Must Reads - The Flight of the Alicorn

Review for my expanding Recomendation List

The Flight of the Alicorn by Ponydora Prancypant

Tags: Adventure, Romance

Timeframe: Starts off of during Sweet and Elite in S2.

Description:

Rarity's exploits in "Sweet and Elite" set in motion a chain of events that will find the unicorn dressmaker taking part in the greatest airship race in the world, the Alicorn's Cup. Excitement will give way to terror, as Rarity soon finds herself the victim of a plot against Equestria, and shipwrecked far from home with her least favorite stallion, the boorish Prince Blueblood. Rarity will learn of treachery in Canterlot and abroad, and will have search for something of substance beneath the prince's obnoxious veneer as she struggles to not only save herself, but her entire nation.

Why you should read it:

Rarity as an adventure character is not something you see often. Even less often you see it done well. And this is the only time I have seen it done well while also staying completely true to Rarity's canon characterization.
For that alone I love this story.
Then there is the underlying borderline steampunk theme. The Equestria we get presented in the story is the same as the one in the show, but the story puts things in a new focus.
The railroad system is presented as a relatively recent development that completely changed Equestrian infrastructure. The airship Rarity sees off in Sweet and Elite is the first model in a new line of air yachts and will become rather important throughout the story. Fancypants is seen as a revolutionary entrepreneur who tries to better and equalize Equestria through industrial revolution. Equestria's expansion and outside relations, especially with the griffins are also themasized.

Not all of these things are focus of the story, but they make the whole world the author set up feel alive and versatile.

Then there is the Rarity-Blueblood shipping. If you expect this to ruin the story for you, don't worry. The romance is progressing very slowly and if you don't like it you can probably just shut it out. However, I found the constant bickering and rivalry between the two while they are slowly forced to work together very enjoyable.

The romance itself is of course somewhat predictable, but rest of the story has several major twists that I didn't always see coming.

All in all, The Flight of the Alicorn is a very enjoyable story and apart from the final conflict which I personally found a bit over the top, I don't have any real criticism, which means a lot, since I tend to be rather perfectionist.