• Story: The Masks We Wear



    [Normal] [Friendshipping]

    Author: Rokas
    Description: Rainbow Dash has a secret, one she doesn't want anypony to know. Yet a surprise visit from Twilight Sparkle is about to blow the secret wide open, and reveal a hidden past the cyan pegasus has attempted to put behind her.

    The Masks We Wear

    Additional Tags: Not-clop, Inbeforeread'emandweep, friendship, anime, NERDS

    49 comments:

    1. I'm the first one huh? well its Rainbow Dash!!!! ^_^

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    2. Those additional tags.

      We shall bookmark for later.

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    3. Not-clop...LOL XD ill give it a read

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    4. Must...resist...previous gen...joke...aaaaah...
      RainbowDashalwaysdressesinstyle.
      ...
      *hangs head in shame*

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    5. I gave this a quick look, it seems interesting and certainly merits a proper read.

      Plus it's freidnshipping so it should be fairly happy.

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    6. Will definitely give this a read!

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    7. Dat secret persona... this is the BEST. POSSIBLE. THING. Definitely adding this to my headcanon before the episode comes out. Nice work!

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    8. Inbeforeread'emandweep - Awesome tag.

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    9. I was going to comment about how I was going to read this, but I can't stop LOLing at the fact that Celstia can't spell "friendshipping". Ironic.

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    10. about 1/5 of the way through and it's good so far. nothing so far has felt unneeded, and everything seems to be driving the plot, which i admire.

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    11. When it comes to holding off reading things I can never manage. I say I will read it later but I almost always read it immediately.

      It's good and the right length forwhat it is. It was a nice happy read and the premise was interesting.

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    12. I spelled "Celestia" wrong... *facepalm*

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    13. @Da_Rock_1119

      I always skim past my spelling mistakes until after I post. Then I notice them all but short of deleting my comment and reposting there's nothing I can do. (and that looks worse in my opinion)

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    14. I can relate to this sooooooooooooo much! This is now added to my list of top favorite stories! Great job!

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    15. Speaking of secrets.... How does one admit to family/friends that they are a brony? Just curious......

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    16. >Mecha Battle Dragon Suit Celestia

      FUND IT
      (I've never watched an anime before just sayin')

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    17. @cpbrony
      There isn't any specific way. I can only say that I would suggest to make sure the first impression they get is a good one.

      (and of course having a family up to speed with the internet and things would help)

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    18. @cpbrony

      My take? don't make a thing out of it. Don't hide it, don't make an issue of it, just... be one of us. If anyone questions it, just say something like "I'm one of millions of guys who're intelligent and mature enough to look past the pink and find great writing, strong characters, and great music. If shows that are 'supposed' to be for my demographic can't win me away from ponies, that's an indictment of them, not me."

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    19. @Celestia thanks! My friends have a limited idea of what it is. It's my understanding that they know what a brony is, but I'm not sure how they would react if I told them. One friend of mine expressed that he was a brony, and I was all, "Really?! Cool!" and all he really had seen was apple.mov. Then at lunch he had called Rarity "Diamond" or something. I got a little of topic there, but the point is that I am only worried of how my friends might react. I have an idea of how to hint at it, though. I have another friend who is definitely a brony (or pegasister 'cause she's a she)and we're both on our school's tech crew. I'm the head of it, and she is either on microphones or spotlight. There is a teacher also who oversees it who we believed wouldn't be at our school for tech crew anymore, but she is now! So I might talk to my pegasister friend, and say "Hey! Having Miss soandso back on tech crew will make the play 20% cooler!" and see how she reacts. That's my novel of a comment for now.

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    20. @Mysecsha

      I agree with your statement wholeheartedly.

      I just find it ironic that you say we look past the pink and find the great writing, strong characters, and great music...and Pinkie Pie is my fav pony. :P

      But then again, I'm just silly, and I don't like her 'cause she's pink. It's cause she's funny. And fluffy. :P

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    21. That shirt makes rainbow look like a nerdy guy lol

      Cool story loved it

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    22. @Mysecsha also thanks for the advice! I like that logic and am deciding how I might want to do this, so I'm taking any and all suggestions into consideration.

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    23. @cpbrony

      What I did was show people a lot of MLP related fan
      videos like friendship is magic b*tch and so on. Then over
      time I started putting up more and more hints, like leaving an MLP related background on my PC, changing my avatar in a game I play with my friends. Then when someone asks me what it's from, I just come clean. If you immerse them over time I think they will be much more willing to accept it, especially since the brony phenomenon has become so widespread. Heck, even Bill Clinton is a Brony nowadays.

      Remember, if they reject you for who you are, they were never really your friends to begin with.

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    24. @Bronyhub thanks for the advice! I also like this idea, and will probably incorporate it into my strategy.

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    25. fantastic story.

      normally, i'll forgo non-ships, but I'm glad i gave this a shot.

      5/5. This is sorta how i view Dash. Maybe not as smart as your fic implies, but definitely not dumb or uninterested in 'nerd' things.

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    26. I love the additional tags. This looks worth-while though.

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    27. It was alright for a one-shot story. Dialogue felt a bit stale towards the end, but the message is clear. I'd still give it a read though.

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    28. A GOOD READ

      including the epilogueish thing

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    29. I heartily recommend the Unrelated Epilogue linked in this story's DA description. It elaborates on Luna's love of MEEETAAAAAL!!! >:D

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    30. Additional Tags: Inbeforeread'emandweep

      That feeling when the tags suddenly read your mind.

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    31. Warning: Spoilers ahead.


















      Couple minor points:

      1. Japonymation? That term is rather...clunky. Perhaps Neighponese anime would have been a better term to choose.

      2. Dashie a fan of classic science fiction? I approve! Nice tastes.

      3. Also, just in general, I'm one of those who doesn't think that the ponies actually have television or other media comparable to modern day media, but I can usually set that aside for a good fic. This was a good fic.

      I really enjoyed it. As I said, I found myself frowning at the term japonymation, but apart from that, it was quite good. I gotta say, Nerdy Dash is best Dash. Well worthy of being on EQD, that's for sure.

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    32. I lol'd heartily, mostly because of the epilogue. Luna is totally metal.

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    33. Why is there a not clop? Is this a reference or should we just be putting that on everything?

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    34. New sub-persona unlocked - Rainbow Dork.

      This was funny, adorkable and touching. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was made very believable as well, putting on a facade is very much a trait one can picture Dash doing as a coping mechanism.

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    35. This was Fantastic. I've always wanted to see Rainbow as a secret Nerd.

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    36. @BigMacintosh
      I dunno... given what Twilight heard at first I actually thought Dashie was watching porn, so that might be why the notclop tag was added.

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    37. Nice fic. Short, sweet and entertaining. Good job.

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    38. @cpbrony ya I have the same problem one of my friends who I turned brony by suggesting a few episodes is the only one who accepts me. My other "friends" either think I'm joking or just shake their heads in disappointment. I espicially don't tell my parents my mom wants me to be one of those "manly" men and my father already thinks I'm kind of "off" (weird not gay) so yah..... Why am I having this conversation here

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    39. I'll admit, I came to this because I thought it was Sparkledash. :P

      I was somewhat disappointed when I misread that second tag, but I loved this story. Not what I had expected, and that turned out to be a good thing.

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    40. "not-clop"
      No shit.

      "Anime"
      FUCK YEAH!

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    41. This was a really enjoyable short fic. This makes me even more excited for "Read It and Weep". Thank you Rokas for this little gem.

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    42. delightful story. Nice work!! Just one question: Princess Celestia reaches to sign the "Mecha Battle Dragon Suit Celestia" manga copy? go ahead, brony fellow!

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    43. An amusing story. It doesn't really fit my interpretation of Dash, but it was a fine way to spend a few minutes. I definitely don't see Dash as dumb: in DnD terms I'd probably give her 12 INT and 8 WIS or lower, as she has terrible focus, lacks common sense and tends not to think things through, but seems to clever enough when she actually puts her mind to it.

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    44. Eh. Dislike Dash's characterization in this. Far too introspective and self aware. 'The canon was all an act' is just... meh. I don't feel like I'm reading about Rainbow Dash. More like a random pony named Rainbow Dash who has a pretty different character.

      Though I do see Dash liking comic books and action stuff.

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    45. A nice 1 shot, not too long, deserves a read. Read it before the episode to see that it is different and shouldn't conflict.

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    46. I both like and dislike this story for two reasons.

      I like how it characterized Dash as smarter than she normally lets on... but I dislike how she's an anime nerd >.>

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