My Little Pony (2022 comics) Issue 1

My Little Pony #1, titled together with My Little Pony #2 as The Case of the Missing Unity Crystal in trade paperback, is the first issue of IDW Publishing's My Little Pony comic series, based on the Generation 5 film My Little Pony: A New Generation. In this issue, one of the Unity Crystals is stolen, and the Mane 5 try to find the culprit before magic disappears forever, and their search leads them to the ancient city of Canterlot.
==Summary==
The issue begins with a flashback to Sunny Starscout as a filly, searching for the ancient city of Canterlot. Her father Argyle tells her that Princess Twilight Sparkle built a gate leading into Canterlot called the Gate of the Ancients to welcome those who believed in the Magic of Friendship and that, as long as Sunny believes in it, she too would be welcomed into the city.
In present day, Sunny and her friends Pipp Petals and Zipp Storm are about to play a game of flyball; Izzy Moonbow feels left out because flyball requires flight to play. Afterward, Izzy accidentally ruins a nature walk led by Hitch Trailblazer. As she wallows in loneliness, Izzy notices a group of construction worker unicorns struggling to maintain their magic and saves one of them from being crushed by a falling statue. At the same time, Pipp and Zipp struggle to keep themselves afloat and fall out of the sky; Sunny saves Zipp while Izzy uses smoothie slush to cushion Pipp's fall. After a few moments, the unicorns' magic and the Pegasi's flight become stable again.
The Mane 5 wonder what is causing magic to glitch out, even though the pony races have reunited in friendship. Sunny races to the lighthouse and discovers that one of the three Unity Crystals has been stolen, presumably by someone who wants magic to disappear again. Pipp tells her followers on social media what is going on, causing them to panic, and the Mane 5 resolve to find the thief.
Taking on a detective persona, Zipp investigates and finds that a vase on a nearby shelf has been moved; caught under a vase is a long strand of white hair. The ponies have Pipp and Zipp's pet Cloudpuff get the hair's scent so they can follow it to its source. Hours later, the Mane 5 follow Cloudpuff into a dense forest, and Pipp's phone battery runs out of power. Sunny suggests she, Pipp, and Zipp fly over the trees to get a better lay of the land, and Hitch volunteers to ask some of the local animals for information. Izzy is wary about splitting up the group, but she is quickly left by her lonesome.
Several more hours pass, and Izzy's search of the area leads her to a massive gate—the Gate of the Ancients—covered in centuries' worth of moss. Beyond the gates, she discovers the ancient city of Canterlot.
==Quotes==
:Argyle Starshine: Anything to report, explorer?
:Young Sunny Starscout: I thought I saw the royal castle, but it was just a stack of oranges at the market.
:Argyle Starshine: Twilight Sparkle built the Gate of the Ancients to welcome those who believed and trusted in the Magic of Friendship to Canterlot. You lead with love, Sunny. And so long as you make sure no Earth pony, Pegasus, or unicorn ever feels lesser than because of who they are, Canterlot will always be your home.
:Sunny Starscout: Do you think Twilight would be proud of me?
:Izzy Moonbow: Ooh, are we playing a game? Is this a pie-eating contest? A cake-eating contest? A cookie-eating contest?
:Izzy Moonbow: Believe you can fly, and you will!
:Pipp Petals: That's your plan B?!
:Izzy Moonbow: Okay... Moving on to plan C.
:Hitch Trailblazer: Just because our magic's back doesn't mean it's back back. If it fizzled away once, the same thing could happen again.
:Sunny Starscout: Somepony's stolen one of the Unity Crystals!
:Zipp Storm: Detective Zipp always comes prepared.
:Sunny Starscout: Detective Zipp?
:Zipp Storm: That's right. Because I Zipp my way through a good mystery until I track down the perpetrator and bring them to justice.
:Pipp Petals: Here's the deal, Pippsqueaks. We've been tracking our thief for a millennium--
:Zipp Storm: Three hours.
:Pipp Petals: Because Zipp is a horrible detective, Hitch keeps attracting all these creepy animals, Izzy keeps singing, and Cloudpuff keeps going in circles! So if you're hearing this, for the love of all ponykind, send help.
:Izzy Moonbow: It's a good thing they left me down here... Totally good! I mean, who else would've noticed this totally-not-suspicious cave in a totally-not-suspicious part of this totally-not-suspicious wood?
:Izzy Moonbow: Canterlot?!
Category:Generation 5