My Little Pony: Friends Forever #3 Review

Twilight’s #1 assistant and the princess of Equestria align forces in the latest issue of Friends Forever. Is this rather unique team-up a solid story? It’s actually the best issue from the mini-series yet. Aside from a few writing mishaps, it’s a pretty great read.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Featuring the unlikely duo of Princess Celestia and Spike! In need of the birthday present for Twilight, Spike enlists Celestia on an adventure! What seems to be a harmless journey quickly turns into danger for even the mightiest of ponies! Who will save whom?? 

In all four seasons, Spike hasn’t had much interaction with Celestia, so it’s pretty interesting to see a story centering around these two. The first issue was disappointing and the second was fun, but rather off due to Discord’s portrayal not being up to standard. Now we have this one, which would prove to be a unique or badly written ride. Princess Celestia is not really a fan favorite character, due to her personality not being too fleshed out aside from being Twilight’s mentor and the princess of Equestria. This issue not only gives us a very nice story, but new insights into how the princess operates on a personal level. (Oh yeah, Spike is there too.)

Ted Anderson is no stranger to the MLP comics, having written the stellar 5 star Micro-Series Pinkie Pie issue. He perfectly knows how to add a sense of genuine writing to the story, he makes the characters have an emotional touch. Here we have Princess Celestia for the first time in a long while going out an adventure. And here we have Spike, whom she actually mentors a bit. There are some things with the writing I didn’t like, such as Spike referring to Twilight as “Twilight Sparkle” to Celestia. (By now, he never uses her full name like that.) Beyond small things like that, I have no problems with the writing. There’s a lot of great stuff.

It’s amazing to see the Princess portrayed in a new light. We have her telling Spike how she wishes she could accompany Twilight and her friends on adventures, but she has a duty the kingdom. She goes on to say how she sometimes let Twilight deal with problems instead of fixing them herself, because that’s what a teacher sometimes does. It’s a nice look at how Celestia works, since we’re used to seeing her as more of a one-dimensional character in the show. Oh yeah, and there’s Spike. He’s written well for the most part, some of his fans might be displeased with his more amateur-like role. Agnes Garbowska’s art had a very nice, mellow look to it. The main cover by Amy Mebberson is pretty solid. The RI variant by Agnes is more adventurous however, very unique for a comic cover. The subscription cover by Tony Fleecs is a pretty nice piece, though I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the aforementioned covers.

Overall, I was genuinely surprised by how good this issue was. Spike being a central character in anything usually doesn’t end well, but Friends Forever #3 is a pretty great comic. Princess Celestia makes for a really compelling protagonist, no comic writer has written her quite like this before. So fans of the Princess will definitely want to pick this up.