• Member Since 28th Jan, 2012
  • offline last seen Mar 3rd, 2018

Cloudy Skies


Cloudy writes stories. Cloudy likes it when ponies like each other maybe a little too much and sometimes end up in love. Cloudy writes stories about these things, often.

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Something is definitively up around here. Applejack and Fluttershy have been spending a lot of time together without the rest of the gang. Well, Rainbow Dash is on to them! In fact, she is sure this is the no-good friend-stealing Applejack's doing, and she will not stand for this - whatever this is.

Also, Rainbow Dash wears a corn hat.

Chapters (4)
Comments ( 167 )
knighty
Site Owner

'bout time yo

I read this from a link on EQD. It's one of the most thoughtful, compelling, well-written shipfics I've read, and turned me into a committed AppleShy fan. My only complaint is that Rainbow Dash's motivations for her behavior are somewhat... mysterious, even though RD's characterization overall is quite effective.

Thanks for the upload, Cloudy Skies!

Looking forward to seeing the rest of your stuff over here.

Yay, posting your fics!
You should totally post that other one. You know which one >.>

I am just posting here because it sounds good now to read it

Good to see this here! This story is a perfect example demonstrating your talent as a writer, and my love of your work. Appleshy is a ship that I never believed could work, but somehow after reading this, I took everything I'd ever said against the ship back. The characters were so magically in character, and the style was just... relaxing. This was very sweet, and I loved every minute of it.

Keep up the amazing work, Cloudy!

First fic I've EVER read where the asker is not immediately loved by the asked. :yay: =/= instant:heart:, THANK GOD

This? On Fimfiction!? I've already read this, but you get my favorite anyways! And a thumb, but can I have it back later?

I remember this story, it was a very fun read.

This was actully the first fic I ever read :pinkiehappy:

I know Applejack's feeling all too well here. Sometimes it's just too easy to go a little overboard- Sometimes it seems like the best words to hurt someone just flow so easily. Very good work- both in writing the chapter and in proving to me that I'm not the only one that occasionally loses his ability to love and tolerate.

and then I finished it. I liked this, alot. You really are quite good, my friend. Also, a shipfic with no tragedy- My heart is relieved. I've felt kind of melancholy, having read so many sad shipfics on this blasted (yet beloved) site. So, good sir. Enjoy this thumbs up, muffin, and brohoof.

This was just beautiful, and it's so much better than mine.:yay::raritywink:

g2g to work. Quick comment!
Love the story, love fluttershy! :yay::yay::yay:
kthxbai! :pinkiehappy:

A truly ace story, can't get enough of Fluttershy! :D

She had to answer her front door. Fluttershy looked around and found to her dismay that there was a house in the way.' BEST QUOTE EVER! :pinkiehappy:

Ah’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for you trying to steal a pig while wearing a corn-and-hay hat and balancing apples on your wingsSECOND GREATEST QUOTE EVER! :pinkiehappy:

ApplexShy with a jealous Rainbow Dash? FUS.RO.:yay:

I am delighted this has been put up here.

I think it's the best-written pony fiction I've ever read. The narration is incredibly rich, but it treads the line between gorgeous language and purple prose perfectly. The pacing is beautifully spaced, giving us plenty of time to enjoy what is a very well-written story.

For what this story is, it's absolutely perfect. Really the best-written shipping story I've read in the fandom; it completely succeeds in its aims and reads like very mature and confident writing. I learn a lot about it for my own writing, but then I have to try hard not to copy things straight out of it into my own stories!

For anyone unsure; set aside some time and give this a read - it is well, well worth it. I never liked Appleshy myself, but this story is so good that honestly doesn't matter. WELL DONE, Cloudy Skies, you have all of my praise. :rainbowkiss::ajsmug::twilightsmile::raritywink::pinkiehappy::yay:

A moving and beautiful peice of work. I look forward to reading the rest of your no doubt amazing stories.

I don't ship ponies at all -- and yet I found this story utterly fantastic. Cloudy Skies has a way of getting ponies together so convincingly, his descriptions and scene work are lovingly rendered, and you even forget at times that someone actually sat down to write this once. Such is the smoothness of his narration. Unfairly shafted on EqD 'cause haters'll hate, this was well worth the time I spent reading through.

310365 House Y U THERE? :flutterrage:

Rainbow Dash is completely out of character here. She is very unloyalful (your word, not mine) here.

Thank you for all your comments! It may be impractical to reply to them all one by one, but I do read'em!

306933 Getting to poke at this felt very, very liberating for me too; sometimes, things get a little too formulaic.

322418 You are far too kind, but thank you all the same! That said, the "confidence" certainly wasn't there when I was writing this, hah. I'm still kind of a wreck.

346109 Can I ask why you think this is the case? I mean, my personal approach is that while the mane6 are the bearers of their elements, they're not infallible paragons at all times (Rarity is hardly a perfect icon of generosity at all times). Dash is at least partially aware of her own hypocrisy, but sometimes, knowing better doesn't mean doing better. Still, thank you for your thoughts!

It's lovely to watch Fluttershy and Applejack take the first tentative steps into a romantic relationship, and the friendship between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash is beautifully depicted and explored. Also, Rainbow Dash wears a corn hat. There's that, too. Hee.

This is the story that converted me to The Way of AppleShy. :pinkiehappy:

This is...wow.

I don't tend to read Applejack stories but this? I'm really glad I read this. I think you captured the characters perfectly - your Fluttershy is both hysterical and adorable, your AJ feels like she should and your Rainbow Dash...

I love that Dash's parts of this story are essentially her being insecure, because that meshes perfectly with what I see as a large part of her drive and motivation. You did it perfectly, I think. And her destroying the inside of her house was awesome.

So yeah. Well done! :pinkiehappy:

Wow that was beatiful. I could praise you for many things - believable characters, charming mood or rich vocabular.. But I want to specifically point out two things, that I absolutely loved about your fic.

First is pacing. It was perfect. It never rushed a scene that could be prolonged, nor it drag on something, that should be already finished. Big grats on that.

Second is AJ and Shy "second date". It was probably the best date idea I've read on this site. Most authors just go for pony versions of human's date (which is fine, but rarely stunning) , you thought of something that could be described only as a pony date. It was very charming.

Thanks for the awesome read, and well done :pinkiesmile:

386608 Very glad to hear it, thank you! It seems that the Rainbow Dash I write is very hit and miss with readers; I've always liked focusing on those insecurities because that often makes for a better story, but that doesn't mean for a second that I think Dash is "weak".

422100 Thank you very much for reading! I'm always happy with I (randomly) hit on pacing; I worried that the event chain was too tight (what with there just being two dates, really).

The first draft actually had AJ and 'Shy heading to the dinner Flutters mentioned; I had planned everything around a dinner at a restaurant. AJ just felt very, very silly, suddenly, and decided to go for a run, and it didn't feel like I had much choice in the matter. In the end, I'm glad I went along with it - and twice as glad that some (like you) felt it worked!

I laughed pretty hard when pinkie said she wanted to stick around:rainbowlaugh:

D'aaaaaaaaaaaw:pinkiesad2: I regret fully for not reading this story earlier, its so beautiful it pains me

I. Love. This. Fic.:pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy:

455280 Thank you, and thank you for reading!

Very sweet, wonderful romance fic. <3 Personally I was never a huge fan of AppleShy before, but that's definitely changed after this story. Absolutely one of the better shipfics I've read in a while. :3 Got the sequel pegged to read next, too!

492313 Thanks! I hope the follow-up doesn't disappoint.

And yeah, you really don't see a lot of AppleShy fans, I guess, hah.

So. 'bout that second date. Cutest thing thing ever :rainbowkiss:
Until, you know. Yeah.

Really loved the story!

501171 Aw, thank you! I am still eternally thankful that Kits, Corma and some others pointed out that its first incarnation was insufficient - it could have been so much worse.

D'awww! It just had to work out! When I first started watching MLP, I always wondered to myself who would go with who? I never thought of AJ and Fluttershy, but to my surprise it works very well. Great story too! Expertly written and beautiful, with hits of comedy. Thanks :yay: <YAY

505096 Thank you! It's not quite RariPie as far as rarity goes, but I think it's the closest thing I have to an OTP.

This was beautifully and genuinely innocent, nice, and sweet. Thank you for the good read ^^

your advanced english makes it kinda hard to read, for someone like me, but your choice of line brakeing compensate for it as much as it possibly can
i'm definitely going to continue reading this

Clopenhagen, Københaven? really? :rainbowlaugh: made me laugh when i read it
you wouldn't happen to be from scandinavia?

507287 Well, right back at you, thank you for reading, and for taking the time to leave me a comment!

508835 I'm sorry, I am aware that using fancier anguage than is strictly necessary is a weakness, not a strength, but sometimes I get caught up in fancy phrasing, blech. I hate hearing that it's a issue for someone, I really do :|

It's twice as embarrassing when, sometimes, I'm caught misusing fancy or archaic terms. Filly with a fancy new ribbon and no dress sense, that's me.

And indeed, I may or may not be from Scandineighv- err, Scandinavia! Not Denmark, mind, but very few Norwegian towns let themselves ponify.

just reread through this one and enjoyed it just as much :pinkiehappy: always love the cute little moments between applejack and fluttershy, but I have to ask, how do you always keep these ponies so well in character? It must've been kinda difficult with this one because the only time applejack and fluttershy really had a connecting moment was in dragonshy. I've been wanting to write my own fics for some time, but I want them to be accurate with the show. If you have the time, please help :twilightsmile:

512758 Oh wow, um, er, thanks! I'm not rightly sure how to respond to that, actually - I've watched the eps quite a bit (like any rabid pony fan), and I'm of course terribly glad to hear it if they worked, if it came across as in-character!

But okay, I'm gonna try to answer this as honestly as I can, hm. The process that leads to each fic is different, I don't have a real method - except watching eps - but for Where Earth Meets Sky, it really did start with Dragonshy. I watched the ep and thought it really sweet how AJ is the one who never gives up on Fluttershy. No fuss, no comment on it, she just keeps trucking and helping Flutters.

After that, I started looking for more hints of this, and interpreting what little interaction they have in the show (they're not a very close pair), and thinking about how they would work were they closer. I took a moment off to write down notes on similarities and differences, and how these play with eachother (ending up discarding most of it) - discovering that I had quite a few interesting angles I could use.

Applejack was the hardest part. When I started writing this (and to this day, really) she was the least characterized of the mane6. I had to extrapolate some character traits, I had to add to her. She's not an OC, I can't just add habits and desires willy-nilly; I had to find stuff that fit. That stuff gets me nervous.

In the end, I ended up with the angle shown here; them bonding over similar loves for the simpler things, parttaking in more feral aspects of life, really, and applying their own life philosophies to a budding romance spurred by few little acts of, well, kindness. I'm not so delusional as to try to claim this is canon by any stretch of the word, nor is this "it could happen"; it's forever a "what if" situation - but if it comes across as a believable theoretical situation where the characters feel like themselves, then that's the best I can ever hope for!

Sorry. This ended up terribly verbose. Thank you for reading!

513028 Thanks for responding! :twilightsmile:. I'm trying to piece together advice from different sources and trying to refine my writing style. anymore advice would be welcomed. Hopefully one day I can create a fan-fic as great as all of yours are =D.

513118 I'm not exactly sure my work methods are perfect, but I am honored by your words - thank you! I wish you luck when and if you decide to pick up the pen (or, well, right-click -> create new document, I guess, in this day and age).

The best piece of advice, ever, is of course "write". There's a reason everypony keeps saying it; it's too common (and too easy) to sit and plan, theoreticize and think about what wonderful stuff you're gonna write one day, but the biggest and hardest step is actually starting. Once you've written "once upon a time" - figuratively speaking - you're halfway there. If you're also prepared to accept critique whilst turning the other cheek to pointless hatred, well, then you've already won, really.

Grammar, show vs. tell, formatting - all that junk? That's easy compared to actually getting started and having the proper mindset. Ponychan, the guides at EqD etc; there are plenty of resources that're useful for that.

510177 it seems i derped off at some point :derpyderp2: seeing that not matter when i go i keep forgetting to add my own life issues into my comments, to make them imply what i intended to imply... long story short, i have reading and writeing issues of a kind, i get fussy-minded/tired from reading and writeing, even minor things have an impact of a kind, that i can feel, but there are things i just, out of heart, feel a need to do...

even if what you say is true, that "fancier anguage then necessary is a weakness", i must say that when you write a frist chapter, with content that makes someone with read/write issues, like me, determined to read your story till the end of it, even if it takes me forever! now that's something
so let your "fancier anguage then necessary" stay as it is, i say

519186 Aw jeez, now I feel bad about having misinterpreted you, sorry! All the same, I shall take this as a compliment, then. Truly, thank you. The point still stands - as you say - in that clarity is goal #1, but on the same hoof, I have to admit I am a huge fan of writers who play around with words, too (Miéville springs to mind).

Not sure what direction my own writing is developing in, but I am going to try to control my impulse to use fancy words just because I can - if there is another alternative that gets it across better!

519978 well, we all derp a bit now and then don't we? but i do thing this was kind of my fault, since i was the one who forgot to add information, that could had avoided you misinterpreting me
personally i don't know much about writers in genneral, it's only resently i picked up reading as free time hobby and for the time being, i only read fanfictions of fim

well, reguardless of what direction your writing will develop, i will, once i'm done going through my stack of "i-think-i-wanna-read-this-stoy/fiction" list, go through what ohter storys you have uploaded here, to see if something else will catch my eye

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