apart.
