MLP Loops 114
114.1
“Applebloom, I think I beat your record.”
“Oh?” Applebloom looked up at Twilight. “Ain't surprised, you've had a lot more time. Which record would that be?”
“Tech uplift. What's your best?” Twilight paused, then elaborated. “Let's say... from an arbitrary starting point no later than Hub Napoleonic, to spaceflight. And no Pocket cheats.”
“Humm.” Applebloom fidgeted with her latest project – she'd been making what she called a nanospanner, which would use Jain-type tech to fix something while apparently just tightening up a bolt. “'bout a year is my best, assumin' you're goin' from something before steam power. Built somethin' right out of Jules Verne, put all my effort into a big 'ol grav-compensator and the mother of all guns. You?”
“Tool use to spaceflight in four hours.”
Applebloom dropped her spanner.
“What.”
Twilight held her expression for a moment, then laughed. “Okay, yeah, kind of a cheat. I was a Cheela.”
Applebloom looked blank.
Twilight put a book down in front of her. “This should explain. Anyway, Cheela think and evolve really fast. To me it was more like five hundred years, basically. But I never specified subjective time, did I?”
“...yeah, bein' an Anchor just gives you a lot more chances to learn the loopholes, don't it.” Applebloom retrieved her spanner, put it carefully on the workbench, and then picked up Dragon's Egg. “Ah'll just give this a read, then.”
114.2
Fluttershy whistled to herself – one of Sweetie's latest pieces – as she went through the loop-start routine. Feed the animals, grow the plants, teach something new to the birds – she thought Tubular Bells would be nice this time – and make sure Angel Bunny wasn't too grumpy.
Around ten in the morning, however, hooves coming up the path interrupted her.
“Good morning, Fluttershy,” Twilight said pleasantly. “Do you have a few minutes?”
Fluttershy interpreted that easily. Please give me some time with you to cope with my last loop.
“How could I say no?” she replied, and turned to the parrot. “Please make sure that they keep learning the melodic line.”
The parrot nodded to her, flaring his wings. “Melodic line! Melodic line!”
“That's right.” Fluttershy then headed for her door. Seeing Twilight looking mildly interested, she smiled. “He can pronounce speech, but he doesn't quite understand what each word means. He can understand me, of course, because...” She indicated herself with a small movement of one wing. “Special talent.”
“And your Element, of course.” Twilight nodded, and followed her friend into the cottage.
“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, sipping her mint tea. “For remembering I like this, as well.”
“Not a problem,” Fluttershy assured her. “Now – what was it that happened last loop?”
Twilight sighed, and put her mug down. “I'm glad you were Awake,” she said, more or less as a non sequitur. “The other Kindnesses aren't... quite as appropriate a choice. You see, I was in Lemon's world.”
“Oh?” Fluttershy smiled. “Did you see him?”
“No, I was the only one Awake.” Twilight swallowed, and took another sip of tea. “Anyway, it was one of those loops where most of my abilities were locked out.”
“I don't like those,” Fluttershy agreed. “I can't help people as easily.”
“That's usually what I don't like, either,” Twilight nodded. “There was one time I was a mare in the Hub world, all I had was my brains... anyway, I was basically a standard Eldar farseer. Exodite, if that means anything to you.”
“Exodite are usually quite pleasant,” Fluttershy mused.
“That part was,” Twilight replied. “I went around there for a few years, casting about in the future to make sure it was baseline for the Dark Millennium, and then I used the Webway to walk to Earth.”
Fluttershy blinked.
“Yeah, I know, not one of my better ideas.” Twilight took a full mouthful of tea, this time, and savoured it for several long seconds. “I appeared in the Throne Room – mostly empty, which was lucky – and contacted the Emperor.”
Her audience reacted in two different ways.
Fluttershy, who had had several conversations with the Emperors of different iterations of the loops – not all pleasant – made a little oh of surprise. “Was that safe?” she queried.
Angel, who had been the Emperor, shrugged and went back to gnawing on a carrot.
“Well, I wasn't sure, but I did future-sight just in case.” Twilight rubbed her forehead with a hoof, and then drank some more tea. “He was quite pleasant. I told him some of the important things which he should know – the Word Bearers were the weak link, but Chaos was coming; the nature of the Necrons; how to build a non-psychotic artificial intelligence – you know, raise it like a child – and all sorts of other things. Over dinner, actually.”
Twilight winced. “He was charming, witty, erudite, asked searching questions, clearly understood what I was saying, and then as I rose to leave ten members of the Sisterhood of Silence stepped in and captured me.”
Fluttershy's breath hissed. “Oh dear,” she said quietly. “You didn't see them-”
“-when I future scryed, yes,” Twilight completed. “Because they're Blanks. And then I spent about the next month and a half being exhaustively interrogated for everything I knew.”
She swallowed compulsively. “I tried to give it to them, and they didn't believe it. And then they moved onto the torture.”
The room was silent for several seconds, with the only sound being a parrot outside squawking “Mandolin! Mandolin!”
Fluttershy stood up from her chair, walked over, and hugged Twilight wordlessly.
“Thanks, Fluttershy,” Twilight said, her voice hitching slightly. “I... the Emperor's a very powerful psyker, and he did eventually manage to crack my shields. Possibly that was when they tried the...” She stopped there, swallowed again, and went on gamely. “Anyway, there's an Eldar technique to suicide. I used it.”
She sighed, the exhalation going on for a long time.
“Fluttershy?” she asked eventually. “I'm sorry, but – can you handle things today?”
Fluttershy nodded.
114.3
Louise de Valliere triggered her summoning spell. This had to work!
With a bright flash of green light, something very big dropped into the centre of the circle.
“Well, well,” the teacher said with an interested eyebrow-raise. “It appears, miss Louise, that you've summoned a dragon.”
He frowned. “But I'm not sure what kind...”
I? The black dragon raised up on his hind legs, flaring his wings. I am the Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself! I am a Night Fury, the swiftest of all dragons, possessed of a mighty flame that burns even rock! I am- the tone of the silent voice changed from bragging to confused. Okay, you're not Hiccup. What the Hel's going on?
“Hi, bud,” one of the other students said, waving from next to a large griffin.
Okay, nope. The dragon took off with a slamming wingbeat, and flew over to the other student – leaving Louise looking rather startled in the summoning circle.
What's going on? Toothless repeated. What is going on? Who's that?
Hiccup nodded to the griffin, who rolled upright.
Tail lashing, the griffin crunched her foreclaws together with a clack sound. “She, you right pillock, is Gilda the Griffin.”
Toothless looked Gilda up and down. Oh, yeah, I remember you – the shouty one. This earned a snigger from Hiccup and a look from Gilda. How's Equestria?
“Could be worse.” Gilda shrugged, then punched Toothless in the shoulder. “You're all right, dragon. Now, what was the big deal?”
Well... Toothless twitched his wings in a shrug. Hiccup is sorta mine. I've been here before, it's just... you're kind of in my slot.
Gilda tapped her beak. “Right, right.” (By now, most of the students had gotten over their shock at a talking dragon and a talking griffin, and were actually listening to what they were saying.) “Tell you what. Swap?”
Fine by me.
Toothless strutted over to lie down behind Hiccup, neatly taking the place Gilda had vacated.
Gilda, for her part, fluttered over to land in the summoning ring. “Right,” she said, pointing at Louise. “You're with me now. You pass the coffee, I beat stuff up.”
Louise looked helplessly at Colbert, who pursed his lips. “It's very irregular... has the summoning contract been completed yet?”
“Just did it with Toothless!” Hiccup called. “Gilda never got bonded.”
“Yeah,” Gilda agreed. “Okay, how do we do this?”
“Bonding is sealed with a kiss,” Colbert said automatically.
“I'm not into bipeds,” Gilda replied near-instantly.
114.4
Cheerilee looked down at the four fillies. “Okay, what have you gotten up to now?”
“We have seen the truth,” Diamond Tiara announced solemnly. “She has come.”
“Her vessel was ready,” Applebloom added, in similar tones. “Prepared from birth.”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle began chanting solemnly. “Pie iesu domine, dona eis requiem...”
Cheerilee had to hide a smile, recognizing the cadence. “Have you been summoning chaos lords again?” she asked sternly.
“Well...” Applebloom blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. “Not exactly...”
Silver Spoon peeked her mismatched head out from behind a curtain. “Can I come out now?”
“No, not yet,” Tiara said, then sighed. “Oh, whatever. Too late now.”
Silver floated into the main area of the classroom, shrugging. “You're honestly lucky that I waited long enough to get to the chant.” She landed between Scootaloo and Sweetie, and curled her fluffy tail up around her hind legs.
Applebloom was giving the teacher a look. “You seem awfully calm about this, Miss Cheerilee.”
“Why wouldn't I be?” Cheerilee asked, confused.
“...oh, fer...” Applebloom kicked a table leg. “She's Awake, girls. Waste of a setup.”
There was general disappointment.
“I could pretend not to be?” Cheerilee suggested.
“Nah, 's ruined now.”
Silver gave her a smile. “Nice thought, though.”
114.5
“Excellent work, Diamond!” Rarity gushed, as the latest satisfied customer left the shop. “Simply superb!”
She extended her smile to include Zecora. “And, of course, your help was invaluable as well.”
Zecora nodded politely. “If I might just be so bold – it was nothing, truth be told.”
Rarity nodded. “Of course it was, darling. And I'm glad that both of you have absorbed the true message of what I was trying to teach you.”
Blank stares from the other two Generosity-bearers.
“Oh, dear...” Rarity sighed. “I must have been far too subtle.”
“That'd be a first,” Tiara quipped.
At a stern look from Rarity, she held up a hoof. “Pax, pax! It's the effect of hanging around the other Crusaders, really. I can't pass up a good setup line.”
“From what I recall, that's not changed at all,” Zecora pointed out.
“As I was saying,” Rarity said firmly, bringing them back to the first topic. “You've both heard me sing that heartsong, Art of the Dress. But can either of you tell me what the true Art of the Dress is?”
Zebra exchanged a look with earth pony filly.
“Nope,” Diamond said for both of them.
“Right.” Rarity took a deep breath, and favoured them both with a smile.
“The true Art of the Dress... is that it should fit.”
The others nearly fell over.
“I think that was in our first lesson, before the pony had a dress on...” Zecora said, thoroughly confused.
“Yes,” Tiara confirmed. “That's not a secret.”
“Really?” Rarity smiled mysteriously. “Look around at these dresses I've made for every mare who loops. Which one is going to... Rainbow Dash?”
Diamond looked for a few seconds, then pointed. “That one.”
“Precisely. Why?”
“Well...” the filly looked it up and down. “Er... well, it's in her size, and it's got a cloud motif, and it has a diaphanous material so it billows out when she moves fast like she always does...”
“And the cut is built for speed,” Zecora finished. “It is Dash's dress indeed.”
“Exactly.” Rarity looked between them. “It's fitting for her.”
“...oh,” Tiara said, tapping a hoof. “That kind of fit.”
“Well, yes and no.” Rarity trotted over to the sewing machine, and started working absently. Her telekinesis picked up all the tools she needed, and she began making an outfit out of shimmering water-cloth cut through with mercury-cloth. “If I were to give a poor peasant a slap-up dinner, would that be generous?”
“Well... yes?” Tiara agreed. “That seems simple. I mean, you're giving her something.”
“Ah, but if I gave it to a noble like High Jump or Blueblood?” Rarity peered at them as the shoulders came together. “Ah, now it's more interesting, isn't it?”
She whistled a few notes of Art of the Dress. “True generosity isn't just giving things away. It's more subtle than that. The reason our Elements all have – very minor, admittedly – healing properties is part of the same thing.”
With a flourish, the dress was finished. “It's about completeness. Generosity is filling in the holes in someone, the things they lack – and so deftly that, ideally, you'd never know they were there in the first place.”
“So...” Zecora frowned. “A true dress should be like air – it's hard to tell it's even there.”
“Precisely.” Rarity smiled. “It's only really worked a few times – it's an exacting art – but my truest masterpieces are the ones which just match their wearers. So well that your mental picture of that person includes the dress – and doesn't really change at all.”
She pointed to Zecora. “Your work in potions...” and to Diamond. “And your work with philanthropy, leadership and... well, essentially what you do... I bet they work best when used to build up a person from within, rather than impose from without. Strengthen them.”
“Fill in the blanks,” Diamond said slowly. “Yes, I think that makes sense.”
“Well,” and the fashion unicorn shrugged. “It's only conjecture on my part, but it does seem to hang together.”
“Right.”
Zecora nodded.
“Oh...” Tiara pointed to the dress. “Who's that for?”
Rarity simply raised an eyebrow.
“Silver Spoon, I would guess,” Zecora decided. “It is a quicksilver dress.”
“That's right.” Rarity held it up, showing that the material settled down to a faint silver-sheen ripple once it wasn't moving any more. “I overcharged the normal adjust-form enchantment, so it should keep pace with her shifts.”
She tapped a hoof on the floor. “Now, if only I had someone here who could deliver it to her... perhaps a close friend, or perhaps someone who shared an important moment with her.”
Carefully, Rarity folded the new dress into a box, wrapped it in paper, and placed it between the two.
“I'll let you work out which would be more generous,” she said, winking, and headed into the back room.
Addendum by KrisOverstreet
Two days later, Rarity found Diamond Tiara and Zecora still in the room, staring at the box. "Well?"
Diamond Tiara said, "We can't find a polite word that rhymes with 'impasse.'"
"The right to Silver Spoon's dress supply, neither of us could the other deny," Zecora added.
Rarity shook her head. "It appears I'll need a quicksilver accessory to go with the dress. A bracelet, perhaps? Better yet, a bracer! Or perhaps a bangle for her hair? Or possibly all three! It is enchanted mercury, after all!"
"Er, not to interrupt your creative process, but can we go eat now?" Diamond Tiara asked plaintively.
"Oh, er, right. I'll have it done in a couple of days, whatever it is. And then we can decide which of you-"
"NO!"
"Or you could take them together," Rarity replied meekly. "That works also."
114.6
“You mean it?” Applebloom asked, teary-eyed.
“You'll buy the farm off us?” Applejack held out a hoof, and Flam took it somewhat bemusedly. “Four bits and a smile, done! Alright, family, we're free!”
Cheering, Applebloom cantered off down the road. Big Mac followed, moving his sleeping grandmother on her chair, and Applejack paused only long enough to collect four bits from the unresisting Flim and Flam before hurrying off after them.
“...well, I'm not complaining,” Flim said, nudging his brother. “That's the best that that scam's ever gone.”
“Indeed it is, brother mine,” Flam agreed. “Now, let's see what we've purchased for a song.”
Applejack whistled to herself as she Earthbent them a small mansion, and Applebloom finalized a nanovirus that would give them the furnishings they needed.
Mac glanced over at Granny Smith. “Still sleepin,” he reported.
“Good.” Applejack looked over at their old home, and grinned. “Ah've wanted this for quite a while, y' know.. not all that virtuous, ah'll admit, but funny as hay.”
In the dim pre-dawn light, magic moved on silent paws.
Well, more technically, kindness moved on silent paws.
The small farm cat that was Fluttershy padded into the Apple farmhouse, and checked that both Flim and Flam were asleep.
Then she moved to the door, yawned – she'd had a late night – and connected to nature on a deep and fundamental level.
Fluttershy might not be an Earth Pony by blood – not usually, anyway – but she was certainly something close.
“Animate Plants.”
“Yep,” Applejack said critically, as a tree threw Flam twenty feet into the air. “That's an Apple tree bein' playful, alright.”
She put her hooves around her mouth. “That one's kinda frisky first thing in th' morning! Try givin' her a cup of tea!”
Flim crawled up to the fence. “What... in Equestria...”
“Well, this farm is kinda high maintenance,” Applejack said casually. “'s why we have the best apples, place is full of life. But, y' know... buyer beware.”
She'd have to thank Fluttershy for this.
After they'd let the brothers sell them the farm back, of course. Four bits and a smile sounded about right. And then 'shy and Rarity could give them a talk about proper business practices.
114.7 (Bardic Knowledge, Filraen and DrTempo)
Sunset and the Doctor
Variations to the Loop were only slightly more common on the other side of the mirror than in Equestria proper, since most other Loops were populated by humans, so whenever Sunset Looped into "home," she was generally prepared to meet visitors to Canterlot High, especially those who were resistant to attending high school a second time. Teachers were a different matter, since most Loopers had little idea on how to teach. She sat down in her sciences class, already familiar with the subject for the most part.
So the new arrival was only sort of expected.
After everyone was seated, the teacher entered. He was tall, with gray hair and a frilly, almost Victorian-looking, outfit. His skin was peach in tone, which while somewhat normal for a regular human, it tended to stand out amongst the technicolour population of Canterlot High.
"Good afternoon, class," he announced. "I'm your new teacher. My name is Doctor... John- no, that doesn't fit this world does it... Time Turner, yes, that's right. I'd prefer, however, if you just refer to me as Doctor.'" He started writing on the board. "Now, to establish a bit of a baseline, who here is familiar with the concept of a 'Time Loop?' Anyone at all?"
Sunset was the only one to raise her hand.
"Excellent. Miss...?"
"Shimmer, Doctor. Sunset Shimmer."
"Miss Shimmer. I have a special assignment for you, then. Please see me after class. Now then, we'll see how much knowledge we can stuff into your heads by the end of the period, shall we?"
Sunset was certain she heard him mutter, "Hopefully you'll retain more than the Brigadier ever did."
Time Turner spoke with an unusual accent, which now Sunset realized was similar to British from some human loops, though Sunset realized it could be easily faked with no special Looper skill required. And the famously long scarf was just in one corner on the hat rack, right next to a fez. How she hadn't seen it before was a mystery. In the end Sunset decided to give the benefit of the doubt on Time Turner being the Doctor, as she didn’t know enough about him to disprove any evidence he may have with him.
After classes ended both waited until all other students left the class. The teacher spoke first as he approached Sunset Shimmer: "Now, Miss Shimmer, if you would be so kind. Might I ask after the Anchor of this quaint Loop? I haven't had much experience outside my own, you see. Even my first Fused Loop was in my own universe."
No ping and now this… is the Doctor a young looper? It made a weird kind of sense. "Um, okay," still baffled, Sunset did her best to answer. "This is a sort of parallel subset of the Equestrian Loops. Our Anchor is Twilight Sparkle, and she's probably just moving to Ponyville now. I don't know if anyone else is Awake, the ping doesn't work very well through the mirror."
The Doctor nodded.
"Actually… are you the Anchor of your world?” Sunset Shimmer asked in a pensive look.
“Yes, I am indeed the Anchor for my little Branch of the World Tree. Still working on the ping, too. Rather more complicated than you all let on." He tapped his chin. "Perhaps if I reverse the polarity... No, that couldn't possibly work."
“Well, in that case there's no guarantee Twilight's Awake,” Sunset continued where she had left. “While multiple Anchors might be Awake in any given loop, only one is required and you’d fill the quota.”
“I see.”
Seeing the conversation being under control Sunset decided to launch the most complicated question she had. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but who are you? You can't possibly be who I think you are, but there's no other choice left."
"And as the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, through Sherlock Holmes,” the Doctor said back,”'when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' Though, between you and me, I think he got that phrase from me."
“Only in loops you exist.” Sunset sniped back.
The Doctor chuckled “True, true.”
Taking a more serious stance Sunset pressed on. “But seriously, isn’t your world Read-Only and forbidden to Loop?”
"It was,” the Doctor corrected. “You see, my original Administrator enlisted the help of Jörmungandr to upgrade something called an 'Ouroboros Patch.' And, with that, I was activated as a Looper. It is rather annoying to Awaken as a different me all the time, though."
Sunset Shimmer blinked “So it’s like Link and Zelda?”
“Who?”
“Loopers from Hyrule." Sunset Shimmer explained. "Their loop has reincarnation built in its life and death cycle so they tend to Awake in whole different eras.”
The Doctor smiled wryly, “Somehow I don't think they can regenerate into different bodies and personalities about a dozen times in a single life.”
"Point."
The conversation paused at this point and Sunset Shimmer looked outside. “It’s night already and everybody left. You said you wanted to meet our Anchor?” At the Doctor’s nod she pointed to Canterlot High’s front yard, “then let’s go the statue. That’s our ticket to meet her.”
The Doctor stepped over to a wardrobe in the corner opposite the hat rack. How she missed that one was even more baffling, considering its blue colour. As he pulled out a light coat, she spotted a hard-to-miss overcoat with enough colours to make a clown jealous. With confirmation that he was the Doctor, she supposed it made some sense that he'd have all his outfits.
After leaving the classroom they walked in silence, leaving enough time for Sunset Shimmer to digest what had happened today. A grin started to creep its way across her face as she realized this had to be the biggest news in the entire Multiverse and she got to hear it first (not actually true, but she could be forgiven for thinking otherwise)! She had to see if the others were Awake. And if so, they needed to know immediately.
“If you’re just starting to loop, Doctor, I'm guessing you’ve always been a biped, right?”
“Yes,” The Doctor answered back, slightly confused. “Your point being?”
“Travelling through the portal will change your shape.” Sunset answered back as she summoned her Keyblade. “You’ll probably become a pony just like me, and walking on four legs may be difficult if all your life… lives you’ve been a biped. Oh, and I'll have to seal the gate behind us. First time I did this, I forgot to do that, and some of the people here followed me through."
“Understood, Miss Shimmer.” The Doctor said, apparently fascinated with how Sunset Shimmer summoned her giant key and worked it through the solid marble of the statue. “You know, it's quite the experience being the inexperienced one for a change."
With a shared laugh, both walked through the portal into Equestria.
114.8 (FanOfMostEverything)
Twilight had tried many forms of meditation throughout the Loops, but her favorite method was still reshelving. Placing books in their allotted spaces according to a sensible sorting system satisfied her on some undefinable, almost visceral level. Maybe it was because she was doing it in a tree; she felt like she was helping in some small way to bring order to the ongoing chaos of Yggdrasil itself.
The door opening interrupted her ruminations. "Hi, Twilight."
She turned to the voice and smiled. "Sunset? This is a pleasant surprise. We haven't even had the Running of the Leaves yet. What brings you here?"
Sunset floated a ring binder out of her saddlebags. "I've been noticing a trend lately. The last five times I woke up after the Fall Formal debacle, three girls showed some time later." She opened the binder to a photo, presumably of the three in question. "It always happened near the end of the Loop, but each time was progressively earlier along the timeline."
Twilight took the binder in her magic and considered the image. "Hmm. The girls have mentioned a trio like this once or twice, but we don't awaken in that universe often enough to determine trends. We'd just assumed they were from another Loop with a high-school-age Anchor." She started paging through the rest of the binder. "You've been analyzing them?"
Sunset nodded. "Every way I know how. Their singing is definitely magical; it seems to tie into their feeding methods."
"Which appear similar to those of changelings," noted Twilight.
"Only with disharmony instead of love. I figured you should know."
Twilight closed the binder. "I really appreciate this, Sunset. I'll see if I can find anything about creatures with these properties."
Sunset smiled. "Thanks. I don't exactly have access to the right research materials most of the time." Her grin widened. "Oh, and one more thing. Last I checked, they can't take a punch."
"Sunset!" A laugh took any bite out of the chastisement.
"What?" Her mock indignation only made Twilight laugh harder. "They were singing about standing above the crowd, glory through competition. They should've seen it coming!"
114.9 (FanOfMostEverything)
Shining Armor kept the news to himself as best he could over the course of the Loop, even through the wedding. But after missing Sombra with a smite evil and nearly getting impaled by a jagged lance of crystal, he felt it was better to confess than to let the secret weigh on his heart.
That night, in the royal bedchambers (newly furnished with sheets made this millennium) he broached the subject. "So, Nyx and Lemon seem to be getting along well..." His ears flattened as he mentally braced himself.
"That's nice."
Shining felt a bit like he'd put his hoof on a stair that wasn't there. He looked over to Cadance, who seemed engrossed in an Iris Drake novel. "Um, yeah, it is." Surely Chrysalis hadn't replaced her. The changeling queen hadn't been Awake, but Fluttershy had pacified her easily. "They... make a cute couple?"
"Mm hmm." Cadance turned a page.
"So... their wedding?"
"Will happen when it happens. He hasn't even proposed yet, Shiny. You can't rush these things."
And then Shining understood. "Oh, you're one of those Loopers who tries to act out the local baseline. I wish you'd told me before—" Cadance whapped him over the head with the book. "Ow!"
The mare glared at him. "I am Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Love, Crystal Empress, several other titles depending on the Loop, and most importantly, your wife. And I am not in the mood for what you're trying to get me to do."
There was a brief silence as Shining tried to reorganize his thoughts. "Wha?" He belatedly realized he should've waited longer.
Cadance gave a soft smile that assured Shining that yes, this was his wife. "Don't get me wrong, I still love weddings. They're beautiful celebrations of everything I hold dear. But the joke's gotten old."
"The joke?"
"The 'Wedding-Crazy Cadance' joke. I haven't really felt that way for a long, long time, but your reactions were so funny I kept it up." She sighed. "But I'm tired of everypony walking on eggshells around me. The joke's gotten old. I know what I did was wrong, but—"
She was cut off by her husband's embrace. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."
Cadance smiled and returned the hug.
114.10 (Masterweaver and Dalxein)
Apple Bloom entered the bar with an awkward grin. "Hey, uh, Mac?"
"Eeeyup?"
"Ya know that meteor that crash landed in tha west field last night?"
"Eeenope."
"...well, Ah kinda was poking around with it, with some basic, ya know, excavation machinery, and, uh, it kind of turned out ta be the AllSpark--"
A massive face with glowing eyes peered through the door. "Momma? Can I come in there?"
"Uh, just a sec honey, Ah'll be right out!" The filly gave her brother a pleading look. "Help?"
Mac sighed, considered the situation, and nodded gravely. "Now 'Bloom, Motherhood is a big responsibility, and I coulda' sworn Applejack woulda' gotten around ta givin' you the talk by now, but-"
"Eat a sprig ya thistle-sucker will ya help me or not!?" she barely kept herself from shouting. By the end the stallion was already nodding with a wide smirk.
114.11 (Zetrein)
It was just another day in Ponyville, if a bit sparse on Loopers this time around. Just like any other day, Twilight sat in her kitchen, waiting for her kettle to boil.
Well, right up until somepony started knocking loudly on her door. "Twilight? Open the door! Please? I need your help!" Shutting off the stove with a sigh, Twilight started walking towards the door, pondering who the male voice belonged to.
"Oh crap, somepony saw me." The knocking intensified, now interspersed with pings from Sunset Shimmer. "Let me in! I'm not safe out here! Lemmeinlemmeinlemmein!"
The moment the door was unlocked, Sunset tumbled into the room, before slamming the door shut and locking it. Aside from the fact that Sunset was a stallion at the moment, Twilight honestly didn't see what he was panicking about.
"Well, hello there, Handsome." Twilight blinked, shaking her head in confusion. That isn't what I wanted to say.
"Oh no, not you too!" Sunset now had his back pressed to the door, obviously considering taking his chances with whatever was outside.
Closing her eyes, Twilight took a deep breath, and focused on what she wanted to say. "Sunset, calm down. I know what's going on."
"You-you do? You're not just saying that to trick me, right?" Twilight imagined Sunset looked some combination of hopeful and suspicious, but she didn't open her eyes yet. This particular kind of mental effect required a well built counter.
"Every mare you've met, that wasn't already in a relationship, has found you attractive, right?"
"Yes."
"And they've all started vying for your attention, competing with each other, often injuring you in the process, and generally making your life miserable?" Twilight finished her preparations, and opened her eyes.
"You really do know what this is, don't you?" Sunset had visibly calmed while Twilight's eyes were closed.
Best just rip this band-aid off now. "You're a Harem Protagonist this loop. You're literally the most desirable stallion on the planet right now." Stepping up to him, Twilight gave Sunset a hug. "Trust me, I know your pain. Go hide in my basement, I'll round up everypony else that's Awake, and we'll walk you through how to deal with this."
While being taller than Twilight was novel, Sunset began to feel uncomfortable as the hug drew out. "Um, Twilight? It's not that I mind the hug, but shouldn't you be going?"
Twilight pushed away with a jerk. "I wasn't staring at your flank!"
After an awkward silence, Sunset walked past the blushing mare. "I'm just going to go hide."
Later that morning, Twilight had gathered their friends in the library's basement. Besides herself and Sunset, it was just Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Luna for this loop.
"Okay, now that we're all here, let's talk about this." Twilight slipped into lecture mode. "So far, we only know two sure-fire ways to defuse the Harem Protagonist Effect.
First off, fleeing Canterlot High was the best thing you could do. In addition to bringing our options into the game, you've also left a possible highschool rom-com. Before we continue, I have one other important question. Did Celestia, Cadance, or any other alicorn see you?"
"Not that I know of." Sunset's voice came, from the cardboard box she hid under.
"Good, without an alicorn after you, just being a moon-hermit for the loop is a valid option. Rainbow tried that once, after an unawake Luna had started to pursue her; it didn't work."
"On the other hoof, the Cloud Fortress she built me was pretty nice." Rainbow broke in. "Also, as Trixie found out, don't try and be a performer when you're a Harem Protag."
"Do I want to know?" Luna inquired.
"Two words, shipping wars." Applejack told her. "It came down to her thousands of fans factionalizing, rallying behind those they all felt were the best choices for her. The fightin' was a thing to see; we're talkin' battalion level combat, thousands o' pies thrown. They ended up breaking Discord out months early, then he declared Trixie was to be his Queen o' Chaos."
"Moving on, both of those incidents gave us datapoints on how to get out of it." Twilight continued. "The only other way we've found to get out of this, thus far, is to subvert the genre. Instead of playing along, or trying to ignore them all, you choose. Even in Trixie's case, after her shotgun wedding, all her other suitors moved on.”
“Which brings me to why I went out to get everypony. A couple times now, we've had somepony marry another Looper, and while the relationship stayed platonic, the public marriage staved off any further problems.”
“So! Would you like to choose, or shall we play spin the bottle?" Twilight paused. "That came out wrong. Anyway, Sunset?"
"Can I just get a lift to the moon? Maybe some help in making it habitable?"
"But! But! You could be a datapoint! An important datapoint!" Twilight pleaded.
"No."
"But, my research! C'mon, Sunny, old buddy, old pal? Please?"
114.12 (AcademicPony)
Five fillies and an alicorn were relaxing in the Golden Oak Library. The pleasant smell of paper filled the air, and six glasses of iced fruit juice (bendy-straws optional) were a welcome respite from the warm summer's day outside.
At a designated table, of course. This was a library, after all.
Having the Cutie Mark Crusaders Awake made "Twilight Time" much simpler; doubly so with Diamond Tiara Awake as well. On the other hoof, this made it a challenge to find study material. On days like today, conversation topics tended to wander farther afield.
Nyx sipped at her juice. The little alicorn filly's nose crinkled in thought, in an expression that Twilight and Rarity had privately agreed ranked at least "0.2 squees" on the Fluttershy scale. A few moments later, that thought was voiced.
"Momma," she asked, "what did you and Celestia do that time you experimented with the sun?"
"Hey, yeah," Scootaloo chimed in. "That sounds like it would have been awesome! Even if, well..." She trailed off, seeing Twilight twitch at memories of the Eiken loop that followed.
Apple Bloom, on the other hand, looked miffed. "Wait, y'all went messing around with stars without inviting me? I've got loads of gear I've been wanting to try out. I figured I'd have to wait for another Trek loop before having the resources." She paused to take another sip of her own drink. "Stellar engineering ain't easy, ya know."
"I don't know, Sweetie managed it pretty easily during the Arda loop," Diamond Tiara chimed in. The smirk she directed at Sweetie Belle was a friendly one; a far cry from the expressions used by her baseline counterpart.
Sweetie Belle shifted uncomfortably. "I had help; all of the Ainur worked together for that. Besides," she smirked looking at Twilight, "we're getting off-topic."
Twilight took a deep breath, and sighed. "All right; I suppose it'll have to come out eventually. It was near the end of a loop, and it was more than just Celestia; she and Luna were both there, along with the original Element bearers..."
"Make haste, Twilight Sparkle. I do not know how long I can maintain this expansion."
Luna's voice was strained - and for good reason. The basement underneath the Golden Oak Library held rather more space than usual, even given Twilight's propensity for digging extra storage rooms. "Space" was also a bit more literal than usual, given that her basement didn't normally have a G-class star inside of it. Looping prominences cast harsh flickering light across the faces of both Royal Alicorn Sisters. Celestia's usually-serene expression couldn't quite mask stress matching her sister's, as she struggled to hold the star in place and keep it compressed enough to fit within the library's expanded confines.
"Don't worry, I'm almost ready!"
Twilight rushed to and fro, making final adjustments to the jumbled mass of humming equipment that circled the central space. The other Element-bearers waited uncomfortably on the circular platform she'd assigned to them. For all that they'd seen non-Euclidean space before, that didn't make it pleasant to stare at. Glancing about the periphery wasn't any more pleasant; they could either watch Twilight prancing about in full mad scientist mode, or glance at the two Royal Sisters who were struggling, with obvious stress, to keep the unsettlingly large ball of fire sharing the room contained.
Four out of five were uncomfortable, at any rate. Rainbow Dash had pulled a pair of sunglasses and a deck chair out of her pocket and was basking. Finally, Twilight trotted back to the group.
"All right girls, elements on, and formation!"
Six pairs of eyes closed, and six faces took on an expression of deep concentration. A familiar aura of power enfolded the Bearers, lifting them into the air, and as they opened their eyes, rainbow light burst forth. Instead of stopping, though, the drain went on and on. Twilight's eyes glowed with white fire as she poured more power into the Sun. Finally the light faded, and the bearers sank to the ground in exhaustion. Twilight remained standing, though, horn aura glowing violet-white.
"Um, Twi," Applejack asked, "ain't it over? We used the elements like you told us to, shouldn't they be doin' the rest of the heavy lifting?"
"They are, Applejack," Twilight replied, teeth gritted. "I still have to guide the process. Celestia and Luna are still holding on as well." The farm-pony glanced over towards the royal couple, whose strained faces confirmed that yes, keeping a star in Twilight's basement was still requiring effort.
Rainbow was looking at the sun and scowling. "So, what was this supposed to do again? The sun still looks like it did before." This wasn't quite true, she decided. There was a faint shimmer of magic around the flickering tongues of fire, and... was it getting smaller?
"It should be starting any second now... there!" Twilight's panting slowed, and her horn aura dimmed to its usual pink. Her grin had come back, and that wasn't entirely reassuring. "It's collapsing; you can see the accretion disk starting to form. If this works, we'll have magical power to spare! Think of it, girls - we could set up our workshops in hours instead of weeks, run extra-space charms powerful enough to hold entire cities, maybe even directly connect normal space to our pockets! There's no limit to what we could accomplish!"
"And the elements do what now?" Rainbow still looked confused.
"They set up a harmonic resonance, and I'm using it to halt the collapse at the last moment so that we can extract power. It's harmony that makes all of this work!"
The eight ponies watched as the sun shrank to a disc which swirled around an eye-hurtingly bright point of light.
"So, this is our magic element swirly-thing?" Rainbow ventured.
Rarity responded to that. "'Swirly thing', darling? Let's not be so gauche. Rainbow spiral, perhaps?"
"Maybe. Harmony cyclone?"
Fluttershy had been watching the disk contract, and finally spoke. "Um, actually, it doesn't look like a cyclone any more. It looks almost like an eye."
"You're all close," Twilight replied. "It's inspired by something I'd encountered in the Who loop. Girls, we now have our very own Eye of -"
There was a faint popping sound, and twin gasps of pain from Celestia and Luna. They fell to the floor... which was a lot more ordinary-looking than it had been a moment ago. Twilight's head whipped back and forth between her beloved mentor and trusted friend, and the empty, normal-sized room where a star was supposed to be. "What happened? Is everypony all right? What happened to the Sun? Did you have to pocket it? Did anything else - "
"I'm all right, Twilight," Celestia replied. The monarch looked worse for wear, but was recovering. "My connection to the spell vanished, but I don't seem to have experienced any ill effects from that. Lulu, did the same thing happen to you?"
"Yes, sister," Luna said, as her panting slowed and became normal breaths. "One moment, I was straining to hold this much Sky in one place, and the next it was as if I hadn't begun the spell."
Twilight was distraught. "But, but - the Eye! What happened to it? It was working, and we could have done so much!"
Pinkie bounced up to interrupt her monologue. "Mmf! M found this!" With that, she deposited a small piece of paper at Twilight's hooves, and bounced off again humming happily.
Twilight levitated the slip of paper in front of her, reading it.
What part of "read-only" wasn't clear, Sparkle?
-Skuld
"...Tree-damnit."
Eight ponies - three weary, four quietly relieved, and one prancing - made their way up the stairs from the basement. Upon entering the library proper, another surprise waited for them. Stacks and stacks of paper filled the foyer floor to ceiling, teetering precariously. A scroll with a purple ribbon rested in front of the nearest pile.
Twilight opened it with trepidation.
Community service paperwork - lot 1 of 277,432.
"...For birch's sake."
Five fillies sipped their juice as they juice as they digested the story.
Apple Bloom spoke first. "Ah'm torn between askin' ya for your schematics, or avoidin' Who-tech all together. That punishment don't sound like fun, and I'm gettin' the impression she still went easy on ya."
"Yes, it could have been much worse," Twilight replied. "Even so, that's more paperwork than I ever want to see in one place again."
"Hey, wait - paperwork!" Scootaloo chimed in. "So that loop where we were all your daughters, and you couldn't spend time with us because there was too much you had to do as Queen -"
Twilight smiled. "Got it in one. That was a major contributor to it."
Sweetie piped up. "So, did you finish it before taking your, um, sabbatical as 'Northern Twilight'?"
Twilight's chin lowered to rest on the table, gaze held off in the far distance. "No. By the time that loop ended, I was a quarter done."
The fillies pondered that. Nyx summed up the group's feelings eloquently.
"Remind me never to tick off Skuld."
114.13 (Masterweaver)
"...Is... is mom fighting a dragon?"
"Yep."
"...On her own?"
"Yep."
"...Did she just cast a spell?!"
"Yep."
"But she's a pegasus--!"
"Well, she isn't right now." Dinky tapped her horn. "Grew one of these before taking off."
Sparkler stared at her distant mother, jaw dropped. "She... what?"
"Yeah, that was my reaction too." Dinky shrugged. "I'm still in shock, actually."
"I can understand that...."
114.7 continued
After the rather disorienting experience of traversing the barrier between worlds unprotected, the Doctor found himself rather awkwardly falling from an upright position into his new body's proper quadrupedal stance.
"Odd," commented Sunset, hovering her Keyblade in her magic as she re-locked the gateway. "I would've thought you'd look a bit... browner."
The Doctor gave himself a once-over. His tail was as grey and curly as his hair (and what a novel experience, having a tail), and his coat retained a peach-pale tone. He kept his suit jacket and frilled shirt, but his light jacket and pants seemed to have vanished. And on his rear was an hourglass, with most of the sand in the top bulb. "And just why is that?"
"Well, we have a pony-slash-person in our Branch called Time Turner who's brown with a spiky mane. He's got the hourglass cutie mark, too." She looked closer at his hourglass. "Though, yours seems to have more sand in the top."
"Sounds like he'd be very similar to my tenth self. You say this image is called a 'cutie mark?'"
"Right, it's supposed to signify a pony's special talent. And, as a Time Lord, yours would obviously be time."
"Quite right. Now, you were going to-" The Doctor paused as he felt an unusual burst of energy pass through him. "My word. Is that what a ping is supposed to feel like?" A moment later, several more bursts of energy were felt.
"Oh, that's right, you haven't quite gotten the hang of pings yet. Here, let me give you some tips..."
After Sunset explained the ping to the Doctor, Sunset said, "Hang on, Doctor. This is going to be a wild ride!" Using the Force to grab the Doctor, Sunset cast the Rey Wing spell she learned from Lina Inverse to take flight.
"How exhilarating!" The Doctor had rarely flown without a craft of some sort, the closest he'd ever come being the time he borrowed the power of the Archangel Network to hover for a bit in his tenth incarnation.
Sunset chuckled in reply. "I've picked up a few tricks in my time as a Looper." Soon enough, Sunset landed near Ponyville. Taking the time to grab a newspaper, she noticed it was a few weeks after the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. "It's a bit later than I thought. Still, this works just fine."
The Doctor straightened his suit jacket. "My word, Miss Shimmer. What was that just now? Some form of telekinesis?"
"One was the Force, from the Star Wars universe. It's a bit easier to carry people that way than using my personal magic sometimes. The other was a spell called 'Rey Wing.' Speaking of, if you ever have a Fused Loop with Lina Inverse, be careful. She tends to cause mass destruction."
The Doctor cocked an eyebrow, curious. "And why does she cause mass destruction?"
"Well, the first time she Awakens to a new Fused Loop, she casts her signature spell to make sure it works. Said signature spell can flatten small villages. Other than that it's often incidental damage from fighting."
"My word. I hope I don't run into her any time soon.” The Doctor looked around the quaint village of Ponyville. “Now then, you were going to show me to your Anchor."
"She lives over there, in the house-tree-library." The Doctor wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but he had seen some very odd things in his time.
As the two trotted toward the library, Sunset gave the Doctor some tips on several of the Loops she had been to.
“Now, one of the Original Seven, Ranma, has a rather interesting home Loop. It's so focused on various martial arts, that it started making some up, like Martial Arts Tea Ceremony-” Suddenly, Sunset saw a certain pink party pony out of the corner of her eye, shaking like mad. She held up a hoof to the Doctor as she paused.
Smirking, Sunset said to the Doctor, "Follow my lead. I just thought of something that'll make your big debut as a Looper more fitting for you. After all, you're the one person everyone thought would never Awaken." The Doctor cocked his eyebrow in a specific manner, Delphon for “you're the expert here.”
Sunset, loudly, asked the Doctor, "So, feeling a little Loopy?"
Doing his best to guess where she was going with this, the Doctor replied, "Yes, but now I feel quite Awake. For the first time, so to speak." Pinkie looked at the Doctor, curiously.
"So, you're a Doctor, right? What's your specialty?"
Ah, he thought, this other pony must be Awake as well. Out loud, he replied, "Well, anything, everything. Time in particular."
Pinkie stared at the two of them for a long moment, blinking, before shrugging and continuing on her merry way.
“Well, that's not the reaction I was expecting,” remarked Sunset.
“What do you mean?”
“I thought for sure she'd zip off, raring to get a party together for you.” Sunset shook her head. “She's acting odd, even for herself.”
“Hmm. Well, regardless, you were going to introduce me to your Anchor, Miss Shimmer.”
Once they were out of view of pretty much anypony, but still quite a ways from the library, Sunset paused. "Doctor. There's something that's been nagging at me for a while now, but it's difficult to talk about with people from here. We're all so very forgiving, after all."
The Doctor looked at her, puzzled, "Nothing wrong with a bit of forgiveness. But, why are you asking me? There must be more experienced Loopers out there who can advise you."
"I know, but there's something about you. I think it has to do with all the experience your baseline alone gives you.”
Sunset took a deep breath. “Anyways, in our baseline... I go a little insane. I stole Twilight's crown, the Element of Magic, one of Equestria's most powerful artifacts, and intended to use it to invade Equestria and take it over with an army of mind-controlled teenagers." Sunset looked at the ground, haunted by her baseline memories.
"And I take it you're worried about potentially backsliding, is that it?"
"In a way. You see, Equestria is ruled over by Alicorns, a pony made of all the pony tribes. And almost all the Looping Equestrians are or can become them at will. I'm worried that if my time to ascend to Alicorn ever comes, that I'll wind up going mad with power again. Especially since I'm told emotions run a little hotter when someone ascends."
The Doctor nodded in understanding. Fortunately, he had a few examples he could pull from. "I see. Tell me, my dear, do you know of my Warrior incarnation?"
"I've heard of it, yeah."
"He did many terrible things in the Time War. Enough to feel that he should renounce the very name of 'Doctor.'" It was difficult to think of that era in his life. The Time War had been so long and so brutal, that by the end of it he had practically forgotten his true age and just reset the age he gave to around eight hundred and something.
The haunted look faded somewhat as he looked into her eyes. "I have since learned that there are many ways of being a Doctor. However, it is still very difficult to forgive that part of myself for what he did – and what he intended to do. It's the same for what my tenth incarnation did when he tried to break a Fixed Point, calling himself 'the Time Lord Victorious.'"
The Doctor paused. "What I'm getting at, Miss Shimer... Sunset, is that even if you do something terrible, if you learn from it and use its lesson to be better, you have nothing to fear from that part of you."
Sunset stood in silence for a minute. "Thank you. I'm still not sure I'm ready to be an Alicorn. But if it happens, I'll try not to fear myself."
The Doctor patted her on the shoulder. "That's all anyone can do with themselves. Shall we continue?"
Sunset shook herself. "Right."
“Well, Doctor, this is it,” said Sunset, as they stood in front of the library.
“No need to stand around, I think.” And with that, the Doctor pulled open the door, inwardly marvelling at the dexterity of his hooves.
“Hello,” greeted Twilight. “Oh, Sunset! We don't usually see you around now. What's up?”
“We have a new Looper,” grinned Sunset, gesturing to the Doctor.
“Good afternoon, Miss Sparkle. I'm the Doctor.”
“Nice try, but I don't think so.”
The Doctor gave her an incredulous look. “I beg your pardon?”
“He sounds like one of the Doctor, but that's easy to replicate. I'm surprised you thought this would work, Sunset.”
“Now see here-” The Doctor restrained himself from yelling angrily at the unicorn. “What must I do to prove to you who I am?”
“Time travel.”
“The TARDIS didn't follow me over. And even if she had, there's no artron energy in your universe, so she wouldn't be able to move.”
“Sonic Screwdriver.”
“Is there anything in here not made of wood?”
“Regenerate?”
“Aside from wanting to remain myself, I'm not currently Gallifreyan and therefore cannot.”
Sunset looked between the two as they continued their verbal tennis match. Every time Twilight asked something of the Doctor, he'd give a good reason he couldn't do it or an answer that Twilight would dismiss as “common knowledge” about the Doctor's adventures. After several minutes of this, Sunset and the Doctor found themselves outside the library.
“Of all the nerve,” grumbled the Doctor. “I have half a mind to-”
“Please, Doctor, let's just try someone else, okay? Rarity lives closest, we can see if she's Awake.”
As it turns out, she was. However, while she complimented the Doctor on his current outfit, she didn't believe them either. Nor did Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash. And with each failure, the Doctor became angrier and angrier.
“Millions of Loops under your collective belts and not one of them seems to think I could possibly be who I say I am?! The absolute nerve!”
“There's still a few ponies left to try, Doctor. We've only met half the pings out there. Going by the trend, I'm sure Applejack must be Awake, and she's the Element of Honesty. She has to believe us.”
“I don't believe it.”
The pair stared incredulously.
“That does it!” The Doctor shouted. “I-”
“No, that ain't what I meant,” interrupted Applejack. “I can feel the truth in what yer sayin'. He's really the Doctor. I was just so shocked I could scarcely believe my own senses.”
“I knew we could rely on you, AJ,” sighed a relieved Sunset. “Every other Element wouldn't believe us at all. They thought we were pranking them.”
“Now, I could be a mite offended that ya didn't come ta me first, but I know I'm a bit out of the way compared to everypony other than Fluttershy.”
“Do you think you could help us tell everyone else?”
“Well, first we should go meet up with Apple Bloom. She's going to be so ecstatic to meet ya Doctor. She's been working on her own Sonic Screwdriver, y'see. After that, we'll hope that nopony thinks ya managed to rope me inta a prank.”
“Won't she have met me when I was unAwake?” asked the Doctor.
“I'm not actually sure. The only time I've heard of her meetin' a version of ya was when we were replacing all of ya'll.”
“My word, replacing all of me? How did that work?”
“Well, Princess Celestia was in the place o' yer first self...”
(Filraen)
Dear Princess Celestia,
This loop I got a reminder on how someone or somepony who lacks evidence to prove their word isn't automatically a liar, and how a little bit of trust can get goodwill on others, especially on a young looper, as well as helping to realize an amazing discovery: the Doctor, whose very world was once unable to loop, is now looping.
Your faithful student
Sunset Shimmer
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Hurrah more fun!
114.1: I'll hafta check it out, sounds like fun.
114.2: ouch....poor twi...
114.3: Woo more Louise!
114.4: You go to all that trouble and they don't even have the decency to not be awake.
114.5: Those puns >< Also, Rarity is so amusingly dense at times.
114.6: Very nice.
114.7: *Laughs* I look forward to my namesake perhaps appearing someday. I think she'd have fun.
114.8: *Laughs* It's all in the arm
114.9: That's one way to respond to commentors i suppose...
114.10: *looks up as the reference goes whistling overhead* Ooh a jet!
114.11: *Grins* Good plan Sunset
114.12: long as you accept the risks XD
114.13: o....kay?
4932192 114.10 Apple Bloom is the mommy of a bouncing baby Transformer.
114.7 Which version of the Doctor is this? The Twelfth Doctor?
114.7 Never though he would Loop- though it does make sense with that Patch that was put in place a few chapters back. Jomungandr you magnificent thing, you.
I wonder if your contributors are losing their touch or something. 114.6 is the only one in this chapter I really enjoyed, and I actually groaned a little at 114.8.
Part of it, I think, is that I neither know nor care about Warhammer or Transformers or Who or whatever the non-dragon things in .1 and .3 are.
4939037
Third, actally. He may keep his iconic mementos around, but that variation is Three.
thefortressofhelixity.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/the-third-doctor-portrait.jpg
The guy on the picture is him.
'Sides, he has the 'my word!' speech tick.
I pity the pony who loops as the War Doctor...
114.7... This one has made me rather unnaturally happy.
>What part of "read-only" wasn't clear, Sparkle?
I'm really not getting this. "Read-only" means that you can access something (see its contents n shit (duh)), but not change it. Copying is not changing.
Actually, searching "read-only" yields this:
Also:
5294757
yeah, the terminology used in these is often bonkers
but that's okay, it's pretty easy to ignore a term's other meanings in favor of the meanings it has in this particular context
the only thing that annoys me is the way they constantly bash certain things from the community, often several times (loops) per chapter.
it gets to the point where I just wish they would give it a rest already
so much of these is focused on vast unwarranted positivity that it just makes the occasional systematic negativity all that much more grating to me
5398955 Well, you'd think someone doing programming on a computer would know what 'read-only' means (although the entire thing seems like it was very poorly thought-out by the original loop stories author)
>>.10
So is Bloom going to soul bond her new 'child' like she did with Cookie? Cookie might like a sibling.
The Doctor Loops?
YES!!!
Actually, Doctor Who is another one of those shows that I've watched enough episodes to get a gist of what's going on, but not enough to call myself a fan.
That actually describes about half of the fused loops in this fic actually. Some of them are based off of movies that I find a little too silly- that actually describes much of what Dreamworks has produced over the last two decades.
The other are anime I haven't yet had the pleasure- or pain -to watch yet.
7324310>>7330260 Censorship? Seriously?
heres a terrifying thought, looping daleks.
5294757
Well, to put my two bits in...
Read-only kinda does fit in this case, people can enter the loop, and observe it. But they're not allowed to modify it by removing things from an instance.
There's my thought.
7609674
Not possible, after Sovereign was started looping Admins of those sorts of loops were checked to make sure they would not do something like that again.
i actually have a copy of "dragon's egg". and did you know there's a sequel? it's called "starquake".
114.7
YESSSSSS THE DOCTOR IS LOOPING
fun fact: the flash models of all the ponies were the same, sans mane and eyes. So that begs the question, does she have a one-size-fits-all version of all her pony specific dresses?
that reminds me of a YouTube series called "Public Service Anime" were they discuss what to do in common anime plots and tropes. Just remember the A.B.C.D's and she'll be fine.
The Doctor is Looping! Finally!
Oh fun.
The Doctor's looping now.