Strength in Numbers

« My Little Pony/Transformers: Friendship in Disguise! #4 »
The weirdest Naked Jungle adaptation ever.
"Strength in Numbers"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
Published in	Friendship in Disguise! #4
First published	November 4, 2020
Cover date	November 2020
Written by	Ian Flynn
Art by	Sara Pitre-Durocher
Colors by	Joana Lafuente
Letters by	Jake M. Wood
Editor	Megan Brown, David Mariotte, and Bobby Curnow

Applejack takes on the Insecticons when the Decepticons invade her farm, but she'll need more than one pony to stop these mechanical menaces.

Synopsis

As the proprietor of the Sweet Apple Acres farm, Applejack has dealt with her fair share of pests, varmints, and critters... but in all her life she's never encountered a threat like the Insecticons! The rapacious Cybertronians gobble their way through her apple orchard, devouring every tree, leaf, and apple—and nothing she does has any effect on the mechanical invaders, who shrug off all of her myriad attempts to shoo them away. But as she rifles through a book on pest control, she's surprised when Discord teleports in. At first, Applejack suspects that Discord is up to his usual mischief, but he assures her that's not the case. Indeed, he's here to help... but when Applejack asks him to lend a hand, he instead tells her that he's got a better idea. With the snap of his fingers, the entire Apple family arrives through magic portals, and Discord takes a seat to watch the show!

The Apples quickly gains the upper hand against the maurading Decepticons: Big McIntosh, Babs Seed, and Apple Bumpkin work together to pile-drive Chop Shop into the ground, multiple Apples ensnare Ransack with their lassos and drag the giant flier to the ground, and even elderly Auntie Applesauce gets her moment when she accidentally deflects one of Bombshell's own cerebro-shells back onto him! The Insecticons know when they're outmatched and promptly flee, while the triumphant Apple family members celebrate their victory.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"More life detected. More to consume."
"Could move on. Consume more..."
"Or more of this!"
"More of this! All of this!"

—Chop Shop, Ransack and Kickback

"They're invaders. Tactless, mannerless, and ruiners of perfectly good teatimes."

—Discord has a low opinion of the Insecticons

"How do you like these apples?"

—Applejack triumphs

Notes

Continuity notes

• Although she primarily ran the Sweet Apple Acres family farm with the assistance of her grandmother Granny Smith and her siblings Big McIntosh and Apple Bloom, Applejack's gigantic extended family featured in several episodes, most notably the series premiere and the third-season episode "Apple Family Reunion". Other notable relatives include Aunt and Uncle Orange, who appeared in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"; Braeburn, whom Applejack and friends visited in "Over a Barrel"; and former bully Babs Seed from "One Bad Apple".
• Discord describes the Decepticons as "ruiners of perfectly good tea times", alluding to how Soundwave spoiled his tea party with Fluttershy in "Pet Sounds".

Transformers references

• The familiar Insecticon trio of Bombshell, Skrapnel, and Kickback receive some reinforcements in the shape of the lesser-known "Deluxe Insecticons", who never appeared in the original Transformers cartoon or comic: Venom, Ransack, Chop Shop, and Barrage. They are not named in the introductory roll call, and only introduced as "clones", referencing the Insecticons' traditional self-replication powers; for completion's sake, and without any evidence to the contrary, we're assuming that these four are also the characters in question. Although these four traditionally possess their own, non-coordinated color schemes, this comic instead gives them unified purple, yellow, and black paintjobs to match their more famous brethren.
• Bombshell attacks the Apples with his infamous cerebro-shells, drawn to resemble the bullet-shaped projectiles that appeared in the original cartoon but with the addition of little buggy legs.

My Little Pony references

• Among the many, many members of the Apple clan is a pink pony with an apple core cutie mark. This background pony has never received an official name from Hasbro; fans took to calling her "Piña Colada" because of a scene that depicted her as the younger sister of the equally fan-named "Berry Punch". With that in mind, she probably shouldn't be showing up here, but she's also about as much of a character as your average background generic, so...

Real-life references

• The various Apple family members emerging through Discord's portals evokes the climax of Avengers: Endgame, which saw all of the recently resurrected Avengers use portals to reach the final battle against Thanos.

Errors

• There's a "Crack" SFX in the panel where Applejack makes her second attempt at shooing away the Insecticons with a hose. It would make more sense for that SFX to take place in the panel above where she breaks her rake.
• On page four "nutrient-rich" is misspelled as "nurtient-rich".