• Published 7th Dec 2012
  • 12,741 Views, 255 Comments

Avocation - Kwakerjak



Penumbra seeks gainful employment.

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IX. Avocation

Dear Luna,

I would like to begin by apologizing for taking so long to follow up on your previous letter; the past month has been rather busy for me.

I must thank you for reminding me of the lightning-transmission spell the two of us formulated during our thousand-year sojourn on the moon. I had indeed been quite wary of knowingly allowing my various opinions and viewpoints to pass through your sister’s hooves. Your offer to invoke the Pinkie Promise to ensure the secrecy of our correspondence is appreciated, but also seems unnecessary. Both Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle appear to place a great deal of importance on trusting one’s friends. Thus, if we are to be friends, I think your personal honor shall be surety enough for my purposes.

Similarly, your guess that I’d decided to follow Rarity’s advice was also correct, as was your inference that my proposed business would somehow involve hoof-made clouds. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, though, given that I’m a product of your mind in the first place. I have taken to introducing myself as an “artisan cloudsmith” to other ponies. This, I’ve found, causes many to give me more leeway in my social skills, most likely due to confusion between the words “artisan” and “artist,” though as Rarity has pointed out, my new profession has qualities of both.

I have given my business the name Cloud Nineteen (Pinkie Pie thought it was a memorable name). Essentially, I use the considerable pegasus magic available to me to condense specialized clouds for non-weather purposes. At the moment, I’m leasing an unused room in Sugarcube Corner to use as office space to meet with clients as a cloud structure would be inaccessible to earth ponies and unicorns, and I have constructed a workshop in the airspace above the store, at an altitude high enough to avoid being an eyesore (Mrs. Cake insisted on this). If my shop proves successful, I hope to be able to move towards the outskirts of town, where I’ll have more room to showcase my creations.

Business is not exactly booming, but Rarity assures me that it takes time for most ventures of this kind to turn a profit, so I am not despondent yet. Knowledge of my services has become widely known in the local pegasus community, due to the gushing praise Rainbow Dash gave to the sofa I crafted for her in my first week of business, and I’m currently finishing work on an advertisement for the Carousel Boutique, to be placed directly over Rarity’s store at an altitude where it will be visible from one of the most-used air routes between Las Pegasus and Canterlot. In addition, I have resolved my conflict with Derpy Hooves, the pegasus whom I unintentionally insulted at the spa, and she graciously accepted my gift of a cloud sculpture of her with her young filly, which has also increased my reputation locally.

As to my feelings on the job, I enjoy it immensely. Cloud Nineteen does more than simply alleviate my boredom; it gives me the satisfaction of knowing that I am contributing something to society. It is a feeling that, until recently, I had no idea was missing from my life to begin with. And, as it turns out, creating these clouds is actually rather fun, albeit in a way that Pinkie Pie has difficulty understanding.

I suppose this is the point where most of my friends would write a “friendship report” for Princess Celestia. As I still feel a bit uncomfortable conversing with her, I hope I shall be forgiven for making mine out to you instead. This experience has shown me that, even though perseverance is often difficult (particularly when the biggest obstacles are the ones you create yourself), you can rely on your friends to help you to reach your goals. There were many times when I felt like giving up on what seemed to be a fool’s errand, but the encouragement and advice of Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and all my other friends in Ponyville (and, of course, you) allowed me to see my plan to fruition, and I’m already starting to reap the benefits.

Your friend,
Penumbra

Author's Note:

There is now a fourth story in this sequence, titled π.


In addition to all my fan fiction, I've also got an original short story. It's called "The Empty Hand," it features cosmic horror in the Boston underworld, and it's currently available in eBook form on Amazon:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk

For anyone who would rather support me for my pony-related content, I also have a Patreon.

Comments ( 119 )

It is so good to see this up. So so good.

Will read after I finish the last 2 updates of Blue Angel. All 27K...

I loved it. :twilightsmile: I would like to see another story following up to this, maybe not in letter form but perhaps just a slice of life day to day thing?

Haha, you really made a Cloud Nine reference? You sir, are full of win! :pinkiehappy:

Loved the story, and it was the perfect length for something like this. Keep it up! :twilightsmile:

Telling a big story with few words is very difficult. You've made something really remarkable, here.

Another story in the series......HEAD EXPLODES FROM JOY :pinkiegasp: :pinkiehappy:

1754227
Keep in mind that around 6 of us have already read it.

1754469
Hmm, but "dock" as rump is quite the sordid euphemism, no?

I just finished and I have to say I really enjoyed it:pinkiehappy:

I like it, that was a great final employment solution.

Well done. Each letter was well written, and they all flowed together in the way (it seemed) you intended them to.

Did you actually just put this up today? Because I hadn't seen or heard anything about it until just a few minutes ago...

1754860 - Yep. I had intended for all of them to be posted at once.

She seems to be acclimating well.

1754919

Is this... *GASP*

The end of the series?!?

It's nice to see a continuation of this series, and I think you did a pretty good job with it.

1754952 - Probably not.

1754628
I'm a horrible person, but....
"I'd weigh anchor at her dock, if ya know what I mean." :trixieshiftleft::trixieshiftright::rainbowwild:

1754967
:yay:

Will have to get around to reading this.

Fluffy and fun! I like it. The letter format makes me feel like this correspondence would be great chapter openers for the "real" story, like Ender's Game.

The story was well played out and the letter style was unique and provided you a way to poke a lot of fun at a lot of different things. You had a well developed world and interesting characterization. I've found myself entranced and I loved the whole story.

Honestly, the only reason I'm not scoring this higher is because of it's style. It was a nice simple short enjoyable read. I'd compare this to Portal, and amazing short game that you fall in love with, but because of what it is I don't enjoy it as much as an expertly crafted RPG.

Thus I give this and 8/10 (with 5 being average and not 7). I'm definitely looking forward to the next story in this series.

I am curious, are you gonna try and do anything about how badly your story got broken by the Trixie episode? Or are you just gonna leave it as it is?

Short and sweet and highly enjoyable. Nice work!

1754967
Awesome!

Huzzah! I can now refer to this as 'The Petriculture Trilogy'!

This was a great little series and a nice addition to your two previous stories to this little corner of the MLP fanverse.

Having the entire story done through Penumbra's letters gave it an interesting point of view. I really like the character you've created here and I would love to see more of her in the future.

Another great story. I'm kinda sad to not actually "see" these events happen like with a normal story structure, but this was amusing to read and gave a nice accounting of Penumbra's misadventures. I admit to having some sympathy towards her, as she has some of my own flaws: an inability to understand the STUPID various people who make questionable decisions.

Ah well, good story. Hope to see more about what happens in the Petriculture-verse. :pinkiehappy:

I'm sure you knew this would be coming by this point.
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/fz9i7.jpg
(I suppose I don't have to tell you to click for big by now.)

1754469

'Plot' usually works well.

1755835
Gah! No. It Burnssss ussssss! The fandom slang!

1756035
Actually, the Bleen came up with it already. :raritywink:

PPS

1755665
Maybe my brightness or color settings are different from yours, but the outlines on Penumbra are nearly indistinguishable from her coat color on my monitor, so she ends up looking like a dark blue blob. Is there anything you could do about that? Maybe lighten the outlines or add some highlights? Also, I don't know how much you could do to fix this or whether it'd be worth your time, but I can't unsee her mane as a big tire track.

that was awesome! as this is probably not the last piece; im probably (:rainbowkiss:) looking forward to more!

Cloud Nineteen

That number... DT, have you read it?

As for the story: I liked it! She just wants somepony to appreciate her work, and now they will.

This was far too good to be this short. Really really wish this had gone quite a bit longer. Other then that great story and thanks very much for sharing.

very nice story, thanks for writing it.

Okay, I've gotten a few complaints (Well one complaint, but it's true.) that Penumbra just looks like a big dark blob in my image, so i want in and cranked up the contrast on her a bit. hopefully this helps:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/x4oin.jpg
(I'm not even going to say it this time)

Pax

1755894 REALLY? I FIND IT QUITE RELAXING TO IMMERSE ONESELF WITHIN IT.

1757791
The slang, or the plot?

Alt. Title (and this is going solely by the description, title, cover art and character list here, so don't say I got the whole fic wrong): The Alternative Nyx Part III: In Which Nyx Penumbra Stroke Looks For A Job

I really like this. It's kind of a shame that it's presented as letters instead of a story. I would have liked to go with Penumbra through these experiences instead of just being told about them.:fluttershysad:

Am I the only one who liked the use of dock? Although I did suggest plot.

This should be labelled comedy. It's hilarious. It's a great series. Crazy how it all started with Pinkie Pie being imaginary and now we have this (hilarious) OC. Great work! Greenthumbed

1757840

Yisssss. Feelin' pretty bosslike at the moment.

You have done an amazing job of developing Penumbra in so few words. :ajsmug: Bravo!

You know if we look away from the Thunderlane staring at her butt part, this would make for a great episode. It takes a lot of skill to write something like this, but then again you're Kwakerjak and you've proven that you're a great author once again!

*snerk*

Well, that went as well as I might have expected...!

Nice work - as per usual!

I, for one, wouldn't be averse to more stories in this continutiy, should mood take you...

lparchive.org/Penumbra-Collection/Images/1-banner.jpg
what I thought of when I read her name was penumbra:twilightoops:

1755239 Dude princess celestia makes our rules:rainbowkiss:

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