FimFiction Link - Short ID: 508406/a-personal-touch
Published: Dec '21
'A Personal Touch' is a two thousand and three hundred word comedy oneshot. Rarity is surprised to hear that a pony claims to own a dress she designed, without her remembering to have done so. She sets out to investigate and discovers something life-changing about one of her friends.
The fic is already pretty good from a technical standpoint. The prose is pleasant, the pacing is good and the characters act just the way you expect them. What truly shines about this fic, however, is the humor. I won't give away the jokes, but I have to admit that the punchline of this fic made me laugh. It was both unexpected and so obvious at the same time, that it simply completely ticked all the boxes that makes something funny to me.
I have to give a shout-out to the weight joke that's brought up a few times. In itself, I wouldn't really call it that funny at all, however, the way the author used it as a kind of mini "B-plot," which bridges the gap between the first half of the story and the punchline is simply very clever and natural-feeling.
The only negative-ish thing I can bring up is that arguably the mystery could have dragged out a bit longer. A few red herrings could have served as extra jokes and the fact that Rarity immediately knew where to go, made the the plot's resolution very convenient to say the least. However, considering the point of this story was simply to deliver a nice joke, I'm willing to overlook this without issue.
Overall: 7/10 The fic is lighthearted, funny, and its conflict is resolved in a very sweet way. I recommend it.