Treating Her Right - Story Review

Well, that went a lot faster than I expected. It's also funny that I said I wanted to work through my favorites first and now I'm reviewing the latest entry from the list. But in my defense, Treating Her Right was one of the first stories I read on this site and I swore I've added it to the list a long time ago.

That should give a strong indication of where the rest of this review is heading, but I don't want to trot ahead too much. The basic summary is that Applejack has a fantasy of being treated like a lady which Rainbow Dash finds out. So now she does everything in her power to make this scenario a reality. I think this hook is a clear sign for where the rest of the story is heading and yes, this is indeed a romance plot with lots of shipping. Now, I know that this topic can get very polarizing in fan communities (I think this video is a good indicator of that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OcLDcg7UJw&t=3233s). I personally am on the pro-shipping site even though I disapprove of many things my fraction is doing. And sure, my fondness of Appledash makes me very biased when discussing stories with this content. However, for the sake of keeping things as neutral as possible I don't want to bring personal preferences into this. So I won't ask about the quality of any ship (to a degree) and instead judge how the story executed it's ideas.

And in this case...well, they executed it VERY well.

It is kind of challenging tho, because both characters begin the story with the same relationship they have in the series. That of just good friends and Rated Ponystar managed to completely flip that around within 12.000 words. And they did that by creating an enriching world with detailed scenes. That's one thing I really adore, that no line feels redundant. There is a dialogue in a restaurant between AJ and Dash while they're waiting for their food and where the banal small-talk is used as a segway into a conversation that gives more depth to AJs character. Everything feels like it was crafted with care and a definite intent in mind.

However, there was one event afterwards that left a bit of sour taste in me. That was during a concert where one attendee dismisses both of the mares which causes Dash to take a very...unhygienic revenge. That moment really took me out of the immersion. I'm not sure how I want to handle spoilers yet, so I'll leave it to the potential readers how they want to judge that. Though I must say pissing in somepony's Popcorn Basket is...one hell of a creative way of getting back at someone.

But in the end, that isn't enough to sway my opinion in a big or meaningful way. Apart from that hiccup the rest of the story is consistent, It's rich in life, the humor is great, all characters are portrayed in an accurate way, it's so, so, so damn sweet and the conclusion is heart-warming and satisfying. So really, I don't know what else to say. I'm feeling a LIGHT to DECENT 9 on this one.

TITLE: Treating Her Right
AUTHOR: Treated Ponystar
TAGS: Romance, Rainbow Dash, Applejack
FIRST PUBLISHED ON SITE: 5th Jan. 2013
WORD COUNT (at time of review): 11.622
9/10
Y'all know this is just my opinion, right?