Why I love Twijack OR My excuse to show off all the fic ideas I have for Twijack: A Manifesto
Someone on twt asked for a Twijacker's explanation on why they liked the ship so much, so I thought it was the perfect time to post this here as well.
What they have in common:
I'll start with what they have in common so you can see why they complement one another and work off of the possibilities of their relationship from here:
They were both parentified at a young age
Both are stubborn hard workers
Both are practical and are intelligent in their own ways
Both are often seen in leadership roles, wanting to be responsible while being very adept in organization and planning (Despite this, AJ is also willing to be Twilight's right hoof mare
Both have a huge amount of respect for each other and can always end up seeing eye to eye
Both are very reasonable ponies, so when they fight, they don't ragebait each other or push each other's buttons INSTEAD, they talk it out and resolve things like two reasonable ponies do. They don't butt heads and there's no power struggle.
Now, with the things I've said so far most people would probably brush them off as boring and you'd probably think they wouldn't have any interesting conflicts or interactions. But au contraire, if used correctly, can be used to set up some pretty interesting scenarios. Taking a page from bookplayer's...book (hehe) they're generally a very flexible duo and stories about them can either have it focused on their interactions or the plot itself, because their interactions wouldn't drown out the plot, but instead add to it.
So while their conflict wouldn't stem mainly from different personalities, mistakes or lack of communication it WOULD stem from them both being very self-sacrificial and loving. This makes the conflict hurt all the more BECAUSE they love each other so much. BECAUSE you know neither of them has any ill will towards each other and just wants the best for each other, having them deal with a conflict where only one of them gets hurt is ALL THE MORE PAINFUL.
Realizing their feelings:
Let's start with the possibilities of conflicts when they realize their feelings. When Twilight realizes she has feelings for AJ, she treats it like an anomaly and starts overthinking. Like if AJ brushes her hoof, twilight will go home to create string boards trying to decipher what every little action means. She'll try to control the crush, research it, and scrutinize it, but her desperation for control is exactly what makes her fall deeper. When AJ calms her down her brain halts and she thinks Oh. I need her presence. No. I need her. Period. I want to spend the rest of my natural lifespan with her.
Imagine a fic where twilight has prophetic dreams about being with AJ. Whenever she gets deja vu during one of their interactions, she starts freaking out and pushing AJ away thinking out of fear of suddenly confessing her harbored feelings.
Or, imagine a fic where Twilight gets hit by a spell where she can’t lie, and AJ tries to help her with it. Unfortunately Twilight is also trying to hide her harbored feelings for Applejack and wants to avoid her, but the Mane 4 keep asking questions and Applejack just won’t stop trying to help her. You could use her anxiety very well to create chaotic avoidance situations
Meanwhile, when applejack realizes her feelings, she takes it like she takes all her problems. She stuffs it in a chest, locks it, avoids it, maybe even runs away from it. If we remember how she deals with problems in Applebuck Season or The Last Roundup, she'll most likely work herself to exhaustion trying to avoid it. She'd rather take a one way ticket train to Dodge Junction than ask for help to face it head on. Not to mention her imposter syndrome, where it could make her think and feel that she's not good enough for someone like Twilight. So when Twilight does something for AJ like work with her or defeat a villain without caring about getting mud all over herself or without any hesitation, Applejack just stares at her and her brain goes Oh. She ain’t just some fancy Canterlot Noble. She’s willing to do anything fer us. An’ I want all of that to be mine.
Imagine a fic where Applejack and Twilight think they’re about to die, so Applejack confesses to Twilight and promises her a romantic dinner if they ever get out. They get saved 10 minutes later. Applejack tries to laugh off the promise (being her avoidant self) but Twilight’s already considering what she should wear.
Because of that, there are so many ways to get them together and still keep it interesting. Here are some of my examples:
Imagine after a battle, the two are checking each other for injuries. Twi is shaking trying to heal a scrape on AJ’s shoulder, so AJ pulls her into a crushing and desperate hug. They both admit that they can’t keep pretending that they’re just friends when the thought of losing each other specifically terrifies them more than anything else.
But most of the time they are both too stubborn and self-sacrificial to try to act on their own feelings, so their friends/or some supernatural force often intervene.
Imagine a fic where the CMC’s ask them for dating advice. Out of convenience, Twilight asks help from AJ, and they act out a whole date in front of the CMCs. At first Applejack’s laughing it off and Twilight’s being very clinical about it, but then they both seem to stop acting when they start genuinely talking and complimenting each other. A comment from the CMCs bring them back to reality and they start acting again. But things turn real when the CMCs ask them to kiss for reals cuz a cheek kiss doesn't cut it, they need a demonstration!
When the mane 4 catches Twilight silently yearning and staring at a sleeping Applejack, they hatch a plan to get the pair to realize their feelings and get together. Matchmaking chaos ensues
Pinkie Pie throws a party and reveals she put "Love Poison" (it's just strawberry juice) in the punch. Thinking they are doomed to fall in love, Twilight and Applejack stop holding back their feelings, confessing everything because "it's the potion talking." When Pinkie reveals it was just juice, they are holding hooves and have to explain why they are still holding on.
Twilight finds an ancient artifact that measures compatibility. It accidentally activates when AJ is around, creating some sort of magnet that prevents them from being more than 5 feet apart for a large amount of time. Now they have to fight to survive each other’s routines.
First Hoof Hold (OMG Scandalous): This most likely happens during an anxiety streak, where one of them casually slides over their hoof and holds the others with firm but steady calmness.
First ILY: It could be a domestic accident, where it just seems to be so natural, that they don’t even notice it happening at first. Like they could be drinking coffee in the morning and AJ or Twi would be like “Can you pass me the sugar? Thanks, I love you.” Then they’d both freeze realizing what one of them just casually blurted out. Maybe they’d even only notice it when they’re out of the room.
All this internal panic bleeds into their very dynamic. See, they depend on each other deeply. Twilight needs AJ's grounding and calm nature to steady her when she's freaking out. AJ needs Twilight to pull her out of her avoidant stupor. Not to mention the fact that they've both shown their ability to be vulnerable around each other a lot of times in the show.
You can use that to play with their dynamic a lot. This gets you a lot of shipping fuel like:
Their nicknames towards each other whenever they’re affectionate vs whenever they’re fighting. Like for example AJ would call Twilight, ‘Princess’, ‘Twi’ or ‘Sugarcube’ whenever she’s being affectionate then call her your royal highness, whenever they’re fighting. Twilight could call Applejack ‘AJ’ or ‘Jackie’ when she’s being affectionate and ‘Stubborn Mule’ when not.
Wordless communication between them like little simultaneous eye rolls whenever the other 4 are acting particularly quirky that day or talking via head nods and eye contact when a crisis hits Ponyville.
Their quiet love language that doesn’t need loud acknowledgement or even words. Basically using acts of service to show devotion to each other.
Each of them being very protective towards the other in their own ways like AJ just reaching out a hoof to stop Twilight from walking into traffic while she’s distractedly reading, or perhaps Twilight just wrapping a blanket around AJ when she finds her resting from an exhausting harvest.
It can also get you adorable conflicts like:
Twilight’s obsession with organizing and overly complicated lists vs. Applejack’s own unique way of dealing with things. Magic vs Practical/classic craftsmanship.
Their need to feel useful clashing with one another leading to interactions like “No, let me fix the shelf”, “No! Let ME do it for you!”
Both of them telling each other to go to sleep while refusing to go to sleep themselves pulling each other into bed or maybe even getting each other sick because they just. Won’t. Stop. Working.
Apology styles and Comforting each other:
After fights and conflicts like that, one of them has to back down or they have to see things eye to eye to be able to fix it. Unfortunately, they are both terrible at backing down. Usually AJ cracks first, not because she thinks she’s wrong, but mostly because she literally cannot stand Twilight looking stressed or sad.
When Applejack Apologizes, she doesn’t use a lot of words. Instead, she just pops up at the castle with food, places it on Twilight's desk, nuzzles her with a soft “I was being stubborn as a mule. I’m sorry, sugarcube”
When Twilight apologizes, she wants to correct everything. She presents AJ with an incredibly researched, color-coded, long essay detailing where she went wrong and how she plans to correct her behavior in the future, ending it with nuzzles.
Affection and love language:
As for their affection and intimacy, neither of them have been shown to make sweeping romantic gestures. Both of them are very acts of service, words of affirmation type of ponies.
When Twilight acts affectionate, she shows it by optimizing AJ’s life, making things easier for her, even without AJ noticing at times. She would get her that rusty old pie pan, because who wouldn’t want efficiency? She loves trying to solve AJ’s problems so AJ doesn’t have to carry all the weight alone.
Meanwhile, when AJ acts affectionate, she shows it through provision and grounding. If she catches wind that Twilight hasn’t slept or eaten in days, AJ just shows up with a bunch of food, moves the books aside, makes sure Twilight eats, and tucks her in bed while sleeping next to her to make sure she gets the sleep she needs. If she catches Twilight freaking out, she does everything in her power to calm her down while also being calm herself. She doesn’t do anything abruptly or without Twilight’s permission. She always asks if she can hold her.
Since Twilight is naturally anxious, she relies on AJ’s acts of service and words of affirmation to quiet her brain. She needs AJ to tell her to breathe and help come up with a solution to her problem (See: Best Gift Ever). She also craves parallel play, sitting in the same room with AJ, just enjoying the quiet times without all the pressure
Likewise, AJ relies on Twilight’s physical touch and quality time. To feel loved, she just needs that quiet, physical proximity. She just wants somepony to lean against her side on the porch after a long exhausting harvest. She feels most secure with Twilight there, real and staying.
They also have their own ways of acting sweet in private and in public:
In public: They’re both somewhat old-fashioned ponies so PDA isn’t really much of a thing for them. The way they show their love in public is through little micro-expressions and gestures like Applejack tipping her Stetson at Twilight specifically. Every time they see each other, their postures change and they somehow drift towards the other like magnets. It’s AJ holding Twi’s hoof through a crowd or Twi resting her chin on AJ’s shoulder to look at a map.
In private: Behind closed doors, all the shields come off. Twilight is clingy and tired, wanting to just bury her face in that chest fluff and just absorb AJ through osmosis. AJ, who has to be the responsible one all day, sheds that side of her and lets herself be vulnerable. Let Twilight hold her. Let them end up in a tangled messy pile of soft warm happy domestic love.
And when they find that someone’s sniffing around their territory, their jealousy tells are often very dangerous:
For Twilight: Twilight’s anxiety spikes and she gets twitchy. She may even pull rank. She’ll physically insert herself into the conversation and start aggressively using scientific vocabulary, dropping titles, using her role as a princess to monopolize AJ’s time by suddenly remembering an “urgent, top secret royal matter” they need to discuss. In private. Immediately.
For AJ: AJ goes completely still. Her voice drops and her drawl gets thicker. She will walk over, wrap a possessive hoof around Twilight and use politeness to scare off the offender. “Well now ain’t you friendly. But her highness and I have a schedule to keep. Have a nice day y’all.”
This brings us to my final point: which is how they are perceived and how they perceive the Mane 6:
How they act: As a couple, Twijack is incredibly considerate towards others as a couple. But they also act incredibly similar to parents because of their combined need to be responsible. Twilight organizes schedules and lists what they need to pack while AJ pushes everypony out the door and makes sure they brought everything. (See: Mean 6)
As for how they are perceived:
Rarity: is absolutely insufferable about them. She claims she knew from the start and is often on their backs about matching what they’re wearing. Even though neither of them cares about that, they still indulge her nonetheless.
Rainbow Dash: Groans and acts all grossed out whenever the two are being “sappy” and “lame”. In reality, she is incredibly relieved and happy for them, because she knows they have each others’ backs.
Fluttershy: Is just happy to be there for them. Occasionally though, she will gossip with Rarity about the two’s antics, whispering about how Applejack secretly bought Twilight a new bookshelf while Rarity giggles and tells Fluttershy that Twilight bought AJ a new blanket.
Pinkie: Much like Rarity, she memorized every anniversary and every development of their relationship. You could say she even has 100% accurate predictions of all their firsts and milestones. She also throws them a monthsary party every month complete with Sparkling Apple Cider Cupcakes (idk okay I was tryna be witty).
They’re a very good couple who acts as each other’s home and rest when things get crazy. When they’re around each other, they don’t need to be any Princesses, or Star Pupils or Breadwinners, they can just be themselves, and that’s okay.
And that is why I love love love Twijack! (Sci-twijack is another story for another day lmao, but a lot of the things here can be said for them, they're just not the exact same couple.)
If you sat through allat thank you for listening to my (overly long ohmygod I've put more effort into this than I probably will in my thesis) ted talk.
