When I began reading the description, I snorted. I actually snorted. Why? This story is about Rainbow Dash. Rainbow “Awesome” Dash. Rainbow “20% Cooler” Dash. Coping with a fear of flying in an airplane. The concept alone is pure amazing, simply for its absurdity. And if this is a parody of Airplane! then it must also be a farce. The description alone has been entertaining, let’s jump into the story itself. So this opens up at Canterlot International Airport, which is a good start. It being in Canterlot suggests a rather huge airport, and already a terminal is on fire, and apparently not for the first time. This is starting out strong. A brief flashback reveals that the author does indeed possess a strong sense of humor and randomness, and the feel for the original Airplane! is not lost in this reimagining.

So, this story involves Rainbow Dash reconciling differences with Lightning Dust long enough to land a plane safely in Ponyville Airport. It involves Spitfire talking Rainbow Dash down, while rehashing the creepy gimmick between pilot and boy in the classic movie.

It’s a story about redemption, facing fear, and line breaks.

Shtick is everywhere, the patently absurd is unavoidable, and it’s great. It means that this story will just keep entertaining me as I read. So I’ll continue to read.

Well, the author was not kidding about continuous puns. The pop culture references are plentiful and charming, and I’m glad to have agreed to read this story. It includes a healthy dose of lampshading and outright making fun of itself, the author doesn’t appear to know, understand, or particularly care about the concept of shame. It’s awesome.

It’s also fairly obvious that TheRedFox has a healthy respect for the movie upon which this story has been based. With nearly every other paragraph something invokes the movie itself while not actually distracting from the story. And never feel so close to the movie as to feel like a ripoff, either. Perhaps the great part of this is that a pair of ponies sporting wings, and the knowhow to use them, are discussing how the airplane is their only means of getting home. Twilight Sparkle, frequent user of teleportation magic, talks up the way that airplanes have sped up travel. It’s all beautifully ironic. Well crafted, and pleasant to read.

This also endears the author to me, as opportunities to make fun of themselves are not passed up, but abused. References to other popular fanfics, such as Chengar Qordath’s wonderful Winningverse, make this even more memorable.

Odd musical outbursts, such as a parody of 3 Doors Down “Story of a Girl” make this story fun and easy to read. Treating an airplane like driving a car is quite entertaining. An exchange between Braeburn and Daring Do takes a turn for the hysterical pretty quickly and naturally, what fun!

A fairly direct reference to Airplane! exists too, safely nestled with Berry Punch. Which means this story has deviated from the movie, and that’s good, because it can stand on its own four hooves just fine.

Honestly? It suffices just to say that Pinkie Pie and Discord would be proud of this!

Well, first of all, this is a farce. A comedy, a random collection of 4th wall breaks, puns, and line breaks mixed with a healthy dose of irony and silliness. To judge characters in this setting would normally be counterproductive, they aren’t expected to fit the mold then. Guess what? TheRedFox manages it well, and while writing for 31 different speaking characters. Of the list showed in the long description, 31 of those characters have speaking parts. That’s a lot, but there’s a focus on particular characters. Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Spitfire, Lyra, Minuette, those are the ponies with the most screen time in this story. The few others with truly memorable roles will also be mentioned.

Lightning Dust

- Rainbow Dash’s foil, counterpart, antagonist, and eventually self-confessed something. She has only a Learner’s Permit, so she can’t technically fly the plane. That’s okay, she can navigate and repeat verbatim everything Rainbow Dash says, no matter how embarrassing. Overall, I quite enjoyed her characterization, but it isn’t much of anything like her canon self. It isn’t meant to be, and would be far less enjoyable if the author had gone to any pains to adhere to that in the first place.

Lyra

- Well, apart from her being clumsy, she’s a fair stewardess. Dialogue is handled well, fits for her typical personality. I loved it. It’s a good thing she was sent to check on the engine. She’s a very good supportive character, winds up playing a vital role in the airplane’s survival, and just generally adds charm to the already wonderful cast.

Minuette

- Another of the flight crew, another unicorn. Dialogue was handled well. She generally acted as level headed, and it showed well enough.

Nurse Redheart

- She takes control of a difficult situation, fails to exploit it, and manages to be a hardass and funny at the same time. Well done.

Octavia

- She’s eloquent and deep when she speaks, it is amazing how well she does. She’s also very honest. Am I the only one who reads her in an English accent?

Prince Blueblood

- Excellent use of Blueblood sounding like a pompous windbag, as well as referencing Freeport.

Princess Celestia

- Coming in to answer an oath in her name, beautifully done and funny as well.

Rainbow Dash[/h4 - The story’s hero, once she finds the courage to face her doubts. Yep, Dash with doubts. It’s not that bad, and it’s believable simply because it is absurd. That’s not to take away from the variety of fics that have her doubt in the name of drama, tragedy, or general sadness. But this story manages to take an already absurd concept and roll with it beautifully. The author did a marvelous job of drawing up parallels between her and Ted Striker, and the dialogue felt like either of them. Yet it never felt like a ripoff, Rainbow still felt like Rainbow in the end. It was well done, certainly.

Soarin'

- What even is his rank anyway? Hard to tell, it changes so quickly and so frequently through the story I’m not even sure what branch of service he belongs to. He doesn’t have a lot to say, but what he does say he says well. He serves as Spitfire’s foil of sorts, though his dialogue lacks sufficient quantity to make him more than a background character in feeling.

Sparkler

Sparkler was handled in an atypical manner, affecting a rather snobbish air and donning a monocle for polishing with a foreleg. I think this was handled well, rounding out nicely for comedic effect. It was quirky and nonsensical, fun to read, and threw me for a loop at first.

Spitfire

Drawn up as a parallel to both Steve McCroskey and Captain Clarence Oveur, her character is brought to life with goofiness and seriousness in near equal measure. Then things get creepy. She was handled very well, while not completely diverging from baseline Spitfire and not sounding like a full-on ripoff.

Trixie

She’s the Great and Powerful Trixie! Except there was little time for showboating when line breaks were necessary! Trust her to put on a great show though.

Twilight Sparkle

- Supportive and friendly, she’s pretty nearly her true self throughout this story. She also takes things a bit more literally than she should, which works out well for the comedy of the thing. But being listed as a background character is accurate, and that’s fine, other characters deserve the spotlight. Even so, she felt naturally Twilight.

Vinyl Scratch

- Well, I have no idea what she said. Only the author knows, but I’m sure it was gold. It was handled pretty good though. I enjoyed the concept, particularly as every other character seemed captivated by her silver tongue.

It doesn’t come up much with comedy stories, but it happens here. Rainbow Dash is the primary character for growth, but Lightning Dust has her moments too. It just generally shows better with Dashie, who has a lot to work on and manages to do that with Minuette and a bevy of passengers’ help. Including a full-on intervention that is both absurd and heartfelt. For a comedy, this story really brought some meaning to things as well. It was wonderful. I’m glad I read this, that I agreed to do that, because it was well worth it.

It was a farce, a spectacular comedy farce driven by randomness, puns and line breaks. Amazingly executed. They say that drama is easy, comedy is hard. This author makes comedy look easy. So it’s meant for laughs, not to be taken seriously. It makes reviewing a challenge, though. I have to change up what I’m looking for and what I’m critiquing, because those things don’t really apply here. Instead, I noted how often I found myself chuckling, guffawing, or slapping my forehead, or sometimes slamming my head into the desktop. As I read and I understood the references, that too went into how I felt about this story and what it was trying to do.

Logic doesn’t have much place in a story like this, but the author did take some interesting leaps. Making Rainbow Dash a character with a fear of flying was a brilliant move, since the obvious choice would have been Fluttershy. Logic did win this thing out, carry it through to a marvelous conclusion. Adding Lightning Dust as a sort of antagonist makes sense with Dash as the protagonist, then making Spitfire her old mentor who talks her down is brilliant as well. It’s the use of background ponies for the rest of the comedy that really makes this story shine in my opinion. And it’s a huge cast of characters for a fairly short fic, too. Yet the author fits all of them in, makes them all feel fresh and natural while sticking to the comedy of the thing. It’s an accomplishment, be proud of it.

Story Idea: 9.5 (As amazing as this story is, as much as I encourage anyone to read it to shake off a case of the blues or just to generally giggle uncontrollably, it is still something based off of something else, however well that was handled.)

Writing Style: 10. (Pure and simple, easy to read, flows really well, and feels like watching the original movie in terms of randomness and reveals both. It thrives on puns, fourth wall breakage [until the fourth wall ceases to exist at all], and moves along so well that before you know it you’ve reached the end and you’re disappointed that the ride is already over.)

Entertainment Factor: 10. (For laughs? Giggles? Eye rolls? Groans? This story is the right place to be, it’s a healthy comedy full of life and offering food for thought while also melting the mind.)

Inner Logic: 8. (It’s hard to rate such a category in a comedy, I think. I mostly focused on how well the characters were used, whether or not the roles made sense, and made allowances for characters that went far into left field. So it’s not a bad rating, but it feels like it could have been even more.)

Final: 9.375