My Little Pony issue 5

Chronology

My Little Pony #5
Comic
Artist	Abby Bulmer
Writer	Casey Gilly
Colorist	Heather Breckel
Letterer	Neil Uyetake
Cover(s)	Andy Price (A) Justasuta (B) Trish Forstner (C)
Editor	Riley Farmer

My Little Pony #5 is the fifth issue of My Little Pony and is tangentially apart of the Return to Canterlot arc. The Mane Five are emailed to visit a mysterious lighthouse in a town that doesn't seem to exist in order to learn about Discord.

Synopsis

Framing device

A mysterious pony only known as 'a friend' invited Pipp Petals and the rest of her friends to the Whispering Beacon, the oldest lighthouse in Equestria in the town of Candlebright Cove. Though the Mane 5 are understandably uncomfortable with this situation, they still investigate it for the sake of uncovering the mystery of Discord, with Pipp informing her audience that there's a possibly that they may go missing.

The pony soon emerges from the doorway and invites them inside. When questioned for his name, he introduces himself as Lightning Rod and asks them how much they know about 'Chaos Magic'. After a quick Wikiponia search, Pipp summarizes the concept before asking what Lightning Rod may know, prompting him to tell them about the Mirror of Mayhem.

Lightning Rod and the Mirror of Mayhem

Lightning Rod tells the story of the Mirror of Mayhem, a cursed object that brought misfortune upon everypony who came in contact with it. It simply appeared one day, in the cargo hold of a merchant ship, only for the ship to be raided by Captain Cannon Bones and her pirate crew -- though soon after that, she died as well. Later, a scuba diver came across the treasure chest containing the mirror, but they were soon attacked by a shark. Ultimately, the mirror fell into the hands of Fet Lockland, a shady businessman who sold the mirror to any pony willing to pay -- fully knowing the consequences that may befall them.

After he sold the mirror countless times, each pony returning it, he amassed a fortune, until one day, his shop simply closed. Rumor has it that ponies witnessed him performing occult rituals with the mirror during one of these nights. It was around then that Zipp interrupted Lightning Rod's story and kept asking him questions. Where did he go? Why was the town missing? Was the story even real? And most importantly, could she have more hot chocolate?

Lightning Rod was eager to answer these questions. He told of how Discord, after he was trapped in the stained glass, discovered a way to move throughout all glasses, eventually ending up in the Mirror. Now, all the ponies on the balcony of the lighthouse overlooking the ruins of Candlebright Cove, ask what happened to the once great settlement, only for Lightning Rod to sadly say that he was the one who destroyed the town.

One Last Scary Story

Lightning Rod gave the ponies a brief history of the town of Candlebright Cove, how he loved the town and its residents. However, he was slowly becoming...outdated for the town and his profession unneeded. He decided to retire gracefully, but when he came across the Mirror of Mayhem in his packing, he was confronted by Discord, who told him how without him, ships would wreck into the town and how he could make sure his job would never become dated, as long as he freed him. A downtrodden Lightning Rod took his offer, but sadly, the entire town simply vanished.

The Mane Five try to cheer him up, reassuring that it wasn't his fault and that he was brave for telling the story. Now finally willing to move on from his post as lighthouse keeper, Lightning Rod joked that he'll become a blogger next. Zipp remained confused however, though she believed his story, felt that the details were off-putting and confusing, such as the sheer longevity of Lightning Rod and believed some of the beats of his story were useless to the core information. Pipp on the otherhand remarked that he was a natural storyteller. As the ponies look back however, the lighthouse was completely gone.

Appearances

Characters and groups

• Mane Five
  • Sunny Starscout
  • Zipp Storm
  • Pipp Petals
  • Izzy Moonbow
  • Hitch Trailblazer
• Lightning Rod (also referred to as 'a friend') (deceased)
• Various victims of the Mirror of Mayhem
  • Captain Cannon Bone (deceased)
  • Fet Lockland (deceased)
• Discord
• Princess Celestia (mentioned)

Places

• Equestria
  • Old Equestria
    • Candlebright Cove
      • Whispering Beacon
      • Outlaw Oddities
    • Sea Junk

Objects, consumables, and vehicles

• Pipp's phone
• Hot chocolate
• Mirror of Mayhem
• Various ships
• Bits

Species

• Pony
  • Earth Pony
  • Pegasus
  • Unicorn
• Fish
  • Shark
• Ghost?

Misc

• Wikiponia
• Bloody Marey
• Chaos Magic
• Death

Notes

Chronology, continuity and callbacks

• If everything Lightning Rod says is true, this could cause some continuity hiccups. Mainly, his portrayal of Discord was one that was far more cruel than the one we often see depicted in Friendship is Magic, who once said that he never tried to hurt anypony when he did, explicitly, hurt manyponies.
• Wikiponia was a website referenced in a Friendship is Magic commercial. This is likely a coincidence and not a specific callback to that advertisement, however.

Cultural references

• Candlebright Cove's name might be an allusion to the iconic creepypasta Candle Cove.
• In general, this story has several trademarks of classic nautical horror stories, such as haunted lighthouses, abandoned towns, and the fear of becoming obsolete.
• Wikiponia is a reference to Wikipedia.
• Bloody Marey is a reference to Bloody Mary, an urban legend.
• The Mirror of Mayhem, while possibly not a specific reference, is analogous to several cursed object ghost stories in the real world.
• The idea that Fet profited off of Chaos Magic may be a reference to the esoteric conspiracy theory of 'Chaos Banking', which had a minor resurgence in popularity in the early 2020s. However, this theory is extremely obscure and the finer details of its crux (beings from the future cause disasters in our modern age in order to release a type of energy) doesn't line up.

Features

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• Kodi by Jared Cullum
• The Girl and the Glim by India Swift and Michael Doig

Other

• Cover gallery

Cover gallery

• 

  Cover A, Andy Price

• 

  Cover A textless, Andy Price

• 

  Cover B textless, Justasuta

• 

  Cover C textless, Trish Forstner

References

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