FimFiction Link - Short ID: 507854/ominouslierest
Published: Dec '21
'Ominouslierest' is a one thousand and seven hundred-word oneshot featuring Twilight and Rarity playing Scrabble. Even though Rarity is about to win using a made-up word, Twilight refuses to accept her loss, citing how "ominouslierest" doesn't actually mean anything. The game, left unfinished, remains on the desk for months, until an unexpected event finally brings closure to the two players.
What a delightful little story. As it is entirely from the perspective of Rarity, the author spares no words or detail on puffing up every paragraph to be as embellished as the mare's speech usually is. While I'm not going to say that I've never seen any other story use Scrabble as its conflict, it's still a fairly unique plot-device and it combined with the resolution works perfectly for the tone the story is going for: A petty but ultimately harmless and entertaining "feud." I also really like how the author even uses the text itself as a narrative device. Larger gaps are left between different scenes, which makes it obvious that either the time or the place has changed, but the gaps are reasonably sized enough not to feel obnoxious or excessive.
I admit, I mostly foresaw the ending, because there really aren't that many ways you can end a happy oneshot like this without contrivances, but due to how cheeky the scene was, I do not consider this an issue at all. It's almost like the author/story itself is winking back at you, saying "we both knew where this is going" and I really like that. The Princess' intervention was a bit unexpected since she wasn't even mentioned in the story until that point and we have little reason to believe either of them spoke about something trivial like this to her, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief on this one. Not only is it fairly easy to justify some reason, but she works more like a wish-granting force in this story than a "true" character.
Overall: 8/10 This is a short story done right. It doesn't overstay its welcome in the slightest, it features lovely in-character prose, it's funny without resorting to cheap tricks, and ultimately it feels very comfy. I very much recommend it.