• Published 19th Apr 2013
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MLP Time Loops - Saphroneth



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

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MLP Loops 180

180.1 (Evilhumour)


"Excuse me, I promise that this won't take long at all, princesses," the mare across the counter gave them a friendly smile before examining the computer again. "Just need to enter your names."

"It is not a problem at all, my dear little pony," Celestia said, smiling brightly. Luna did her best not to roll her eyes as this was a clear sign of slightly less savvy Celestia. "My dear sister Luna will just love her time here."

"I was here a thousand years ago, Celestia," Luna said pointedly, to which her sister promptly ignored and patted her on the head.

"Luna, Luna...I am sorry my princess but your name is not coming up with registered ponies," the mare said with a frown.

"Luna," Celestia's lecture voice was grating, causing Luna's right ear to twitch. "How many times have I told you make sure your passport is in order?"

"...I have been banished to my moon for the last thousand years and only recently got back. The amount of paperwork for everything to be properly processed will take time," Luna said diplomatically.

"Still Luna, that is no excuse for not having your passport in proper order," Celestia tsked, shaking her head.

"Wait a moment, you said you were here before?" The mare asked, pulling out an old looking book onto the counter. "We do have records of one Princess Luna," humming, the mare raced her hoof across the pages. "It says here you ordered several dozen plates when you stayed here, almost emptying out the kitchen back in the day."

"Luna, how could you be so greedy?" Celestia leaned down to look her in the face. "Do you know how much food that was?"

"Yes, as it was the princess plate," Luna said as peacefully as she could, doing her best not to grind her teeth. "As a princess, I do believe I am entitled to that, don't you?"

With a loud sigh that told her exactly what Celestia thought of the matter.

"There is the matter of her streaking the entire time here," the mare said, looking up from her book.

"LUNA!" Celestia practically shrieked, a hoof pressed against her face.

Luna looked at her sister, bereft of any symbols of her royal status like she was. "...For real, Tia?" She asked deadpan while her sister began to lecture her about how a princess should behalf while apologizing to the mare for Luna's actions. With an annoyed grumble, Luna said, "She was Sunny Day."

The mare across the counter actually gasped and fainted at that.

Then the hotel security arrived.


"Princess Twilight, Princess Cadance?" a poolcolt coughed, drawing the attention of the two lounging alicorns on pool chairs. "You have a call from a 'Celestia and Luna'." Levitating over a cordless phone, Twilight and her sister in-law listened to arguing on the other side.

"Please Luna, you simply must wait your turn to talk to our friends," Celestia said in a condescending tone.

"Like spruce hell I will, she does not speak for me and I demand my own phone call!" Luna shouted, causing them to wince from the volume.

"Luna, you must watch your language," Celestia fired back before coughing into the phone. "I am sorry Twilight, Cadance, but I must talk to Luna privately. Until later."

"No, wait!" Luna shouted. "Don't hang up the pho-"

There was a loud buzzing sound as Celestia did exactly that, causing the mares to look at each other and form an impromptu game of seeing who would get them out of jail.


"Well Luna," Celestia said with a small smile, causing her younger sister to glare at her across the cell. "At least things cannot get worse."

"Tia, you did not just say that," Luna said while her eyes widen in fear.

"Oh come on Luna, you are simply being paranoi-"

There was a sudden silence in the police station as two ponies stood in front of the cell. "Yes officer," the stallion said while the mare glared at the two inside. "They are our kids. We'll take care of them."

Luna groaned, knowing it was going to be a long loop.


180.2 (Vinylshadow)


"Naruto?"

The ninja blinked and rolled to his hooves, tottering slightly as he reoriented himself to meet the gaze of Rarity.

"Yes?" he asked. "What happened?"

Rarity looked confused, then shook her head with a sniff. "Could you please come extricate Kurama from my fabric collection? He's turned them into some kind of fort and is waging war against Opal and Winona. Something about proving himself the superior animal?"

Naruto's eyebrows raised. "That's certainly brave of him. He usually has terrible luck against females."

At Rarity's confused glance, he elaborated. "Both his previous Jinchuriki were female."

"Ah. So...?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'd honestly encourage you to let them have their fun. He likes having his own body and being able to interact with other Loopers himself."

A thoughtful look passed over his face. "There is one thing I can help you with though; give me a moment."

Examining his body, he figured out the most comfortable position and sat down, closing his eyes.

Kurama? he called mentally.

TAKE THAT, YOU DEMONIC DAUGHTER OF A F - hm...? Oh, hey Naruto, Kurama replied.

I'm guessing you're currently inside Rarity's home?

He got a confirmative grunt and he sighed.

Well, I'm sure you're having fun, but Rarity does have a business to run. Could you take your game elsewhere, please?

Oh. Ah, that explains the cat's obsession with the fabrics...right, I'll vacate the premises posthaste.

Use the door, please.

Of course, what do you take me for, an Imperium Space Marine? ...On second thought, don't answer that.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Rarity. "All right, he's taking his fun and games elsewhere."

"Thank you," Rarity replied. "I hope you enjoy the rest of the Loop."


180.3 (Vinylshadow)


Starlight Glimmer meekly followed Twilight through the twisting roads of the Crystal Empire. With Flurry Heart due any day, Twilight had decided to arrive early and help get things ready, such as baby-proofing the Crystal Heart.

"-while that's going on, you'll be learning the wonderful art of...paperwork," Twilight was saying as she entered Shining Armor's office. "Shiny! I've brought the new intern!"

Starlight looked confused. "When you said I was going to be your pupil, this isn't what I had in mind..."

Twilight grinned at her. "Celestia put me through the same thing when I was in your place."

Starlight's ears flicked and her face paled as she saw the mountain of paperwork.

"Welcome to bureaucracy!"


180.4 (Vinylshadow)


Twilight wasn't sure what to make of Pinkie's wide grin when the party mare had called her out of her castle's library.

"I'm all done," Pinkie said cheerfully, holding a clipboard in her hair. "Sign here, please."

"Done with what?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"Installing the elevator of course!"

"What elevator?" Twilight wondered. "Why does my castle need an elevator?"

"Because ponies always get lost! The rooms like to move around and after seventy-six hours, I've managed to sync the elevator to their movements so you can get to any room with the push of a button!"

It took Twilight a minute to wrap her head around that.

"I...uh...thanks?" Twilight replied, reading the board carefully before signing. She'd learned the hard way to read the fine print in such things because the last time she didn't, she had wound up as a babysitter for the entire Changeling race.

"Wanna test it?" Pinkie asked, tucking the board away.

"Sure," Twilight answered, following the pink pony to a rather discreet door.

Pinkie pushed the call button and the door slid open soundlessly, revealing...

"When did you get your hooves on one of Wonka's elevators?" Twilight asked, stepping into the glass box.

"A poker game that lasted forty-three Loops, over the course of thirty different branches, eighteen different decks and thirty four pairs of sunglasses."

"What?"

"Not important; push a button," Pinkie said quickly.

Twilight scanned the buttons, noting they were alphabetized by floor. She pushed "Map Room" and the doors slid shut.

Twilight's senses didn't detect any form of movement from the Elevator and in a few seconds, there was a ding as the doors opened to the familiar sight of the Cutie Map.

"Wow...this is a life saver," Twilight said with glee. "But...it'll have to be installed every Loop..."

Pinkie shrugged. "I'll be happy to do it again. It'll cost you though."

"Dare I ask how much?" Twilight asked warily. Pinkie whipped out a calculator, abacus, a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a straight razor.

She then went through one of the most indescribable series of motions to arrive at a figure.

"Eleven bits," Pinkie said soberly.

Twilight's jaw dropped. "But...this took days! That's way too low!"

"Twilight," Pinkie replied firmly. "You're my friend. I'm not going to argue prices with you. I'll do it for free if I have to."

Twilight winced. "Alright, fine. Maybe I can help next time and learn to do it myself. Maybe return the favor some day."

"It's a deal," Pinkie giggled, giving the Anchor a tight hug.


180.5 (Vinylshadow)


Ivory Scroll Woke up in the Crystal Empire, standing in front of Cadance and Shining Armor.

"-lighted to help with the preparations of the new foal," she said, years of practice allowing her to complete the thought she'd Woken up in the middle of without stumbling.

Cadance beamed and Shining looked relieved. Ivory noted the bags under his eyes and stubble on his chin and frowned.

"Prince, I think you need to take a break," she said gently as his head began to nod. With a snort, he jerked awake and shook his head.

"No, no, please. I'm alright. Really."

Cadance stroked his back gently and touched her horn to his, gazing into his eyes. "Please, Shiny. Ivory Scroll has promised to help get things ready for the Crystalling. You can afford a rest. For my sake?" she added quietly.

Shining blinked slowly, then nodded. "Just send somepony to wake me up when the baby arrives, alright?"

"Of course," Cadance murmured. Turning to Ivory, she dipped her head. "I trust you'll have everything under control while I tuck one baby to bed and prepare to deliver another?"

Ivory Scroll nodded. "Of course, Princess. I'll have everything ready by the time you return."

As Cadance led her husband away, Ivory Scroll pulled out the list of things made by Twilight that covered the basics of the newest expansion, including possible responses to possible Variants, including the hopefully unlikely scenario of an UnAwake Chrysalis showing up to kidnap the newborn and Tirek being the godfather.

"Time to get to work...now where's Sunburst?"


180.6 (Vinylshadow)


"TWILIGHT!"

Twilight flinched at the screaming of her name and instantly dropped what she was doing.

That had been Cadance, and she sounded terrified.

Twilight appeared beside the hysterical Crystal Princess who seized her.

"Shining...baby...early...good idea...kidnapped...Tirek!"

"So you and Shining decided to take the opportunity to have Flurry Heart early, seemed like a good idea at the time, but she was kidnapped by Tirek," Twilight translated as she used her Element of Magic to send a distress call to her friends, who instantly replied back and shortly teleported in.

Twilight told them what had happened and the group started searching for large magical energy signatures.

"Wait..." Rarity said slowly, "Do you feel that?"

Twilight paused. "It's a...search pattern...who's searching for us?"

As if in answer to her question, Tirek abruptly popped into existence in front of them.

"WAIT!" he bellowed as seven Alicorn horns aimed at him. He used his magic to freeze all of them in place, and Twilight had to marvel at how much magic he had drained from Flurry Heart to be able to immobilize seven Alicorns with magic pools that probably dwarfed small stars.

That...wasn't a comforting thought.

"Alright, yes, blah blah blah, I'm a terrible centaur for kidnapping a helpless foal, spare me," Tirek replied. "Problem is, I wasn't equipped to deal with a newborn and I have an image to uphold; I'm pretty sure buying baby supplies would completely ruin that. So there's your baby, enjoy your day."

He then vanished and the Alicorns all exchanged glances.

"I have a feeling this is not the last time we'll have Loops like this," Twilight warned as Cadance cuddled her giggling child. "I...have a theory that this might be the tree's way of letting you know that having Flurry Heart early is a bad idea."

"Well, if you lose something, there's countless methods to get it back without even leaving the house, such as a Summoning Charm or necklaces and baubles that prevent them from leaving the house in the first place. Heck, ask Naruto for the Flying Thunder God technique, give Flurry Heart the seal and you'll be able to instantly warp to her side no matter where she is," Rarity said. "So if your child is ever stolen again, remember that. And if the kidnapper manages to bypass or counter all that...well, may the conifers be merciful when we get our hooves on them."

The other gathered Loopers watched the relieved mother and child and silently agreed.


180.7 (Vinylshadow)


Derpy checked her map and frowned. Turning it upside-down, she squinted at the markings and lines and squiggles before crumpling it up and tossing it over her shoulder with a huff.

FOALISH PONY, YOU DARE TO TREAD IN MY DOMAIN?

Derpy turned to gaze into the hungry eyes of something that completely blotted out the sun.

"Yeah, um, hi...can you give me some directions? I'm looking for Manehatten."

YOU...wait...how on Equis did you end up in the eighth layer of Tartarus?

Derpy shrugged. "I just don't know what went wrong."


The residents of Manehatten were average ponies living average lives, so when a portal to Tartarus opened up in the middle of the street, they did what any sane, rational pony would do.

They stopped and stared as a thing that towered twelve times higher than the tallest building in the city crawled out of it.

IS THIS THE PLACE?

A tiny pegasus flew from the thing's head and hovered in front of one of its sixty story tall eyes and nodded.

"Thanks, mister! Sorry for the trouble."

IT IS NO TROUBLE, MISS DERPY. I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR DAY.

Derpy waved cheerfully as the abomination against nature crawled back into the portal and vanished.


180.8 (Evilhumour)


It was akin to a fair, although it was still a gross understatement.

Banners, standards, and flags of countless barons and baroness, of mayors and grand temple priests, of counts and countess, of dukes and duchesses, of neighbouring kingdoms and those far away. All across the globe, millions had arrived for this wondrous event, a true miracle to a world with magic that ran wild and free.

All had to come to the Crystal Empire to welcome the birth of the heiress of the returned empire, invitations spanning the entire world so none would be left out of this most auspicious occasion.

Countless gifts arrived to the Crystal Palace, with the Crystal Empress and her Royal Consort watching each passerby come to the young Flurry Heart with blessing and well wishes to the foal alicorn. The yak king wished her the strength to endure any foe, the elected leader of the zebra confederacy bestowed her a necklace that was said to allow the wearer a great connection to earth, the seapony queen placed a kiss on her forehead as her honour guard sang an ancient lullaby that made all feel young once more, princesses of Equestria gave the young foal a powerful protection spell while promising her that she would always have magic of friendship at her hooves and so on.

Countless gifts and blessing adorned the cradle that housed the foal and it seemed that all was well in the land.

But it in a heartbeat, a dramatic change smashed through the palace. All the light from the torches were put out in a second, all the fluttering clothes of banners falling short despite the bone chilling wind swept through the entire room, causing countless brave warriors to back up in fright.

Then without any concern for those on the other side, the doors to the palace were blasted open and a dark figure sauntered forwards. Her coat was black, black as the empty sky at night, devoid of Luna's stars. She was covered from her sharpened horn to her powerful hooves in a light absorbing armour, silver in colour but made of unbreakable metal. Wings open wide to cowl any that still dared to speak against the intruder, the alicorn glared past the couple and at the foal in the crib.

"My my," Nightmare Moon said with a poisonous tone, walking unopposed to dais. "What a lovely celebration you are all having," with a cruel snicker, she looked at the alicorn of the night, scaring her backwards. "All are here, all were invited to the birth of precious Flurry Heart." The Empress and the Royal Consort tried to halt her approach but with a careless shake of her horn, Nightmare Moon knocked both of them backwards leaving their youth alone. "All but. Little. Old. Me." She stood in front of the crib, glaring down at the foal. There would be no stopping her, no one would be able to do anything before it would be too late. "All of you gave her a gift. It would be rude of me not to do the same," with a terrifying smile, she leaned her head down to the now frightened foal as her horn started to glow. "Allow me to bestow a most precious gift for not inviting the MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL!"

But before her terrible curse could be cast, there was a sudden bang and an eye shearing bright light. Hissing in pain, a figure of blinding light stood in front of the now giggling Flurry Heart.

"NOT SO FAST!" The figured bellowed with pure magical might, causing Nightmare Moon to take a step backwards. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

Glaring at the figure, Nightmare Moon bared her fangs at the person daring enough to try and prevent her vengeance. "Who dares?!"

"I AM THE SHE OF THE WALL EYES, I AM SHE OF THE EATER OF MUFFINS, I AM SHE OF THUNDER CLOUD MASTER," with each proclamation, the figure forced Nightmare Moon backwards, light returning to the torches and a weight lifting from the beings gathered. "I AM SHE OF THE MAIL CLADE, I AM SHE WHO WILL NEVER STOP, I AM SHE WHO KNOWS WHERE ALL LIVE AND YOU," the being of immense power had forced Nightmare Moon to a wall, the alicorn of terror tried to force any power she had against the figure but it was in vain. "Did not give your forwarding address."

That caused everybeing to stop and stared at the being, her power bleed away to reveal a tiny little pegasus with a satchel on her side, who had her hoof on the alicorn's nose. All that Nightmare Moon could say to this accusation was, "What?"

"Yes," the small pegasus rolled her eyes, which were indeed walleyed. "Your last mailing address was the Moon and I have been trying to find your latest address to deliver your mail." With that said, the mare reached into her sidebag and pulled out a wide package of magazines and envelopes. "Here you go."

Awkwardly, Nightmare Moon began to leaf through her mail before reaching a bright pink envelope and in a shaky voice, she read. "Dear Nightmare Moon, you are hereby invited to the celebration of the birth of our daughter Flurry..." With her cheeks red with embarrassment, the alicorn coughed into her hoof before walking quickly to the giggling foal. "I give you the boon of pleasant dreams." With a hasty kiss, the alicorn teleported away.

The mare that had prevented a terrible fate befalling the foal frowned before becoming engulfed in the same blinding light of before. "NIGHTMARE MOON, YOU DID NOT GIVE ME YOUR NEW ADDRESS!" With that, the pony teleported after the alicorn, with more bellowing words and commands echoing across the empire.

The Empress looked at the Royal Consort before at her foal. "Well," she said as she licked her lips as she lifted her foal to body. "That was something."


180.9


“Welcome back!” Twilight said, then paused. Frowned.

“Something wrong?”

“Apple Bloom managed to forget the most important part of our games of battleship,” Diamond Tiara informed her.

“It was an honest mistake!” Apple Bloom countered. “I said ah was sorry!”

“Yeah, but you forgot the whole ‘make it so that it acts as if there’s more than one crew member’ deal,” Scootaloo said. “I had to tow forty thousand tonnes of ironclad back to the slipyard.”


180.10 [MLP:FiM][Sleeping Beauty]


The naming ceremony was underway, and everything was going smoothly. Which is why not a single Awake Looper was surprised when a gout of black and green flames erupted in the center of the room. Cadance and Shining Armor sighed and stood ready to protect their daughter, Twilight Sparkle readied a spell, and everyone went through their usual preparations for dealing with shenanigans. They were a little surprised when the flames died down to reveal a tall human woman dressed in black, carrying a staff with a crow/raven perched on top of it.

Maleficent.

She started to speak, blinked, looked around. With a frown, she reached into a jagged-edged sleeve and pulled out a paper.

"Oh, 'swirl, then thump.' Well, that explains it." She turned to face the Royal Couple, bowing. "Do forgive me; I seem to have gotten my directions a bit confused. I've ended up at the wrong christening. Since I'm here, though, and since this is clearly a special child-- heir to the throne?-- yes, I thought as much-- I could curse her instead if you like? After all, she has to grow up with some overwhelming obstacle in her way. The curse I've got prepared is hardly appropriate in this setting, but I'm sure I could come up with something that would do."

There was a moment of stunned silence, the Twilight stepped forward.

"That's very kind of you, but we've already got an ancient prophecy, and--" She would have continued, but Maleficent held up a slim hand.

"Say no more; I understand perfectly. Tiresome things, prophecies; you hardly need a curse on top of that. In that case, I really must get going. Again, I do apologize for interrupting."

And she was gone. Shining backed down, shooting his sister a look.

"We'd been going along just fine, and suddenly we're in one of those Loops."

"'Fraid so."

"Any reason why you didn't stop her?"

"I knew we were in a Fused Loop early on and checked; Aurora's been replaced."

"Oh?"

"Ramoth."

"Oh." Shining grinned with more and seemingly pointier teeth than a pony should have, then turned to the crowd. "Okay, where were we?"


180.11 (Vinylshadow)


Celestia sighed into her cake, poking at it with a fork.

“What’s wrong, Celie?” came the ever-gentle voice of her sister. Celestia turned her gaze to the younger Alicorn of the night.

“Nothi-"

Luna’s eyes narrowed and the denial died on her lips. Celestia gazed at her cake and pushed it away.

“Rough Loop?” Luna asked, coming around the table to sit next to her older sister pressing her coat against her sister’s comfortingly.

Celestia nodded, wrapping a wing around Luna before taking a deep breath.

“There was a thief. Absolutely brilliant. Could break into any location, no matter how heavily guarded or enchanted. Never harmed anyone, never took anything that couldn’t be replaced. I think they were doing it for the challenge.”

Celestia chuckled. “Funny how varied the lives of my little ponies are
” Her eyes darkened and she went on.

“They were building up to something big. Possibly a heist into the palace itself to break into the vault there.”

“We have a vault this time?” Luna asked in surprise. Celestia smiled slightly.

“I know, it varies from Loop to Loop. Anyway, I was making the rounds, talking to the guards who were extremely jumpy. Rumors had spread and as usual, they were grossly exaggerated. So I was going around doing my best to soothe them. The guard at the vault itself was doing a lot better than most and when I called him by name
”

Celestia winced. “Thousands of years, billions of Loops, trillions of ponies
even between Loops, the names of the guards were randomly generated and I didn’t want to look like an idiot and call them by the wrong name, so I use a spell that simply gives me the name of whomever I’m talking to.”

Luna blinked. “So the guard?”

Celestia smiled slightly. “He was our thief.”

Luna’s eyes went wide. “He infiltrated the guard? But there’s so many things in place to prevent that!”

Celestia nodded. “And he had gotten around every one of them. He was a genius. But
he was terrified. Luna, I
I know I’ve had Loops where my UnAwake self is a heartless tyrant or whatever, but
to think that even when I’m truly kind, there’s still ponies who fear me.”

“What happened?” Luna prodded.

“He came quietly and confessed everything.”

“So
what’s wrong?”

Celestia shook her head. “I didn’t want him to give up his life just because of one mistake, but he said that if I knew who he was, the challenge wasn’t there.”

Luna nodded slowly. “So you’re feeling guilty because you ruined somepony’s life, even if it was an honest accident.”

Celestia bit into her cake.

“What happened?” Luna repeated.

“He left Canterlot and the Loop ended shortly after that.”

“So now you’re thinking of not using the name spell and risking making a buffoon out of yourself rather than have that potentially repeat itself down the line?”

Celestia gazed at her sister. “You know me well.”

Luna poked a hoof at her. “Don’t you dare change yourself because Yggdrasil decided to give you a one-in-infinity Loop where one of your helpful spells backfired. And honestly, it’s not that big of a loss since you apparently ruined somepony’s life. Odds are he started his hobby again in a different city.”

Luna shot her sister a pointed glance.

“One not ruled by two nigh-omnipotent Alicorns.”

Celestia snorted in amusement.


180.12 (Vinylshadow)


Rarity pricked her ears as the bell over the door to Canterlot Boutique rang.

Motioning for Sassy Saddles to deal with the customer, Rarity shamelessly began eavesdropping.

"Hello, Miss Melody," Saddles' voice rang out. Rarity peered through a gap in some fabrics to see Octavia enter her field of view. "What brings you to our humble store?"

"I'm looking to buy something for a...friend of mine. Well...roommate," Octavia replied.

"Oh? Anything in particular?"

Octavia mumbled something, cheeks pink. Sassy tilted her head.

"I beg your pardon?"

"A...a dress," Octavia said slightly louder. Sassy smiled. "That's wonderful. What's some distinguishing details about your...friend?"

"She's got a pale isabelline-colored coat with an azure-cobalt mane," Octavia replied. Sassy's eyebrows rose.

"Such an interesting color scheme."

Octavia nodded, eyes roaming the piles of color around her, then at the dresses on sale.

"What about that yellow and black one?" she asked, moving towards a piece Rarity had made several dozen Loops ago. "The lines and seams would draw attention away from her rather...unruly mane..."

Rarity smiled to herself. She'd used Vinyl as a base for several designs that had been made with that goal in mind. Vinyl was certainly beautiful in her own way, but it took a bit of effort to bring it out.

Octavia trotted around the dress, gazing at it thoughtfully before nodding.

"It's perfect."

"Splendid," Sassy replied, whisking the dress off the ponyquin with ease. "I'll be right back."

Rarity intercepted the mare, who offered a tentative smile.

"How'd I do?"

Rarity returned the smile and nodded. "You did just fine. Go box that up, I'll get the bits."

Brushing past her, Rarity trotted out to meet Octavia, who was counting out the required bits. Once she'd finished, Rarity pushed one-third back to Octavia with a glare that brooked no argument.

"Has Vinyl mentioned anything...strange?" Rarity asked. "Like something called Yggdrasil or something?"

Octavia shook her head and Rarity nodded. "Alright, never mind. I hope Vinyl likes the dress. I put a lot of work into it."

Octavia looked apprehensive. "What if she doesn't...?"

"She will," Rarity replied firmly. "I guarantee it."


Several Loops later, Octavia watched in bemusement as Vinyl twirled around in her new yellow and black dress.

"Wow, Octy, this is amazing! Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all...heh."

Octavia smiled. "A mutual friend of ours insisted that this was the dress for you, so...I'm glad you like it."

"Wanna go for a walk? I want to break this in," Vinyl said, wiggling her hips to settle the dress comfortably on her back.

"Of course," Octavia replied, joining her friend as they left the house.


"So you held on to the dress until a Loop where Vinyl was Awake?" Fluttershy asked as she joined Rarity in the hot tub at the spa.

"It's not the first time," Rarity explained. "Sometimes I come up with a design for somepony, but they're either not Awake or don't exist. So I like to get others' opinions and then either hold on to the dress until I can deliver it or set it aside for another customer down the line."

"That's generous of you."

Rarity snorted into the loofah.


180.13 (Vinylshadow)


"Don't touch Lyra."

Rarity blinked in surprise and glanced at the pink party pony placing paper plates.

"What?" Rarity asked elegantly.

"Don't touch Lyra this Loop. She absorbs anything pony-sized or smaller into herself."

"That...shouldn't we help?" Rarity asked.

"Twilight's tried, but magic isn't providing an answer and she can't get close enough to take tests."

Rarity nodded slowly.

"It's kinda like she's become the antithesis to my mane or tail," Pinkie said after few moments.

"I don't follow."

"Have you seen the things I've pulled out of them?" Pinkie asked with an amused grin. Rarity nodded.

They were suddenly interrupted by the bizarre sight of Twilight Sparkle popping out of Pinkie's mane.

"HAH! I knew it!" Twilight replied triumphantly. "Thanks for the help, Pinkie."

Pinkie scowled. "Twilight, you ruined the punchline."

Twilight noticed Rarity, who wore a rather unamused expression.

"Oh..uh...should I go back and try again?"

"I don't believe you two," Rarity scoffed. "You mean you two set this up to get a reaction out of me?"

"Not you specifically..." Twilight said. Pinkie shrugged apologetically.

"You were the closest pony and once we'd figured out that Lyra was linked to my mane, we began planning how to use it for pranks."

"And you chose Twilight to help you," Rarity said. "The academic."

"Seemed like the safest bet in case something went wrong," Pinkie replied defensively.

"Sure, but you should've gotten Rainbow Dash, Celestia or Luna on board as well."

"Hello, my little ponies, did someone mention our names?"

Twilight let out a shriek of surprise as Celestia's head popped out of Pinkie's mane and Luna’s popped out of her tail.

"That is how it's done," Rarity said with a toss of her mane. "Thanks for notifying the Princesses, Spike," Rarity called. The dragon poked his head around the corner and waved.

Twilight sighed, taking out a notebook and opening it. She placed a check by Rarity's name under the heading of "Prank War" and tucked it away.

"So that's three to one. Nice game, Rarity."

Rarity smiled. "Of course. Feel free to try again in a few dozen Loops. Now, as to the terms of our agreement?"


"-and that's how I'm stuck advertising for Rarity," Twilight explained to Cheerilee and Big Mac.

The two older ponies exchanged glances, then Big Mac sighed and hoofed over a few bits to Cheerilee.

"Seriously?!" Twilight grumbled.

"Well...you're not exactly...good at that sort of thing. Not without plenty of preparation," Cheerilee said gently. "But it was a valiant effort and the dress looks lovely."

Big Mac gave it a thoughtful look before nodding.

"Eyup."


180.14 (Vinylshadow)


Rarity glowered at her sewing machine and started growling various methods of distributing its parts all over the world to prevent it from ever being reassembled.

Meanwhile, the pony who had commissioned the dress tilted her derange-maned head and didn't say anything.

Rarity sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Sorry Vinyl, the shape of the dress is easy enough, but making it light up whenever you hit a specific note with your magic is...hard."

Vinyl stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Is the dress completed?"

Rarity nodded and handed it over to the DJ, who examined it carefully.

It wasn't overly-complicated, just a simple dress with staff lines running from the withers to the flank where notes would appear as Vinyl utilized her magic.

"What if..." Vinyl said slowly, "we sync the dress to my magical signature?"

Rarity looked skeptical. "Is that even possible?"

Vinyl grinned as her horn began to glow. She whisked the dress on and her horn glowed brighter, her magic swirling around her before sinking into the fabric.

As the glow faded, Vinyl staggered. "Hoo, feels like I just got off a bender...hm, let's see..."

Her magic shifted subtly and she played a basic chromatic scale.

The dress lit up as the notes traveled from her neck to hip and she grinned.

"Perfect! Thanks, Rarity." She hoofed over the bits and left, dress lighting up with a random beat as she closed the door behind her.

Rarity relaxed and put her equipment away, pleased with another satisfied customer.


(DrTempo)

From the Journal of Sunset Shimmer:

My next Loop turned out to be the Code Geass Loop. There, a powerful empire called "Britannia" rose and conquered over half of Earth, and the Anchor, Lelouch, is a prince of that nation, exiled after trying to voice his complaints to the emperor after Lelouch's mother was killed and Lelouch's sister, Nunnally, was crippled.

I found myself in the role of Kallen, a resistance fighter who would become Lelouch's best warrior pilot of the Guren, a "Knightmare Frame" (aka a mech) which was among the many weapons Lelouch wielded under the guise of "Zero" the masked leader of a group of freedom fighters called the Black Knights.

Lelouch's greatest ace in the hole is a power called "Geass", which grants those who possess it different powers. Lelouch can give anyone a command they MUST follow, but can only do it once to a specific person. Although this is a useful tool, it is also a curse, as t activating at the worst time led to a tragic massacre.


As for Lelouch himself, he is the kind of man who is willing to do anything to ensure his sister could live in a peaceful world; in baseline, he even became an evil overlord just to have himself killed and have all the world's hatred focused on him.

With the Loops, though, he has been given a chance to set things right.

Back to what I experienced. When we first met, he remarked how much I sound like Kallen when speaking Japanese. The fact we share a similar hair color only shows how similar we are.


Though I did pilot the Guren as.Kallen did, I was also willing to fight on foot as well. Lelouch isn't as strong as most other Loopers, but he is a tactical genius. He is another example of how strategy can outdo stronger opponents.


Luckily, things went better than baseline for Lelouch this time. I often wanted to just take out the Emperor personally, but Lelouch knew that would cause unexpected things to occur. I should know by now not to just act rashly like that, but if you could stop a madman before any serious harm could be done, you would.

Lelouch has seen a lot in his time as an Anchor. He reminded me a lot of Sasuke, actually.


Still, it was an interesting Loop. Just goes to show how different each Looper can be from others.


180.15 (Keywii_Cookies55)


"Hey Applebloom," Scootaloo said to Applebloom as she entered the Earth pony's workshop and part time airship hangar.

Applebloom put down the latest thing she'd been tinkering with and turned to face her friend, "Yeah?"

"Have you noticed anything weird with the latest expansion?" Scootaloo asked, plopping down in her usual beanbag chair.

"Ya mean other then how worked up mah baseline self can get? Nope, can't say ah did." She said before a slight confusion took hold of her expression. Scootaloo seemed dissatisfied with this answer though.

"Nothing? Nothing at all about a certain colt?"

This just confused Applebloom more before she racked her brain and smiled. "Not really?" she tried, "I like him, remands me ah who we used tah be, nothin' weird though."

Scootaloo just deadpanned her expression before shouting. "ME! He looks almost exactly like ME!" Applebloom was about to comment but the pegasus continued. "Same coat mane AND eye colour, same love of dancing, same slight stage fright, EVERYTHING!"

"Wait, wait, wait, you can not have stage fraght, ah've seen you pull off some of th' coolest stunts in all Yggdrasil."

"NOW," Scootaloo returned, "back when I started Looping I had this technique where I'd-" but she stopped herself before she got off topic. "The point is that Tender Taps is literally a colt version of me. I should know, I've been a colt version of me hundreds of times, and I looked almost exactly like him."

"Ah don't see it" the Earth pony said after thinking about it for a couple seconds, "Yeah he's th' same colour as ya, but the rest is ah bit of ah stretch."

It was at this point in the conversation that Diamond Tiara walked in, "Hey Scootaloo, there's this colt walking around Ponyville that's weirdly a lot like you."


180.16 (Vinylshadow)


Scootaloo stared at her flank.

Apple Bloom stared at her flank.

Sweetie Belle stared at her flank.

"Ya know, now that we've gotten our Cutie Marks in Baseline..." Apple Bloom said slowly, "Do you think we can convince Twilight to let us use the Cutie Map to see if it'll help guide us to ponies in need of help like it does for them?"

"As long as she's Awake and there's no visiting or Stealth Anchor, I don't see why not," Scootaloo replied.

"Hold on," Sweetie Belle said, causing her two friends to stop to look at her. "What if only one of us is Awake?"

Scootaloo exchanged a glance with Apple Bloom, who smiled before she spoke.

"Well then, I hope you take pictures and tell whomever isn't Awake for the trip all about it."

"And I suspect we'll sometimes be bringing Nyx, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon along," Apple Bloom said.

"This is gonna be fun!" Sweetie Belle said.

The trio of fillies shared a giggle before running off to find Twilight.


Twilight glanced at the three fillies, then at the map. "While we still don't know how the map works, what you're suggesting definitely sounds possible..."

"So how do we register our Cutie Marks on the map? Rub our flanks on it?" Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle snickered while Apple Bloom facehoofed.

"I doubt that's how it works," Twilight replied, hiding a smile. "I suspect because my friends and I opened the box from the Tree of Harmony with our...erm...keys...that's why our marks show up on the map."

"Pfft, we've done the same countless times before," Scootaloo scoffed.

While the others talked, Apple Bloom approached the map and gently touched it. It came to life at the touch of her hoof and she let out a happy neigh. "Girls!"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle turned to see a trio of tri-colored shields slowly circling an area on the map.

Apple Bloom squinted at the location. "Where's that?"

Twilight brought out an atlas of Equestria and flicked through it. "Las Pegasus, by the looks of it. Seems like you have your adventure for this Loop. I can't wait to hear what you three accomplish in...well...a city dedicated to vices and gambling...huh, that sounds weird when you say it out loud..."

"...For nostalgia's sake?" Sweetie said, turning to her friends.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GAMBLING ADDICTS YAY!"


180.17 (Vinylshadow)


"Ivory Scroll?"

"Oh, hello Twilight," the silver-haired mayor of Ponyville replied, looking up from her crossword puzzle to meet the eyes of the Anchor.

"I want to talk about that last Loop."

Ivory's face paled.

"T-there's nothing to talk about!" she sputtered.

Twilight arched an eyebrow before pulling out a series of photographs.

"Let's see...you were...juggling flaming chainsaws tied to nuclear bombs while riding a unicycle while being chased by a pack of Diamond Dogs in the middle of the Badlands. Furthermore, you were singing the Crystal Empire's National Anthem in Prench while wearing an outfit that had Rarity frothing at the mouth with incoherent rage."

"And what would it take to keep you quiet about this?"

"I got these from Chrysalis. Your performance was witnessed by the entire Changeling race. Trixie gave you an eight point five out of ten though."

Ivory Scroll slumped in her seat. "Ah."

"Don't feel bad. We all do stupid things like that from time to time whenever we feel the need to say 'screw it' and dance like nobody is watching. Speaking from experience here, actually and my dancing has barely improved," Twilight comforted. "Give it some time and you'll be laughing about it like we are."

"Thanks, I guess. Well, thanks for dropping by to tell me that. Enjoy your Loop, Miss Sparkle."

She went back to her crossword and frowned.

"What's a eighteen letter two-worded synonym for Blackmail?"





180.18 (Vinylshadow)


"Ra-whoa," Spike Woke up with a plate of food in his claws, one foot in the air as he was about to step forward to give Rarity...

He sniffed at the meal in his grip and let out a pleased growl. With a quick glance around, he noted they were in the kitchen of the Carousel Boutique.

The dragon shook his head before glancing back at Rarity, who had what looked like the entire newspaper spread out on the floor with Ivory Scroll standing in one place helping her pencil in a word.

"Did I stumble into some bizarre ritual?" Spike asked, carefully using the Force to place the food away from the paper and he glanced at the floor.

"Hello, Spike," Rarity said cheerfully. "Nice to see you Awake at last. Grab a pen, would you?"

Spike grabbed one and then looked down at the paper dubiously. "What is this?"

"Group crossword," Ivory Scroll replied, tucking the pen away and rolling her neck with a grimace. "And it's one heck of a doozy."

"Pneumonoultramicroscopic- -silicovolcanoconiosis," Spike read. "Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism, legösszetettebbszĂłhosszĂșsĂĄgvilĂĄgrekord- -döntĂ©skĂ©nyszerneurĂłzistĂŒnetegyĂŒttes- -megnyilvĂĄnulĂĄsfejleszthetƑsĂ©- -gvizsgĂĄlataitokrĂłl and Antidisestablishmentarianism. Hm...I'm seeing a pattern here."

"We're currently in the process of filling in a one hundred thousand, eighty nine thousand eight hundred and nineteen letter word for a protein," Rarity said.

"Titin?" Spike hazarded a guess. Rarity chuckled.

"The scientific name, dear."

"Oh, you mean Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl..."

It took him three hours to pronounce it.

"...isoleucine," Spike finished, writing in the last letters before dropping the fifth pen he'd gone through. "Ow, my claw."

Rarity chuckled and gently massaged it with her magic, soothing the overworked muscles.

"Sorry dear. Even with the four breaks, that was quite the endeavor."

Spike drank some water to soothe his tongue and throat.

"Next time I ever need to speak that long, do me a favor and stop me."

Rarity giggled. "Three hours is nothing compared to Twilight's three-week summary of the Loops, and that was using the abridged cliff notes she put together."

"Oh yeah. That was a fun vacation."

Ivory Scroll sipped her coffee and gazed at the crossword. "That was certainly enjoyable. We'll have to do this again sometime. Maybe play some Cards Against Equineity?"

"As long as Discord isn't invited. Have you seen his blank cards?" Rarity asked with a shudder.

Everyone agreed on that point.


180.19 (Evilhumour)


"While your daughter did score very well," Scripted Note said, biting her lip as she looked at the scores and then at the three across of her desk. "I just don't think our school is the best fit for your daughter, ma'am."

"Oh," the purple mare asked sharply, causing the youth to groan. "And why, pray tell, is our daughter is not the 'best' fit for your school? I know it is the best school as I did go here myself when I was foal!"

"Mom," her daughter started to whine but was cut off with a blue wing pressed against her face.

"And if my egghead here says that this school of yours is good, then there better be a Celestia damn good reason for why she can't go!" The rainbow mane mare snarled out, causing the youngest person in the room to groan louder, only to faceplant when her pegasus mother said, "Is it because we are fillyfoolers?"

"What? No," Note said loudly, shaking her head before levitating over a picture frame. "I am a part of a herd so I am fine with all kind of relationships but I just don't think your daughter will be able to do as well as she could here as opposed to if she were to attend another sch-"

"It's because she's a griffin, isn't it?!" the purple alicorn stated loudly, placing both of her forehooves on the table, glaring at the principle.

"Well, yes," Note said, giving an exasperated shrug.

Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight gasped loudly, with the former placing her hooves over their daughter's earholes. "How dare you!" Twilight hissed. "Come Dashie, we've need to have a chat with my former mentor, Princess Celestia!"

With that, the two mares were teleported away, leaving the unicorn alone with the griffin. Said griffin let out an annoyed sigh before she looked up at the unicorn. "It's okay. My moms kinda do this all the time," Gilda said, rubbing the back of her head. "You should see how they reacted to my sister Chrysalis being rejected from acting school."

"Chrysalis, isn't that a changeling name?" The unicorn asked while rubbing her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"Yup," Gilda said while breaking out in a smirk. "There was the time that they almost caused an international incident with the singer's guild when they rejected my other sister, Lyra Heartstringer."

"Seapony?" She asked, blinking cautiously.

"Seapony." Gilda nodded her head as this was already promising to be a fun loop to provide her with a lot of blackmail for later on when Dashie, Twilight and others Woke up.


180.20 (Anon e Mouse Jr.) [MLP] / [Kamen Rider Gaim]


Knock knock

Fluttershy looked up from her dusting. "Now who could that be?" She wasn't expecting any visitors, and Twilight had promised to take care of any real trouble this Loop.

Setting her feather duster down, she went to answer the door, and was surprised to find a familiar-looking unicorn with an orange for a Cutie Mark there. "Miss Fluttershy?"

"Yes. Can I help you?"

The unicorn smiled. "You could say that, Miss Fluttershy. Your rabbit was in my Loop a while back."

"Oh dear." Stepping aside so her visitor could come in, Fluttershy glanced at him. "Please come in, Mister
"

"Orange Warlord. Or Kouta Kazuraba. I've visited this Loop before, actually."

"Oh! I remember you. How have you been?"

"About the same." Orange Warlord shrugged. "We got a short expansion a while back that Michy told me about, since I was off-planet when it took place the first time. It had a new, evil Rider show up, and our friend Zack got a new power-up to counter him. He isn't Looping yet, unfortunately, though I'm hoping he'll start soon." He chuckled. "He's about the only one of our group who didn't try to kill me at some point in our baseline, and the one time we did fight, he was only pretending."

"I see."

Once the two had settled in (and Angel had joined them), Fluttershy looked at her pet, then at the visiting Anchor. "I hope Angel wasn't too much trouble for you."

Orange Warlord laughed. "Actually, given he replaced my friend Kaito, I'm kind of surprised things went as well as they did. Helheim and the Lockseeds were kind of strange that Loop though."

"How so?"

"Well
 you'd better show her, Angel." Orange Warlord looked at the rabbit. "I know you took your Driver and Lockseeds with you at the end of the Loop."

Angel twitched his nose, then hopped down from his chair. Pulling a Sengoku Driver and Lockseed from his Pocket, he pressed the Driver against his waist, then clicked the Lockseed.

"Carrot!" it announced.

Fluttershy's eyes widened as the rabbit snapped the Lockseed into place, then pressed the Cutting Blade down.

"Come on! Carrot Arms! Knight of the impossible dream!" The Driver announced as the Black Baron Ride Wear formed and the Carrot Armor Part unfolded over him. A carrot-shaped sword formed in his paw, completing the transformation.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy looked at her pet with an amused look. "I see what you mean."

Orange Warlord glanced at the surprised pegasus with a grin. "It was like that the entire Loop. Instead of Helheim fruit, we had Helheim vegetables, and all the Lockseeds were things like cucumbers, lettuce or broccoli. I wound up with a tomato for my first Lockseed." He pulled it out and showed it to her. "I saved at least a dozen of each at the end of the Loop, just in case - you never know when a weird variant power might come in handy."

"I understand entirely," Fluttershy told him with a smile. "Oh, would you like to stay for dinner?"

"I'd love to," Orange Warlord told her.

Watching them, Angel sniffed, then de-transformed.

"What, you're not going to show her your Parsnip Arms?" Orange Warlord asked him.

In response, a thrown, reinforced carrot just barely missed hitting him.

Sitting back as Fluttershy scolded her pet, Orange Warlord just shook his head. This is going to be an interesting Loop.


180.21 (Gym Quirk)


Rarity took a long pull from her iced tea and sighed. "Twilight, darling. If I have ever been uncharitable about your attempts to understand baseline Pinkie, I would like to extend my profound apologies."

"I don't recall anything particularly egregious on your part, but I do accept your apology. What brought this on?"

"It's our latest trip to Manehattan to meet up with Maud. Where she trades her party cannon for a rock pouch."

"Ah. Right. Go on."

"I thought I'd cut down on the stress and 'conveniently' have the materials on-hoof to replicate it so Pinkie could pay me for a pouch and not have to give up her cannon."

Twilight nodded understanding. Making it a simple purchase for Pinkie would prevent complications with Rarity adding another gift to the situation. "Seems straightfor... Oh. Pinkie. Gotcha. No matter how you prepare, she always comes up with something you hadn't thought of, right?"

The designer sighed again. "Alas, yes. Ten loops so far and a different pattern or material each time. I can usually improvise and use recoloring or even transmutation spells to meet her requirements, but just once I'd like to be able to give her what she wants without resorting to such." She absently used her straw to swirl the contents of her glass. "Do you know the worst part about this? If I make no plans to give her a substitute, she wants the same indigo-with-gold-stars-and-red-drawstring model. If I even consider trying to help her, it's something different. I haven't had a chance to test the theory, but I suspect that if I were to delay the decision to help to the point where she's about to make the trade, she'd either change her mind, or the pouch would spontaneously change to something I couldn't recreate without cheating."

"Quantum Uncertainty as applied to the loops and/or Pinkie? Hardly the first time I've heard somepony make the comparison. Haysenberg would have a field day... and then a nervous breakdown if he knew about either one," said Twilight with a wry smile.


180.22 (fractalman)


"Alright Dash, how the hay is this you and Tank's first winter?" demanded Applejack.

Dash looked sheepish. "Eh, well, me and Tank kept falling forwards in time. Well, the first winter we fell, the second winter Pinkie accidentally bumped us in. I really wanted to go sledding with Tank, though..."


Twilight had a headache.

She had charts of Rainbow Dash's winters over the loops-or, as the case often was, lack thereof. A distressing number of those charts had turned non-euclidean just from the act of recording Dash's occasionally loose relationship with time. Truly, this loop's "fell into a hole in time" explanation was one of the simplest ones she'd encountered in a while.

A cheery voice intruded on her thoughts. "Hi Twilight, want some help?"

"I appreciate the offer, Pinkie, but I'm afraid help from you would just give me a bigger headache." replied Twilight.

"Okie dokie!" said Pinkie before jumping into a bookshelf and out of normal space.


180.23 (Vinylshadow)


"Celestia?"

"Yes, Luna?"

The older sister stepped aside for the younger as she stepped outside, gazing up at the night sky.

"You've done an amazing work this evening," Celestia said, giving her sister a nuzzle. Luna smiled slightly and returned the gesture.

"It's nothing special," she replied. "There's often a flair I'm missing which makes the evenings feel rather lackluster."

Celestia smiled and gently nudged her sibling. "You can't always have an aurora borealis or australis. Those are usually very bright and beautiful which disrupts a pony's sleep. Once every few months is acceptable though."

Luna nodded thoughtfully.

"You know," she said slowly. "Given the fact we control the sun and moon, doesn't that mean we kinda control the passage of time?"

Celestia blinked as Luna continued.

"Add in the fact we literally control the weather and seasons, there's no real worry about missing a harvest of crops because of lousy weather or whatever."

"That's only for the concept of time, like clocks and calendars," Celestia corrected. "There's some aspects of Equestria we don't control, such as how long it takes a foal to be born. If we use the solar day formula of 86,400 seconds, it takes about 28,512,000 seconds for a foal to be born."

Luna stared at her sister.

"What? I'm well aware that some days we're not exactly...punctual with the raising and lowering of the sun and moon, so it's better to count the seconds," Celestia said defensively.

Luna snickered. "Thou art a nerd."

"Says she who speaks in Old Equish."

Luna stuck out her tongue and placed the moon in the night sky.

"Enjoy your evening, Luna," Celestia murmured, giving her sister a hug. "My bed calls to me as do your evening duties. Have fun."

"Certainly," Luna said, letting her eyes wander over the slumbering Canterlot below the castle.

"May all your dreams be sweet tonight, safe upon that bed above the lights."

"And know not of sadness, pain, or care," came Celestia's reply.

Luna smiled and slipped into the dreamspace to begin her nightly duties as the princess of the night.


180.24 (Vinylshadow)


Two ponies walked into a bar.

One had been fast enough to duck while the other rubbed their snout.

"I don't remember this being here," Twilight said as Applejack let out a snort to clear her bruised nose.

"Blame Big Mac for that. Big lug is remodeling the farm and he's forbidden me from helping him!"

Twilight gazed around Sweet Apple Acres with a critical eye. "Hm...seems like he's doing well enough by himself. It's good practice and exercise."

Applejack sighed and watched her brother work. "Yeah, but I usually don't like sitting still. I like having my hooves busy, whether it's on the farm or helping out around town."

"Applejack, one of the first problems I helped you with was learning to ask for help. Sometimes it's time to sit back and let someone else do the work for a while. Besides," Twilight added, "when you overwork yourself, you're prone to...accidents. If worse comes to worse, we'll have to figure out a way to get Big Mac to slow down and accept help."

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied as he walked by them, balancing boards on his back. "If you're so eager to help, you can balance the check books like I usually do whenever you decide to go on a work spree."

"That's not fair," Applejack grumbled while Twilight stifled a snicker.


180.25 (Vinylshadow)

Celestia stepped out on her balcony, rolled her neck on her shoulders, lit her horn and pulled the sun from over the horizon.

Taking a deep breath, she then bellowed at the top of her lungs, boosting her voice even further with magic.

"GOOD MORNING EQUESTRIA!"

She was startled by a slipper winging its way through the air to bop lightly off her nose. From below, she heard a faint voice shout out.

"It's four-o'clock in the morning, go back to bed!"


180.26 (Vinylshadow)


Twilight watched the sun rise slowly from over the horizon.

She then gaped as the sun proceeded to jump around the sky like a drunken frog on a pogo stick.

Wasting no time, Twilight teleported to the Canterlot Palace. Appearing on one of the suites' balconies, Twilight scanned the others for signs of Celestia.

She saw the Solar Mare standing on one balcony, hooves resting on the railing. Teleporting over, Twilight touched her worriedly. "Are you alright, Princess?"

"Good morning, Twilight," Celestia said thickly. She snorted loudly and shook her head. "Allergies are kicking in."

"Since when do you have allergies?" Twilight asked.

"Since the time I knocked the moon out of the sky when I was just a young filly," Celestia said, sneezing violently. "Luna was livid for years."

"Don't you have magic to prevent that?" Twilight wondered.

"Magic allergies," Celestia said with a roll of her eyes.

"Of course," Twilight said dryly.

"Good morning, sister," Luna called as she flew over from her own balcony. Twilight turned to greet her and burst out laughing.

Luna was clad from horn to hoof in a hazmat suit.

"...What?" Luna asked at their dumbfounded expressions. "As she who raises the moon, why wouldn't I know when allergy season crops up?"


180.27


"Say, Gilda?"

The griffin looked over her shoulder, wings beating the air as she hovered. "Oh, hey Silver - what's up?"

"Apparently a bucket of water," Silver said, nodding to the aforementioned bucket. “Why are you booby-trapping the door to Pinkie's room?”

“Because sometimes the classics are the best,” Gilda replied. “Besides, I'm trying to develop a reputation for harmless pranks this time
 anyway, what did you want to say?”

“Oh, right,” Silver remembered. “Well, I was wondering about griffin stuff. You remember you helped me out when I was newly looping?”

“When you were a griffin chick that one time, yeah,” Gilda agreed. “And
 that other time
 actually, I was your aunt like a dozen times before you got the species thing sorted out.”

“Define sorted,” the draconequine deadpanned. “I still sometimes start in a bizarro-random species, I can just fix it now.”

She snapped her claws together, and turned into a silverfish.

“This was what I Woke up as,” she explained, voice coming from a small gramophone which popped into existence long enough to deliver her line.

“Ouch,” Gilda winced. “So, what's the deal?”

“Welll...” Silver said, flickering back to her ascended form. “I was wondering if I could just say I was your niece again this loop, and say that the brush thing was part of our family tradition.”

“Sounds cool,” Gilda agreed promptly. “You can be my long lost niece from Montegriffin. Hey, you want to borrow a Divine Instrument? I have like four Infinity Mirrors. They're a cool jigsaw...”

“Actually, how come you only use the glaive things?” Silver asked, distracted – now in griffin shape. “Is there something wrong with the others?”

Gilda ticked off on her claws. “Firstly, hitting things with a mirror is kinda amusing, but a sword is more pointy. Second, using a whip made of beads feels wrong
 and third, shooting them at things sounds cool but then you have to get them back. It's kind of distracting.”

She rolled her neck, calling Thunder Edge into existence on her back. “But this just works, and I can electrocute with it too!”

“I can understand that,” Silver agreed. “And
 hm, maybe I could use a mirror. I can do Alchemy stuff with it.”

“That's the spirit!” Gilda cheered. “Hay, take two – I can teach you the piledriver thingy.”

“The
 piledriver thingy?” Silver repeated.

“You need to see the piledriver thingy,” Gilda declared in no uncertain tones. “It's cool.”


“Now, class, what is the political structure of Griffinstone?” Cheerilee asked.

Silver stuck her paw up, displacing the big puzzle-piece silver mirror on her back to one side a little. Nopony else had an answer.

“Miss Silver Mirror?” Cheerilee asked.

“Absolute elective combative monarchy,” Silver informed the class. “The whole society is organized in packs or prides, with each level of government consisting of a pride and trial-by-combat to move up and down between the two. The Imperial pack has the highest authority.”

Cheerilee's expression became a little less sunny. “I'm afraid that's not correct, Silver Mirror.”

“Really?” Silver said, frowning. “Auntie Gilda should be finished by now. What time is it?”

The doorbell rang.

“Hey, squirt?” Gilda called. “Totally Empress now!”

“Cool!” Silver replied.

Cheerilee looked puzzled, and began leafing through a civics textbook. “I could swear it was a town council system...”

“No, that's probably correct for yesterday evening,” Silver mused. “Auntie Gilda works fast.”

Author's Note:

180.2: I presume the Chapter was called the Big Damn Foxes.
180.8: Derpy has a strong work ethic.
180.9: Fortunately they weren't working with anything post-Dreadnought. Scoots could have ended up with three hundred thousand tonnes on tow.
180.18: I think they spent most of the time Spike was talking reading a book.
180.19: Alicorn Mom is like Helicopter Mom, but more magical. No other differences. I assume.
180.27: The half-life of a contemporary textbook around a Looper is about six hours if they're taking an interest.

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