Review: A Delicate Balance, by Japanese Teeth

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AKA "The most unromantic ship-fic on Fimfiction" aka "The ship-fic for people that hate ship-fics." Twilight realizes that her feelings for Applejack are more then mere Friendship. Though it takes a lot of prodding from the rest of the Mane 6 to make her confess those feelings to the mare she's fallen for. And what follows is over thirty chapters of nearly pure enjoyment as the two of them deal with everything life together can throw at them, or they can throw at each other, with the help of family, friends, each other.... and all with not a single Idiot Ball to be found.

The story is labeled and is a romance fic, but also a Slice of Life one, and one of the greatest things that makes the story work is that, it really isn't a Romance story. It is a Slice of Life story, that happens to be looking at the slice of the characters lives the involves romance. A subtle, but very very important distinction that is at the heart of why this IS such a great romance story. (And the large amount of well used and genuine humor, without making it comedic enough to need a comedy tag as well really help.)

Story:Overall, a pretty basic and simple story. Mare falls in love with mare, and the two spend time growing closer and trying to make a relationship between them work. It is very slow paced, taking it's time to fully explore many nuances of their relationship, both between themselves and with how it effects their friends. And overall, perhaps one of if not the best example for how to do a romance story right. Everyponies' actions are are believable, everything makes sense. there is no drama just for the sake of drama or due to some misunderstanding. Never any forced conflict. And yet, there is still conflict, but it's the kind that flows naturally from the situation, the doesn't require the characters to be idiots to have it happen.

Not to say the overall story isn't without flaws. While the romance itself is handled incredibly well. There are a few issues with some subplots, especially the Spike one, which is just plain stupid, unneeded and nonsensical. And Fluttershy's, which is handled only a bit better then Spikes, and is the closest the story comes to anything feeling forced or contrived. Since a lot of her points feel like they exist only to give Fluttershy a reason to be in the story beyond simply joining the other Mane 6 in cheering on Twi and AJ. And due to the slow pacing it takes several chapters for the story to actually get into gear, but then near the end, the pacing picks up quite a lot to try and get everything wrapped up. And while not rushed on it's own, it does feel a tad off compared to how slow the story took things till then. Not helped by a time skip in the middle that is not handled very well and kills the flow of the narrative for a few chapters.

Though all of those are rather minor points in the overall story. Which is just fantastic.

Characters: This, this is what makes this story really shine. Even when the story isn't going anywhere, when it's very slowly building up steam, or when it's struggling to regain nit after that Time Skip, the characters make the story worth staying invested in. The Mane 6 all feel like they could be on screen doing this in the show, they all feel incredibly in character. And no matter what is going on, it is always a joy seeing them interact. And the side characters get in on it too, with everyone one being unique and having their own charm. With Bon-Bon and Twilight's father stealing the show.

Best of all, not one of them ever acts like an idiot. (Okay Twi does do one insanely stupid thing, but it is so over the top dumb, and she gets so much flack for it from anypony that learns about it, it's in no way frustrating. Since she and everypony else realize and admit it was a stupid idea.) There is set up for so, so many of the cliches that makes "Romance" stories so annoying. All the drama caused by misunderstandings, rumors, or ponies either not talking to each other, or just being stubborn for the sake of drama. Yeah this story has none of that. While there are quite a few conflicts, quite a few times where ponies will butt heads or argue, especially Twi and AJ. It is never forced, never over something stupid, and never with one side being "right" because the other is being obstinate for no reason. Every conflict, you can fully understand both ponies points of view. Both ponies have a good point in why they are upset or frustrated. Neither is ever fully right or wrong, and both are reasonable. They separate, take same time to cool off, and try to work things out rationally and never, at any point, caring less for each other or being overly dramatic. And it is Glorious.

Ponyness:Another place the story really excels. This feels like something you could see as an episode. (Well several due to length) baring the subject matter of course.) Everypony is in character. Everything feels like it does in the show. And while I am, overall, very largely against romance in the show. If it DOES happen, I'd want it to be like this. Since the main reason I hate the idea, as well as most 'Romance' stories, is that almost always, at least one character involved, if not several get turned into morons to make it work. Always fall back on cliches, miscommunication, one character being an idiot or stubborn, and just so many other overdone and aggravating was to make the story work. OR, go the other way and make it all supper lovey dovey sickeningly over done to the point it's not at all believable. This story strikes the perfect middle ground between the two. And should romance ever play a part in the show, I hope it pulls it off even close to as well as this story does.

Overall: Incredable I was really conflicted over what rating to give this story, and it really took me quite a while to work out just how high to rate this story. Just how well it handled the romance, just how great it was at making something I generally hate, thoroughly enjoyable, I really wanted to label this as Exemplary. But, the story does have issues that I have to acknowledge do drag it down a bit, most I've already covered. Fluttershy and Spikes subplots, the poorly handled Time skip, some pacing issues, either being to slow or to fast at times. So it got knocked down to Incredible, BUT with the caveat that it is still going into the Hall of Fame as being a shining example of how to do romance right. And a very very heartfelt recommendation to check it out, between the oh so well done romance, the lovable, unique and entertaining characters and dialog, and just the overall sense of warmth and good feelings it will give you.