• Published 19th Apr 2013
  • 57,114 Views, 9,310 Comments

MLP Time Loops - Saphroneth



Twilight Sparkle has been here before. In fact, she's been here so often she's thoroughly bored. Time Loop stories for Equestria.

  • ...
92
 9,310
 57,114

PreviousChapters Next
MLP Loops 97

97.1 (Midnight Crescent)

Twilight the Underdog - Chapter 4
“So you’re sure you’ve got everything?” Solomon asked for the third time that morning.

Yugi sighed, as he turned to face his Grandfather once again. “Yes, Grandpa. I have my deck, spare clothes, toothbrush, a towel, my phone and the kitchen sink.”

Solomon huffed, and folded his arms. “There’s no need to be sarcastic.”

“I know, I know. But you don’t have to worry. Seriously, I’ll be fine. I’ll call you every morning, and we’ll only be gone for a week.” Yugi hugged Solomon, grabbed his bags, and headed for the door. “Bye, Grandpa.”

“Goodbye Yugi, and good luck. I can’t have you and Josie embarrassing me now, can I?”

Yugi rolled his eyes. As he headed through the door, he called back “You got it, Grandpa.”

After the door closed behind him, he leant back on the wall.

Are you alright, Yugi? Yami asked.

I’m fine; just wish Grandpa would start looping already. Yugi replied, sighing heavily.

Would you like me to take over for a while?

That’d help. Thanks, Yami.

Just as Yami took Yugi’s place, their cab arrived.

“Where to, kid?”

“Domino Harbour, please.”

“Sure thing.”


When Yami arrived at the harbour, he wasn’t all too surprised to see that Twilight was already there.

What did shock him was how little she had elected to bring with her. All she had was one backpack, and an ice box.

“Given everything I know about you, I must admit I was expecting cases of books, Josie.”

Twilight sighed. She glanced around, amongst the hustle and bustle, trying to figure out how to word this without sounding crazy. Figuring there wasn’t any great option, she settled on saying “That’s what a Pocket’s for, Yugi.” Given the strange gymnastics his eyebrows started to pull, she carried on before he could respond. “So, any idea when Tea will be turning up?”

”She shouldn’t be too much longer...”

Almost as though on cue, a car pulled up, and Tea stepped out. “Thanks mom, I’ll call you tomorrow!” She called out as the car drove off once again, waving furiously after it. “Hey Yugi, Hey Josie.”

Yami nodded at her, while Twilight waved.

“Have you spoken to Tristan yet, Josie?”

“Yeah, he said he was getting the train into the city an hour ago. He’s going to call me when he gets to the Hospital. I just hope Serenity’s OK.”

Tea bit her lip, as she looked around the crowd. “Maybe we should get on the ship? We don’t want all the good cabins to get taken, do we?”

“That’s probably a good idea, actually...” Twilight said, as she picked up her bags. “Let’s go.”

Twilight and Yami pulled on their gloves, while Tea pulled a lanyard out from her shirt, with a visitor’s badge. They passed the guard without incident, and went to register.

“Hmm... Mr Muto and Miss Wheeler... One moment please...” The receptionist said, as she searched through the system for their entries. “Ah, it appears you have rooms reserved...”

A small machine beside her beeped, and she inserted a small plastic card into it. After a few seconds she removed it, and handed it to Yami. “You have been assigned to suite 102, Mr Muto. Please enjoy the cruise, and good luck.”

She then repeated the process with Tea, and then Twilight “Miss Wheeler, you have been assigned to suite 113. Please enjoy the cruise, and good luck.”


After placing her bags in her rooms, Twilight met Tea and Yugi in their room.

“Alright, so we’re stuck on this boat until tomorrow morning, right?” Twilight asked, as she sat next to Tea.

“That‘s when we get to the Island, yeah.” Yugi replied

“So is there anything we can do until then?”

“Well, I usually make sure my deck is set up for my first duel – It’s almost like a fixed thing. Whenever I come to Duellist Kingdom, I fight the same person first.”

“And who’s that?”

“Weevil Underwood.” Tea said, gagging afterwards

“I’m going to guess there’s a story behind that reaction...”

Yugi took a breath. “There is, but I doubt you’d understand without actually seeing our Baseline. And Yami generally hates running that part of our Loop as Baseline, if it even occurs. Sometimes, the Loop just randomly skips it.”

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it. So, other than counting to make sure all 60 are there, is there anything to do?”

“There are usually people trading or practicing around the halls, but if you’re happy with your deck, I’d advise against it.”

“You have anything I could want, and no need to give away my deck?” Twilight ventured.

Yugi nodded. “Most of the other top duellists won’t be doing it, unless they want to test a back up deck or something. Which, really, leaves talking, unless either of you have something interesting in your Pocket we could use?”

Tea shook her head “Not really.”

Twilight thought for a few seconds, before something occurred to her. “Actually, I have something I’ve been meaning to ask you. When I visited Nyx the first time, she mentioned she couldn’t use her magic. I’ve been trying to use it, and I’m having trouble myself.” She pulled a notebook out of her coat, and flipped through a few pages. “Levitation is one of the most basic things in my world, so I started with that, and, well, this is the result.”

Twilight handed Yugi the notebook. It didn’t take long to realise the page was covered with an extremely shaky signature. “Hmm... How does magic work in your world?”

“Unicorns generally just focus on something. Our magic is contained in our horns, but it usually shifts to other appendages when we’re in other forms.”

“So it’s not based on an external focus, then?”

“No, but I do have a lot of them in my Pocket.”

“And have you tried any of them yet?”

Twilight shook her head. “I haven’t really had enough free time without someone watching. I barely had enough time to pull off this.” She indicated the notebook.

“Then try using some of your other foci. Some of them may work, and we don’t really have a long list of alternatives to our in-Loop items yet.”

“Got it. I should probably go get started.”

Twilight got up from the bed, and headed over to the door, when someone started knocking on it.

Twilight opened the door, and had to look down to find the person who had knocked. He had cropped sky blue hair, and gigantic rimmed glasses, with a beetle insignia on the ridge.

“Oh, hello.” The newcomer spoke, looking up at Josie. “My name is Weevil, the new Regional Champion. I was wondering if it’s true Yugi Muto is here?”

Twilight debated with herself before responding. “One sec.”

She stepped back into the room. “Yugi, that Weevil kid is here. What do you want me to do?”

Yugi and Tea stared at each other for a second, before nodding. “Alright, let him in.” Yugi said, before lowering his voice. “But you have to promise that you won’t do anything, until he’s gone, OK?”

“Alright, I promise.” She said, dropping her voice to match Yugi’s. She headed back over to the door, where Weevil was still waiting. “Come on in.”

“Oh, thank you.” Weevil said, grinning. Well, he certainly looks a little strange, but that doesn’t mean anything...She thought as he stepped past her.

“Hello, Yugi.”

“Hi, Weevil. Well done with the regionals.”

“Oh come now, Yugi. The regionals are nothing compared to beating the World Number 1.”

“You know about that?” Yugi asked, feigning surprise.

“The whole world knows. The world number 1, humiliated by an amateur. And here you are, in his place.”

“I just beat him in one duel, and it was pretty close.”

“Don’t be modest, Yugi. With your Buster Blader, he never stood a chance.” He fidgeted for a second, before asking the question Yugi had been waiting for. “Could I... see it?”

Yugi waited for a few seconds before responding. “Sure, it’s over here.” He opened up the case for his deck, and slid off the top card. He handed it over to Weevil, and watched as Weevil, as usual, walked around the room, before throwing the card out the window and running. As he left, he gloated “How will you win without that card now, Yugi?” Before devolving into maniacal laughter.

Yugi rolled his eyes, before closing and locking the door. He reached into his Pocket, and pulled out a card. He placed it into his deck box. He turned to Twilight, who still seemed to be in a sort of shock from what had happened in front of her. “And that is just one of the reasons we hate Weevil.”

“Duly noted...” Twilight said, before checking the time. “Well, I should get back to my room; I think Tristan will be calling me any time now.”

“Alright, we’ll talk again later.” Yugi said, as Twilight walked out the door.

“See you later.” Tea said.

Twilight walked down the Hallway, and entered her room. She rooted through her bag, and waited for the call.


“-Stan? Where’d you go?” Tristan blinked as he woke up.

“I’m here, Nyx. What’s wrong?”

“Well, you came in and said you needed to sit down.” Nyx said, turning to face Tristan’s voice. “And that was an hour ago.”

Tristan’s face practically shone red, and he smacked his forehead. “Damn, I’m sorry. Apparently, this loop has a lot of paperwork to sort out if you want to visit someone outside of visiting hours. I must have been more tired than I thought. But enough about that, how’re you holding up?”

Nyx let her head sink into her pillow. “Better, I guess. I wish Momma was here, but I know why she can’t be.”

Tristan smiled, as he plugged the last of the cables into his laptop, and waited for the thing to boot up. “Well, everything’s set up now, so all we can do is wait for it all to kick off. I did say I’d call Twilight when I got here...”

A knock came at the door, and a nurse walked through a few seconds later. “Hello Serenity, I’m here to run you...” She started, until she noticed Tristan. “Sir, visiting hours have ended. Quite a while ago, in fact.”

“I know, I know.” He said, as he pulled a small card out of his jacket pocket. He held it out to the nurse by the small pin on the back “I never got round to putting it on, I guess. Sorry about that.” He turned to Nyx “I’ll go make that call while they run the tests, ok?”

Nyx sighed a little, before nodding.

Tristan closed the door behind him, then leant against the door frame as he waited for Twilight to pick up.


Twilight sat in her room, sorting through her Pocket for whatever foci she could find. At either side were two piles of the objects she had tried. An extremely large notebook lay on her lap. She chewed her pencil absent mindedly as she pulled out her wand from her time at Hogwarts.

“Alright, next up.” She said as she held the wand out in front of her, and took a deep breath before shouting “Lumos!” as loud as she dared.

A faint glow appeared at the tip of her wand. Twilight nodded, and placed the wand into the much smaller of the two piles. She wrote a few lines next to her wands entry. Just as she was about to begin looking through her Pocket again, she heard the faint sound of music from somewhere behind her.

Twilight thought for a few seconds before diving towards her bed, and swiping up her phone. “Tristan?”

Yeah, it’s me. You guys set off yet?”

“Not too long ago. What happened to you though? Did you get stuck in traffic again?”

Nah, nothing like that. Just didn’t realise there was going to be so many forms I’d have to do. So by the time I got to Nyx’s room I was wiped. She finally got me to wake up not too long ago.” Tristan gave a short nervous laugh, as Twilight sighed.

“So how is she?”

Fine, but she misses you. I’d have let her talk to you, but the nurse came in to run her tests just as I was about to call. Figured it made more sense to do it like this. I’ll call again after every match. And don’t worry. Yugi and Tea told me what happened in the shop. You’ll do fine.”

“And what if things don’t go like they should?”

Then you roll with the punches. I don’t know what you’ve got in your bag of tricks, but I’d bet everything I have that yours is bigger and can deal with more stuff than mine. Just have faith in the Heart of the Cards, and you can’t fail.”

“Even against Yami?”

There was a slight chuckle before Tristan responded “He’s not actually the one you need to worry about, really...”

Twilight raised her eyebrow at that, but Tristan didn’t complete the thought, and decided it wasn’t worth pushing. “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. Just make sure Nyx stay’s OK for me.”

I would have done that anyway, but you probably knew that already. I’ll talk to you later, Josie.”

“You too, Tristan.” Twilight tossed the phone back onto her bed, before picking her notebook and pencil back up. Now, where was I?


Twilight had just finished clearing up her room when there was a knock at her door.

“Come in.” She called out just as she laid back on the bed.

Tea stepped into the room. “Yami and I were wondering what you were up to. You went to wait for Tristan calling you, and we haven’t seen you since.”

Twilight smiled sheepishly “Sorry, I got caught up in some research.” She opened her bedside table’s drawer, and pulled out her notebook. “Tell Yami or Yugi I’m sorry they’re not complete, but there were a couple of things that were just too big to bring out in this room.”

Tea’s eyes widened as she flipped through the notebook. “You did all of this overnight?”

Twilight debated whether to tell Tea how she had pulled it off, and decided that being vague was probably the best way to go. “Well, I found a few ways to use my magic, and a few other worlds as well. From there I just used some tricks I know to make it go a lot faster. Oh, and coffee. Coffee helped.”

“Ok, well, we’re five minutes away from the harbour, so if you want to grab your bags, we can meet Yugi and head for the opening ceremony.”

“Sure, just give me a minute.”Twilight said, dropping to the floor, and reaching under her bed. She pulled out her backpack and icebox “Ready when you are.”


Pegasus’ harbour was so narrow, it made the flock of people leaving the ship appear worse than in Domino. However, it was thankfully still a relatively short walk from the harbour to Pegasus’ Castle. There was a short wait before Pegasus appeared on his balcony, a glass of wine in his hand. He smiled, his eyes closed as he sipped at his drink, before he finally looked down to address the crowd.

“Congratulations to you all.” He said as he raised his glass “To have made it this far, you must be the world’s greatest duellists. And so I welcome you to Duellist Kingdom.” He completed his toast before continuing. “However, a Kingdom has only one throne. I look forward to the coming week, and so, assemble your decks carefully, with guile and creativity. You have all been given 2 Star Chips, at least one of which must be wagered on every one of your duels.” Pegasus paused, both to scan the crowd, and to breathe. “Any person who can earn 10 or more will be given entry to my Castle, and the final stages of the tournament. Arenas have been placed throughout the island, which will become active in one hour. Feel free to prepare in any way you like, wherever you like. When the sky lights up with fireworks, you may begin.”

He turned and exited down the same passageway he had came from. The crowd then erupted into various chattering. Twilight turned to face Yugi and Tea.

“Well, that sounded strange.” She said, keeping her voice as low as she dared.

“It actually didn’t sound all that different to what he usually says...” Yugi said, with Tea nodding in approval. “But, notice something?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, before looking around. She spent a minute or two, before speaking up “It’s a group of people. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, here. A hint would be nice...”

“Try looking for what’s not there...”

“Huh?...” She took another look, before realising what was wrong “Hey, where’d that Weevil kid go?”

“Don’t worry. If he runs off, he always heads for the same place, just follow us.” Yugi said, before heading for one of the flights of stairs away from the Castle’s grounds “Be careful though. Some of these stairs are pretty old, so watch your footing.”

Twilight and Tea followed close behind, descending down into one of the islands thick forests.


Weevil was waiting for the group by the Forest Grove’s arena as Yugi, Twilight and Tea emerged into the clearing.

“He he he, I was wondering how long it would be before you noticed I had gone.” Weevil said, leering at the trio over his glasses. Just as he finished speaking, the fireworks started.

“Well, I guess there’s no sense waiting any longer then. Weevil, I challenge you to a duel.”

“Gladly, little Yugi. We’ll duel for 2 Star Chips. After all, it wouldn’t do to have you running around anymore once I’ve proven you’re just a beginner who got lucky.” Weevil said, as he climbed into one of the podiums of the arena.

Alright, you want to take this one, or should I? Yugi asked Yami as he approached his podium.

I think I should. Blader was always one of my cards... came the response.

Got it. Good luck. Yugi took a deep breath as he stepped into place, and switched. Yami placed his deck into its slot. Once it had been returned, he drew his hand, and looked over at Weevil. “Let’s Duel.”

Yami looked over his hand. Well Yugi, we have two of the cards we need. Sangan, Pot of Greed and Monster Reborn are all helpful too. I guess it all comes down to how soon we can get the third card we need.

Looks that way, but this is Weevil. Let’s just hope he isn’t cheating in some way we haven’t thought of.

“I’ll start.” Yami announced, drawing another card from his deck. He saw the card he had added to his hand, and laughed briefly. “I’m sorry this was so short, Weevil.” He then turned to Twilight. “Josie, you will soon see what it was my Grandpa was attempting in your duel.”

“First, I play the magic card Pot of Greed to draw even more cards, before I place this face down. Then, I’ll set this monster in defence mode, and end my turn.”

“You seem to think you’ve already won, Yugi. Did you forget, there are always at least two people in a duel.” Weevil drew his card “I play this monster in face down defence mode. That ends my turn.” Weevil smiled as he played the card.

Well, this seems familiar... Yugi thought. Man Eater Bug?

Man Eater Bug Yami agreed. This is exactly what we needed, don’t you think?

Yami drew another card, before looking over his hand. “I switch my Sangan to attack mode, and attack your face down monster.”

Predictably, weevil began laughing maniacally. “Oh little Yugi, you already made your first mistake.” He flipped his Man Eater Bug, and the holographic Sangan vanished into the Graveyard. “Say goodbye to your pathetic monster. That will do nicely for now."

“Are you done?” Yami asked, as he picked some dirt out from his nails and yawned. “Did you forget, my Sangan has a special ability? I can add one card to my hand, as long as it has less than 1500 attack points. I think my Exodia the forbidden one will do nicely, don’t you?” Yami held up the card as he slid it into his hand. “Now, since it is still my turn, and it worked so well before, I’d like my Sangan back. So I activate my Monster Reborn to resurrect my Sangan, in defence mode, then end my turn.”

The holographic Sangan returned to the field, as Weevil started to, impressively, become even paler.”Th..Th...There’s no way you’ll be able to summon it in time.” He drew a card, and began to laugh again. “I summon my Cross Sword Beetle in attack mode. And, thanks to the field bonus from the Forest, he gains a 10% boost to his attack and defence points.”

A large beetle appeared across from Sangan, and after a few seconds, it began increasing in size.

“Now all I have to do is play a monster strong enough to take down any monsters you summon. You can’t possibly stall long enough to summon Exodia now, Yugi. Go ahead and make your move.”

Yami took a look at the card he drew, and began to smirk. “Whoever said I needed to stall?”

“What? You couldn’t have drawn the last piece already!”

“You are right Weevil, I did not draw the last Exodia piece.” Yami said, still smirking, while weevil breathed a sigh of relief “However, I did draw a card that will give it to me.” He flipped around the Dark Hole he had drawn, and played it immediately. All the holograms disappeared from the field, and Yami's smirk never seemed to stop growing wider “You know what this means, right Weevil?”

Weevil had been struck silent in disbelief. All he could do was watch as Yami spread the five pieces of the all-powerful Exodia across his field.

The arena’s holograms began to blur, and sparks began to fly from the edges, as slowly, the limbs of the great beast broke free from their chains, and reunited with their body. Exodia howled as he stood, towering even above the forest canopy.

Yami stared right at Weevil before giving his command. “Exodia, Obliterate!”

The towering monster brought its arms together, and the hum of magic could be heard, as a strange light formed between its hands. A few seconds later, a large shaft of light enveloped Weevil and his entire side of the field. As his podium stared to lower, Yami looked across at Weevil one last time. “You lose.”


The trio were silent as they left the forest, heading back towards the plains between the Harbour and Pegasus’ Castle. Eventually, Twilight turned to Yugi.

“So, that was Solomon’s only chance, as he put it? An instant win? I can’t say that seems all that fair...”

“Well, you need to have all five pieces. Which are rarer than you’re probably thinking – well, without a Pocket at least. And you’d be surprised how often we’re only allowed one of each piece in a deck. Personally, I don't like to use Exodia that often anyway. If you start relying on it, then a loop tends to get a little...”

“Boring?” Twilight finished his sentence for him, then waited until he nodded before continuing “Don’t worry, I get it. I think most anchors feel like that at times. You just need to be careful about how you make it interesting again...”

Suddenly, someone came running through the crowd towards them. They pulled up a few feet away, and almost collapsed as they tried to catch their breath. After a few seconds they looked up at the trio “You’re Yugi Muto, right? Solomon Muto’s Grandson?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Yugi said, trying to place the newcomer. They seemed familiar somehow, but Yugi couldn’t place them. “What do you want?”

“I’m Mike Valentine, and I’m looking for the girl who beat him.” Mike said, looking down at Yugi “I’m assuming it’s you” Mike said, turning to Twilight.

Yugi looked around, before lowering his voice. “How’d you know about that?”

“Actually, pretty simple. One of your friends here has a guest pass, the other has a duelling glove on, and I know of all the female duellists good enough to actually make it here. There’d been a rumour that Solomon had lost to a rookie like Kaiba, but I didn’t want to believe it.”

“Be careful.” Twilight said, staring at Mike warily “I beat him, I can beat you just as easily.”

“Well, there is one way to test that theory...” Mike said, indicating a duelling arena that lay not far off. “What do you say to one Star Chip apiece. I don’t want to dash your hopes of making it big all at once, after all...”

Well, at least he ain’t pullin’ Mai’s two-bit Psychic bull... Twilight heard someone say, but when she looked around, there wasn’t anyone anywhere close enough to have said it. “Alright, one star Chip.”

Mike and Twilight approached the podium, and sorted their decks. After drawing their hands, Twilight studied her hand. Well, my Magician Valkyria might come in handy in a turn or two, but everything else in here is useless right now. I need something good with my first draw, or I might end up like Solomon did before...

“You can start.” She called across the arena.

“Nah, Ladies first. I insist.” Mike replied.

“If you’re sure...” Twilight said, drawing a card before he could respond. She looked down and smiled.

“I’ll start by playing my Fortune Lady Earth, in attack mode.” Twilight placed her monster on the field, and began looking over her hand again. “And then...” She started, but lost her train of thought after seeing the fully realised holographic version of her card. It looked just like...

“Applejack?...” Twilight whispered, as the rest of her cards slipped out of her fingers.


97.2 (Kris Overstreet)

"Bad Loop?" Big MacIntosh asked as Twilight Sparkle walked into his bar and sat down.

"Not so much bad as... really weird," Twilight said. Let me explain..."


"But the princess said you were supposed to try and make friends!" non-Awake Spike said.

"Oh, all right," Twilight said, turning her attention from Spike to Pinkie Pie...

... except the pony they were walking up to was a Pie of a different color.

Maud? What's Maud doing here and now?

"Excuse me-" Twilight began.

"Oh," Maud interrupted, her eyebrows rising marginally. Without another word the gray pony turned on her hooves and trotted off.


"Hello," said the proprietress of Sweet Apple Acres. "I'm Apple Pie."

It was clearly Maud Pie wearing a cowboy hat.

"Ah... hello, Mau- er, Apple Pie," Twilight stammered. "I'm here to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Oh. All right." "Apple Pie" walked over to the triangle and rang it loudly, bringing a herd of Apple family (Pie family?) members running from all corners of the orchard. One shoved Twilight on a stool while the others piled plates of sweet apple-based foods in front of her until the shadow blotted out the noonday sun.

"Twilight Sparkle... my family," Apple Pie said. "Apples... Twilight Sparkle."

"HOWDY!" dozens of voices responded.

"Er... what's all this for?" Twilight asked, looking around the mighty mountain of food.

"Taste test," Apple Pie said, and that was all that needed saying.


"Boo," a low voice said from above. A thunderbolt followed almost immediately.

Twilight looked up from the mud puddle to see a pony head peeking over the edge of a cloud. The faintest smile lingering on the gray pegasus's muzzle.

Maud Pie, with wings. Of course. "Maud Splash," probably.


City Hall shimmered with tall pillars of highly polished rocks.

And in the middle stood... Maud Pie, with a horn.

Talking over Spike's drooling, Twilight learned her name was Rare Earths. That might explain, Twilight thought, why some of these rocks are glowing without benefit of the sun...


And then there was the other winged Maud Pie- this one with a long mane that hung over her eyes. This one never spoke at all, but Twilight could feel a sort of empathic response whenever she asked a question. The empathic pulses were enough to goad Spike into giving his entire biography, without a word being spoken.

Twilight would learn later that her name was "Flutterpie." She had organized a rock band for the celebration. The music sounded strangely like a glass armonica, or someone playing wine glasses, or both...


"Astonishingly, the Loop wasn't that different beyond that," Twilight said. "Except Maud Pie was the Element of Loyalty, and Maud Splash the Element of Laughter. Oh, and Discord's tricks had no effect on any of them."

"Oh?" Big Mac asked. "How'd they manage that?"

"Like this," Twilight said, ducking her head. When she looked back up her face held the expression she'd carefully learned on that strange Loop- the half-lidded look that indicated an apparently infinite lack of interest in much of anything. Where Fluttershy had the Stare, Maud Pie had the Look.

And Twilight kept Look-ing at Mac until he slowly sank below the bar level to get out of her sight.


97.3 (FanOfMostEverything)

The Loop that was detailed within The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that most incredible of books, was an odd one. With freely available time travel and a space-time continuum filled with enough eddies to scam quarters out of all of existence, the Loop's duration was entirely subjective. It reset only when Arthur Dent or a replacement Anchor had experienced a given number of years. Within that window of subjective time, one could move from one end of objective time to the other.

At Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, a little blue unicorn had done just that.

Max Quordlepheen, master of ceremonies, seemingly stretched thin by years of witnessing the ultimate oblivion, shook his head. "Sorry, but you just don't work for this crowd."

Trixie gaped. "But this is the biggest show in the universe!"

"Exactly. And you're trying to upstage it." Max tilted his head at a drum set emblazoned "The Cataclysmic Combo." "Now, take Reg and the boys. They work with the End. After everything's gone kaput, they're out there keeping the crowd at the right mix of awed yet hungry for entertainment. You? Kid, if you had your way, the Big Crunch would just be the opening act for 'The Great and Powerful Trixie.'" Max shook his head again. "Zarquon Himself shows up a few seconds before the finale. You ain't gonna top that." He sighed. "You're good, kid, but you're just not Milliways material."

Trixie pouted. "This is just like what happened at the Big Bang Burger Bar. 'It's the biggest explosion in the universe. You can't compete with that.'" She sneered and snorted. "Honestly, no vision."

Any sympathy in Max's expression experienced heat death. "Yeah, I remember telling you that."

"Oh." Trixie coughed into a fetlock. "I thought you looked familiar."


(misterq)

"Trixie, what are you doing?" Twilight Sparkle's voice was even and controlled, quite unlike the maelstrom of worry and fear she was experiencing inside as she watched the blue unicorn fiddle with the immense techno-magical machine that she had constructed. The energy readings on the monitors were all terrifyingly huge.

"Oh hi there, Twilight. I'm trying to stuff an embryonic universe into another cosmic egg. That way I can make a firework that will make a big bang inside another big bang. A double big bang! And then I want to have the proto-stars arranged in a likeness of my face. Maybe then, that stupid restaurant manager will give me a show."

Suddenly, there was a thwack as Trixie felt a light stinging sensation on her muzzle.

"W.. What?" Her eyes focused on a levitating rolled up newspaper. She started backing up slowly in confusion.

'Thwack' went the floating periodical again.

"No! Bad Trixie! Bad! This is for your own good," Twilight said as she followed the stunned blue unicorn, "Don't make me get out the water spray bottle."

"But, Twilight! A double big bang! Double big bang! The great and powerful Trixie really needs this for her act..AHRRGGHWRRGBBLBH!" The bottle was now out of Twilight's saddle bags and spraying a steady stream of water right into the showmare's face.


97.4 (Zetrein)

As Nightmare Moon gave her introductory monologue, Pinkie set her plan in motion. "Hey, Twilight, you'd say this counts as a 'Princess Emergency' right?"

"Does this count?" Applejack interrupted. "Does the villain talking about no more sun, and ponynapping the Princess, count as an emergency? It sure as sugar is an emergency!"

"Oh! Good!" Pinkie ran over to a nearby broom closet, and threw it open. From inside the closet, she pulled... Princess Celestia? "I have princesses stashed all over Ponyville, in case of a princess emergency!"

Princess Celestia seemed just as confused as everypony else in the room. Nightmare Moon had stopped talking, and was now glaring at her sister. Pinkie paid them no mind, nor all the other eyes following her as she ran across the room to a bush.

"I've got young princesses too!" Reaching into the bush, she pulled Princess Cadance into sight. The pony she was cuddling at the time, one Shining Armor, was also dragged out along with her. "I've also got filly princesses!"

With a splash, she somehow pulled Nyx from a punch bowl. Standing on the table, as Pinkie dashed off again, the little alicorn looked around, before locking her gaze on Nightmare Moon. "Daddy! You're back!"

This finally drew a response from the increasingly agitated Nightmare. "What?! We are not thy father! We are a mare!"

Nyx waved her hoof. "Pshh, that's just what you want them to think."

As Nightmare continued to sputter up on the balcony, Twilight scolded her daughter. "Nyx! It's not nice to air other pony's dirty laundry. I raised you better than that. And get off that table."

"Sorry, Mommy." Many eyes were focused on Twilight and Nyx, including an incredulous Celestia, and a simmering Nightmare Moon. That they were surprised by what happened next, was entirely their own fault.

"I've even got princesses you've never even heard of before!" Pinkie's voice once again drew the attention of the room, as they looked over to see her holding an even younger pink alicorn filly. Celestia's eyes turned into pinpricks.

"Mummy!" With the innocent obliviousness of small children, the little filly leapt from Pinkie's hooves, and ran to Celestia. "Where were you? Miss Nightbright said you wouldn't be home today!"

"Skyla! What, how? You shouldn't-" Ponyville was receiving a rare view of a nearly panicked Princess Celestia.

"'Mummy'? Is there something you wish to tell us, Sister?" Nightmare Moon smirked, as the leaned on the balcony rail above them. She was interrupted once again, by that pink pony's voice.

"In fact," She said, as she reached behind a table. Unnoticed by most, a pink hoof came out from under the table to grab her other foreleg. "I'm..." The Pinkie in front of the table vanished beneath it, as the hoof she had been reaching with seemed to pull herself out from behind it. "...also an alicorn!"

The silence that followed was broken by a cry of, "The horror, the horror!" followed by a series of thumps as several ponies hit the floor.


97.5 (Masterweaver)

Octavia cleared her throat. "Vinyl.... I've been wondering something."

The unicorn turned away from the music store window, giving her maybe/kind-of marefriend a small smile. "Yeah?"

"...You say that loopers are... ancient, relatively speaking. I've seen some of what Twilight and her daughter can do. So... I thought--"

"Heh, I getcha." Vinyl shrugged. "You've got to understand, I'm one of the most recent equestrian loopers. I can still remember my subjective age. Three thousand two hundred and fifty nine next month!"

Octavia gulped. "Right...."

Vinyl winced. "Sorry. That was insensitive."

"I keep forgetting," the gray mare murmured. "I'm used to thinking of myself as the more mature one..."

The unicorn nudged her. "You are. Mostly. I like acting out, and you... you anchor me, keep me from just boozing up the night."

Octavia shook her head. "Like some crazy DJ vampire."

"You know I've actually been a vampire?" Vinyl flashed her a fanged smirk.

"What?!"

She spat out the plastic fangs with a giggle. "Heh, but seriously. I have been a vampire, it's an on and off thing."

"...Vinyl, don't do that!" Octavia took a few breaths, clutching her chest. "I thought for a moment that--"

"Hey." The unicorn gripped her hoof, looking into her eyes. "I would NEVER suck your blood without permission. Unless I was being mind controlled, but that wouldn't be me."

"...That's... sweet." Octavia shuddered. "And disturbing, somehow."

"Yeah... I do have a slight bit of hypnosis from those stints." Vinyl glanced upward. "Not enough to control, but enough to calm ponies down, convince them that I know what I'm talking about." She flinched. "That doesn't make me sound untrustworthy, does it?"

"...Telling me you can do that..." Octavia replied slowly. "It... it does scare me a bit, but I appreciate that you trusted me with that fact. And that you, uh, didn't ask for that ability."

"Yeah." She shook her head. "Aside from that, I've spent my loops studying all kinds of music. Really helps when I want to remix things and make new songs, right? And there was that one pirate loop where I got the ability to make music physical. I've only got it up to blasts, mind you, nothing complicated... yet."

"Yet."

Vinyl took a breath... and let it out. "The thing is, in the loop where I... died... I wasn't a pony. I was a Protoss Zealot. We wore this armor that--hold on, I've got an armguard in my pocket..."

Octavia glanced away, still slightly disturbed by the way Vinyl could produce items from thin air. When she looked back, Vinyl was holding a large golden tub in her magic.

"Right. This here? This is a psi-blade. Protoss would wear this around their forearm so they could project their psionic energy out this slot to make... a blade."

"Forearm...? Vinyl, you could wear this around your barrel!"

"Yep. Protoss are big beasties." Vinyl grinned, stashing it back into her pocket. "So what I'm thinking, right, is doing something similar, but with music. Like... tools made entirely of sound. Swords, easy, grappling hooks... not so much. I'd have to collaborate with Apple Bloom, she's the techie in the loops."

"The.... farm filly?" Octavia glanced toward Sweet Apple Acres. "She's looping?"

"One of the first, outside the bearers." Vinyl leaned in. "Apparently she's also got a spare Element of Magic."

"...I'll take your word for it."

"Ooo! But there is this one other thing I figured out." Vinyl grinned. "You're going to either love this, or hate it."

"Really?"

"Yep. See all these ponies walking around?"

Octavia glanced around them. "...yeeeeeees? What about them?"

"...Oh, right." Vinyl facehooved. "You're still in the middle of it, I'm going to have to drop the connection."

"Drop the co--?"

Octavia suddenly felt as though she were stumbling while staying still. She shook her head and gave Vinyl a glare; the unicorn merely gestured around them again. And then, looking around at the ponies walking by, she heard it; a dubstep beat reverberating through her mind, matching the movements of every passerby...

"...are they all dancing?"

"Mmmhmm." Vinyl leaned back. "I'm projecting the tune psionically through everypony's subconscious. None of them realize it."

"I thought you said you couldn't control minds..."

Vinyl shook her head. "It's not mind control, not really. They're still walking to wherever they were headed, they just feel the jive as well."

She wastched a passing mare swish her tail back and forth. "Wait.... Was I doing this a few moments ago?!"

"Yep!" Vinyl's grin widened. "Great view!"

"VINYL SCRATCH, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA--!"


97.6 (Crisis)

Dr. Light was actually quite enjoying himself. He didn't generally have Loops without any of his children around. Not that he didn't love spending time with them in the Loops, even if Blues was sadly still jumpy and suspicious around him, but it was a nice change of pace to have adventures of his own from time to time.

It wasn't the first time he'd been in this particular neighborhood of the Loops, though he vastly preferred his current incarnation to the one he'd had the other time. His children had laughed themselves sick, despite being robots, when they'd heard about him being the portly middle age digger in a blue and yellow jumpsuit who billed himself as "Mega Man". On the other hand, getting as his agent a blonde version of Noelle Lalinde who regularly wore dresses that could be described as "small" and "red" had been a definite perk. The hand-held Mega Buster he'd gotten was also a welcome addition to his subspace pocket. Beyond that, even he hadn't taken himself seriously that Loop.

Honestly, replacing Ken Masters in a Street Fighter Loop was the preferable option. Having Loop memories of training alongside Ryu; who may or may not be the local Anchor, he hadn't been very clear when Dr. Light asked him; was a much better history in his opinion. Plus, his age meant he got to have hair that wasn't white or even gray, but a rich black like in his baseline youth. Being occasionally addressed as "Dr. Masters" or "Master Light" had been fairly amusing as well.

Yet, he had still picked up the "Mega Man" nickname somehow. Compared to that, having a blue gi rather than Ken's red was practically serendipity.

"So you're a looper too. Native?" asked his current companion curiously. She was most definitively not a native of this Loop and her question suggested she hadn't visited it before. For one thing, the individual her appearance took after, and who she was replacing, was a male. Nor did he have rainbow-colored hair.

"Oh, not at all Colonel Dash," he said amiably. "In my home Loop, I'm a scientist and inventor rather than a career fighter."

"Egghead, huh?" Colonel "Rainbow" Dash smirked. "A bit outside your comfort zone I bet."

Dr. Light chuckled. "Colonel, I'll have you know that in my home Loop, I am an accomplished martial artist in my own right. I have won multiple high school and collegiate championships in the ring in addition to my Masters and/or Doctorate degrees in robotics, computer science, engineering, business, and both applied and quantum physics. Were it not for my former friend and colleague Dr. Wily, I would possibly hold a global record for academic achievement."

Colonel Dash looked impressed. "How many Loops did it take you to do all that?"

Dr. Light managed to hold in his amusement. "Colonel Dash, that's my baseline."

Dash's eyes practically bugged out of their sockets.


"I am quite amazed at your technique Colonel," Dr. Light said. "Not many can manifest a polychromatic aura at all, much less as naturally as you do."

"I'm still trying to get over how you copied it like that!" Dash returned incredulously. "Sure, it doesn't look nearly as cool as mine does, but it should have taken you at least a week just to figure out how to mold the chi properly since you've got a similar technique that your body will want to default to instead. Not a few hours!"

"I may not have a copy chip," Dr. Light said, missing Dash's confusion at the term, "but as a scientist and inventor analyzing things and then replicating them comes naturally to me."


"Well," grinned the despotic M. Bison. "If it isn't the dynamic duo of the circuit. Dr. Thomas "Mega Man" Masters-Light and Colonel "Rainbow" Dash of the U.S. armed forces. A pleasure to meet you both. Killing you two should prove a delightful challenge to my abilities."

Colonel Dash snorted. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that psycho."

"There is no need," M. Bison swept his cape aside confidently. "I am secure in the fact that I am all-powerful. My victory may be slightly more difficult than usual, but it is a foregone conclusion."

"There are no foregone conclusions," Dr. Light shot back with a stern look. "Only possibilities more likely than others. And you give more weight to the possibility of your victory than it truly deserves."

The ugly look on M. Bison's face told Dr. Light he'd scored a nice psychological hit. Despots generally didn't like having logic thrown in their faces like that.

"ENOUGH!" M. Bison roared, his sickly purple aura flaring to life. "Your mangled bodies will serve as a warning to all others that I am immortal and my Psycho Power unbeatable!"

"PSYCHO CRUSHER!" M. Bison yelled as he launched himself in an aura-enhanced spiraling strike at his opponents.

Dr. Light threw his palms forth in the practiced motion now ingrained in his body as his companion drew her arms back and then threw them forward at speeds exceeding sound.

"HADOKEN!"

"SONIC RAINBOOM!"


97.7 (Masterweaver)

Applejack grinned awkwardly at the guards. "Um, code Beeblebrox?"

Rarity sighed. "Honestly, AJ, you're supposed to be the element of Honesty. Coming up with this bizzare scenario just to justify a divorce--"


97.8 (Zetrein)

When a Looper wakes up, they tend to run through a few basic questions, if it isn't their usual Awakening. Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? On occasion, what am I? And every now and then, who am I in bed with?

It was this last question that Twilight had in mind as she woke up, in both meanings of the word. Thankfully, whoever she was in bed with was appearantly Awake, as the ping response felt like she had just pinged herself in the face.

With that out of the way, Twilight backtracked to the previous questions. Her name was still Twilight, though she lacked the Sparkle part, and she appeared to have swapped places with her daughter. Aside from that, everything seemed mostly baseline.

"Y'wake?" Nyx asked from behind her.

"Yeah."

"Sunday, no school."

Most times, Loopers try and make life interesting. They're as likely to heed the Call of Adventure, as they are to ignore it, or bat it to someone else, just to see what would happen.

"Mhm. Back sleep?"

"Back to sleep."

Sometimes though, Adventure can wait. You're sleeping in today.


(FanOfMostEverything)

From the Journal of Sunset Shimmer:

(several furiously scratched out lines)

I don't think I'll be able to write anything coherent about this one. Twilight says that's a common reaction, but I still wanted to record something. She assured me that that Loop was already an established recurring Variant and not something specifically designed to mock me, but it gave me a tiara with an Element of Harmony on it. That's a little too spot-on for me not to be suspicious.

Call it egocentrism, but this felt personal. And I want to remember that feeling. Remember the girl, the child, who threw a tantrum, brainwashed a bunch of humans, and planned on forcing them into bodies not their own. It's nice to be able to see how far I've come, even if looking back brings back bad memories.

That said, it doesn't mean I want another Bureau Loop anytime soon.


97.9 (Kris Overstreet)

Twilight hopped out of the pegasus chariot onto the streets of Ponyville. Unlike the usual baseline Loop, this pegasus chariot had required a team of six... because, in addition to Twilight and Spike, the guard ponies were also hauling several crates full of shovels.

The other Element bearers gathered around the chariot as Twilight began frantically distributing the shovels to anypony and everypony. "Twilight," Rainbow Dash asked, "what is WITH all these shovels?"

"Foxholes!" Twilight gasped. "Bunkers! Caves! Bomb shelters! Not a second to waste!"

"Twilight, darling," Rarity asked, regarding the shovel Twilight had levitated over to her with disgust, "what is so urgent that requires... ugh... digging?"

"All of us have been to the Marvel universe at least once, right?"

All nodded except Spike. "Not me, Twilight. I was there when we all joined the Justice League, and another time when we all had Lantern rings, but I don't think I ever got over to Marvel."

"Okay," Twilight said, slowing but not stopping the one-per-customer shovel giveaway. "The Marvel universe has this metal called vibranium. It's a metal that absorbs sound; the louder the sound, the harder and stronger it becomes. Well, Vinyl visited Marvel last Loop and learned how to get vibranium to release its stored sound."

"Yeah... and?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"She just told me she stole as much vibranium as she could stuff into her subspace pocket just before the Loop ended," Twilight said. "And now she's experimenting with a new kind of-"

Wubs louder than a space shuttle launch roared through Ponyville. Buildings shook. The earth cracked. Every pony on the street fell stunned to the ground. Pegasi fell too, only farther. A few seconds later, the horrible noise ended with a very quiet and subdued explosion that lifted the roof of a certain cottage twelve feet in the air.

In the sudden silence a single pony's voice could be heard: "It's okay! Everything's cool! I know what I did wrong!"

"Shovels won't be enough, darling," Rarity said. "Remember that desert island Discord's always sending people to? The one on the exact opposite side of the planet? Is it big enough for all of us?"


97.10 (misterq)

"Shut it off!" Captain Picard said as he turned away from the now darkened viewscreen, "Computer, execute procedure 'What the hell did I just see.' Authorization Picard Alpha Alpha Whiskey Tango Foxtrot One One Three Eight."

The Enterprise's computer's voice signaled back, "Compliance. All records of recent anomaly have been purged. All records of said purge have been expunged. Course laid in out of the system. Have a nice day."

"Captain, are you sure that's wise?" asked Ensign Robson.

The captain of the Enterprise turned towards the recently acquired crew member, "Tell me, Ensign Robson, what exactly did you see?"

"A.. a winged unicorn surfing the supernova we were supposed to investigate?" the hapless ensign wilted under the steely gaze of his captain, "I think she waved to us, sir."

"You want to tell Starfleet that we saw a surfing space unicorn with wings, enjoying a supernova without the benefit of any spaceship or even an atmosphere?" Captain Picard sighed, "Ensign, ever since we went out into the greater galaxy, we have found beings of untold powers. Some of these have been worshipped as gods, others might as well have been. These beings love nothing better than to trick and play pranks on every species that are less advanced than them. They will put the most ridiculous things in our path just to witness our reaction. However, we will not give them the benefit of doing so. This is why we do not talk of the great giant gummi bear planet of Scorpianis 477, or the dancing Mary Poppins robots of Cygnus 97-b, or the orbiting pastry critters around that vanishing candy planet. Nor will we talk of the surfing space unicorn. Do you understand now? So, again I will ask you, Ensign Robson; what exactly did you see?"

"I.. I saw nothing, sir," the ensign answered.

"That is correct. Now, let's get the hell out of here. Maximum warp. Engage."

Author's Note:

97.1: What's on the cards?
97.2: Maud's the pity.
97.3: Supernova? Small fry.
97.4: They planned this.
97.5: Loopers and non-loopers. (Vinyl is... odd.)
97.6: While the Mega Pony loop was going on.
97.7: Useful code, that.
97.8: A lie in.
97.9: Someone get the Cone of Silence.
97.10: Actually a useful policy.

PreviousChapters Next