Drops of Silver & Reading is Magic: Analyzing My Little Dashie · 9:48pm Jan 11th, 2014
Hey y'all!
Time for my next review. I know what you're all thinking. 'This guy just won't stop'. You know, you're probably right, and it might bite me in the but someday, but I was bored and recently did a collaboration with Little Wood, so here it is. Don't wanna waste it, right? Me and Little Wood worked together on this, so all the ideas here were bounced back and forth until we both came to a resolution.
So, without further ado, here it is, analyzing My Little Dashie!
Now I know you are all crying bullshit! What could possibly be wrong with My Little Dashie? Well, not every time I analyze something will it hold mostly negative material. What we did here was look at some major points in the story and decide just why is it a good story, and what might be wrong with it.
1.
So, the story. Does it make sense, or does it trip up, making it hard to read. Well, anyone who's read the story or seen the mini movie will say 'Of course it makes sense!'. So we looked a little deeper.
How did Dashie get to our world? Through a lighting strike, right? Well, my first thought was, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Sure, it was magic, but wouldn't it make more sense if a portal opened up? Think about it for a second. Twilight was using magic she wasn't too familiar with. As a result, it went awry and caused Dashie to be sucked away. A portal would seem like a more plausible method of accomplishing this. If a spell goes awry, there is probably a massive amount of energy stored in that spell. It would be possible that the energy 'punched' a hole through dimensions, causing it to open just long enough to pull Dashie in before it closes. Of course, that is a lot of 'ifs'. We talked and agreed a lightning bolt seemed more appropriate because, one, it was from a storm, two it was still a magic lightning bolt, and three, it would be possible, especially in the world of MLP, where we don't know all of the physics that go on there, such as Pinkie Pie and her constant bouncing, or even the pegasi flying with small wings (I know, I'm just nitpicking now).
Another thing is why does no one ever see Dashie? He keeps her cooped up for several years, but eventually takes her out. Even though he lives in a deserted portion of the city, why would no one see her when they are at the parks? Or when she did a sonic rainboom. Surely someone saw her trail of rainbows as she sped away. Or did no one look up when a massive rainbow shattered windows and set of car alarms? It doesn't quite add up. No matter how few people are there, it doesn't seem likely not even one would see at least something. Getting to and from the park doesn't explain itself either. Was the whole section of the city he was in COMPLETLY deserted? Really, that seems kind of stupid. I doubt the government would just let a city go to waste like that. So then where was everyone? It is possible that every time he left, there just happened to be no one around. But that seems like a weak excuse. It could be everyone was to absorbed in their own lives, but again, a weak excuse. Maybe he hid her in his coat, but there are a number of things wrong with that. One is that I don't think he'd resort to hiding someone he thought of as a daughter in his coat for however long he walked. Then, if that happened, when they were at the park, did no one see her? How do you not notice a bright cyan and rainbow mare flying through the sky? Lastly, I don't think Dashie would allow herself to be treated that way, not matter how much she wanted to go outside.
Just a little side thing, how did RD get stuck in a box with the words 'To a good home' written on the side? There is no way that could happen without any planning, as it was mistake she even got here in the first place. So here is an interesting idea. Maybe she was found by some else first. Whoever it was might have not wanted the responsibility of caring for a creature he probably had no knowledge about.
Anyway last thing is how did Celestia and the others know where RD was? She was accidentally thrown into our world, so how did they find her? Well, here is what we think. They probably saw RD get zapped away, probably with a lot of ruckus too. I can't imagine traveling between dimensions is quiet. Then it would make sense that they could 'recreate' the accident, though on a larger scale, so as to send them all across dimensions. If that is the case, the rest all falls into place. Celestia and Twilight can both use their magic to locate other magic. Ever pony has some amount of magic in them. It only makes sense they could pinpoint RDs location once in this world. Now it makes sense that every pony has some magic in them because they are, after all, mythical creatures and Rd is an Element of Harmony, which is by nature a magical artifact.
2.
The characters in this story were also very well done... mostly.
Lets start with RD, shall we? Who do we know her to be from the show? Proud, brave, stubborn, even a bit prideful, but also caring. Well, she lived up to her brave side easily. After all, she was in a world were she wasn't normal, and had to deal with feeling like an outcast. Yet she still flourished, so yeah, she's brave. While I didn't see much related to her being 'proud', I did see a lot of care and affection coming from her, which I thought was bit uncharacteristic. However, if you really take a look, it makes sense. She was raised from a filly with this guy. While it was natural for her to have certain traits, being raised alone and only feeling love from one guy probably changed her emotions a bit, to the point where she was more caring. Now, as far as pride goes, I didn't see anything. Not one point did her pride get in the way of anything, or even show up! Then again, the way she was raised probably changed her general feelings.
Everyone else seemed okay, save Rarity. I cannot believe that the author made Rarity look like some sort of snarky, mean pony. Her comment to the guy was not her at all. She wasn't ever that mean in any of the episodes. So yeah, I wasn't to happy with that.
Last small thing is why did Applejack call the guy sugercube when she only calls her friends that. She not once addresses anyone else that way, yet she did to this guy she had never met before.
3.
So, does it deliver what it promises? Well, obviously a human story, lets look at the sad part. Yes it was sad at the end, but through the whole thing, was it sad. I have to say yes. Just the little things, his thoughts of not being with her much longer, her running away for a while only to be reunited, it all mixed together to make a sad story. Then the end threw me for a loop. I was expecting a happy ending, but no. Dashie gets taken away, and he's left with only pictures and a mouth-written letter from RD. That was definitely sad.
But are there any other tags? Well, going through the story, the only thing that might fit the bill is comedy, but not really. Sure, there was a part or two that was funny, but in all, not enough to constitute it being a funny story. No other tags fit it either.
4.
The last thing is grammar, and we all know that the grammar was pretty much perfect, so I don't really have much to say here. It was so well written, I could easily move from sentence to sentence without doing a double take and trying to understand what was being said.
So, all in all, yes, this story is AMAZING! The author did a great job. I have no idea how long he/she took, but it was obviously a labor of love. I highly recommend reading it to anyone who hasn't. If you read this whole review without reading it, I hope you do.
Anyways, special thanks to Little Wood for collaborating with me on this one. It definitely helped to bounce ideas back and forth until we got what we wanted.
It's a good fanfic, but as you just pointed out there are some plot holes present.
1707540 Yep, but just a few. For the size of the story, there are barely any, but they are there. I just try to explain what I see and hypothesize what I think could be better.
So did you like it?
1707564 It's good for what it is. Could've been better, but compared to some other tearjerkers like "Bittersweet" it makes sense. The fan made movie adaptation was decent, but while it made sense that in the fic we never got to see the man it didn't work the same for me to not see his face in the movie. In the fic we can visualize how he's feeling, whereas in a visual media by obscuring his face we can't get the intended feels. It makes seem almost as if he were acting, as if the drama weren't real.
1707673 Yeah, I agree. It seemed like his actions were a bit... forced.
1708052 And the voice acting and animation for the ponies was at times stiff. Some of the vectors chosen weren't the right fit for the scene, and at times the voice acting sounded forced.
1708104 Maybe I should do a review on the movie, specifically.
1708856 Perhaps.
Hey, Silver. Remember this? Do you remember when we worked together for the first time EVER on something? I still go back to these old posts and look at how far we've come. I'm glad I went through the trouble of keeping you as a friend... You kept me on my feet. Thanks bro. Happy Birthday again!
~LW
2269265 Nostalgia... sweet nostalgia...
You were one of the first friends I ever had here. I'm glad you're my friend, and that we're still friends, and hopefully will stay friends until the day we die.
Thanks.