FimFiction Link - Short ID: 4604/daylight-burning
Published: Dec '11 — Jul '12
How much edge do you want in your 2012 action fic? If you answered "all of it" then keep reading, but if you hesitate even a little bit, simply ignore this fic and save yourself some time reading this review.
It's a very Hollywood-style fic. The plot exists mostly as an excuse to show a series of "cool/epic" scenes (especially fight scenes) and the AU bends over backwards to convince you how dark and edgy this Eqeustria is. It's unbelievably in-your-face about that. There are several paragraphs where something starts happening normally, only for the scene to be subverted by a reveal showing off the misery of this Equestria, or an out of place sex joke. If Fluttershy being introduced in a scene where she imposes herself on some guard stallion asking him to have sex with her isn't your cup of tea, stay away from this fic. Likewise, Diamond Dogs wanting to rape and devour ponies on sight is completely normal here. This kind of edgy dark setting is the one consistent thing about the whole story. Oh, and FYI one of the main characters is a grown-up alicorn-sized "cool" warrior Spike trained in combat by Princess Luna herself.
That said, the fic does actually get more spectacular in the second half, fully committing to its action movie nature. It's still riddled with inconsistent characterizations and cheap movie-like tricks -- main characters suffer many almost-lethal wounds and quickly recover, side characters die immediately after they stop being relevant, usually with a final speech -- but if edgy anime fights, ruthless ponies, evil godlike villain, and a struggle against the odds are what you seek, you could probably do worse than Daylight Burning.
Then again, going by what the thread said in the past, even in that case (You) should probably just read The Immortal Game instead. Daylight Burning is almost certainly heavily inspired by that fic, but the execution here is subpar for multiple reasons. 4/10, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're in desperate need of a dumb "turn your brain off" AU edgefic.