Editing The Flyin' Fox Trot

{{Comicstory
|seriesissue=''[[My Little Pony/Transformers]]'' #3
|prev=Pet Sounds
|next=My Little Pony/Transformers issue #4
|image=MLPTF 3 cvr RI.jpg
|title="The Flyin' Fox Trot"
|caption=
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|published in=[[My Little Pony/Transformers issue 3|''My Little Pony/Transformers'' #3]] 
|date=[[October 7]], [[2020]]
|coverdate=October 2020
|written by=[[Sam Maggs]]
|art by=[[Priscilla Tramontano]]
|colors by=[[Luis Antonio Delgado]]
|letters by=[[Neil Uyetake]]
|editor=[[Megan Brown]], [[David Mariotte]], and [[Bobby Curnow]]
}}

'''Windblade and Rainbow Dash race to find out who's the better flier, but Misfire's intent on ensuring that neither of them cross the finish line.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Rainbow Dash]] is confident that she's the fastest pony in [[Ponyville]], but while she's relaxing on a cloud in the sky, the super-speedy [[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]] zooms past and blows her out of the sky with a mighty sonic boom. As the [[Autobot]] transforms and touches down, she introduces herself to Rainbow Dash... and what begins as friendly banter soon turns into an intense race to the finish!

As [[Twilight Sparkle]] and her friends watch from the sidelines, ponies and [[Autobot]]s take their places on the starting line... and when the checkered flag drops, Rainbow and Windblade take to the air, a contest of wings versus jet engines. Windblade's faster than Rainbow Dash expected, and even uses her own airfoils to bump Rainbow Dash off-course, but the pegasus pony quickly recovers and briefly overtakes the airborne Autobot in an impressive aerobatic display before Windblade catches up and retakes the lead. Rainbow Dash sees her friends cheering her on, and swears that, on the honor of [[Equestria]], she ''can't'' let down her friends by losing... but she doesn't get the chance to make good on that promise before an ominous rumble causes both racers to slow down. 

The noise, it turns out, belongs to four [[Decepticon]]s: [[Misfire (G1)|Misfire]], [[Ion Storm]], [[Acid Storm (G1)|Acid Storm]], and [[Nova Storm (G1)|Nova Storm]]. When Windblade demands to know why they've crashed the race, Misfire gloats that they're there to show the inhabitants of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] and Equestria who's ''really'' superior... and if they happen to take down some Autobots and ponies with them, the better! Windblade would rather flee the Decepticons than fight, but Rainbow Dash can't take the melodrama seriously and decides to show them up by teaching Windblade how to pull off her new "Flyin' Fox Trot" maneuver. As the two fliers jink around the first barrage of missiles, Rainbow Dash explains how it's done: first, she baits Misfire into thinking she's much slower than she really is; when Misfire orders the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]]s into firing heat-seeking missiles at the pair, Rainbow orders Windblade to go left while she goes right. As the missiles converge on their respective targets, Rainbow Dash and a doubtful Windblade hold position—then blitz right back towards the Seekers with the missiles in tow, enveloping the villains in a colossal explosion! At the finish line, Rainbow Dash and Windblade hoist the trophy together, and agree to call the competition a tie... although the defeated Decepticons don't ''quite'' agree with that assessment.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]] (2)
* [[Mach Kick]] (3)
* [[Battle Unicorn]] (4)


|c2=

* [[Ion Storm]] (10)
* [[Acid Storm (G1)|Acid Storm]] (11)
* [[Misfire (G1)|Misfire]] (12)
* [[Nova Storm (G1)|Nova Storm]] (13)

|c4=
* [[Rainbow Dash]] (1)
* [[Fluttershy]] (5)
* [[Pinkie Pie]] (6)
* [[Rarity]] (7)
* [[Applejack]] (8)
* [[Spike (MLP)|Spike]] (9)

}}


==Quotes==
"I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm the '''fastest''' in Equestria." <br>
"Until I showed up?" <br>
"'''Still!'''"
:—'''Rainbow Dash''' and '''Windblade'''


"HA! Do these guys always talk like drama villains?"
:—'''Rainbow Dash''' versus the Decepticons


"You've done this before, right?" <br>
"No, but I've seen it in books!" <br>
"Oh, great—" <br>
:—'''Windblade''' and '''Rainbow Dash'''

==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
* Although she doesn't create one in the comic itself, Rainbow Dash alludes to her powerful "[[wikia:MLP:Sonic Rainboom (event)|Sonic Rainboom]]" maneuver in her first conversation with Windblade. 
* [[Spike (MLP)|Spike]] appears as one of the many spectators taking in the race. [[Inspiring|His spotlight story]] in the previous issue had him stranded on [[Earth]] with [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], so perhaps he found a way to get home offscreen?

===Transformers references===
* Windblade isn't the only Cybertronian to take part in the race—she's also racing against [[Mach Kick]] and [[Battle Unicorn]], two [[Beast Era]] Transformers who become horses. Though Battle Unicorn is faithfully colored to resemble his ''Beast Machines'' toy, Mach Kick sports a vibrant teal and purple paintjob, presumably to match the technicolor ponies of Equestria.
* [[Misfire (G1)|Misfire]]'s accompanied by the [[Rainmaker]]s; originally a trio of [[generic]] [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]]s from the  ''[[The Transformers (cartoon)|The Transformers]]'' episode "[[Divide and Conquer]]", [[Acid Storm (G1)|Acid Storm]] found fame when he received a toy in [[2008]]; [[Ion Storm]] and [[Nova Storm (G1)|Nova Storm]] received names in 2015's "[[Ask Vector Prime]]" column, and all three have recently returned as a cohesive unit over in [[IDW Publishing]]'s ongoing ''[[Transformers (2019 comic)|Transformers]]'' comic.
* Misfire himself is wielding a twin-barreled gun based on his traditional [[Targetmaster (technology)|Targetmaster]] partner [[Aimless (G1)|Aimless]], although we're not putting that down as an appearance because there's nothing to suggest Misfire's gun is alive here.

===My Little Pony references===
* One of the participants in the race is wearing a mask and goggles based on the uniforms of the [[wikia:MLP:Wonderbolts|Wonderbolts]], although the mask is colored orange instead of sky-blue.

===Errors===
* The first two pages of the prologue seems to depict this as the first time that Windblade met Rainbow Dash; however, this doesn’t ''entirely'' line up with the scene in "[[Transformation Is Magic]]", however, where Rainbow and the other members of the Wonderbolts bumped into Windblade as she was ejected from the malfunctioning [[space bridge]]. 

===Other trivia===
* Solicits for this comic mention a character named "Crasher" antagonizing our heroes. The blurb uses male pronouns, so it probably wasn't [[Crasher (G1)|the pre-existing Decepticon]]; there are no ''My Little Pony'' characters who go by this name either, so whoever this was meant to be will likely remain a mystery...

[[Category:My Little Pony/Transformers issues]]