Hello, everypony. I am the Critique.

And today, I will be reviewing Light Away the Fear by FictionFreek

This intro for this chapter was shorted as a respect for a user named TgTfproductions passing away, but it turns out that the dude was a lying sack of shit.

Frankly, I'm pissed off about the whole thing, since the dude basically betrayed out trust, but I'm not going to let it spoil my review. So, let's try to find something happy about this to make this whole thing go as far away from me as possible.

The story starts with a small voice being heard and awakening Rarity. She isn’t certain what it is and tries to fall back asleep.

However, the voice speaks out again and Rarity realizes it is the voice of her’s and Spike’s daughter.

Spike starts to awaken as well and asks if Rarity thinks that their daughter, named Claire, is having another nightmare.

I’m a little surprised Luna hasn’t come to calm her down yet, but I guess she can’t be everywhere at once.

What? I’m being nice today!

Spike volunteers to go comfort her and attempt to put her back to sleep, but Rarity insists that she will do it, saying that she has an idea.

It turns out that Rarity’s plan involves Tom and rocking her child to sleep.

Geez, I’m getting everypony pissed off at me today. Well, let’s keep reading and see who else I can piss off.

She approaches the next room and discovers that her nightlight has died out, causing the little girl to panic.

She finds Claire on her bed wrapped up in her blankets and beings to comfort her.

“T-they wanted to t-take me, momma.” Claire said after some time of silence.

They wanted to take you away, ha, ha! They wanted to take you away, ha, ha! Hoo Hoo! Hee Hee! Ha, ha! To the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time and you’ll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats, and they’re coming to take you away! Ha, ha!

Rarity tries to calm her down by explaining that there are monsters out in the world that are quite terrifying, but none that are more terrible than the ones in her own mind.

Yeah, I beg to differ.

God, it looks like he’s going to try and eat me.

And let’s not forget the most terrifying creature of all time.

God damn! Now there’s the image of a nightmare!

Rarity takes her out of bed and decides that she is going to show her that she has nothing to fear but fear itself or something like that.

She was confused,

Frankly, so am I. Remember when parents used to comfort their children when they had a problem and talked to them about it, explaining how they didn’t have to be afraid or something like that. That they were just in our imaginations at that you didn’t have to be afraid of them. And you convinced yourself that it’s okay because they aren’t out to get you, but then you realize that they are out to get you and your nightmares keep repeating themselves as they close in on you and laugh as they dig their knives into your body and you try to scream, but your mouth won’t…

Wow, I have no idea where that came from. Been … um… watching too many horror movies.

and did not have the slightest inkling what it was that her mother was going to show her.

It turns out she was showing her FIMFiction.com. Nothing scarier than that.

Aw, come on. Can I make a single joke without being ridiculed?

So, Rarity convinces Claire to face the darkness, with her right beside her. She blows out the light and Claire starts to panic, but Rarity continues to comfort her.

Rarity asks her to point out where she sees the monsters and Claire points out a ghost that threatened to take her away from her parents.

You stay away from me! You’ve already killed that fox that you took away from their family! What more could you possible destroy?!

She continues to see all kinds of monsters, with her mind explaining what they would do to her if they caught her.

Wait a minute… Isn’t this supposed to be taking place from Rarity’s point of view? Why are we suddenly changing from the point of view of Rarity to Claire? I know that it is in third person, but shouldn’t there be a break indicating that there is a view point change?

Unless, it is Rarity remembering these events, but how could Rarity know what is going on in Claire’s mind?

Anyway, just before Claire can be overcome with fear, Rarity turns on the lights and shows Claire what her fears really were.

Sometimes when we’re afraid, we let our imaginations take over. We start to see things that aren’t really there, and as a result, give life to our greatest fears. But when we see the light, it shows us the truth. That the things we fear the most are only as real as we allow them to be.”

Yes, Claire. Just because something looks scary in the dark, doesn’t mean it’s actually scary-

Shit!

Okay… that was a little bit creepy.

So, Rarity explains that there is a light that shines in everypony that if they use that light, they can fight away their fears.

She tries to concentrate on her horn, attempting to banish her fears from her heart. She finally unleashes her own light and Rarity explains how proud she is of her.

And our story ends with Rarity tucking Claire in for the night and wishing her a sweet dreams.

However, it turns out that she is having nightmares like this.

I’m just teasing…

This story is actually not that bad. Now, there are some grammar things I could have gone into and the sudden shift between points of views did bother me, but it was still a sweet little story.

The reactions of Claire were grounded and believable and she even was kind of adorable.

Rarity was completely in character of how I envisioned her as she a mother. Especially one who has been a mother for a while. She supportive, compassionate and thinks of nothing but the needs of her child.

The ending was cute and believable. It wasn’t Rarity just telling her not to be afraid, it was Claire realizing that there was nothing to be afraid of. And I think that’s the strength of the story, the child character is allowed to learn something on her own, not just being taught something. I’ll admit it was a bit fast how she learned to overcome her fear, at least for my taste, but for what we got, it was still good.

The story is written well, save for a few spots, and it still feels like the characters are still in character, even after all these years.

Next week, it’s back to the cesspool of crap that I continue to review. Until then, have a great day.

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Claire: Mommy, how was I born?

Well, honey, we still aren’t exactly sure. Seeing how I’m a mammal and your father is a reptile and our reproductive biological systems aren’t compatible. We believe it had something to do with the magic of friendship or something like that.

Claire: Equestria’s weird.

Yes, it is.

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