Stunt Flying
| |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| "Stunt Flying" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| Published in | The Magic of Cybertron #2 | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 26, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | May 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Ian Flynn | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Priscilla Tramontano | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Joana Lafuente | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Jake M. Wood | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Megan Brown and David Mariotte | ||||||||||||
Our heroes launch their first push against King Sombra's brainwashed soldiers, but can the Seekers and Wonderbolts cooperate long enough to accomplish their mission?
Synopsis
The Wonderbolts have teamed up with the remaining Seekers to fight back against King Sombra's growing army of mind-controlled Transformers and ponies, but their alliance is uneasy at best: Starscream contemptuously wonders aloud why they even need the puny ponies, and Rainbow Dash aggravates him right back by reminding him of his humiliating encounter with Rarity. Wonderbolt captain Spitfire warns Rainbow not to antagonize their allies—though they might be unpleasant, the Wonderbolts are just stunt fliers who've never gone up against real enemies before. Rainbow's confident that they can show the Cybertronians what they can really do... before a laser beam nearly clips Rainbow Dash's wings! As a group of Sombra's slaves—pony, Autobot, and Decepticon alike—try to shoot the fliers out of the sky, Starscream orders his team to return fire. A doubtful Thundercracker points out that they'd be attacking their fellow Decepticons, and Soarin reminds them that their orders were to disable their enemies in the hopes of finding a way to reverse Sombra's spell. Even Skywarp insists that they need to rebuild their army if they want to retake Cybertron, something they can't do with a bunch of dead soldiers.
Arrogant as ever, Starscream has no patience for insubordination and angrily orders the Wonderbolts to cover him as he makes his first run... unfortunately for him, the ponies have zero experience with aerial combat, and even less experience with dodging lasers. Spitfire helps her teammates evade the incoming shots before using Skywarp's wings as a shield against ground fire; although she's out her depth, and says as much, Rainbow Dash suddenly comes up with a plan of her own. As the Wonderbolts form up on her position, she explains her plan to give the Seekers some much-needed breathing room before they all swing into action. Their "Barometric Buster" maneuver conjures up a dense thundercloud to conceal the Seekers from incoming fire; next, Rainbow pulls into a steep dive and unleashes a powerful "Sonic Rainboom" that knocks their foes off balance and leaves them wide open for the Seekers, who promptly entangle and incapacitate their foes with a barrage of net bombs.
While the ponies congratulate one another on making it through the ordeal in one piece, Thundercracker wonders if they should use this as an opportunity to eliminate the Autobots now, though Skywarp notes that they'll need a supply of expendable soldiers in the battles to come. Starscream, on the other hand, gloats that, once they're returned to normal, the Decepticons and Autobots they've rescued will gladly march to battle under his banner... but his speech is cut off by Thundercracker, Skywarp, and the Wonderbolts all cheering for the real hero of the hour: Rainbow Dash!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Equestrians |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
"The indignity! The fact anyone would think I'd need air support from a bunch of tiny, powerless ponies is an insult!"
"You sure about that? The way Rarity tells it, you lost a fight to your own cape!"
- —Starscream and Rainbow Dash
"Hold on! We're supposed to disable anypony we find so we can break Sombra's enchantment!"
"The flyin' glue bottle's right. We can't make an army out of dead soldiers."
- —Soarin gets to witness Skywarp invent a new racial slur
"That was terrifying!"
"Eh, all in all, flying through the hurricane that one time was way worse."
"The hurricane wasn't shooting at us, captain."
- —Soarin, Spitfire, and Wave Chill
Notes
Continuity notes
- Rainbow Dash mentions Rarity telling her about a time when Starscream "lost a fight to his own cape" in reference to his encounter with Rarity and Arcee in "Shine Like a Diamond".
- As they enact their plan, the Wonderbolts recite their motto—"Altius Volantis", Latin for "soaring higher"—from the episode "Newbie Dash".
- Rainbow Dash had previously alluded to her signature sonic rainbooms during her spotlight story in the last crossover, though she didn't actually create one during her race with Windblade.
- Spitfire recalls a time when she flew through a hurricane, a call-back to the events of "Hurricane Fluttershy".
Transformers references
- Starscream envisions himself wearing the traditional crown, cape, and shoulder pads he sported during his infamous coronation scene in The Transformers: The Movie, though he'd previously donned a version of this outfit (sans shoulder pads) in "Shine Like a Diamond" before Arcee intervened.
My Little Pony references
- They've made a few cameos in the comics before this issue, but now's as good a time as ever to briefly explain the nature of the Wonderbolts, a quasi-military group of stunt fliers who are basically the pony version of the Blue Angels. Spitfire's the established leader of this team, though the actual roster changes from episode to episode as the plot demands. This particular group includes most of the Wonderbolts who appeared in "The Best Night Ever": High Winds, Surprise, Soarin, Blaze, and Wave Chill.
Other trivia
- In what's likely a bit of artistic oversight, Fleetfoot and Fire Streak—who appeared in the first story in issue #1—are both absent here, with Wave Chill and High Winds subbing in for them. Hopefully, they're off having an adventure somewhere else on Cybertron... and let's hope Skywarp's "glue bottle" comment was just a joke...
