Greetings everypony! We’re back with Issue 3 of “Maretime Mysteries” where the clock is running out on our heroes and for this miniseries! Can they win this game in time? Let’s find out but I’ll take “beware of spoilers” for three hundred, Alex!
The issue begins with the spirit of the game…
No, not him!
Tick tock, little ponies...
This spirit informs our pony trio (and attendant dragon) that they don’t have much time left to stop the curse as she gives them their next riddle. Their confidence nonpluses the spirit who cautions against unexpected surprises and admits that’s how she ended up this way.
If lacking that knowledge wasn’t enough to make Hitch look more than a bit clueless, the two pages following from that panel do a fine job in cementing it, as Sparky’s hiccups return to transform the gem into a book and back without Hitch ever noticing.
This might be the closest expression we've gotten in G5 to our favorite wall-eyed muffin mare.
The group decipher the first part of the clue as leading them to the library, which is right across from where they're conveniently already standing. The next portions of the riddle speak to them needing a guide and a key so they set about looking for a guide--and boy do they find one. The library has become a labyrinth (librarinth?) dubbed the Labyrinth of Lore by its guide, who is not given a name, so I shall dub them the Bibliomancer.
It’s a cool labyrinth and all, but if there isn’t a David Bowie in the middle, what’s even the point?
That gang enters it and makes their way around. Spotting a lever, Sparky pulls on it, leading to exactly what you think would happen in a place literally full of nothing but book shelves.
Misty: Put. Ze candle. BECK!
This splits up the party, with Misty and Sparky on one side and Hitch and Sunny on the other, with them unable to reverse this.
Hitch takes the situation well.
1 in 10 stallions can develop postpartum depression.
Since there's a tickling clock scenario and no time for backtracking, they decide to make the most of their situation by covering more ground separately. Remembering the part of the riddle talks about a key, they muse about the prospect of it being either a literal key or a reference book and decide to search for both, with the plan being to call out to the each other once they find anything--which is totally against library rules but desperate times and all.
Misty hits upon the idea that as the clue speaks of where "legends intertwine" she makes for the history section while Sunny and Hitch think to ask a librarian for assistance. What they find however, is this guy:
I present the Paladin of the Pages!
Over with Team Misty and Sparky, they have a bit more luck with finding references.
A cute homage to the G4 comic adaptation, but I do hope they do something else with the Friendship is Magic cast than more of these.
Misty finds a book titled Champions of Maretime Bay and opens it to discover a key inside!
Misty and Sparky have a cute bonding moment over their success, though things aren't going quite so well for Sunny and Hitch.
Sunny and Hitch ask the nameless book guardian about the origins of the fire gem they've been carrying around, but the guard says they'd need the key or else they'd have to leave—which Misty and Sparky suddenly arrive with.
Armed with the key, the guard is now prepared to lead them down a spiral, winding staircase into the Depths of Knowledge...which reminds me a bit of the Restricted Library section in Canterlot from Forgotten Friendship, a.k.a. the best scene in the special.
Ah, happy memories.
In the depths is a book with the fire gem as a cover. Looking inside, they find a page about the gem's origins and a spell.
After reading it, the library returns to normal but as the gang rush outside, it’s still dark out. As they ponder this, Sunny takes a look at the book of Martime Bay champions that Misty had found earlier, making quite the startling discovery. They find a photo of the spirit as a young, living (but still quite green) pony.
So she just always looked like that? I know Misty was a bit monochromatic, but this filly was pretty much fated since birth to be a spirit, wasn't she?
The spirit herself shows up to blame herself, lamenting that she ever emerged from the game and shouldn’t have started any of this. She denies that she was ever a champion, but was instead a failure who cursed herself and Maretime Bay a long time ago.
With that, the issue ends, to be resolved next time in the fourth and final issue.
Story
I don't have enough to say about the art so I'll just post that under here as well. The art has been consistent, done by the same team since the first issue. The comedic expressions have been fun and the art flows well in telling the story, with my only significant issue being that I do find the still-living pony design of the spirit to be rather dull.
Unlike "Set Your Sails," this series hasn't been quite as engaging for me and this issue highlighted a major reason why: the inability to hold the tension or allow for real character moments. There's a reason I came up with the names or titles like Bibliomancer or Paladin of the Pages--because the comic never came up with one for either, though we can at least assume the former is a transformed town librarian. But more fundamentally: every time a character is confronted with a need to fulfill or an obstacle to overcome, it's almost immediately taken care of. Even setbacks aren't given time to sink in as they're immediately met with some positive spin on things that puts everypony back on track within a panel or two of it being introduced. As Tom Servo once quipped over on Mystery Science Theater 3000, "They held the tension for a full second."
The realize the next clue points them to the library? Good news, they're already standing outside of it. They need a guide? They walk in the doors and find the guide. They're suddenly split up? Actually, this could be a good thing and they all agree. They think to look for a book or reference guide? Misty pulls a book off the shelf and it turns out to be the right one. The guard tells Sunny and Hitch without the key they need to leave? Cue Misty arriving with the key. Maybe it's the fact that this is a four-issue miniseries as opposed to getting a fifth or sixth issue, but regardless of the reason, the lack of tension leads to lessened experience of engagement.
With the revelation at the start of the issue that the spirit has some tragic past all but guarantees that we'll be getting some manner of redemption for her next issue. Obviously this is nothing new for MLP. The ultimate question isn't so much if she'll be redeemed as much as it is how it'll be done and if it'll be satisfying. For that we'll have to wait for the last issue of Maretime Mysteries. Hope to see you then!
