TMy Diamonds Leave With You

• MLP: FiM
• Romance
• Drama
• Slice of Life

When her divorce finalizes, Rarity finds comfort in a familiar friend. Shortly thereafter, she makes the biggest mistake of her life.

• Rainbow Dash
• Applejack
• Rarity

Gay For Gadot · 7.1k words  ·  140  10 · 3k views

Summary: When her divorce finalizes, Rarity finds comfort in a familiar friend. Shortly thereafter, she makes the biggest mistake of her life.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!

Initial thoughts: This is a story about love, relationships, and the way it all affects us far beyond the simplistic meaning of love at it’s core. Often a lot of people think love is simply when two people or ponies in this case like each other. But love is complicated, messy, and full of good, and bad moments, and this story accomplishes telling us the deeper and more messy side of love, and even gives us a lesson about the bonds of friendship along the way. This was also a contest piece and there was a word cap, and a certain way of breaking up the context of the story itself, which couldn’t have been easy, so for what Gay for Gadot has crafted, I am at a loss for words. This was a rather well written story for it’s message alone, but then you combine the fact of hte limitations placed upon Gay for Gadot, you see just how well versed they are in their craft. I’ve discussed the why, but if you haven’t read this yet, go read it, then come back. I’ll be waiting.

9/10

Heart of the story: The heart of this story could be many things, as the plot addresses a lot of things, but the main thing it does address is love. Love and how it affects ponies all around them. We start with Rarity going through a divorce with Fancy Pancy. We are never told what has torn them apart, but we see enough of Rarity’s emotions from it all falling apart to know just how bad everything went. 

Often, writers will “tell” us what happened, but I got a sense for the overwhelming sense of grief, anxiety, stress, and overall Rarity’s feelings for feeling she was the problem for the divorce, despite it not being the first Fancy had. Rarity’s heart is broken. The way this is written is elegantly told with just enough for us to put it together in our heads, and get deeper into Rarity’s thoughts and actions, all leading up to the kiss she shares with AJ that leads to the actual plot of talking with Rainbow Dash, and it leading up to being accepted once more as a friend, but she’s not forgiven for her actions, which shows the strength of Rainbow Dash.

To summarize, relationships are MESSY. Love is complicated, and when things go sour, it’s good to see that side of things. That life isn’t some fairy tale, and sometimes bad things happen, but that doesn’t mean Rarity is a bad pony, it just means she had a case of bad timing and the wrong choice of a partner. Gay for Gadot really nailed the heart of the story, and I cannot find anyway I could write this better, or add advice to what fees to me like a solid story. 

10/10

Writing/Grammar: I couldn’t for the life of me, find a single flaw in the writing/grammar of this piece. Each line felt like it served a purpose, and I will address that the way this was crafted adds to the emotional tone of the piece itself. While I have no category for scoring this, I have to appreciate a story that can make me FEEL for the characters, and make me want to reach through my screen and hug them. Rarity is going through a divorce and her actions with the kiss could have very well affected her friendship with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and that is something that is conveyed with subtly, and is very thought provoking.

10/10

Characterization:
Rarity: Rarity is often described as the one of the main six who is the most mature, and the most successful of her and her friends. This story shows that being prepared and being successful in life, doesn't mean everything will go perfectly. Rarity makes a decision that haunts her as she is going through the divorce with Fancy Pants, and she reflects on her mistakes, forgetting all the good she has done. It shows us that she's mature enough to know where she went wrong, but she's at such an emotional low, she doesn't know how to move forward, and takes a huge step backwards by thinking she can reunite a spark that never had it's chance. And now it's too late. Rarity realizes this, everyone else is happy, and she's miserable, and the overbearing feeling she has failed, sinks in deep and makes her story all the more engaging, and how she deals with it all is very fitting for her.

Applejack: Applejack has the least amount of lines in this story, and it's used for a purpose. She's honest to a fault, and she's stubborn as a rock. She knows Rarity is going through a lot, but she doesn't let it change her feelings on the here and now, she knows she can't talk to Rarity after the kiss, for she remembers all those years ago. But, that was the past, and she's married and happy now, and she hates that she knows Rarity is miserable and goes to talk to her wife about it. Applejack may not have a lot to say in this story, but her actions more than make up for it.

Rainbow Dash: Brash, loyal, cocky, aggressive. Rainbow Dash is angry when she finds out what happened between Rarity and Applejack, and her anger is justified, she's married to AJ, and Rarity should not be kissing her wife under any circumstance, but yet despite her anger/bitterness she still cares about Rarity, and puts her own feelings to the side, in order to get the full story, and helps Rarity realize her own faults. In a way, Rainbow Dash is stepping up to be the "in-between" between Rarity and Applejack, but by the end, Rainbow doesn't forget Rarity. She's willing to move on, and be friends with her, but she doesn't forgive her for her actions, which is a very adult moral to put into a show about pastel colored ponies, and we need more stories like this that aren't afraid to approach subjects like this with such maturity.

9/10

Originality/Execution: I can’t say a story about divorce is exactly an original idea. This is an idea that’s been done to death. So often it can be hard for something to be truly original. However, what I will add to that is that Gay for Gadot found a way to make the whole overused plot of divorce, and cheating in a context that was thought provoking and even now I’m reeling from how this story made me feel, as I myself relate to Rarity more than I’d like to admit. 

As for the execution, Gay for Gadot is well versed at knowing how to tell a story, and how to make the pieces all fit to the overall tone, feel, and theme. I could say that dialogue for Aj could’ve been reworked to not replace “I” with “Ah” as that is just silly, but over than that, all of it just works.

9/10

Overall thoughts and feedback: Gosh, how do I summarize perfection? Well no story is truly perfect, but for the limitations placed upon this being a contest entry, and having to have an exact number of words, and three line breaks is simply amazing. This is a character story about love, relationships, and the bonds we form along the way, and it’s also messy. Love is very messy, and at the end of the day, we must know it’s okay to move on. To forgive ourselves for our mistakes.

Final score: 9+10+10+9+9=47/50
9.6/10

Headpat worthy: Yes

Boop worthy:

Needs work:

To the author: I apologize it took me awhile to get to this, busy being a moderator and all that, but wow, just wow! You clearly have a gift, and I’m a bit jelly. Keep being awesome!

To the reader:Highly recommended.

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Thanks again for this review! Really love such in-depth analysis.