One Shot in the Pipe / Magical Duel Review · 3:31pm Dec 4th, 2012
Every once in a while I get the itch to do a story that departs from the tried and true methods and cliches that have become known to the fandom. I suppose the abundance of alicorn Twilight fics is why I am a little tired of writing in the Sunset universe for the moment, and I do not really see that changing until the conclusion of this season of pony. Still, Twilight has had practically everything happen to her, and I mean everything. She's had a different sex, different tutor, different upbringing, etc. However, there is one thing I have not seen done. Sure, it may have been done before elsewhere, which is likely since there are no more original ideas, but I find this idea intriguing, so I shall pursue it.
It's probably going to be mediocre at best though, but I suppose that is up to you to decide. An author is their own worst critic, after all. (They're also alcoholics, borderline psychotic and all around bad ponies, but that is not the point.) Does it have a name, or even a working title yet? Nope! You're getting absolutely nothing to brace yourself except to expect it and the next part of Mezza Voce before the holiday season. (I am christian, so Christmas for me.) Like all my one-shots, if there is demand or interest in a sequel in that universe, I will do one. If not, whatever. Now, on to the real reason why you are here: my half-baked commentary and reviews!
Way back at the near beginning of season one, we were introduced to the third villain of the series after the vengeful Nightmare Moon and the jerky griffon- slash shipping fuel with Rainbow Dash- Gilda. Her name was Trixie The Great and Powerful Trixie! I'm sure we all know the story, but I am going to recap it anyway. Trixie comes to town and puts on a show for the denizens of Ponyville. Most of them are amused enough, but a couple of them are bored and criticize her for her egotistical attitude. I still say they did not get that it was all probably an act, but, again, that is not the point. Trixie is offended and dares them to challenge her magic if they think they can. They do, but she humiliates each one in turn and even starts calling out random members of the audience (aka: Twilight), to which they excuse themselves citing that their laundry needs them. Trixie gains fans in the town out of the young unicorn colts Snips and Snails and, in their naivete, call her out on her claims of defeating an Ursa Major by luring one to town to see her awesomeness.
Long story short, she admits to making the story up (after failing to live up to her claims), Twilight Sparkle saves the town and she vows revenge on her one day.
That day comes a little more than two years later. By our view point, at least. We have no idea how long it has been for Twilight or the citizens of Ponyville. Personally, I never thought we would ever see her again, and until Saturday, I was okay with it.
Well, well, well. It looks like we have a Neeeeigggghhhsayer in the audience!
I will admit, going into this episode I was skeptical, and also looking forward to the tears and agony of a thousand different sinking ships as the unapologetic Trixie would cement herself as an evil jerk who would get the snot beat out of her smug muzzle. The fact that Trixie is Twilight's younger sister in the Sunset universe played no small part in this, I assure you. In fact, I am pleasantly surprised, but that is something I will go into detail to later. For now, have a quick (ish) synopsis of the events. I swear, I am trying to keep them down on the old word count, but I do tend to go on rambling tangents sometimes.
Magical Duel starts off with a cloaked figure running through the back allies of what we can only assume to be Canterlot and into a shady and dark looking store. The figure then starts rooting through boxes and drawers like a thief in a blackout. When the shopkeeper comes out to investigate, the figure points to a black and red relic he calls the Alicorn Amulet. Now, Pegacorn diehards are going to fight hoof and nail, saying it refers to the alicorn in a unicorn's horn, but the wings and the horned figurehead on the ruby necklace kinda serve as the final *ahem* nail in that coffin. Oh, would you look at that? I think I'm turning into Trixie from all that shameless boasting!
It's canon!
*Ahem* Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. Anyway! Back in Ponyville we find our favourite magician practicing floating a bunch of critters at once in an "infinity" sign while their owner/friend/caretaker/most adorable pony Fluttershy watches in extreme agony and anxiety. Seriously, she has some really good facial expressions this episode which rival even her most spectacular rage face from the Grand Galloping Gala! Don't you just want to hug her and tell her everything is going to be okay? But wait... not everything is okay as Rainbow Dash flies like a bat out of Tartarus right after the practice session, and just who is doing all of these mean spells, and why is Rarity wearing that.. that THING!?
Oh! The humanity!
It turns out that Trixie The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned to right the wrongs done to her by the infuriating Twilight Sparkle! However, in her great and powerful mercy, she decides to forgo kicking that brat out on her flank and leaving her in the cold by graciously allowing her a duel. At first, she refuses but with a little convincing she sees Trixie's way and accepts. Of course, she is no match for her mighty and awesome magic and quickly flees with her tail between her legs once it has become evident that Trixie has bested her! Finally, The Great and Powerful Trixie will no longer have to hear cries of her being called a fraud or a hack. Not when she is the one running the show!! >=D
... Right. So, after she is forcibly kicked out of Ponyville by the blue meanie (reference) she tries her hoof at practicing the magic that stumped her: age spells. Predictably, she is unsuccessful, but at least has the wherewithal to contemplate sending Celestia a letter, even if it is impossible. So, she decides to settle on the next best thing! A mare who knows all about strange, and powerful magic. A mare who she trusts to help her in her hour of need. A mare who can help her overcome adversity and conquer Trixie and her weird and sudden aptitude at magic! Do you know who that mare is?
ZECORA!
Sorry, Luna.
Seriously? I am happy to see the Zebra get more air time. She only had a couple of appearances in season one and about four in season two respectively, for goodness sake! Either way, Lauren once said she saw her as like a second mentor to Twilight and I am happy to see that the show runners are going in that direction. In this episode she plays double duty between being a shaman, magician and Yoda! Okay, maybe three things, but it's still pretty cool; especially when she refills her spilled cup using only her hooves. She teaches Twilight the value of focus under any circumstance and to "unlearn what you have learned." Again, pretty Yoda.
Back in Ponyville, Trixie is running things like a well-tuned clock! Of course, the local yokels oppose and detest her, but that is only because they do not see the greatness in Trixie. Perhaps she should make an example out of some of them? Tickling sounds like a good place to start, but if they continue to defy their new mistress, she shall dole out harsher punishments! Of course, not every thing is candy and roses in Trixie's domain quite yet. For instance, some pesky beavers irritate Trixie by pounding on her barrier dome until she graciously lets them out so they can build their dam, or mate with it, or whatever beavers do with such big wood with a giant hole in it. Of course, unbeknownst to Trixie, a pony has managed to escape and tells that infuriating Twilight Sparkle of her secret! I knew I should have burned that tree down when I had the chan-!
Okay, that's enough of that. Learning that Trixie essentially cheated by taking magical steroids, Zecora gives her some vague advice that Twilight understands, but leaves the rest of us guessing. I was under the impression that she would use the Elements of Harmony somehow, but that was only at first viewing. So, she returns to Ponyville with an amulet that she says will trump the Alicorn Amulet and challenges Trixie to another duel. At first she is hesitant, but lusts to see what kind of power it has after a bit of selling. Trixie decides to go for the big guns of age magic first, to which Twilight seemingly accomplishes with ease. She also makes a one-pony band outfit appear on the muzzled (or de-muzzled) Pinkie Pie, one-ups Trixie at her own game, doubles the Rainbow Dashes and even turns Applejack into a stallion!
The sh*t has been flipped shark has been jumped!
Trixie, knowing the power of Twilight's amulet, takes it an rejects the shoddy Alicorn Amulet, which one of the Rainbow Dashes swipes. At first, she is indignant, but remembers she has a new and better toy and tries to make her PAY! Seriously, wreathing agony in a kids show? This plot be dark. Sadly, I am not talking about you, Princess Luna. Well, as it turns out, Twilight did indeed learn a valuable lesson from Zecora: cheat a cheat with a trick. In essence, she made Trixie perceive that her amulet was better and, being the only one able to take off the Alicorn one, would reject it in favour of more power. Robbed of her power by the successful gambit, there is nothing she can do for Twilight is the victor. We cut to the ending where our favourite lavender unicorn entertains the delegates from Saddle Arabia and we end with Trixie apologizing before (not so gracefully) running off into the night after just enough egotism to show us she has a conscience, but is still smug and self-assured as always.
Personally? I was expecting a lot worse from this episode. After two years the fandom had built up her character in one way or another, and not to mention shipped her to the point of cliche with Twilight. A lot of people, however, are not happy with the ending and I can see why. Trixie was a tyrannical, evil twit who deserved to be locked in stocks for her crimes against equinity (?) and not to mention forcibly confining a member of government in a gilded cage. To some extent, I agree that perhaps Trixie should have paid a little more than she did, but you have to remember two very key facts. First and foremost, she was being corrupted by the amulet and the mane six were aware of this about half way through, so she is not completely at fault for being nasty. Secondly, this is a show for kids and in the end, no pony was hurt, so the most noble and friendly way to deal with this was to let her apologize on her own, which she did, and then just let her go.
What really stands out here, however, is not the plot, but the jokes. For such a dark tone to the story, M.A. Larson does a great job of balancing the tension with humor. Be it tickle torture, Fluttershy's meekness and unwillingness to venture into the Everfree in her adorable secret mission costume, to Pinkie's ability to speak being completely robbed of her for most of the episode. As well, we have also confirmed that ANY pony can break the fourth wall, as Trixie and Twilight demonstrate respectively. Toss in a good few shipping fuel lines and situations and you have yourself an episode that remarkably does not do what I wanted it to. Boo!
Woah! One second... The Alicorn Amulet is a mysterious artifact that increases the magical abilities of the wearer by an insane degree. As well, there is little to no back story on it, corrupts the wearer and can only be taken off by them. Hmm.
Sound familiar?
Anyway, there was very little I did not like here though, but if I had to nitpick, it would be that as soon as the second battle takes place, Zecora more or less disappears. If anything, I expected her to be in the background.during the second duel, but she is nowhere to be seen and that makes me sad; especially if this is the only episode we see her in this season given the length. There are probably also a few animation errors here or there, but I can wait until one of those error compilations hit youtube before I bother looking for them. If you have things you did not like, please leave them in the comments!
In closing, this episode was very well done in almost all aspects. While Trixie's apology felt just a little bit rushed and out of character, she quickly went back to being the egotistical zealot we all know and ship with Twilight Sparkle- I mean respect. Even if we never see another episode with her in it for the remainder of the series, she has finally come in an episode worthy of the fan base she has and leaves a good legacy in its wake. Personally, I came out of this liking her a little more than I did before, which means she is likely to suffer more in future stories, but if only because she is as how I saw her: a loudmouth braggart, but ultimately harmless with a conscience. I honestly think it was more the amulet influencing her to make her so mean to the others when her only quarrel was with Twilight. I know I have left stuff out in this review, but I have been at it for over an hour and a half. Let me leave it off with just one more picture.
Running off into the night. Albeit not so gracefully.
So, time for the worst part of the review: the number rating! All things considered, I would give this a solid 90/100.
Next week we have Sleepless in Ponyville! One thing I am really hoping they debunk with this is all the orphan Scootaloo stuff. Seriously, that is just sad!
Until next time, this is Ciro saying... "Whenever there's a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever. Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time. . . That is up to you."
I stopped reading when you said Zecora only had 1 appearance in Season 1, she had 2, Bridle Gossip and one scene in the episode RIGHT AFTER
Oh, I love that last gif; probably cause Trixie is a character I have a slight dislike for. (I just don't like her, I find her annoying.) //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png
I was disappointed about the lack of Luna, I got so excited till Twilight dropped Zecora's name and dashed my hopes.
572075
Thank you for the correction. I will fix and hope you finish it. Sorry about the mistake.
572161 I did right after actually
Zecora is my fifth favorite character after Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Pinkie
I would have preferred a Zecora focused episode to this fan service episode personally
edit: I also want to see Twilight use what she learned from Zecora in this episode eventually, and I know it probably will never happen
I don't understand how so many people thought she was going to go ask Luna. If she cant send a letter to Celestia, how in Equestria's name was she supposed to contact Luna? Sure she's closer being in Canterlot and all, but Twilight wouldn't even have assess to the train system since the station would be in Ponyville. Teleporting is also out of the question due to how much magical energy she used up from the duel.
Zecora, however, was much closer and Twilight has visited her repeatedly considering she buys a special type of tea from Zecora. Maybe it was just me, but I figured it was Zecora the moment she mentioned about needing someone who had knowledge on obscure and rare magic/artifacts.
572204
I know this, I just felt like making a Luna joke, hence the "seriously" at the beginning of the next paragraph.
All good points, though few things have to point out. Firstly, how did Trixie break fourth wall exactly? By using a spell that displayed events like a TV?
Next, how does Pinkie even SURVIVE, with no mouth or nose to breathe air, depending on how long events take place? Know it's a cartoon, but seriously, that just seems like big plothole where cartoon logic doesn't work. 
Also, I think Zecora's final piece of advice in this episode (after watching it a few times) meant she had to use the power of her friends and not her magic to beat Trixie, by deceiving her enough in order to make her believe she could do those things, so she would take her supposed amulet and take the Alicorn Amulet off. Not to mention, do they have different eye-color contact lenses in Equestria or something? Haven't paid attention when we were still being deceived, but when they showed that ponies were hiding or getting ready, we saw Granny Smith's and Fluttershy's (and maybe a couple of the others) true eye colors, which're different from the others that they were taking place of.
But later on, they did show duplicate Rainbows having same eye colors, and I think filly Applejack and Rarity (which was Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle) having same as well. A consistency error?
Well, other than that not much can say (didn't write my own review this time, but agree pretty much). I liked seeing Zecora again as well, seriously we need more eps/time with her! And see you already been pointed out that she had TWO appearances in Season One (as well as reference in one ep), brief though they both may have been. Had worried they were going to make Trixie an alicorn in beginning with name of the artifact (hadn't even realized that Alicorn was canon until somepony else pointed out in other review I read and hadn't seen the preview like with last week's), but later on seemed to disprove that theory, once she took her cloak off for whatever reason (though didn't pay attention to that detail or think, once got further in, on original airing). Also thought "changeling" when saw second Rainbow Dash and funny how nopony accused second Rainbow of being a changeling either, but same can be said for all the Pinkie Pies two episodes back. Plus, Twilight did seemingly cast the spell, so maybe that's why. And hoped she'd stick around more, especially if her career is shot, but maybe she'll come back someday. One can hope... dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Derpy_Hooves.png
Also, don't think you explained more where you said about this.
Or did you, being surprised that Trixie apologized at the end, even if she herself made the conscious choice to get and put on the Alicorn Amulet in first place? Which again, is another plot point and whatnot, but eh.
And new idea sounds maybe interesting, I suppose. Though dunno if should ask when you say she's changed sex, do you mean starting out as mare and somehow later turning into stallion? Or like stories with Rule63 version of her?
Also, call BS on no more original ideas! I myself have had several, maybe not with Twilight exactly, but still. Not to self-promote, just saying. 
Though dunno if been done elsewhere or at times when missed stories being uploaded on this site, but I still say are original. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Rainbow_dealwithit.png
my only complain with that episode was the lack of Luna. I can only hope that this season isn't going to be like the previous ones, which would mean no more Luna this season :(
especially loved the attention to detail and how they managed to nail the characters in this episode.
572262
the tv spell and the mouse & garbage key spell. Also pinkie is beyond such feeble needs like breathing.
I liked how they revealed who her real enemy was at the end. Gravity is indeed a harsh mistress. (Any further works in the Sunset continuity could have her and somepony grey talk about their mutual losing battle with looking graceful.)
Gotta admit, I was worried about them actually going ahead to include the whole second mentor thing with Zecora, and for a while I was glad it wasn't included earlier in the series. I was concerned that it would be too contrived and people would start asking the question: who the hell is Twilight supposed to be looking up to? Celestia? Luna? Zecora? Her real mother? Who? How many mother figures/mentors does this mare have? Glad I was proven wrong.
You also voice a lot of the same concerns I had for Trixie. They handled her surprisingly well, considering the building and fan canon. And I still can't get over that trip.
Only downside to all this: I'm gonna have to sit on my hands for my fic right now, at least until the whole hype around Trixie dies down again. I just don't want what I had in mind for Trixie's return to be right on the heels of the second Trixie episode. *shrug*