This story is A Crown of Rhinestones by: TheDarkStarCzar

At first I was kind of annoyed with this story since the CMC seemed to be played without too much to them. But then, of course, I started to realize this isn't a story about the CMC. This is a story about DT and SS. And boy does this story deliver on that front.

I'll first say what I liked about the story. The initial conflict is quickly revealed and hooked me in almost immediately by making me wonder at what exactly was going on, and not because I was confused, but because I was intrigued and wanted to know. There's a promise that the context will be explained, and reading through slowly reveals it in a manner that is very much well-paced. The story itself kept pretty solidly with our knowledge of the canon characters and went on to expand on all of them (except maybe Sweetie Belle, but she's not really the focus of the story at all). Sure this story doesn't have the same tone from the show, it's a bit darker, but it does a really great job of expanding outward from the lens of the show (tonal shift) to reveal these darker bits. I mean after Flight to the Finish it's hard to think that all of Equestria could be very idyllic considering that ponies like DT and SS are around. This story gives reason to those to characters, who, when you think about it, really are out of place in a town like Ponyville unless there were a sort of seedy underbelly that's not really shown in the MLP canon.

Now I'll say what I loved. Quite simply, the way that the upper-class are written here is fantastic. Their position in this version of the universe is well-thought out. And the word choice that is used is entirely fitting with SS and DT and that adds so much to these two characters. This story really got me to care about the two bullies, because I wanted to figure out how they worked, and it had me wondering exactly how the conflict was going to resolve. So I suppose you could say that the worldbuilding in this fic was very complete. It gave these two plain antagonists depth and reason, both for their actions in the past, as well as their actions in this story, while also expanding on the lens of the show in a very much believable manner.

If you ever wanted to see what a good way to depict stuck-up noble characters and figure out reasons for why they would end up that way, use this story for a reference. The rhetoric is just great at adding to these two snobbish characters and it's done with such finesse in the first chapter, that--if you're anything like me--you're going to pursue just for the sake of seeing how it'll turn out and to see more of how DT and SS interact with each other. Are the characters still jerks? Yeah, they really are. Perhaps even more so than in the show. But they have context to their actions, and that pulls this story far above many others in my mind. And whether or not they get what they deserve by the end very much a matter of personal opinion.

What I didn't like... Well there were a few punctuation errors, usually around the dialogue, and I felt Sweetie Belle and maybe Scootaloo could have been a little deeper as characters... Aside from that, I can't really complain.

So yeah, if you want to read a story that offers a great study of Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara as characters, this is a fic for you.

Highly Recommended,

~SilentBelle