• Member Since 9th Apr, 2012
  • offline last seen Sep 20th, 2023

Mooncalf


T
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Love is never easy, even for a royal alicorn princess. Especially when the love of her life is a former rival who refuses to return her feelings.

Fortunately she has friends to back her up and help her thaw her beloved magician's heart. Manehattan will never be the same.


Cover art by doqwor, permission pending.

Many, many thanks to Talon and Thorn, Frission and RarityEQM for prereading and support!

Takes place mid/late season 4. Comics are considered canon but not necessary reading for understanding the plot.

Comments are welcome!

Chapters (9)
Comments ( 476 )

One of my all time FAVORITE stories, I must say! :heart:

This did play out pretty much as it had to, but the characterizations here are very strong, and I'm looking forward to the next installment.

"Manehattan Museum of Supernatural History"

I am so stealing that :pinkiehappy: Very nice Twixy. Looking forward to more.

Too strong Twilight too strong.

So we have references to the Manehattan-verse (Museum of Supernatural History) and possibly one towards The Greatest Job in Equestria (Derpy keeping tabs on events outside of Ponyville). Well, either way, an interesting opening chapter, and I hope to catch more soon.

So, a Twixie story where Twilight's the one chasing, not the other way around?

I'm game.

and now to just sit back and watch the world burn :moustache:

Oh great, we are going to get a Nightmare Twilight because of this, right?:ajbemused:

5005387 as fun as that would be, no, i don't think so

5004318 Go right ahead. I stole it from the Manehattanverse.

5004796 I can't deny that I'm not stealing or being inspired by a copious number of other good fanfics. Or referencing my own.

5004899 My primary motivation, yes. It hasn't been done very many times so far. At least not in a serious manner.

5005387 5005540 I won't spoil anything.

This is a very good start! Can't wait for more. :pinkiehappy:

Twi needs to go all Pepe Le Pew, that's the only way to win the showmare's heart!!!


...Probably.

Oh man, now Twilight's going to stumble back into Ponyville all depressed and her friends will comfort her. Is it strange that I'm looking forward to that? I don't know why? I guess I just like bittersweet moments.

Nice going, Twilight. You scared her away.

"Why did I even want a throne made of cake? That's ridiculous! You'd get icing all over your—"

For some reason this make me imagine the amulet slowly turning Trixie into Sheogorath.

"I'm so happy I could just tear out your intestines and strangle you with them! CHEESE FOR EVERYPONY! Wait, scratch that. Cheese for nopony. That can be just as much of a celebration, if you don't like cheese, true? Ta! Come visit again, or I'll pluck out your eyes! Ha ha ha!"

Could it be? an actual Twixie romance fic that seems good :heart:

Please promise you'll update this!

5005826 That is disturbingly hilarious. I'll have to file that away for later.

5005924 I'll try. No promises. My writing tends to be erratic and sporadic.

5005934

Disturbingly hilarious is a pretty apt description of Sheogorath.

"I once dug a pit and filled it with clouds, or was it clowns? Doesn't matter, it didn't slow him down. But it really began to smell! Must have been clowns. Clouds don't smell. They taste of butter. And tears."

Hmmm... okay, Twilight playing the pursuer could be interesting, but, and this is a big but, no concrete reason is really given for why Twilight suddenly wants to be with Trixie.

Even she has no idea in the beginning and spends many lines justifying it. It just feels like one morning Twilight woke up and had feelings for Trixie. I know this is standard formula for shipping fics, but...

Trixie's reaction is actually the most believable thing about the story so far.

5006030 Hm. It's supposed to take place over an extended period of time, at least several weeks, hence the mentioning of how she keeps thinking about Trixie all the time and having dreams about her and reading several books on the subject. I know that there are no explicit time markers, but I don't quite see how all that could be fitted into one day.

As for why... well, why do people fall in love? :raritywink:

5006105

People fall in love by hanging out and learning about each other.

:ajbemused:Spontaneous feelings and love at first sight doesn't happen and is a myth propagated by cheap paperbacks.

5006089
Worms?

5006152

:twilightsmile: Twilight mode engaged:

Realistically speaking, we have a canon instance of Twilight verifying along these lines. She can't get Trixie out of her head. While the rest of this is non-canon, we can assume that hitting alicornification would likely send Twilight's hormonal balances incredibly out of whack (what with gaining two other tribes worth of pony powah™). Or to put it crudely, force her through something of a second adolescence. While 'Love At First Sight' might be verified as false, there are conditional aspects that weigh in on this. Crushes develop quickly. Assuming Twilight had crush going in, we suddenly have a crush augmented by hormonal aspects. Secondly, as she herself verifies, aspects of this crush have simply been given time to ferment, as per Rarity's own daydreaming. While Twilight isn't objecting any further, her crush has simply blossomed into something of a minor obsession, as Trixie notes with her 'stalking' line. Thirdly, while still not romance, we tend to seek out equal and opposite aspects for a variety of reasons. In Twilight's case she even argues the case notes. Intelligence, magical ability, and dedication. Again, not 100% logical, but between emotional pulls, semi-logical arguments, and inexperience, Twilight has basically argued herself INTO a romantic leaning for Trixie. Now we get to see if they are able to either build, deconstruct, or disarm those feelings on both sides. (:trixieshiftright: Although since this is Twixie, and well written Twixie, it's gonna be a forgone conclusion where we end, if not how.)

And I think he meant the Brain Worms. You know, the reason a character suddenly pulls a completely illogical action out. Like the ones that tend to be written in for Applejack in most episodes.


With that out of the way. Well written story! I can't wait to see where it goes from here. Also, augh! You beat me to that Twilight chasing Trixie story I was writing. :raritydespair: Oh well, time to mothball it forever. It wasn't that good.

Keep up the awesome. Have a like good sir. :pinkiehappy:

5006152 I disagree, seeing as how I personally have fallen in love with another person I didn't know very well on grounds of a few traits I did know. But arguing opinions is pointless. I can just hope that you'll enjoy the story even if you don't agree on this issue.

5006357 While I didn't factor in alicornification-induced hormones into the mix, you're fairly correct. Twilight has been letting this stew for a while, and it's fueled by her finding Trixie intriguing on multiple levels. Add to this that Twilight have been rather sheltered on many issues and gets worked up with new interesting things. (For example, friendship: "Stupid, do not want" --> "This is the best thing ever and I want more!")

Also, you should definitely write that story anyway. Yes, you should. Don't let this deter you, because your story will be your story and it will no doubt take things in a different and potentially very interesting way, and I want to see that. You can't have too much Twixie.

Been a while since I've read a Twixie story, and thankfully it deviates from the standard 'Trixie returns to Ponyville for some reason' formula.

I like it, me want more.

Well, well, this looks interesting. To the read later list with you!

5006105 wait, are you suggesting that Twi really is in love with her? I thought you were just playing out a late-age school kid crush.

Love at first sight, without interaction, isn't real. Someone once said "there is no love at first sight, only sex at first sight."

5006089

I dunno. Replace "I love you" with "I an a dork with very poor social skills, who has no idea how romance works in the real world". Besides which, the Worms work through extremely vague descriptions (she got butterflies in her stomach whenever she thought of her) and with the character not understanding the motives for their own emotions, neither of which happens in this story.

In fact, I'd say that the author took pains to steer the plot away from them; Twilight notices her feelings, investigates them, finds out what causes them in a deliberate and rational manner (how many other ponies have we seen in the show who share Twilight's passion with magic? One, and she idolizes the bearded old coot)...and then she completely fucks up everything.

Remember, this is the person who thought bursting into the middle of a wedding rehearsal to spout random accusations was a good plan. And the person who didn't have friends outside of her family until Celestia kicked her out: it's not implausible for her to be this bad at social interaction :-P

5007179 Oh, I'm not saying it's impossible for Twilight to have a sempai please notice me crush. It's the usual basis for Twixie, the variation tends to come from which of them is crushing on which. I'm just saying that if the reader feels like this crush is inadequately explained, it's probably the worms again.

Well, that went about how I expected. I expect Rarity, or whoever, to find out about this in a newspaper or gossip column of some sort before Twilight gets back.

5007321

I've never been able to get the romance between Romeo and Juliet. Does this mean they had the brain worms?

...actually, it probably does :-\

Anyway, that's a fair criticism, although "adequately explained" is something that varies a lot from person to person.

I would like to know how the romance in this story could have been handled better, though. Mostly because I'm pretty sure what you'd have to say would be interesting and enlightening, in a non intuitive kind of way

I just gave this story it's 100th like. I feel special.

Care to write more? Because I'd certainly care to read more.

"Hello, Sparkle," she said.

She has a first name, you knoww

... What am I doing with my life? :facehoof:

Quite enjoying this fic of yours so far. Always fun to see a Twilight obsessed with Trixie, not many fics of that out their. :pinkiehappy:
Looking forward to seeing how this continues, as well as what Twilight will suddenly blurt out next. :twilightblush:

Just stand outside under her bedroom window with a stereo. That should work.

"Poetry is easy! All you have to do is make the words rhyme!"

*Proceeds to speak aloud the worst poem ever to exist*

5007516 But that would be personal. That would give Twilight weird ideas, like thinking that being a princess is enough to be equal to the Great and Powerful Trixie.

Come to think of it, how do pony names work? Nopony else in her family is called Sparkle. And her mom's called Twilight too. Maybe they're neighponese and have reverse naming conventions. Maybe Twilight Sparkle is in fact heir to the mysterious Twilight Clan.

...New story idea...

5007668 Reading stories about romantically conflicted pastel miniature horses, apparently.

Look on the bright side, though. At least you're not writing about them. Now that would be a waste of time! :trollestia:

5007680 Likewise. :moustache:

It seems the wish I made about an hour ago has been granted! Excitement! :raritystarry:


I wish I could write something this good. But alas, my past attempts at writing have been...:pinkiesick:

Yeah, I'll leave the writing to the professionals.

This really shouldn't work for me. I mean, I'm still a little apprehensive, if you want my genuine sentiments.

Matchmaker plots are the number one thing to get me running the other way from a romance story. Characters "falling in love" with other characters they barely know (while it does happen in real life) is the number two thing.

But this handles the circumstances as well as it can. Pinkie and Rarity are in top form (Rarity especially) and really help to prevent heart-whiplash, as it were. Until the end of the first chapter, which makes perfect sense. Seriously, Twi, what did you think would happen? :rainbowlaugh:

And then the second chapter hits me with a perfectly utilized Coco, and a just-as-perfect Wanna Talk About It scene--two of my biggest weaknesses.

If this was all pining and romantic angst all the time I wouldn't have stuck around this long, but the extended cast and characterization outside of the romance plot itself is so good I think it's hooked me in spite of. So even though this usually isn't my bag, I'm going to go ahead and follow this, while wishing you luck.

I trust you've got a few tricks up your sleeve. :raritywink:

Maybe Applejack's cousin might help out as well.

Serenading works on all the mares!

Twilight set her up on something she didn't know was a date and then confessed to her. This isn't commitment anxiety, its common sense to reject something like that kind of crazy declaration. Someone you only know in passing suddenly declares their undying love for you? Of course rejection was going to happen.

What does Twilight truly know about Trixie other then what she managed to get by stalking her? Frankly Trixie has a reason to be creeped out as even she realized that Twilight wouldn't give up so easily and should probably see Twilight trying to come back again and again. On the other side of things she hardly knows anything about Twilight aside from the obvious, Celestia's student and etcetera, either so she has no reason to like her in return.

That said, what Twilight has is an deep infatuation that can't be called love yet. Love is a two way street, this is all definitively one sided right now. She's only seen Trixie only three times. That's not enough time for true love to form, so far Twilight is only in love with her idea of Trixie and not who she truly is.

Commitment Anxiety takes getting brutally broken up by bad relationships and that means at least more than three occurrences has to of happened and if its really bad its back to back heartbreak. This is not something that would occur with a mare who travels abroad and has likely seen many things. Trixie has a decent job in Manehatten and Ponyville wouldn't be quite as profitable. So aside from Twilight getting affection from Trixie, she would need to figure out how to get Trixie back to Ponyville and find her a job and possibly a temporary place of residence while figuring out how to make her stay with her. This would uproot Trixie's current life to move her somewhere she doesn't want to be.

Suggestions of what might happen: Pinkie could offer her a job as a party magician, Twilight could petition the Mayor for a large theatre for Trixie and others to perform at back in Ponyville. Twilight could move to Manehatten to be with Trixie, but her friends would miss her dearly even after they go through all the trouble of trying to get the relationship off the ground. Coco would miss Trixie's business if she moves to Ponyville, which seems unlikely given Trixie doesn't want to go back there. The plot seems like it would lean towards forcing Trixie into a position to love Twilight, if she were to find out about this plot she'd truly would not want anything to do with Twilight after hearing about it. Cadence makes a wild appearance in Manehatten to catch one of Trixie's show with Shining Armor.

Twilight has to think of more than just her blinding love which is her being selfish and inconsiderate. There's such missing consideration of financial, psychological and other needs that would have to be met if she truly wants Trixie to be happy and with her at the same time. Thus far Trixie is content with her livelihood and she thinks Twilight is going to find some way to ruin it.

Cue future train wreck of Twilight and friends attempts to get Trixie to love the purple mare, which is this story.

Just a bit of insight into what and how I think.

L O V I N G

This is epic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice chapter, but I feel that the Mane Five come too easily to the idea of helping Twi hook up with Trixie. Just a feeling.

5007366 Well, I've read all kinds of Twixie in which the falling in love was set up satisfactorily. When you have a lack of interaction, usually this means the one falling for the other is falling in love with an idea of what the other person is like. The admiration angle is important, in Trixie it's usually very reluctant, in Twilight it's obsessive to the point of being creepy.

Twilight tends to worry about Trixie. She knows that having lost her reputation most likely means bad things for her livelihood. So she tries to track her down, just to make sure she's okay. She tells herself she wants to make peace with this strange pony, and the dreams (and possibly fantasies) are just out of worry, that's all.

Trixie tends to obsess about her rival having beaten her so soundly, not once but twice. This gives her a complex. She needs to show Twilight up, or at least show her that she is just as good. Reality might set in eventually, but she has built her ego up to the point where it's nearly a separate personality, so it's hard to give up the dream of being Great and Powerful. Often this will keep her from going anywhere near Ponyville, and she will study her opponent fervently, looking for a weakness.

Now, all of these things cannot just be stated. They must be planted in the story narrative gradually. A hidden scrapbook in a secret alcove, perhaps. One excellent one involved Trixie making a movie about Twilight. Of course, being that the infatuation is with an idea, not the real pony, the crushing pony is usually in for a rude awakening, but this can be fun too, as the two get to know the real pony behind their dreams/nightmares/fantasies.

Twixie is a fun ship. :twilightsmile::trixieshiftleft:

Smooooooth as a cheese grater, Twilight. There's that adorkableness turning around and biting you!

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