FimFiction Link - Short ID: 10624/reading-rainbow
Published: Feb '12 — Mar '12
An accident leaves Twilight temporarily blind, and Rainbow Dash takes it to herself to ease her time in the hospital by reading to her.
>Pros:
- Captures Dash and Twilight beautifully despite giving them only a few lines.
- The book Dash reads is quite cute and endearing
>Cons:
- There really isn't much depth to it. Twilight hurt her eyes, and Dash reads to her.
- The majority of the story is a foal's tale about two OCs
There really isn't much to say about this one. It's sweet, short, and to the point. Good for heart and belly fuzzies.
Prose is good and all but have you ever read a shortfic that features a complete 2.5k words long poem? Really cute story and a near-flawless execution – this is the peak of the SoL oneshot genre. A definite must read for anyone. 10/10.
'Reading Rainbow' is a seven thousand and four hundred-word shortfic. Twilight is temporarily blinded by a spell gone wrong, so Rainbow stays back to read for her.
The fic's plot itself isn't really the point in this story. I can't really criticize much in it, but that's largely because it's mostly just setup for the poem and the playful and humorous back-and-forth between Purplesmart and Bluefast. I do want to highlight the intro, because I really like how brash it depicts Rainbow, really fits her character, especially with how she had to be basically shouted at until she finally calmed down enough to listen to reason.
Unlike most other fics, however, the real shining star of the story is the prose, both in terms of writing and the pretty little poem the author concocted. I found them both really easy to read (which is always a great thing in stories) and really evocative. The stallion's story and its simple but sweet moral reminded me of an old folk tale and I was really happy to see that the author really went all in with the rhyming. As someone who recently tried to add a poem to his story, it's a lot harder than it might seem, especially if you want to write something this long.
Overall: 7/10 Though it's not the most earth-shattering story one could read, it is obvious that it's not what the author aimed for anyways, and I am more than okay with this. The fic oozes that old 2012 atmosphere and it's a very comfy, wholesome and easy to read story that also provides the reader with a delightful little poem and some warm feelings. Easy recommend.