Chapter 1: Circumference
“... So, after several in-depth discussions with Zecora, I’ve formed a hypothesis that zebra magic is a sort of hybrid of unicorn and earth pony magics, at least in terms of how it actually functions. Of course, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that zebras are descended from unicorn-earth pony hybrids, but it seems to me that the matter is worth further study.”
“Fascinating,” Penumbra responded, though she didn’t bother to shift her concentration to what Twilight was saying. Indeed, in most other contexts, the dark blue pegasus probably would have found the topic to be intellectually stimulating, but at the moment she preferred to keep her focus squarely on her work. After a few weeks of stagnation, the clientele of Cloud Nineteen had suddenly begun growing much faster than she’d anticipated. Apparently, it took the average pony some time to realize that the services of an artisan cloudsmith were worth paying for—particularly earth ponies and unicorns—but once they warmed up to the idea, they were more than happy to share this insight with their friends.
But whatever the reason, Penumbra was not about to complain about the fact that the volume of her work had forced her to move her workshop out of Sugarcube Corner to the outskirts of Ponyville. After all, now she had much more space to work with, and there were no complaints that her creations were blocking anypony’s sunlight. It had been less than a month since construction work had ended on the open air pavilion where she could conduct business in inclement weather, and it seemed that her enterprise’s reputation was growing by the day, and if her current creation was well-received, it could skyrocket.
The pegasus hovered over the pavilion’s roof, evaluating the work she’d done so far. She’d tied up her black mane in a tight ponytail to keep it out of her eyes, of course, but given the scale of her current project, taking time to back up and survey it as a whole was absolutely necessary. Apparently, there was to be some sort of reception for diplomats for Saddle Arabia in the near future, and Princess Celestia had, on her Sister’s recommendation, commissioned Penumbra to create a cloud sculpture that could serve as a centerpiece. The pegasus had therefore designed an abstract piece consisting of a quadruple helix of cirrus clouds, all surrounding a pillar of cumulus clouds which she’d tinted red—Twilight Sparkle had asked her multiple times whether this had been done using magic or a more natural method, but thus far Penumbra had refused to answer such questions on the grounds that the process was a “company secret.”
That, however, was not the reason Twilight was here today. Rather, she was here to help Penumbra determine whether to use a light breeze to get the helices to rotate around the column or to have a unicorn use magic to move them, though today, she seemed far more interested in the magical theory of zebras.
This came as no surprise, particularly since Twilight had been especially interested in hybrid magic ever since the fallout of her ill-fated attempt to seize the Equestrian crown had transformed her into an alicorn, albeit a wingless one who wasn’t particularly good at farming. A similar fate had befallen Pinkie Pie (who still looked like an earth pony), though in her case, it wasn’t any more unusual than her previous state as “Twilight’s imaginary friend come to life.” Penumbra, likewise, was also technically an alicorn and a former imaginary friend, assuming one used the loosest definition of “friend” imaginable: as the Nightmare, she’d driven her creator mad with power, and had almost managed to do the same to Twilight. The librarian had been researching the implications of being a magically-unbalanced alicorn since that incident, though without much fanfare; she’d even had Penumbra and Pinkie Pie promise not to reveal their actual status to anyone, even their closest friends, until she was certain about what was going on.
“I think zebras channel magic through their hooves the way unicorns channel it through their horns, but I can’t detect any magical aura when Zecora casts a spell. Do you suppose—”
The bookish unicorn never got the chance to finish that particular musing, as she was suddenly bowled over by a familiar blue blur with a rainbow trail. It took a few seconds before Twilight Sparkle rose to her feet again. “Ugh... Rainbow Dash, I thought you were going to be more careful when you were flying at high speeds.”
“Sorry, Twilight, but I don’t have time to be careful,” the blue pegasus replied earnestly. “You need to get to town. Like, right now.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Trixie’s back.”
Twilight immediately lost all her interest in discussing arcane hypotheses upon hearing that name. “C’mon, Penumbra, we need to get going.”
Penumbra, having never heard of this “Trixie” character before, raised an eyebrow skeptically, but before she could answer, Twilight had already started galloping towards Ponyville.
“Well?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You coming or not?”
Penumbra sighed as she loosened her ponytail and let her mane drape over her right eye. “I suppose I might as well.” After all, Twilight Sparkle was her friend.
——————————
As soon as the red light from the spell had faded, Rarity looked down in horror at what had been done to her. Her voice was quavering as she shouted, “You... you monster! I’m hideous!”
“Actually, I don’t think the dress looks all that bad.”
The white unicorn glowered briefly at her friend, annoyed at the discourteous interruption of her melodrama. “That, my dear Applejack, is why your cutie mark has absolutely nothing to do with fashion. A red this bold should simply not be paired with pastels! Now, where was I?”
“Uh, I think ya were about ta faint.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.” Rarity brought a hoof to her forehead before collapsing on the earth pony’s back. As Applejack left the unicorn in Spike’s able claws so she could regain her dignity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Penumbra arrived in Ponyville’s town square.
Twilight looked around for Trixie’s cart, but couldn’t see it anywhere. She did, however, see a large crowd in front of the town hall. “What’s going on?” she asked as she pushed her way through the mass of ponies.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Twilight Sparkle,” said a voice oozing with smug superiority.
Twilight would never mistake that voice. The librarian turned and saw an azure unicorn mare wearing a black cape and a somewhat gaudy ruby necklace staring at her with a cruel sneer on her face. “Trixie,” Twilight said, her eyelids lowering into an irritated squint. “What are you doing here?”
Before Trixie could answer, however, Pinkie Pie interjected. “She’s been casting spells left and right and up and down and back and front and in and out trying to get your attention, and she wouldn’t believe us when we said you were on the outskirts of town.”
“Oh, I believed you,” Trixie replied. “I just wanted Twilight to come to me.”
“And that justifies turning Fluttershy’s mane into cake frosting?” the pink earth pony retorted. “That’s royal icing you used, and you didn’t even have the decency to use any glycerine at all! Now her mane is hard as a rock!”
“Um... it’s alright, Pinkie,” the pale yellow pegasus said softly. “I... I think I can live with it....” Apparently, she’d been cringing when she’d been hit by Trixie’s spell, as her neck and shoulders were oddly contorted.
Twilight let out a soft sigh and cast a counterspell on Fluttershy, giving her the chance to stretch her neck again. “You haven’t answered my question yet, Trixie.”
“Hmph. Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to prove once and for all that I’m the better magician. My skills have improved exponentially since we last met, and I intend to demonstrate it by challenging you to a magic duel!”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Rainbow Dash said. “I thought ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ was allergic to pronouns.”
Trixie glared at the pegasus. “I’m not here on business. This is personal!” For emphasis, she shot a spell at Rainbow Dash’s hooves, covering them with slimy goo.
“Ack! Get it off get it off get it off get it off!” Rainbow Dash took to the air, waving her legs in a frantic attempt to fling off the gunk.
“Hmm... that went even better than expected,” Trixie mused. “She was only supposed to be rendered unable to stand on the ground. But enough diversions. I have yet to hear your reply.”
“What terms?”
The blue unicorn grinned, and it seemed for a brief moment that her purple eyes flashed red. “Oh, the traditional ones. Winner stays, loser leaves town. Forever.”
Twilight Sparkle didn’t seem to find the idea nearly as entertaining. “Exile? Seriously? This is the fourteenth century, Trixie. I’m not nearly gullible enough to fight a duel under those terms.”
“Well, then I suppose that means there’s no way you’re going to get rid of me, so I might as well keep practicing my spellcasting.”
Another spell shot into the crowd, this one hitting Granny Smith in the face. “Ack! Mah teef!” the old mare shouted as her dentures jumped out of her mouth and started bouncing around like an overactive novelty toy. “Git back heah!”
Twilight’s patience was starting to run thin. “Why are you even doing this?”
“Why? Because you humiliated me!” Trixie shouted. “After you showed me up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughingstock. My credibility was left in tatters. Everywhere I went, I was laughed at and called a fraud! Why, to make ends meet, I even had to take a job serving overpriced coffee to snooty hipsters at Starbuck’s! Starbuck’s!”
“Well, no wonder she wants revenge,” Penumbra said to nopony in particular. She seemed oddly unconcerned by Trixie’s threatening tone.
“You ruined my life, and now, I’m finally going to make you pay for what you did to me.”
“Wait!” Pinkie shouted. “That Ursa Minor didn’t seem like it was just waiting around for you to handle it. It was being all cranky and destruction-y and scary. Are you saying Twilight should have let it destroy Ponyville?” It didn’t sound like a rhetorical question, which, naturally, put a lot of pressure on the showmare to actually respond.
Rather than acknowledge that she hadn’t actually thought her motivations through, Trixie exploded with rage, her eyes flaring red. “Shut up!” She let loose another blast of magic that seemed to cause Pinkie’s entire muzzle to disappear.
“Mmm! Mmmm mm mm mmmmm mmmm!”
“Well?” Trixie asked Twilight with a smirk. “What’ll it be?”
The librarian looked around at her friends. All of them seemed to be counting on her to set things right... except for Penumbra, who had a look of bored impatience. “For Luna’s sake, what are you still waiting for?” she asked, as if she was surprised that Twilight was even hesitating in the first place.
Trixie’s aura, meanwhile, had surrounded Spike and lifted him into the air. “Whoah! Help!”
That did it—there was no way Twilight was going to let her assistant come to harm. “Alright, Trixie. I accept your terms. Let’s duel.”
The blue unicorn obligingly set Spike down near the rest of Twilight’s friends. The dragon looked over at Penumbra, whose grin radiated nearly as much smugness as Trixie’s. “You look confident,” he noted.
The pegasus’ smile intensified as she answered, “That’s because I am. This loudmouthed upstart doesn’t stand a chance. Watching her get knocked down a few pegs should prove most gratifying.”
As the two unicorns stared each other down, Twilight contemplated her first move; she had to make the opening salvo, or else Trixie might control the flow of the entire duel. As her eyes glanced skyward, she noticed six puffy clouds hanging over the town hall. Yes, those should do...
“Draw!” Trixie shouted as a red aura surrounded her horn, but before she could reel off whatever spell she’d been preparing, Twilight had acted. The six clouds arranged themselves in a hexagon over her opponent, and, with a little jolt of magic, all of them simultaneously fired lightning bolts where she was standing, though Trixie managed to jump out of the way before she got hurt. Twilight was quite proud of this; while unicorn weather magic may not have been the most difficult, the fact that pegasi made it largely redundant meant that it was one of the least studied branches of magical theory, so there was a good chance she’d caught Trixie by surprise.
The blue unicorn sneered. “Congratulations, Sparkle. You’re qualified to be a substitute pegasus. But this is about who’s the better unicorn.” Trixie punctuated her insult by hefting a cart full of apples into the air and flinging it at the crowd of spectators.
Twilight barely had time to react, but she was able to catch it before it squished a blue earth pony underneath its bulk. The librarian was about to toss it back, when she heard a voice call out: “Twilight! What in the hay do ya think yer doin’?!”
It was only now that Twilight Sparkle put two and two together and realized that the cart she was preparing to lob belonged to the Apple family. “Sorry!” she called back as she neatly returned the would-be projectile to the ground.
Unfortunately, this delay gave Trixie an opening to begin an exchange of her own. No sooner had Twilight turned her face back towards her opponent than she found herself neck deep in garbage, which her opponent had apparently materialized over her head.
Fortunately, living in Ponyville had given Twilight plenty of practice at rapidly cleaning up spontaneous messes. Without pausing for a single dry heave, she teleported the waste to the compost pile at Sweet Apple Acres. This, however, did nothing to remove the aromatic bouquet of rotten food and bacteria-infested filth from the town square, as the strained gagging noises from the crowd demonstrated.
Thinking quickly, Twilight teleported several dozen scented candles into the town square and spread them around the crowd, and it was no trouble for her to light all the wicks at once. As the assembled ponies stopped holding their breaths, the librarian made a mental note to compensate Aloe and Lotus Blossom for clearing out their spa’s stockpile of aromatherapy candles. She didn’t much like the idea of having earthworms surreptitiously added to her next mud bath.
What next? Twilight Sparkle glanced around the town square for some inspiration. Presumably, the only reason Trixie hadn’t yet followed up her garbage attack was shock from Twilight having found a solution so quickly, but that wouldn’t last forever. Soon, she found what she was looking for: the stone fountain featuring a statue of Ringaling, a famed acrobat who was arguably Ponyville’s most well-known resident until very recently. The stone earth pony was smiling broadly as she balanced on her ball. How about one more performance?
Twilight’s horn glowed again, and the statue sprang to life, rolling off of its fountain and flipping on its ball for the extremely impressed audience—though it was difficult to tell what Trixie thought of Ringaling’s performance, as her face was contorted into a glower. Looking over at a nearby construction site, she placed her own come-to-life spell on a jackhammer. The acrobat managed to escape its destructive power by throwing her ball at it, which crushed the tool under its weight. Unfortunately, the ball was as much a part of the statue as the pony, and as it had been destroyed, too, Ringaling went rigid once again, though she now had all four hooves on the ground and a victorious smirk on her face.
The monument wasn’t the only pony grinning. “Is that all you’ve got, Trixie?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
Trixie glared back at her nemesis. “Hardly.” She scanned the crowd and spotted the two colts who had tried to form a makeshift entourage the last time she’d been in Ponyville. “You there! Snaps and Snuff!”
“Um... it’s actually Snips and Snails, Your Powerfulness,” said the chubbier of the two.
“Given that you two are largely responsible for destroying my caravan, you should be grateful I’m speaking to you at all! Now, step forward.” The two young ponies nervously complied. Another blast of red light came from Trixie’s horn, surrounding Snips and Snails and lifting the fidgeting colts up into the air as the light grew brighter. When the light finally faded, Snips had reverted to an infant, while Snails had the body of an elderly stallion. “Ha! Beat that, if you can,” Trixie told Twilight.
“Hmmm,” Penumbra said as she thoughtfully held a hoof to her chin. “An aging spell. Very tricky... but still, it’s nothing Twilight can’t handle.”
Indeed, Twilight’s counterspell had lifted the two affected ponies back into the air... but for some reason, that was all it was doing. The librarian’s face looked strained, and as the intensity of her magical aura grew, beads of sweat began trickling down her face.
“What’s going on?” Penumbra asked nopony in particular. “Why isn’t she finishing the job?”
No answer was forthcoming, as the question was soon rendered irrelevant. Twilight’s aura flickered briefly before suddenly becoming noticably more intense. This was it. This was where Twilight Sparkle would unquestionably establish the superiority of her skills. As the aura’s hue began an ever-so-subtle shift from pink to violet, Penumbra grinned broadly. The duel would be over soon; she was certain of it.
As Twilight set Snips and Snails back down on the ground, Penumbra leaned forward, eager to revel in her friend’s success. However, as the light faded away, Snips was still an infant, while Snails was still wizened. Shocked, the pegasus looked towards Twilight, hoping to get some hint at the clever gambit she had to be playing... but the unicorn looked downcast. Twilight bowed solemnly to her opponent, and said something about an honorable fight, but Penumbra wasn’t paying attention. It had to be a feint—a trick—anything other than what it looked like, because it looked like Twilight Sparkle was conceding.
But no, Trixie was cackling evilly (if rather amateurishly, in Penumbra’s opinion) and boasting about her superiority. The other Elements of Harmony galloped to Twilight’s defense, but to no avail: Trixie lifted Twilight Sparkle up in the air and tossed her out of Ponyville like an overinflated dodgeball, and still the librarian did not retaliate! It made no sense! Penumbra joined her friends in chasing after the unicorn, but were stopped short when Trixie suddenly created a massive force-field shaped like an inverted fishbowl and sealed Ponyville off from the rest of Equestria.
Penumbra was still only half-listening as Twilight returned to the force-field’s edge. “Take care of each other, okay? And keep an eye on Trixie. There’s something strange about her.”
“What about you, Twilight?” Spike asked.
“I... I need to think about this. Every problem has a solution, and this one’s no different. I just need to figure out what it is.”
Penumbra’s mood suddenly darkened. “You need to figure out a solution? What about the one that’s staring you right in the face?!”
“Penumbra... what do you mean?” Twilight asked, albeit with a rather guilty look on her face.
“You know exactly what I mean!”
“Um... I... look, just sit tight, okay? I’ll be back, I promise.” Having thus sidestepped the cloudsmith’s comment with her non-answer, Twilight Sparkle turned around and galloped away.
As the librarian grew smaller in the distance, Penumbra fell back on the oldest method of persuasion she knew: the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Twilight Sparkle, get back here! Don’t you dare ignore me!” Yet this had no effect. As Twilight vanished into a grove of trees, the cloudsmith slammed a hoof against the force field, causing it to resonate like a gigantic wine glass. “Well, that rather definitively demonstrates why she isn’t the Element of Loyalty.”
“Come on,” Rainbow Dash said. “Don’t you think you’re being a little too hard on her? I mean, she’s as upset as we are—I’m sure she’ll be back once she figures out what to do next.”
“You’re right. I don’t think I’m being too hard on her.”
“Penumbra,” Rarity said as delicately as she could, “I realize that you don’t have much experience with friendship, but one of its most fundamental principles is trust.”
The moody pegasus initially responded to this with a slack-jawed stare, and when she finally got around to making a response, her tone hadn’t improved. “Trust? Trust?! Oh, that’s just rich.” Penumbra rolled her eyes and groaned loudly. “Fine! If you need me, I shall be busy ‘trusting’ her in Pinkie Pie’s head, and I’ll ‘trust’ you to let me know if and when Twilight Sparkle has decided to stop running away from reality.”
Before the other ponies could ask Penumbra to clarify this statement, she’d already dissipated into mist. Applejack turned to Pinkie Pie. “You got any idea what’s goin’ on here?”
The pink earth pony nodded. “Mmm! Mmm mmmmmm Mmmmmmmm mmm mmmmmmm mmmm. Mmmm mmmm M mmmm?”
The farmpony sighed. “Nevermind. Looks like we’re gonna be in for a tough slog, gals. I just hope Twi can figure out what ta do, or what Penny wants her ta do, or... or whatever. And soon.” On that, at least, there was unanimous agreement.
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Now to read.
Aand it's good.
Seems Penumbra still has Nightmare's personality and attitude.
I lol'd at HTML encoding problems.
gyazo.com/ea97d1863cde02f16298730b33f692b3.png
Oh my gosh!
A continuation of one of my favorite fanfics! 
Great chapter. I can see why Penny was upset considering she probably expected twilight to use the extra power that she obtained from the Nightmare when they separated her.
Again, great start. Cannot wait to see the next chapter.
"before Twilight"
Double space here.
Great story anyway
yeah, I am with Penny here. Why didn't Twi just waste Trixie?
Ive always wondered why the guards didnt come and arrest trixie, she basically commited multiple counts of assualt.
2201888 What guards? There are no guards in Ponyville.
This shall be interesting.
Very bueno.
Haven't read any of the prequels, but maybe I'll give 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609 a chance...
Well now, that's off to a great start.
fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/345/f/a/the_great_and_powerful_trixie_approved_by_ambris-d4ivli5.png
2202276
Good one!
Update: Now added to Read Later list, by the way...!
Ooooh, darn it! I hate not knowing what other characters know! I guess I'll have to track this, then.
More Petriculture?
cdn.overclock.net/e/ed/ed6741f6_Mr_Burns_150x176.jpeg
Proceed!
I'm gonna use my usual fake threat I do when I really like an unfinished story: PINKIE PROMISE TO ADD MORE OR I WILL PUT YOU IN MY MLP WAR STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!7 (30 explanation points and a 7 is my way of signaling that the Royal Canterlot Voice is in use
)
I wonder why Penumbra was so mad? Was Twilight not using all of her power? What would happen if she did?
Awesome, another story in this series!
Added to watchlist and /) hoofs up!
I love this series so much, it has to be on my favs list...
Mmmm mm mmm m mmmmmm mmmmmm! Mmmmmmmm mm mmmmmm mm mmmm.
[[Glad to see a fourth story! Penumbra is fiesty as ever.]]
So Twilight, Penumbra and Pinkie Pie all share the alicorn magic that once belonged to "the Nightmare." All three have a degree of shapeshifting ability. Fusion anyone?
Whoop. Trixie, I love you, kid, but the shit is gonna hit the fan reeeeeal soon!
I hate to say this, but PLEASE tell me ur jot having Two pursue Zecora again. And if you do HAVE TO, please let the beusefulness of Zecora's lessons be apparent.
Looking forward to Moer.
Grace and peace, and happy writing.
This is awesome!
you know... much as I enjoy 3.14159265359 it is hard to search for. maybe just call it pi?
Add more or I will use the threat that means I really like your story
ADD MORE OR I WILL PUT YOU IN MY WAR STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!7*
*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!7= Royal Canterlot Voice
Seeing that Pinkie is an imaginary friend turned real in this universe, it would explain how she is still alive without her muzzle. As for Twilight, it looks like she would rather be exiled, then reveal her true powers. I liked this duel better than the canon one, though. I look forward to the next chapter.
2201662
Seems to me Penumbra is exasperated that Twilight isn't taking advantage of what she thinks is an obvious solution. I mean, lets be honest- Twilight now has more Unicorn magic than Celestia. Even with the amulet, Trixie shouldn't be able to beat that.
2202276 pi
LOL
Remind me why I don't watch you again, Kwak?
2209490 - I don't know; maybe you don't want your notifications clogged up with my frequent blog posts.
now this one will be interesting in the sense that it is a rewrite of an episode to fit into the storyline of the other three stories.
I'm liking the beginning of this story! And why didn't Twi just teleport back in?
2209836 - I've seen both "hooves" and "feet" used in reference to horse anatomy. Besides, ponies use the word "hand" colloquially, so why not "feet?"
2209858
Eh, okay.
Amazing story. And yeah, it's clear Penumbra thinks that Twilight is simply sandbagging. Probably right, at that.
2205878 That takes the awesomeness away, though!
2203282 She's an alicorn (technically). She could've destroyed Trixie with a thought.
2213706 That depends on how powerful you consider alicorns to be and, how powerful you consider the alicorn amulet to be.
Just finished reading the other stories this morning and I can't wait for the rest of this one!
I didn't notice this existed until this morning. It jumped to the top of my reading list.
It seems that Twilight has a deeper question here than the show's "How do I beat her?", and it is looking to be a relatively long story. I eagerly await an update.
2202276
You haven't read the earlier ones? Stop reading this right now, go read Petriculture, then Inscape, then Avocation, and if you don't come back agreeing that they are some of the best fics on this site, I'll eat my nonexistent hat. Seriously, read them. They're awesome. 
probably most of her powers too...
it'll be interesting to see how this pans out.
Adding to read later pile, due to only having one chapter and my tendency to... Devour your work but-
Could you stop making Pinkie Pie look so goddamn tragic in the cover images? It's starting to become a theme!
2209858
Wait, they do? Where? I wanna know so I can point people to it
when I slip up.I mean, obviously ponies know what hands are -- Diamond Dogs, Spike -- but it seems slightly odd that they'd use the word colloquially.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
So, after several in-depth discussions with Zecora, I’ve formed a hypothesis that zebra magic is a sort of hybrid of unicorn and earth pony magics, at least in terms of how it actually functions.
-Seems legit.
but at the moment she preferred to keep her focus squarely on her work.
-Huh, still not great with the social skills, or she would have asked Twilight to save it, or halted working on anything delicate... or maybe I am just showing MY poor social skills.
Apparently, it took the average pony some time to realize that the services of an artisan cloudsmith were worth paying for—particularly earth ponies and unicorns—but once they warmed up to the idea, they were more than happy to share this insight with their friends.
-Makes sense. Rainbow Dash is an expert reference, and very vocal, but she is SO vocal and enthusiastic that I rather suspect ponies take her with a grain of salt... which makes me think that "with a grain of salt" might have a different meaning or at least derivation, given that it is an intoxicant in pony culture, especially in fanon.
But whatever the reason, Penumbra was not about to complain about the fact that the volume of her work had forced her to move her workshop out of Sugarcube Corner to the outskirts of Ponyville.
-Given how she phrased it before I would think that "allowed" would be a better word than "forced". Maybe the transition was force to be rapid?
After all, now she had much more space to work with, and there were no complaints that her creations were blocking anypony’s sunlight.
-Indeed, and why I say that low-level cloud-sculpting is closely regulated.
It had been less than a month since construction work had ended on the open air pavilion where she could conduct business in inclement weather,
-Interesting choice... I suppose that lets the customers see the work on all sides. I wonder if she could get an exception to general weather if she agreed to make her own? Probably would take up too much of her crafting time. I wonder if she will do differently in winter... not that we actually know what season it is during any of this.
She’d tied up her black mane in a tight ponytail to keep it out of her eyes, of course,
-Easier to do now she doesn't have an energy mane? Then again, her's was prehensile, rendering the point moot.
there was to be some sort of reception for diplomats for Saddle Arabia in the near future,
-Well, I hope her art is a smoother interaction than Pinkie's jokes. And only while typing this do I realize it sets things up for the timeline you are paralleling.
an abstract piece consisting of a quadruple helix of cirrus clouds, all surrounding a pillar of cumulus clouds which she’d tinted red
-For a moment I was thinking of The Marker from "Dead Space", but then the outside would be red, and this would be an "exploded view" or something. In any case, I wonder if this will be instead of Twilight's animal manipulation, or in addition to it.
but thus far Penumbra had refused to answer such questions on the grounds that the process was a “company secret.”
-She's just teasing her, right? I mean given that Twilight is entrusted with Luna's notes on Tulpaology (if you don't get this, look at your TVTropes page for this series), I would think that she could keep this under her mane. Then again, they are in an open area.
to use a light breeze to get the helices to rotate around the column
-Oddly enough winds seem to be the most labor intensive thing for pegasi to control, and may be mostly natural. I say this due to the wind in Ghastly Gorge, but, on second thought, that may actually disprove my idea. The only evidence we have so far is that cyclonic winds seem to require pegasus maintenance and disperse soon after the pegasus/i stop flying in them. See Dash's solo effort at coralling the parasprites, the climax of "Dash Academy", and, of course, "Hurricane Fluttershy".
The librarian had been researching the implications of being a magically-unbalanced alicorn since that incident, though without much fanfare; she’d even had Penumbra and Pinkie Pie promise not to reveal their actual status to anyone, even their closest friends, until she was certain about what was going on.
-Wise. I wonder if she has determined if there is an effect on lifespan. If they AREN'T immortal, but Penumbra WOULD have been if they hadn't split her power, then they technically sentenced her to death for her crimes (assuming they don't give her power back at a later time). Of course, installment 5 could cover Twilight's leveraging her status into full alicorn-dom, perhaps along with Penumbra, as your parallel to "Magical Mystery Cure", just as this is your parallel to "Magic Duel". If so, I wonder if Pinkie will be getting wings and a horn... although actually she should technically be capable of the wings in the physical world, at least while enforcing a Pinkie Promise. I wonder if she could grow a functional horn now, or even all along? She certainly has enough grounding in the basic theory of how to use a horn from Twilight's childhood.
“Sorry, Twilight, but I don’t have time to be careful,” the blue pegasus replied earnestly. “You need to get to town. Like, right now.”
-And the plot starts. I wonder, if the fishbowl goes up, if Penumbra and her workshop will be trapped outside it? Then again, given her power level, Penumbra may want to come along to emergencies, just in case. Of course, she may not trust herself to exercise that power on behalf of others (bucking stallions who stare at her rump is a separate matter), or may judge that Twilight can handle it well enough that she doesn't need to take time away from the most important commission she has probably had yet. In any case, I should have said earlier that there are obvious parallels between her own former ambitions and personality and Amulet!Trixie. I wonder if she will go hoof to hoof with her, or talk her out if tyranny (and alien power sources) based on harsh experience?
“C’mon, Penumbra, we need to get going.”
-I see that Twilight considers her a useful tactical asset. Although RD hasn't yet provided any indication that Trixie has become powerful enough that Twilight couldn't handle her handily ("hoof her hoofily"?) on her own.
“That, my dear Applejack, is why your cutie mark has absolutely nothing to do with fashion. A red this bold should simply not be paired with pastels! Now, where was I?”
-Not using the original lines until Penumbra arrives? Interesting.
“Uh, I think y’all were about ta faint.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
-Well, AJ certainly knows Rarity...
As Applejack left the unicorn in Spike’s able claws so she could regain her dignity,
-I guess he WOULD be experienced with that by now?
somewhat gaudy ruby necklace
-Never struck ME as gaudy... certainly less so than most of the items of the Elemental Regalia.
“She’s been casting spells left and right and up and down and back and front and in and out trying to get your attention, and she wouldn’t believe us when we said you were on the outskirts of town.”
-I see... I wonder, if Penumbra challenges her and wins, will that mean that RD will be jealous because she couldn't beat her cross-species the first time? Then again, RD would have stopped short of bucking Trixie in the face, which Penumbra wouldn't. I also wonder if Twilight will end up petrified instead of exiled, and Penumbra will organize a resistance that avoids direct confrontation. I suspect both her own battle-plans and the efforts to mitigate Discord's effect until the Elements were discovered might prove relevant.
“Oh, I believed you,” Trixie replied. “I just wanted Twilight to come to me.”
-That could be seen as cowardly or something...
“That’s royal icing you used, and you didn’t even have the decency to use any glycerine at all! Now her mane is hard as a rock!”
-Well, at least it won't just slide off her, leaving her "bald". Is "royal icing" a reference to a real-world category of icing? Is the idea that only an alicorn's teeth could successfully handle it?
“I... I think I can live with it....”
-Very Fluttershy.
Apparently, she’d been cringing when she’d been hit by Trixie’s spell, as her neck and shoulders were oddly contorted.
-Yeah, that could be bad. She does like her mane long, so just having Pinkie Pie cut it off and serve it to her (or eat it herself if Fluttershy is squicked by the auto-cannibalism), would be a big loss.
Twilight let out a soft sigh and cast a counterspell on Fluttershy, giving her the chance to stretch her neck again.
-Yeah, good call doing that before finishing with Trixie.
“I thought ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ was allergic to pronouns.”
-Good point.
Trixie glared at the pegasus. “I’m not here on business. This is personal!”
-Ah, so it was "business" even when talking to Snip and Snails. That actually makes sense.
-*Checks episode*
-And she was using the first person pronoun in "Magic Duel" itself.
“Ack! Get it off get it off get it off get it off!” Rainbow Dash took to the air, waving her legs in a frantic attempt to fling off the gunk.
-Seems like your version of Trixie has done her research in more depth if she knows that RD is sensitive about her hooves.
“Hmm... that went even better than expected,” Trixie mused. “She was only supposed to be rendered unable to stand on the ground. But enough diversions. I have yet to hear your reply.”
-Ok, so she lucked out... is it just super-slippery or what? And it isn't like being unable to stand on the ground would be much of a big deal for RD.
“Oh, the traditional ones. Winner stays, loser leaves town. Forever.”
-Those are the traditional ones? Also, I suspect that since Penumbra passed the bar before arriving at to work at Starbucks, and remembers those traditions from a much more recent perspective (and when they were probably used a lot more) that she might know a loop-hole or two... of course, I wouldn't expect Trixie to follow such minutia if called on them. Then again, her pride might require it.
“Exile? Seriously? This is the fourteenth century, Trixie. I’m not nearly gullible enough to fight a duel under those terms.”
-Nice... especially "fourteenth century"... does that mean that they date from the end of Discord's rule and the Diarchs ruled about 400 years before Luna went nuts? Or maybe Equestria was founded 400 years before Discord, and NMM followed Discord's defeat very shortly as history is reckoned... I very much prefer the idea that it took The Nightmare several centuries to corrupt Luna.
“Ack! Mah teef!” the old mare shouted as her dentures jumped out of her mouth and started bouncing around like an overactive novelty toy. “Git back heah!”
-I see she isn't just focusing on her initial rivals, and current hecklers (or maybe she knew who Twilight's friends were?) in this timeline.
Why, to make ends meet, I even had to take a job serving overpriced coffee to snooty hipsters at Starbuck’s! Starbuck’s!”
-Nice variation. I wonder if Penumbra will chime in with an objection based on getting some distance from the issue, or, more hilariously, complete agreement that that is a horrible work environment (it was the one she lasted the least amount of time in)?
“Well, no wonder she wants revenge,” Penumbra said to nopony in particular.
-Called it.
She seemed oddly unconcerned by Trixie’s threatening tone.
-I guess when your experience has involved having guards at your beck and call, and quite possibly being immune to anything short of what IRL we would consider anti-tank weaponry you have a different idea of "threatening" than the average little pony.
“Wait!” Pinkie shouted. “That Ursa Minor didn’t seem like it was just waiting around for you to handle it. It was being all cranky and destruction-y and scary. Are you saying Twilight should have let it destroy Ponyville?” It didn’t sound like a rhetorical question, which, naturally, put a lot of pressure on the showmare to actually respond.
-Showing off her intellect? I wonder if Pinkie will manage to change the terms of the duel to avoid harm to civilians. The challenge could be to whip up on some monsters in the Everfree, or even to actually do heroic stuff.
Rather than acknowledge that she hadn’t actually thought her motivations through, Trixie exploded with rage, her eyes flaring red. “Shut up!” She let loose another blast of magic that seemed to cause Pinkie’s entire muzzle to disappear.
-Well, there goes that idea... I wonder if you will cover how she breaths...
“For Luna’s sake, what are you still waiting for?” she asked, as if she was surprised that Twilight was even hesitating in the first place.
-Interesting that she doesn't recognize the amulet... then again, not all powerful artifacts HAVE to be ancient, especially in a society that treats magic like science. The Alicorn Amulet could be a "mere" three centuries old for all we know.
That did it—there was no way Twilight was going to let her assistant come to harm. “Alright, Trixie. I accept your terms. Let’s duel.”
-Not even needing to roll him into a ball and shoot him through a basket?
The blue unicorn obligingly set Spike down near the rest of Twilight’s friends.
-Ok, so she knows they ARE her friends, despite having little reason (but more than none) to realize that based on what happened in "Boast Busters" IIRC.
The pegasus’ smile intensified as she answered, “That’s because I am. This loudmouthed upstart doesn’t stand a chance. Watching her get knocked down a few pegs should prove most gratifying.”
-Right... she doesn't recognize the amulet. I wonder if, having already rejected megalomania, Penumbra will be given the amulet to wear (at least for short stretches at a time) when all is said and done?
Twilight contemplated her first move; she had to make the opening salvo, or else Trixie might control the flow of the entire duel.
-Another divergence from the original... let's see how much it helps. Of course, for Penumbra to have much plot relevance, Twilight still has to lose... or Penumbra has to somehow end up with the amulet, and the rest of the story will be about how she handles it.
The six clouds arranged themselves in a hexagon over her opponent, and, with a little jolt of magic, all of them simultaneously fired lightning bolts where she was standing, though Trixie managed to jump out of the way before she got hurt.
-Rather more aggressive than Twilight was in canon, but then again she was ready to stage a violent coup if it came to it in this timeline. Also, nice use of pseudo-pegasus powers? Or was that your intention? Numerologically significant number of clouds too (the number of Elements of Harmony). She might even win.
while unicorn weather magic may not have been the most difficult, the fact that pegasi made it largely redundant meant that it was one of the least studied branches of magical theory, so there was a good chance she’d caught Trixie by surprise.
-Except that that was Trixie's own choice against Rainbow Dash, and one of her attempts against the Ursa.
The blue unicorn sneered. “Congratulations, Sparkle. You’re qualified to be a substitute pegasus. But this is about who’s the better unicorn.” Trixie punctuated her insult by hefting a cart full of apples into the air and flinging it at the crowd of spectators.
-Which was her first move in canon... interesting. I wonder if you are going to keep to the canonical attacks and defenses from now on, replace all of Twilight's offensives, or mix and match?
It was only now that Twilight Sparkle put two and two together and realized that the cart she was preparing to lob belonged to the Apple family. “Sorry!” she called back as she neatly returned the would-be projectile to the ground.
-Yep, Twilight's being pretty hard-core here.
Unfortunately, this delay gave Trixie an opening to begin an exchange of her own. No sooner had Twilight turned her face back towards her opponent than she found herself neck deep in garbage, which her opponent had apparently materialized over her head.
-Trixie is going nastier than in canon (she used pies as her second attack), but noting that her pre-duel taunting attacks were pretty nasty in canon.
Fortunately, living in Ponyville had given Twilight plenty of practice at rapidly cleaning up spontaneous messes.
-Indeed...
This, however, did nothing to remove the aromatic bouquet of rotten food and bacteria-infested filth from the town square, as the strained gagging noises from the crowd demonstrated.
-I don't think this counts as a win for Trixie, but it should disadvantage them both... Twilight is more prone to get "messy" than Trixie I think, so has better tolerance probably (and certainly better "love and tolerance" *rimshot*), but she was also at the epicenter of the nastiness.
Thinking quickly, Twilight teleported several dozen scented candles into the town square and spread them around the crowd, and it was no trouble for her to light all the wicks at once. As the assembled ponies stopped holding their breaths, the librarian made a mental note to compensate Aloe and Lotus Blossom for clearing out their spa’s stockpile of aromatherapy candles.
-Indeed.
She didn’t much like the idea of having earthworms surreptitiously added to her next mud bath.
-I wouldn't think this would even occur to her, since it wouldn't be going to happen anyway. Besides which, even if she didn't pay, I rather suspect that Aloe and Lotus would consider it well worth it to get rid of such a menace to the town.
Presumably, the only reason Trixie hadn’t yet followed up her garbage attack was shock from Twilight having found a solution so quickly, but that wouldn’t last forever.
-I was wondering why Trixie wasn't following up...
Soon, she found what she was looking for: the stone fountain featuring a statue of Ringaling, a famed acrobat who was arguably Ponyville’s most well-known resident until very recently.
-Nice history building. Makes the world feel more real.
How about one more performance?
-She's had poor results with that spell before, but maybe she has been practicing since WWU.
Twilight’s horn glowed again, and the statue sprang to life, rolling off of its fountain and flipping on its ball for the extremely impressed audience—though it was difficult to tell what Trixie thought of Ringaling’s performance, as her face was contorted into a glower.
-Interesting that Twilight is de-escalating. Of course, that is a GOOD thing.
Unfortunately, the ball was as much a part of the statue as the pony, and as it had been destroyed, too, Ringaling went rigid once again, though she now had all four hooves on the ground and a victorious smirk on her face.
-Eh, I'd give that round to Twilight by a small margin. Not that there seems to be any cumulative aspect to a magic duel.
“You there! Snaps and Snuff!”
“Um... it’s actually Snips and Snails, Your Powerfulness,” said the chubbier of the two.
-This would be the move that won the game for Trixie in the original. Also, interesting that she didn't get there names right. Didn't do her background research compared to the canonical timeline maybe?
“Hmmm,” Penumbra said as she thoughtfully held a hoof to her chin. “An aging spell. Very tricky... but still, it’s nothing Twilight can’t handle.”
-So she practiced practical casting more than in canon, in preparation for her take-over? Or is there something more to it than that, such as Twilight not really working up to her limits usually, and THINKING she can't go beyond something less than what her actual capacity is, and thus only doing her best work when under an adrenaline rush?
Twilight’s aura flickered briefly before suddenly becoming noticably more intense. This was it. This was where Twilight Sparkle would unquestionably establish the superiority of her skills. As the aura’s hue began an ever-so-subtle shift from pink to violet, Penumbra grinned broadly. The duel would be over soon; she was certain of it.
-Which from a literary perspective means it isn't happening. I wonder if Penumbra will be helping Twilight train, and that will allow her to win without trickery?
But no, Trixie was cackling evilly (if rather amateurishly, in Penumbra’s opinion)
-Nice reminder to the readers/continuity.
Penumbra’s mood suddenly darkened. “You need to figure out a solution? What about the one that’s staring you right in the face?!”
-This should be interesting... I wonder if she will recommend a sneak attack, or just "Use your real power that I know you have!".
“Um... I... look, just sit tight, okay? I’ll be back, I promise.” Having thus sidestepped the cloudsmith’s comment with her non-answer, Twilight Sparkle turned around and galloped away.
-Ok, so Twilight really is holding herself back and KNOWS it. Interesting. Afraid of hurting somepony? Afraid of using tricks she could have only learned from The Nightmare/Penumbra?
As Twilight vanished into a grove of trees, the cloudsmith slammed a hoof against the force field, causing it to resonate like a gigantic wine glass.
-Still a bit of an Earth Pony...
“Well, that rather definitively demonstrates why she isn’t the Element of Loyalty.”
-OOoooo... Burn.
and I’ll ‘trust’ you to let me know if and when Twilight Sparkle has decided to stop running away from reality.”
-So... Twilight just needs to be a bit more ruthless in her opinion?
The pink earth pony nodded. “Mmm! Mmm mmmmmm Mmmmmmmm mmm mmmmmmm mmmm. Mmmm mmmm M mmmm?”
-Oh... that does complicate matters. I wonder if she can shapeshift out of it? Can she make Pinkie Promises in her head, or mumble them, or do they have to be outloud and comprehensible?
or what Penny wants her ta do
-Nice nickname!
you
______________
you
[this would have been a fitting y'all if she had turned to her friends, rather than asking Pinks specifically.]
______________________
I'll read the rest tomorrow ^_^.
6291562 This is 47 weeks after you made this comment, but are you really correcting Applejack's speech?
AJ definitely won't be giving you a free apple... 
7356901 He's been doing that thru the whole story cycle. As a 49 yo born and raised southerner I can say that, at least in my area, people routinely use "y'all" in both the singular and plural. Heck, my wife's cousin who is even older than me says "younses" all the time. You can't lump all "southern" speech into a single blob. There are many variants and dialects and it's rather silly to try to apply a formal set of grammatical rules to a dialect.
7356901
7401591
Just seeing this. And yes I am. And in all fics I see the accent misused I comment.
I also am southern raised, and have been throughout many states in the south (moved around alot as a child, up to my later teen years). And it's plural. Both from it's history, and even in the dictionary it's plural.
Now a bit of a language lesson, Y'all is a contraction of You all.
Oxford Dictionary
Merriam Webster
Cambridge Dictionary
even the low-brow trolls over at Urban Dictionary.
________
Then you have the fact that some places in the South were northerns have settled down in have started massacring the word itself. Which sucks for us Southerners, since Northerners have tons of different words for plural you, while we have only one.
7855806
I really hate to feed this argument, but man, I just gotta say... you make this point on every story I've read in which AJ is fully in-character. But these are her speech patterns in canon. You're asking every author on the site to make a choice between violating your expectations and writing Applejack OOC. If it's truly that awful, take it up with the show writers, not the fanfiction authors.
And for that matter, if it's truly that awful, I've got bad news: language changes. Some northerners came and used the words you know and love incorrectly, and I totally get that that sucks. OED now lists "figuratively" as a valid definition for "literally" and it friggin hurts me (literally! Er, maybe...) to even think about that. But it is what it is. Language is a social construction, and it evolves, and prescriptive linguistics makes as much sense as prescriptive evolution. It is a fact that "literally" can mean "figuratively," and it is a fact that "y'all" can mean "you." The joy of linguistics is figuring out how and why these things happened, not in arguing against the fact that they did.