Written by: James Asmus
Artist: Tony Fleecs
Coloring by: Heather Breckel
Lettering by: Neil Uyetake
Published by: IDW Publishing
After returning back to her castle after attending a frightful play with her friends, Twilight is faced with an intruder in her home. A cloaked unicorn rummages through her entire library in search of a specific set of books, before escaping with his prize. Just what was this thief’s’ objective? Has a new foe appeared before Twilight and her friends? They must track this unknown unicorn down in order to uncover the truth, and to retrieve Twilight’s precious books.
A new adventure has just begun for the Princess of Friendship and her fellow Elements of Harmony. After spending some much needed time together taking in a show, Twilight and Spike return home to find their front door wide open. With Spike already spooked from watching the theatrical performance, Twilight takes the lead into the castle. Confronting a cloaked intruder within the library, who is recklessly searching for a number of books. Once the unknown unicorn fled the scene, we are left wondering what powerful spell books did he run off with. More mysteries begin to gather around this unknown colt, but it looks like it’s going to be an entertaining storyline nonetheless.
Princess Twilight and Spike are surrounded by a group of very supportive friends, who upon hearing about the castles intruder decided to all spend the night with Twilight and Spike. Pinkie Pie, being the most positive pony of them all, took the initiative and got a party started. However amongst all the chaos the cloaked unicorn left behind, Twilight’s mind was only slightly eased once her beloved library was put back in order once more. Twilight has grown into her role as Princess, and even managed to demonstrate some royal confidence once her and Spike entered their burgled home. Nothing is really known about the said intruder, other than going by his appearance and the books that he took, we could have a historic tale lined up in the next issue. Going by his appearance however it looks like he has had a troubling time in life, with a large scar across his nose and only seen with white eyes. The brooch on his cape is almost the same as Twilight’s Cutie Mark. It would be very interesting if this unicorn had some form of connection to the Princess.
Using a tracking spell to locate her books, Twilight and the gang travel to a village in the Wild West. The folks there are not very obliging, and only seem to co-operate when money has exchanged hooves. With a new town, we get some new characters, including a buffalo named Buffy, a potion seller named Cauldron Bubbles and a yet un-named candy maker. We also get the name of the book thief, who has some form of evil plan in motion as he uses his unicorn magic to bring to life apparitions from books. As to what his motive is for both stealing Twilight’s books and journeying to this town, all will be revealed in Issue 52. So far its shaping up to be an interesting read, where famous fictional book characters may get their own pony adaptations.
This issue can be found in four cover arts, with both the Regular Cover and Coast To Coast Retailer Giveaway Cover, both being illustrated by Tony Fleecs. You can see this cover pictured above, we have the cloaked unicorn in the middle of casting a spell. In the background we have Twilight and her friends, including Princess Celestia illustrated into the first page of a classic story tale. The magic being used by the cloaked unicorn is clearly to either alter the story within a book or bring characters to live. Tony was also responsible for this issue’s artwork as well. He was lucky enough to design some new characters and experiment with Twilight’s new hairdo, which made her look like the Bride of Frankenstein. The Subscription Cover is by Sara Richard, in a coloring pencil design we have Pinkie Pie once again throwing one of her parties. A toga party in fact, with each pony in their best Roman attire, whilst Pinkie appears from within a giant Pinkie, much like a Trojan Horse. An interesting cover that would be great to see expanded into a story. Then we have Cover RI, by Nicoletta Baldari who has supplied Cover Arts for The Powerpuff Girls and Strawberry Shortcake comics. This Cover Art focuses on Pinkie Pie as she balances a cupcake on her mane, with her attire suggesting she has just baked a bunch of sweet treats. It is both colorful and cute, as though it was a simple screenshot from the animated show.
Issue 51 is the start of a new adventure for the Ponyville gang, when Twilight’s castle is broken into by an unknown unicorn. Thrashing her library, the thief leaves with a few of the Princesses books. However even after tracking down the thief, apprehending him will not be so easy. More magic and adventure yet to come in the next issue.
Overall: 9/10
