Hello & welcome back to Trotting Towards Nightmare Night. And we continue our celebration of Nightmare Moon as we jump from the cartoon to the comics with Feindship Is Magic # 4. You see earlier in the year, IDW did a month long event where they released 5 oneshot comics focusing on the pasts of 5 MLP villains, being King Sombra, Tierk, The Sirens, Queen Chrysalis and who we are looking at today, Nightmare Moon. I'm looking at this comic for two reasons, one, this is a celebration of all things, Nightmare Moon and it'll tie into the Nightmare Rarity arc, when I come to that. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Cover
I like the cover as it has a very regal look to it and if I remember correctly, I believe that the artist was going for the look of famous paintings.
Staff
Writer - Heather Nuhfer
The writing for this issue is okay. It's not bad but it could've been better than it what ultimately was. It's not bad but with the time where the story was set, you could really feel how the writer with the time frame, in which the episode takes place.
Artist - Tony Fleecs
The art for this comic was alright. It's not bad and serves the comic well but it's not the best that IDW has done with this line.
Colorist - Heather Breckel
The coloring for this comic was pretty good and served the darker tone of this story rather well.
The Plot
The comic takes place shortly after Nightmare Moon is banished to the moon.
And we are introduced to the alien race known as Nyx.
Not her but I will be looking at her during this event. No, we are introduced to the alien race known as Nyx and we learn that they are the ones that create dreams for the ponies down in Equestira. And we are introduced to one Nyx in particular that is a bit naive, Doran.
And Nightmare Moon tries to get the head Nyx that we are introduced to, try and to teach her how to create dreams but that is not allowed. Doran offers her services but that is not allowed. Though, this is something that he'll come back to haunt Doran later. Doran being the fool that she sadly is, ends up taking a liking to Nightmare Moon and Nightmare Moon uses this to her advantage to teach her how to create nightmares. Doran apparently has a thing for hair and by making a deal to braid her tail, Nightmare Moon gets Doran to tell her the secret of entering one's dreams and how to control it. Ah, so that's where Luna learned that skill.
We learn that at this point, only the Nyx can enter a dream, and that is when they call the name of a particular pony. And who else, other Celestia should Nightmare Moon want to go into the dreams of.
But Tia is a smart princess as she used magic to protect herself as Nightmare Moon couldn't enter her mind as Celestia didn't want any dreams that night. This doesn't deter Nightmare Moon, it only makes her more determined. She instead enters the dreams of ever pony in Equestira and manages to ruin Celestia's image in the eyes of her subjects. Dang, Nightmare Moon. That's intense.
In this time, Princess Celestia using so much of her magic to protect her subjects that there isn't enough left to save her. Celestia realizes that she must face Nightmare Moon in the most dangerous realm of all. And Doran finally realizes that Nightmare Moon had been using her. Took ya long enough. And then we see Nightmare Moon turn the Nyx into her Nightmare Forces, who first appeared in the Nightmare Rarity arc and were the reason that Rarity became Nightmare Rarity.
And then we get the best part of the comic as Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia finally face off against one another. And nothing at first works on the Sun Princess, that is until Nightmare Moon is able to delve deep into Celestia's love for Luna and tries using that against her to show how Celestia couldn't even save the one that she loved the most. But first, we get an awesome fight between Nightmare Moon and Celestia.
This was easily, the most powerful moment in the entire comic as this is the one thing that came closest to breaking Celestia. But it didn't . No, when Nightmare Moon says that Celestia wasn't able to save the one that she loves most. This sets the Princess off. I'm just going to quote her here.
Love. That is one thing you will never understand, Nightmare Moon: The Power of Love. I had forgotten too but a dear old friend was kind enough to me this very night. Sometimes love means doing what is best and what is right. Love is about other, not ourselves. You are too selfish to set my sister free of your dark magic. You are too scared to feel empathy or sorrow for another! You are too weak to wield love's power! But I am Not!
That is such a great speech right there and show that in even a moment of desperation, Celestia is able to pull through and be the leader that Equestira needs. And it ends with Tia blasting Nightmare Moon fully charged up and angry.
This leaves Nightmare Moon angry and wants the Nyx , Nightmare Forces to get her back into Celestia's head but they cannot. But she still has the power to create nightmares for other ponies in Equestira and with that Nightmare Moon proclaims that her sentence on this rock has become more interesting.
All in all, this isn't a bad comic. Not my favorite from the Fiendship line. And I do feel that this was a harder villain to write for. But the writer did an admirable job within the window of time that this particular story takes place.
Characters
Main Character
This comic did a good job of delving into the past of Nightmare Moon and showing what she was like and how ruthless, she could be. You truly feared for the Nyx as she used Doran. She was willing to stop at nothing to get what she wanted.
Supporting Characters
Doran
Ugh, there is being naive and then there's being dumb. And sadly, Doran was the latter. She let Nightmare Moon use her and she goes along with what Nightmare Moon says so easily. That it's embarrassing. It isn't until the third act of the comic that she finally realizes what Nightmare Moon is doing and how she's being used as a pawn. And other than that, her only other character trait is wanting to be a hairdresser. Seriously, every other sentence out of her mouth is about hair or hair products. I didn't mention this much in the plot because it had nothing to do with the plot overall.
Princess Celestia
This was a tour de force for Celestia. This may have been Nightmare Moon's comic but Celestia was the standout in this comic. You truly felt for her during her confrontation with Nightmare Moon. She was fighting within herself. She had to remind herself that even though, she didn't want to hurt Luna. But she had to do what was right for her subjects. And remind herself that she was facing Nightmare Moon, not Luna.
My Final Thoughts
This comic is better than I remember it being. As I said, it's not my favorite of the Fiendship comics but for a story about Nightmare Moon, it does a good job of delving into who she was and allows the readers to better understand what she was like. And the best part is easily how the comic depicts how much Nightmare Moon hurt Celestia. This is something that has only been hinted at but we truly see it here and I have no doubt that was the hardest thing that Tia ever had to do. And I agree with what was said recently in an EQD Editorial about Celestia.
Celestia had to live for a thousand years without her best friend, and was given a reminder of both her pain and her choice every night.
That couldn't have been easy for her and this comic really taps into that. If you want to see more about Nightmare Moon, I suggest this comic. And then for a lighter read, check out the Luna Mirco comic to help bring you down as you'll need something to balance out the emotional weight of this story. Join me next time as we look at the second pony to become a Nightmare Moon as we look at what happens in a special Villains Profile as one of my favorite ponies is pulled into the dark side as we look at Nightmare Rarity.
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