Pet Sounds
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 Wouldn't it be nice to live together in the kind of world where we belong? | |||||||||||||
| "Pet Sounds" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Friendship in Disguise! #3 | ||||||||||||
| First published | October 7, 2020 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | October 2020 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | James Asmus | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Jack Lawrence | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Luis Antonio Delgado | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Jake M. Wood | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Megan Brown, David Mariotte, and Bobby Curnow | ||||||||||||
Fluttershy thinks that she can befriend anyone with a little kindness, but will this philosophy survive an encounter with Soundwave and his minions?
Synopsis
[edit]Every week, Fluttershy has tea with her good friend Discord, the spirit of chaos—but this particular get-together is interrupted when a crash from just outside her woodland cottage sends the contents of their tea tray flying. Fluttershy's certain that this is just one of Discord's tricks, but even Discord is surprised at the sight outside the window: Soundwave pulling himself free from an impact crater! Fluttershy and Discord don't know what to make of the Decepticon... and neither do Fluttershy's many animal friends, who promptly stampede inside Fluttershy's house and take shelter.
The animal-loving pony is quick to reassure the many frightened creatures; after all, in a place like Equestria, no one is ever all bad. Indeed, when Fluttershy heads out to welcome the newcomer, she's overjoyed when she sees Soundwave ejecting his minions Ravage, Ratbat, Laserbeak, and Frenzy and ordering them to recon the area—the visitor has brought pets! Fluttershy excitedly flies over to introduce herself to the Decepticon, who dismisses her as harmless; Discord, on the other hand, isn't quite so trusting, and his suspicions are proved correct when Soundwave recognizes the chaotic creature as a threat and opens fire. As the cassettes move to interrogate Fluttershy for information, Discord dodges Soundwave's blasts, magically transforming into a Cybertronian version of himself, but his shapeshifting antics quickly grind on the nerves of the stoic Decepticon.
For her part, Fluttershy does her best to tell Frenzy and the other Decepticons everything she knows about Equestria, but finds herself distracted when she spies a scratch on Ravage's nose. Although Ravage, Ratbat, and Laserbeak are charmed by Fluttershy's compassion, Frenzy won't hear it, and when Fluttershy brings out her tub of boo-boo creme, Frenzy goes as so far as to swat the pony aside in anger. Frenzy's just made a big mistake—Fluttershy explains that she did everything she could to welcome them... but some people are just bullies. People who care for one another stand alongside one another, and her point is illustrated when Frenzy's fellow cassette-bots turn against him—followed by Discord using his own chaos magic to change Fluttershy's creature friends into Cybertronians! The furious little robots swarm over Soundwave as Ravage pounces on Frenzy, who tries to remind Ravage of their friendship... and those words give Fluttershy pause. The yellow pony asks them if they really care about friendship, and Soundwave agrees: he does view all of the smaller Decepticons as his friends. Realizing that they have something in common, Fluttershy decides that they can start over and make friends; when Discord threatens to turn the pair into ponies, Soundwave and Frenzy agree to the impromptu truce. Discord returns Fluttershy's friends to normal, Frenzy apologizes, and the two groups make peace. At that moment, however, Soundwave receives a transmission from Megatron, who orders him to report to their new position. Soundwave informs his leader that they'll be there, but, as he watches his cassettes relax and have fun with their new friends, he corrects himself: they'll be there... eventually.
Featured characters
[edit](Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Decepticons | Equestrians |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
[edit]"Ohmy. It's... it's... actually, I don't have a word to describe any part of that. Do you promise you're not trying to scare me?"
"I'm afraid even I couldn't concoct something that bizarre."
- —Fluttershy and Discord on Soundwave
"A'right! Start talkin', ya candy-lookin' pack animal. What is this place?! What're its defenses?! Why's everything smell like lavender?!"
- —Frenzy interrogates Fluttershy
"Decrease absurdity. Or be deactivated."
- —Soundwave versus Discord
"I tried to be nice! I tried to make you feel welcome! But maybe you're just one of those bullies who thinks being mean makes others respect you?"
- —Fluttershy reaches her breaking point
Notes
[edit]Continuity notes
[edit]- This story picks up right after the events of "Transformation Is Magic"—that story had Soundwave and the other Decepticons arrive in Equestria via space bridge and crash-land all over Equestria.
- Discord debuted in the Friendship Is Magic cartoon as a straight-up villain who sought to plunge all of Equestria into eternal chaos. Although Twilight Sparkle and her friends sealed him away at the end of the "The Return of Harmony" two-parter, he returned in the third-season episode "Keep Calm and Flutter On"; there, Fluttershy took it upon herself to befriend Discord, and eventually convinced him to change his evil ways. Over the rest of the show's run, he gradually mellowed into a kinder, though still mischievous, character.
- Fluttershy and Discord's tradition of holding tea parties together played a role in the Friendship Is Magic episode "Discordant Harmony". This episode also featured Discord's personal "chaos dimension" that he mentions in his story to Fluttershy on page one.
- While under interrogation, Fluttershy tells Frenzy the story of what is, presumably, the series premiere, which saw Twilight Sparkle and her new friends receive the magical Elements of Harmony after using them to defeat Nightmare Moon.
Transformers references
[edit]- Much like his appearance in the recent Transformers vs. The Terminator miniseries and the concurrently released Transformers/Back to the Future crossover, Soundwave's dialogue uses the blue, "electronic" speech bubbles that debuted in the 2019 IDW continuity.
- Soundwave's order to Discord (quoted above) is a riff of one of his lesser known quotes from "Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2", in which he orders a group of enslaved humans to "increase efficiency, or be terminated."
- Soundwave admits that "friendship... superior" in reference to his famous line from The Transformers: The Movie: "Soundwave superior, Constructicons inferior."
Real-life references
[edit]- This story takes its title from the Beach Boys' 1966 album.
