Very good read. Thank you for writing it!

6459725
I was planning on saying that it's covered in the last chapter, before I posted the last chapter. (Spoilers: it doesn't amount to much.)

6460037
Yeah, it probably should. The context I was thinking you can use 'will' like that is pretty archaic, and after a quick check I think I might have been using it wrong.

6460273
I mean, for us, yeah. Ponies are a lot more forgiving, and I don't think they've ever reached the point where a total war scenario would have ever made sense; their head of state is a benevolent dictator with at least a millennium of experience who controls when it's day and night, real-world political similarities are kind of off the table at that point.

A lovely, sweet natured fic, with excellent characterisation for Twilight and Rarity, as well as pleasant interaction between them. Thougherly enjoyable. Well done, my good Sir or Madam.

But the question still remains: How are they going to tell there friends about this?

6461591
"You two seem awfully... huggy since you got back."

"Yes, well. We're... would you say dating, Rarity?"

"I would say courting, but it's very similar, dear."

I mean, not in any big dramatic fashion or anything.

Gotta say this is a great piece of work you've produced bud and not only because I'm a sucker for rarilight but because of the honestly spot on way you wrote the characters. If I could thumb this up twice I would. Hopefully we will see more work out of you in the future.

Awww. :)

That was a great story. I will definitely hold on to this for future reading. You know, I really haven't come across a good twilight/rarity romance.

You need to work on your run-on sentences. I suggest reading up on the use of semi-colons to replace some of those commas.

Lovely story. I don't think there's anything more to be said.

6461262

It is a good thing that the ponies will not enter a total war against the zebras over a dispute of a shipment of coal and end this total war in a megaspellexchange.

6469680
Well, she is the Princess of Shipping.

This was a crazy awesome story. I don't know what else I can say about it.

Awesome job

6493724
I genuinely can't tell if this is a good or bad thing.

6494530
It's not a pleasant feeling.

The first four chapters were good reads. They had a cast of likable characters centered around a main duo who seemed up to their show quality. There was a degree of tension to their socializing, and the protagonists' own actions raised the stakes. "Third Act" made it clear this wasn't the story I assumed it was, but I figured it could still go to interesting places.

"Duet" throws almost all of the previous chapters' strengths out the door, a problem made even worse by its 7000-word length. I've read whole clopfics that were shorter than this chapter while also including characterization and dramatic tension, both of which are almost entirely absent here. What little is done well only comes in the tiny section after the sex.

To clarify the comparison I made before, I feel as if everything I liked about the previous chapters was some combination of my own unrealistic hopes and a misleading narrative. "Third Act" was like seeing the hidden truth, and "Duet" was like finding out that the truth actually kind of sucks.

6496826
I'm sorry you were mislead; the supporting cast was never meant to serve much purpose beyond showing how Twilight and Rarity's insecurities in themselves are unfounded, and... I don't know what other direction a Mature story with the Romance and Sex tags could be headed when the first chapter has the two protagonists watching the sun set together and privately wishing they were a little like the other. As for the actual content of "Third Act"/"Duet"... I mean, can't please everyone.

I greatly enjoyed reading this. It was my first exposure to you as a writer, and I'm happy that Jondor and Cryosite recommended this to me over Skype. The interaction between Rarity and Twilight was sublime, Twilight's byplay with her fellow princesses and brother were great (as, of course, was Shining's game with the Post), and it all flowed beautifully. I can say, with honesty, that I binge read this before work this morning and found myself sad that the story had ended—not because I felt there was something you'd missed telling, but because you genuinely hooked me with it. Take a fave and a like.

Huh. Alright, consider me impressed. That was actually pretty good on all directions.
A solid, commendable effort.

Every time I come back to reread this, IT'S STILL SOOOOOO GOOOOD OHMYGOSH

Excuse me as I go sigh forever.

Wow.

Just...wow.

This was a wonderful read. You're metaphors, your descriptions of senses, your exploration of intriguing concepts, all of that comes together to make one of the most entertaining and believable romances I've read thus far on this website.

I do think there is room for improvement, however. The story is mechanically sound, which makes certain mistakes and choices all the more jarring. For example, instead of using em-dashes, you use two hyphens, and there are a bunch of random little typos. I also thought the story was overly telly in places, which clashed with your expert use of sensations and body language. And finally, I found it distracting when the perspective would bounce back and forth between Rarity and Twilight mid-scene. I want to empathize with the characters, but I can't do that if I can't ground myself before being dragged into another's head without so much as a scene change.

Regardless, the good far outweighs the bad. You have earned every single upvote and then some, by my estimation. Good work.

aaand you made the ending even better. Thank you again.

The name of this fic just make me think,
"I've looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow it's cloud's illusions, I recall. I really don't know clouds at all."

If you know that song, just wow. Just WOW. Especially since that song was written in the 1950's. By Joni Mitchell. If you know that woman, again, WOW.

6860949
I title all my stories after songs; some are directly inspired, some are ironic inversions of the title, some are somewhere in the middle. Both Sides Now is a very beautiful, very elegant song that paints love as something ephemeral and elusive, the interpretation shifting based on where you stand, and I tried to incorporate a little of that into the story that shares its name.

6863829

So you know her and her songs? Cool. She is AWESOME.

Wow. Just... wow.
The strengths and weaknesses (... wait, what weaknesses?) were already discussed and pointed out by others, so I won't repeat what you already know and just upvoted comments throughout the chapters.
Instead, I'll leave with this: It was a fun ride, a beautiful story and I'm grateful for it.

Thank you very much.

This story's been sitting on my "read it later" for ages, and I'm glad I finally took care of that. It's one of the few stories I've read while complete and liked before finishing, because I realized halfway through that no ending you'd realistically give it would make me dislike it. And indeed you didn't.

Great namesake song. Great simple straightforward concept. Awesome use of perspective shifting in keeping with concept. Thanks for writing.

I did notice a couple of typos but was too caught up in it to stop and note them, which I now feel a bit bad about. But it'll give me an excuse to re-read later and contribute something more constructive than "awesome work", I suppose.

7317153
Oh, it's not canon at all. I thought there might be some requirement somewhere that says if Twilight is a princess, she needs somewhere to be the princess of, so there's some paperwork to make her the completely ceremonial head of the tiny little area of Ponyville. I can't imagine Twilight taking anything away from Mayor Mare, anyway, she's got books to read and friendship lessons to plan.

7319360
Twilight's Palace; the Vatican City of Ponyville.

Is there moar.....?:(

I'm a bit late getting here to the end, but I loved the journey!

7319360 will there be a sequel about Twilight and Rarity exploring their new relationship?

What an excellent story. I'll have to check out your other work.

7921200
Well, there's no time limit on fiction. It's not like stories go bad or anything. I mean, I have a ton of things on my to-read list, both here and irl. You shouldn't feel bad about taking your time.

7921358
I don't foresee one, sorry -- this story, like most of the things I write, only really exists as far as what's written and not much beyond it -- but anything's possible. I don't imagine it would ever be in the exact same tone, but what sequel is?

7923773
Thank you. Don't expect many things that are similar -- I don't like to repeat myself much with writing, or at least I try not to -- but maybe that's more of a good thing than a bad one.

Also, unrelated, but did someone blog about this story or something? Three separate people commenting when it's been dormant for weeks...

7926452 I think I saw it go by as a group addition in my feed, but don't remember for certain.

7926452 I got halfway through and then for some unknown reason paused. Then for no apparent reason went, "Oh yeah that story was awesome I need to finish reading it!" and then here I was.

I'm still thankful I got to participate in the editing process of this fic. It was such a spur of the moment thing too; I remember seeing a request for help in my feed for this random story from one of the writers I followed and decided to speak up. Both Sides Now remains my favorite sex fic to date, and among my top favorite romance stories.

Thanks again for allowing me to play a part.

What a lovely read! This is quite high on my favorite list of Twilight/Rarity ships. Thank you so much for writing it!

Simply magnificent, I just wish I could do more than one up vote.

Wow – finished reading this whole story, and I have to say, I loved it. Excellent characterization, slow-burn clop AND slow-burn romance at the same time? Best combination! Very endearing, very sweet. Very hot, at appropriate moments. You can feel the tension as it builds, and it feels natural. Great work. Definitely a new favorite.

I loved this. You wrote Rarity and Twilight really well, and took the 'haha let's pretend date - oh no it's real now' trope and made it unique and interesting with your own flair, and avoided the pitfalls of the trope. I found the cadence of your writing to be very organic and engaging. The romance & intimacy was really well written and I liked your use of metaphor.