Hand in Hand: Chapter One - Visitor
Now before I begin, I want readers to know that I will be writing a prequel as to how Twilight loses her powers after I finish this story. Of course, the subject will be brought up and talked about briefly in this story, but it will not be explained in depth. All you really need to know is that she lost her powers, and that's all. Also, when you see a long horizontal line much like the one below, it means that there's a perspective change between Twilight and Trixie.
It had been nearly two weeks since the purple unicorn had lost her powers. Ever since she found out that her horn had become defective, she went on a sleepless rampage for two nights, looking for ways to get her powers back. She tried researching, contacting Princess Celestia, eating special diets, and even consulted Pinkie Pie for advice, but nothing had worked.
Twilight slumped back in her creaky wooden chair and heaved a sigh. It was 2:09 AM in the morning. Spike had already gone to sleep, much to Twilight's relief. The last thing she wanted was for somebody to constantly worry about her well being. The librarian was busy reading the most recent biography of Starswirl the Bearded. After all, reading novels and studying was all she was able to do now. When she lost her powers, she was incredibly grateful that the Princess had not given up on her.
Twilight squirmed around in her chair as she recalled the conversation she had with the Princess the other day. "My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Just because you lost your magical powers does not mean I no longer want you to be my student, and nor do I wish for you to discontinue your studies regarding the magic of friendship. You have saved Equestria on multiple occasions, so I don't see why you think you are incapable of regaining your magic."
"But how am I supposed to do that?" Twilight asked with an exasperated tone in her voice. She refused to believe that it was even possible to regain lost magic. It just seemed so unlikely for one to do so.
"Just be patient, Twilight Sparkle. You'll never know which one of your friends may be able to help you." the Princess replied with a smile on her face.
"Urghhh! Just what does the Princess expect me to DO?!" Twilight shouted at the ceiling. She immediately covered her mouth with her hooves upon realizing that Spike was only a floor away, sleeping soundly. She sighed again and began poking at the ground.
Right now, I'm really no different from an earth pony, but I'm an earth pony with no meaning to her life. Pinkie Pie and Applejack are earth ponies, but at least they still have their special talents to help them throughout their lives. Twilight thought to herself. Oh, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do? Twilight fell to the ground and laid flat on her stomach. She covered her head with her two front legs, and began to cry to herself. Just where is my life heading?
Nopony in the right mind would ever travel through the Everfree Forest alone at night, but then again, Trixie was never a level-headed pony. She trotted through the dark and eerie forest, completely ignoring the frightening howls of the canine animals behind her. In fact, she blocked out the terrifying noises with her own happy tune. She was humming to herself as she skipped merrily through the Everfree Forest.
Twilight Sparkle lost her magical powers? The Great and Powerful Trixie must be The Great, Powerful and Super Lucky Trixie! she thought to herself. She had a large grin on her face. Trixie wonders how she must be feeling right now. Embarrassed, most likely! At least now, Trixie can show all of Ponyville who the better magician is!
Trixie continued skipping until Ponyville was in full view. She snickered as her plans of getting revenge flowed through her mind. Should The Great and Poweful Trixie humiliate her in front of everypony? Or should she simply get her friends to turn on her? The showmare was unable to contain her excitement. She jumped up in the air, clapped her hooves together and ran towards the town at full speed.
When she arrived at the library, she took a few deep breaths in, and exhaled. Trixie had to calm herself. She didn't want Twilight to get the wrong idea. After all, it's not like Trixie came all the way here just to see Twilight Spark-- Wait, no no no! Trixie is here with the intention of visiting Twilight Sparkle... but not in that way. Wait a minute, in what way? Trixie is simply here to see Twilight Sparkle embarrassed, nothing more! Trixie shook her head frantically to get her silly thoughts out of the way.
Well then, here goes nothing. Trixie, ignoring the fact that it was late, knocked on the door as loudly as possible. She waited a few minutes. No response. Trixie raised an eyebrow. She knew Twilight was not the type of person who'd ignore a knock on her door. Just as Trixie was about to try one more time, she heard a 'hoot' noise coming from the side of the library. She whipped her head to find the source of the noise, and sure enough, she saw Owlicious, resting on one of the branches on the library.
Owlicious pointed one of his wings towards the window, as if signalling for Trixie to take a peek inside Twilight's home. Curious, Trixie walked over to where the nocturnal animal was sitting, looked inside, and sure enough, Twilight was in there. She was curled up in a ball, laying next to her studying desk. She didn't have a blanket on, so she shivered every so often. Trixie couldn't help but gasp at the sight.
Despite Trixie's usual obliviousness, it had been made more than obvious that Twilight had cried herself to sleep. "Did magic really mean that much to Twilight Sparkle?" Trixie asked herself aloud. The answer was obvious and right in front of her, yet, she couldn't help but think that there was more behind it. For a slight moment of time, for once, Trixie felt sympathy for somepony other than herself, but a few seconds later, she shook the thoughts away.
"Twilight Sparkle, I have an idea, just you wait. The Great, Powerful, Super Lucky, Sympathetic and Wise Trixie can fix everything!" she whispered under her breath. Trixie gently tapped on the window, hoping for it to open, and much to her surprise, it did. She tried to sneak into the library, but did a bad job of doing so. Instead of landing where she wanted to, she fell onto the ground floor next to where Spike was sleeping, and made a loud crashing noise.
Unfortunately for her, Spike jumped up and breathed fire out of his mouth and directly at her face. Trixie sat still for a moment, face burning so hot that she couldn't even move. However, it didn't end there. Spike rubbed his eyes, and looked in front of him, and there sat a pony he was unable to recognize due to the darkness of the room.
He gasped and screamed. "THIEF! WAKE UP TWILIGHT! WE'VE GOT A THIEF!" Trixie's eyes bulged wide open. She tried to get up and run away, but Spike leapt up from his bed, ran over to her and kicked her legs off balance, causing her to trip. However, instead of falling forwards, Trixie tripped sideways and fell down one floor, and sure enough, she found herself laying next to a familiar unicorn, who was still sleeping peacefully despite the commotion. Trixie let out a 'phew' sound before she realized there was still a dragon running loose.
Trixie heard sounds of footsteps running down the stairs, and within seconds, Spike entered the room and flicked on the lights. When he looked over at Trixie, his face suddenly had a confused look on it.
"Huh? Trixie?" he asked, dumbfounded. Trixie nodded, not wanting to wake Twilight up. "Oh man, it was you the entire time?" Spike laughed to himself. Trixie rolled her eyes. Could he BE any louder? she thought to herself. "So anyway, what are you doing here? Came to see Twilight? It's already so late, though! If that's what you're here for, though, we might as well wake her up--"
"STOP!" Trixie shouted. Just as Spike was about to reply, the two heard a grumbling noise coming from the pony next to Trixie. The librarian's eyes twitched a little. A few seconds later, they were slowly being opened. Trixie flinched. Twilight looked over at Trixie and Spike, and suddenly, back at Trixie.
"Wait a minute-- Trixie? What are you doing here? How did you even get into my house?" Twilight asked as she sat up straight. Trixie planned out what she was going to say next carefully.
"Trixie is here... because... because..." However, even though she planned out her reply, she was unable to get the words to leave her mouth because one, Trixie knew she wasn't that cruel, and two, it was hard to look into Twilight's bloodshot eyes. In fact, the colour of her eyes shocked and even frightened Trixie a little bit. Twilight cocked her head, and stared at Trixie, awaiting a reply. Trixie sighed, and looked down on the ground, not wanting to look at Twilight.
"Trixie is here because she heard you lost your magical powers." the showpony replied. As soon as the words had left her mouth, she saw Twilight bear a sad look on her face.
"Oh no, not you too..." said the lavender pony as she hit her hoof against her head repeatedly. "Did you come here to embarrass me? To rub it in my face?" Trixie looked away sheepishly. It was true that at first, she had the intention of doing so, but now, she wasn't so sure. However, she had to think fast. She saw how hurt Twilight looked when she was asleep, and she didn't want to see it again.
"Not any more." Trixie replied. "Trixie came here to.... uh, help you?" She had a nervous and awkward smile on her face. Twilight raised an eyebrow in disbelief. After a moment, Twilight sighed.
"I guess I have no reason not to believe you." Twilight said with a solemn tone in her voice. The solemness hit Trixie hard, and once again, she felt sympathy towards the purple mare. Trixie shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. Trixie heaved a sigh, walked up to Twilight and stared into her eyes, no matter how hard it was for her.
"Twilight Sparkle, how can you be so grim? Was losing your magic really that bad?" Trixie asked. Of course, she knew the answer herself, but she wanted to hear Twilight's response. Twilight, on the other hand, was taken aback by this confrontation. She escaped Trixie's gaze, and replied.
"Look Trixie, I don't want to talk about--"
"Was it really that bad?!" Trixie raised her voice. She didn't want Twilight to avoid the question. The purple pony backed up as Trixie slowly began closing the distance between them.
"I said, I don't want to--"
"WHY DOES IT MEAN SO MUCH TO YOU?"
"HAVEN'T YOU SEEN MY FLANK?" Twilight shouted in Trixie's face before bursting out into tears. Trixie was confused, but suddenly, she realized it. She looked over at Twilight's flank, and gasped at the sight. Even though it wasn't her problem, Trixie's head began to pound. She understood it immediately. Twilight had lost her special talent.
She had lost her cutie mark.
New story because an idea came to me while I was in the shower today.
Well anyway, this is definitely a Twixie fic, and this time, it's about Trixie helping Twilight rather than vice versa! The weaker one helping the ... one that used to be strong.
I kind of know where I'm going with this story. Also, expect a prequel after this story so you know how Twilight loses her powers.
It's no big deal, she just lost her ... oh buck.
(Editing note: "3AM in the morning" is redundant)
1842601
Thanks, fixed! :)
Down voters, would be appreciated if you left a comment as to why you didn't like it so I can hopefully improve on it later on. xD
Poor Twilight, to lose one's cutie mark and become a blank flank again must be horrible.
Romance, huh? I miss those sorta things. Mostly back where I'm from it was "take any girl you can find" or "become a rapist". Good to see that some things good are still going for us.
Huh. I read the synopsis and (minus the romance) this is basically the very first MLP fanfic idea I ever had: Twilight loses her magic and Trixie shows up to help her. Weird seeing something like that just show up out of the blue.
I'm going to follow this story to see where it goes. I'm not understanding the downvotes myself. There's nothing outright bad here. The vocabulary level is not as high as it could be, but the grammar and spelling are both good. There's a nice plot being set up. The whole thing reads pretty easy.
1842900
Lol, great minds think alike? /overused line is overused.
Well anyway, the reason as to why my vocabulary is limited is because I'm always afraid that I'm not using the words properly. It's weird. I just have an irrational fear, that's all. xD
I'll try to shove in more words here and there, though. I really need to face that fear or else I'm going to fail English.
See a story in the New Stories list that has a picture of Twilight and Trixie? MUST READ.
I was hoping that it would be a romance, and was not disappointed, though I am a little put off by the Sad tag. I don't like sad stories unless I'm in the right mood.
But anyways, on to the story.
The beginning is alright; I think we're thrown into the whole "Twilight is an earth pony" thing a little too quickly. I'm assuming that when you write that prequel though, it'll have spoilery information for this story, so I can see your reasoning for not explaining how she became an earth pony right at the beginning.
Just out of curiosity, does this story take place before or after Magic Duel? If it takes place before, it really seems out of character for Spike and Twilight to just accept that Trixie just showed up in the library (Spike was particularly annoyed with her after Boast Busters). However, if it takes place afterwards, didn't Trixie and Twilight sort of resolve their differences, with Trixie admitting that Twilight is better than her? But here Trixie is determined to humiliate Twilight. It's really not a big deal, I'm just curious.
It seems to me that you've got a pretty decent story here. There seems to be a lot of opportunity for romance to develop, and the whole missing cutie mark/magic thing is holding my interest. On the plus side (for me), you seem to be going with the "sad, but not depressing" type of Sad story, rather than "soul-crushingly depressing". Can't wait for the next chapter!
By the way, the image you're using as a cover image can be found on the artist's page here if you wanted to link that instead. Also, according to the MLP wiki (using a source from Lauren Faust), Twilight's pet is actually named Owlowiscious. It really doesn't sound like it though...
1842986
Lol, blech. I wasn't sure if I wanted to choose the 'Sad' or 'Drama' tag, but I began to think of other things that were considered 'dramatic', so I went with the sad tag, and I'm actually kind of thinking that judging by the direction my story is heading, it's more dramatic rather than sad and depressing. I'll actually go and change that right now. @___@
Also, this takes place after Boast Busters, but before Magic Duel. However, both Spike and Twilight have more to think about than to be mad at Trixie. Frankly, if you think about it, Twilight's been depressed for two weeks and Spike's the one who has to take care of her now. They both have a load of stress on their backs, so Trixie is the least of their problems. Also, the story takes place late at night. If somebody I hated were to be in my house at 3 am in the morning, I'd be thinking about how they got in my house instead of ... well, anything else. xD
Also, thanks for the link. :3 And it's Owlowiscious, I know, but I spelt it Owlicious to avoid any confusion, just because it's not even CLOSE to being pronounced as "Owlowiscious". Owlicious is a bit easier on the eyes and mind. :3
EDIT: Okay, so there is no Drama tag.
-sadface-
1843015 You don't have to change it, it's just that in my experience, Sad stories usually involve death or heartbreak, which are topics I usually avoid, especially when it comes to romance stories.
Interesting, and that does make sense.
That also makes a lot of sense. I've never really understood why it's Owlowiscious when it doesn't even sound like that when it's said.
i personal don´t like storys where twi loses her powers or rater all storys where unicorns in general can lose there powers. I mean in the most cases it dosen´t even make sence like if a unicorn breaks his horn it loseshis power...forever...i mean serisly a part of his body that will at least 4 times break in his childhood, if he has a childhood...that would be stupid. Just sayen
1844173
Frankly, I said I was going to write a prequel, so it's not like Twilight "suddenly loses her powers" There is a story behind it, but I'll be starting on it when I'm deeper into this story or after I'm finished. Also, Twilight doesn't break her horn, it just became defective. Plus, if it broke, Celestia wouldn't even be suggesting an idea like being able to regain her powers back, soooo... xD
1844252 it was just an example i know that twilight has still her horn. And i will read your story but when you give us the reason...let it be a good one
1842592 just a thought shouldent it be "hoof in hoof" since ponies don't have hands.
Am I the only one to find it weird that Trixie, of all people, is surprised at how badly Twilight is taking losing her magic?
Oh, don't get me wrong, going to rub it in and then having second thoughts once she actually sees her still works as a plot point but thinking "is it really so bad to lose your magic" repeatedly and even asking Twilight that seems weird for someone whose life revolves around impressing people with magic.
Honestly, I think you've hand-waved Twilight's emotional state a bit too much.
Having Twilight loose her magic would be like Rainbow loosing her wings. Not only was it her defining talent and something she's worked the majority of her life towards, but it was one of her defining features as a pony. Nevermind the entire Unicorn = Magic, though that really shouldn't be ignored, but it was the absolute core of her being, identity and self-worth.
Less Celestia knows something and she's simply not telling Twilight, which seems cruel and unusual (though I guess a few justifications could be made). Everypony else is taking this a bit to calmly, either ignorant or unconcerned about Twilight's feelings. A massive, deep depression would probably only be the start, but it doesn't seem like anyone's really trying to support Twilight.
1897166
When I first read over it, I thought she was using it as a point. Such as:
'Why does it mean so much to you? You have friends around who care for you. Are they not that wich motivates you? Don't you still care about them? At one time you told me friendship is magic. What happened Twilight? Do your friends mean so little to you?'
Or something like that. But it didn't go that direction.