Magic and music have so much in common. Both come seemingly from nowhere in the material world. Both leave their subjects enchanted. And both can change lives forever.
In Trixie's case, not necessarily for the better.
With her popularity and prosperity waning, Trixie ends up in a backwater country village called Fall Bridge, and ends up insulting the locals almost instantly, as she is wont to do.
Down on her luck, she seeks solace at the Mermaid Tavern in the selfsame village…
And who should she bump into there but the lovely Countess Coloratura? Yes, Equestria’s onetime most beloved superstar – now known as “Rara” – is also having difficulties. The tastes of music are somewhat less stable than the tastes of magic.
However, the Great and Powerful Trixie has heard her sing. She's been captured by a new kind of magic.
A plan occurs to her: a bold and ambitious plan, one that'll get the once-disgraced magician back on top. For young and trusting Rara is her golden ticket to a classy comeback…
Nice, well written and original too.
Here's hoping fate kicks their flanks. Or at least Trixie's. Rara is far too nice for that.
It's stories like these that make it hard to remain a Trixie fan. She just cannot keep her mouth shut when she should. She's getting better, but still has a long way to go.
I like the contrast between Rara's and Trixie's method of entertainment. Rara is all about setting the mood to suit the scene while Trixie is all about setting the scene and hoping the mood comes with it. It doesn't take much imagination to wonder why she gets thrown out of so many villages.
Really enjoying this so far! The oddity of seeing these two polar opposites working together is fascinating. I also get the feeling that there's more to this village than what's been shown so far.
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Thank you! Comments such as yours are much appreciated.
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Apologies, but I can't make heads or tails of your comment. What do you mean?
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To be fair, she may be a bit rash and thoughtless, but her heart's (broadly) in the right place. That's why we like her so much.
I heartily enjoy throwing odd characters together, though I find it astonishing these two haven't been paired up before now. One's a proud and relatively obscure showmare and the other's a humble superstar, and yet in certain ways their issues overlap (both had problems with the showy, in-your-face style and had to adapt to a new one, for instance, while still staying true to themselves).
That's just begging for some character exploration. Your example about their different styles of entertainment is a case in point, though I think it's more about their attitude towards the audience. Trixie throws her persona onto an audience and hopes to bowl them over senseless, whereas Rara taps into what her audience feels and hopes to encourage the right emotions from them.
As for the village... that'd be spoilers, so I'll say no more.
I'm not normally a fan of undoing happy endings, but the novelty of the pairing and the compelling premise have me hooked. Besides, I could totally see Rara trying and failing to manage her own career. Svengallop might have given slime a bad name, but he knew what he was doing in the industry. Eagerly looking forward to more.
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Wyrd is fate in norse mythology. The word in the title got me thinking that comment. Though now that I read it again, I don't know what I'm saying either.
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The tricky part about undoing the happy ending of "The Mane Attraction" - though I prefer to think of it as complicating said ending - is making it seem plausible. In Equestria, Coloratura has an almost hypnotic singing voice, so she can't fail because of her songs. It has to be due to other factors (image, finances, etc.) which Svengallop would have managed.
Of course, the real fun comes from throwing Trixie into the mix, who's ethical enough to be a vast improvement over Svenny boy, but not so ethical as to do it without a speck of self-interest such as riding on the coattails of Rara's success.
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I could've sworn it was Scottish for "fate", but "fate" it is, either way. It's a semi-mystical concept, though, which is appropriate given the folklore surrounding Fall Bridge village.
I have days like that too, though more usually it's when I'm speaking than when I'm writing.
You have me hooked! I especially like the way you've written Trixie's character. I often wonder what sort of things Trixie gets up to when she's not mucking about with Starlight in Ponyville, so stories like this always bring a smile to my face. I do hope you'll get around to finishing this at some point - I'll certainly keep an eye out!
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Apologies for the delay: I was taking a break from FIMFiction to concentrate on other things, and arguably left it a lot longer than I should have done. Know that your comment here and your comments elsewhere were a welcome surprise.
I have to admit I've warmed up to Trixie a lot ever since I started writing her. She's boastful and not always noble, but there's potential there in her character. And I like to write her as a jumble of pompous selfishness and vaguely good intentions. That combined with her showmareship and ambition makes her a great character to write for!
I genuinely wish I could inspire confidence here, but my track record for longfics is sadly against me. For what it's worth, I do love the enthusiasm you've shown for what little I have managed to do, and only wish I were the equal to it in productivity.
But let me not end on a sour note. Thank you very much for the encouraging words, and for this delightful surprise!
I decided to go through your stories after reading your 100th completed story blog post, to see if anything would catch my eye. After all, I did at least like all I've read from you so far, and in one case it ended up being one of my favorite stories on fimfic.
So, after some scrolling I ended up here.
Three chapters and slim chances of ever seeing another. Of well, the setup of Trixie and Coloratura was just too tempting, I had to see it. What's here so far doesn't disappoint. Trixie's still in her early not quite villain phase, I think, and Rara shows up so little in both show and fandom you can take the character practically anywhere you want as an author.
I can imagine some of the piece that made me like your Scootaloo story so much lurking in the background of this one too. Almost all of your stories had me wishing there would be a sequel, or maybe a side story that expands on that particular event. But with this one there actually was supposed to be more, and I'd love to see it.
I know I'm likely more than two years too late for that.
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Yeah, sadly, I don't think I'll be getting back to this one, at least not for a loooong time. I still got some large issues to work through, like learning how to finish what I start. Not quite a master at writing yet. I do wish I was better, but in all honesty, this is where I'm at.
I'm generally torn about these unfinished yet published fics. People do enjoy what's there, but it also disappoints them to not get the closure they want too.
If it's any consolation, I really liked the enthusiasm you displayed here, and it's unlikely I'll ignore Trixie or Coloratura forever, if I can help it. Maybe not for this particular fic, but in other future ones. Just got to work through these issues, see if I can get better.
Regardless, I want to thank you for the comment. It was a pleasure to read.
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Thank you for the fast reply and also thank you for replying at all. I understand many authors don't like addressing posts like mine.
Hey, at least the story didn't suddenly get cancelled
I can't really comment on the rest, more often than not I'm already overwhelmed when I have to write a coherent comment.
With two years since the last update, I'm sure everybody who starts reading the story now realizes it's highly unlikely the story will get finished properly. It's one of the reasons why I'm a fan of the idea that stories should default to "On Hiatus" if they haven't updated in a year or so.
Technically you're right. There's always room to improve but I appreciate what your stories already have. I think one of the things I really enjoy about your stories is when you weave a bit of mysticism into Equestria. A world with princesses who move the sun, moon, and stars, with more immortals than to shake a stick at, and with Pinkie Pie should resist the scientific method in at least some aspects.
Thank you for the three wonderful chapters and your extensive reply.