Love is in the air! In this prequel to A Canterlot Wedding, you’ll get to see how Princess Cadence and Twilight’s brother Shining Armor became a couple. Does the issue explore this well? It’s a pretty entertaining look into the past.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Love is in the air as Katie Cook and Andy Price reveal the secret history of Shinning Armor and Princess Cadence’s love! Before they were royalty, they were two teenagers who had no idea how to talk to each other! Find out how the romance started right here! 

Now this is using the comic medium in a pretty interesting way. My Little Pony has a rich backstory that sadly has only been dipped into throughout the three seasons. This is where the comics can come in and change that, by telling stories that directly cross reference with events in the show. Ever wonder how Cadence and Shining Armor became a thing? Find out here!

Katie Cook crafts a very interesting look into Canterlot High when Twilight was a filly and Shining Armor/Cadence were in high school. Believe it or not, Shining Armor’s a bit of what people in school would label a ‘nerd.’ Meanwhile we have the beautiful Princess Cadence, whom is very nice. The story starts nicely, set in current day. Some of these scenes are priceless, such as Applejack eying a very small cupcake suspiciously. Fluttershy is the one to ask how they met, and thus the story is born. It’s a pretty funny, and informative read. Plus we get to see a bit of Twilight’s house and parents! (And look for some pop culture references, such as Star Trot.)

You can tell Andy Price is constantly having a blast with drawing these ponies. Right from the opening page you’ll be smiling at the expressive reactions. No artist has been able to replicate this humor through art quite the same. The main cover is an appropriate one, being a school photo yearbook. (It offers cool and funny looks at some of the characters from the show in their high school years.) Cover B I personally prefer, being a nice piece featuring filly Twilight and Cadence, Stephanie Buscema never fails. The RI is very artistic and unique among the three, it will probably be the fan favorite. As for store exclusive variants, how can you go wrong with Larry’s cover featuring Rainbow Dash as the mighty Thor?!

Overall, this was a very interesting issue of My Little Pony. It’s really cool how it tells a story taking place in the past that has a direct relationship to something major in present day. Some might be irked that Shining Armor isn’t like his current portrayal, but I personally didn’t mind. Plus, you’ll see how a certain background pony gets her cutie mark, pretty awesome scene that I have to give a round of applause to the team for including it. (For some, it’ll be the the scene that makes the comic!)

4/5

Daniel is a huge fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. His favorite is Fluttershy and you can follow him on Twitter: @Destroyer_199