Hello folks! Welcome back to another comic review with the third issue of the G5 miniseries “Set Your Sail.” Now, Silver Quill took a look at the first issue but wasn’t able to cover the second. Since I’m starting in on this one, I figured I’d recap and go over the series as a whole so far before looking at the third issue in detail. Apologies if this one might be a touch longer than what I hope to be the norm since I’m going to be summarizing two issues on top of reviewing the third.
With that, let's dive in but be wary of spoilers!
The Story So Far (Issue One and Two Recap)
To catch folks up: Pipp and Izzy have traveled to the Sparkling Sea, a seapony kingdom that reached out to establish ties with the royals of Zephyr Heights, the pair being transformed into seaponies to make the trip. Before they can arrive however, they’re abducted by the pirates of the Galloping Ghost (starting in issue three it’s called the Galloping Ghost Galleon for extra author alliterative appeal), a crew of trenchponies led by Captain Starboard. They are the inspiration for a mystery book series by a certain Creeping Jenny. Izzy is a huge fan of the series and wanted to go with Pipp because a hitherto unknown fourth book in the series washed up in Maretime Bay—one drastically different than the first three books, depicting the trenchponies as villains instead of the heroes they were originally written as, which Izzy found puzzling and suspicious. That was the first issue.
In the second issue we meet Calla Lily, Queen of the Sparkling Sea. She tries to cover up the abduction by using a magical charm called the Ersatz Enchantment to send a fake message to Queen Haven, purportedly from Pipp, that all is well. This is done despite her younger sister, Princess Anemone, being concerned about the morality of lying and Calla Lily’s overuse of the enchantment, but is brushed off on both counts. Zipp, suspicious and sensing something was ahoof with the false message, goes to the Sparkling Sea on her own. She meets Anemone and then Calla Lilly, who try to bluff their way through why Pipp can't meet with her just now, but Zipp is not the detective/princess to try that with.
Meanwhile, Izzy and Pipp are introduced properly to the trenchponies who explain that they abducted them because they wanted their help, Pipp’s in particular. They want her to use her social media presence to tell their side of the story, accusing Queen Calla Lily of presenting a fundamentally false narrative, one reflected in the fourth novel purportedly by Creeping Jenny, which Izzy had noted was incongruous with how the trenchponies were depicted in the first three novels.
The second issue ends with both Calla Lily and Starboard try to sway the ponies before them, each saying that if their opposite number gain possession of some contested magical artifacts called anchors, then their rival will use them to flood the land and basically conquer or destroy the world.
With that out of the way, let’s take our look at issue three, where I’ll also try to go a bit more in depth into some of the things I noticed about the first two issues and where I think things are going.
Issue Three
Izzy and Pipp meet with Maris, the host of the radio station (a pirate radio station, naturally) for the Galloping Ghost Galleon (hereafter 3G). She’s even a fan of Pipp’s music.
We’re also introduced to how a radio signal can work underwater, with sea jellies that can amplify the signals known as antentacles. Back in the second issue we were introduced to vocal frys, apparently another species of sea jellies that can modify voices. I suspect these will have some further significance in the story to come, hence why I’m mentioning them.
Maris goes into a bit of her backstory, and that of the trenchponies overall. They were young when their kingdom fell, their parents getting them to the 3G before going back to try to help other trenchponies, but they were never seen again. In a rather heartfelt moment, Maris admits that she can’t remember what they look like and the 3G crew, in her own words, “barely know who we’re supposed to be” but confidently asserts that they are not villains.
Oof, we've been struck in the emotional midships. We're taking on water!
Back in the second issue, we were introduced to Queen Calla Lily’s version of seapony history. She described that there were once seven kingdoms of seaponies, one for each of the seven seas. Each one had its own magical artifact, known as an anchor, that was the source of each kingdom’s magic. They were the Coral Crown from the Great Inland Sea, the Seadragon Scale from Seadragon Drift, the Sand Dollar from the Sea of Clouds, the Moon Pearl from Luna Ocean, the Agate Geode from Celestia Ocean, the Starfish Seaglass from the Sparkling Sea, and the Shadow Pearl from the trench.
From issue two, just for reference. Can't help but notice that Cadance didn't get an ocean named after her.
In Calla Lily’s version, the trenchponies grew greedy and began stealing the anchors of the other kingdoms, causing a darkness to rise up from the trench that swallowed the other seas, destroying the other kingdoms and causing their populations to scatter. Only the Sparkling Sea was able to resist them, reclaiming the anchors of the fallen kingdoms from the trenchponies. They will be able to restore all seven seas and their kingdoms once they get hold of the last anchor, the one belonging to the trenchponies themselves. Until then, the Sparkling Sea is holding onto the other anchors from the fallen kingdoms for … safety. Yeah, even without hearing the other side you can practically smell the horseapples when she got to that last part.
Now in issue three, we hear the trenchponies’ perspective. They say that the Shining Sea long blamed the trenchponies for the darkness swallowing up the oceans and attacked them to try and steal their anchor, the Shadow Pearl. Calla Lily believed the 3G crew held the last anchor, apparently raiding their ship many times, but the trenchponies didn’t have it. Maris points out that if they did, they’d restore their kingdom or at least fix up their ship. That does beg the question of why the 3G and her crew is still at liberty if the forces of the Sparkling Sea were able to raid them repeatedly, as Maris asserts.
Maris and Starboard state that Calla Lily believes that bringing all seven anchors together will give her power over the seas and make her be able to restore the lost kingdoms, but that she’s wrong. A relic from the ruins of the former trenchpony kingdom warned that the seven anchors were not like the three unity crystals from A New Generation/Make Your Mark. Bringing them together
will not restore the magic to the seaponies, but will cause the oceans
to rise against the land, swallowing them totally.
And you thought the title was just a play on "Tell Your Tale" didn't you? ...Yeah, it probably was, but still!
Izzy and Pipp also learn that Creeping Jenny, the author of the books about the 3G, is an elderly rhyme-speaking squid seapony and is herself a member of the crew.
It would be a squid who's an author, given the amount of ink that's spilled.
She wrote the books to keep the crew's spirits up and also to push back against the Sparkling Sea’s depiction of the trenchponies. She confirms that she did indeed not write the fourth book, the one that makes the 3G crew out to be villains, which is what Izzy had been saying from the start. Creeping Jenny tearfully admits that the trenchponies need a queen to lead them home before needing to lie down.
Zipp meanwhile is in full-detective mode at the palace of the Sparkling Sea.
I want a Zipp action figure that comes in a detective mode.
She bumps, quite literally, into Anemone and conveys her suspicions, with the two going out for coffee.
Zipp has been taking photos of items across the palace, things that don’t look right, and even a photo supposedly sent by Izzy and Pipp is likewise off. Anemone tries to cover for her sister but is hit hard by Zipp’s revelation that the flower Anemone wears in her mane, presumably given to her by Calla Lily, is likewise a fake.
We soon see further proof of just how frequently Calla Lily has used the Ersatz Enchantment, trying to maintain the appearance of the increasingly dilapidated palace as well as the cover-story of Pipp and Izzy being off on a tour of the kingdom.
Here we're introduced to the villain behind so many movies of late (Encanto, Elemental, etc.): generational trauma! It's the gift that keeps on giving, like an ulcer.
In her study, Calla Lily notes that the enchantments on the palace are wearing off faster each time, using the Ersatz Enchantment again to try to spruce up a mural of her and her sister, resulting in it hardly even looking like them anymore. Anemone and Zipp soon arrive, with Zipp laying out everything that doesn’t add up and pressing Calla Lily on Pipp's whereabouts.
And what's with the croquet mallet? (Bonus points if you get this)
The Queen is clearly nonplussed at having someone call her out on her horseapples.
Zipp is keeping it real and being the best princess.
Calla Lily tries to bluster and act affronted at being accused of deception, instructing her guards to escort Zipp to a guest room and to keep her there “until she remembers her manners.” That is totally a phrase that is used by trustworthy figures.
Once she’s gone, Anemone lays into Calla Lily as well, particularly incensed by her overuse of the Ersatz Enchantment, including on their mural, which she sees as an act of erasing her. She states that she is done covering up for Calla Lily and that she’s on her own, storming out while Calla looks genuinely hurt and heartbroken.
Anemone goes to Zipp, who was in the midst of planning a literal break out from her room. Anemone confesses everything, including about Pipp’s abduction by the trenchponies, offering to help Zipp escape and find her.
In the wake of this, Calla Lily is having a momentary breakdown, repeating a story about how once the seven seas were filled with wonder and hope, shattering a mirror as she insists that everything she’s been doing has been the right thing.
She rationalizes her use of the Ersatz Enchantment to keep the palace from collapsing and stating that she hadn’t been trying to erase Anemone. She's unable to believe that Anemone could question her or question what was happening with the trenchponies. We learn that their mother had gone into the trench and almost didn’t return, and she was the one to tell them of the trenchponies' responsibility for what happened—though in a later scene we learn that this was passed down by their mother from her mother and so on.
Anemone and Zipp make their way across the sea, comparing notes. On the subject of the fourth trenchpony book, Zipp points out that Calla Lily is in possession of an item that allows her to make something from basically nothing, suspecting that she created the fourth book herself, which seems likely. Anemone starts dwelling on the prospect that the Sparkling Sea may itself be the reason that the seven seas are dark, cold, and unconnected, the reason the magic has gone awry, possibly even truly being the ones to have stolen the other kingdoms’ anchors in the first place.
She's been having a bit of a day.
At this point, they’re interrupted by hearing Pipp making a broadcast from the 3G via the antentacles, coming out in support of the trenchponies and warning about Calla Lily and the danger of assembling the anchors. They address the fact of their abduction by the trenchponies, but put it in the context of the circumstances that drove them to take such a drastic action, placing the responsibility back on Calla Lily for seeking the anchors.
As we see seaponies in the Sparkling Sea listening to the broadcast, we cut back to the queen, who was further rattled to learn of Anemone leaving with Zipp and the broadcast. She had apparently wanted to bring somepony down from the surface so she could learn more about the unity crystals as she wants to similarly bring the seven anchors together. She acknowledges that the trenchponies don’t have the seventh anchor and so resolves to make the Shadow Pearl with the Ersatz Enchantment. It goes about as well as you would think.
Everything starts shaking, an earthquake that rocks the seas and the land, hitting everything from Maretime Bay to Zephyr Heights to Bridlewood.
This is especially the case for Zipp and it makes absolute sense that she simply wouldn't swallow Calla Lily's story hook, line, and sinker. She's a very observant and intelligent pony who isn’t prone to taking things on faith and tries to get to the bottom of things herself. Plus, she has experience with seeing through the horseapples being peddled by royals—including from her own family. That leaves her very well suited to seeing through the illusions of the Ersatz Enchantment and the falsehoods of Queen Calla Lily. I make no secret of the fact that she is my favorite of the G5 cast and really appreciate her unique blending of skills and strengths, which are being quite well displayed here. So she's not about to end up as an advocate for the Sparkling Sea's side of this dispute.
At the same time, while the evidence tends to support the trenchponies based on what we've seen so far, I do have to still question the, well, lack of questioning on the part of Pipp and Izzy. They took to the airwaves to present one side of a story based solely on what had been told to them by the trenchponies themselves. Even if they are on the right side, it still seems a questionable act for them to leap with all four hooves on the trenchponies' side without further investigation. Zipp took her time to look around the palace to judge the veracity of the claims she was presented with. Pipp and Izzy seemed more swayed by personal and emotional connections to the ponies in front of them--which, to be clear, also works quite well for their characters and doesn't mean that they're wrong; just that I think they maybe should've proceeded with a touch more caution.
Izzy is a very excitable, trusting pony as we saw with the Misty arc in Make Your Mark, so I completely believe her reactions here. I don't have too much else to say about her character here, though I would note that she (like Pinkie) works best when her eccentric and quirky personality doesn't have her react inappropriately to the situation they're in. They view the world differently and respond to it in their own ways, but they're not oblivious to what's going on and the times when they're written that way is often vexing. So I'm quite glad that while she's her usual Izzy-self and is stoked to be meeting the author and heroes of her favorite book series, she's still reacting appropriately to what's going on.
You gotta wonder how other ponies who know Izzy would react to her being called the wise.
Pipp meanwhile actually reminds me a bit of Rainbow Dash in "Over a Barrel." Despite having a reason to hold a bit of a grudge against someone who attacked them (Little Strongheart attacking the train and indirectly causing Rainbow Dash to get injured, the trenchponies kidnapping Pipp) they still find themselves strongly empathizing with them after hearing why they did it. And while that episode has come in for its fair share of criticism on several grounds, I always liked Rainbow Dash's sense of empathy with Little Strongheart.
The most interesting dynamic is the parallels between the two sets of royal sisters. Calla Lily reminds me of Pipp at the start of A New Generation. She's at ease with peddling falsehoods to her own kingdom, and to others, taking it on faith that this is simply what royals do, having learned it from her mother and from her mother before her, and so on. But even more than Pipp ever did, Calla Lily emphasizes appearance over substance, using the Ersatz Enchantment at a whim; not merely for the maintenance of her kingdom, but for the sake of appearances, or even in her own personal garden to make it look beautiful. She even passes of a fake flower as a gift to her own sister. It's also significant that the flower she's named after, while highly beautiful, is actually toxic when ingested by humans or animals. It's even a bit deceptive, not being a lily at all.
I'm on to you.
Calla Lily is shown to genuinely believe that the trenchponies are responsible for the fall of the other kingdoms and even the trenchponies themselves state that her goal is to rebuild the seven seas by gathering the seven anchors together, not realizing that it will actually doom them. It makes you wonder if they haven't tried to communicate that to her, given they have a pirate radio station, and they stated that Sparkling Sea forces had raided the 3G in the past. But they might've tried and she might've simply dismissed it.
Calla Lily mused to herself when 'fixing' the mural with her magic what her mother had told her, namely: “we shouldn’t cover up our legacy. The one meant to protect the seas.” Which is of course exactly what she’s doing without realizing it. In the name of protecting the sea, she's lying and covering things up left and right.
Anemone had said to Calla
Lily in the second issue that the Ersatz Enchantment was for
emergencies only. I wonder if it's a case where overuse leads to some
manner of corrupting influence? Or is it simply a case where if one can
edit reality according to your whims, how long until you lose your sense
of reality altogether? All in all, she seems to be set up as more of a well-intentioned extremist or somepony ignorant of what she's doing rather than an outright villain.
For her part, Pipp resented being sent to the Sparkling Sea in the first place. In the first issue she expresses the idea that her pop-singing and social-media influencing career are themselves her royal duties and being sent on a diplomatic mission when she's not the heir was a distraction from them. That, to put it kindly, is a very skewed perspective. Obviously, being abducted did nothing to improve her mood, which is more than fair, frankly. But the fact that she still at the end of the day is kind enough to want to help the trenchponies, in spite of everything else, does show the sort of pony Pipp Petals is and why fans like her. Perhaps we'll see a similar transformation for Calla Lily by the end?
The other curious element is why the invitation from the Sparkling Sea asked for Pipp by name. It's a little unclear if that was an edit made by the trenchponies or if Calla Lily wanted her in particular from the get-go. It makes sense for the trenchponies to want Pipp, given her social media reach and influence, not to mention Maris' status as a fan. But for Calla Lily? She wanted information about the unity crystals which is more Zipp's area than Pipp's. But then again, Zipp doesn't have a big social media presence and Pipp does, so perhaps Calla Lily might have gotten the wrong idea based on that.
Anemone meanwhile is a lot like Zipp, save for the fact of being the younger sibling. She's fascinated by the past, disobeying Calla Lily by venturing out to find things dredged up from the fallen kingdoms, questioning the story Calla Lily (and their mom) had about the trenchponies, not unlike where Zipp was in A New Generation. She's clearly uncomfortable with the lying and tells the truth to Zipp almost as soon as she's able, though Zipp was a bit more direct and up front with Sunny and Izzy in the movie. Anemones technically aren't plants either, but invertebrate organisms that can pack quite a sting despite their beauty. But as anyone familiar with Finding Nemo knows, they can also help defend fish (despite the very name almost sounding like "an enemy"). As she says to Zipp, she knows how important it is to look out for your sister, and that's why she helped her break out of the palace to find Pipp. It's also a neat parallel: Anemone smashes a window to break herself and Zipp out of the palace while Calla Lily smashes a mirror, confronting her own self-image.
I'm also just bemused that she's not the first Princess Anemone I've encountered.
For her part, Zipp excels in her role of detective, noticing things aren't adding up almost right away and compelling Calla Lily to cut the horseapples and spill at least some of the beans immediately after meeting her.
Considering how Zipp was the one to ferret out that something was up with Misty and figured out the glitch issues with the unity crystals in Make Your Mark, I'm not surprised Calla Lily never stood a chance. She's clearly got so used to everyone believing her little edits and "polishing" of the truth that she seemed to have forgotten how to deal with somepony who didn't.
Something else that Zipp deserves credit for is her empathy with Anemone. She arrives in the Sparkling Sea justifiably suspicious (and rightly so!). But she does restrain herself when she first meets Anemone in issue two and apologizes when she starts off in detective mode, stating that she's just worried about Pipp. She is also clear when she confronts Calla Lily that her issues are not with Anemone, despite her trying (if feebly) to back up Calla Lily's spin-doctoring. She even reaches out to her right after first meeting with Calla Lily in the second issue, stating that they just met but that Anemone could always talk to her.
In the past, Zipp has occasionally gotten so fixated on solving the mystery, feeling the urgency underlying them, that she didn't expend the extra effort needed to take others' feelings into account. Not in a mean or a cruel way, but just prioritizing the big picture so much that she lost sight of the smaller details. We saw that in A New Generation, Make Your Mark, and a few other times. But here, despite her concern for Pipp and Izzy and everything else going on, she still takes the time to reach out to Anemone. Well done!
Moving on to some of the other characters, Maris is also interesting with more being set up for her. Izzy had said in the books she was known as Maris the Crow, somepony
supposedly living in the shadow of her pirate pony parents, and clearly being set up as the hero of the first three books. But she isn't the captain when we meet the 3G crew. She mentions that she had wanted to be captain, but Starboard got the top job first. She's entrusted with guarding the chest where the crew stores items they care about.
Also, I predict Creeping Jenny's fate will be to end up being shipped with this crab guy who was on the train in the previous issues.
It's a story about the sea, why shouldn't there be shipping involved?
I'll leave things there, since this review has already gone on for a bit. My apologies about that since I was trying to cover the ground of Set Your Sail so far. Thanks for your time and indulgence, and I hope to see you next time!
