EWaiting for a Train

• MLP: FiM
• Slice of Life

There are many things you can think about after almost dying. For Applejack and Rainbow Dash, it's what comes after.

• Rainbow Dash
• Applejack

Freglz · 8.2k words  ·  204  11 · 3.2k views

Waiting for a Train

by Freglz

Summary:

There are many things you can think about after almost dying.

For Applejack and Rainbow Dash, it's what comes after.

Initial Thoughts: Ah, a lovely bit of Appledash! These have been coming on thick and plentiful lately. Thank you, whoever started that contest! I’ll admit, I wasn’t originally an Appledash fan, least until the finale, but it had never gripped me like other ships. So, I was looking to see if this one would really sell me on it. Give me a reason to root for that particular relationship.

Did it succeed? Well…

My Reaction: Oh, wow. This might actually be a really short review. The basics of the story are simple to get across. Rainbow Dash and Applejack are recovering from a rougher-than-usual adventure at the train station, and they reflect on their lives, their relationship, and their future. That’s really it. This story is about as Slice of Life as that genre gets.

But, oh! We get so much more than that. Sure, it’s just AJ and Dash talking for eight-thousand words, or so, but it’s them twenty years older than we last saw the pair. They’re older, wiser. Even Rainbow comes across as a reasonable, level-headed pony who’s been at this hero business for decades!

And that’s where this story truly shines. On the surface, this is a story about a couple discussing their jobs, and their lives together. But, just underneath that, it’s more like an examination of their characters. We get right inside Dash’s head, and we see how she’s matured. We see how much she loves Applejack, though in her typical tough-girl way, and we’re given an intimate look at how they’re handling their lives as heroes.

It’s a mature fic, in the best way. It covers a lot of topics that require a mature understanding of life before they really hit you, without being too high-minded about it. It’s this lovely little slice of life, that somehow encapsulates what it means to be alive.

Grammar: 10/10. Impeccable. If I missed something, it was entirely because I couldn’t see through my tears of joy as I read this.

Story: 10/10. Anyone remember the ending to Kingdom of Heaven? That’s the only way I can properly express what this story is.

”What is this story about?”
“Nothing.”
Walks away… then turns back around.
“Everything.”

Characters: 10/10. It’s like Freglz somehow managed to distill pure essence of AppleDash into a bottle, and then use that instead of ink when writing these characters. I cannot stress enough how amazingly realized these two are. This is the reason you should read this story!

Final Word and Rating

Ten-outta-Ten. Ten. Out. Of. Ten. Hundred percent. A-plus. S-Ranked.

Waiting for a Train is an outstanding piece of pony literature. It doesn’t aspire to be some masterpiece of adventuring, or an epic worldbuilding treatise. It tells a simple story, about two beings who love each other, and fear what losing them could bring. And it tells that story to masterful perfection.

To the author: I really cannot stress how much I enjoyed this story. Telling Freglz what they can do better would be like telling Mozart his Requiem could use more polish. That Schubert could stand to use more notes. It’s sacrilege. What I can tell you is that your subtlety truly sells what you write. You’ve captured the voice of the characters, and used them to tell a well-conceived story that touches on so many higher themes without resorting to throwing them in our faces. As you continue to write, simply apply whatever dark sorceries you employed here, and I will be first in line to read them.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask here or in PM.