Locked out of the Loop

by Archmage Ansrit

Chapter Four

"Pinkie said there'd be a party." Cassandra said, resting on one of the seats of the train; without the mark on her face or her clothes she looked just like any other pony. "Though I do not need to see the future to know that you seven racing to the castle meant that something big was going to happen."

Her eyes were a vibrant green, not unlike Applejack's.

"I'm sorry, I still can't get over the fact that Twilight is stuck in a time loop." Spike said as he paced back and forth down the length of the cart.

"It's the first repetition." Twilight said. "And I kind of want to get the introductions out of the way and learn the facts, to conduct my 'ideal run' later."

"A sensible choice." Cassandra nodded. She wore only saddlebags, so her cutie mark was visible; her mark was a heart, with a blue rose like a crown on one side - though the leaves were green... the rose looked as if it were made of ice. "I take it you intend to study different magics while in the loop?"

"That's a given."

"Did you take fun into account as well?"

"Well, there are some activities I would like to try, places to go..." Twilight looked to the ceiling, pondering just what kind of things she could do now that she had so much time in her hooves.

"If you are going places, you need an adventuring party - not that kind of party, Pinkie. Don't worry, I have a folding canoe enough for five, and a spare." Cassandra said, patting her bags.

"Folding canoe?" Dash asked.

"Yes!" She cheerfully replied. "All parties used to have one, now nopony does." She shrugged.

"Like Daring Do and the Fragments of the Black Beetle..." Dash muttered.

"Hmm... I should get some, in case of canoe emergency." Pinkie thoughtfully stared off into the distance, thinking of the most convenient place to 'stash' a canoe.

"My friends and I have experience, not to mention supplies and money." Cassandra was about to continue, but Rarity had a question.

"What does that hoof polish do that would justify its price?" She said, and Applejack nodded - the farmer might not have the same knack as her brother for math and finances, or understand magical artifacts, but she understood honesty in business and, as amiable as the mare looked, it was hard not to find it odd.

"Well, during the night, if you are skilled in dark or at least shadow magic, it makes you regain magic faster. Plus, it's made in such a way that it can come on and off, and never really runs out." And it wasn't even the most impressive thing she had for sale, or at all. "I have no intention to face whoever is fouling the ley lines at night, though, no matter the advantages I would have; I would not be able to help you."

*****

It had been then that she set on the path to learn the truth about the Crystal Empire - and discover Celestia's... what? Not deception per se... if anything it was more like the scars of old wounds, and their consequences. Yes, it hurt Twilight to know that Celestia had compromised her integrity and done... all of that, and the events that followed, too...

But not as much as they hurt and angered Luna.

Ah... It was sad, having to see Luna that hurt; she quickly learned how to work around the revelations, though. She had to, being an apprentice under Cassandra, thus learning that kind of magic. She still felt sad about the princess's reaction to the Oracle that one loop.

Twilight might not have the same clairvoyant skills as Cassandra or... her... to know what happened over there as if she were truly present, but she now had a similar insight; she could feel something not unlike a foul smell coming from the direction of Sombra, almost making her gag, if not for the sickening sensation not being physical. Like the worst things happening, not only to her, but to all those whom she held most dear - no, everypony she'd ever known, too. For now, she could only guess what Cassandra could see and feel.

Rivers of black tendrils choking the life of the land, dark magic twisted into something evil and despicable... Twilight could see quite easily why Dark and Shadow hated Sombra like so. And Light and Tree, too... actually, they all hated him.

Save for Cassandra herself. That pony gave the impression of being incapable of hate, kind of like Fluttershy.

She was capable of anger, though... very, very capable.

*****

"Of course I can tell!" The blonde unicorn said, crossing her arms in annoyance. "It is the foundation of plant-based magic; I don't know why it's so hard to grasp that I would know ley lines that well."

Twilight had explained Sombra to her friends, particularly how the stallion had managed to anticipate somepony trying to retrieve the Crystal Heart, almost managing to win solely through traps laid out over a thousand years ago. She didn't expect that their new acquaintance would be able to actually 'see' Sombra tainting the land with his magic...

Hmm, maybe that was how he could just stay in that black smoke form and avoid freezing to death despite wearing metal armor in a blizzard. Cadence and Shining Armor had been protecting the city for days already, and even Cadence's deep reserves had been depleting from the continued spell... she kept pouring on the land! That was it! Sombra was using the corrupted energy from ley lines to sustain his form, and the dark magic he used on the crystal ponies had something to do with it! Now, she just had to find...

Uh...

She didn't know how to counter that without the Crystal Heart...

Heck, she didn't know that that was actually possible!

"I'm going to have to learn anything you can teach me about the ley lines." Twilight stated; respectful, yet showing her desire, determined, yet letting it be known there would be no hard feelings in the case of refusal. She didn't know any counters to Sombra's magic, and she refused to believe that they didn't exist.

"Ah..." Cassandra sighed contently. "A pony that knows the whats and hows of a favor."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let's put it this way; you like reading, right?"

"And magic." Replied Spike. "And reading about magic, and magic about reading."

"That will work." Cassandra continued, ignoring the sound of laughter coming from the three more active ponies - even Rarity and Fluttershy giggled. "Remember what happens when the protagonist asks something of a seer or a wizard?"

The others tilted their heads as they pondered the question.

Twilight and Spike became very, very still.

"You need to know the difference between what you need and what you want." Spike whispered, swallowing a lump. Princess Celestia used to read them bedtime stories, and it was all too common that the impatient young protagonist would misinterpret a sign, or manage to turn a boon into problem just as bad as the one they were trying to solve.

"And it adds a whole new layer of 'uncomfortable' when you take into account that I am foreign... think about it - you are the Elements of Harmony, national heroes, the ranks of which include the personal protégé of princess Celestia. It will look bad and cause more problems. No, I'm not going to act like Far Sight the Hawk Eye on the last loop."

Twilight nodded robotically... then she caught the implications of that statement.

"Who was that?" Somepony asked... and Twilight snapped out of her contemplative mood and landed straight into lecture mode.

"He is more commonly referred to as 'the Learned'-"

"Clumsy. Clumsy, clumsy and ditzy." Cassandra cut her off, since even a rock had the foresight needed to see where that was going. "Got into the nasty habit of chasing his visions, which makes you not notice things that are right next to you - until you trip over them, of course. Great Seer, very skilled and smart, but always needed a friend or family member to look over him and make sure he doesn't hurt himself. Got himself a nice little cabin on the mountains... just a little beyond Stormbreaker Fortress, really close to the border with the griffins. Not once did a griffin sneak past the cannons he personally dragged up the mountain, be it one or three hundred."

"Wait, so this pony held off armies?" Dash nearly screeched in her incredulity.

"It's easy when you live the past, the present, and the future without much distinction between the three." The unicorn shrugged. "At least, if you are smart enough to avoid certain visions that take the fun out of things - I don't use my timelessness to cheat on cards."

"(Not that it's the only way to do so)." She mumbled to herself. She didn't really cheat at cards, but when somepony could twist luck and fate upon contract it tended to happen on its own.

"You are talking about him as if you knew him personally." Twilight noted.

"All seers can have friends in other seers, regardless of where and when... you could call it a friendship that transcends time itself." And, under her breath, added 'not that it's hard or anything'.

Twilight felt... something. It was still too nebulous, yet she could tell it was too important to let go.

"That is so romantic..." Rarity swooned - referring of course, to sentimentality.

"Never forgetting. Not everything lost is lost forever; nothing gone is ever gone completely. You may think that friends that leave take a piece of you with them, but in reality, the wonderful memories of your times together are a shard of them that stays with you..." Cassandra sighed, looking out the window, towards the source of the disgusting feeling that attempted to extend through the land.

Twilight felt the feeling solidify... and she, too, scowled in the direction she knew Sombra was.

"To try to twist and steal something like that, I won't let him." She growled, and to her surprise she could feel her friends standing by her side. Ah, right, she told them what happened to the crystal ponies.

"He won't get away with it." Fluttershy voice was strangely heated; it was something that didn't happen often, and just served to remind Twilight that, just as she discovered back then, friends are truly the most special thing one could have in their lives.

*****

"D'aww..." Pinkie got the whole group into a hug, interrupting Twilight's summation of her first loop.

Not that she minded, though. She was grateful, in fact; she had gotten a little lost in the memory and confused the times - they had left Canterlot a little while ago, instead of being about to arrive as in the memory.

So long as his magic remained within the crystal ponies, Sombra had the entire city held hostage. Banishment could backfire -again- and getting rid of him would be quite difficult. The residents needed to kick him out themselves, flushing Sombra out with the magic they were intended to wield, but without the Crystal Heart, the crystal ponies did not have the drive...

And trying to act as the conduit herself would likely kill her. Ah, mastery of the arts was still so far...

"That meanie won't know what hit 'im!"

"He certainly didn't know what hit him then."

*****

Cold winds that bite at one's flesh, snow that covered the land and prevented vision, the howling blizzard raging as if to warn ponies against intruding...

Cassandra let out a happy sigh, basking in the freezing temperature.

"You are crazy." Twilight said, wrapping a scarf (from Rarity) around another scarf around her neck.

"How can I be crazy for liking this? I am very good at ice magic - this is my turf, my kingdom, my home outside of home..." She said as she twirled in place, the snow swirling around her as she danced. "I might not be able to do much to purge Sombra from the ley lines in this climate, but since you are here, and have a plan, I just have to give an advantage."

The snow around them began to glow with a shroud of magic that alternated between soft cyan and green, something Twilight had never seen before; the snow gathered and took the shape of a pair of sleds, then it was further compressed until it turned to plain ice.

Shining Armor arrived not long after. He even had a visor with a horizontal slit to reduce the glare from the snow! Though with the blizzard it only kept the snow out of his eyes.

She had her reunion with her brother, while Cassandra was... making four statues of wolves with the ice.

"... There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark." Shining said, making the ponies shiver in fright just as much as from the cold.

"Sombra." Twilight narrowed her eyes.

"Or me!" Cassandra laughed, the blood-red outfit forming around her body and the cross-like mark appearing on her face, then she cast a Come to Life spell - though a slightly advanced one - on the ice wolves. She knew how a wolf moved and lived inside and out, so improvised golems were no trouble at all. With some rope from Applejack, they were ready for a quick, if frigid, ride towards the city. "Though that implies I would do something mean... I think I didn't think that through."

"Don't worry about her." Twilight said, taking the unspoken invitation to board, loading Rarity's luggage while she was at it. "I know this will be hard to believe, but I'm doing time loops."

"Huh..." Shining Armor was surprised. "Wait, like in 'Best Night Ever'?"

"Close enough." She said, Shining climbing up behind her.

"That... I... well, that's one more point off the list. I'll have to tell Cadence to cross off that one."

"You have one too?" She grumbled at him, scowling (adorably, in his opinion).

"Ever since the incident with the teapot-"

"That thing had to be put down and you know it!" She yelled though the rushing winds as the wolves did their assigned task and pulled.

A thick black cloud rose in the distance. The fortuneteller's eyes narrowed in disgust, looking at the twisted magic... oh, she knew spells like that, and used a variation very often, but she did not sustain them with misery! She worked with others, not enslaved them!

"He's gaining on us!" Shining said as the shadow inched ever so close, and moved to jump down. "I'll give you time!"

"No way!" Twilight and Cassandra said.

"Without Cadence, your magic is useless against him!" The red-clad pony yelled.

It made Twilight think... why? Shining Armor was the Captain of the Royal Guard! She knew that, normally, Cadence's brand of magic would work on a wicked thing like Sombra, and light magic would help immensely against his dark one... sure, that thing sombra did with the ley lines had to be overcome first, which was the reason Cadence had to stay in the crystal tower and use her shield like that... So why did Shining Armor -again, being one of the best- not have any magic that could at least slow him down?

"Alright, boys and girls, time to take destiny into our own hooves!" Cassandra announced with a grin, seemingly to herself, and each jewel in her outfit began to shine - softly, like stars. "One big delay, coming right up!"

*****

"It was then that I knew that she truly was an accomplished wizard." Twilight said, looking off into the distance.

"So... she's powerful?"

"Oh yes. And experienced. She said that the size of my reserves was ridiculous for somepony so young, though, and that I also had very high 'natural' power even for a unicorn, but I quite simply don't have that much experience; the many different types of magic she knows are another thing I'm studying, slowly building up what she referred to as my 'level'."

She shook her head.

"Anyways, she then recited an incantation - yes, I know, I said they are a hoax- but what I have not yet told you is that mnemonics aren't!" She happily -and slightly smugly- posed.

"Neumo-what?" Rainbow asked, deflating Twilight's enthusiasm.

"Memory aids." Spike answered. Twilight only used the word like a thousand times when/while studying, why wouldn't he remember it?

"Yeah... and they are also a combination of spoken commands and spell-harmonization techniques." Twilight said sullenly. "Remember the summons?"

*****

"Let Heaven's light shine upon the land!" Cassandra began to intone, horn glowing with the same dual-colored aura, voice heard even over the winds and Sombra's macabre laugh.

Twilight, being next to her, saw how some of the gems on her vest and skirt changed color. Gold, white, green, and brown.

"The sacred memories flow into the earth!" The jewels on the hat sparkled some more.

Despite the cold, Twilight (and the others) felt warmth coming from within... the embrace of her mother, Celestia's wing over her, hugs from her friends... she then felt the joy and absolute freedom of flight, the pride in making a new outfit, the contentment of an honest day's work, the happiness of seeing another's smile, being promoted...

'Sacred memories'; fitting.

"Carrying the light of tomorrow, we move ever onward!" Twilight, though she was not yet aware, subconsciously sensed details of magic cast around her since she was a filly... she was more aware of this particular magic -so dense it was, she doubted anypony could miss it-, sensing how the energy twisted in complex patterns, and discovered that there were five wills directing it.

The aura brightened more and more, and sparks began to shoot away - curiously, in the shape of snowflakes and leaves. Sombra was so close, Twilight could see the eerie green glow of his eyes through the shine of magic.

"Cast aside doubt, strengthen our conviction!"
"Breathe life upon weary bodies!"
"Heal the earth and soothe our spirits!"
"And may the light of clarity shine upon our paths!"

As soon as she roared the last words, the world was engulfed in a wave of green light.

Author's Note:

The folding canoe is an item that the player gets in Final Fantasy One through Three, used to cross rivers; implied to be magical in nature because, come on, it's large enough for the party and guests yet collapses to fit into your bags! In later games it was pretty much replaced by the chocobos, which seem to be large and strong enough to ford rivers merely by running across them.

I know that the correct way to call them would be 'forelegs', or just 'legs', but it's a tough balancing act with all of the human expressions ponies can make, so please just ignore it when you read 'arms' to refer to a quadruped doing something.

One clue as to the pony mentioned in the previous Author's notes - 'or... her'. I should have mentioned that our hourglass-flanked friend is NOT going to be an expy of/ponified Doctor Who before, but whatever.

Comments

[toafan]

I am seriously confused here. I have no idea what is going on, and not in a good way. Perhaps if I knew what structure you were going for, I could untangle it myself.

Are these nested flashbacks to 'past' timeloops? Jump cuts from one loop to the next? Something weirder?

[Kadigan]

"Anyways, she then recited an incantation - yes, I know, I said they are a hoax- but what I have not yet told you is that mnemonics aren't!" She happily -and slightly smugly- posed.

I always felt that incantations - especially the ones like in Bleach (or Doctor Who) that don't really follow a logic, rhyme or reason - exist not to bind by words, but rather to put your physical brain into a pre-determined configuration, by thinking specific things in a specific order. Much like a computer program, I suppose...