Friendship is Tragic (comic)
Comments3this wiki
- For the prose story of the same name, see Friendship is Tragic (novella).
| Friendship is Tragic | |
|---|---|
 A page from the series | |
| Writer | T-Brony |
| Artist/editor | Saphin |
| Date published | August 29, 2011 - |
| Schedule | Weekly (Mondays) |
| Pages | 22 (ticket arc) 21 (winter arc) 11 (filler) 5 (fashion arc) 22 (gala arc) |
| Type/genre | Humor Slice-of-Life |
| Featuring | Sparkler Dizzy Twister |
Contents |
Format
Edit
It is published on deviantArt instead of one of the more typical platforms for webcomics, but it updates regularly and is structured like a traditional webcomic, with a handful of panels per page and a humorous punchline in the final panel. The exact format changes depending on the demands of a given scene, but is usually horizontal with three or six panels. The main characters are six female friends from Ponyville, all of them background ponies from the show, most prominently Sparkler. The title of a bonus comic calls the main characters the "Tragic 6".
Since the end of the first story arc in December, the comic has updated consistently with one page per week every Monday.
Story arcsEdit
Friendship is TragicEdit
In the first story arc, which is titled just "Friendship is Tragic" and set at the same time as The Ticket Master, Sparkler tries to get her hooves on tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. She does this every year, and this time, her friends are ready with ideas of how to help her. These ideas run the gamut from "waiting in line" (Cloudkicker) to "purchase them illegally" (Cherry Berry) and "wait for somepony to give them tickets" (Linky). The plans do not turn out well, for the most part.
Cherry Berry almost gets herself arrested. Cloudkicker's waiting-in-line approach almost succeeds, but is thwarted at the last minute when a member of the royal guard comes by the ticket booth to demand the final five tickets (to give them to Twilight's friends). In the end, Linky's hope that they'll get lucky is fulfilled when Dizzy Twister loudly remarks that she has five extra tickets to the Gala, but no friends to give them to.
The story arc ends with a sort-of moral lesson: Sparkler learns that she cannot rely on her friends, and Dizzy Twister learns that you can just buy friends if you don't have any.
Winter Mess UpsEdit
The arc begins with the friends discussing their roles in the upcoming Winter Wrap Up preparations. Sparkler proudly tells them she managed to become leader of the animal team because she was able to shout over the objections of the other ponies, who all wanted Fluttershy. Dizzy Twister has the job to bring back the southern birds, because "the pony who usually does it messed up the last three years in a row", referring to Ditzy Doo.
Linky starts out as leader of the plant team, but loses the position almost immediately after this (or a similar) incident; so she decides to take a nap, and Dizzy Twister thinks that's a good idea as well. Cherry Berry switches the grass and cherry seeds so hers get planted first, not knowing that Caramel is about to lose the seeds. Moondancer accidentally kills a couple of ferrets by giving them the wrong type of food and gets chewed out by Fluttershy for it (and for pretending to be Moondancer). Cloudkicker has taken on more work than she can handle and passes out on a cloud, and Dizzy Twister fails to awake from her nap in time, forcing Rainbow Dash to let Ditzy Doo fly South after all.
The comic then cuts to the end of the Winter Wrap Up episode, after Twilight Sparkle has successfully undone all the little disasters caused at least in part by Sparkler and her friends. Mayor Mare lauds the ponies who did their fair share, and publicly shames those who didn't. When Sparkler approaches her to get her cheque for leading the animal team, the Mayor has to remind her that there is no compensation for working that day, and that she wouldn't get any money anyway since the animal team was by far the most disorganized. Sparkler blames Moondancer and claims ignorance regarding the identity of the "Twilight Sparkle" who allegedly supervised all the teams.
Linky, who has somehow escaped scathing remarks by the other ponies, sums up the moral of the story: team work is great, but working hard isn't necessary when there are other ponies around who will do your work for you.
Green is your colour, SparklerEdit
The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up, and Sparkler is intent on scoring some dresses for the big event. Despite her being wealthier than her friends, Cherry Berry opts for a cheap dress (the same dress Twilight has Rarity fix a button on in Suited for Success).
Following Hoity Toity's panning of Rarity's dresses, the scene cuts to Photo Finish's fashion show in Green Isn't Your Color. Moondancer is singled out as the only pony not applauding Fluttershy and receives dirty looks from the ponies around her.
The Worst Night EverEdit
In the final arc of the "season", Sparkler is glad to finally be at the Grand Galloping Gala. Unfortunately, Cherry Berry and Dizzy Twister are denied entry, the former having forgotten her ticket and the latter being underdressed. Sparkler is too excited to care, however, even taking some pleasure in Pinkie Pie's misery.
At the hors d'oeuvre table, Linky meets a blue Pegasus and seems to have made a new friend, but after hearing about Linky and her friends' history, she wonders if the six of them are really friends. Cloudkicker gets into the Wonderbolts' VIP area. Moondancer once again fails at being recognized as a renowned blog-pony and wants to leave. Sparkler refuses to hear her friends' grievances, having waited years to go to the Gala, but when the actions of Twilight Sparkle's friends cause everything to descend into complete chaos, she gives up. Cloudkicker's positive attitude impresses Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts. She's about to be made an honorary Wonderbolt, but Moondancer retrieves her saying it's time to go, leaving a puzzled Spitfire.
The four of them meet Cherry and Dizzy outside, and on the way home, they pass by Joe's donut shop, where the Mane Six, Spike, and Princess Celestia are having a laugh. Sparkler wonders why they're laughing when they ruined the Gala. Linky says maybe there's a lesson in all of this: real friendship is about laughing and enjoying your friends' company, not petty squabbling. Sparkler tells her to shut up.
DiscordiaEdit
The first arc of season two, "Discordia", opens with Sparkler and her friends in the Canterlot sculpture garden shortly after Discord's release from his stone imprisonment. Discord approaches the six ponies, and in spite of his appearance, the more cynical among them don't see him as any sort of threat. He asks them where the Elements of Harmony are; Moondancer believes the Elements don't exist, and Cherry Berry charges Discord bits for the information.
CharactersEdit
SparklerEdit
Sparkler is self-centered, pushy, takes her friends for granted, and wants to have them do all the work for her pleasure. She can be quite mean to them (deliberately sabotaging Moondancer's attempt to prove her identity) and to strangers (suggesting that they should break Twilight Sparkle's legs if she doesn't give them her ticket). According to an interstitial comic, the objects on her cutie mark are not real diamonds, but fake ones (cubic zirkonia).
MoondancerEdit
This is the white unicorn usually called Twinkle. The comic calls her Moondancer after an interpretation of the show's very first episode, in which that same pony invites Twilight to "Moondancer"'s get-together. In the comic, she always speaks of herself in the third person. She operates a blog and is quite famous for it in Ponyville, though people don't know what "Moondancer" looks like and tend to assume "Twinkle" is wrongfully impersonating Moondancer.
CloudkickerEdit
Cloudkicker is an eternally cheerful and very talkative ditz who never has any objection to anything people say to or about her. She declares that she loves losing at poker, waiting in line for hours, and taking on more responsibility than she can handle, for instance. She is also kind-hearted, suggesting - to the amusement of her friends - that if they somehow found themselves in possession of more Gala tickets than needed, they could donate them to needy ponies.
Cherry BerryEdit
Cherry Berry is the most cynical of the friends. Her first idea of how to get tickets for the Gala: find a pony willing to scalp them, since everypony has a price. Her idea of what to do with left-over tickets they don't need: scalp them. She has a rivalry with Applejack; for instance, in one comic, she loudly implies that Applejack's apples have worms in them, while Applejack is standing right next to her. Of the six friends, she has the most money, but she is also the stingiest.
LinkyEdit
Linky is a fairly timid pony and wants to help Sparkler find tickets primarily to make her like her more. In other respects, she is very rational and reasonable, bringing up objections to her friends' terrible plans several times; she is, however, always ignored.
Dizzy TwisterEdit
Dizzy Twister gets added to the clique after she invites them to accompany her to the Gala because she has no other friends. She appears to be a bit dim, but is otherwise cheerful and values the friends she's made.
