Locked out of the Loop

by Archmage Ansrit

Chapter Five

Light.

Love.

Tender care and soothing energy.

By the time she recovered from the overload to her senses, Twilight was already inside Cadence's shield.

The wolves bowed and crumbled, as did the sleds. The luggage and other bags came to rest on top of a pile of slowly-melting snow.

"That was... whoa." Shining's voice made her turn to him; he was wearing the same awed expression as her.

They all did - after all, it wasn't every day that they experienced magic like that.

They had. Oh boy, did they have. Back when Twilight discovered friendship, then right afterwards when they used the Elements, the second time against Discord, the barrier that defeated the changelings, the first time Cadence used the Crystal heart... sure, only Twilight remembered, but it was still something that few could say they had experienced - and not only were they close to the center, but were the source more than once!

So many times in such a short amount of time. Truly, friends are a blessing.

She noticed crystals poking from the ground, right on the shield, glowing with the same soft green light from before. Those were new, she was sure; even if they only had the size of Spike's fist she would have noticed a ring of glowing crystals surrounding the city. One for every few hundred meters, but it was obvious they made a circle.

"Those purify." Cassandra spoke softly, not wanting to startle anypony. Her facial marking was gone, and her eyes took a second or so to refocus. "The light of memories dear to you, turned into magic. The way it's set up will allow Cadence's magic to seep into the ley lines a little better, and once the Crystal Heart regains its light it will serve to power them as well - its a cycle, really. They are too small and too weak to prevent Sombra from entering on their own, but as long as Cadence holds..."

All of the jewels on her outfit, save for two, had darkened and dulled. Twilight supposed they also served to store energy, but she thought it rude to ask right after having used all but two to help them. Then there was just one; in a small flash of magic, another of the green crystals rolled towards Twilight.

"If you are in trouble, smash it to release all the magic inside. Or you could try channeling magic either through it or from it, if you are confident you can use it."

Twilight took the stone, small as one of Spike's clawed digits, and felt how it pulsed... she did not take long to realize that each pulse was an echo of her own heartbeat. How could something so small feel so warm?

"Right." She nodded, and levitated it next to her. "You girls know what to do. We must also gather the crystal ponies in the center - tell them that the Crystal Heart is back and will be put back on display to signal the start of a new Crystal Fair. Cassandra, if you have any magic that can help diminish the taint of Sombra's, please use it. Don't, I repeat, do not wait for me to come back; one of Sombra's traps might have done something to the shield, or simply Cadence ran out of energy, either way, the shield collapsed after I took it the first time; the ponies have to be as close to the center as possible."

They nodded, though Fluttershy swallowed a lump on her throat.

"Rainbow, can you fly me up there?" She pointed towards the top of the castle. "That's where the Crystal Heart is kept."

"Ha! In my sleep!"

"But first, we must go to Cadence and explain - remember, don't wait for me." Dash wrapped her hooves around Twilight, and took off towards the castle.

=====

As Twilight got out of sight, the others spread out to knock on each home... save for Cassandra and Shining Armor.

The unicorns watched everyone else slowly get out of sight... then Cassandra let out a shuddering breath and and collapsed on her side. Shining Armor had suspected it, and was about to remove her hat, when a white hoof interrupted him.

"Are you crazy there's still a full gem what are you thinking let me keep the hat!" She wheezed the sentence, then broke into a coughing fit.

"That was a large amount of magic, how did you get that much?" He asked, helping her stand.

"Besides the batteries I'm wearing, and the size of my reserves, I can convert life force into magic directly." She answered between shaky breaths, and he gaped. "It's very potent - oh don't give me that look, it was nothing I can't regain; it simply was too sudden, alright?"

With a titanic effort of will, she slid a hoof forward. Once she got her ragged breath back under control, she continued speaking. "I am trained, and I hold quite a lot of it, the same as magic; once this place gets back to the way it was, I'll be just fine. I can take replacement energy once the ley line is purified."

She closed her eyes, reaching for the last jewel. A soft white light covered her, and again, and again, until the ruby lost its shine like its siblings had done.

"There, that will keep me functioning until Twilight comes back." She took a solid step forward, and motioned with her head for Shining to follow. "We'd better do as she said, though."

"You should not push yourself that hard." Shining warned. "Your body is freezing."

"Ha! Dear Shining, those who walk the same path as your sister and I can decide not to be bound by the same rules as others." She gave him a smirk he found infuriating. "Besides, this has been my normal body temperature since I was born."

"That sounds like a dangerous philosophy." He stared intensely at her.

"If anything, it's more like a promise; next thing you know, you can ignore blatant attacks on you because they simply are not hurting you - heck, you might not even know you're being attacked! Happened to me once; I did not notice I was being hit with paralyzing spells because I'm immune."

"Really?"

"Sure! Let me show you a nice trick. First, you need to..."

It was a good thing that Twilight did not notice this small moment of bonding - had she done, what happened in a later loop would have saddened her even further.

=====

"... and yes, he told me about the list. Then she cast several spells in unison - somehow- to slow down Sombra and made crystals just like that one." Twilight concluded.

Princess Cadence smiled weakly; she had felt that one. The green crystal held by a pink hoof was hot to the touch, almost uncomfortably so, but she could tell what the source of the warmth was.

"You said you have a plan." Cadence turned back to Twilight and Rainbow Dash, both of them grinning.

=====

"Yes, the Crystal Fair! Remember?" Cassandra spoke to the growing crowd. "Princess Cadence would like everypony to gather here and light up the Heart first, to show you that you have nothing to fear any more."

Whispers began to circulate, the ponies blinking the confusion out of their eyes; it wasn't long before the eyes of one brightened in recognition.

"The Crystal Heart!" A stallion exclaimed, his dull coat and sagging hair sprung back to life with a magical shine. "I remember!"

"I thought it lost!" A mare said, following the stallion's example.

"Yes! Yes! Now, who here can make punch with crystal berries?" Cassandra did everything to rile up the ponies and involve them.

"I-I think- no, I remember!" Another stallion walked forward, coat glistening with magic. "I can!"

"Good, good! Go help the orange pony that wears the Stetson hat - you can't miss her. Now, do you know who makes the flags for the celebration? The white unicorn, Rarity, would like to see your finest cloths!"

Who needs spells when the magic was already there?

=====

The Crystal Heart was right there.

The first time, she had just taken it. Just went right up and snatched it in her hooves.

Rainbow asked her why hadn't she levitated it back towards herself... Twilight didn't have much of an answer beyond 'I didn't feel it was a good idea'.

She did not yet know, but her ability to detect magic had warned her (again, subconsciously) of yet another trap, lying in wait for a careless unicorn to attempt so. The same ability helped her when she unknowingly activated the trap she had stepped on, albeit too late for her to escape.

"Alright, let's do this." Dash prepared to pounce, wings at the ready.

"No!" Twilight stood in front of her. "It must be me - I don't know all of the parameters of the trap, and we can't risk getting you stuck!"

"I'm not going to let you use yourself to trip it!" Rainbow huffed.

"Listen, the Heart must get to Cadence; she's too tired to fly, she's too far down below us for me to teleport safely, and the energy on this trap is too much for Cadence in her state." Twilight gripped Rainbow's head in her hooves, looking deep into her eyes. "Sombra must not get close to the crystal ponies... please, you haven't seen them this time around, but they have suffered greatly..."

She released the pegasus's head, and slumped to the ground, sitting on her haunches.

Rainbow clenched her teeth and screwed her eyes shut... before letting out a sigh. "Fine, but I'm getting you out too if I can."

=====

The crystal ponies began to gather, looking up to the balcony where Cadence and Shining Armor were.

Cadence faltered for a moment, making the shield flicker. Shining saw a difference, though; there was another one underneath, rippling with colors like a soap bubble.

Sombra, like some macabre vulture, was waiting right on the other side.

Nodding to Cadence, he cleared his throat.

"Citizens of the Crystal Empire!"

=====

"Now!" Twilight broke into a gallop and lunged.

The floor darkened.

*****

"Rainbow, you'll be glad to know that if you move fast enough, the trap won't be able to hold you." She neglected to mention the cuts she got from a black crystal; no need to worry them.

"Good! Because I'll be mad if you do something that stupid again." Rainbow nodded. "Don't you know how worried I was?"

"You know, that hasn't happened yet, and you don't know either." She pointed out.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Rainbow said. "I know me like the back of my hoof, and I'm pretty sure that I'm beating myself up for letting you do that."

"So... what happened then?" Fluttershy asked.

Well, Sombra destroyed the crystals, but then exploded into even smaller pieces than the first time, though she couldn't quite say it like that.

*****

"Good as new." Twilight flexed her hind leg a little. "That healing spell was very good for something that quick."

"Don't you ever worry me like that again!" Rainbow fidgeted for a second, before forcibly regaining her 'cool'. One more thing, though, she had to admit that her crystal pony-like appearance wasn't bad - not frou-frou, but it still made her feel... pretty. "Still, I'm glad you could fix her up."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Cassandra's gems were bright red again, and the crystal coat made her shine like snow. Her mane was done in a bun like Twilight's, but she was wearing glasses for some reason. "It will sound strange, but with just a glance, I knew exactly the differences between you healthy, and you injured, down to the smallest details; it makes this so much easier. This cross in my face is more than just the source of my family's name, you know?"

"I really need to know who you do all of that- wait, wasn't that pony a mare a second ago? And that one a stallion?" Twilight said, before she was scooped up in a group hug.

=====

As the rest of the ponies carried Twilight away to start celebrating in earnest, Cassandra turned to the pair of ponies Twilight had seen.

"We'll keep in contact, alright?"

"But how?"

"With the energy this place puts out, placing a gate and powering it is pretty much free, as is anything I do - but that's for me to worry about. It appears that Twilight Sparkle wishes to be my apprentice for a while, and I will need help with that; this is as much as I will ask of you."

"Seriously? That is the price? For something like this, that's practically nothing!"

"Some ponies don't have access to the same resources as I do."

=====

Cassandra sighed as she saw the jousting match.

"Something wrong, darling?" Rarity was quick to discern the tone of longing in the other unicorn.

"Remember when I said I have a boyfriend? I miss him." She said - technically, she had answered a question before it was made, but given that it would have been Rarity who asked the question, she had the context.

"And you were reminded of him... by a jousting match." Rarity deadpanned.

"Oh yes. It reminded me of our own spars, you know?" She replied with a smile on her face. "Of course, he taught me nearly all of the tricks I use, and he's much faster than I, so the best I can do is win one in three, with a tie about one in nine - seven at best."

"You spar." Rarity deadpanned, again.

"We have to test our bodies somehow, no?"

"Whatever do you mean, dear?"

"I can do so much more than what you have seen, and so can any of you, regardless of whenever or not you are aware of it. I was born with some advantages, Twilight with others, and we all work our way through everything... and work out we have." She gave Rarity a smile. "You are free to join us."

"I am not so sure..."

"Nonsense, dear friend. You might think that it won't matter once the loop resets, but everything that Twilight carries is a little help on the long run... and a piece of information that might just solve a problem."

"Oh I know, darling. If I had a bit for every time a client's comment helped me get that final burst of inspiration!"

=====

A mare with a blue coat, a hat that covered most of her head, and a cutie mark of a trident in front of a tidal wave visited all of the stands of crystal berry punch.

An orange pony with a fiery mane and a phoenix-shaped flame cutie mark eyed the jousting matches with envy, but a glance at the large brown pony with a pickax and jewels cutie mark standing right beside put an end to the idea of participating. If one went, so would the other, and that would not be a fun match.

A green mare with flowers on her mane and a trio of trees as her cutie mark was a little upset because the sheep of the petting zoo had bit her mane and tail.

An entirely white pony glared at a black pony with yellow eyes, who glared back, as each had a hoof on a hat (made by Rarity, of course), waiting for the other to show weakness and lose concentration. To the winner go the spoils.

And many other figures walked through the fair and... had a genuine good time, with no more goal in mind than to enjoy the festivities.

It would take Twilight many, many resets to notice that they did not appear if she left Cassandra behind, and some more to understand the connection.

=====

"... and the crystal ponies had the fair for real, then. We were guests of honor, which is why it took so long for us to get back." Twilight concluded, glancing awkwardly towards the stained glass window.

Instead of Spike, it had both Rainbow Dash and her reaching for the Crystal Heart. It wasn't that big of a big change, but she kind of felt... it was kinda... how to describe it? She felt like it was Spike's accomplishment, even though he said that falling down some tower with a huge (by comparison) stone heart in tow was hardly something to be proud of - in both timelines.

Celestia smiled, glancing back at the green crystal she held. It was nothing more than a shard - a sliver no larger than one of Spike's fangs, even thinner than that, too. It was the largest piece that had survived with its light still shining, Cadence having broken the one she had for a little extra push. It had been a long time since the last time she saw magic in that state (not counting the dark crystals), though if what Twilight had said was true and the spell had been so dense it could be felt, then it did not come as a surprise it had taken solid form.

Well, that there was a caster capable of that that she did not know about was the surprise. The princess wondered if the mare was able to project her essence... must be, if she could bring about the opposite of Sombra's magic.

Twilight had not yet told her about the ley lines, nor all of her discoveries, mostly because she wanted to gather all of the proper data before constructing her... well, she was going to present it like she would a thesis. She did tell Celestia that Sombra was usi- had used the crystal ponies as a sort of battery, though. (Note: research proper use of tense for time loop situation)

Twilight was unaware of the problem she dodged, though would come to know in the future.

Author's Note:

Yes, that's "in", not "on".

Technically, it's both, but how to say that...

Also, I'm not going to be writing 'coltfriend' all the time, it's weird, so 'boyfriend' it is.

Comments

[Kadigan]

I'm betting you just had so much fun dropping all of these hints left and right... :D