MLP Loops 157
157.1
"...so I guess the main problem was how to handle all those guys up near the pole," Nyx went on.
"Yes, I can see how," Lemon agreed. "They're certainly Chaos cultists, and they'd come down and burn most of the civilized world if possible, but... it's not as though you could just go in smiting."
"For both practical and moral reasons," Nyx nodded. "So... the solution I picked instead was to soft-land the moon."
Her coltfriend blinked. "That's unusual even for Loopers. Where?"
"Over the hole in reality," Nyx filled in. "I plugged it - well, mostly - and that made things a lot easier."
"I-"
The door opened suddenly.
"Lemon Rush, what do you think you're doing up this late?" Fluttershy asked, stepping into the room. "And Nyx Sparkle! When your mother-"
Nyx held up a hoof, and Fluttershy paused.
"Sorry, 'shy," she said, shaking her head. "I'd rather we not do this for now."
"All right," Fluttershy agreed straightaway, her Righteous Parental Anger dissipating in a moment. "You too, Lemon?"
Lemon Rush nodded. "Yes, thank you."
Fluttershy nodded. "All right, I'll leave you to it. But don't forget to go adult if you'd rather be treated adult, it's the best way for me to tell."
The two young ponies exchanged a glance, then aged up to at least young adulthood. Nyx did it by altering her preferred shape, using her rarely-used shapeshifting powers, while Leman used a slightly more tricky method.
"There we go," Fluttershy said with a smile, looking over the pegasus and the alicorn. "Much easier."
There was a crash from downstairs.
"Oh, dear..." Fluttershy's ears drooped slightly. "Angel Bunny, stop using scythes in the kitchen!"
Another crash.
"I'll go deal with him," Fluttershy said apologetically. "Sorry about this."
"It's okay," Nyx said. She glanced to Leman. "Shall we go get a snack?"
"I'm game," Leman agreed.
"Sorry about earlier," Nyx said, as they ate.
It wasn't a romantic candlelit dinner. It wasn't something cooked by one or other of them, or by a friend, and it wasn't even a restaurant meal either.
No, they were having hay fries and a burger each from a fast food stall.
"What's there to be sorry about?" Leman asked, frowning.
"Well..." Nyx shrugged. "I tend to prefer being young, because it's more... well, more fun. It gives me an excuse to act like a lot of loopers do, but no-one really pays as much attention. If a filly exists on a diet of whatever she feels like, then that doesn't even draw comment, and..."
She stopped herself. "Anyway. My point was, I hope it's okay that when we spend time it's usually as... well, kids."
"I didn't realize we were goats all of a sudden," Leman quipped. "But... no, it's fine, Nyx."
He smiled. "Actually, it's nice for me too. You've been in the Dark Millennium, you know what it's like... and even with my brothers and the Gods and even Father on-side, it's still a long, hard slog. Decades of fighting and planning and politics, even when I dump everything on Ciaphas at the first opportunity and go practice driving."
"I feel sorry for Mars," she said, and he chuckled.
"I deserved that one. But... after that, over and over again, it's nice to just... be a kid. Where everything's on a smaller scale, where I can drive a wooden cart down a hill and it feels more exciting than doing the same thing with a Land Raider... and where, once it inevitably crashes, it's just treated like that."
Nyx smiled. "I know what you mean... it's nice to unwind sometimes."
"And here's where I do, usually," Leman confirmed.
They each had a few more fries.
"...so, I'm pretty sure tomorrow we can try sledging," Nyx suggested. "From the Canterhorn."
"I like it," Leman replied.
157.2
"Okay, so... run this by me again," Twilight requested.
"Right," Spike nodded. "First thing is... we're in a giant canyon. Like, miles deep."
"I saw," Twilight confirmed. "I also saw that Ponyville, Canterlot, Manehattan and in fact just about everywhere important is in the same broad, flat canyon."
"Second, this place has low gravity." To demonstrate, Spike tossed a marble in the air. It described a lazy trajectory, rising for much longer than it might have been expected to before reaching the apex and slowly coming back down.
"With you so far."
"Thirdly... well, thirdly, we're all smaller than average. Just a bit." Demonstrating, Spike took out a ruler. Twilight measured her height, confirmed it with his, and nodded.
"So, how does all that add up to Rainbow Dash being taken into custody?"
"We're on a world where ponies are small enough, the gravity is low enough, and the air – at the bottom of these deep rifts – is dense enough that pegasi can fly without magic," Spike said. "And of course Dash didn't notice until she'd flown eight kilometres above the zone that no other pegasus – even the gliders – can reach in flight at all."
"Right, I think I can fill in the details," Twilight said. "She's doing something they thought was impossible, her explanation's incoherent... so they decided to take her into protective custody and see if they could replicate the effect."
"Yep," Spike agreed. "Celestia was very nice about it, but... kind of insistent."
"Right," Twilight nodded. "Okay, time to solve the problems here too. Let's see... total air volume is going to be... right... and just convert the mass..."
"Twilight?" Spike asked, warningly. "What are you about to do?"
"Add enough argon to the atmosphere to make it ninety percent noble gas," Twilight replied, already rummaging in her pocket. "No ill effects, partial oxygen pressure should remain healthy if I mix a bit of it in, and that way everyone will be able to fly without magic."
"You mean every pegasus, right?" Spike checked. "AJ still doesn't have wings, Twi."
"That's why I'm also setting up a shop to produce custom self-powered wing harnesses," Twilight replied. "There'll be a bit of magic in there, just to keep them topped off, but who's counting?"
"Only you, Twilight," Spike sighed. "Only you."
157.3
“Excuse me?” Twilight asked. “Miss... Mayor?”
“I go by Ivory Scroll to friends,” the Mayor replied, exchanging a meaningful look with Twilight. “What is it, miss Sparkle?”
“Well, your mayoralship, I was wondering if I could help with Winter Wrap-up,” Twilight said, giving a somewhat less meaningful look back.
Internally, Ivory sighed – wondering what her Anchor had planned this time.
“Very well, miss-”
Twilight's horn flared. Ghostly wings appeared for a moment, cupping her body, and her eyes flashed pure white.
A half-full sun mark appeared on her forehead, just below her horn, and then there was light.
All over Ponyville, ponies picked themselves up off the floor.
They beheld... summer.
Full, high summer, green of grass, with the trees burgeoning with their crop and the fields waving with growing corn. There were white, fluffy clouds in place of the grey snowstorms that had been there seconds before, and birds flitted with some confusion between the flowers and young fruits that studded the trees and bushes.
“...miss Sparkle,” Ivory sighed, as her assistant stared. “As you know very well, the Winter Wrap-up in Ponyville is done with as little magic as possible.”
Twilight shrugged, her caste-mark fading. “That wasn't that much magic...”
“Not by your standards, maybe,” Ivory said. “But unleashing an anima banner is usually an indicator of some considerable power.”
Twilight glanced up at the enormous white pillar of energy that spiked into the air overhead, complete with the star-of-magic.
“I see.”
Ivory stamped a hoof on the floor, and paperwork condensed out of the air. “I'm going to need you to sign here, here and here. A fine of thirty bits is being levied, and... turn it back to winter.”
“What, really?” Twilight asked, disappointed.
“We have booked the wrap-up today,” Ivory replied, unflappable.
“Fine,” Twilight muttered. She rose into the air again, spoke words in a tongue that seemed more real than the mouth speaking them, and a moment later there was once more snow.
The birds sounded seriously annoyed by this point.
“Thank you,” Ivory said. “I will expect payment promptly.”
She turned to leave, then added a parting shot. “And turn the banner off! It's not real anyway, you know that as well as I do.”
“...still looks good...”
157.4 (Evilhumour and Gamerex27)
The Question, part one of four.
It was a strange day for Eldrad, and among the many strange and unusual ordeals he had to deal with the loops, this was the oddest of all things possible. It had thrown the Eldar race into chaos at the implications and results, with all their plans for their new god now void and pointless. It pushed many of them to drink and other horrible vices without fear of Slaanesh claiming their souls, despite history showing them how horrible an idea that was.
Not that the Chaos God really did eat his race’s souls anymore in the loops to be fair, but this news was still beyond anything he could have ever expected. An individual was willingly entering the Eye of Terror that was flat out immune to the Dark Prin-Slaanesh’s mind altering powers to be with the Chaos God. It even went to the point that the person next to him admitted that the Daemon Prince was not only a looper, and Anchor for an entire branch, but that the two were actually regularly seeing each other.
“It is an unwelcome thought to entertain, I will admit.” The Emperor spoke to him, handing over some of the finer alcohol from the loops to steady his hand, as he skimmed over the looping newsletter that Kent owned and wrote for. It had produced an article on troubled Branches, each one receiving a chapter detailing the incident, its problems, and the solutions which the Admins and the Loopers had come up with to meet the danger. He remembered talking to the Man of Steel about his own part in his loop’s crisis, Vail giving the blue superbeing the latest part of her additions to the newsletter. “No one, not even I, expected Slaanesh to develop such strong feelings for another, let alone two, but whenever Naoki and the daemo-demon Kashima are present, all of hir usual chaos activities cease. The greatest possible danger they posses to others is by looking at the Eye of Terror when they are pleasuring each other.” The Emperor of Mankind shuddered visibly before taking a sip of his own beer. “The first time they had their fun, it broke Tzeentch’s mind and crashed the loop, but not before causing the Eye of Terror to blink out dirty messages in morse code.”
“How did they do that?” Eldrad asked in disbelief before slapping himself to keep his mind from thinking of Slaanesh involved with anyone.
“I do not wish to know and I am told that Fenrir took a cold bath after that stunt.” The Emperor of Mankind really did not want to know what they did to cause their Admin to bathe, but his mind was forcing himself to think the most unpleasant of thoughts. “Regardless, it would be best not to tell Leman of this. He has not forgiven Naoki for his actions with the ponies, especially not with how far Naoki pushed the woman that raised him. Bjorn has reported more than once that Leman has been training himself to ‘settle the score’, and has been worried about what will happen they do meet.”
“Have no fear, I am not planning to get involved with that mess,” Eldard muttered, taking a sip of his beer. “I would be invoking the wrath of several more powerful entities than myself, one that once equated my race’s souls to pizza.”
Unbeknownst to them, Leman was waiting at the door to talk to his father about lifting the humiliating ban on him from driving, as he had gone through several different DMVs throughout the loops where he wasn’t a Primarch to prove he was a safe driver.
Now he was on a different path as he stormed out of the Palace on Holy Terra, pushing those in front of him out of his way. He leaped into the nearest Bike and took off to the Eye of Terror.
It was time to settle a score with the bastard that harmed his family.
Naoki had to admit, this was a new one for Slaanesh, and actually almost touching in hir own, perverted way. In hir room, all of the toys they usually used were all on the shelves and put away. Slaanesh had offered to use them in a tone that anyone who had not spent eons with the Chaos God would have missed but Naoki could tell that shi was nervous about this.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve done it plain in the past, Slaanesh,” Naoki muttered as he examined the bed. The Chaos God had the faintest of blushes on hir face, almost hidden by the red lighting in the bedroom.
“Meh, I know, but I thought to myself, why the fuck not?” Slaanesh said a bit too quickly, eyes darting to the side. “I mean, sometimes you’ve got to return to the basics if you want to get inspir-”
“You do know we don’t have to screw, right?” Naoki was surprised to see Slaanesh actually recoil in surprise from what he said, and a tiny bit delighted to see hir calm down. “You’re one of, like, twenty Loopers that didn’t try to kill me on sight the first time we met, and it’s…”
“I know,” Slaanesh muttered. “Same for me.” Slaanesh tilted hir head. “In a way, I suppose.” Slaanesh’s face scrunched up, as shi began to wring hir fingers together. “I mean, I do fe-”
“Hey, do you hear that?” Naoki muttered, turning his head to the wall where the rumbling was coming from. It was odd, as none of Slaanesh’s toys on that wall were battery operated.
That was all the warning he had before Leman Russ pskyer blasted him across the room and through the wall, howling in pure rage and riding after him on a shuddering bike that was being pushed to its limits.
[he]
“Oh, come on!” Naoki muttered as he picked himself up. “Can we go one Loop without someone trying to kick my ass for something I did billions of years ago?!”
“Shut up and die, you damn monster!” Leman roared, pulling out the blade that Vulkan had made for him so long ago, swiping the air where the other man was standing millisecond ago. Summoning his mighty psyker power, he readied himself for another blast, only to turn it into shield as Naoki shot a pair of Freikugel eye-lasers at him. “You threatened my mother and my family! You put them through utter HELL!”
“What part of ‘psychotic break due to being in an endless time loop of hell’ do you people never get?!”
“Big fucking deal!” Leman shouted, spewing fire from his mouth at the quick moving daemon prince, already darting through the Materium. “My world is like an ocean of fucking blood, violence and death and NONE of my loopers, my friends, broke!” Leman watched Naoki pause at this. “Face it; you are nothing but a whining, crying little bitch that lashes out at EVERYONE and I will put you down like the worthless piece of garbage you are!”
Before he could do anything else, Naoki lunged at him, and sank his fist into his chest. Literally.
“I’m a lot of things, Prince Furry,” the Demi-Fiend growled, as Leman backpedaled to let his gaping chest wound heal, “but I’ve never whined about a damn thing. I know how this goes. You’ll lecture me on and on about how I’m a monster and you’re the good guy here.Well, guess what?” he hissed before howling in fury, steam rushing out of his mouth to obscure Lemans’ senses. “No room for your fancy speeches in a fight! You wanna go?! Then lets go!”
Leman roared,the Curse of the Wulfen engulfing him as he grabbed the man opposite of him and slammed him through another wall of the Materium.
“So, what did you put in the food this time?” Isha asked, sighing. “AIDS? Herpes? Ebola?”
“Um...just food,” Nurgle said hesitantly. While he would have loved to put his usual ingredients into his cooking for the date, several Loopers had cautioned him against putting deadly viruses in there, as that typically killed the mood. Among other things. After all these eons, he still loved Isha, and he wished he could prove it to her at long last. “I did gather the recipe from Lina, and I did try to my best not to experiment and-”
“I understand, Nurgle.” Isha did her best to soften her tone. She was well aware of his affections for her, and since she had started looping, it made things a bit...awkward between the two of them. She still remembered how he proved his love for her by setting her free and returning her to the Eldar on the advice of that lovely young equine creature during her second loop. It was a gesture she could not just ignore, and she had decided to see if she could influence the better aspects of the Chaos God opposite of her with some mixed results. His garden was slightly less evil when they were both Awake, with Eldars being allowed in if they were invited by her and did not try to escape with her without her consent or Nurgle’s awareness, and the daemons were ordered to listen to her every command as if it came from Nurgle himself or that nice looping fellow that often replaced one of Nurgle’s Greater Daemons. Oh, what was his name again? Samwise Game something, she was not quite sure.
He was a nice looper to talk to, and one that Nurgle greatly approved of as he always managed to have the lands in Nurgle’s garden in perfect order. He was one of the few freely allowed in at any time, Awake or not.
Pulling her attention back to Nurgle, she thought about the two of them again. On one hand, he had stopped force-feeding her new diseases, allowed her greater freedom and was trying to embrace his more positive aspects. On the other hand, he was still the Chaos God of decay and ruin, and at times, he needed to be reminded of why some people would not like his kinds of gifts. And then there was the fact she wasn’t sure of how to feel about his affections for her. It was touching, what he had done for her, but she was still unsure how she felt about him. In the end, she resolved to give him a fair chance whenever he tried to prove his love for her. Hence this dinner date.
She looked down at the fairly ordinary oriental human meal and, after a quick check to make sure that Nurgle did not forget any diseases, of which there were thankfully none, she picked up a chopstick and began to eat. Suddenly, two beings crashed into Nurgle’s private chamber and straight through the dinner table.
“Y’know,” one of them said, climbing out of the wreckage of the table, “to use an old cliche, you hit like a girl. A two year old girl who hasn’t even learned how to walk yet.”
Leman simply responded by grabbing the table leg and smashing Naoki across the room. “I won’t stop until I rip your bleeding heart out of your damn chest!”
Naoki rolled his eyes in response, grabbed something from his position on the floor, and tackled Leman. Instantly, the Primarch felt a searing pain in his chest, his secondary heart kicking in.
“No you.” Removing the chopsticks from his chest, Naoki grabbed the heart in his free hand, and dropped it into his mouth. Chewing for a few moments, he grimaced as he blasted Leman back with another set of eye lasers. “Not bad,” he said, “but I can taste the stupid in every blood cell. May want to cut back on the carbs, dude.”
Leman surprised Naoki by dashing over with speed that should have been impossible, his fist pulling in the very fabric of reality around it in blinding light, and smashed his Warp-empowered purity power fist into Naoki’s chin, knocking him clear out of the Warp and back into the realm of men. “You honestly think that you can withstand the light, you filth spawned monster?! I swear I will not stop until I rip your damn head off!” Leman roared, leaping after the other Anchor.
The room was silent for a moment.
“NO!” Nurgle finally screamed. “The food! I worked so hard on it!”
“It just fell on the floor,” Isha muttered, getting up and wiping what little food she had eaten from her chin. “Wouldn’t you be all over that?”
“They incinerated it!” Nurgle moaned, pointing at the piles of ash on the floor. “There’s nothing left to eat!”
“I told you you’d love this!” a nasally voice said in the background.
Slowly, Nurgle turned around to see Tzeentch and Khorne sitting in lounge chairs slightly behind them. Tzeentch rested one clawed hand on a jukebox and sipped a martini with the other. As a number of beeps sounded in the background, Khorne got up and took a small paper bag out of a microwave. Opening it, he grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it into his mouth.
“For once, I agree with you,” the war god said, grabbing a pair of binoculars and looking at the faraway planet the two warriors had landed on. “This is priceless!”
“Are you going to do anything else to help other than just sit there?!” Nurgle demanded. “They ruined my date! And just after I finished learning how to properly cook for Isha, too!”
“Hel no!” Tzeentch cackled, keeping his talons on the music player. “This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in years!” he said, the famous track of “Yackety Sax” ringing throughout the Immaterium as the two Anchors brawled without any sign of stopping.
“Help you?!” Khorne asked mockingly. “And ruin this incredible fight? This is the most fun I’ve had in centuries!” he exclaimed between mouthfuls of popcorn and Khorne Flakes.
Nurgle sighed and let the ruined splinters of the dinner table drop from his tentacles, Isha simply shaking her head in disbelief.
Nyx smiled at the Primarch opposite of her as she closed the book. “Thank you, Magnus. It was simply wonderful.”
“I had an inkling you would enjoy it, Nyx.” He gave her a light smile, enjoying the company of his brother’s girlfriend. Despite their rocky start, she was everything he would expect of the daughter of a librarian, almost equal to his own private collection in his humble opinion. She was kind, smart, funny, honest - a perfect match for his brother. The savage was so much more agreeable when she was around. He wasn’t sure if it was the loops, Fenrir or something else, but he had seen the Space Wolves fall over in loving respect for her in the past when they saw their King so happy, along with how well she interacted with each of them. “I’m a bit surprised you had not already read this book; I am sure that Twilight would have it on stock.”
“Well, to be honest,” Nyx shook her mane, blushing a bit as she took a sip of the apple cider that Magnus had prepared for her. “Most of the time I am with the girls, out crusading and-”
“Say no more, I understand.” Magnus shook his head. “I understand the siren's call of adventure from those close to your heart.”
“Well, I -” Before the equine could continue, a figure appeared in the private room.
“There you are!” the Chaos God grumbled loudly, reaching out for Nyx. “The two of them have been fighting for hours, breaking all of my toys. Nurgle isn’t lifting a finger to help after those morons crashed his dinner date with Isha, Tzeentch won’t stop playing that fucking music and Khorne is eating his fucking popcorn!” Slaanesh smashed a wall down in pure rage, scaring Magnus slightly to see hir enraged instead of trying to seduce him. “I don’t get a lot of chances to see Naoki and it pisses me off that your damn boyfriend is c-”
“Na-oh.” Nyx said. She sank deeper into her stool, her ears drooping, and suddenly became much more interested in staring at the ground than in making eye contact with anyone. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t find any words.
“Did he end up killing you during his freak-out or something?” Magnus asked, nervously sipping his cider as he sat in the middle of the two.
“It...it was our fault,” Nyx said softly. “We...we didn’t realize how badly he needed help. We let him go off on his own, since that what we were supposed to do as a Sanctuary. But he lost it, and...His Shadow took control of his body, and made him rampage across the Loops.” She bit her lip before finding her steel. “Slaanesh, please, take me to them.”
“With pleasure!” Slaanesh grumbled loudly, unhappy with how the situation was playing out and this darker part of hir daemon prince’s past. “You’re the only one that can actually talk some damn sense into Leman after he gets like this!” With that, Slaanesh teleported them to the latest place where the two Anchors were spotted.
Magnus simply sighed, swirling his cider a bit before drinking it down. On one hand, he should try and stop his brother from attacking Naoki, as it would be poor to let a grudge grow between loops. On the other hand, Leman was downright terrifying when pushed too far, and he was nowhere near strong enough to fight his brother going all out.
157.5 (Gamerex27)
"GaaaaAAAAHHH!"
Waking Up to hear your parental surrogate/big sister/housemate screaming her ears off was not the best way to start a Loop, as Spike later decided.
"What's wrong?" he asked, jumping out of bed and flying into the library with swiftly-grown wings.
"Itches!" Twilight replied, scratching at her head with her forehooves. "Itches so badly!" She switched to scratching her sides with her back hoof as she flopped to the ground, her hooves digging into her scalp.
"Is it a rash?" the (biologically) young dragon asked. "Bug bites?"
"Fleas!"
"...fleas?" Spike asked flatly. "Can't you just yank them off with magic or something?"
"I've tried!" the Anchor cried, rolling over to a bookshelf and using it to scratch her back. "They're really resistant to magic! And there're from the Everfree-"
"Where else would it be from?" Spike muttered under his breath.
"-so nopony can figure out how to remove them! Zecora said she'd be on the case, but she says the ingredients she needs are in...urgh...Discord's sock puppet dimension! I don't even know how she knows that!"
"Is it just confined to you?' Spike asked, stepping closer to Twilight to try and help somehow.
"It's all over PonyvillAAAAAAH!" As she rolled across the floor to scratch the itch, she ended bowling Spike over. The two sat there for a few moments, a tangled mess of hooves, tails, and scales.
"We need to get Discord!" Twilight said, standing up and trying to ignore the furious itch all over her body. "ASAP!"
Grumbling, Rainbow Dash crawled out of bed and walked into her shower. Even as she activated the cloud above her and bathed in its heated rain, those dang fleas were still there!
"Great," she moaned. "Maybe doing a Rainboom will shake them off or something." She stepped out her front door of her cloud house and perched on the cloud’s leading edge, stretching her muscles.
But as she leaned back and braced her wings for takeoff, she heard some squeaky voices.
"Now, hear this!" one proclaimed. "Ludicrous Speed!"
"Sir," another voice said, "you better buckle up!"
"Ah, buckle this," the first voice declared, as Dashie rolled her eyes and mentally counted down. "Ludicrous Speed! GO!"
With a deafening sound and a burst of rainbows, the pegasus rocketed into the sky. Alas, the various Machs of speed she passed had no effect on dislodging her uninvited guests. Looking back behind her, she could just spy several tiny elephants and lions falling out of the fleas' zoo, followed by what looked like an entire shopping mall about the size of her hoof.
"Stowaways," she growled, as she flew ever faster, to no effect.
(Evilhumour)
Lyra looked up and rolled her eyes, scoffing. "My friend units are so silly." It was so much simpler to just turn herself into a cyborg to avoid the fleas then wait for the cure from Zecora. Although, using the Cyberman technology was proving to be a bit of annoyance as her other selves were fighting back the invading program. Shrugging, Lyra still thought it was better than waiting the ten minutes for Zecora to get into town.
157.6 (Scorntex)
The Moon. Now.
Three figures popped into existence on the grey and barren surface. One yellow and red, one white and pink, the last orange and purple. All three bore strange necklaces around their necks. Seconds later, a large mass of metal appeared after them.
"Hey." Someone called out (via magic, since they were in a vacuum). The Cutie Mark Crusaders turned about, looking for the source of the voice. It was Nyx, who was sitting a short distance away. Behind her was Princess Luna, whose gaze was alternating between a pack of cards and the newcomers.
"Mornin', Nyx." Apple Bloom waved. "Woke up early or somethin'?"
"Yes." Luna declared. "For whatever reason, we couldn't break through the magic keeping us here."
"So we decided to play "Chaos" until we could." Nyx smiled, before glancing back toward her big sister. "She's winning."
Luna frowned. "I was. Until my assets were turned into farm-animals."
"Anyway." Nyx looked back towards the trio, and the thing they'd brought with them. "What's that?"
Apple Bloom waved a hoof at her, holding a hoof up to one ear. "Sorry, gotta take this. Hey, DT. We're here. Yeah, it's here too..."
She removed the hoof for a second and looked back at Nyx. "DT says "hey"."
Sweetie Belle glided over towards Nyx, as Apple Bloom continued discussed something with Diamond Tiara. "Twilight had an idea." The unicorn explained. Nyx noticed the worry present in her friend's eyes.
"What happened?" She asked. Sweetie Belle looked down at the lunar surface.
"Twilight had a rough last Loop, apparently." Clover spoke up. Nyx gasped, instantly gathering her magic, before realizing Sweetie Belle's hoof was on her shoulder.
"She's fine!" Nyx's friend quickly said. "... well, she sort of took some of Big Mac's brain bleach, so whatever it is that upset her, she doesn't remember right now."
Nyx frowned, ruefully, at the thought of not having been present to help her mother. Sweetie Belle noticed it.
"I'm sorry." She said. "Anyway, before she wiped her memories, she handed us her plan for this Loop. I think it's meant to be used on Sombra."
Nyx examined the structure, as several more objects began appearing via teleportation. "Is it...?"
"Yeah!" Scootaloo grinned, looking up from several parts she'd been added. "It's an Orbital Friendship Platform."
Nyx looked about the moon all five ponies were standing on. "Um..." She began. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
"We're gonna move it when we're done building, obviously."
Luna wandered over to look at the sight, one eyebrow raising as she examined everything. "I almost feel sorry for Sombra, if this is to be used on him."
"And you're building it on my moon... why?" She added. All three Crusaders shared guilty looks.
"Because..." Scootaloo began. "Reasons?"
"Princess Celestia had reservations." Smart Cookie declared. "And she insisted on being the first one to fire it..."
"Her and everypony else in the bar." Pansy piped up.
"Well, really." Luna pouted. "It's my moon! I should have first go!"
Nyx scowled. "And it's my mom's idea, I should get first go!"
Luna and Nyx stared intently at one another. "Rematch at Chaos?" Luna asked, slowly. "First one to win gets to fire."
"You're on."
The two sort-of-siblings walked off, leaving the three Crusaders looking at one another.
"Think we should tell them Apple Bloom got first go when she won the contract to build it?" Clover asked, hesitantly.
Apple Bloom looked as the two alicorns began aggressively shuffling their cards. "Maybe wait a while..." She suggested, before looking back to the massive pile of parts.
157.7 (Kris Overstreet)
"Hey, Sunbutt!"
The guards flanking the throne stiffened. This was not language petitioners to the Day Court normally used. (Granted, the newly restored Princess Luna used it in private chambers now and again, and Celestia's chosen student Twilight Sparkle had used it once or twice in personal conversation, but those were friends and family of the Princess, not mere peasants.)
"Good morning, my little griffon," Celestia said, apparently unruffled by the hostile greeting. "May I ask your name?"
"I'm Guido of Griffonstone!" the somewhat pudgy griffon in the threadbare three-piece suit snapped, advancing to the throne with hackles raised and feathered crest laid back. "And I want to know what gives with all the early snow you're dumping on our mountains!"
"Oh, the snow?" Celestia asked innocently. "Why, it's part of my economic stimulus package for your city, Guido. Didn't you know that?"
"Economic stimulus, blah blah blah!" Guido mocked, miming a puppet with one talon. "You rebuild the library nobody uses, a new hotel nobody stays in, and send us a wagonload a week of this weird powder." He pulled a can of baking powder from under his wing. "We never paid any attention because it didn't cost us any money, but now it IS costing us money! We can't get out and work or shop or anything with this weather! You wanna stimulate the economy, then start dumping bits on Griffonstone instead of your stupid snow!"
"So, bits are important to you?" Celestia asked.
"Money is EVERYTHING to a griffon!" Guido shouted. "You know that!"
"I remember a time," Celestia said, "when pride and honor were everything to a griffon. When doing a job well and trading fairly with others were more important than squeezing them for every bit they were worth."
"Yeah, yeah, more fairy tales of Grover the Great," Guido grumbled. "A likely story. But it doesn't put scones on the table!"
"Perhaps not," Celestia agreed. "However, you will be glad to know that I intend to put quite a lot of scones on every griffon's table, so to speak. The snow is falling because I intend to spend the entire winter learning how to snowboard."
Guido blinked. "Learning how to what?"
Celestia pulled a surfboard out from behind her throne. "I do so enjoy surfing," she said, "but my free time in summer is so brief. My duties are less pressing in winter, but the ocean's too chilly then. So I'm putting a thick snowcap on the Griffonstone Range so I can spend the entire winter in your historic town surfing on snow."
"You mean," Guido snarled, "you're burying my home for your personal-" The griffon's white-feathered face took on a distinct reddish tone.
"Of course, ponies being ponies, there will always be those who insist on bringing me work," Celestia sighed. "So I have no doubt they'll seek me out in Griffonstone. In fact I feel the new hotel is entirely inadequate for the number of visitors you're likely to have."
"Ha! That'll be the-" The brain is seldom the most talented organ in any griffon's body, but Guido's brain had just caught up to his mouth, frantically waving large, simple signs in front of his imagination. He suddenly saw whole caravans and convoys of ponies ascending the passes to Griffonstone. Ponies, moreover, with saddlebags full of bits. Ponies who would want lodging, food, personal services.
Celestia saw Guido's eyes glazing over, counted silently to five, and muttered, "And don't forget professional guides for skiers and hikers."
Yeah, them too, Guido's brain told the rest of him.
Good idea, Guido admitted. Glad I thought of it.
"Of course," Celestia noted, "I doubt I'll be able to get away two years in a row. So if you would like those ponies to come back after I leave... well, I'm afraid it'll be up to you to keep them."
Guido's brain had gotten itself up to a brisk jog, and with the power of momentum it flashed less happy images across the griffon's imagination. Pony tourists disgusted with the shambles of the town, the decayed statues, the horrible food. Pony tourists angry at extortionate prices, disloyal and surly employees, substandard services. Griffonstone going from a forgotten has-been burg in a remote corner of Equestria into a byword for all things dingy, decayed, and horrible.
"I'm giving you an opportunity," Celestia said politely. "What you make of it- or fail to make of it- is your decision."
"Er... could I prevail upon Your Most Serene Highness to kindly withdraw further snowfall for a matter of, say, three weeks?" Guido said with a shaky tone of voice. "I fear there are many preparations that need to be made for your visit in... when shall we expect you?"
"Winter Ramp-Up proper doesn't begin in the lowlands for another month," Celestia said. "Expect me shortly after Hearth's Warming."
"Five weeks," Guido rasped. "Then if you will at least reduce the snowfall, I shall put things into motion."
"Very well, Mr. Guido," Celestia smiled. "I shall see to it. Next petitioner, please?"
A burly pony stepped around the still befuddled Guido. "Your Highness," he said, "I'm here to ask what's to be done about the underemployment of stonemasons in Canterlot. Why, even a contractor like me is out of work-"
Guido grabbed the pony's foreleg. "No he's not!" he shouted, dragging the protesting pony away at top speed. "You're hired as of yesterday! I need two ski lodges, three hotels, an overnight inn, and massive repairs to three hundred eyries! Money is no object! Go, go, GO!" In a cloud of mane hair, feathers and confusion, the two sped out the throne room doors, which slammed with an echoing thud.
Celestia smirked and turned her head to look behind her throne, where Twilight was trying to stifle her giggles. "And that is how the thing is done," the sun princess said.
"You'll do anything for a vacation Loop, won't you?" the Anchor replied.
157.8 (Kris Overstreet)
A certain trio of ponies observed Twilight Sparkle dancing a happy (and completely uncoordinated) jig around a book lying on the grass. This didn't seem at all strange to any of them. If anything could get Twilight dancing it would be a book, and of course the dance was just as awkward as the social behavior they'd come to expect of her.
The trio approached cautiously and waited a minute or two until Twilight noticed their presence. They had to stifle giggles as the purple unicorn froze in place for a moment, slowly looked at the three of them, and then sat properly on the grass to face them. "Eheheheh, sorry," she said, "I just, er, had some really good news."
"Really?" Minuette grinned. "C'mon, tell us, tell us!"
For a moment it looked like Twilight was going to tell a lie; there was the briefest evasion of eye contact and a single fidgety movement of her forehoof. "Er, I've just heard Princess Celestia is going to send me to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville!" she said. "It's such a huge honor! Knowing that the Princess trusts me with such authority!"
The three girls lost their smiles. "Oh," Lemon Hearts said. "Does that mean you're going to miss Moondancer's party?"
Twilight thought about this. "Well, I can only stay for a little while," she said, "but I wouldn't miss Moondancer's party for anything! And neither would Spike! I'll go get him and meet you by the fountain, okay?"
"Spike! Are you Awake?" Twilight shouted as she barged into her tower. She'd received two Ping replies, and the sooner she told someone the news the better.
"Yes, I'm Awake," Spike said, having moments before stepped aside so that overeager unicorn hooves wouldn't disembowel his present for Moondancer. "What's up with you? I almost never see you this happy at the start of a new Loop."
"I just had the best Baseline Loop ever!" Twilight grinned. "Well, mostly baseline. I didn't do anything major out of the ordinary, except avoiding the usual really stupid stuff like Want-It-Need-It. And the Golden Oaks survived the Loop! I didn't do anything to save it, it just never blew up!" She rose on her hind hooves and spread her forelimbs wide, adding, "When we unlocked the box from the Tree of Harmony, its magic transformed the library into this immense world-tree castle, with books from all sorts of worlds! We went on adventures when the books summoned us! It was SO COOL! And I saved most of the books just before the Loop ended! I'm going to so love reading all of them- NEW BOOKS, and my library DIDN'T BLOW UP!" At this point Twilight was dancing again, and her voice had surpassed fangirl levels of squeal.
The dancing ceased when a belch of green dragonflame interrupted her happy babbling. Spike opened the scroll from Celestia and read aloud:
My dear Twilight Sparkle,
I hope you have Awakened (that's a capital A) well and are ready to face the day. Unfortunately I have to call on you for a special duty. For reasons not currently known the tree library in the town of Ponyville spontaneously combusted hours ago. The contents of the library were a total loss. Like you, I am saddened by the loss of so many books.
Twilight's happy dancy mood, realizing the weather was no longer right for it, flew north to Whinneypeg for the summer.
Spike continued reading:
I must ask you to supervise the emergency replenishment of Ponyville's library, to be located in the town hall until a new building can be found. This takes priority over Summer Sun Celebration preparations, but I'm sure you can find good friends who will help you take care of it all.
Sincerely yours, Celestia.
"Well," Spike shrugged as he rolled the scroll back up, "easy come, easy go."
Twilight Sparkle flopped onto her side, rigid. In the next courtyard over, a goat bleated.
Even unAwake, Twilight's Ponyville friends proved up to the challenges of bringing thousands of books into Ponyville and organizing them as a library in a single day. Pinkie Pie helped arrange the paperwork with Ivory Scroll and organized the contractors to get the bookshelves installed into Town Hall in record time. Applejack's extended family carted the crates of books from the train station to Town Hall, while Rainbow Dash's weather pegasi flew chariots full of extra books in from Canterlot. Fluttershy's animal friends unpacked and shelved the books (Harry Bear, it turned out, had a talent for alphabetical organization). Rarity reorganized the decorations for the Summer Sun Celebration to turn the functional bookshelves into artistic and decorative symbols of learning. Twilight's less-than-a-surprise party became the early start of Celebration festivities, held in Town Hall as thousands of Ponyville residents and visitors from other cities gathered to spend the shortest night of the year.
Twilight couldn't believe how smoothly it all went. She'd even had time to meet her Canterlot friends, including Moondancer, at the train station at sunset. The Apple catering was just as good as ever. Fluttershy's bird choir sang sweetly. The nighttime sky was clear and starry, the Mare in the Moon perfectly visible... until, suddenly, she wasn't. Twilight, as usual, was the only pony who noticed the change in the moon.
And then, when the mayor introduced Princess Celestia, everything froze, as usual. No alicorn, as usual. Pinkie Pie complimenting the predictive powers of the mayor, as usual.
A total absence of malevolent laughter... not as usual.
The ponies began to chatter.
Evil midnight fog failed to materialize.
The ponies went silent again, beginning to be very afraid as minutes went buy with no sun and no Celestia.
And then the rustle of a page being turned snapped through the silence like a whip crack.
All eyes snapped to one bookshelf. A large armored alicorn, coat blacker than midnight, pupils slit like dragon eyes, lay next to the bookshelf, holding a book about three inches from her eyes with her magic. Based on the number of pages already turned, she had apparently been reading for some time.
Sensing all the attention coming her way, Nightmare Moon looked up. "Could you wait a few more minutes?" she asked apologetically. "I just want to read one more chapter. Daring Do just broke her wing crashing into the jungle, and I want to see how she gets across the alligator-infested river without flying." Having said this she returned her head to the book, lost to the world around her.
Moondancer leaned over to Twilight and whispered, "Isn't that Nightmare Moon? The evil alicorn who gobbles up bad little foals and fillies?"
"That's her," Twilight whispered back.
"Huh," Moondancer grunted. "I think she needs to get out more."
157.9 (BIOS-Pherecydes)
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Carrot Cake asked, looking nervously at the large thing the young dragon – who had apparently gone through a growth spurt recently – had brought with him.
"Hey c'mon Mr. Cake. It's Guys Night Out, this is nothing." Spike said as he adjusted his goggles.
"Well, yeah, but don't you think the Princess might get upset?"
"Nah, she's on a surfing Vacation on the sun and left Luna in charge." Spike replied as he grabbed his mustache from Big Mac's bag who, already mustache equipped, had stepped up to join them as Carrot Cake protested.
"Don't ya worry none, it's completely safe." the large apple stallion said as he tightened his pack.
Carrot Cake took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright."
Placing his own goggles onto his head, he strapped the large glider to his back and looked out over Canterlot from the Castle Tower. Before he could change his mind, Mac gave him a push and he found himself airborne.
"Reckless violation of airspace, disturbing the peace, crashing into Donut Joe's and worst of all, not inviting me,” Shining Armor read the list of charges to the ponies and dragon currently resting in the castle cells.“I hope it was worth it."
"It was." Carrot Cake replied, still wearing a large smile from his recent flight.
Spike and Mac grinned. It was nice to get back in touch with their non-Looping friends every once in awhile.
157.10 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)
It was a typical day for this Loop. Celestia, who wasn't Awake this time, had gone off on a diplomatic visit to the Minotaur Kingdom and had left Twilight (who'd ascended early, after a reenactment of the events that brought Nyx into her life) in charge. At the moment, she was in charge of the Day Court in Celestia's absence.
"Um, your Highness?"
"Yes?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at the unicorn petitioner who was standing before she and Nyx, and appeared to be staring rather intently at the smaller alicorn.
"Is it just me, or do you have the incarnation of adorableness sitting next to you?"
Twilight's eyebrow raised even further as she smiled. "Yes. Yes, I do."
"I thought as much." The unicorn stood back, looking rather satisfied as he began reading his petition.
Later that afternoon, mother and daughter were enjoying a small break in their duties.
Twilight looked down at Nyx. "So. That stallion from earlier? That was a much better reaction than you normally get when we do this."
Nyx nodded. "Definitely."
157.11 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)
Twilight Sparkle Awoke.
Hmm. Apparently, they were right outside the dragon's cave near Ponyville, ready to make it move elsewhere. She'd done this more times, and more ways, than she could count. Maybe this time...
"Twilight?"
Twilight's head snapped up. "Applejack?" The other pony was right next to her, looking concerned.
"You okay, sugarcube? You looked like you were dozin' off with your eyes open. An' I think you'd want to be Awake for this."
Twilight blinked, and shook her head. "I'm fine. Just lost in thought. And... are you Awake?"
Applejack nodded. "Me, 'Shy and Rarity. And now you."
Twilight nodded. "Well, let's get to it. Any plans for the dragon?"
"Nothin' specific," Applejack replied.
"Okay. I'm going in."
Inside the cave, directly in front of the dragon, Twilight took a deep breath. "Excuse me, Mr. Dragon?"
One eye opened. The dragon snorted.
"Sir, as Princess Celestia's duly appointed representatives, we're terribly sorry, but we'll have to ask you to take your nap somewhere else. Your smoke is causing a real problem here."
The dragon's other eye opened, as it reached one clawed finger out for Twilight. Then, as it tapped her nose, it spoke.
"Boop."
Twilight's eyes widened. "That's not... Are you..." She shook her head in surprise. "Um, Mr. Dragon? Is the same period of time repeating for you?"
The dragon snorted, and closed its eyes again.
"I'll take that as a no."
Back outside, Twilight sighed. "Persuasion didn't work, even when I told him Princess Celestia sent us. Rarity, you're up."
"Not a problem, darling." Rarity walked into the cave. "Yoo-hoo, good sir! Might I have a word with you?"
A few minutes later, Rarity walked out, covered in strawberry syrup. "Not. One. Word," she hissed.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Oh-kay. Pinkie?"
"Woohoo! Party time!" She dashed into the cave.
And came back out, looking confused. "Twilight? Can dragons use their tongues like noisemakers?"
Twilight raised her eyebrow again. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"
"Because this one can! And..." Pinkie's eyes widened. "When he did, it tickled my nose!" She giggled.
"All right, that's it," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "This dragon is going down!" Before the others could stop her, she flew into the cave, yelling.
Then there was a loud honk.
Rainbow Dash stalked out of the cave, her eyes blazing. "That dragon," she growled, "Is not playing fair. And neither will I. I'll be back when I have some good thunderclouds." She took off.
Applejack sighed. "That filly," she remarked to nopony in particular, "Is going to get herself in a heap of trouble if we don't do something fast. Fluttershy? You got any ideas?"
"Well, I could try talking to him," the butter-yellow Pegasus said. "It's what you brought me here for." Steeling her nerves, she walked into the cave.
"Er, Mr. Dragon?"
Once again, the dragon's eye opened.
"Um, I hate to disturb you, but... your smoke really is causing a lot of problems for everypony nearby. So, could you please, please move to a cave away from inhabited areas?"
At this, the dragon raised its head. "For you, dear Fluttershy, anything." One snap of his fingers later, and a familiar draconequus stood before her. "It's all right, girls! You can come in now!"
"Discord!" Fluttershy's eyes brightened as she flew up and hugged him. "I didn't expect to see you this early!"
The spirit of chaos winked. "Well, I woke up around the time Luna came back from the moon, and I thought, why not give my best friends a pleasant surprise? Besides, I may be part dragon, but it occurred to me, I'd never tried filling in for one. Or at least, I hadn't tried it in longer than I can remember. So, here I am!"
"And here we are," Twilight added as she and the others walked in, Applejack just barely restraining a furious Rarity from charging him. "I knew something was up, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Though you certainly did," she added with a smirk.
Discord chuckled. "Oh my, Twilight. Is that a sense of humor I'm detecting from you?" As he was speaking, he snapped his fingers, causing the syrup on Rarity's coat to vanish. She huffed, but didn't look as mad anymore.
"It's a sense of something, all right," Twilight agreed. "But, if you're here... where's the dragon? You didn't put him in Celestia's garden, did you?"
"Certainly not. There's a plane statue there."
In the gardens of Canterlot Castle...
Luna looked confused. "Sister? Is this some new type of abstract art thou hast obtained recently?"
Celestia, staring at the statue of a Sopwith Camel that had replaced Discord's stone form, shook her head. "I didn't put it here," she told her sister.
At the cave...
"As for the dragon, I already gave him a better place to sleep, where nothing can disturb him." Discord snapped his fingers, summoning a large mirror. "See? He's quite happy!"
Approaching the mirror, five ponies looked... and at least three of them facehoofed as they saw the large red dragon, a smile on his face as he continued snoring away on his hoard, which was now surrounded by the palm trees of a very familiar island.
157.12 (Evilhumour)
Lemon looked at Larry on the floor, and tilted his head at his girlfriend sitting next to him.
"Nyx, what is it with you and ...your pet choices?"
Nyx blinked, tossing the treat a bit farther than she intended, with Larry running out of the living room. "I dunno, to be honest. I guess I can relate to the more unusual animals, the more dangerous ones can really be misunderstood," Nyx sighed. "I just like how big dangerous monsters can have a real soft inside."
Lemon chuckled, rubbing against Nyx as he said, "I guess I know why you like me now Nyx."
Blushing, Nyx began to sputter when Lemon roared playfully, nuzzling against her again.
Giggling, Nyx tried to push Lemon off of her. "Quit it."
Shaking his head, Lemon went "Rawr," again, playfully nibbling on her wing.
Giggling louder, Nyx used her hooves to shove him back, to which her boyfriend let out an over dramatic grunt. "Down boy, or no treats!" Nyx managed to say that without giggling, although it was hard to contain them behind her massive smile.
Lemon paused at that, tilting his head before grinning widely at her. "Rawr rawr." Shaking his head, he pounced towards Nyx, catching her side as she tried to flee. Holding her close as they tumbled down to the floor, Nyx was trying to tell her boyfriend to heel while giggling her head off with Lemon simply rawring and stealing nibbles on her mane and wings, doing his best not to break down in laughter too.
"Should we tell them supper is getting cold?" Spike asked Twilight, watching his sister and boyfriend try and tickle each other now.
"You do that and I will tell Rarity all your secrets, Spykoranuvellitar." Twilight said sharply, grinning from ear to ear at how adorable the two were.
157.13 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)
Applejack walked into the bar, a haunted look on her face.
"Big Mac?"
The older stallion looked at his sister with concern. "Yeah, Applejack?"
"You need to have a talk with Apple Bloom."
"About what?"
"I just walked in on her, and..." Applejack shook her head. "I... I almost don't know what to say."
Mac put down the glass he was cleaning. "Who was it, and where do you want me to buck 'em to?"
Applejack looked aghast. "It's not THAT kind of thing, Mac! But you do need to have a word with her."
Mac regarded his sister. "If it's not that sort of thing, what was it?"
Applejack sighed. "Mac... you really need to remind her... why we do not build nuclear reactors in our bedrooms!"
There was a pause.
Then Mac sighed. "I'll get right on it."
157.14 (Evilhumour)
As Twilight entered the portal, the Anchor noticed something was off. Perhaps it was the fact Twilight was wearing pants instead of a skirt as the portal turned the pony into a human. Perhaps it was the fact that instead of the hard boots there were soft shoes. Or the fact that Twilight Sparkle was now Dusk Shine.
What really clued in the Looper was the fact he crashed into one very surprised and flummoxed Sunset Shimmer, with many students wiping out their cell-phones and taking pictures of the two.
"This is awkward," Sunset muttered. "Mind getting off before things get wor-"
"Miss Shimmers, Mr Shine, please keep your relationship appropriate or you will be in detention," Principle Solaris said walking past the two now blushing students, holding his coffee mug to his lips. "...Separate rooms, of course."
157.15 (Evilhumour)
Plunk. Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.
"Luna, if you are trying to sneak by using suction cups on the ceiling again, need I remind you that, A) you have both wings and magic, and B) that slice of cake is mine." Celestia said looking at the scroll in hoof, not even gracing her sister a glance upwa-
PlunkPlunkPlunkPlunkPlunkPlunkPlunk.
"Oh no you don't!" Celestia flew down the hall in a desperate race for the last slice of cake, leaving the delegation of ambassadors very confused and slightly hungry.
157.16 (Scorntex)
Princess Celestia watched as the sun made its way below the horizon, with the moon already beginning its own journey through the night sky, guided by her sister, now returned and restored from the dark magic that had held on to her for so long, thanks to Twilight Sparkle and her friends.
Even some hours on from the joyous reunion, and Celestia was still finding it hard to believe.
"Sister?" She turned, to see Luna making her way towards her, clearly concerned about something. While she was sadly aware Luna behaviour was a blind spot of hers, Celestia couldn't help but notice something had changed by a great degree already in her sibling.
Before, where she had been quiet and withdrawn, or overcompensating with directness, now she carried herself with far more confidence and self-assurance, even if she was trying, for whatever reason, to mask it.
Luna looked out across the night, and across Ponyville as well, some distant noise coming from the town hall, even after most of the ponies present at the Summer Sun Celebration party had gone home.
"Nice night." Luna remarked. Celestia nodded.
"They always were." There was the tiniest twinge of something from Luna, something that made Celestia wonder if she'd said entirely the wrong thing.
"Tia?" Luna asked.
"Yes?"
Luna took a deep breath. "I... I was wondering if I might ask you something?"
"O-of course." Celestia smiled, as warmly as she dared. And there was another thing about Luna in the last few hours. She'd managed to come to terms with modern Equestrian with surprising speed. "You know you can always ask me anything?"
"I know." Luna said. Not, as Celestia had been expecting, with any undercurrent of sadness, or self-flagellation, just... just as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"So, what is it?" Celestia asked. Luna's eyes darted briefly.
"It's just..." She trailed off.
"Go on." Celestia said, encouragingly.
"I was talking with your student, with Twilight Sparkle, and..."
Celestia took a few seconds to realise she was smiling at the thought of her sister and her student getting along well. Luna took another deep breath.
"I am going to be blunt here, Tia..." Suddenly Celestia had an odd sinking feeling in her stomach, as Luna paused, a small roll of parchment appearing in a burst of her magic. Celestia looked at her sister, confused as to what matter was so troubling Luna couldn't see through to telling her, resorting to using parchment instead.
Carefully, she unfurled the scroll. And as she did, something became startlingly clear.
Instead of a carefully worded letter as she had been expecting, there was...
... it looked like a bill.
"What?" She found herself asking. Luna's expression was now one of cast-iron seriousness.
"'tis a service charge, dear Tia. You have been using my property for the last one thousand years, without my permission. I would simply like to be paid that which I am owed."
Celestia's mind was adrift in the metaphorical sea of confusion. "I don't... I... what?"
Luna rolled her eyes. "My moon, dear sister! You know, the big shiny thing in the sky at night."
Celestia stared blankly. She had to be kidding. She had to be kidding. And yet, there was the b-
Then she noticed one of the other names on the bill. That of her own student.
"Since when is Twilight Sparkle an employee of the royal treasury?" She asked.
"Since around three hours ago." Luna stated, nonchalantly.
Celestia's mind was now plain sunk, as her sister walked up next to her and wrapped a hoof around her. "Of course, you are my sister, Tia, and I do love you. That's why you have five whole years to repay me."
Then Luna's warm smile vanished. "But seriously, I do want you to repay me."
And with that, she began trotting away, leaving the dumbfounded Celestia to stare blankly. "Good night, sister."
157.17 (Scorntex)
Arms folded, eyes narrowed, and mood simmering, he tried to convey his utter boredom as the being across from him motioned at the display.
"This is your target." The being intoned, in that emotionless echo. A small holographic display lit up on the table displaying a... well, a thing was an apt description.
There were the large bloated legs, attached to a misshapen torso from which dangled undersized skeletal arms. The head, crowned with fives horns, was dwarfed by what appeared to be large engines of some kind, attached to what could've been mistaken for wings. Reaching from its back were two gargantuan tails.
It wasn't difficult to see the expression on the thing's face, that of pure unfettered rage and insanity.
If he could've been bothered, he would've laughed.
"It is called Majin. That roughly means "demon". A fusion of our technology, Nebulan and a biosynthetic god-emperor's solar-powered weaponry. Conventional weaponry doesn't phase it. Un-conventional weaponry only angers it. Its internal fuel systems are solar-powered and hyper-efficient beyond near anything we have seen. It does not know pain, it does not know fear. Whatever little sentience it has is focused solely on laying waste to all in its path. But it is not entirely unstoppable."
The display zoomed inward to the creature's ugly features, illuminating the third of its three eyes. "For reasons we cannot determine and will not question, this third eye seems to be its' only weak spot. But it would require someone with unparalleled accuracy, or a weapon too overpowered to be practical, to possibly destroy this monster."
Bright yellow eyes glared intently. "We understand you have some skill in this area. If you were willing to solve this matter for us, all the charges you have previously built up would be... forgotten."
There was a pause before the robot spoke again. "So, Angel Bunny of Equestria. Do you have what it takes to kill an un-killable monster?"
Angel glanced from the display, to the Decepticon. And slowly, he began to grin.
157.18 (Filraen)
A sudden gust of fresh air and the light from a dawning sun made Big Macintosh realize he was in a new Loop. The always inviting sight of Sweet Apple Acres before him and the full basket at his side made him realize his current task: gathering fresh apples for the Apple family reunion, as usual for a normal first day when the Summer Sun Celebration is celebrated in Ponyville.
Well, he couldn't let Granny Smith wait for the apples so he hurried to the house.
After arriving to the kitchen and leaving the basket with Granny Smith Big Macintosh found Applejack already making breakfast. Looking at his sister in the eyes Mac greeted her with a nod.
"Mornin' to you too, Mac." AJ answered as she cut some apples. "Li'l filly still hasn't shown up. Can you go wake her up?"
"Eeyup."
On the walk to his littlest sister's room Big Mac was certain something was amiss but he couldn't put his hoof on it. Applejack wasn't Awake, he could tell, and the sun and chores were the same as usual. Maybe Applejack was allergic to bananas again? His thoughts only went in circles trying to find this loop's curveball until he got to the room.
Apple Bloom being tucked completely under the sheets suited Macintosh just fine as it was easy to wake her up with a swift pull. So he did just that.
"Rise and shine, A-!"
Big Macintosh froze as he suddenly realized this wasn't Applebloom. In his shocked state his loop memories finished his sentence, though with a much more subdued voice.
"... Sunny Fields."
The white earth pony filly sat herself in bed and pulled her pink mane out of her face after a huge yawn. Then she looked at herself as inspecting herself and her big brother -who still had his muzzle open- and spoke.
"Oh, hi Macintosh."
It took Big Mac a considerable effort to stop the raising panic at his sister's gaze, because he knew that look in her eyes: it wasn't one of a little filly. Princess Celestia was Awake, and she was his littlest sister.
Fewmets
"Applejack, go wake up Sunny. She's goin' to miss breakfast."
At the sound of Granny Smith's voice Applejack left the sliced apples for breakfast aside, looked around for her brother. "Granny, have you seen Big Mac?"
"Already out at the fields. Said something about plowing for the upcoming apple planting."
Again the same thing. Lately Big Mac had been losing himself in farm work; and while there was nothing wrong with working hard Applejack could hardly see Big Mac at the house. She just hoped there was nothing to worry about, he didn't need to repeat what she almost did last Applebuck season.
A farm's work is never really done, so to make it easier Applejack and Big Macintosh usually divided the load it took. Today it was Big Mac's turn to go to Ponyville's market to sell apples. This morning had been a fairly good sell, and so he returned home for lunch satisfied with a good morning's work, even if the work wasn't at the farm.
He noticed Applejack was with a thoughtful look on her face looking at a note. "Hi, sis. What is it?"
"Oh, hello Big Mac," Applejack replied, seeming to realize her brother's presence just now. "Ah'm a mite worried about Sunny."
A questioning head tilt from him prompted Applejack to continue. "She's starting to wake up later and later every day. And to top it Cheerilee sent a note yesterday because Sunny's already gotten late to school four times this..."
Applejack was interrupted by a choke.
"Big Mac?"
The answers were in snort "Sorry.... It's... you couldn't..." And then Big Macintosh truly lost it to laughter, at the astonished looks of Granny Smith.
Big Mac couldn't really help it, but the picture of Princess Celestia, Sol Invictus, the Everlasting Sun, with probably a thousand titles more, and more importantly the pony who raises and lowers the sun every day being so good at sleeping in was inherently absurd.
It was minutes before he could calm himself.
"Y'er alright, Mac?" Granny Smith asked worriedly.
"Ah'm fine now, Granny. And sorry Applejack, but Ah wasn't laughing at you."
Applejack levelly looked at Mac, to which he made his best effort to calm down the smile that was still trying to find a place on his muzzle. Apparently it satisfied his sister because a moment later she continued talking, "like I was saying, I'm worried Sunny is sleeping in too much" Macintosh managed to contain his smile to his left side only, where neither mare could notice "and it's causing trouble in school."
After a silent moment, during which the laughter completely left the stallion's features Big Macintosh gulped and lowered his head. "Fine, sis. Ah'll go talk to her."
"I was wondering if it was going to get me in trouble."
Big Macintosh wasn't sure what to do with this reaction. He knew Princess Celestia should know she shouldn't wake up late but it didn't seem like she was in a pranking mood.
Suddenly Celestia seemed to look to somewhere far away."'You want what you can't have.' You've heard that, right?"
Mac nodded. He wondered if his face had the same look.
Celestia walked so she was by Big Macintosh's side, then she sat down and leaned on him. "Normally I can do many things, from visiting all corners of Equestria to make a city flourish, to get chamomile or mint tea if I want, to go surf the ocean's waves or prominences. Everything but sleeping in."
Off in the distance, the rays of day's end bathed the sky in pink and blue.
"Luna is usually recovering from her time as Nightmare Moon, Cadance is just starting to grow into her power, and Twilight still stays as unicorn most of the time. And when you're the only one who raises the sun, no matter how late you wake up the sun isn't out yet."
With wind and birds sounds as the backdrop both siblings looked at the Sweet Apple Acres fields for some time, and at some point Sunny Fields could feel the shifting weight of Mac leaning a bit towards her.
"But you still have to get to school on time, Cheerilee sent a note home about that."
"Yeah." Then the filly stood up and looked at her big brother. "Hey, Mac, How about you wake me up later?" At Big Mac's unasked question she continued "I have no trouble getting up quick, but I want the most sleep I can get."
"We'll give it a go for a week, otherwise it's back to wake up to see the sunrise. Deal?"
"Deal, big bro."
He smiled, despite himself. That was going to take some getting used to.
Her old bones weren't good enough to buck trees for long anymore, but Granny Smith had lived long enough to have some degree of wisdom and highly refined skills, like checking with her earth pony magic how healthy the fields were, when the apples will be ripe to take, all sorts of little tricks that, may Twilight Sparkle permit it, she'll pass on to her family.
Family.
She had been worried for a while, since around the time of the last Summer Sun Celebration, Big Mac had been acting strange around little Sunny, and if Granny Smith hadn't raised him herself then she'd believe Macintosh was actually afraid of little Sunny.
So that's when Granny Smith saw those two children on the cliff leaning on each other she decided to change her route and go straight to the house, where Applejack was surely getting things ready for dinner.
"Applejack! Stop what you're doing mare and bring a jam of Zap Apple Jam for tonight!" Today was a day for celebration.
Sometimes Big Macintosh wondered if Sunny had set a bet if she could have a tree sap disaster using only pure earth pony abilities to match Applebloom's usual standard.
Everything was going as normal as crusading usually went, or so he was told. Cutie Mark Crusaders scooter track builders they were today. How that became a wave of tree sap when he was bringing Babs Seed to the clubhouse was something he intended to learn, as soon as he could get out of this goop.
Now, if only it wasn't sap from zap apple trees it wouldn't shock him every time he tried to move. That'd be nice.
It was late at night and Big Mac took a look at the calendar he had on his room. Today's date was circled and had been for some time, the last day of the loop. Looking back, he could easily see it had been a good run, with only the occasional monster or dragon attack. It was sort of expected, really. You couldn't live so close to the Everfree Forest and not have an encounter with some sort of creature.
A soft knock on the bedroom door interrupted Big Mac's thoughts. When he opened the door the pony behind it wasn't a surprise; the knock had been from too low in the dood for being anypony else.
Sunny Fields stood by the door, a blanket around her barrel. "Mac, can I sleep with you tonight?"
Big Mac smiled "Sure Sunny, Ah was going to bed myself."
And so Sunny joined Mac in the bed, both earth ponies piled small atop large
as the bed was a bit small for both. His last thoughts before going to sleep were about tomorrow when he... well, tomorrow wasn't going to arrive anyways.
A sudden gust of fresh air and the light from a dawning sun made Big Macintosh realize he was in a new Loop. The always inviting sight of Sweet Apple Acres before him and the full basket at his side made him realize his current task: gathering fresh apples for the Apple family reunion, as usual for a normal first day when the Summer Sun Celebration is celebrated in Ponyville.
However, this time Big Macintosh took a moment to bathe himself in the sunlight. Even in this cool morning it felt warm, warm like a little filly's hug.
Then the moment ended and Big Macintosh took the apple filled basket to carry it to the farm. After all, he couldn't leave Granny Smith waiting.
157.19 (Awesomedude17)
Luna was simply sipping her tea when Cadance burst through the doors.
"AUNTIE!!!"
"What is it, our dear niece?" Luna asked.
"My love, it's been stolen!"
"Pardon?"
"My ability to love, it's gone. And there was this note next to me!"
Luna grabbed the note and read it, and then screamed to the heavens.
"CARMEN SANDIEGO AND LUPIN III!!!"
And thus was the tale of how two thieves found love, and stole it right from under the Princess of Love's nose.
157.20 (Gamerex27)
Continuation of 156.14
She should have known something was wrong when her castle's Map cut off mid-signal.
"Where the hay's everypony?" Applejack asked, as the group of five (Fluttershy was visiting a friend that day) walked throughout the deserted town.
"It doesn't look too old," Rarity commented. "It looks like ponies lived here just recently. I don't know how, since all of the architecture and decor is drab and dull enough to put anypony to sleep."
"I...think they evacuated," Rainbow Dash said, putting the pieces together as she glanced at the ground. "Look down. See all the hoofprints? Judging by how far apart they're spaced, I think they stampeded outta here in a hurry."
"Maybe they had a flash mob or surprise party somewhere outside of town?" Pinkie Pie suggested. Her usual ear-to-ear grin had diminished somewhat: there was something about the atmosphere of the town that put a damper on her spirits.
"Some kind of emergency, I think," Twilight said, as she cast a simple scrying spell. "They ran away from something...no, somepony."
"What was the matter?"
"I...whatever it is, somepony's still here." Twilight glanced at an alleyway between the houses. "Come out. We won't hurt you."
"I sincerely doubt that you would," said a stallion's flat, nearly-emotionless voice. "Or could."
Slowly, a brown-coated colt trotted out from the shadows. Glancing at the group of five, he frowned. "So, you came after all. Lesser mares may have fled in terror at what happened here."
"So...you know what went down here?" Dashie asked, taking a step back from the intimidating unicorn in front of them.
"That I do," the other pony declared, the black markings on his coat swaying as he stepped forwards. "I shall tell you what transpired. But only to her," he said, pointing a hoof at Twilight.
It suddenly dawned on Twilight who this was, as the combination of the markings, the too-sharp horn, and the Cutie Mark of a pony's bleached skull came into view. "If...if you're sure about that."
Assuring her friends that she wouldn't be too far, and that they could come running if they thought anything at all was up, she followed the being into the cave on the edge of the abandoned town.
"-been trying to feed a pet cat," the titanic creature made entirely out of sapient blood asked Fluttershy. "Would you happen to know what they like to eat?"
"Um..." Hesitating, Fluttershy glanced back towards her companion out of the corner of her eye.
"Tell him whatever comes to mind," Naoki said. "Or whatever he wants to hear. That usually works better."
"...they'll eat a lot of things, really," she continued. "But, they usually prefer small rodents. Freshly-killed mice usually gets their attention."
"I see," the beast rumbled. "The newly-shed gore gets the attention of a carnivore. Maybe now she'll stop meowing all over the place when I'm trying to work." Smiling, the demon knelt down to her eye level. Fluttershy forced herself not to back away as some of the beings blood splashed over her. "I should probably get going, but here's something for your trouble. You wanted me to Contract, right? I need to go on a company retreat, but you can have 10 Hunger Tarot cards to call be back later."
"It worked this time?" Fluttershy asked, as the demon faded into nothingness and the small pile of playing cards fell to her forehooves, and the hoof-mounted computer on her left. "But that pony in the bodysuit tried to push me into traffic when I tried to help her cross the street. Why do I keep getting...mixed results?"
"You're treating 'em like they're all the same," Naoki explained, as he batted past a crowd of incubii leering at a group of sirens on their Girls' Night Out. "That was a soundless shinobi. They hate sound, and was just messing with you to see if you'd figure it out. Always go wordless with them." He sighed. "That Rabbit a few Circles up? He left 'cuz he didn't want those carrots. Doesn't matter he looked like a mortal bunny: he's a primordial force of fertility. The schoolgirl-looking one tried to gut you because she wanted a pencil rather than advice. And that generic fairy left mid-talk because you gave her too much money: they don't like people who can't say no. Treating demons like they're some faceless mass of monsters who all think alike will either get you nowhere or in the graveyard, fast. And everyone gets bad results sometimes. About a quarter of my negotations end with the demon trying to maul me, no matter what I say.”
"I know that," she said. "I've have some success. I've got some Tarot Cards for later summoning, I made a truce with a few angrier ones, and I even got a free flu shot from that one dead nurse. Why can't I get consistent results?"
Because you're not used to any hardship or dissent at all, a bitter voice said at the back of Naoki's mind. Just mind-bash everyone into thinking the same.
Fluttershy's expression hardened, and she gave him a Stare at around 44.44% intensity.
"...what?" Naoki asked, his face twisting in confusion.
And you're an angry, mean misanthrope who drags everyone else down with him!
Fluttershy abruptly turned red. "Um...I didn't say that!"
"No..." Naoki said under his breath. "You...thought it..."
In the blink of an eye, the Demi-Fiend had darted across the room and yanked a giggling, floating brain out of a bush made of dead branches. "Knock it off, jackass!"
After punting the meddling prankster into the horizion, Naoki sighed, rubbing at his head with a forehoof. "We didn't say that out loud: it must have been dicking around with some telepathy bullshit. All over-exaggerated and blown out of proportion, too.
"Look," he said, turning back around to face Fluttershy, "I can't just forget about the Bureau overnight, or what I did to you guys when I lost it. It's gonna take time for my brain to stop jumping from 'pony,' to 'racist homogenizing horse.' And I'm sure you've got something similar with me. But I'm trying."
"I know," she said. "It can be easy to forgive...but much harder to forget. But we do what we can. Fix things, piece by piece."
Both of them were silent for a few moments.
"...this is the last layer, I think," Naoki announced, trying to change the subject as they moved deeper into Tartarus and waved some stolen passes towards some sleeping guards.
"Indeed," rumbled a deep voice. "This is the last. For you."
Trembling in anger, Tirek stepped out from the shadows, every hair on his coat bristling at rage upon seeing one of the ponies that had humiliated him so.
"...should I try negotiating with him?" Fluttershy asked.
"...what."
"Don't see why not," Naoki said, shrugging. "I mean, he is a demon, right? Not all of 'em are open to normal talks-"
"you dare ignore-"
"-so we may be better off waiting until a full moon," Naoki continued. "Those mess with some demons' minds. Or-"
"I am standing right-"
"-could try using one of Langdon's fancy apps to calm him down enough to talk," the Demi-Fiend went on. "The DEMONICA can do some really weird shi-"
He was cut off by a blow to the head, sending him crashing into a nearby wall with a painful-sounding thud.
"Don't you dare ignore me!" the incensed centaur roared. "ME! LORD TIREK!"
"Don't care," Naoki grunted, climbing to his hooves. "Look, Timex, or whatever-"
"Ti. Rek," hissed the demon, as he opened his maw wide.
"...wait, that's a really bad idea!" Fluttershy warned, jumping onto her hind legs and waving frantically to attract the monster's attention away from her companion.
"YOUR MAGIC IS MINE!"
"What did you do?" Twilight asked as soon as they were out of earshot.
"Come again?" Naoki(?) asked as he sat back on his haunches, spitting onto his forehoof and wiping something off of his horn.
"The entire town stampeded out of here, the wall of Cutie Marks is empty, and Starlight is nowhere to be seen," she clarified. "What did you do?"
"Let us not dance around the topic," the man agreed. "I killed her."
"Why?"
"You know why," he snorted, wiping the brown-colored mix or saliva and...dried blood...off of his horn. "I suppose you're expecting me to recount how I used some grand, ironic punishment on her. Drawing and quarteting her in front of her entire dictatorship, maybe? Flaying her alive, perhaps? No. Every journey begins with a single step, Twilight Sparkle. And, so too, do they end."
The Princess of Friendship glared at him.
"A single step at roughly under the speed of sound," he explained. "It is difficult to tear out someone's soul when you are bleeding out the throat and jugular vein. No grand humiliation, or magnificent plan. The look on her face when she realized that her plans were undone was enough for me. The town didn't even get past the first verse of their song before she fell," he recalled, smirking.
"This is a Sanctuary Loop, Naoki. We won't do anything to hurt you, but that doesn't mean you can go around murdering anyone you want."
"I am not Naoki." Red eyes blinked at her in irritation.
Twilight stared, likewise blinking in confusion.
"I am born of him, but not him," said the entity in front of her. "A demon, crafted out of the human's id by Lucifer himself, for the purpose of striking down the Great Will. You may call me Kashima, if you must name me."
Twilight briefly recalled something her daughter had told her in between sobs after that fateful Loop-how a red-eyed version of the Mad Anchor held off the enraged Naoki's presence in his mindscape as she delved deeper in to combat the Shadow.
"It doesn't matter who you are," she said. "You can't go around killing whomever you want."
"Why not?"
Twilight stared at him in disbelief. "Because...killing people is wrong?"
"Is it?" Kashima asked, tilting his head slightly.
Twilight saw no malice, no mockery, no arrogance in his eyes. Just confusion.
"...oh, sweet turnip, you don't actually know why," she said, facehoofing. "Alright, let's start from the beginning."
In the span of three minutes, Tirek had gone from a haughty monster to a quivering, shrieking demon trying very, very hard to hide himself behind a convenient boulder.
"Found you, Timex."
Screaming, Tirek tried to scramble away, but was summarily smacked in the face by a tossed rock. Yelling in pain, he fell to the floor as blood began to trickle from his broken nose.
"Can't really think of any catchy one-liners at the moment," a bored-looking Naoki said as he cantered to the fallen centaur, the binding magic of the cursed stone kicking in. "So, I think I'll just kill you now."
"Wait!" the demon screeched.
"Oh, and stealing some MP doesn't guarantee victory," he idly said as he lifted up a forehoof towards Tirek's center-of-mass. "I mean, most of my attacks run off of physical health-or HP, as nerds would say. Besides, I've got enough Magatsuhi crammed in my Pocket to make up for whatever teeny bits of power you made off with. If any. At all."
"Please! I'll do anything!" he begged as Naoki pulled back his hoof for a final blow. "I'll...I'll form a contract just let me live!"
"Wait!"
From somewhere behind him, Fluttershy tackled Naoki to the ground.
"Yeah, forgot to mention some demons bargain when you're about to smash their faces in," he grunted, as both of them got up.
"So, I just hold this up, and-"
As he openly wept from fear and shame, Tirek dissolved into a stream of ones and zeroes, flowing from the ground in front of them into Fluttershy's COMP.
"Congrats," Naoki said, slapping Fluttershy hard on the back, "you've got your first demon. A Tyrant-class one, no less. Those tend to be high end. Ish."
"Glad to hear it," Fluttershy said, blushing a little. "So, do I need to remember to break the Contract before the Loop ends, or-"
"Nah, demons get ejected from a Compendium before the Loop ends." Naoki brushed some of the dirt and tears from the fight off of his coat. "The data's still there, though. You'll be able to get your own Timex out of there whenever you want. Provided you'll pay the Macca."
"Tirek, not Timex."
"Same thing." Naoki grinned, his troubles finally pushed to the back of his subconciousness for the moment. "Let's keep going. Up to tracking down Trumpeter and smashing his skull in with his own trumpet?"
"So that is why," Kashima said, hours after Twilight had begun.
"Yes! THANK you!" Twilight said, her mane long-since frayed from exasperation of having to explain the entirety of an Ethics 101 course to what she had clearly learned was a sociopath.
"Mh." Truth to be told, Kashima still didn't really get it. Nor did he particularly care. He was not human (or equine), and the finite was always tough to understand for immortal Amalan demons.
Yet, he supposed it was in his nature to kill, as an incarnation of Death Itself.
He could not blame the eagle for flying, or the serpent for sliding on its belly. Nor could he blame the pony for befriending others and bringing them into their herd over death. Strength in numbers, he guessed, as they were a prey species.
"Tell me, though," he said. "One of the reasons you listed for this is because murder breaks the law of your land."
"Yeah. You don't want to be thrown in jail for the rest of the Loop, right?"
"A foolish justification. Harmony is nothing more than a transitory-"
"Oh, no you don't!"
Suddenly, Kashima was yanked off of his hindquarters, and found himself dangling in the air in front of a furious Anchor.
"I have had it with people like you complaining endlessly about how 'friendship is a lie,' or 'power comes from isolation,' or 'friends tie you down,' or any of those road apples! Don't you dare start on that lecture! I've heard it a hundred times, and I WON'T hear it again! It doesn't matter if it's a rainbow beam or just having people to support you! Friendship is magic! Not foolish!"
"...Of course it is," Kashima said, with complete sincerity.
"...za?" Twilight said, dropping Kashima to the cavern's floor suddenly.
"All of these foes, you have vanquished through the bonds you have made," he continued, picking himself up. "The allies you have wrought, the connections you have forged, the power you have gained from doing so. Attempting to deny that there is power in the bonds of Man and Mare is an exercise in futility. Amongst so many Branches in Yggdrasil, this concept appears again and again and again. I would be a fool to dismiss it after the sheer amount of support your ideals gain.
"All these dangers on this planet," he went on, motioning out the cave's mouth. "Beasts seeking to rend you limb from limb. Tyrants and overlords dot the landscape, ready to rip the freedom and power you hold dear from you and make you their slaves. The planet itself is stagnant, and would rot and decay into nothing without constant, neverending supervision. All of these lethal threats, dealt with without even raising a single hand against them. All of them, toppled by friendship." He smirked. "People dismiss you and your folk as little more than babes and weaklings, all due to your forms and philosophies. But I know better. You are warriors. Each and every single one of you. Fighting 'gainst death and entropy each and every day: not through spells or blades, but through words alone. That...is worthy of respect, Twilight Sparkle."
"...then...what were you going to lecture me about?" Twilight asked, baffled.
"Harmony," Kashima spat, as if the word were a dirty curse. "Do not claim that all things are balanced, and that laws or order mean anything in the long run. We both know better."
Kashima had suddenly gone from the other side of the cave to right in front of Twilight's face. She did not flinch in the slightest, staring the world-devouring demon right in the eyes, devoid of fear.
"Just as Man has eaten of the Fruit of Knowledge," he proclaimed, "so too has Mare. Do not pretend otherwise. I see it in your eyes. I smell it on your breath. You cannot close your eyes and return to ignorance. The knowledge that harmony and equality are naught but transitory states have sunk in: chaos is the natural order of things. I claim not to understand it, but Friendship does indeed transcend the laws of reality. This is a fact you have proven, time and time again. Yet I know for certain that Harmony does not.
"But you have your wish," he said, backing off. "I shall go to pains not to slay anyone for the duration of my stay here, unless I am directly provoked into a fight. I shall...what did you suggest?"
"Pranking...them," Twilight said slowly. "It's a lot more fun to mess with your enemies than to just kill them. Killing only ever does one thing: it makes people die. Pranks can be so much more."
"I see." Kashima broke into a grin, with far, far more teeth than any herbivore was meant to have. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"
Twilight froze in place. For several seconds.
"I would have gladly agreed to torment my foes than kill them, had you said so in the first place," he said, still grinning. "No lecture needed."
A few moments later, Twilight's friends (who had patiently been waiting outside the cave, and had just wrapped up an impromptu game of Eye-Spy courtesy of Pinkie Pie), were jolted to attention by the sound of roaring rapids, followed by a surprised stallion falling out of the cave on a gargantuan wave of water.
Screaming in nonsensical anger, Twilight put away her supercharged squirt bottle, replaced it with a foam sword from her Pocket, and proceeded to go to town on the demon.
"I was considering a spar, anyways," Kashima said, eventually getting to his hooves and parrying her blows at the first opportunity. "Non-lethal, since you so insisted. A god, and a demon meant to kill one. Let us see who is victorious."
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Do I even WANT to know?
And I'm not sure I WANT to know.
Oh, YES.
Oi, puns.
Wow. Yggdrasill really hates that treebrary.
The irony.
Huh, that went well.
Of course, who else?
Agreed, if it explodes, it'll contaminate the whole surrounding area after having obliterated Ponyville.
All the yes.
We need more of this loop.
Indeed.
Considering I read the original Lupin novels, and I KNOW just how much of an impossible thief the original Lupid was, considering it's those two, I'm not surprised they managed to pull it off.
157.3: Aw, I wanted a real Twilight Sparkle.
Now that's a way to get love.
Discord really likes that island doesn't he?
D'awwww!
157.1: But on the plus side, I bet it's way easier to indulge your inner child when you can shapechange.
157.2: Interesting idea, I'm far to amused by how Twilight is much more likely to vrute force a problem than finesse these days.
157.3: My point from earlier stands XD
157.4: Yaaay plot! Also, uh oh...Hope this doesn't get wrapped up too quick.
157.5 Bwehehe, hope we see more of this.
157.6 Hmm... Chaos as a tie-breaker, that sounds like it could go badly >.<
157.7: Intriguing plan
157.8: Never ends well, that poor library.
157.9 Good to see Shining has his priorities in order n_n
157.10 D'aww
157.11 Very brilliantly done.
157.12 Oh god, the cute. Hnnggg
157.13 Sometimes you just have an itch you need to scratch...
157.14 *snerk*
157.15: Mwahaha
157.16: Bewhehehe, delicious delicious pranks.
157.17 Bwa?
157.18 Very sweet.
157.19 *howls in laughter and applauds* Bravo!
157.20: Huh, this should be interesting...
I did not expect to see a Spaceballs reference!
157.19
Fokkin badass.
157.6 = orig06.deviantart.net/86e7/f/2012/200/6/8/orbital_friendship_cannon_by_bravecharger-d57w190.png
157.20: And that makes five. Whoever wrote the piece needs therapy, whoever wrote the original material needed to try a different career. Maybe as a mime.
.7 was brilliant, .8 was completely hilarious, and .18 has the feels. And .19 is just...weird.
6718084
I'm pretty sure there's not "original material" involved, if you mean the original crossover. It is - to my understanding - a Loops-based situation with Shin Megami Tensei being crossed over by the snip author.
157.8: This from Moondancer, of all ponies. Admittedly, not party-shunned Moondancer, but still.
157.10: I'll admit, I was hoping the "incarnation of adorableness" thing was all he came in there for. No petition at all, just a compliment/check.
157.18: Awwwwwww.
Look who finally read a chapter that wasn't written when he started. THIS GUY!
It took maybe several months, but I did it. I got here.
6968219 k dats gud
reminds me of a silly story where Chrysalis went snowboarding...
(i think it's called "snowboardling")
story: "a slice of life", Celestia is on a diet, and she tries to sneak into the kitchen that way...
Twilight, give up now. I'm sorry, but the odds of you impressing your universe's morals upon a demonic entity of entropy is roughly null.
I really, really dislike people who think Order and Harmony are one and the same. As they are NOT. I mean seriously. Just LOOK at Pinkie Pie. Just LOOK at Laughter. What is so harmonious about that?
Also, Luna's charging of Celestia was just.... to mean.
are you sure about that?
157.15: Plunkplunkplunkplunk
157.19
Zenigata: LUPAN!!!!!
9540659
What in the living Tartarus did I just watch and why is it so catchy?