>>Paracompact
I may not have made myself clear enough, though I don't know how I could have, so let's try to put it in other words.

When I say that I can't buy the premise, it means that you didn't do enough to sell me the idea (and I insist on the fact that it's selling the idea to me and only me). And I can't totally blame you since you don't really have words to spare.

However, what you did with your premise is quite good, as I said. And that made you gained some points for me. I try my hardest to rank story first according to their "objective" qualities, and secondly according to my likings.

I don't really remember where I put yours (and since we can't see our votes at the moment, I can't screen it for you), but if you really want it, I can send it to you once it is back.

>>horizon

a low ranking doesn't automatically mean something's trash.

True indeed, however I'm often confused on how the ranking and voting system works. Does having more people ranking your entry makes it gain more points? Or is it the opposite?

I've seen a lot of great entries not passing the prelims before, but usually I could guess why they didn't. This time, I got the feeling that there are several of them; Paracompact isn't the only one surprised by how his entry was ranked. Even I commented on how low CoffeeMinion's entry placed.

Only one review? Let's try to add some relevant points (I said 'try')

For the format, this does pretty good. The two parts set for a nice pace and a good contrast between dialog and inner thoughts. What you do with your premise sounds coherent with what we've seen from our favorite blue pegasus.

However, I can't buy the premise of this story. RD being a fraud all along? And not admitting it? While still being the Element of Loyalty? Not really believeable to me.

So yeah, despite some solid foundations, there is still one too weak for me.

After reading everything and wasting a lot of hours, maybe it's time to review. I heard it can help.

So, since a lot has already been covered by >>horizon, I'll simply give my two cents on this part

Or... if I—turned.

Why would Twilight turn evil? (It's what is implied here, right?)
Luna became NM because no friendship. Since Twi has lot of friends, is the Princess of Friendship and so on, I don't see how this could be 'an extremely legitimate potential problem', like horizon said.

As for the rest, you have something quite good, even though I found myself wondering at the end if it wasn't all part from the play (but since Tirek is mentionned, meh)

>>CoffeeMinion
You beat him with a photo, which is something in itself!

23th?
...
Okay...

I would have probably not see the Stingray if you hadn't mentionned it, but still, the frame is good, the light is nice and revelance to the prompt is correct.

But 23th?

The outer lock rolled slowly back
The servicemen were heard to sigh
For there revealed in flowing robes
Was Lucy in the sky

Stop taking pictures of the sky, Dubs.

>>BlueChameleonVI
This was a "wow, this is some good stuff" comment. And just like >>horizon; this should have passed the prelims. I intended to come back with a longer and detailed review but I didn't have find the time at the moment (I didn't even find the time to even read all the entries)

Oops, I missed the first post. Too bad, I had these cool music lyrics rewritten. Maybe next time.

Just noticed I've forgotten something.
Thank you for the feedback.

>>TitaniumDragon
>>Pascoite
>>Xepher
>>CoffeeMinion

Time for the explanation.

I didn't mention Flurry's age because I had no idea how old she could be. I'm not sure when you start feeling embarassed by your elders' behaviour, so I left it blank. I guess that, like time, it's relative.
What I should have mentionned and insisted on is that it's been a while since Flurry had been carried by Twi on her back, so her request at the end is supposed to have it both ways:
- Flurry wants to ease her Aunt's feelings by doing again smth they were used to do when she was a toddler
- Flurry is torn between her desire to grow and to become an adult, and the simple joy of feeling loved that comes with these embarassing behaviours.
And if it wasn't clear enough, Flurry's doesn't have a crack in her hoof at all.

The point with that was more or less to emulate what happened with Rarity and Sweetie Belle, when the former has a hard time to accept that the latter has grown up.
And honestly, I'm surprised that I passed the prelims. Voting and its mysteries.

>>CoffeeMinion
ot.

>>Pascoite
See what the smart guy said? That's more or less what I think (rather more than less). Your characters' voices are solid (“A might bit empty without you in there taking up space.”), their interaction are interesting, and you chose the best right pony for the situation.
And as >>Pascoite said, get rid of that first scene, start with AJ already meeting Rockhoof outside, and don't rush things. As you established it, Rockhoof has almost lost everything and we can imagine how hard and long it will be for him to rebuild his life. That's AJ's role, showing him that from her experience (losing her parents, leaving the farm to live in Manehattan), there is a way for healing.
And that he already has six/seven/eight new friends to start with.

>>TitaniumDragon

However, a larger issue here is the end is basically “Ha! We broke things so we aren’t useless anymore!” Which… is a bizarre thing to end on. Is that the message you want?

Fighting against the automation is a well-know fight, even if we know that it's an already lost battle, so nothing really odd here. However, I believe that the message isn't quite this one but more like "Machines are great and all, but in the end, you still need humans/ponies involved in the process, in case there is a malfunction", but that's not really clear. That's why I think that an external ironic POV would have helped this story, its tone, and defining its message. Using Celestia's here doesn't seem to do much.

Angel and the weasel stood straight

So Fluttershy's dead but nor her bunny. Okay. I know he's a little demon but I don't think he is literally a demon.

As for the voicing, I won't as sure as my predecessor. It sounds more like Fluttershy several times than Thorax. And I don't know if this is intentionnal (as Thorax is readying for his role) or simply to mislead the reader.

Side thoughts: I'm not sure about Thorax and Twilight being intimate friends enough for the first to do that kind of gesture.

That's so meta; the author, just like Rainbow Dash, is walking on eggshells! RD because she screwed up, and the author because he's talking about pony sex! edgy/20!...

Jokes aside, this one didn't leave a good nor a bad impression. I don't really care about shipping when it's the core of a story. Thus, I was biaised before reading this, and the story didn't really make me change my mind.
See >>TitaniumDragon for RD's POV, I believe you can improve it this way.
Side note: I'm a bit surprised RD enjoying spa treatments wasn't mentionned.

I'll disagree here with >>TitaniumDragon about this story and its POV. Since this is Minific, we don't really have time to dwell on characters and emotions, we need to go straight to the point.
With that in mind, I believe that it's harder to empathize with children facing loss, because their emotions are harder to grasp, since they don't have a good grasp on them themselves. Thus, it requires time and word to understand who is the child, what is his character and how we can extrapolate a possible behavior from all of this.
With an adult, it's easier, especially with an adult in a situation like Granny Smith's. She is the only adult left to take care of three children of various ages. Thus, we expect the character to have or not have trouble handling the situation.
Besides, the emotionnal impact that can come from a story told from this POV is not lessen, because we can only imagine what the child is experiencing. Without a clear description, our imagination fills the blank, which makes it more efficient for me.

However, and despite what I've said, I still think you took the easy way. I don't blame you for that, and fortunately, you quickly erased my fear of a trope story about Pear Butter and Bright Mac's death and instead, you chose to focus on AJ trying to deal with this AND her friend who is becoming distant.
But, because there's always a butt to make things funnier, I think you took too long to jump on the conflict, which is AJ and Rara's friendship. Too many words are spent to establish a premice and they are a bit misleading, as I said.

I'm a bit conflicted with this one. You probably expected the comment I'm gonna make, but I'll do it anyway. Beaten to death subject. There, it's done.
However, while the story is far from being original, either in its content or in its execution, the fact remains that you managed to convey enough emotions to make me care at least a bit.

I'm not sure why, but I'll try to point out what could make this story standing out from all the others of the same kind.

At first, I was expecting an immortality angst fic, something like "oh noes, my friends will die or are dead and not me, so sad *cry*" but not really. Twilight is sad because of Rainbow Dash's death, but we don't waste time on her grieving. The fact that the story is about the cure for purple Princess' sadness and not the poison is a noticeable plus. The second fact that the cure is friendship is a big bonus.

Regarding that, I think that this next sentence should NOT have been written differently

the sky, filled with auroras and caught between day and night, just like it had been for too long, now.

This is great because not having a defined length of time avoids to have a gothic Twilight, who spent years hidden in her castle (or allows to have just that if that's the sort of things you like)

You also managed to keep some time for each character. Granted, you don't do anything new with them, simply making them acting how we expect them to, but not having anything OoC is something worth to mention.

My main problem is with the POV from which this story is told. I got the feeling that the beginning is from AJ's POV, but you don't really do anything with it, especially in the second part where I got the impression it's an external POV we're dealing with.

One tiny suggestion. I think it would be better is the sentence I quoted earlier should be placed earlier.

Applejack couldn’t help but glance up at the sky, filled with auroras and caught between day and night, just like it had been for too long, now.

Since your last sentence ("and the sun rose over the horizon") is a major callback to the first one, having both of them at the beginning and at the ending respectively would emphasize and strengthen the symbolism of Twi's mournig with the sun rising/not rising.

I'll simply second what >>TitaniumDragon said. Despite the fact that each tone is in one half and the two are clearly split, it's very hard to fit two conflicting tones in such a short story.
Aside from that, the rest is quite solid, and it was an enjoyable read.

Is that a joke entry? That definitely sounds like a joke entry, I'm pretty sure since my humor sense is tingling. But it's not vibrating, because I don't get the payoff.
I started to cringe at the beginning, seeing all the signs of a heavy beginner writer, but I then realised there were too many of them, and that it was too much, even for a beginner.
The end is just a big question mark. What does "explative" mean? Why using the concept of anagnorisis? Why, why, Lisa, why? My head is hurting, I need a painkiller.
3.14 stars

>>Miller Minus
I'll see you on the Dark Side of the Moon.

In, for better of for worse.
And because I'm a sharing person, let me offer you a song to get stuck on repeat in your head, the one that didn't left me since I discovered the prompt.

Let's go, altogether:
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out

>>CoffeeMinion
You missed the final "e" ----> le contexte
(Le contexte est l'ensemble des circonstances dans lesquelles advient une chose, un événement, un fait, une idée, etc...)