Fanfic / Twilight's List

Twilight's List is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Ship Fic written by kits.

Twilight Sparkle prides herself on following and sticking to her plans, but she isn't as organized as everypony thinks. Her master list, the plan for her life, has an item that she has never been able to check off; and the time has come to fix that. How hard can it be? All she needs to do is go on a date and get a kiss.

Widely considered to be the Trope Codifier of Twilight Sparkle x Rainbow Dash shipfics because it converted large numbers of people to the pairing and highlighted numerous common points between the characters which were widely used by later stories.

Tropes:

• Everyone Is Bi: Twilight herself is bisexual, considering both mares and stallions for her date, and apparently doesn't give a thought as to whether or not any of her friends are of a compatible orientation. Then again, it might just be that she didn't think of it because it was supposed to be a practice date.
• Inner Monologue: Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight exhibit this when the story is told from their point of view.
• Literal-Minded: Rainbow Dash thinks that pruning apple trees is just an excuse that Applejack came up with, because everyone knows apple trees don't have prunes. She also gets confused by a few metaphors.
  “Well, ain’t nopony ever harvest an apple without tending a tree first.”
  Rainbow’s brow wrinkled and she frowned, bringing a hoof to her muzzle in thought. What did trees and apples have to do with how she felt about Twilight?
• Mistaken for Romance: Rainbow Dash thinks that Twilight Sparkle has romantic interest in her, when really Twilight just wants to go out on a date for the sake of having done so.
• Mistaken for Badass: Light example. Rainbow Dash thinks that Twilight is playing it cool and has nerves of steel, asking her out flat out without any signs of nervousness or trepidation over asking her out or Rainbow Dash possibly saying no. This continues for a good chunk of the story, as Twilight is extremely calm about setting up the date, not showing any signs of anxiety, inspiring Rainbow Dash to do the same and be as awesome and play it as cool as possible. At the end, when Twilight realizes that she went out on a real date with Rainbow Dash, she freaks out.
• Nerves of Steel: Rainbow Dash thinks Twilight Sparkle has these. She doesn't.
• Obsessively Organized: Twilight is presented as such in the story, living her life by checklists and freaking out when things don't go to plan. Rainbow Dash helps break her out of it.
• Poor Communication Kills: The basis of the entire plot. Rainbow Dash thinks it is a real date; Twilight Sparkle thinks it isn't one.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Rainbow Dash tunes out Twilight because she was engaging in this, leading to the plot.
• Schedule Fanatic: Twilight Sparkle shows a touch of this in the story, freaking out when everything doesn't go perfectly on the date, believing that anything going wrong will ruin the whole thing. Rainbow Dash helps break her out of it.
• Shaped Like Itself
  Twilight’s nerves had to be made of ice water or something even colder, like really cold ice water.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Name-dropped by Applejack when Dash shows up to Pinkie's party with a plan to accept Twilight's offer of a date. She actually went through a spa treatment before going.
• Shout-Out: In the first chapter, Rainbow Dash notes that ponies aren't just supposed to ask each other out while referencing a number of common shipfic tropes:
  This wasn’t right. Ponies didn’t just walk up to their friends and ask them out. Despite her best efforts, Dash had picked up that much from Rarity. Twilight should have stammered or mumbled, or tried to spend a lot of time alone with her until Dash got the hint and made the first move, or maybe collected and obsessed over her discarded feathers. She should have pawed at the ground and blushed. Ponies asking their friends out on dates did not just stand there looking like they were talking about the weather schedule. She should be bouncing from hoof to hoof, or ready to run away the second Dash opened her mouth.
• Spoiler Title: Chapter 3 is called "Rainbow Says Yes", the final chapter before the epilogue is "Twilight Says Yes".
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Rainbow Dash engages in this constantly, especially when she is nervous or excited. It is self-deception in this case, as she denies it in her inner monologue, even as she acts nervous/excited.
• Trope Codifier: Considered the Trope Codifier of Twilight Sparkle x Rainbow Dash shipfics.
• Verbal Backpedaling: When Rainbow Dash talks to Applejack, but doesn't want to admit that she needs advice:
  “I actually just need– wanted to talk.”
• What Could Have Been: Twilight makes up a list for each and every one of her friends at the start of the story, finding positive (and negative) attributes to each of them. While she is at it, she notes that she is highly compatible with Applejack, and nearly chooses her for the practice date several times before picking Rainbow Dash on gut instinct.