A Real Mother

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"And if you look to your left, you'll see the spot where Rubble got killed!"
"A Real Mother"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Published in	The Magic of Cybertron #1
First published	April 28, 2021
Cover date	April 2021
Written by	Sam Maggs
Art by	Casey Coller
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Editor	Megan Brown and David Mariotte

Scootaloo's aunts travel to Cybertron in search of their missing niece, but find trouble when they tangle—in more ways than one—with a member of Sombra's Decepticons.

Synopsis

Scootaloo has gone missing! To find her, her aunts Holiday and Lofty travel through a spacebridge portal all the way to the planet Cybertron... even though the planet's metallic vistas and futuristic cityscapes are a far cry from the green hills and blue skies of Equestria. After a quick stretch, the pair head out to explore; before long, they encounter Arcee and her partner Greenlight. Once they're acquainted, Lofty explains their predicament and Arcee agrees to help, but warns them that they'll have to move fast. Lofty's sure that she can keep up... but the ponies realize why they have to move fast when the enormous Decepticon Killmaster catches up with them, the latest victim of King Sombra's mind-control spell!

Arcee and Greenlight promptly get in front of the ponies and open fire; using his magic wand, however, Killmaster simply deflect their shots right back at them and throws them off their feet. Fortunately, the ponies came prepared: using Holiday's knitting supplies, the two ponies get the drop on the hulking Decepticon and hogtie him with their yarn. This doesn't hold him down for very long, but it's just the distraction Arcee and Greenlight need to get their bearings and adopt a new strategy. Lofty tosses the ball of yarn to Greenlight, who ties one end to Arcee's alternate mode tailfin. Working together, ponies and Autobots manage to entangle Killmaster in yarn before Arcee revs hard into a donut—Holiday delivers the final blow by cutting the line with her scissors and sending Killmaster flying out of sight.

At that moment, the two ponies hear a familiar voice—Scootaloo! Not only is she unharmed, but their energetic niece has also befriended Gauge and a group of young Autobots. The quartet decide to relax, unwind, and take in the strange sight of the first ever pony/Cybertronian playdate, and Greenlight tells their new friends that they'll ponysit anytime!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"I'm Arcee. And this is my 'gal', Greenlight."
"Attempting to replicate their parlance in order to make them feel more comfortable. Wise move."
"Yyyyes, exactly my plan."

—Arcee and Greenlight

"...That's one of those Sombra-controlled baddies."
"His real name is 'Murderking'."
"A little on-the-snout, but okay."

—Lofty, Arcee, and Holiday

"Leave our planet. This magic doesn't belong here!"
"Sombra could rule every planet if he so chose! And he does choose! So there!"

—Arcee versus Killmaster

"Weirdest playdate I've ever been on."
"At least they're keeping themselves out of trouble."
"More than I can say for us."

—Lofty, Arcee, and Holiday

Notes

Continuity notes

• Scootaloo is a member of the self-styled "Cutie Mark Crusaders" along with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. While those two characters were introduced in season 1 as Rarity and Applejack's younger sisters, the Friendship Is Magic show didn't go into detail about Scootaloo's living arrangements until 2017, when a tie-in chapter book revealed that her aunts took care of her while her birth parents were away. The pair made a cameo in one of IDW's My Little Pony spinoff books, but were redesigned when they finally put in an appearance in the season nine episode "The Last Crusade"—their appearance here uses these cartoon models, and references Lofty's penchant for sewing from that episode. Their status as the first explicit same-sex couple in the My Little Pony franchise is probably also why they're teaming up with Arcee and Greenlight (see below for more on that).
• Arcee, her romantic partner Greenlight, and their mentee Gauge appeared together in IDW's concurrent Transformers comic series, and even got a spotlight story together in 2020's Transformers: Galaxies spin-off comic. That same year, Arcee and Gauge also appeared in the first My Little Pony/Transformers crossover, though they didn't appear together and the comic didn't establish any kind of relationship between them. However, given that Sam Maggs wrote both this story and their Galaxies arc—and considering how the story draws a parallel between the pony and Cybertronian couples—it seems likely that the Gauge of this universe is also Arcee's mentee, but the comic doesn't outright confirm or deny this interpretation.
• In the Friendship is Magic television show, Scootaloo was unable to fly, but could use her pegasus wings to power her scooter. This comic pairs her up with Sureshock, who, naturally, transforms into a motor scooter.

Transformers references

• Killmaster originated in More than Meets the Eye as a member of the dreaded Warriors Elite, who wielded a bespoke "wand" that teleported victims into his personal "prison dimension". Arcee notes that his real name is "Murderking", a detail first revealed in Lost Light issue #4, but the comic reimagines his favorite weapon: it emanates the same neon-green aura King Sombra uses in his various evil spells, and the abnormal telekinetic powers Murderking manifests in this issue suggest that this version of the character might now (almost certainly because of Sombra's interference) wield an actual magic wand.
• Scootaloo's Cybertronian friends include a number of "young" Transformers from across the franchise. Hot Rod is probably the most recognizable of the bunch, but the group also includes a new incarnation of Armada Sureshock, a jeep-mode Hot Shot based on his recent Generations Selects toy, and IDW-original characters Gauge and Rubble. Gauge's motorbike friend Flareup is an unusual case—she's depicted with the alternate mode Anna Malkova designed for IDW's ongoing Transformers comic, but that universe's Flareup wouldn't actually appear in her bike mode until Transformers #29, released three weeks after this comic.
• Scootaloo sports a white jumpsuit based on the one Daniel Witwicky wore in the 1986 animated film and the third season of the Generation 1 cartoon—although, of course, hers sports an embroidered "S" instead of a "D".

Errors

• On page 21, when Killmaster tries to break free from the yarn, his eyes are red instead of green to signify he's under mind control.
• The final "To be continued" is misspelt as "To be contunued".

Other trivia

• Lofty and Arcee have quite a bit in common: Both debuted in 1986 in their respective franchises' theatrical films, where they were voiced by Susan Blu. It's perhaps all too fitting that they should team up some 35 years later.
• That's some exceptionally strong yarn!
• Upon seeing the children, even Arcee's Autobot insignia is shocked.