The style, I think, could be condensed a little. This writer has a fondness for 'establishing' details--"I'm an entrepreneur and you're a Wonderbolt"; "lunch with Twilight at noon"; "Sweetie Belle in the new auditorium"--building Ponyville up from the gridded bricks. These things suggest a sort of virtuosity but I tend to scan through them as a reader.

Beneath all that, however, there is a very satisfying thematic consistency here, subtly woven into the plot and carried through with great skill. The irony that Rainbow Dash is bad with words, but becomes the most verbal character by the proxy of Starlight, Trixie, and Starburst, is a pleasure, and could hold up in its own setting.

I can’t quite pin down the dynamic between Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Little hints suggest that they both hold some feelings for the other (especially Dash, with that ‘easy to fall for Rarity’ bit), but they both seem to clearly understand that they want very different things out of a relationship. With this odd tension I’m reading in things, I’m distracted from what might otherwise be a compelling if mundane bit of friendshipping. Part of me is left wondering how much the StarTrixBurst trifecta stole the writer away, as much as they stole the mid-story plot (not that that’s a bad thing, writer?).