Welcome to the first ever installment of Untapped Wells, the series where we talk about ships that either don't exist, or are so underused that they may as well not exist. We start with a ship that you are completely unable to find on this site: TwiBlaze.

Twilight Sparkle and Aria Blaze, two people that have no business being together. That seems to be the verdict site-wide, but why? You can find pictures of the ship on Derpibooru, but I can't show the majority of them as they are pornographic in nature. Yep, this ship has had no luck, but why? Well I'm going to explain why I want this ship to have a presence on the site and maybe in the rambling, find some reasons as to why it never took off.

I love shipfics between two characters that shouldn't work. They're sort of like underdogs in a sea of cool people, and I along with many others love a good underdog story. However, the obvious problem is that if those types of ships are the underdogs of such a story, no one pays attention to them because they are too below the radar to be worth noticing. Then you have the underdog ships that break out and become popular on their first fic but don't stay popular for very long because any other fics with the ship are in the unfair position of having to be compared to the first one (like Sucker for a Cute Face and DagiShy). But what does that have to do with TwiBlaze? Well if Twiblaze is the star of an underdog story, it's so under that it's gone blind and is leading a race of mole-dog mutants, with me hoping that they finally have a breakout into the light.

Aria Blaze is easily the least shipped of the Dazzlings and when limited to just the Mane Cast it is really apparent how underutilized she is in shipfics. Out of the nine, Aria only has stories with five of them, and in some of those her ship is either a side ship or are so short they barely register on anyone's radar. So that's one reason I so desperately want a TwiBlaze fic, it bolsters the group, and creates new story opportunities. But how would the relationship work? Well they aren't TwiBlaze, but there are fics that we can look at to get some ideas of what it might look like.

The first fic is the Homecoming Series with Aria Pie. This is more in the setup than the actual dynamics, but this ship was built upon recovery, where the love came out of Pinkie's efforts to help Aria through an especially tough time of her life. How does this translate to TwiBlaze? Well picture this: it's after Rainbow Rocks, Sonata and Adagio have somewhat managed to move on, but Aria is still stubbornly stuck on what happened and refuses to leave the house. Finally getting fed up with her, Adagio and Sonata force Aria to enroll at Crystal Prep, where she meets Sci-Twi. From there the pair help each other work through their problems, culminating in Aria regaining her magic while forcing Principal Cinch to back out of her blackmailing scheme. That is a very cut down summary, but it gets the point across. So that's the setup, what about the dynamics? Well the next fic gives us an idea of that too.

Brains and Brawlers is a fic based around the ship Twilda and gives us our look into the TwiBlaze relationship dynamic. Gilda is strong, street smart, and socially proficient, but is also crass, ill tempered, lower-class, and book-dumb. Twilight Sparkle, on the other hand, is smart, sweet, optimistic, and friendly, but is also neurotic, a worrywart, upper-class, and somewhat socially dim. Despite this they adore each other, and put forward 110 percent to make the relationship work (Twilight watching Gilda at a fight club and Gilda going to the theater with Twilight ect.). I don't know about anyone else, but that sounds like TwiBlaze to me, the grumpy tough girl and the cheerful nerd.

Now I have rambled for a while now but we still are no closer to answering the question: what is wrong with TwiBlaze? Is it Aria's rough, bad girl attitude? Not that I can see, because there are those who ship her with Fluttershy despite this. Is it a lack of shared screen time? Again, doubtful, because Rose Quill believed it made perfect sense to ship Aria with Pinkie Pie despite sharing even less screen time. No, I think the answer lies in the very simple, "lack of interest." But why is that? Let me know down in the responses below. See you next time.

Hey! I'm mentiomed!

I think a large part of it is they don’t really expound on her personality in RR. Adagio is clearly the leader and a little devious, and Sonata is cheery and maybe a little less bright than the other two, though that is probably caused by her having an extremely cheery nature. I know someone that gives the same impression that is also in MENSA.

Aria doesn’t really have a lot of personality besides “grumpy middle sister” for a lot of people and it’s hard to depict that without her coming off as a *redacted* type. People seem to forget that Tsundere is a thing, and she kind of fits it rather well if you give it a try.

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That seems to be the verdict site-wide, but why?

Spoilers: you figure it out on your own by the end:

No, I think the answer lies in the very simple, "lack of interest." But why is that? Let me know down in the responses below.

Rather than call it at that, let's look at why though. I'll start with your focus on how to make it work, and then go on to the why it doesn't that you missed out on addressing.

You can find pictures of the ship on Derpibooru, but I can't show the majority of them as they are pornographic in nature.

Maybe you already understand this, but I think some people in the audience don't. So lemme explain something in probably too much detail.

Drawing a picture is the result of often a few hours, to a few days of work usually. Some especially talented folks working on intricate pictures might spend a few weeks at a single piece. Most professional art is pumped out much faster. While there is some planning and thought that goes into better quality work, most of it is simply the act of getting lines on paper, ensuring proportions are correct, and so on. It takes a certain kind of creativity to do art, but it is a different sort of creativity than it takes to write.

In contrast, writing a novel usually takes around a month, minimum. Usually several months.

It doesn't take long or much talent or creativity to crank out a 1-5k word shitfic. Writing something that is genuinely good, explores characters in a satisfying and deep way, and telling an engaging story in the process is a far larger piece of creative work than merely going, "hey, lets slap character A and B on a canvas and make them smile and blush." Real writing is far, far more work to achieve something good than drawing. Round shapes and good colors will make a pleasingly cute picture.

Writing is hard. Most people can't do it. And most people who can do it don't have time to entertain each and every random thought that crosses their fancy. Unlike artists who can take a pony base and hit that "fill/paint" tool to create different characters and adjust a few details like hairstyle or accessories to produce several different characters into the same pose/setting. Or rig a puppet and move a few limbs around, then skin/color/accessorize that to spam out various "pairings."

When it comes to writing, most people aren't too keen to write or read the exact same thing, slightly different each time.

Well picture this: it's after Rainbow Rocks, Sonata and Adagio have somewhat managed to move on, but Aria is still stubbornly stuck on what happened and refuses to leave the house.

This is the bog standard opening for half a dozen to several dozen siren-fics on the site. "This siren needs help from [character] getting over the defeat at the end of RR." Split the sirens up, either physically (the other two move elsewhere and/or kick the main one out) or practically (other two sirens move on/gainfully employ/etc. while this siren sulks and mopes).

The same story, move the pieces around slightly, skin/color and accessorize. This time it is Aria instead of Adagio depressed and sulking in her room. This time it is Aria homeless and kicked out on the streets instead of Sonata.

I don't know about anyone else, but that sounds like TwiBlaze to me, the grumpy tough girl and the cheerful nerd.

It also sounds like TwiDash, Rarijack, and quite a few other stories. You used an example of Twilight and Gilda, while Sunset and Adagio can come across the same way. Once again, just recolor and accessorize.

The problem is indeed lack of interest. Not just because Aria lacks many fans, but because what little there is to go on for her character isn't particularly compelling. Why read the same story, slightly different, but this time it's Aria!

If you had an actual answer to that and could come up with something actually new and fresh and interesting, you'd probably be better of writing it as a story. Do it well, and people will like it. But if all you can come up with is filing off the serial number and repainting other stories as TwiBlaze, you have your answer as to why no one bothers. It isn't interesting.

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People seem to forget that Tsundere is a thing, and she kind of fits it rather well if you give it a try.

I don't think anyone forgets Tsundere is a thing. Considering it is the most overused anime "personality type" these days. I think most people would like to forget, but the industry won't let them.

That said, while it is possible to interpret Aria as a tsundere, there really isn't anything to suggest she is. There isn't much material to suggest she is anything. You can depict her mostly however you like, and you're unlikely to contradict canon if you do. But there is nothing in canon to suggest the "dere" part. That is entirely fan/author caveat to add in.

To tap into some risky Tumblrina terms, she could be aesexual+aeromantic. She may be cold and distant, in other words. She is from a discordant predator species, after all. She could be the "least human" of the three, angry that she is stuck in a weak twiggy little human body, instead of her powerful and impressive siren body.

She could be like a black widow or a praying mantis. That too would fit the scraps of canon we get.

Many of the interpretations that work for Aria don't lend well to shipping. If she's an ocean predator that literally has no concept of love or relationships, and at most might feel some instinctive biological urge to submit to a mating process at some point but then swim off to let her spawn fend for itself let alone any second thought to her transient mate, that doesn't make for a romance story.

If that's what Aria is, then you have to actually change who she is into something entirely foreign in order to ship her with anyone. That has some rather unpleasant ramifications. It is the enforcing of our romantic/relationship ideals onto a being that simply doesn't have those things. It is transforming someone into someone else simply to make them suitable to love, rather than finding love with someone mutually interested.

There is room to take such a character, avoid the pitfalls, and depict a relationship that is one-sided romantically, but affectionate both ways. A way to make for an allegory for aromantic folks and the kinds of relationships they experience. But that feels way out of the league of most of the writers on this site, and out of the interests of most of those with the talent to maybe pull it off.

Between the two of you, there is certainly a lot of "glass half full" going on with your descriptions. But neither of you is actually attempting anything more than the above-described filing off of the serial number and slapping on an Aria-colored paint job. You're wishing for someone to copypasta an existing story, but name one of the characters in it Aria Blaze, simply for the sake of shallow "variety."

I think among all the siren/mane six pairings, Aria might be the most difficult one to ship. Only ones I can see working without too much trouble would be AJ or Flutters.

Spontaneous thought might be that someone tries to "disarm" the sirens somewhat. Aria shows clear signs of being unsatisfied with Adagio's leadership, and maybe someone decides to take advantage of that. Hell, it might be Twilight herself, out of some misguided desire to force the sirens to sue for peace, if you will. Now, if Twilight decides to try and get Aria to go against Adagio... I mean, I guess it is questionable if Twi would knowingly manipulate someone like this.

Other way around, another rather obvious setup. Even though she seems more soured than Sona and Adagio, Aria is still a siren. So she'd not have a hard time seducing Twilight for her own gains, whatever those may be. I don't think it would really be her style, though.

Aria doesn't seem like she'd really aim for a relationship. I could see her in one, but it could more likely result from a long-term sorta-friendship/rivalry. She'd need someone who won't take her crap, like AJ, or someone who could draw her out with patience, like Fluttershy.

Well, I'm working on a completely unrelated story at the moment, and with Brains and Brawlers (thanks for promoting it by the way) still being worked on, a Twilight-Aria shipping story would feel kind of redundant to work on so soon. However, reading this has given me a fragment of a story idea, which I'll share here if anyone is interested.

With all that's been going on, Sci-Twi decides to take a women's self-defense class. Yes, this does mean that she'll be outside her comfort zone, but she'll getting more exercise than usual, learning how to better defend herself without the immediate use of her magic, and meeting new people, which in turn will help her socializing skills and hopefully increase the number of people she can call "friend." During the first class, the instructor partners her up with Aria Blaze, who she will be practicing with through the entire course.

While she doesn't do anything openly mean or hostile, Twilight gets the impression that Aria doesn't like her. This bothers Twilight, especially since she finds something about the girl attractive, and they have to work together for the course. So, she starts trying to get on Aria's good side, even having Pinkie Pie help her out by the two of them making some sort of snack that Aria would appreciate. During this, the others learn who it is, and tell Sci-Twi what Aria is and what happened during Rainbow Rocks.

To me, this leads to a moment where Sci-Twi tells Aria that she is not the same Twilight that battled her and the others, which Aria replies by saying she knows because she's not stupid.

As the class continues, Aria starts to mellow out. She's still her usual rough and rude self, but seems to be opening up to -- and becoming friendlier toward -- Twilight (or at least seems to be more tolerant of listening to Twilight talk without rolling her eyes or being noticeably annoyed, even if she does still make the occasional snarky comment).

This all comes to a head when at the end of the last class when:
A) Twilight decides to ask Aria to do something after, and Aria says agrees
Or
B) Aria asks Twilight to do something, which she agrees to after getting over the shock.

It could then end with them leaving for their first date, after the first date, or continue on or lead into a sequel of their relationship together.

That's the idea. If anyone is interested in giving it a try, go ahead, but post a link here to it or something.

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Between the two of you, there is certainly a lot of "glass half full" going on with your descriptions. But neither of you is actually attempting anything more than the above-described filing off of the serial number and slapping on an Aria-colored paint job. You're wishing for someone to copypasta an existing story, but name one of the characters in it Aria Blaze, simply for the sake of shallow "variety."

Which is how so many stories across time have worked, it's not even funny. Zero wrong with it, zero wrong with batting around ideas with a positive mindset. I was of the impression that the purpose of this group was to inspire people to create shipfics with the Dazzlings. Cause Celestia knows we haven't read the same Sunset Shimmer shipfic 10,000 times on this site yet people still (harmlessly) love 'em.

Furthermore, to be perfectly frank, I'd rather we get more story copypasta and shuffling get done than waiting for someone with the Perfect Bestest Most Original Story Idea That Fits Both Characters Like A Glove. We don't get to that type of story by waiting around for the perfect idea to write or get written. We get to it by getting our hands dirty and writing stuff that may not fit that bill first, but is still enjoyable to write and (for someone out there) read.

Honestly, this vexes me. While people with ideas for sweet, happy, mildly character-exploratory ships stay frozen in place from writing for fear of not being "in-character" or "original" enough (or worse, get blasted for the same once those stories are posted), people who just don't give a fuck write more and more irregular fetishes and the BCU, and those characters get overrun with 'em.

Anyway, on topic.

This is... hard. Because Aria has possibly the least characterizaton of any marquee character than EQG. Yes, less than the Shadowbolts, and less than Vignette Valencia. We're talking comic-ignoring EQG1 Sunset Shimmer over here. In such cases, I actually endorse filling in the blanks with a favorite trope or two, because otherwise all we have to go on are her Siren roots, some cattiness, and her ability to execute a plan as well as the other two in her group (and since that group includes Sonata, that's not saying much).

But along with that, I endorse a far more solid approach: simply put, if Aria's not going to come to a shipping plot, we have to bring the plot to her.

Where might she work? Where might she play? Think about the things that have made you angry or annoyed in life. Were there any supportive figures in your life that helped you to get past that or to at least live with them? Does she want to go home? Is she afraid of home given the circumstances surrounding her banishment? Which Twi are we talking about because we get vastly different fics depending on which one we're dealing with. Also, hey, the Pillars what done banished them are totally back! Also also, we just found out that there's been some irresponsible kid running around with a magical neuralyzer since the Friendship Games! There are a bunch of possibility avenues to play around with, and this is before we get into how her slightly-more-defined cohorts would react to such events as well, of if they're even in the picture. Ain't nothing wrong with a solo Aria focus.

That's all I've got--I wasn'even supposed to make this post

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I was of the impression that the purpose of this group was to inspirepeople to create shipfics with the Dazzlings.

You wound me. Wanting people to put more effort into their stories and create something of higher quality rather than waste time pumping out copies is hardly contrary to this purpose. I would argue that it simply is a better way to achieve that goal.

Some people stay frozen. Some people don't. I'd rather we not have more like Jay. Regardless of whether or not he slaps a vaguely Aria-like coat of paint on his next "story" or not, it doesn't matter. I would encourage people to write better things than that, and not try to use a character like Aria as an excuse to just push out more drek and call it good. If they can write better characters and give Aria an interesting character, cool. But if all they're going to do is churn out more drivel, it really doesn't matter who they slap on the cover art or what names they paste in to attribute dialogue to.

Some people are fans of Shonen Jump. They manage on rare occasions to produce an interesting scene or two. But I feel the popularity of their mass-produced copypasta simply encourages others in the industry to copy them instead of taking risks and trying to be the next Studio Ghibli. I'd prefer Shonen Jump not exist at all, and instead, people be encouraged to unfreeze and write the best things they can imagine, not settle for "I filed enough off, this is fine. It's over the minimum line of different."

You're fine with the masses of Sunlight fics, whereas I'll never read 90% of them, and hope others avoid the same. I'll hold out for the rare few that look better.

Also also, we just found out that there's been some irresponsible kid running around with a magical neuralyzer since the Friendship Games!

This is the sort of thing I'm talking about. This is the sort of thing I want to see. Take stuff from canon and run with it. What if Wallflower Blush had an awkward encounter with Aria, and caused her to forget some things. It has been more than three days, so it is permanent. Bring SciTwi in, because why not? Adagio and Sonata are worried about Aria's memory loss, and they think Twilight, being from Equestria, could know how to fix her. So you get all kinds of interactions between the mistaken identity of SciTwi (who has never met the sirens), then Adagio and Sonata taking a risk seeking help from a former enemy (so they think), and that all results in lab time with SciTwi and Aria. From there, let chemistry happen. Several kinds.

There are two fronts to encouraging people. One is bringing up ideas to run with. The other is discouraging poor choices. Both help guide would-be writers towards, hopefully, better stories. Not merely more but better.

The formula of "two sirens leave/kick out third to isolate her for story reasons, then mash your chosen Rainboom against her" is tired and overdone. Focus on Aria, sure, but take the time to show who she is as part of a trio, rather than seeking to ramp up the isolation part. You don't have to render someone homeless just to get some alone time.

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There are two fronts to encouraging people. One is bringing up ideas to run with. The other is discouraging poor choices. Both help guide would-be writers towards, hopefully, better stories. Not merely more but better.

The problem with this approach is that you are not the arbiter of "quality"--none of us are, and heaven knows I wish I were, but none of us are, which means you don't get to decide those "poor choices". As such, I find your brand of "discouragement" to be long-term destructive.

I mean, it's an open internet and I can't personally stop you from spouting whatever, but I can say that I feel that the approach I see you take across several forums, to subtly (and not-so-subtly if you're having fun with it :P) mock ideas you even mildly disagree with while declaring your ideas to be innately superior because Reasons(tm) is... bad. It'd be downright awful if you didn't also sometimes come up with good stuff.

Either way, in the end, you're still advocating that people not take up the piano by practicing simple pieces like Chopsticks first to get a feel of things and possibly get a new piano player into the world. Instead it's Four Seasons or nothing. Only "real" songs. Everyone's tired of some trope, it doesn't make you special. We all have to deal with dumb tropey stuff, but we don't get anywhere by blowing each other off out the gate. You think an idea sucks? Totally fine, but I highly endorse just throwing out a better idea (because I do honestly think you are full of them, more than most people on this site), or at least saying why you don't like the presented idea in a way that's not... so... internet.

There are better ways to do this. People come to this fandom, to this site, to have fun reading writing, and sharing ideas, and posts like the ones you've made above suck the fun out of at least two of those, and "discourage" people from growing their craft, because you don't get better at writing by not writing. To become a good writer requires writing hundreds of thousands of words of "trash" first. "Trash" which I have seen inspire others countless times in my life.

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The problem with this approach is that you are not the arbiter of "quality"--none of us are

I'm not particularly interested in giving credence to this strawman. If you want to object to what I'm actually doing, that's fine.

Here's a possible new idea based off this:

Derpibooru link

Twilight Sparkle has always been seen as a good girl: smart, well-behaved, always trying to impress her teachers. Often, she's been called "an egghead" and a "goody-goody." Although she is mostly happy with this, an idea occurs to her one day. How much is she missing out on? What would life be like if she were the other way? A punk? A bad girl?

Following this train of thought, she concludes there's only one thing to do: an experiment.

With a break coming up from school (spring break or summer vacation), Twilight decides to spend a few days living the life of a rebel teen, to see how others react and treat her, as well as learn more about herself in the process. The first step is a makeover, to make her look the part. And while she loves her friends, unfortunately, none of them are really "rebel" types. The closest is Sunset Shimmer, and that was more a "bad girl" whose only rebel clothing was her leather jacket.

As it turns out, the answer comes to her at one of the clothes shops. There she meets a punk of a girl: one Aria Blaze. Although Aria is very stand-offish and mean at first, she ends up taking pity on the little nerd, and helps her out. First with the outfit, then by being her guide into the world of punk, and the underground parties and music that go with it.

6674407 Aria as Fairy Gothmother is by far the best scenario I've heard for this pairing, and that is a story I would like to read!

And I love that artwork, too! However, I think the implied story still has Aria being too nice - even if in an unusual direction, she'd still be helping someone out. And someone, no less, that she'd probably look down on as a nerd on track to die alone.

<There were two more paragraphs here full of story ideas, but several months later I decided to try actually writing the thing as a story, and so they'd rather spoil it if left here>.

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I would read this.

6675434 ...But would you write it? Between Taking Potshots and that Limestone Pie picture on your page, I think you could do a great take on it!

I would be happy to advise on Punk/Metal/Goth stuff, if you're not too sure of that territory yourself. I just don't have time to write the whole story myself

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I have a late schedule I'm still adapting to, and no sense of fashion whatsoever.
But if you're in, I'm in.

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I can confirm that I have spent a few hours this evening having a bash at this story idea!