• 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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Source

Applejack had long since taken the Hearth’s Warming Eve story for fact. When she and Fluttershy find themselves in an untamed wilderness, they’ll learn that not all history is preserved. In their struggle to find their way home, the two will unearth secrets unknown to any living being, pony or otherwise.

Half a world away, the others have problems of their own. As Rainbow Dash struggles to discover exactly what she is to her oldest friend, Twilight must face the stunning truth about her long-time mentor.

In the end, what is lost, and what is found?

Chapters (35)
Comments ( 559 )

Yes!
Cloudy rides again!

I've had the privilege of reading some 80-100k of this fic so far. It is adventure on an epic scale. I remember in 2011 when we had several long adventure fics that were the center of the fandom's attention. This fic is like those. It's world building on a large scale. It's history. It's shipping. There's action and tension. It's pretty much everything you could ask for in a fic. Is it worth reading the estimated 170-200k? Hell yes.

Looks interesting I will have to add this to my read later

Uh...wow. 20k words straight out of the starting gate. Thats a way to start for sure.

1. Awesome

2. Fic starts off with 5 chapters totalling 20k words. (2 prologues? :derpyderp2:)
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw3082-13279593542672.png

Damn,it's 2:30am and while I normally go to bed at 4~5, I have to return to at least going to bed at 1 if I want to get anywhere in school, so I'll simply put this in 'read later' for now.:ajsleepy:

This has "epic" written all over it.

Oh crap, a Cloudy Skies story? MUST FOLLOW

Starting with 5 chapters.

i.imgur.com/m3rLR.gif

Kits basically nailed it with his comment up there. It's been quite a while since I've had the pleasure of reading a long adventure fic, and Cloudy settles right into filling that niche with Lost and Found. It's been a wonderful read so far and the only reason I haven't read more of it is because I'm a screw up when it comes to time management. This story's worth the read just for the worldbuilding alone, which Cloudy executes on a consistently high level. Can't wait to see where it goes.

I think I must have favorite'd and unfavorite'd this story a hundred times based on how many times I clicked the favorite button.

Silver: Sir, we are taking back Karalia.

Me: Good.

Silver: The reinforcements we landed on Volna Beach have reported heavy fighting along the coastline. 80% of Karalia is under our control again and it won't be long til we can retake our capital.

Me: Things are going TOO well. What's the bad news?

Silver: It appears that a huge force of Cloudy Skies' rebels have been spotted advancing toward our position from the jungles.

Me: How big?

Silver: Trust me sir, you DON'T wanna know!

Me: No matter! Deploy our new Cobalt, Magnet, and Katana Battalions... and send the Dragon Busters with them while keeping the Skilla unit in reserve!

The former Cloudy Skies' citizens that flocked to our army will be VERY useful to us. Send them out. I wanna see how loyal they really are.

Silver: Roger!

I'll be back to read this one later Cloudy but I'm a little occupied at the moment. :pinkiehappy:

Silver out!

Well, I'm excited for this. :pinkiehappy:

Instant-Track and I'll get around to reading it very soon. I must say I'm fairly excited about this, I have no idea why, but the description sort of gives me a bit of an "Off the Edge of the Map" vibe. It could be that I reread that recently, and the FlutterDash just set off those triggers, but all the talk of mass-scale world building and whatnot sort of puts it in my mind. Not that this is at all a bad thing, mind you, also not trying to compare your work to something rather old and great, and creating unfair expectations, I just... don't know, I just woke up, me brain no function today. Bleh.

Anyway, I'll just say preemptively that I've always found the Mane 6 x Royalty ships to be sort of tragic. The fact of being immortal (or, a VERY long life span), and watching all of your loved ones die seems very depressing to me. Even if you offer your lover a way out to become immortal with you, they have to share your heart ache of having to see all of your friends, family and loved ones die around you while you live on, it seems sort of depressing to me. That all said, I have no idea how you plan to tackle their relationship, so it'll definitely be something worth finding out.

1154270
Have you read Forever is Forever?

also
[youtube=5L8-FTvSVxs]

TAW

aaaaaaaaaa
I love it so far. Exciting!

You released! \o/
Aw, it's not complete. still! X3

Epic adventure is epic.

Uh oh.

Twilight, what did you do?

1152047 You're being far too kind, but thank you; I wonder if I'll be releasing yet another adventure fic next fall. Odd sort of habit, this!

1152054 1152088 1152359 I hope it's not intimidating. I debated with myself (and others) long and hard over how much to kick off with, but the simple truth is, unless I want to spend more than two months publishing this, I gotta get them words out!

1152818 Thank you for kind words (and for your help!) - we'll see! If it holds your interest, I would love your thoughts, of course.

1154270 OtE is definitively (and has always been) one of my main inspirations, so I'm going to take that as potential praise.

You have a point regarding the princesses and such, but my main counterargument is that FiM has never been about death and about the long term consequences; it's not about looking for the shadow side of things when something's nice. I'm not saying ignoring consequences is always a boon, but I've never liked to focus on overinterpreting such things until something lovely becomes tragic.

I'm of course not going to discuss/spoil specifics of this story with regards to this (I'm still writing it, even!), I just mean that generally, I don't let myself be concerned with sad stuff. I tend to favor ignoring or trivializing. The fic Kits linked is a good example of what you can do if you want to frame everything ridiculously tragic, and it's everything I don't want in a fic, be it writing or reading. No offense to the fic or its writer, but it's diametrically opposed to my preferences.

1155501 A small (ridiculously long) ways off yet, sorry!

1155019 Thank you very much!

1155709 Definitely not, I actually enjoyed the continuous read.

1155709
I re-read Fo:E for fun, its hard to find an intimidating word count for me.

1155714

Never apologize when you can... write your flank off! Rhymes off, but gogogooggo XD

This has potential.

1154870 I have now, and it's kind of a bittersweet feeling that TwiDash was added in, considering the cost.

1155709 That's fine, but it's something that I tend to over-analyze because I want to avoid the potential for a tragedy. My feelings to those sort of ships were probably formed after I read the fic Our Last Goodbye (a story which I gave a chance on a whim, and interestingly enough, has been the only actual fanfic that legitimately made me cry).

It's completely a preference thing, and I will always like fluffy little ship stories between ponies and princesses, but my enjoyment seems to always be tinged with that tragic sadness that seems to be associated with the curse of immortality.

*Steel shields his eyes, his computer monitor shining quite a bit brighter than usual.*

Bloody hell, being in this comments section is like being in a church, and the Author is their God...

:twilightoops: "Can something like this really happen?"

I guess so...I didn't kick up the brightness on my monitor recently, at least.

:twilightsheepish: "Well, since we're hunting around for stories, how about this one?"

I think if we open up the first chapter, we'll go blind from the sheer volume of praise this story's getting.

:twilightsmile: "It's not like he writes using white text!"

Only one way to find that bit out.

1156980 Oh, I understand and respect that, truly; all I can say for sure is that tragedy is something you will never find intentionally implied in any story I write. There's a profound lack of Sad or Tragedy tags for a reason, but if you autocomplete TwiLestia thus, I understand why it gives you pause. I'm sorry to hear that :|

1156980

Have you read Within and Without? It's a TwiLuna, a damn good one at that, and if you read it you'll get a decent taste for how Cloudy handles the princess pairings. Now I don't now that's how it'll go down here, probably not, but it's something.

Besides, it's a great fic that, if you haven't read it yet, I recommend you do so with all the haste you can possibly acquire :pinkiesmile:

---

As for the story, I am hooked and already enthralled. The concept is interesting, the new setting is interesting, and the mysterious hidden history is interesting. This story is pretty interesting.

I rather like your take on Fluttershy. I'll be honest, I normally dislike her in most stories due to her perpetual shyness and all around timidity. The bold, do what must be done stance--still retaining her trademark idiosyncrasies--is a refreshing take on her. The mysterious letter is very alluring, too. I want to say that it does have to do with her parents not being able to make the marriage, but at the same time it's for a reason that may not be all bright and dandy. She basically spoke a half truth, hiding the segments that deal the damage.

What does puzzle me is why Fluttershy went to Applejack and not Rainbow. They've been friends for a longer period of time, Fluttershy obviously likes her and has even told Rainbow about the letters, and yet she flew off to Applejack. I'd like to think there's a reason for this beyond the farm pony saying that she could come to her at anytime (and that she lived closer), but I could just be over analyzing it...

Anyway, all I can really think about now is rolling fields of golden grass, a hard headed and distraught Rainbow, and two ponies in a land very, very far away... And now that I think about it, something Luna said unnerves me:

Hatred has seeped into this thing, and when it felt the Elements, it lashed out in fear. Sought to throw you as far away as possible. Distance and time, either or both.

There are no good implications here, none at all. This could be much worse than what we think it may be.

Yep, this story is awesome and on it's way to being another favorite. Have I ever told you I like your writing style? I probably have, but repetition can't hurt. I really like your writing style.

I had a feeling that was where you were going, with the tribes and the pony's elements representing these tribes going to their origin. I had to stop reading mid way through and had come up with the theory, and I'm so happy it turned out to be true~! (That hardly ever happens, I'm so horrible at mysteries and theories :raritydespair:) But, hehe, on towards the actual story and not just me being proud of myself...Very good! I'm a very excited on where this goes, as I haven't read many 'epics' recently, or really any much at all, and it will be nice to read it as it goes along rather than all at once, since it takes the suspence and time of speculating away. Looking forward to more!

JAG

No other comments? Huh. First! :trollestia:

Anyway, good stuff as usual. I'd managed to forget how good, really. This feels like the start of something special. Points of interest:

- The time-frame. Setting it immediately after the wedding was done for a reason, I assume, and could mean interesting things for the story. Changeling involvement, perhaps? We'll see.

- The mystery letter. Hmm. I'll guess it has something to do with Fluttershy's family, but I suppose speculation is pointless with four more chapters ready to read.

- This: “Are you feeling okay? I bet you are!” Pinkie said, somehow managing to make it sound like an accusation. “You shouldn’t be okay, you should be super-duper fantastic! What’s up?” I love this line, for some reason. Your ability to perfectly write Pinkie is still intact, I see. :pinkiehappy:

I'd read on, but it's unfortunately very late here. I'd already be asleep, but the suspense was killing me. So, next chapters will be read tomorrow if possible. Monday at the latest.

1159760

No other comments? Huh. First!

you're a bit late bro

So this is off to an excellent start. Within and Without is up there in my list of favorite adventure stories. Also, I can't wait to see where the Twilestia shipping ends up. :twilightblush:

The first update is 20k words. You don't even know how excited that makes me. I love these adventurous world-building stories, and this has the makings of a grand one.

Well hello there, new Cloudy Skies fic. Yes, I would like to track you.

Thanks for mentioning this in your blog, Kits. Somehow I completely missed it being posted.

OMG a new Cloudy Story instant fav to this day Within and Without is still my Number one Favorite.

I love really long Adventure Stories of Worldbuilding with or without TwiLuna Elements.

JAG

So the placebo effect doesn't work with magic, then. :facehoof:

Hmm. Given that the Elements were involved in the spell, it seems likely that they were what caused the teleportations. Intentionally, maybe? It could be that they have some sort of plan for their bearers, a lesson to teach them or something. And now that I think about it, the bearers all seem to be ending up in places of significance to both themselves and the Elements. Twilight was sent to the Everfree ruins, where she discovered the power of friendship and first activated the Elements. Dash was sent to her former home of Cloudsdale, which was also the site of the first Sonic Rainboom, which set in motion the events that would eventually bring the Mane Six together.

So it stands to reason that Fluttershy and Applejack have been sent to a similarly important place. Taking into account the story's synopsis, maybe it has to do with the creation of the Elements, or some ancient usage of them. Fluttershy's letter is probably tied into it, too.

The description of Pinkie as a conversational freight train is also worth mentioning :rainbowlaugh:

I generally feel terrible. Cloudy releases an adventure fic, and I have only just carved out twenty minutes to read the prologue. The prologue after like three days! D:

Study law, they said. It will be fun, they said. Let me tell you right now, reading 73k word cases may be a lot of things, but 'fun' is certainly not an appropriate adjective.

Anyway, I have read the prologue, haha. Concise set up, intriguing, and some great character interaction so far. Needless to say, I am looking forward to the next time I can eek out a little more time to continue reading, haha. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later!

And it looks like you have beaten me quite nicely in the release of adventure stories, haha. I guess that's what happens when you get sidetracked with other projects while waiting for cover art!

Keep up the great work, Cloudy. I can't wait to see this one pan out.

JAG

All right, so my Element theory was accurate. And we're starting to see some of the Hearth's Warming story's innaccuracies being revealed. Three alicorns, huh? I'm not generally a fan of OC alicorns, but I have to say I'm interested in seeing where this goes. Assuming Celestia and Luna were two of them, I'd guess they sided with unicorns and pegasi respectively. So the third one would be the earth ponies' leader/god/whatever, and might have powers related to agriculture or something. I also get the feeling he or she might still be around, possibly leading the descendents of these earth pony villagers.

And we finally got a partial explanation about Fluttershy's letter. So it was from her parents. Now the question is why that's a problem.

Oh, poor Applejack. I'm guessing you think that since you believed what you were doing was lying, your element reacted to that untruth and did this. Guess I'll have to wait and find out.

JAG

1160328

Yeah, I know. I was referring to the first chapter specifically.

Anyway, this chapter took some interesting turns. I hadn't thought to blame the 'glittercoal' for the teleportations at all; I'd figured the Elements or some outside force were responsible. Luna's comment about 'distance or time' was also intriguing, specifically the 'time' part. If AJ and Fluttershy might've been thrown through time, that opens up a whole new can of possibilities and directions this could take. Can't wait to see how it goes.

Look at that! Two more chapters :D And now we have a good ol' fashioned adventure on our hands, people! This is gonna be a fun ride. :rainbowkiss:

Cloudy Skies writes one of his patented longfics wherein one of the ships is Flutterdash... My body is ready.

Handel's Messiah is insufficient to describe the pure, unbridled joy I felt upon seeing the EQD post. Cloudy, I loved Within and Without, and now I'm in love with this and it's only just begun. I look forward to the places you will take me and the roads you will show me. Adventure awaits.

Ooh this is good. gonna nom on this story for a while.
Very nice pace

"conversational freight train that was Pinkie Pie."
this is gold. XD
excellent work

The reason i love your stories is the fact that you can write the mane 6 PERFECTLY and i love the way they interact with each other in your stories. It just makes it feel like an actual episode. On to 4 more chapters!

one error (Rd wasn't what you call supportive during dragonshy, aj was though.) just pointing it out. still good though,

hmm a big load of not much :-D

Cloudyyyyyy, it's Monday night! I have work in the morning! How could you do this to meeee?

... Ah the heck with it. *page one*

I wonder if you feel oddly about this fic. I imagine many people (such as myself) will be comparing it to Within and Without - some people might find that to be a lot of pressure. Or maybe I'm overestimating WaW's impact since it was such a major part of my joining this fandom in the first place.


EDIT: Oh hey, this was posted three days ago... >_> <_<

1159182 I will of course not spoil anything, but it's a treat reading peoples' theories and such. Writing so much Fluttershy has definitively been a challenge, and I fully assume that not everyone will like the way I do it as you do; some want her to be like she was in S1E1, some want her to be Strong(tm) and have changed, and between those camps, it's impossible to please everyone I guess, hah.

1159545 Thank you! I hope it does not let you down; I definitively wrote this aiming for something on a bit of a bigger scale than my other, recent stuff.

1161184 It was a bit awkward, I either had to upload the first two chapters, or the first five, and I went for the latter. In hindsight, I wonder if I should've started slower; while there are plenty here in the comments field who say they enjoy it, I am not sure it has as broad an appeal as I had hoped.

1161678 Well. No pressure right? Breathe, Cloudy. Breeeeathe. Hi again!

1161695 Would you believe me if I said I really really want to do more TwiLuna in the future? After S2E4, Luna's got something like characterization. I'd love to try my hoof at it again!

1162101 A frightening amount of people have commented on exactly that sentence, haha.

1166086 Oh gosh, don't stress, but I'm eager to hear your thoughts nevertheless! Studying law is the fastest way to lose your life. Forever!

I have friends (multiple) who've studied law. I salute your choice and your mettle.

1173530 Submitted to EqD a week or so ago, released this- yeah, three days ago. I was trying to coordinate, and failed miserably. Sorry!

1172372 You are very kind, and I hope that the story doesn't disappoint!

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