Present Perfect vs. Rarity's Rodeo · 1:51pm Mar 19th, 2021
I'm not sure if Somber's Rarity's Rodeo is a huge name in this fandom, but it is definitely the story that introduced me to the possibilities of Rarijack as a ship, so I owe it a lot. :) Originally published in 2011, I read it back in the day and took until now to realize, I do definitely need to read it again.
So does it hold up, a decade on? Smash that like button Click below to find out!
The short version is, "yeah, it's pretty good." :)
Granted, the whole time I was reading this story, I was mentally comparing it to Swayback Mountain, another old Rarijack story that I reread at one point and was disappointed by. It was a low bar to clear, but Rarity's Rodeo clears it with panache. Which is not to say it's perfect, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Rarity's Rodeo kicks off from a throwaway line in Look Before You Sleep, when, in classic early season "ponies can't games right", Rarity and Applejack are daring each other to do things. One of said things is AJ daring Rarity to participate in a rodeo. Twilight brings this up, AJ's like, oh yeah, that did happen, didn't it?, and suddenly Rarity finds herself taking Applejack's place at the upcoming rodeo. Training her up brings the two of them closer together, finding new respect for each other, and the story is ultimately about Rarity's struggles with her own feelings of inadequacy and so forth, a callback to Somber's excellent story Simply Rarity.
But Rarity's Rodeo, not to put a fine point on it, is no Simply Rarity.
What this story does have is strong characterization, especially for AJ and Rarity, which is good, since, y'know, they're the main characters. I also found a lot of the writing to be agreeable, focused as this is on season one and a lot of what we understood about the world back then. There is, for instance, a heavy focus on cows and other livestock being people if not quite peoples, if that makes sense. Rarity gets through quite a few rodeo events by charming her would-be targets.
The training montage is a sequence that deserves particular credit. Actually running us through each day of trying to get Rarity to do various rodeo things could have dragged on and on. Instead, Somber walks us through it, one bullet point at a time, using Applejack crossing off a calendar to transition from sub-scene to sub-scene.
It's really like he was writing an episode of the show, and that extends to just about every facet of this story. There's a lot of strong imagery, good comedic timing, and use of the world as it was understood back when this was written. I took note of the scene where Rarity tosses out clothing and it just magically settles onto her friends. That's the kind of thing you'd see in the show, translated here to the written medium in a way that works.
Another scene that isn't quite as good as the montage involves the mane six finally getting to the fair-slash-rodeo, and the rest of them going about, finding various things to do. It doesn't add much to the story, and is clearly one of those "shoehorn the rest of the cast into the episode" segments that has bogged down many an actual episode. But to keep it light, Somber used short summaries to give the sense of a larger, thriving setting than what was really necessary to tell the story, but that keeps it feeling like it takes place in this larger world. And that was important back when the mane six weren't literally the most important ponies in Equestria.
The… 'villain' is a strong word. The antagonist of the story is a rodeo pony named Diamondback. She has an ax to grind against Applejack, who got her kicked out of last year's rodeo for cheating. But she's back, and in short order upon meeting her, we get a solid layout of her motivation: with a long family history of cowponies, she feels that turning her heritage into a competition where even a prissy pony like Rarity can take part cheapens it.
Diamondback is, I would say, the weakest part of the story. Her role seems to shift every time she's on the page, and whether or not she's actually cheating again is never clear. Which is to say, there is cheating going on, it's all targeted at Rarity since she's AJ's replacement, and Diamondback at least wants us to believe she didn't know about it, except she maybe does? It was confusing. And then at the end, she and Rarity get one of those moments of reaching a mutual understanding before Diamondback literally rides off into the sunset.
I just think that, without her, the story would have been "Rarity vs. the rodeo" which is all it really needed to be. For sure, it would have been less confusing, and hey, maybe it wouldn't have felt like there were literally just two ponies competing, since no other competitor is ever mentioned.
Which brings me to the topic I have been avoiding since the start of this review: the romance. It's not the weakest part of the story, but neither is it particularly good.
The romance in Rarity's Rodeo comes in three movements: blushing, kiss, talking. And that kiss is what I really want to talk about, because it happens at the most perfect moment possible. Applejack is worried about Rarity ahead of the bull riding event, because it's the most dangerous part of the rodeo, trying to talk her down while Rarity won't have it. Then kiss. It's this perfect emotional climax, you can all but hear the soundtrack soaring. And it's completely unearned.
Seriously. Up until that point, all that happens is AJ looks into Rarity's eyes a ton, and they both blush a ton, and there's some flirting. It's all very mild, low-level stuff, and even afterward, Applejack confesses she never thought she'd be interested in a mare, let alone Rarity. So when she just plants a big smacker on Rarity at this — again, perfectly narratively timed — emotional climax, it really comes out of nowhere and makes you feel like maybe you missed their flirting getting real.
So Rarity's Rodeo a romance in love with romance. There are worse crimes. Like the constant title drops, oh my god. But if there's a reason to read it, it's the strong character work, on par with what Somber pulled out with Simply Rarity. And hey, if you never read it before, maybe it'll convince you Rarijack is a worthwhile ship, too. :)
3.5/5
A good story with a flawed romance.
Rarity's Rodeo does remain one of my favorite Rarijacks of all time. Glad to see it remembered after so long with a proper review!
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I believe PaulAsaran can be thanked for reminding me I hadn't reread it. :) He reviewed it last year!
I seem to recall liking Diamondback, but I get why you'd think the story would be better without her in it. Somber absolutely would have made a grade-A piece based on Rarity vs. the Rodeo alone... though I'll never complain about the OTP being thrown in for good measure.
Okay, so.
Readers might be confused about Rarity's hinting at a past tragedy, losing something 'Unique.' This is a reference to one of Somber's past works, "Simply Rarity," which was the single strongest influence aside from the show itself to start my writing. It was, simply put, heartbreaking, and it opened my eyes to fanfics being a door for deep emotion instead of just extending the colorful S1 ride.
I went to work with tears in my eyes after reading it. I dumped my first 'big boy' paycheck into a food bank. And when I did pen my first fic, the lesson of charity and human love in Simply Rarity shone through, even as it was awkwardly crammed into a slice-of-life comedy.
I don't actually know if I would have started writing if not for that. Probably I would have just to claim internet attention, but perhaps I would never have thought to delve into deeper and more painful subjects.
Oh yes, we were talking about Rarity's Rodeo.
Rare is the shipfic that achieves more than being pleasantly enjoyed for the duration of the read. Perhaps one can remember the fun and give it a second look down the road, but they don't stick with me the way other stories can.
RR I found to be a perfectly-serviceable shipfic of bestship. I look on it nostalgically as another memory from my S1 years, when there was never enough pony to fill my need. I think it holds up as a good read.
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Damn.
Simply Rarity is that good, though.