Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life and today, we continue our Great and Powerful Mini-Retrospective as we look at an arc from the mane IDW comics featuring the GREAT AND POWERFUL ONE herself. So, join me as we head to Manehattan to crack a mystery that has Trixie as the lead culprit.
Staff
Ted Anderson - Writer
Ted Anderson has worked quite a few MLP comics including the Pinkie Pie Mirco that I looked at during my last retrospective. And I can't recall but I think that this may have been the first time that Trixie played a prominent role in the comics and Anderson did a great job in capturing her style.
Agnes Garbowska - Artist
Garbowska is easily one of the top artists that has worked on the MLP comics as she does a great job of capturing the show's look and that is so on point here.
Covers
The cover for Issue 21 is a bit simple if fun as it just looks like a poster for a magic show with Trixie front and center.
I've never read it but this comic very much reminds me of the cover for Days of Future Past. Just with our mane cast in a police spotlight and instead of mutants on the wall, famous paintings and jewelry are displayed on the back.
The Plot
Our story opens with Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Apple Bloom, and Babs Seed are going to the famous Carneighe Hall in Manehattan. They are all dressed to the nines and ready for the night but Fluttershy notices that Rarity isn't wearing a necklace that she had earlier that night. That is due to a jewel thief being on the loose.
And who should be performing at the show other than Trixie. The crowd is eating it all up save for our Ponyville residents. And then, we come to Trixie's last trick of the night.
And now for Trixie's LAST AND Greatest trick of the evening! Prepare yourselves for a feat unlike any seen before! Trixie will make this diamond, without touching it--while blindfolded--- tied up and suspended upside-down with a burning rope---over a vat of pudding!
The reaction to this is pretty funny with Flutters covering her eyes. The pudding made me chuckle out loud. Though, the trick goes off without a hitch. And Trixie perfectly lands. And Trixie says that the diamond was under her hat, the whole time but it's not there. And just then, the Manehattan Police show up and tell everybody to stay where they are. AJ notices that something is up and that Trixie is in the middle of it and decides that the girls need to check it out. Though, we find out that Trixie's cunning plan has succeeded. This leaves the cowpony confused but we find out from the chief of police that Trixie has been helping the police.
Well, the truth is, ladies... Trixie has been helping the Manehattan Police!... Absolutely! She's been an invaluable part of Operation: Caught Red-Hoofed!
The chief goes on to explain that the police that the robberies are all an act of notorious jewel thief, Rough Diamond. Trixie goes to explain her role in this charade.
Trixie: You see Rough Diamond has finally taken the bait... and now, we have sprung the trap!
Babs Seed: I get it! You wanted the thief to try and steal the diamond you used in the show!
Trixie: Precisely! The "Ostlerheimer Diamond" that I used in the show was a fake! The real diamond is safe in the theater director's office! Not only was that diamond fake, there was a small tracking chip hidden upon it! Trixie could track it across Equestira!
The chief asks Trixie to find the diamond and and she uses the chip and mysteriously appears in AJ's hat but the cowpony has no idea, how the diamond got in there. Miss Rarity inspects the diamond and observes that the diamond is indeed a fake. Just then, someone informs the police chief that someone has broken into the stage director's office. They head back there and ask the director of the show, what the problem is. The director says that he noticed small scratches around the lock and that the thief picked the lock. Just then, the police along with our lead ladies head in and search for the real diamond. They ask the director, where it is and they check the safe, where he said it should be. They open it to discover that the safe is empty. Uh-oh!
This leaves Trixie angry and we find out from the police chief that he added a tracking device to the real diamond as well. The real diamond is found in Trixie's hat. This leads the chief to believe that Trixie did this purposefully as he thinks that Trixie has not changed. This leads to AJ to stand up for her.
Now, wait a moment. Trixie's had some troubles in Ponyville, sure.... but this doesn't like on of her schemes.
Though, that backfired as that leads the police chief to think that the Ponyville ladies aided Trixie in this. There's nothing that the girls can do at this point but go on the run. Trixie is confused as she knows that she didn't steal the diamond. Apple Bloom goes into a lengthy tirade accusing Trixie of stealing the diamond and saying that she set AJ up to look like a thief. Trixie swears that she is trying hard to be good, even if no one believes her. AJ says that there is only thing to do, they need to prove Trixie's innocence and catch the real thief. AJ disposes of the real diamond , so the police won't be able to track them. Our heroines go on the run and on a train, Babs and Trixie get to know each other better and just as this is going, Babs spots part of a map in Trixie's hat. The ponies are confused as to how it could have gotten but Flutters thinks that Rough Diamond may have done it and AJ determines that they have to catch the thief. And that is the end of Issue # 21.
We pick up in Issue # 22, with a newsboy hawking the Equestira Daily as Trixie's theft has made the front page news. Our ladies have incognito in the hopes that they will not be found. They head to the Manehattan Museum as they head to the jewelry exhibit to determine what Rough Diamond would steal next. And that is where they find the Forehoof Pendant and determine that is Rough Diamond's next target. Though, granted, it's only Fluttershy and Apple Bloom here. Meanwhile in the sparkling diamond district of Manehattan, Rarity, AJ, Trixie, and Babs are off to do some investigating of their own. And we get a little bit more of Babs and Trixie bonding over their pasts as Babs says that she believes in Trixie. Rarity discovers diamonds that were in a necklace that were stolen last month from one of Manehattan's elite. We discover that the person that sold these gems came in the week prior but it was dark and they were wearing a cloak and it was dark. But the store owner was able to make out the pony's diamond cutie mark. And that leads our ladies to think that it was Rough Diamond. They meet back up at Babs' apartment and lay out their plan for the night and decide to sneak in. And the next couple of pages are nothing more than the girls sneaking around.
They sneak into the museum with AJ pulling a stunt that reminds me of The Great Muppet Caper (I may be reviewing that in the future) as she does her best Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible but it appears to be too late. As our ladies have been caught by the police and they are how about to be taken in. But Babs steps and reveals that she knows the truth and that Rough Diamond had been under the police chief's nose the whole time. As Rough Diamond was posing one of the police officers. And that gave her, all the access that she needed to get away with the crime. And the comic ends with Trixie being freed and being allowed to put on her show once more.
Yeah, this comic isn't bad but there isn't a whole lot to say here. Especially, when it comes to the characters as while they are perfectly fine. There's nothing to them, they serve their roles perfectly well but there isn't anything too exciting to say about them.
My Final Thoughts
This arc is okay but it doesn't really do anything too exciting with the characters. They serve their roles perfectly well but the way, they are used is kinda boring. And I think that's my problem with this story, it's okay but there's nothing to it. Join me next time as we look at the first of two Friends Forever issues as we see what happens when Rainbow Dash comes to save Trixie from the Diamond Dogs.
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