Watch The Movie, Sweetie Belle!
By Chuckfinley

Reviewed by Rinnaul

This story had apparently been added to the group by The Princess Rarity, our former clop reviewer. While we allow admins to add stories, generally the author has to submit them. And without TPR here to ask about it, I sadly concluded I wouldn’t be reviewing this one.

But then I messaged Chuckfinley and he said it was okay.

Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara are teenagers, and steady-but-unofficial marefriends. On this cold, rainy morning, Sweetie is going over to Diamond’s to watch a movie. Being teenagers, they find themselves more interested in one another than the movie.

First things first—DiamondBelle (why not SweeTiara? the world may never know) are a rare but adorable ship. Granted, a lot of that cuteness may just come from Sweetie Belle being Sweetie Belle, but guys, just look at this.

The primary difficulty with any Diamond Tiara ship is getting her to a point where she can have a non-abusive relationship without having her go out of character, because her depiction in the show consistently amounts to “alpha bitch.” And really, anypony who put up with her on-the-show persona in romance would be in a position to be pitied more than anything else.

Here, however, the author makes it work. Sure, sometimes Diamond gets abrasive, but Sweetie just rolls her eyes and moves on. It acknowledges Diamond’s flaw, but rather than depicting Sweetie as submissive and codependent, desperately trying to find proof that her marefriend loves her (as romances with antagonistic characters are prone to doing), Sweetie comes off as tolerant of her marefriend’s antics, but clearly without approving of them.

As for Diamond, her attitude has been toned down from “bully” to “troll and a tease”. This is actually a perfectly believable direction for her character to take, once she bothers getting to know somepony other than Silver Spoon. She and Silver aren’t evil, they’re kids. Hell, I talked just as much shit about a Chinese kid I knew in middle school as those two do about the Crusaders. And why? Was I being racist? Did I hate him for other reasons? Did I want to see him miserable?

Nope. Guy was one of my best friends for three years. It was the simple fact that I thought it was funny, and children don’t have much in the way of empathy. They seriously don’t consider the effects their actions can have on others. Once Diamond Tiara gets to know Sweetie Belle, once she learns to value her as a person (or pony), she’ll tone it down. The same would happen as she grew older and developed more empathy for others.

Now, her behavior is still very much dominant and a bit of a bitch, but the comments lack the sting they had before, and she’s all-around gentler about it. That’s because despite her development, her personality is still a very dominant one. She’s going to take control in any situation, and assert her opinions over those of anyone around her. It’s just the way she is.

All this basically leads to their interactions showing a definite dom-sub relationship, and not in the BDSM sense. Diamond’s antics come off as teasing rather than bullying, and the interaction is downright cute a lot of the time. It makes the actual sex that much more entertaining because Sweetie reverses the dynamic by clearly being the dominant sexual partner.

On the sex, the entire scene was very well-done. Things progressed fairly naturally into it (insofar as it ever progresses naturally in a clopfic), nothing is ever rushed, and while the language does tend towards the vulgar (I am not a fan of the word “cunt” in a sex scene), it fits well and doesn’t interrupt the mood.

All in all, an excellent example of what a good short clopfic looks like.

I got nothin’.

It feels strange putting “Must-Read” or “Masterpiece” on a clopfic. I suppose it’s the fandom’s bias against them that causes that. Like clopfic can’t reach the same standards are other stories, somehow, just because it’s erotica. Regardless of that, though:

Must-Read.

To quote myself from another review, it’s cute, romantic, sexy, and funny, while keeping a difficult character true to her portrayal on the show, and yet going beyond that canon portrayal to show us how, despite her antagonistic personality, she could grow into a mare capable of having a loving relationship.

If there’s a chance you might enjoy F/F ships, or if you just like Diamond Tiara or Sweetie Belle, and you don’t mind clop or the vague impression of foalcon brought on by having the two be teenagers, read this.