/mlp/ Fanfic Reviews

MLP: A New Generation - Rainbow Dash Does Everything

FimFiction Link - Short ID: 504277/mlp-a-new-generation---rainbow-dash-does-everything

Published: Oct '21

Review in No. 37631589
'MLP:ANG - Rainbow Dash Does Everything' is a four thousand and three hundred-word oneshot about a hypothetical situation in which Rainbow goes forward in time to solve whatever problem might plague the future. I like the basic concept. Thrusting an established character into a setting that's somewhat familiar, yet also completely alien is a nice way of exploring how they'd act. Sadly, however, this fic simply doesn't do the concept justice.
The biggest issue is perhaps the story's length. It's too short. You cannot cram a one and a half hour movie into less than five thousand words. The plot zips by and the conflicts solve themselves in seconds. RD just so happens to land near Zephyr Heights, survive a fall using (and I quote) "cartoon-physics," stumble into ponies who know about her - which is weird in and of itself, I thought only Sunny knew of the M6 as Zipp had no idea what Twilight's cutie mark meant, - and then with an extremely short and sugary speech convince everyone that "friendship good, mistrust bad." This then immediately resolves the tribalism without much fanfare and every pony, even the ones she didn't meet or have witnessed the event gets their magic back. Also apparently in this story Sunny, Izzy and Hitch were able to steal the crown without Pipp's show segment, so Zipp has to do an extremely awkward monologue about how the royals' ability to fly is a lie.
I think the author meant this story to be a comedy piece, but sadly the fic is lacking both in terms of quality and quantity of jokes. The prose too feels simply amateurish and thrown-together. The tenses change randomly and the author switches wildly between calling the protagonist "Dashie" and "Rainbow Dash."
Overall: 3/10 What a mess. If the concept was explored in a proper, ten times as long story it could be genuinely entertaining and heartfelt, but in its current shape I feel disappointed. I can't recommend this fic with a good heart.