| My Little Pony: Maretime Mysteries #3 | |
|---|---|
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| Issue №: | 3 |
| Published: | August 14, 2024 |
| Writer: | Stephanie Williams |
| Artist: | Abby Bulmer |
| Colorist: | Valentina Pinto |
| Letterer: | Neil Uyetake |
| Editor: | Bixie Mathieu |
| See also | |
| Credits • Gallery • Allusions | |
| Issue guide | |
| Previous Maretime Mysteries #2 |
Next Maretime Mysteries #4 |
My Little Pony: Maretime Mysteries #3 is the third issue of IDW Publishing's My Little Pony: Maretime Mysteries comic miniseries. In this issue, Misty, Sunny Starscout, Hitch Trailblazer, and Sparky Sparkeroni continue playing the cursed board game in order to break the evil board game spirit's curse on Maretime Bay.
Summary[]
The evil spirit of the board game challenges Misty, Sunny, Hitch, and Sparky to find the place in Maretime Bay "where history's secrets hide and tales of old reside", locate "the key that's lost to time", and uncover the origins of the flame-shaped crystal they acquired in the previous issue. Just before leaving, the spirit makes an offhand remark about how he became a spirit in the first place.
The ponies deduce that the spirit's riddle refers to the town library. There, they encounter the guardian (the magically enchanted librarian) of the "Labyrinth of Lore", a giant maze constructed from the library's interior, and she ushers them inside. While inside the labyrinth, Sparky pulls a lever on a bookshelf, causing the bookshelf to flip around and separate Misty and Sparky from Sunny and Hitch. They decide to make the most of this situation and cover more ground in the maze.
While searching for the "key" referred to in the evil spirit's riddle, Sunny and Hitch are confronted by a ghostly stallion in armor. They ask the armored stallion about the origins of the flame-shaped crystal, and the armored stallion asks them for the key. When Sunny and Hitch say they do not have the key, the armored stallion is about to kick them out of the labyrinth when Misty and Sparky appear. Misty, having located the key in a hollowed-out book about prominent figures in Maretime Bay history, presents it to the armored stallion, and he agrees to guide the ponies to the information they seek.
Through a passage hidden behind of the bookshelves and down a large spiral staircase, the armored stallion leads the ponies into a secret underground section of the library and gives them a book; the flame-shaped crystal is depicted on the book's cover. Inside the book, Misty discovers the crystal's origin as well as a magic spell. When Misty reads the spell's incantation, the library and its librarian return to normal. The ponies believe the spirit's curse has been successfully broken, but the sky outside the library has gotten ominously dark.
Misty fears she messed up the magic spell or that they ran out of time to break the curse. When Sunny looks through the book about great Maretime Bay historical figures, she discovers a photo of a pony receiving a trophy; the ponies resembles the spirit of the board game. The spirit reappears before the ponies and confirms it is indeed him in the photo. When Misty demands to know what is going on and why the curse has not been broken, the spirit confesses that he is not a champion as indicated in the book but instead a failure, adding that he cursed Maretime Bay just as he cursed himself a long time ago.
Quotes[]
- Misty: We've solved the other riddles. We'll solve this one, too!
- Sunny Starscout: That's right!
- Hitch Trailblazer: We're a pretty unstoppable team!
- Game Spirit: Don't get too ahead of yourselves. You never know what surprises await you. I sure didn't, and that's how I ended up like this.
- Misty: Something tells me there is more to this game than the spirit is letting on.
- Hitch Trailblazer: Sparky, no. We've talked about this before. No putting random objects in our mouths.
- Librarian Pony: Welcome to the Labyrinth of Lore.
- Misty: Ugh, we're doomed.
- Sunny Starscout: We really should have asked the librarian for help.
- [clop clop clop]
- Hitch Trailblazer: Do you hear that?
- Armored Stallion: Halt!
- Sunny Starscout: Uhhh... okay. That's not what I meant by librarian.
- Misty: We found it! I can't believe we found it. Actually, I take that back! I can believe we found it! We make a great team!
- Hitch Trailblazer: We humbly seek your assistance in uncovering the origins of the sacred gem.
- Armored Stallion: Pray tell, adventurers, doth thou possess the key?
- Hitch Trailblazer: Regrettably, we lack such possession.
- Armored Stallion: Alas, 'tis a shame. Without the key, thy presence in the maze is no longer permitted.
- Armored Stallion: Welcome to the Depths of Knowledge.
- Sunny Starscout: Remember the weird slip the spirit shared earlier?
- Misty: Yeah. Something about a surprise and ending up this way.
- Sunny Starscout: Uh-huh. Take a look at this photo.
- Game Spirit: It's all my fault. I should have never come out of that game. I should have never started any of this.
- Misty: Slow down. Who are you? And what have you done?
- Game Spirit: I'm not a champion. I'm a failure, a mess. I've cursed Maretime Bay, just as I cursed myself long ago.
