"Well, that sure didn't work."
I shoot bolt upright. "What did you say?"
Spike blinks. "Uh, well, I just meant I don't know what you cast, but I'm pretty sure Starswirl the Bearded never wrote any 'blow-up-in-your-face' spells. Are you okay?"
I stagger forward — I'm long since used to the pain by now, but there's always a moment of adjustment at the start of a new loop as my consciousness reassembles itself, screaming and flailing, and reorients into a body that hasn't been clawed apart or mashed into pulp or disassembled into its component molecules by explosions. I clamp my hooves around my faithful assistant's shoulders and shake. "WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY?"
Spike yelps and cringes. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and force myself to start over. I've long since grown tired of wasting time explaining things to others who will forget it all the next time the loop resets — but this is significant enough to be worth talking out in order to give me a chance to sort through my thoughts.
"I'm sorry, Spike," I say. "Listen. The spell you just saw me cast stuck me in a time loop — I keep getting reset to this exact moment over and over again." I wave a hoof around the restricted section of the Canterlot Library archives, where I'd found Starswirl's spell and been so overwhelmed by curiosity that I'd chalked an evocation circle in a back room to try it out. "Under normal circumstances, this would be the best possible thing, right? Getting the same block of time to experience over and over again, here in the largest library in the world, with all of Canterlot outside the door; and if I ever get bored of the ability to infinitely devour knowledge without aging, I can go ask one of the princesses for help getting things back to normal."
Spike looks at me blankly. "Uh, Twilight, are you sure you didn't maybe hit your head a little hard there?"
"But there's a catch," I continue. "I just so happened to cast the spell right at the cusp of a new changeling invasion. Queen Chrysalis is minutes from replacing Princess Celestia in a surprise attack, there’s the world's biggest swarm on its way here in less than an hour, and the palace staff and Royal Guard have been thick with infiltrators for months. As if that weren't enough, in about three hours the Elements of Harmony will overload from the negative energy of all the death and destruction of their attack, and blow the whole world up."
His jaw is hanging open. Now he's staring at me with a mixture of disbelief and horror. I feel a brief twinge of regret for shredding his innocence — yet again — but it's not like he'll remember it next time the loop resets, and it's hardly the worst thing I've done while trying to singlehoofedly accomplish the impossible task of saving Equestria.
"I've been trying to stop that for … several hundred? … loops now," I say. "Nothing changes from loop to loop except for the knowledge I have from the previous ones. Everything is absolutely identical except for what I myself alter. And without fail, every single time, I've woken back up to four little words."
He points at me, then brings a claw to his chin. He squinches his eyeridges together, staring at me. His jaw works soundlessly. "… Well, that sure didn't work?" he finally manages.
"Spike, that's FIVE."
"Twilight … your fur is still smoking. Maybe you should sit down and —"
"Why did you say 'sure'?"
"Because you sure blew yourself up! You're scaring me, Twilight. Please sit down and I'll go get a doctor." He dashes out of the room, his stubby legs a blur.
I rack my brains. Did something tangible from my last loop carry over to this one? All I did was grab the Elements of Harmony from their vault and hop on a train, trying to test whether removing them from Canterlot would prevent their explosion so that Celestia wouldn't have to spend all her focus on keeping them calm. Well, as it turned out, that didn't work. But it must have done something. I know I heard that extra word, and I know there's no way I could have reacted differently enough in the split-second after resetting to change his speech.
I take a look around the library. Really look, in a way I haven't done in subjective months. If there's a book out of place, if there's a line chalked differently in my circle, then I can't see it. The air does look smokier, I guess? No — that's confirmation bias. Spike just told me I was smoking, so it's exactly the sort of claim I could convince myself of without evidence. I could take samples and measure the composition of the air, but … no, it would take me too long to find sensitive enough equipment, not to mention if something has changed I don't have a baseline measurement from previous loops.
Instead, I teleport in a series of hops up to a nearby observation tower, hoping that there's something to learn by getting a view of the library from outside. I give the city a cursory glance over my shoulder, and my jaw falls open.
There's no swarm approaching Canterlot.
No — wait. There they are. They're a black fuzz out on the horizon in the direction of the Everfree. They've never been this far away, and I've come straight here any number of times. I glance over at Big Pen, but the clock on its face is at the same 3:13 that every loop has started with.
This is completely incomprehensible, but I don't want to look a gift pig in the mouth. Did something happen to delay the changelings' plans? Then that might mean …
I've teleported down to the hallway in front of Celestia's private chambers before I can even finish the thought. There should be a full platoon of changelings here disguised as Royal Guards, while Chrysalis overpowers Celestia inside. But the hallway is empty except for Sharp Edge and Parade Rest standing by her door.
Sharp blinks. "Twilight? What's —"
"National security emergency. Today's validation code" — learned in one of my earlier loops trying to figure the best way to muster the Guard — "is 438 hay-roan-zebra. I'll be inside. Nopony else comes in."
Sharp salutes, but hesitates. "Nopony at all? Not even —"
"Okay, you can let us know if the building's on fire around us," I joke, giving him a disarming smile. "Don't worry, we'll be as quick as we can. Also, call Blue Glow — she's the battlecaster from Barn Company — to lay down an anti-transmutation ward on this hallway, and then get 114th squadron here to back you up." The 114th is changeling-free. I'll need them elsewhere later in the invasion, but right now I want trustworthy ponies here. I get two salutes in return, Parade wingsprints off, and for the first time in many, many loops I feel hope stir in my chest.
Celestia is sitting at her desk when I barge in, elbows up on the smooth white marble, resting her muzzle on her pasterns and staring unfocusedly into space. She looks up at my arrival and forces a smile. "Twilight," she says, faltering for a moment, "I'm sorry you had to hear —"
I stride up. "No time for apologies. Chrysalis is in the castle, there's a changeling swarm on the horizon —" I blink. "Wait. Had to hear what? This is the first time I've seen you this — today."
Her eyebrows furrow in thought. "At Court … the stallion who came up to the two of us and …" She stares at me. Her eyes widen as it all clicks together. "Chrysalis was you. Of course! Twilight, I hope you don't mind if we cast changeling detection spells on each other?"
I don't mind. We both come up clean. She sits in front of me, staring down at me with an intensity I rarely see. "Tell me everything you know, Twilight, and we'll fix this."
"'Everything' would take a while. I'm stuck in a time loop —"
I stop because her hoof is jammed in my muzzle. She leans in. "In that case, wait." She closes her eyes. Her muzzle shifts as she subvocalizes some words. I feel the wrench of magical activation, even though her horn doesn't glow. However, whatever it was she triggered dissipates without any apparent effect. She opens her eyes again; a dim light in her pupils is fading away.
"If we don't get things right on this pass," she says, "then the next time you meet me, tell me the phrase 'preengaged blackout deharmonizes antihunting dissertation', exactly as I just spoke it. Have you got that?"
I repeat it to myself a couple of times. "Yes."
"Out loud, just so we're sure. It's neutralized now."
"Preengaged blackout deharmonizes antihunting dissertation, right. What does that trigger?"
She smiles inscrutably. "Tell me in another loop, and you'll see. What's our tactical situation?"
I give her a brief summary of what I've learned over the scores of loops spent teleporting in between the various Royal Guard units. She listens attentively, asking good questions, and leans back in thought when I'm done. "It sounds like we have the numbers to repel them," she says, "as long as the infiltrators can be dealt with before the swarm arrives. Have you tried taking this information to the Guard commanders? Do you need today's validation code?"
"Actually, I've never had time before. That's the weirdest thing about this. When I started this loop …" Something tickles at my nostrils. "… Do you smell smoke?"
The door bursts open, and Sharp Edge and Blue Glow gallop in. "Princess, Mistress," Sharp says hurriedly, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the building's on fire around us."
My jaw drops. "Wait, are you serious? Because, for the record, I was joking about that."
"There are at least four separate fires throughout the castle, including a small one right downstairs," Blue Glow says. She points a hoof toward the window. "The main blaze is deep in the East Wing. You can see fire in some of its windows from here."
If the infiltrators moved before we did, then this loop's a bust — but I can still gather information for the next one. I note the time — 3:46 — then gallop over to the window and look out into the courtyard. I see smoke over the East Wing, but not the fire itself. "Where?"
Blue joins me, putting a hoof around my withers and drawing me in so I can see down her foreleg as she points at a window semi-obscured by a tree in the courtyard. A squadron of Guard pegasi is surrounding it, hauling in a chain of rainclouds, shouting orders and sending civilians scurrying every which way.
I squint. "Hang on," I say. "That's the 114th. Who's out in the hallway?"
Blue freezes for a moment. Then she grabs my neck and wrenches. I hear a pop.
Celestia gasps as I crumple to the ground. "Chrysalis!" My vision blacks out amid her laughter.
* * *
"Well, that sure didn't work."
I leap to my hooves. Oh, it is on. That's the first time in over a hundred loops that Chrysalis has killed me, and it is going to feel so good setting that right.
"Unless Starswirl the Bearded wrote a 'blow-up-in-your-face' spell —" is all I hear Spike say before I teleport to the hallway in front of Celestia's room. I give Sharp and Straight the same orders, word for word, and dash inside.
Celestia is staring unfocusedly into space again, and gves me the same forced smile. "Twilight," she says, faltering for a moment, "I'm sorry —"
"No time for apologies. Chrysalis is …" I've gotten so good at putting my brain on autopilot and repeating my actions from loop to loop that I almost forget. "Hang on. Last loop, you told me to tell you: 'Preengaged blackout deharmonizes antihunting dissertation.'"
As I finish speaking the trigger, a wave of energy bursts out from her. Pain lances through my head, and my muscles lock up. I can feel my horn spark with magical feedback and my body go numb. The world goes grey around me, and as I topple to the floor, I hear two muffled thumps out in the hallway.
Celestia — who is still moving — steps forward. She looks at me dispassionately. I feel a vague pressure on my chin as she caresses my muzzle in her hornglow.
"I hope that you weren't manipulating my mind, Twilight," she says, "and that you truly are in a time loop, so that next time you can add the safeword 'coruscating' right before the trigger."
I try to protest through the paralysis. I can't even breathe. My lungs are starting to burn.
Her horn flares. I hear a familiar pop.
* * *
"Well, that didn't work," a familiar maternal voice says.
I sit upright, head swimming, to find Celestia standing behind Spike at the edge of the evocation circle.
Shit, I forgot to comment on this before it went live... what? Really? Not until then? Oh, well, never mind then. I guess this time I didn't forget. Disregard those last few sentences.
Anyway, this ripoff/homage/reboot/sequel/whatever is 120% Time Loop Approved.
Author's note-to-self: Hmm … no comments yet? Next loop, remind 3777814 to reset his time loop and leave a comment before publication.
24.media.tumblr.com/a257ad5165644b1f79354634dfdee284/tumblr_mqo61uYbwk1rj6vd5o1_400.png
3792379
Ha! That didn't take long.
310 stories in my read later list...I have a lot of work ahead of me.
3792396
It's entirely possible I may have read not only this chapter, but a large number of future chapters last night.
--arcum42
O can already tell this is going to be crazier than the original.
3792422
Silly me for assuming a linear progression of time
Well... that sure didn't work.
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/109212453/Bruce-%20Approved.jpg
Figured this would be a parody. Apparently not.
Anyway, not bad. Not quite got Eakin's perfect Twilight Snarkle voice, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Oh, this is gonna be goooood.
Also, nice to see Celestia comes prepared. That spell of hers is especially interesting. Apparently, it stores information achronically. Useful.
Eagerly looking forward to more.
Oh boy. Here we go again!
Oh shiiiiiit!
A Royal Guard... named Parade Rest?
New favorite fic. Instantly better than 3779113's original. If you make a sergeant named Knife Hand, you will probably be my new Jesus.
So Twilight's in the innermost loop, and the other loopers can screw her up? But not stop her looping apparently?
Well, I suppose I'd enjoy this story more if I let it build up a bit more. It's definitely interesting.
3792421 I had the same problem until a few days ago when I went through the whole list and asked myself about every story:"Do I really want to read it or is this just a little casual interest?" And boom, down to 60.
It's fav time. *clicky clicky*
This better be just as good as the original or else i'll be extremely disappointed.
Confusing. Enjoyable. The former will go away, I expect the latter to continue.
I'm looking forward to the next 27,631 words, that's for sure!
Very nice. Yet another time loop scenario fic, and yet I still enjoy them. Looking forward to the next chapter!
Teisto - take me (Elliot Berger remix
AS SOON AS I READ THE LAST WORDS OF THE CHAPTER THE BASS DROPPED
That makes this
B IU
STCopyright by Omnifire
Meaning : holy $HIT this is an AWSOME story
HEY also listen to arkasia -soldiers
And uhhhh... Hold on
SYNX - gone away
Cry wolf - the moon is falling down
James Egbert - exit wound
And a $hit load more that I post later
No stopping me heh hah HAH HAHAHSHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH-
oh! Uh sorry
You wouldn't have happen to have read Time Braid, a naruto fanfiction of a similar Time Loop setting, would you?
I don't think this was reset hard enough.
This is going to hurt my brain, isn't it?
Oh well, may as well take the hot sauce approach to pain. Glug glug glug. So far, a worthy reimagining of a quite good tale.
Bulk upload the whole thing! I love how it started, why drag it out? Hook people now with a big piece of content!
3793136
That might seriously break people's brains. I've read through chapter ten, and this gets really, REALLY complicated. Things are going to go off the rails pretty quick once the rules are laid out.
why would something this confusing be a draw for readers?
On my to-read list, but the premise already reminds me of a more comedic take on the premise: MLP Time Loops.
The 'death by Celestia as a means of verification' is a nice touch.
This is going to be so gloriously confusing.
Bring it on!
Ganked by Princess Redshirt, hard core.
OH MY GOD MOAR!!! I loved this story first time around, can't wait to see how this changes things up!
3792706 Tried that. Number stayed the same :P
I'm trying to figure out circumstances in which it makes sense for Celestia to give the incomplete password.
More content for the Hard Reset-verse?! To borrow from Ric Flair...
WOOOOOOOOO
Awesome first chapter, and already I'm confused as to exactly who is in the time loop with Twi, and what is causing the loops to change. Excellent! Can't wait for more!!
3792469 I don't think it's much of a spoiler to confirm that, yes, Chrysalis is also looping.
3792476 I'm glad it's got your attention despite the readjustment of your expectations. Partially, it's a character interpretation thing; I'm taking an interpretation that this version of Twilight has been burned out a bit more by her loops, so the snark doesn't shine through quite as consistently. Partially, it's a different authorial voice, no matter how much I might try to imitate Eakin's style. I hope the story continues to hold you on its own merits!
3792539 3792964 3792614 3793127 3793431 3793431 Chapter 2 will lay out the rules. (Also create more questions, since Twilight's figuring this all out as she goes along. But the fundamental approach here is simple; it's a bit like Life in that all the confusion is a product of emergent complexity from the premise you'll shortly learn.)
3792565 When Celestia picks guards to stand unmoving for hours in front of her quarters, she picks the best.
When you say you’ve got 30,000 words written… is that the entire story, or just what you’ve got written so far?
Also, regarding your chapter length: I find a lot of stories with ~2,000 word chapters tend to come off as rather disjointed compared to those with ~4,000–6,000 words. If you’ve already got 30,000 words written as if it were a single piece, but you’re just splitting at ~2,000 words, then I worry quality will drop once you’ve run through your buffer and start writing as if you had such an arbitrarily small word‐limit per chapter.
Trying to drive us loopy, I see. Well, it won't work.
We're already there
3793057 I have not read Time Braid, no, but it seems like an interesting entry into the "time keeps repeating and bad stuff happens" genre for the Naruto fans among us.
3793060 Clearly I should have skipped straight to "Hard Reset 3: Reset Hardest".
3793248 This is something of a cold open. It doesn't work for everyone, but I appreciate you giving it a try. If you're curious enough to stick with it for one more chapter (which will post by tomorrow morning), you'll get to learn (along with Twilight) a little more about what's going on.
3793301 The Best Night Ever is another great one. It's somewhere in between the comedy of MLPTL and the black humor of HR/HR2.
3793313 3793484 3793554
Re "death by Celestia": As she will shortly explain, it's a method of verification that Twilight's being honest about looping. There's a reason for that. And yes, it's ice cold, and yes, that's deliberate; and exploring what's up with that is a major ongoing theme.
3793846
I think you should have gone straight to Hard Reset ∞: ∞ Divided by 0
The only correct response to this is 5 minutes of incoherent squeeing.
3793554
Realized I didn't answer your question, and it's that "redundant verification" that gives Chapter 1 its title. So here's the full scoop:
The idea behind it is that Celestia herself does not know the complete password. The safeword essentially is encrypted in her memories, and only unlocked to her once the trigger is spoken. That way, if someone reads her mind, they get the trigger but not even knowledge that the safeword exists. The only way to learn the safeword is to have spoken the trigger, but at that point the safeword is moot … unless you can manipulate time.
Looking forward to figuring out these time loops and complicated stuff.
What I can assume happened is that Twilight at first told the guards to not allow anyone inside unless the building is on fire, thwarted-ish (Cause she didn't break out of the time loops) Chrysalis' plans, then Chrysalis went back and disrupted Twilight's plans and now we're in a whole heap of whatever.
Expecting that the Celestia at the end of the chapter is really Chrysalis. Although I don't see why one of them couldn't figure out where the other starts their loop and just find and kill them at the beginning so they have free reign. Maybe there's a third element in play here.
3792439
Of course, that means I'm left with a completely different cliffhanger.
--arcum42
3794182
You and me both. I expect the comments section about 41 days from now to be positively SCREAMING for resolution of that one.
3794241
Oh yeah. That's a much worse cliffhanger then this one. To quote horizon, "Mwahahahaha!".
--arcum42