ESolitary

• MLP: FiM
• Sad
• Slice of Life

Abandoned by the Wonderbolts Academy, Lightning Dust was left alone to pick up the shattered pieces of her soul.

• Rainbow Dash
• Lightning Dust

Stinium_Ruide · 1.1k words  ·  48  3 · 1.1k views

• Review of "Solitary" by Stinium_Ruide
• Summary: Lightning Dust reflects on the aftermath of her mistakes at the Wonderbolt Academy.
• Story Publish Date: 2022/09/16
• Story Rating: E
• Word Count: 1,101

In the lede of the story, the reader is placed in the head of a one Lighting Dust. A brash individual, one’s memory might provide remembering her debut in the show. A character with an ego to rival Rainbow’s one. This story, by placing one into her shoes, forces one to confront her thoughts, and as the story progresses, confront her thoughts about what she had done in the show. 

To put it simply, what one sees in this short story, is of a mare trying to get her grips on her regrets. It’s an interesting take to have Lighting Dust to be grappling over her own regrets and coming to terms with it. The author does an excellent task at portraying the thought process along with the reasoning that Lightning makes in order to gather the strength to accept her mistakes and to move on and improve from it. 

The prose flows well, each node of thought connecting to the next. One would recognize the same thought process that one would have to face after accepting that one had done wrong. It is a natural and immersive prose, one that fits brilliantly with what a damaged ego like Lightning Dust would create. 

It is succinct, but in this reviewer’s opinion, too succinct in its conclusion. Lightning Dust recognizes her mistakes, but in a way that feels a tad rushed. It gives the reader something to chew on, and also to reflect on their own lives and the regrets they make. But it ends quickly before the message could sink into one’s personal noosphere, albeit an understandable action taken since if dragged on too long it might’ve instead shown that Lightning had dropped into depression. But at the same time, due to how short it is, it seems too fast an ending, the conflict feeling a bit shallow for such a choice in the plot. The story teeters from being too short, not properly conveying the conflict within Lightning’s mind, yet the story would suffer if extended too much, overexpressing the simple premise provided in the lede and description of the story. 

Overall, it is a relatively simple story, with  relatively simple prose and premise, executed simply. Leaving the reader with a piece of bread for their mind to chew on, and yet a small yearning for more to eat. It is a mundane story discussing the mundane situation of accepting one’s mistake, and perhaps, by being such a beige piece, it conveys its message well. 

TerribleSpeller’s Review Matrice:
[Engagement]: 5/10
[Insight]: 7/10
[Character]: 6/10
[Technical]: 6/10 

[Overall]: 6 
Recommended to those wanting a character growing from their mistakes, in a short and simple story.

7776085
Well put, I agree with how disconnecting Lightning Dust is as a character as compared to how she is presented in this story. Furthermore, it almost as if Lightning Dust is too repentant, and perhaps even betraying her ego too much. Thanks for the review!