• Member Since 27th Jul, 2011
  • offline last seen May 10th, 2012

AVeryStrange


Everything I touch turns to shipfic. All my stories will be uploaded here shortly.

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Rainbow Dash has always been notoriously lazy, but when their friend can't seem to keep awake for a single day the rest of the mane six take it into their own hooves to discover what's wrong with her. Is she just lazy? Or is there more to Dash's life than they know? And can they handle this other part of her?

Chapters (6)
Comments ( 53 )

Teehee. This story is just so cute. Wonderful work here, AVeryStrange.

Great one, cute funny and still in a level of seriousness that keeps you on the floor, hard to describe for me actually.
Please write more awesome fics like these, looking forward to it.

I Laughed so hard at the last two lines hahahaha! :rainbowlaugh:
and the part when Fluttershy Stares everypony in the party... EPIC

But talking seriously, I've loved the whole story. Although I'm more into Flutterdash shipping, this was a good one, hoping to read some other stories by you, this was simply SO AWESOME :rainbowkiss:

AVeryStrange, you got my admiration

Excellent story all around! The plot flowed wonderfully, the dialogue was brilliant, and the emotional scenes were very effective. Definitely one of more creative stories I've seen dealing with Dash's sexuality, and it doesn't even pair her up with one of the Mane 6. I saw the epilogue coming a mile away, but I think that may have been on purpose, thanks to one of Vinyl's lines earlier in the story. Didn't make the epilogue any less entertaining. ;)

Great work! :rainbowwild:

so why is dash in a rush ? to finish

wow alot of reveal well at rainbows part

ineresting

fluttershy took the reveling hard or is hiding something

great story 1st time i read Vinyl beying pared up other than Octavia :twilightsmile: oh and liked the ending in the epiluge /i all ways do this but i bet twilight will try a move on trixie or luna :trollestia:

Vinyldash all the way..

you know what this is really really good, I mad not more people are reading this and commenting. but I like it a lot Good work!!


:twilightblush::rainbowkiss:

GO FLUTTERSHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was great!! I I never saw it coming it was funny~!

Twilight was and easy guess but still good, and I loved the nick name Twiddles!

this is a great read, thank you for writing it!


:twilightblush::rainbowkiss:

Great read with an unheard of ship.

Also, loved Fluttershy at the end. :pinkiehappy::heart:

I'm still surprised there isn't more vinyl and rainbow stories. are you going to make another? :moustache: <-----For fun

silly me i forgot to also put down amazing story and i hope to read more.

...And that was how Equestria was made (tolerant of all sexualities). Great story, and gotta love the twist at the end!

wow great read loved every second of it, 5/5 (like a boss):rainbowdetermined2:

Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch? Huh, you've made it work well, actually!
Now, how about... Rainbow Scratch? Or Vinyl Dash?
Hmm...

Fluttershy has a crush on Dash?! *GASP*:pinkiegasp:

MUST...READ...MOAR!!!:pinkiegasp:

This story needs a sequel! Do it for Twilight! :twilightsmile:

yeah sequel for twiddles' (and Fluttershy's) sake :D

:twilightblush: Nice story! :D

She got a hot date with somepony.:rainbowwild:

Well duh. Fluttershy is sad because she likes rainbow!

Crazy stuff. I didn't expected such a broad array of reactions between them all. I gotta get started on catching up on reading. Looks great!

Poor Twilight, so confused and waited outside for Rainbow Dash. Also, I like the pacing in this story. There's that steady transition from dawn to mid morning throughout it.:pinkiesmile:

Great story! And what a way to end it! It seems that your stories just find the best way grab a person in and keep them reading till the end. Not only do you identify the characters well through there mannerisms and such, what impressed me most was the varied reactions that they had to Rainbow Dash's secret. 5/5!

tracking! Wonder what's going on :rainbowhuh:

great story, but needs a sequel with twi'

man,if i was a pony, i couldn't decide which i'd like to date more, scratch, or dash?
pretty cool story.

like we all couldn't figure that out.
well,if you're a guy, someone might have to spell it out for you, but... :rainbowlaugh:

"Look Rainbow, there's a lot of things I don't get. Like when it's appropriate for friends to hug each other, and for how long. Or how to talk to somepony when you're trying to keep a secret."

oh twilight, ever the socially inept pony. :twilightangry2:
just kidding :twilightblush:

"Yes?" Fluttershy drew out the word as she turned around. And there it was. Ponies only glanced by her Stare would later recall feeling like they had looked into a starless night, a void so pure it threatened to swallow them. Others simply around Fluttershy felt a sudden chill, finding themselves backing away.

that was epic. i had to practically smother my face with a pillow so i wouldn't wake up the house laughing.

that, and i saw gay twi a mile coming. the way she hung around the club, and blushed when Vinyl talked to her, totally saw it, just surprised that you weren't clear on whether Shy was or not.

awesome story! i may have to write a Vinyldash now. :yay: :pinkiehappy:

"Yes?" Fluttershy drew out the word as she turned around. And there it was. Ponies only glanced by her Stare would later recall feeling like they had looked into a starless night, a void so pure it threatened to swallow them. Others simply around Fluttershy felt a sudden chill, finding themselves backing away.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS????? I'm imagining something really cute and evil right now :rainbowlaugh: :pinkiecrazy:

Twilight.. you don goofed.

First chapter done. Really liking this so far. Dash is completely in character. I love that she's exhausted, not lazy, but it's rapidly annoying me that her friends (supposedly; they're already on thin ice in my book) are acting they way they are.

So far we've got:

1. A weather patrol that completely takes Dash for granted. They write her off as lazy and a showoff when her internal dialogue in dealing with the storm shows that she's not only highly technically competent, to the point of awesome on-the-fly brilliance that reminds me of a couple of unorthodox starship captains, but that she can pull off these complicated on the fly plans so easily she only really had to think about what she was doing because she was sleep-deprived.

2. AJ really annoyed me. Seriously, I get that she doesn't like people sleeping in her trees, as that risks damaging the things she feeds herself and makes money with, but that whole part where she called Dash a lazy bum who wouldn't know an honest day's work really steamed me. Not only is she forgetting all the times Dash has helped AJ out of a jam, particularly in "Applebuck Season," but it ignores the fact that Dash DOES in fact work hard. Just not on anything AJ cares about or cares to understand. Because Dash makes it look easy when she does work, and has more free time than a full-time farmer AJ just assumes there's no effort involved. This twigged my tenancy to dislike/be annoyed with AJ...she too often comes off in fanon and canon as an arrogant know-it-all/my-way-is-the-best-only-way sort of pony when it comes to physical work and a few other things. Her hardheadedness and stubbornness in canon and fanon is a really unattractive personality trait (and no, I didn't mean that in any romantic sense).

3. Okay, Pinkie seriously goofed with the non-washable paint, and Dash goofed by not checking herself (though presumably she has every reason to trust Pinkie, who is never hurtful with her pranks), but where in the blue blazes does Twilight get off treating a grown mare like a little filly and making Dash--who immediately and genuinely apologized for screwing up, though this of course wasn't good enough for Twilight--feel like she was getting scolded by her mother and then making her clean the whole place (after Rarity had TRACKED THROUGH IT) alone as "punishment?" Either Twilight thinks she's everyone's mom or that Dash doesn't deserve to be treated like an adult. It was especially jarring that Twilight was apparently just going to let Dash keep going but Rarity came out and looked around and, having calmed down, sent Dash home because the cleaning crews were coming. If Rarity was hiring cleaning crews the only reason to make Dash do that was to punish her. That is not what adults do to other adults they are not related to, especially when it's one friend ordering another around. So, yeah, not too happy with Twilight, either.

(And it just occurred to me that the only reason the inside was a mess was because Rarity panicked and tracked through the inside of her own place of business and house. She freaked out and made a mess where Dash and Pinkie never intended her to. Not saying it's her fault, but Dash and Pinkie obviously didn't mean to destroy the interior of the Boutique. Rarity's overdramatic behavior sort of bit her there. Having been occasionally doused in horrible staining things along with other people I know, I can say with some confidence that a lot of people's first thought when that happens is containing the mess, which means not spreading it to new areas by running around like a maniac.)


Seriously, what would Twi have done if Dash couldn't have gone to the Boutique for her punishment because she had to work with the Weather Patrol? Make Rarity hold off on hiring the cleaning crews until Dash could spend plenty of time doing her punishment scrub? That was bizarre, Princess of Friendship, and not in an adorable way.

Seriously, Dash isn't perfect. I'll call her out on plenty of personality flaws, at the drop of a hat. But if this is the treatment she's getting from her friends and coworkers, no wonder she's concealing her personal life from them. Yeesh.

Chapter 2 continues to be excellent. Rarity falling in with Twi and AJ amuses me. She doesn't mean anything by it; it's just her being a gossip, and she knows when to draw the line at creepy stalking. Twi is honestly concerned for Dash's health and safety, which--I'm still annoyed with her from last chapter, especially since she seemed surprised Rarity sent Dash home without finishing all the cleaning, but I can acknowledge that without any other information Dash's behavior could be a sign of a serious problem (drug abuse and or chronic insomnia immediately pop to mind). So Twilight's motivation appears to be genuine concern for her friend, and her social ineptitude is twisting that into something I find unpleasant at points. I can deal with that. It feels like Pinkie is too kind and innocent to realize how creepily their behavior could be taken and Fluttershy is just sort of swept along, though I'm sure she's genuinely worried after hearing Twilight's assuredly vivid lecture-o-doom about their need to "save" Rainbow from ... something.:twilightsmile:

I increasingly want to slap AJ. It's apparently a sin that anyone who AJ thinks is her friend would keep a secret from the Element of Honesty. Then again, I'm not even sure how much of a friend AJ really thinks Rainbow is. She fires off backhoof insults constantly, with the lame justification that Dash's lifestyle isn't how AJ was raised. She's apparently totally okay with secretly invading Rainbow's privacy, knowing Rainbow obviously doesn't want them knowing what she's doing. If she was worried Rainbow was in trouble, that'd be excusable and commendable, but she's apparently primarily concerned about the fact that Rainbow dared to lie to her--or rather, that Rainbow decided to keep her private life private.

It never even occurs to AJ that when Dash is exhausted and about to crash, her subconscious mind identifies AJ's land as somewhere safe to sleep. Of course AJ wouldn't like constant trespassing, but she's too busy being a victim of her own self-righteous indignation to think about why Dash keeps losing consciousness at HER place specifically.

I also am starting to think Dash has some serious self-esteem issues here. I doubt she's ashamed of whoever's she's meeting. She'd only keep a secret like this if she thought her friends--who she cherishes dearly as one would expect the Element of Honesty to--will think less of her. (Of course, she already seems oblivious to the fact that AJ thinks less of her as it is.)

I wish I could see Dash all fixed up. You make her sound adorable. :yay:

"Guys! What are you all doing - you guys gotta get out of here!" she shouted over the music, immediately nervous. The five ignored her, too curious, and trotted further away from the door, spreading out slightly.

Isn't it obvious, Dash? They're crashing your date for reasons. Friendship reasons, apparently. Though I'm not sure that word means what they think it means. They're also going to ignore your fervent wishes that they leave because their curiosity is more important than your privacy, am I right?

Oh, and excellent job on the description of the club. I really got the vibe of a little hole in the wall rave, as odd as that sounds to type.

Oh, wow. This is Ponyville's secret lesbian bar. ROFLCOPTER. :moustache: :moustache: :moustache: This is suddenly hilarious. Awesome. This place deserves its own fic. It couldn't possibly get any--

Grown Up Mohawk Scootaloo hits on every pony at once.

Okay, I was wrong. It can get better. That was legendary. I need a REVENGE macro to point at the rest of the Mane Six right now. Because that's what you get for being nosy and judgmental. You get ... hit on by an apparently lovable sex maniac that thinks she's in Boogie Nights.

Let's just agree this is some sort of punishment, okay? Especially for you, AJ. Then I won't have to resort to the bees.

"What are you guys doing here?!" she asked, clearly angry. Twilight was the first to get her brain working again.

I'm glad we had that loltastic moment earlier, because I think it's about to get unpleasant. And rightly so. Dash has every reason to be angry. Spying on her the way her friends did would be anathema to a pony that embodies the Element of Loyalty.

... And AJ's very first reaction to finding out Dash is gay, when it's made clear Dash was afraid of how her friends would react, is to complain that Dash kept it secret, and then dig in her heels when Dash calls her out?? It's good that she managed to pull her head out of her aft at the last minute there, but that was a frankly disgusting display on AJ's part. She had to hit omega levels of self-entitled jerk before she realized how badly she screwed up.

What.

Oh, and Dash/Vinyl is awesome. Octavia/Vinyl is my pony OTP, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see them in other pairings too, and this is just fantastic. Also, I really like that this is clearly still Dash. She just happens to be gay, the same way she could just happen to be straight. Her sexuality doesn't define her, and that's excellent. Too many fics with male or female slash characters make the mistake of going the other way.

Admission: I really dislike the term fillyfooler, as it seems pejorative, but I actually like Dash calling herself one because it adds to the feeling that she's afraid/ashamed of what she is and how she'll be perceived.

Really loved the ending. This is as much a story about AJ, Rarity, Pinkie, Twilight, and Fluttershy having to rethink the way they treat/view Dash as it is about Dash's love life (at this point they don't even know Dash is with Vinyl), and I really like that. Twi taking it the hardest is interesting. Pinkie's innocent reaction was spot on. I think Fluttershy is mostly just horrified at being at odds with her oldest friend, and Rarity probably feels guilty for letting things spin out of control. AJ is obviously contrite by the end of things, and I have hope she and Dash will be able to straighten things out and AJ won't be so judgmental in the future.

This is a really great story. :trollestia::rainbowdetermined2:

Twilight would stay there all night to have the first chance to apologize. This is why we love her. She always means the best; it's just that the lovable crazy gets in the way, even when she ends up making herself sick trying to say she's sorry. Have a cookie, Twi.

For some reason I deeply love the idea of Vinyl wearing goggles. I've never seen it before, and they seem more functional for a DJ--keeps light and sweat out of the eyes while she's working. In other words, the goggles, they do something.

Vinyl hits the story like a force of nature and has all the wit and humor we expect from her, but at the same time she's calm and a normal pony underneath. Perfect. Also, +10 for her pet name for Dash. And LOL, Twiddles. That's perfect.

... Oh, God. Celestia never explained any of that? And Twilight's getting some version of the Talk from Dash and Vinyl Scratch? The worst part is I think Celestia's just so old and worldly she probably just ... forgot. I can't imagine her leaving Twilight in the lurch on purpose. I hope Twi writes her a Very Special Friendship Report and Celestia has an OH CRAP I FORGOT WHAT--?! moment and Luna can't stop laughing for a week.

Oh, and as angry as I got, Dash forgiving her friends so easily and quickly was perfect and in character, and demonstrates again why she's Loyalty. She won't abandon her friends or give up on them for one instant, even if she was justifiably angry when it actually happened.

I was sad to hear Lyra and BonBon are a bit ostracized. It's not often Ponyville's non-cosmopolitan nature is played more ... realistically? ... when it comes to this sort of thing, so as sad as it makes me it's neat to see.

And, again, I LOVE Vinyl here. She's still playful and a bit crazy, but so down to earth at the same time.

"I mean it. Yeah, I got shaken up, so what? I'm going to do it the only way I know how. Headfirst and with style!"
"That mean you're coming out to everypony or what?"
"Well...." Dash backed down a little at last. "Let's call my friends a 'practice run'. If things go well, I'm golden."

This is so perfect. This story, particularly bits like that, have made me fall in love with Dash all over again. Nicely done.

All things considered, being hugged to death by Pinkie Pie would not be the worst possible way to die. And since this is literally the second thought to pop into my head on reading this, I probably need to sleep. The first being Pinkie is amazing: she literally demolished Dash's house with the power of EXTREME AERIAL GIFT BOMBARDMENT. :pinkiesmile:

"Oh Dash, how could you do this to me!" Rarity suddenly bawled, throwing her arms around Dash.
"What are you talking about?"
"I mean I worked so hard to find Prince Charming! I was sure I would be the talk of the town, the 'it' couple. Now I find not only has one of my best friends found somepony else first, but how can I compete with such a pair?"
"W-what?"

I think what I love most about a well written Rarity is how she is crazy in the most benign ways. Yes, she's genuinely upset, but over a complete non-issue. She's used up all her anger points and literally has nothing left to even consider homophobia. And her subject of contention with Dash here is just hilarious. "Darling, how dare you become part of such a FABULOUS couple before ME!" :: Fainting Couch Time ::

Marvelous.

Besides, who already has her face on magazines, huh?" she asked. Sure, it had only been one or two after Hoity Toity had shown up, but her remark seemed to work as Rarity thought this over. Finally she gave a nod.

This put the biggest grin on my face, and I'm not sure why. It's like Dash ninja'd Rarity into being in a better mood.

And I love that Rarity is honest. She's a bit weirded out, but Dash is still her good friend, and she wants to not be weirded out, so she'll learn. That's just so heartwarming.

AJ's behavior is much improved here, and it's great to see she's actively not bigoted, because she knows what it's like to be a victim of that. But I'm still gnashing my teeth at how she makes it all about her. And I'll disagree with her forever: sometimes there are excellent reasons even to keep secrets from your best friend. Example: if even one of them had reacted poorly and blabbed Rainbow could have faced all sorts of harassment, gotten fired/ostracized, etc., etc. And as someone who works in a profession where there are client confidentialities involved, AJ's attitude strikes me as ridiculous. Her anti-secret obsession aside, though, I really liked that scene. It was down to earth and direct and really felt like a conversation AJ would have about that topic. Though I have to admit it's weird thinking about mares in EQuestria having to fight for equal rights and recognition since they apparently outnumber stallions 3-1. :rainbowderp:

I would've felt more sorry for Fluttershy if Angel Bunny hadn't been there. I've never met a version of him I actually like. He may care for Fluttershy genuinely, but I can't help this feeling I get in scenes like this that Fluttershy knows he's a little rude, monstrous jerk and passive-aggrissively unleashes him on those who upset her, or doesn't stop him when she should. She uses him as a crutch to avoid conflict, and that's not healthy. Dash had NOTHING to apologize for in that sequence. Dash didn't owe it to any single one of her friends to come out to them FOR them, or even first to them. That isn't how the real world works, and that's not how Equestria should work.

I'm sorry for Fluttershy if she hid her feelings for Dash too long and now it's too late, but that's HER fault, not Dash's.

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