Hello & welcome back to Trotting Through Life. And I know it's been a while but well, my science class took priority and before that, we had Trotting Through The Snow. And now we have the final season of MLP coming up in April, so where does that leave me. Well, I've yet to finish the character retrospectives as I still have AJ, Twilight, Spike and possibly the CMC to do and when I get to those character retrospectives, I'll cover the season nine episodes but seeing as I started A Dash of Awesome before the final season was officially announced, I will only be going up to Dashie's season 8 episodes. So, here's a look at we have left.
- Rarity Investigates
- Newbie Dash
- Stranger Than Fanfiction
- 28 Pranks Later
- Buckball Season
- Top Bolt
- Parental Glidence
- Secrets and Pies
- Daring Done
- Grannies Gone Wild
- Non-Compete Clause
- The End in Friend
- EQG Short (Rainbow Rocks)
As you can see, that's not including the GM Berrow book or the solo comic. The former of which I may not review as this retrospective is already quite long and also I understand that some of you may be wondering why I'm covering a Miss Rarity episode during my Dash retrospective. A couple of reasons, I wanted to get this in as a follow-up to the Rarity Retrospective and because believe it or not this is the first Rainbow Dash and Rarity episode we had in the series' run. With that outta the way, let's begin.
The Plot
As you can see from the title of the episode, this is a mystery episode and this isn't the show's first mystery episode as there was also MMMystery on The Friendship Express
And there's also a series of chapter and comic books featuring the Crusaders known as Ponyville Mysteries.
And not to mention a Nancy Drew Expy showed up in a Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon comic.
Yeah, I know she looks like Velma but her name is Prancy Drew
So, that leads to the question of how well does this episode work as a mystery? Overall, pretty well and I think that there is more at stake here than in the prior mystery episode as that one was about clearing Rainbow's name whereas Pinkie's episode was just about discovering who ate a cake. The stakes seemed rather low here whereas with what this episode presents, there is a fear (slim as it may be) that one of our heroines could be in trouble. Let us also not forget that just as Dash has her love of Daring Do, we learn of Rarity's favorite book series, Shadow Spade and that is important as it informs the feeling of the episode.
What do I mean about this informing the feeling of the episode? Well, think back to MMMystery on The Friendship Express, those were various vignettes focusing on varying styles of media such as a spy parody.
Whereas this episode chooses one aesthetic for its mystery episode and gives the episode a noir feeling that can be seen in the scenes during Rarity's investigation when they go black & white. So, what exactly is the mystery? Spitfire has gone missing but first, we must set up the events that led to this.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash meet retired Wonderbolt veteran Wind Rider. Rarity picks up on his particular scent of cologne, and Rainbow Dash is starstruck to meet such a decorated flyer. When Spitfire approaches and praises Rainbow Dash's flying, mentioning that she could eventually beat Wind Rider's long-distance speed record, Wind Rider suddenly excuses himself.
This sets up our suspects first but then the next day is when the mystery starts. Spitfire is missing and they believe that someone sent her a fake note about visiting her sick mother. And well, Dashie's dream of flying with her heroes is on the line.
Wind Rider suggests someone sent Spitfire a fake note to remove her from the performance, causing all suspicion to fall upon Rainbow Dash. Though Rainbow is open about her desire to fly with Wind Rider, she pleads innocence. After a brief discussion, Soarin gives Rainbow a chance to prove her innocence, but if she cannot, she will be kicked out of the Wonderbolts.
And this is where Rarity's detective skills come into play and the mystery comes into play and we get the black and white scenes and Rarity is able to find things such as a piece of Dashie's mane, in Spitfire's suite and a rather funny interrogation scene with two of the Royal Guards including a pastry and you can see Dash becoming annoyed as it seems all the clues point to her but Rarity remains steadfast that the true culprit will be revealed. And he is, as after Rarity has completed her investigation, we learn that the culprit is retired Wonderbolt, Wind Rider and I'll let the MLP Wiki explain.
Wind Rider confesses to sending Spitfire the fake note, saying he did it to preserve his long-distance speed record. He states that sometimes playing dirty is necessary to win, but Soarin and the rest of the Wonderbolts disagree and scorn him
Once again, the big thing that made this episode work was stakes. If you've read my Hardy Boys retrospective, you know that while I don't consider myself a mystery expert, but I understand that to engage the audience, your mystery needs to have stakes. I think back to one of my favorite Hardy Boys books, The Missing Chums in which Frank and Joe's friends go missing.
It's interesting to note that The Missing Chums is the fourth book from the original series but that ties into the idea that authors/mystery writers should show stakes that mean something to the characters involved in the mysteries. As I stated in the opening, the stakes in this episode just felt greater than the previous mystery episode because of what could be lost. And I think that the way the episode presents itself also makes it more entertaining.
Characters
Rarity voiced by Tabitha St. Germain
I like how this episode mixed Rarity's sense of fashion and attention to details to show what she has learned from Shadow Spade to help her solve the mystery. It shows how smart she is and brings another side to Rarity that you may not typically think of when it comes to the most fashionable pony.
Rainbow Dash voiced by Ashleigh Ball
Make no mistake that this is a Rarity episode but Dash is at the center of the mystery because her professional career is on the line and if Rarity wasn't able to solve this mystery, Dashie would have never become a Wonderbolt. So, that's why this episode is so important to look at for Dash as well as Rarity.
Villain
Wind Rider voiced by Jan Rabson
I liked what they did with Wind Rider but it was a little obvious that he was gonna be the villain as this was his introductory episode and he just had a different look to him than some of the other Wonderbolts. So, it works and you can almost understand where he was coming from, in what he was doing.
My Final Thoughts
In all, this is a decent episode that has a fun mystery and is quite enjoyable to follow along with. I admire that they put serious stakes on the line for one of the main characters, even if we knew that Dash was gonna be safe at the end. Join me next time for one of the most uncomfortable episodes as we look at...
Newbie Dash
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