(true res 1920×5400)

Full-res shots from this page (>>2144552).

The only instructions I was given for the sequence were basically “boss fight with Prince Blueblood who has the Alicorn Amulet, and maybe a couple of goons.” So in the absence of anything more specific, I conceived what the fight might look like if I were the GM, and then what that narrative might look like as part of an actual episode. Apparently in the process I delivered about seven times as much material as anticipated, although how anyone could reasonably expect a 4th edition big boss fight to be over in only a few pages is hard to reconcile with my (admittedly very limited) experience of 4E. This is a system that was famous for making ordinary encounters last for hours, after all.

Blueblood has a different body type than most stallions, so I ended up having to do a lot of new parts for him (the forelegs in particular are a very different shape than the standard). The layering of his hair and collar was also quite a challenge. Fortunately after this I was able to ditch the bowtie for the amulet and reduce the number of layering issues somewhat, but that provided additional challenges of its own because it isn’t symmetrical.

I believe I’ve mentioned before that those lamp posts were taken from either a screenshot or concept art for Star Wars: The Old Republic (which I don’t play myself, but which has been a valuable source of designs for my comic). I like the way they frame the scene in closeups, which helps when I can’t figure out what to do with all those legs: plus, the lights kind of look like Rarity’s cutie mark, which is kind of poetic under the circumstances. This page also features the first of many dutch angles in this sequence. I used them a lot both to spice up the scenery somewhat (there’s only so much to this balcony, after all) and to create the illusion of camera movement.