"The Fires of Friendship" Review

Finished ’The Fires of Friendship’ a few days ago, a Rarijack fic by Ponydora Prancypants.

It was a good read! I like how it presents a little history between AJ and Rarity before the beginning of the series, and how their budding friendship seemingly wasn’t meant to be. Filly Rarity trying to use complex words (albeit getting them wrong) and come off as posh was adorable; that was a nice personality quirk, to the writer’s credit.

The dialog is crisp, and when I read it with Ashleigh Ball’s and Tabitha St-Germain’s voices, I can easily picture the respective characters themselves saying it.

The metaphor for the burning forest clearing the detritus away and allowing new life to develop, and how Rarity equates that to renewing her relationship with AJ, was interesting and lends the story pathos. The execution was a bit heavy-handed in the climax (to be clear, I’m referring to the bonfire scene), but overall it was well done.

Resentment and forgiveness are themes that I find all too lacking in the actual series (where everyone is pardoned rather easily and quickly), so I appreciated how this fic presented the failings in the characters’ relationship and their eventual attempts to rectify them.

Looking forward to the sequel!