As a new resident of Ponyville, Twilight is still feeling her way around her friendships. The slower-paced life is difficult to adjust to, with nopony she feels comfortable with talking about her Cutie Mark talent of magic with. As Celestia's student, Twilight doesn't want to show off, lest she alienate her friends who would see her as a braggart. As a result, Twilight is beginning to lose her drive to study and learn.
In this ennui of Twilight's early days in Ponyville steps in a nomadic showpony who might just reignite Twilight's passion for magic. Meet the Great and Powerful Tristan!
Boast Busters, with a male Trixie and multiple plot changes. 'Call of the Cutie' has already occurred in this continuity. Cover art belongs to lattynskit
Chapters (4)
Bravo! I like this new portrayal of male Trixie!
In all honesty, I prefer male Trixie with his canon counterpart's personality and doing what was canon. I mean that where the interest of Twixie comes from. Their flaws .
Ooo. Do go on ^-^
Tristan has earned this as his theme
Oh heck yes! This grabs alll of my attention
I like it.
I like the looks of this. Let's see where it goes.
rule 63 is best rule
I like the start of this and the re-enactment of Trixie's "routine" from the episode. It kinda makes sense that a male would want to appear more "gentlemanly" to a string of mares. I guess being female allows you the option of being really nasty.
I look forward to more. Alternate universes are my kryptonite.
Imagine the handsome young stallion's surprise when he goes to the town's local fabric crafter for a new curtain and discovers... Rarity. Again.
What's weird is I normally don't like Twixie, but thinking about it, I can kinda dig it if one of them is R63'd (either one, doesn't matter).
I guess I just don't like tsunderes in lesbian pairings.
Will probably try reading this in a bit.
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For some reason I thought this was a one-shot, so I was a little confused at the end.
I like this though. <-- Your cue to feel validated. 
Nothing wrong with the premise so far... why so many downvotes? Do people hate you?
Liking this nicer male version of Trixie!
I'm also a little confused by the down votes, but you most certainly got an up vote from me!
Let it never be said that the procrastinator Nethalar isn't generous!
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Hello, Cryo.
The downvotes are likely because the story's description makes it sound like it is exactly the same as "Boast Busters", but with the slight change of a male Trixie.
You have my interest.
I think this is the first good take on a male Trixie I've seen
6676605 As I say in the author notes, Tristan DOES have Trixie's character flaws, but by making him a male, I twist him around enough to make him his own character. His relationship with mares is pretty convoluted, both trying to be chivalrous to them while at the same time not thinking highly of them.
6677173 Like I said, if I was going to do my own take on Boast Busters, it's not going to be line for line almost identical.
I think some of the HiE fics do that enough already
6678334 I actually knew this, and it was part of what inspired me. Trixie's gender wasn't the only thing that changed though, originally she was going to speak normally, and then somebody decided speaking in the third-person was a perfect fit for her.
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Yeah, I think it was the old synopsis which was pretty bad, so I changed it...and I'll probably change it again.
6683126 Coming from someone else who's a Trixie writer I'll definitely take that compliment
Huh, that's an interesting quirk of Tristan's in regards to mares. His mind better work faster than his mouth if he ever wants to see Luna.
Strike two with Twilight.
Ah, fillies, why you so amusingly dumb?
Writing wise, I have one piece of advice. I noticed a lot of "saidisms" during the dialogue parts. Things like "announced", "interrupted", or "growled". If used sparingly, it's not a big deal, but there were a whole string of these and it started to distract me from reading.
Other than that, looking forward to more!
In the skate park was where she spent most of her days?
please don't let Tristan be a complete bitch like Trixie
I do like how you're doing Tristan but I have to say Twilight was a bit annoying in this chapter. It seemed odd for her to just literally throw him out after he explained that he was actually trying to keep her from coming up and I also found it weird how she felt so offended by his calling her a stupid mare. It might just be me but that doesn't sound like a horribly misogynistic insult. I dunno. I just thought that she was really oddly mad about it.
Well, someone had to say it.
I hate to break this to you, but "Trixie and The Illusions" was most likely a reference to an old eighties cartoon called "Jem and The Holograms".
Trixie has cast the greatest spell ever known to pony kind. Getting a bunch of people over the internet to think she's greater than she really is. I'm guilty too.
Anyway, great use of Tristan's talents to get through this whole night with only exhaustion to show anything for it. Nice that Rainbow Dash got to get in on the action as well.
Now for the fallout to begin...
I think to myself, Oh well, it looks like the story is at it's end. Then I spy the ¨Incomplete¨ tag, and rejoice.
Duh duh duuuum!
Caught in his own web of lies!
Silly Tristan. And once again brains and finesse overshadow sheer brawn.
Ah. I was wondering if you had made an actual parent show up instead. Shows there are some constants to every Trixie arrival fic.
Well worth the read.
If you could turn it into a series, that would be great. I love this take on Trixie/Tristian's personality, and I want to see what the other elements of harmony think about her coltfriend.
The ending seems a little to much like a cliffhanger to me.
Not too sure of the last minute romance (in fact, giving how this story evolved, you could probably remove that description entirely), but at least Tristan and Twilight didn't immediately jump in the sack together. I guess you could interpret Twilight's improvised kiss as a thank you and it grew from there. There was some time after the Ursa for them to spend together, so that makes it a little more tolerable.
And Rainbow Dash gets some great and powerful mixed feelings after all this.
A much nicer ending for this world's Trixie than the show's. Probably no Magic Duel, unless Tristan stumbles upon the amulet, it corrupts him to have jealous feelings of Twilight being better at magic than him (maybe they had a heated argument?), and he seeks to beat her to prove his worth. Something to think about, anyway.
If you do a sequel, I'd add more Spike interaction, since the little guy is a very important part of Twilight's life. He'd have a say in this in some way.
Overall, I enjoyed myself and look forward to anymore stories involving these characters you created.
Good story. Have a like.
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I agree what Pharohman777 says it would be indeed interesting if this became a series.
I found the story rather good and enjoyable to read through. The romance came actually out of nowhere. Perhaps it would have been better if the previous chapters had subtly hinted a bit more about Twilight starting to have a crush on him. I mean you could have slowly build it up to the readers a bit more. But that is a small nitpick.
Overall good story and I hope to read more about Tristan.
This was an interesting take on the Trixie character, however the ending felt a bit rushed. There was never any real explanation or resolution of why Tristan is so dismissive of mares, which makes the romance plot seem out of place. You did a good job explaining Twilight's feelings towards Tristan and it was somewhat believable for her to develop feelings for him, but there doesn't seem to be anything showing why he would feel the same way towards Twilight. You mentioned it yourself in the Author's Note that Rainbow seemed like a better match, and I agree. It feels like Tristan went from "stupid mare," to "I want to come back to spend more time with you" in the span of a few hours without really any explanation. Perhaps another chapter to flesh out Tristan's thought on Twilight would fit better.
And there is the little issue of Trixie being Twilight's rival that the fandom so loves and made as her defining characteristic. It's not really expressed whether or not Twilight is even more powerful than Tristan or what he thinks of her magical ability. I don't think she even tells him in this story that her cutie marks is for magic as well as being the Element of Magic. You would think that a stallion as proud of his talent for magic as Tristan is written would have an interesting reaction towards learning this, which would also play an important role in the romance subplot.
All in all this was a well written story and entertaining. I would definitely read a sequel with Tristan.
True, but the reason why he's able to bypass those feelings at the end should still be explained.
If you don't want him to have a tragic backstory more power to you, but he has a chip on his shoulder and he goes from carrying that chip to it being gone for Twilight and Rainbowdash without much of a mention.
I like the story but it was too rushed to be a good romance. A prequel to a romance maybe, but Twilight and Rainbowdash go from Hate to love too fast. It feels like you really wanted to stop writting it halfway through.
My suggestions in hindsight:
Flesh out the story with more chapters or finish it where it falls and leave it open to sequels.
Needs either more inbetween the end of the Ursa aftermath and Tristan leaving or less with the possibility of more later.
The only thing missing is 'NARF!'
Has Scootaloo ever met Wil Smith?
I see what you did there.
Those are the three references I saw. I probably missed more. Oh well, one to part III.
Now that that's done, we go to the rest of the night and the following day.
What an elegant ending to such a rough start for everyone. So, now you'll give us a romance love triangle story with Tristain, Rainbow, and Sparkle?
Wow. I really liked this take of Trixie. I hope to read more about him and Ponyville. Have a like and a fav.
I admit I don't see a terribly large amount of canon Trixie in Tristan - as you say, he's based a lot more on fanon Trixie, including competence and heart of gold - but this was one of the best, most cunning fight scenes I've read in a fanfiction in months. You really sold the idea that Tristan is operating on quick wits and clever tricks, not brute force. And you definitely sell the Ursa as something vastly more powerful than a mere oversized bear. You could have called it a dragon and I would have believed it, from the classical awesomeness of the scene.
To put it simply, I enjoyed this. It had a good level of detail, and it was a fairly believable story that went into alot of detail, especially the fight scene with the Ursa.
I will, however, say that the biggest flaw of this story was using the name Tristan instead of Trickster for a male Trixie. That is just abhorrent and wrong.
I do agree that the romance between Twilight and Tristan was really out of the blue. It seemed alot more likely for Dash to be interested in him that way than anything else. Twilight really disliked him at the library, then sees him nearly kill himself trying to protect the town, and then decides she wants to date him. Something was really missed in translation here.
Although, the same can be said of Dash, funny enough. But, well, Dash also has the factor that they both have a closer personality type, so it's easier for them to relate. Plus, Dash was saved by him and throughout the battle they really seemed to connect and know what the other was thinking with barely a few words. The scene of Dash leaving Tristan to die at the end was quite powerful.
While a sequel would be interesting, I am not sure how well that would go over if you were trying to be canon-ish with this. His home is gone, his reputation is meant to be tattered in some way, and he is forced to work at a rock farm. Hmm...it has potential in a dark/sad kinda way. But since the Ursa never made it to town it would be...difficult to go with that angle. So, actually, I am good with it as a single story as well.
I suppose it would mostly be about the relationship between him and Dash and Twi, which isn't a bad thing, but, considering this is fantasy i'm reading, I'd rather have a female Trixie in those situations.
Don't judge me.
I'm a bit underwhelmed so far because this story does an even worse job of communicating why Tristan is supposed to be the antagonist than Boast Busters did with Trixie.
6744875 Does it mention in my plot synopsis Tristan is supposed to be an antagonist? It does state multiple plot changes.
You know what? It's 3am, I'm gonna go to bed after reading that particular line. I'll pick it back up in the morning.
Tristan used the rainbow essence from earlier. Did he store it in the wagon that got destroyed? The wagon destroyed enough for Rarity to have to make him a new outfit because even clothes were destroyed?
6877206 if you read the beginning of Chapter 3 again you'll notice this line again at the end of the second paragraph:
So no, he had the bottle on him.