Reviews FanficRecs / Friendship Is Empathy

One of the Best, "Sanest" Fix Fics Out There

This fic is a Fix Fic done right, i.e., not a Revenge Fic or a one-sided What The Hell Hero fic. Trinary does not in anyway whitewash or defend Rainbow's behavior in "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well". The author does not argue that Rainbow did not need a lesson in humility (Rainbow even comments that she must have been acting incredibly obnoxious for her friends to resort to Mare-Do-Well), instead, like many other fans, Trinary critiques how she was taught the lesson. Nor is there any overwrought melodrama or overreactions. Rainbow does not break off her friendships with any of the Mane Six (like many other fics), and her reactions and thought processes remain believable throughout the story. While an argument between Rainbow and Twilight does break out, and it does threaten the friendship, it is not due to the immediate aftermath of Mare-Do-Well itself (the argument takes place several months later, and Rainbow endeavors to avoid the topic), but rather a discussion over old wounds that becomes heated and realistically escalates from there, a marked contrast from the fics in which Rainbow immediately and totally turns against her friends. Additionally, Rainbow is not herself entirely blameless in the argument, contributing to its escalation and saying just as hurtful things to Twilight as Twilight says to her.

Secondly, it also serves as a critique of the defense of the rest of the Mane Cast's choice to abandon Twilight during "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1", that defense being, "Twilight was acting hysterical and one can hardly blame her friends for not believing her". While this was a factor, it is pointed out in the fic that Twilight tried to warn her friends several times prior to her confrontation with the false Cadance during the rehearsal, and her friends, wrapped up in their own affairs, blew her off. Rainbow even states during the reconciliation that it was wrong to hold Twilight's past misstep (i.e., Smarty Pants) against her, because everypony makes mistakes and constantly holding their mistakes against them means that nobody would listen to each other.