MLP Loops 181
181.1
There was a thump on the door.
“Trixie bids you enter, supplicant,” Trixie called.
“And is that any way to speak to your marefriend?” Chrysalis replied, opening the door to Trixie's wagon in the guise of a unicorn with a bright pink coat.
“Well, you are the only one I can get away with it with,” Trixie countered. “After all, you're the one who can...”
Her voice trailed off, as she noticed the expression on Chrysalis' muzzle.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
The Changeling shut the door and dismissed her illusion, reverting to her base-form, and shook her head. “No, nothing's wrong, I was just...”
She started again. “It's where I was last loop. Twilight was there too, and I don't know if it's looping, let alone who the anchor would be if it had one.”
Trixie did a pre-emptive wince. “Bad?”
“No, it was just… surreal,” Chrysalis replied. “Can I have a chair?”
The unicorn's horn flared, and the inside of the wagon expanded threefold. She followed that up with a complicated gesture, and a sofa flew out of the inside of her cape to thump down between them.
“Nice,” Chrysalis complimented, and sank into it. “Okay, so… get this. I was a winged creature able to shapeshift which fed off emotions.”
Trixie waited.
“...was this a baseline loop?” she asked, after some time.
“No, I was a biped,” Chrysalis clarified. “Also, I had wings on my head too… but since my pre-awakening lifestyle involved shapeshifting and stealing love, I did kind of feel like it was pretty similar to baseline.”
She sighed. “Until I realized the really big thing… I had a love affinity.”
Despite appearances on many occasions, and indeed her own stage persona, Trixie was not a fool.
“...affinity,” she repeated, slowly. “That implies that other emotions are serviceable.”
“Got it in one,” Chrysalis agreed. “I met people with affinities for pain, fear, terror, confusion, friendship, surprise, wonder… and I could get some sustenance from any strong emotion. And all the time, I was thinking – I need to learn this, bring it back to the hive, so we can draw on any emotion.”
Trixie nodded. “I see,” she said. “Any luck?”
“Not so's you'd notice,” Chrysalis said, shaking her head. “I still hope I can make it work, but… well, it's clearly not going to be very quick and simple.”
“Something to hope for, then,” Trixie decided.
She raised a hoof to her chin. “Though, if you want plenty of practice on surprise...”
181.2 (Gym Quirk)
"Spike, darling? About this latest expansion..." Rarity's tone was particularly serious. Not exactly upset, but clearly concerned, tinged with what the dragon's long experience led him to interpret as insecurity.
"What about it? I haven't had a chance to experience it for myself yet; all I know is the summary Twilight gave me."
"It's this new dragon. Have you seen...?"
"Yes. Twilight showed me the holo. I'll admit that she's kinda cute, if you're into that skinny blue lizard look." He gently took his wife's face in both hands and looked deep into her eyes. "You do understand that my preferences are solidly in the white unicorn area." He gave her a quick peck on the lips before releasing her.
"Thank you, darling. I realize that I may be being just a tad silly, but a girl does like to be reassured about these things regularly."
"Anytime you need, my love."
"So... As this appears to be our first time going through this together – Twilight told you about her extended research project, yes?"
"Of course. So it's just you and me this time, dear. I presume you want to do some setup for this during the Dragon Migration?"
"Yes... How do you feel about meeting Garble on more equal terms? Age up to early adolescence?" suggested Rarity.
"Maybe... Actually, I'm thinking we might do it mostly baseline. Just a few minor tweaks to set the stage for the main event," countered Spike.
"Or what if we...?"
(Masterweaver)
Ember narrowed her eyes. "Hey, dad. There's a pony here."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah. Down there, nuzzling that wingless purple guy." She pointed at a calm dragon who, despite his lack of wings, could reasonably qualify as a hunk... if he wasn't so blatantly smiling at the white unicorn next to him.
"YOU! PONY! HOW DARE YOU TRESPASS IN THE LANDS OF THE DRAGONS!"
"Hmm? Oh!" Ember raised an eyecrest as the white mare turned and... smiled? "I do apologize, but when my husband was called to such an ostentatious gathering, I felt it only proper to join him on his journey as a show of support."
"HUSBAND?"
"That would be me," the purple, hunky dragon said casually. "Spike, hero of the crystal empire. Rarity's been my wife for... oh, quite some time now."
Ember crossed her arms. "You married a pony?"
"Indeed I did."
"...why would you marry a pony?!"
Spike leaned back for a moment. "Hmm, there's a question. I mean, she does whine on occasion."
"Well, you do snore sometimes, Spikey."
"I'll admit you can be a little too finicky at times."
"You have a habit of letting your ego make promises you can't keep."
"There's this saying about pots and kettles, dearest."
"I suppose you would know, with the way the things clutter the sink."
"But in all seriousness," Spike concluded as he wrapped an arm around her, "I do actually love her."
"And I do quite love him," Rarity added with a smile. "So really, it was inevitable."
(Gym Quirk)
Torch grumbled. "I ought to disqualify you right here and now, but since there's no way a pony-lover could possibly survive, much less triumph, I'll just sit back and watch your pathetically amusing efforts."
Ember wasn't so sure about the handsome wingless hunk's (lack of) prospects. He sure looked like he could handle himself.
Get your head in the game, Ember scolded herself as she plummeted after the waterspout eels caused that lunkhead Garble to blunder into her flightpath.
She braced herself for the watery impact, but her fall was cushioned by a nimbus of pale blue magic. It was that unicorn, who was lounging on a large raft being towed by a steadily swimming Spike. And what a figure he cuts, stroking through the low swells...
"Careful, darling," said Rarity, lifting the armored dragon from the water onto the raft. "Fetching as your ensemble is, it just won't do as swimming attire. Oh my... I'm afraid that you're dripping." She tsk'd, shaking her head. "Ember my dear, a word of friendly advice, if I may? Green is definitely not your color..."
Too bad he's already taken, mused Ember as she watched Spike climb claw-over-claw to the flame-cano cave entrance. Wait... Did I actually think that?
Shaking her head, she turned to the cave mouth just in time to see a pair of dragons fly into the opening, only to withdraw, whimpering, after an intense burst of flame.
"That could prove a bit difficult," observed Spike, having joined her on the ledge. With a polite gesture, he indicated the dragoness should precede him. "After you."
Emerging into the flame-cano's central chamber, Ember was somewhat surprised to see Spike standing near the cluster of magenta crystals, contemplating the Bloodstone scepter.
The two had separated after they had made their way past the clashing rock teeth and crystal spears and she had decided that their informal alliance had served its purpose. Now she held her breath and waited for Spike to claim his prize.
"Spike, darling? Are you going to stand there... Ah! There you are, Ember my dear," Rarity said. The dragoness looked around to see the unicorn reclining on a bench set on a high ledge.
"What's going on? Why aren't you taking the scepter?" asked Ember.
"To be honest, I'm really not interested in the job," admitted Spike.
"Well if you aren't, get out of my way!" yelled Garble from another tunnel entrance.
Ember tensed and flexed her wings in anticipation of fighting the larger red dragon.
"Go away, Garble. You need to rethink your entire life," said Spike, making an odd gesture with a claw.
"I should go away and rethink my entire life," agreed Garble with a dazed expression, turning on a heel and leaving the chamber.
"Not interested in the job?" repeated Ember.
"Not particularly, no. It'd be a significant burden on my better half, for one thing." He smiled fondly and blew a kiss to his wife before gesturing at the scepter, which obediently floated to hover in front of the dragoness. "So, do you want it?"
"Me? Why me?"
"Why not? You're smart, determined, reasonably nice, and it looks like we're on friendly terms. It'd also probably bug your dad."
Ember couldn't help grinning. "Well, if you put it that way..."
"For a first run with significant changes from baseline, I suppose that went reasonably well," decided Rarity as she and her husband entered the crystalline tree-palace on the outskirts of Ponyville.
Spike shrugged. "Live and learn."
They found Twilight in the kitchen, taking time off from her project to have a meal. "Ah! You're back. How did your first collective run go?" asked the Anchor.
"Well, darling..." started Rarity.
Spike interrupted with a prodigious belch. Twilight winced. Rarity rolled her eyes. The dragon shrugged. " 'scuse me. Well, I've got those instructions to deal with, so I'll let you two chat."
Twilight peered after the departing dragon. "Instructions?"
Rarity sighed. "He's collecting pillows by order of Dragon Lord Ember."
Twilight blinked. "Pillows... And the belch?" she asked.
"Official dragon greeting," confirmed Rarity. "We obviously need to work on fine-tuning our non-baseline approach to Ember..."
181.3 (Evilhumour)
"Nyx," Twilight called up to her daughter. "How many loops has it been since you've seen your husband? Maybe five hundred or so?"
Her daughter, still sitting in the smoking wreckage of the Cutie Mark Crusader wagon, looked down at her from their treehouse library. "Yeah, about that, actually." Hopping down, Nyx nuzzled her side before continuing. "How could you tell?"
Twilight gave her a flat look before rubbing her mane. "Married couples take after each other, I know that from watching Spike and Rarity act alone without each other Awake. Rarity has a tendency to hoard a bit and Spike gets creative."
"Oh," Nyx blinked before looking up. "But that doesn't explain how you knew it was that long since I've seen–"
There was a sudden BOOM! as the kitchen of Golden Oaks Library exploded, with very familiar pet toaster roaring out on its mechanical body. "Bawahhwah! I have escaped my master's foolish partner! Time to destroy the world!"
Nyx swore before looking up at Twilight. "Not a word, mom." She then flew after her husband's pet, doing her best to get it under control.
181.4 (Vinylshadow)
"MUAHAHA!"
Rarity stared up at her husband in amusement as he towered over the assembled dragons, holding the Bloodstone Scepter high so that it caught the weak sunlight.
Beside her, the dragoness Ember twisted her tail nervously.
"Is...he okay? He's doing an awful lot of megalomaniacal laughter," Ember said warily. Rarity smiled and brushed her mane out of her eyes.
"Don't worry dear, Spike knows what he is doing."
Above them, Spike finished his laughter without coughing (something he'd picked up over the years from various villains). He then lowered the scepter and gazed at the assembled dragons.
"Now that I am Lord of the Dragons, there's going to be changes in how we do things."
The dragons exchanged glances before a lavender one spoke up.
"Why?"
A wide grin split Spike's face.
"Because we've been idle for far too long. Look around you; the land is barren and there are no trees, no grass, no green! I have seen this before, and over time, this will all turn to dust and we will be forced to move elsewhere. So!" Spike said, drawing himself up. "We are going to go out and start trading with the surrounding lands!"
The dragons shifted and murmured among one another.
"I know that most of you have never seen anyone besides another dragon before and I understand if you're scared–"
"We're not scared!" scoffed a green dragon.
Spike's eyebrow rose to heights never before seen on a dragon.
"We're...uh...uhm...okay, not scared, but...erm...a little help, guys?!" the dragon hissed to the others, who pointedly stepped away from him.
"Peace," Spike declared. "It doesn't matter if you're scared or whatever. I can tell you that you have nothing to fear from ponies and griffons. Actually, all things considered, I think you should start with Griffonstone. They're also in need of materials to rebuild their nation and there's plenty of rocks and gems here to help them speed up their rebuilding..."
As Spike started organizing, Ember watched him slack-jawed.
Rarity smiled. "Isn't he something?"
Ember nodded. "You're very lucky."
The fashionista chuckled. "So I've come to understand over the years. He's such a kind-hearted dragon and he has been indispensable to the ponies over the time he's spent with us. With any luck, the dragons will someday flourish again and Equestria will truly be a land of friendship and harmony."
Ember nodded in agreement.
The two females perked up as Spike approached them.
"–takes care of that...ah," he said, leaning down to give Rarity a kiss. He turned to Ember and his eyes turned thoughtful.
"If it's alright with you, would you like to join Rarity and I on a diplomatic mission to Griffonstone to set up everything on their side?"
"I'd love to!" Ember said, before her cheeks warmed. "Er, I mean..."
Spike and Rarity chuckled gently.
"That's what I like to see," Spike said with a smile. "We'll head out in a few days. Is that alright?"
Ember nodded and glanced at Rarity.
"Do you mind if I hug your husband?"
Rarity chuckled. "Be my guest."
Ember hugged Spike. "Thanks for all your help. Especially with the Gauntlet of Fire."
"I was happy to be of service," Spike said, pressing something into her hand.
Ember looked down to see him close her hand over the Scepter. Her eyes went wide and before she could say anything, Spike spoke.
"I know you'll be able to handle it from here. When we worked together, I saw the start of something wonderful under your leadership and I will do whatever is within my power to help you with that."
"S-Spike, I don't...I can't..." she stammered, face heating up.
"Breathe, Ember," he said with a smile. "You'll have everything you need and then some."
"I don't know what to say..."
"How about starting with "Thank you" and going from there?" Rarity suggested.
Ember shot her a grateful look and bowed.
"Thank you, Spike. For everything."
He nodded and bowed back.
"And thank you for giving me a chance," he replied.
As Ember flew off to make arrangements for their departure, Rarity leaned against her husband's side.
"Remember, Spike, there's no doubt going to be Loops where you're Dragon Lord and married to her, so don't freak out when that happens," she said, nuzzling him warmly.
"Hm...I'll be sure to send for you when that happens. After all, a Dragon Lord must always look his or her best."
Rarity rolled her eyes and the two shared an embrace and kiss before parting ways to make arrangements for the future.
181.5 (Vinylshadow)
Nyx, Lemon Rush and Spike stared at the sight before them with expressions ranging from bemusement to bafflement.
"How did this happen, exactly?" Spike asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Lemon admitted.
Before them, a toaster sat with the Bloodstone Scepter lodged in its bread slot.
"MUAHAHAHAHAHA! At last! Everything I have ever dreamed of is coming to pass! Now that I control an army of dragons, nothing will stand in my way!"
Nyx glared at her husband.
"I thought I told you to get rid of that stupid toaster!"
Lemon held up his hooves defensively. "I swear on the Emperor that I did! It just seems to pop up from time to time whenever the scenario fits its personality."
"It's a megalomaniacal toaster of doom!" Nyx said in exasperation.
"And harmless," Spike said, dislodging the scepter while the toaster howled obscenities. "Come on, let's go."
"YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY! SOME DAY DOWN THE LINE, YOU WILL HAVE BREAD, AND NO WAY TO TOAST IT! YOU'LL BE SORRY THEN! ONE DAY, YOU WILL WAKE UP TO A WORLD RULED BY MY ARMY OF DRAGONS AND WE WILL TOAST EVERYTHING BEFORE US EXCEPT YOU!"
181.6 (Vinylshadow)
Derpy rubbed her hooves together evilly. She eyeballed the last bunch of grapes.
She was planning to take them.
And give the pony manning the stall 5 bits instead of the three they were going for.
And then she'd leave without accepting the change!
Truly, there was no one more evil than her and she took a moment to break out into absolutely adorable evil laughter that had nearby ponies clutching at their chests in pain.
Coughing, she turned back to grab the grapes.
They were gone.
Derpy's eyes went wide and she spun around, looking for the culprit that stole her food from her.
"Curse you, Fluttershy!" Derpy scowled. "You may have bested me this day, and the three days before that, but I will have my revenge!"
181.7 (Vinylshadow)
Rarity stared at Pinkie, then at the pendant in her hoof.
"...What am I supposed to be looking at?" Rarity asked.
Pinkie opened the pendant, revealing a picture of herself.
Rarity tilted her head. "It's a nice picture, but...I don't follow."
Pinkie stared at her. "Rarity, darling, I love you like a sister and I know I've driven you up the walls with my antics, but I'd like you to know I'm independent."
Rarity blinked, looked at the picture of Pinkie in the pendant then facehoofed.
"I don't know why I put up with you," she groaned while Pinkie giggled.
181.8 (Vinylshadow)
"PRINCESS TWILIGHT!" Tirek roared dramatically while the target of his wrath rubbed a hoof in her ear.
"I'm right here, no need to shout," she grumbled. "What do you want?"
"I want your magic! All the Alicorn magic in Equestria will be mine!"
"Alright. If you can defeat my library, you can have the magic."
Tirek narrowed his eyes. "Your wh–?"
A thick branch punched him in the face, sending him flying.
Twilight hovered high in the air.
"Loop after loop, time and time again, you wreck my library! Not this time! IN SOVIET EQUESTRIA, TREE BEATS UP YOU."
"Spike?" Applejack muttered to the small dragon. "Is Twi feelin' alright?"
"She was awfully grumpy when I Woke up. Dunno what's got her so riled up, but she seemed to focus her energy into animating the Library so I suspect she had a particularly nasty Loop where it was destroyed. I didn't ask for details."
"Wise of you," Applejack replied, enjoying the bizarre sight of a tree performing a suplex on a centaur.
181.9 (Masterweaver)
"...Okay. You two are the most important mares in my life. And I have to admit this is cute as all getout. But... seriously, what brought this on?" Leman asked.
"I became a space druid," Fluttershy explained simply, nuzzling deeper into the starry mane.
"It's actually kinda comforting for us both," Nyx added, curling up under Fluttershy's wing.
181.10 (Anon e Mouse Jr, Evilhumour, Masterweaver)
"AJ, Twi, I've got a question," Dash said as she flew lazily over their heads. "Your museum has a wing of our evil variants, right? And you've seen the worse that Yggdrasil can throw at us, right Twi?"
Both mares nodded at their friend, wondering where she was going with this.
"...Have you ever seen an evil Derpy variant?" Dash asked as she landed in front of them.
"Ah can't say Ah have, sugarcube," Applejack blinked in surprised before looking at Twilight. "You partner?"
"Me either and that's really odd!" Twilight said as went over her memories with no really evil Derpy sticking out in her memories. "Wait, there was one time. Our second time replacing Celestia and Luna. Come to think of it, I'm not sure exactly what happened to turn her evil... but a thousand years later, when she was hit with the Elements of Harmony again, her Nightmare half split off and turned into an alicorn version of Dinky. Derpy adopted her on the spot, so I got to be "Auntie Twilight" for a Loop again."
Rainbow Dash looked amused. "That sounds like Derpy, all right. And does Nyx know about this?"
"Yes, I've told her." Twilight smiled. "The first thing she asked was if I had photos. Then she went out and took Dinky under her wing for that Loop. She still does it from time to time, actually."
Applejack glanced behind Twilight. "So that's why Dinky was one of the five founders of the Cutie Mark Crusaders this Loop. I was wonderin' about that."
Twilight turned to see what Applejack was looking at, and smiled as she saw Nyx and Scootaloo pulling the other three Crusaders (Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Dinky) in their wagon behind them. "That's my girl."
Behind them, Derpy coughed. "Well... that's quite strange, actually. I've got dreaming memories of a supervillain Derpy constantly trying and failing to take over Ponyville."
Twilight stared at her.
"No, I'm not even kidding." She shrugged. "Apparently you girls managed to stop me without even noticing, every single time."
181.11 (Masterweaver)
"You would not believe the weather that delayed us," Nightlight laughed. "Came completely out of nowhere."
"Aw, there she is," cooed Velvet. "Come to grandmare."
Rainbow's jaw dropped. "Sweet Celestia, you two can talk?!"
Twilight facehooved. Only three loops into this new expansion, and there was already a minor variant....
181.12 (Masterweaver)
"...We need to talk."
Cadance glanced up from the crib as Chrysalis walked in. "Oh hey. I was just putting Flurry Heart to bed–"
"Why do you call her that?" the changeling interrupted. "Do you really think she's going to like learning that she's named after a near-disaster that, as loopers, we can easily sidestep?"
The pink pony cleared her throat. "Well, if she ever gets to looping, my unawake self is going to give her that name. It's kind of baseline. I don't want her to have an identity crisis."
"All loopers have an identity crisis, Cadance. Most have several." Chrysalis pointed out the door. "Nightmare freaking Moon is downstairs having tea with her husband from another world, but we call her Nyx because that's who she decided she was. And that's not even the worst of it – I heard about 'Feather Duster.'"
"What about Feather Duster?"
"Changeling biology is flexible, and I've been mammalian on occasion. Going through the pregnancy and the birth, discovering your child was essentially a pair of disembodied wings, and then just shrugging it off–"
"I did have a screaming fit."
"A screaming fit that lasted half an hour. And moping for two days." Chrysalis shook her head. "I thought Shining was joking when he first told me, but after Twilight got me to stop beating him up and confirmed it happened–"
"Wait, what?" Cadance stood up. "You attacked Shining?!"
"THAT!" Chrysalis pointed at her. "That anger! You should have had that with the feather duster thing! It should have affected you! But after a few days, you just. Moved on! WHAT IN TARTARUS?!"
Cadance shrugged. "Well, Shining was joking about it too, and, really, it was just a one loop thing. I knew I'd get Flurry back the next... loop..."
Her eyes slowly widened in dawning horror.
"Oh sweet Everfree."
She sat down again, staring at the crib where her daughter slept.
"....Do I... am I..."
Chrysalis took a breath and stepped forward. "It's... It can be difficult, relating to a non-looping family member. But... no, I don't think you have Sakura Syndrome yet."
Cadance let out a long, relieved sigh.
"I do think," the changeling continued, "that you're not too far off though."
181.13 (Masterweaver)
"Wait," Ember asked in confusion. "How did you get ahead of us?"
"Definitely not teleportation!" Twilight chirped.
The two dragons stared at the two disguised ponies.
"No seriously," Twilight repeated, "no teleportation was involved."
"It was honestly rather confusing," Rarity added.
181.14 (Vinylshadow)
Twilight Sparkle Woke up to the sound of screaming.
After taking a moment to clarify it wasn't a scream of terror or horror, she placed a sound-dampening spell over her ears and stepped outside.
She took in the interesting sight of Pinkie Pie surrounded by a golden aura with barely an arched eyebrow.
"Before anyone says anything, I'm aware she looks a lot like the Wonderbolt called Surprise," Twilight declared. "So, what's going on?"
Applejack and Rarity exchanged glances before turning to Rainbow, who had the decency to look sheepish.
"Well, I was talking about a Variant where I turn into...Super Rainbow Dash and Pinkie challenged herself to surpass me without using the Elements of Harmony like I did. She's been like this for..."
Rainbow checked her watch, then glanced at the sun before answering.
"At least forty-five minutes."
"Has...she breathed in at all?" Twilight asked, glancing at the screaming mare.
"Her chest is still rising and falling, even if the cadence of her voice doesn't," Rarity replied. "She's breathing."
"How?"
"It's Pinkie Pie."
"-UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGH!"
With a final burst, Pinkie Pie finished screaming.
The rest of the group took one look at her and burst out laughing.
"Pbblblblbbll?" Pinkie asked. "Pblblbl?!"
"Well, Goku did gain an unruly amount of hair when he surpassed Super Saiyan 2, so I'm not surprised you became a walking ball of fluff," Rarity chuckled. "But with you, it works. Now you can hug your enemies into submission – aiuee!"
She was promptly buried under Pinkie's enthusiastic embrace.
181.15 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)
"So you're my new little cousin," Nyx told the baby with a grin. "Who's a cute little alicorn baby? You are! You are!"
Flurry Heart giggled as the black alicorn filly nuzzled her.
Some distance back, Twilight watched them with a smile, then glanced up at Cadance. "So, how's it feel to finally be a mom?"
"It's the most wonderful thing ever," Cadance told her. "Exhausting, but wonderful."
Twilight smiled, then turned back to Nyx, who was now galloping around the room with Flurry Heart clinging to her back and letting out coos of laughter.
(Masterweaver)
Shining cleared his throat. "Uh, dearest? We have a message from... the swarm."
Cadance sighed, though a smile played on her lips. "Let me guess, a formal request for a changeling-style christening and some sort of thoughtful yet mildly creepy gift?"
"Well, if you consider multiple lifetime supply of diapers and vomit rags creepy, yes. There's also Trixie's question about how to integrate the existence of Flurry Heart into the cult bible."
"...Chrysalis and Trixie, with a maximum of one hundred changelings, can come up to discuss it tomorrow." Cadance chuckled as Nyx pretended to 'die' at the hooves of her new cousin. "Right now this is close family only."
(Vinylshadow)
Everyone in the room ducked as the wall exploded and a huge armour-clad pony loomed out of the debris, followed by several others.
"WE HAVE ARRIVED TO SHOWER OUR NEW COUSIN WITH LOVE AND ATTENTION THAT SHE SO DESPERATELY NEEDS!" a large yellow earth pony shouted, earning him a look from his wife.
"WE HAVE BUILT SEVERAL CONTRAPTIONS FOR HER TO ENJOY FOR EONS!" a green, golden yellow and grey pony grinned, depositing vast amounts of handcrafted toys.
"I HAVE BROUGHT SEVERAL MILLION BOOTIES!" the red pegasus shouted with a massive smirk on his face.
Everyone turned to stare at the large winged primarch.
"What...?" he said defensively. "Have you seen the weather outside? Flurry Heart will freeze her little hooves off."
Cadance scowled at the Anchor and his brothers.
"There was a door," she grumbled.
"When you're wearing power armour, everything is a door!" Lemon said cheekily, bending down to his cousin while making baby noises.
Flurry Heart giggled and wiggled her hooves at the large pony.
(Masterweaver)
"Excuse my rudeness, but if I may, I have something I would like to say." Zecora stepped through the exploded wall, vanishing her wings and pulling something from her saddlebags. "It is tradition of great worth to carve a mask for a child's birth – a guardian spirit, to watch the newborn from the sun's setting to early morn."
She handed an exquisitely carved image to the frazzled-looking Shining Armor. "After all the adventures you and I have shared, I thought it appropriate to have one prepared. You are, after all, one of my closest friends; Nomkhubulwane her regards sends."
The unicorn took the mask gratefully. "Thanks. I'll... we'll hang it up after we deal with all this."
"Well, if you need to put the baby down for a nap," Vinyl interjected, "I've got just the thing." She whipped out a small ball, a dodecahedral speaker visible beneath the translucent red rubber. "This baby is programmed with at least a hundred different lullabies gathered or written by yours truly, has room for an additional three hundred, and can automatically remix a new soothing tune from any and all songs on it."
Cadance actually stopped looking at her daughter to stare at Vinyl. "Wait. Hold on. Lullabies?"
"Yep!"
"You're telling me that you wrote lullabys? Not ironic dubstep rock, but actual lullabies?!"
Vinyl rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm the goddess of wubbology doesn't mean I can't do anything outside that."
"Aw burrs." From behind her, Sweetie Belle pouted. "Now I have to redo my gift!"
"Hey, you can always record whatever you wrote on this thing. We could call it a collaboration."
"Okay, seriously," Cadance grumbled, "how the heck are you all getting here so quickly?"
"I AM A SECRET WIZARD!" Pinkie cried as she ran in, wearing Flurry Heart's bedsheets. "BEHOLD MY ROBES!"
"...that's probably the only explanation I'm going to get, isn't it?"
(Evilhumour)
"Indeed, my fellow love god," Slaanesh said while producing the most perfect and non Chaos tainted baby toys out from hir pocket. "I had these prepared for a long time and you wouldn't believe how hard it was to make sure that there were no daemons hiding inside." Shi then frowned and gave the toy a look that caused Cadance move her baby away from the Chaos God.
(Keywii_Cookies55)
Cheerilee pulled Shining Armour off to the side while everypony in the room gushed over the baby. She smiled as she handed him a thick tome of a book out of her pocket.
"I figured you could use all the help you can get, so I wrote you a little something." She said as Shining looked over the book, his expression went deadpan as he read over the title.
"How to be a parent. Oh, ha, ha." They then both shared a light laugh. "Really though, thank you," he said to her.
"Oh, it's the least I can do." Cheerilee returned, "I'm learning everything for a reason after all."
181.16 (Vinylshadow)
Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood in their clubhouse, not entirely sure if their eyes were playing tricks on them.
"Scoots?"
"Yeah, Bloom?"
"You're seeing what I'm seeing, right?"
"Sweetie Belle is a wolf cub, just like you and I? Yes."
Sweetie Belle pawed at her fluffy coat. "Oh boy, Rarity is gonna freak when she sees this..."
"You think this is some weird magic spell?" Scootaloo asked, her wings buzzing nervously.
"What, you think every pony in Equestria is a wolf or something?" Apple Bloom scoffed. Scootaloo shrugged.
"Won't know until we leave the clubhouse."
The trio of pups exited the treehouse and Apple Bloom squinted at her home in the distance. "We could check on Applejack and mah brother first."
The three Crusaders hurried down the path and as they got near, Apple Bloom noticed a note on the door.
"They've gone into town," she said, disappointed.
"All three of them?" Sweetie Belle asked skeptically.
"I ain't wakin' Granny up if she’s napping. Come on, let's go to town."
As they trotted towards Ponyville, Scootaloo spoke up.
"So, if we're wolves or whatever, does that make you...Apple Floof and Sweetie Floof?"
Sweetie Belle tripped on her paws and Apple Bloom smacked her face with a paw. Sweetie got to her paws and shook herself, glancing at Scootaloo with a devious grin.
"Guess that'd make you Floofaloo."
Scootaloo winced, but accepted the riposte with a nod.
"Looks like you were right, Scoots. Everypony is in fact a wolf," Apple Bloom said, waving at Vinyl and Octavia as the two musicians howled a duet.
"Oh, Fluttershy!" Sweetie Belle's call caused Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to turn their heads to see a soft yellow she-wolf stop and regard them curiously.
"Hello, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo," she said softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Rather Loopy," Sweetie Belle replied, to which Fluttershy frowned.
"Oh dear, are you unwell?"
"No, no; we're fine," Scootaloo replied hastily. "We're just looking for Rarity and Applejack."
Fluttershy nodded towards the market. "I saw Rarity with Rainbow Dash a few moments ago. If you..."
The Crusaders were already gone and Fluttershy chuckled softly.
Scootaloo saw them first and jumped up, waving her hooves while hovering.
"Hello, Dash! Applejack!"
The rainbow and straw-furred she-wolves turned and both grinned at them.
"Isn't this an awesome Variant?" Rainbow Dash asked gleefully, flapping her wings. "I'm a wolf!"
"It's not that impressive, Rainbow," Applejack chided. Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah, well, you've been part Timberwolf and Tatzlworm before. The rest of us don't get to enjoy these things as often."
Applejack nodded slowly before glancing at Sweetie Belle. "I take it you're looking for Rarity? She's holed up in her Boutique, moaning about the fact the humid weather messes with her fur. She's not Awake though," she added, "because if she was, she'd never let a silly little thing like a species swap slow her down."
"Oh," Sweetie Belle replied, ears drooping. Apple Bloom nudged her gently.
"Hey now, you know she'd never want you to mope about the fact you two can't hang out, right? Make the most of the time we've got. Take some pictures so she'll be able to use them as references for possible designs if she ever is Awake for this kind of Loop."
Sweetie Belle smiled. "Right; thanks. Well, shall we go see if we can earn wolf-themed Cutie Marks this Loop?"
The three fillies bumped their paws together awkwardly.
"CUTIE FLOOF CRUSADERS, YAY!"
181.17 (Vinylshadow)
"Luna! Could you clean up your abaculus when you're done with them?" Celestia called, carefully stepping over the mosaic tiles littered over the floor of the home she shared with her sister and mother.
"Only of you stop leaving your abbozzos lying around," Luna’s irate reply came back.
"Those are preliminary sketches and I need them for inspiration!"
"Then why are they in my room?!"
"Because mine is full!"
"That's–"
"Girls," came the stern voice of their mother, soon followed by a large cream-colored, maroon-maned Alicorn who snagged both of them in her magic, pulling a startled Luna out of Celestia's room, hooves clasped around a piece of paper while Celestia was pulled against the mare's barrel and subsequently smothered by a large wing.
The trio soon found themselves sitting on pillows admiring Celestia's sketches, much to her dismay.
"No need to calumniate yourself," her mother said with a tender nuzzle to Celestia's short pale mane. "You never give yourself enough credit."
Celestia scrunched her nose. "They're not that great," she mumbled, cheeks warm. Her mother cast a critical eye over the sketch, a calamus plucked from her own wing hovering in her magic, dipped in ink whizzed over the paper, correcting the few errors in the image.
"For a preliminary sketch, it's nowhere near as bad as it could be; were you planning on finishing this some day?"
Celestia nodded and Luna pricked her ears, gazing at the picture.
"Which one is me?"
"The tiny magniloquent one," Celestia said, pointing with a hoof. She heard her mother smother a snort with a horrible fake sneeze and Luna pouted.
"I do not talk like that," she said grandly, unconsciously striking the exact pose of someone who was prone to speaking pompously and Celestia giggled.
"Behave," their mother chided them. "One day, you're going to be Princesses and some times you will have to be magniloquent. Sometimes you'll have to do things you don't like. For example...eating your vegetables."
Luna drooled at the thought while Celestia went green.
"Other times, you'll have to be malacophonous. Something you still need practice with, Luna."
"I'll just let my sister handle talking quietly," Luna muttered rebelliously. Celestia frowned.
"Doesn't it make sense for it to be the other way around though? Nights are supposed to be quiet."
"But that's when all the excitement happens!" Luna said, eyes bright. "That's when the bars are open and the cider flows!"
"And how would you know that?"
Luna let out a squeak of alarm as her mother's eyes bored into her.
"Erm...research?"
"She read it in a book," Celestia spoke up, coming to her sister’s defense. "I'll admit she may be a little young for it, but sometimes it's better to know about all the aspects of what you're going to rule over...even if it's...icky."
"Eloquent," Luna smirked.
Their mother wrapped her wings around them both and kissed their horns.
"Well, whatever happens, I'm sure that both of you will always be there for one another."
Blue eyes met magenta and two hooves sought each other out to touch one another while two muzzles curled upwards into tender smiles.
"Always," they said in unison.
181.18 (Evilhumour)
"My dear changelings, the moment is upon us all!" Chrysalis shouted, dressed in her priestess robes. "The Heir of our Goddess has arrived to the mortal plane!" She paused, allowing the the cheers to wash over her. "The High Love Warden has done his deed to facilitate her arrival with our beloved Goddess and NOW!" She thundered, her voice echoing loudly in the vast cave system where untold swathes of changelings rocked back and forth with crazed jubilation. "NOW it is the time for her beloved servants of Love to come to her aid! It is time that, we faithful followers, arise from below and MARCH into the capital to show our undying love and loyalty to our Goddess!"
Chrysalis raised her hooves into the air. "FOR CADANCE!" The crowd roared back in agreement. "FOR FLURRY HEART!" Their roar started to cause the cave to shake, with dust falling down. "FOR LOVE ITSELF!" The shouting was nearly earsplitting to the one pony in the cave system.
Chrysalis watched her endless swarm march out of the caves before looking at the pony next to her. "Trixie...I don't know why, but I feel like I have done this before and I know that this is the first time I've ever invaded the Crystal Empire."
Trixie looked at her marefriend with disbelief before shaking her head. "Trixie is not going to answer that one," she said, patting her changeling queen on the shoulder. "Go have fun with your second invasion, my queen."
Chrysalis tilted her head to one side before shrugging and went after her followers. Best make sure that they didn't cause any trouble when they invaded the Crystal Empire...
"Oh redwood," she swore as the other shoe dropped.
181.19 (Masterweaver)
Chrysalis had only just set up her throne room when an alicorn and a unicorn teleported in. "You, with us, private chambers, NOW."
"Seriously, Twilight," Trixie grumbled as she followed the purple pony reluctantly, "what did I do this time? Because if this is about my plan to explode the Canterhorn, I'm only halfway through the planning phase and I intend to put a mass hover charm on Canterlot as part of the whole stunt–"
Twilight whirled, snapping the door shut just as the changeling queen stepped in. "Last loop. New expansion. You tried to commit suicide."
There was, appropriately enough, dead silence for a moment.
"WHAT?!" Chrysalis shouted.
"I'm with her," Trixie agreed.
"Yeah. Pony cannonball. Into the mouth of a manticore. In front of a crowd."
"I wasn't even awake!" Trixie protested. "Wait, why didn't I just teleport out?"
"Because you wanted Starlight to teleport you out," Twilight explained. "But right before the show you said the exact wrong thing, and she ran off in tears and you were... depressed... look, the point is, there was a full on legit suicide attempt with all the warning signs and–"
"Hold on, no, wait, that doesn't make any sense." Trixie sat down. "I mean... our hub backup is a kid's show for crying out loud! And, why would I of all ponies – and Starlight – I just, what?!"
"That's what I'm saying! What?!"
"What makes you think I have any idea?!"
Twilight flared her wings. "I DON'T KNOW! I mean, she's you and you're she and... and... I was actually, I was just, I, what!"
"Wait, wait wait." Chrysalis held up her hooves. "Okay. I think, if we're going to answer this question, we're going to need context. You still have that memory to image spell, right?"
Twilight blinked, looking at her. "I... yes. Yes, I... right. I'll just..." Shaking her head, the purple pony lit her horn and projected a screen. "I should mention that I had sent out Starlight to find a new friend as part of her friendship lesson, and I was playing this baseline, to figure how things would go..."
The two others watched the confrontation between the unicorn and princess. Chrysalis's ears folded back at the moment Trixie proclaimed nopony ever truly forgave mistakes. Trixie winced when her on-screen counterpart stated she had won. And the scene just went further downhill from there.
Twilight didn't stop until Trixie had reappeared in the box. "I didn't realize, at the time, that you needed to be teleported out. I thought... I thought you had some sleight of hoof or something." She winced. "It was only after the box opened that... that I realized... I should have... I should have..."
"I... wow." Trixie pulled her hat off. "I.... first friend? Only friend? I can get that, sometimes I have... lonely backgrounds, but..."
Chrysalis tilted her head.
"...this was me."
The two of them looked at her.
"I mean, back when I first started looping," she explained. "You remember, Twilight? 'I'm a moooooooooonster?' This is... this is her suddenly thinking that there is no redemption. This is her thinking she has no... nopony to..."
"Oh Chrysy." Trixie wrapped her forelegs around the changeling. "You're not alone. You know that."
"I know, I just... I think I can understand where your unawake counterpart was coming from though."
Twilight took a breath. "I... I'm sorry for... just springing this on you. I just.... I didn't know how to handle this. It was scary. It's still scary. I... I don't know how I'm going to handle it, in lonely loops..."
Trixie sighed. "I... I'll try to help. You know that."
"And I will too," Chrysalis said with a firm nod.
"Good. I'm sorry, I just... this was just so dark and sudden and... I didn't know how to react."
Trixie shrugged. "I don't think anybody knows how to react. We just... try to figure out what happened, why, and... and make sure it doesn't happen again."
They sat in silence for a few moments.
"...on the plus side," Chrysalis mused, "I think you can invite Starlight to the JRVC."
Trixie let out a groan.
"JRVC?" Twilight asked.
"Junior Reformed Villain's Club." The showmare rolled her eyes. "Apparently, since I only tried to take over Ponyville I don't qualify for a full membership..."
181.20 (Vinylshadow)
Luna stared at her pet opossum with narrowed eyes.
Tiberius looked up at her with the same expression he always wore.
"Well, Kirk? Are you in there? Being your usual self and enjoying the belly rubs and cake I spoil you rotten with? Not to mention being your personal chauffeur?"
Tibbles the Terrible held up a dead bug proudly.
Luna sighed.
"It's always the same with you lot. Didn't you call a cease to your Stealthing because we'd finally managed to uncover all of you?"
She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Then again, you are in the body of an opossum, so..."
She scowled and scooped up the rodent. "Whatever. You're cute, adorable, stupid and most importantly, mine."
"Lulu?"
Luna didn't quite shriek in surprise as Celestia's soft voice called out to her from behind her.
Luna smoothly got to her hooves, which resulted in a rather undignified scramble to a sitting position, Tiberius clinging to her peytral for dear life as Luna smoothed her mane with a hoof.
"Hello, Celestia," Luna replied, her voice cracking slightly. Celestia arched a delicate eyebrow as Luna sweated nervously.
Celestia's eyes moved to the opossum on Luna’s head and she snickered.
"Trying to puzzle out if that's actually Kirk?"
Luna nodded, pouting. "I'd feel a lot better if I knew that the opossum I take into the shower with me was in fact a regular opossum rather than a captain of a glorified yacht."
Celestia rolled her eyes. "Even in his baseline, Kirk isn't anywhere near as bad as the rumours make him out to be. Besides, he's impeccably polite to every lady he's met and treats them with the utmost respect."
Luna let out a loud snort of disbelief.
"Besides, I'm sure he'd draw the line at interspecies relationships," Celestia pointed out. Luna glanced at her pet thoughtfully before slowly nodding in agreement.
"Come along, Tibbles. We're late for a very important date."
Luna gave her sister an evil grin as Tiberius made distressed opossum noises.
"To the vet!"
"Okay! Okay! It's me! James T. Kirk, Captain of the Enterprise! Please, not the vet, anything but the vet. They always have cold hooves and I distinctly recall several trips where you neutered me."
"It's standard procedure for pets," Luna replied innocently. "Didn't want you Waking up as a female opossum and bringing home a litter one day."
"That's-what-bwa–?" Kirk sputtered before subsiding into a mutinous grumbling snit.
"See how much easier that was?" Luna asked, patting his head. "Come along then. We've got a busy day ahead of us because Celestia has a Parasprite infestation in Fillydelphia to deal with."
"Wait, what?"
"Princess! Your presence is requested at once!" Kibitz cried, running into the room. "There's Parasprites in Fillydelphia!"
Celestia shot Luna a withering glance before turning on her hoof and running from the room, bellowing for a trombone.
"Just another quiet day in Equestria?" Kirk asked, much too innocently.
"You brought Tribbles with you?" Luna asked.
"They tend to show up when I'm around. Probably because somepony had to go and tempt fate by naming their pet "Tibbles."
Luna waved a hoof dismissively. "The spice of life and all that nonsense."
"Very well. Shall we go dragon-slaying?"
"They're civilized. Somewhat."
"Minotaur hunting?"
"They're construction workers."
"Deer poaching?"
"Really bad idea to anger the beings who have tamed the Everfree when it borders several towns."
"What can we do?"
"Ever play chess using living ponies?"
"What?"
"Kibitz! Send for the nobles. We're gonna have some fun!"
181.21 (Vinylshadow)
"So...I have to fire myself out of a cannon at a dangerous beast and hope I have enough time to teleport to safety while making it seem like I was eaten?" Trixie asked, glancing over the show schedule.
"Well, you are the mistress of illusions; this should be a cakewalk for you," Twilight pointed out. "There's always Clone Jutsu if you're not sure of yourself."
Trixie narrowed her eyes. "Was that a challenge?"
"No," Twilight replied firmly, causing Trixie to blink in surprise. "I don't challenge ponies when there's an actual risk of dying for the sake of a stunt."
Trixie nodded slowly before putting on her robe and wizard hat. "I'll see you on the other side then."
"The other side of a Manticore is not a sight I'm keen on seeing," Twilight remarked.
Trixie glared at her.
181.22 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)
Twilight, standing in the audience, grinned as Trixie made her usual opening proclamations.
“Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” the blue unicorn announced. “Watch in awe as she performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!”
Standing next to Twilight, Applejack harrumphed. “The obnoxious braggart Trixie is more like it.”
“Applejack!” Twilight looked at her Unawake friend in feigned shock. “She’s a stage magician! The bragging is just all part of the act!”
Applejack regarded her. “If’n you say so,” she grumbled.
“Trust me on this,” Twilight whispered to her. “She’s been doing that sort of thing since she and I were in school together. It’s intended to draw everypony’s attention.”
“Really?” Now the apple farmer looked interested.
“Really.”
On stage, Trixie caught Twilight’s eye and winked. “And now, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall demonstrate her mastery of magic with an astounding feat of prestigious prestidigitation! For her first trick, she shall make the audience… disappear!”
And then, she stood up on her hind legs, clapped her front hooves over her eyes, and turned her head this way and that. “Where’d everypony go?”
There was a pause, and then the audience roared with laughter, including Twilight. Even Applejack cracked a smile.
Tribe continued looking around. “Seriously! The Great and Powerful Trixie cannot perform without an audience! So, she shall restore them! Hocus pocus, and alakazam!” Withdrawing her hooves, she smiled. “Ah, you’re all back, just in time to witness my next trick.”
Settling back, Twilight smiled as her friend continued with the show.
After the curtain fell and the rest of the audience had left, the two unicorns met backstage. “That was wonderful, Trixie,” Twilight told her. “You really won them over this time.”
Trixie bowed her head. “Trixie is glad to hear that. She – er, I was hoping to start this Loop without any real complications, and do appreciate your helping with certain ponies in the audience.”
“I understand,” Twilight said with a smile. “And no problem.”
181.23 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" Shining Armor announced. "Welcome to the Equestria Games! This year, before the main events, we've added a special exhibition round... a Wacky Car Race we like to call the Haytona 500!"
Sitting in the audience, Twilight glanced at Cadance. "How, exactly, did they convince you to add this in again?"
Cadance just winked at her.
Below, Shining Armor continued. "At the starting line, we have five participants. First, Sunset Shimmer and her flying DeLorean!"
An amber hoof popped out of the DeLorean's window and waved.
"Next, Apple Bloom and her Crusader Wagon!"
"Woohoo!" Applejack hollered from her seat in the audience. "You get 'em, sis!"
"Pinkie Pie, in her Balloonmobile!"
"Yay," Maud commented from her own seat.
"Spike the Dragon, in his Dragon Dragster!"
Rarity beamed as she saw her husband waving at her from his own car.
"And, last but by no means least, Trixie Lulamoon in the car she likes to call, the Love Bug!"
Trixie's green Volkswagen Beetle, with the number 53 emblazoned on its hood, tootled its horn.
"The race is five laps around the track, and anything goes as long as it stays within the marked boundaries. May the best driver win! And ready… set… go!"
There was a round of cheers as the five drivers took off, while Shining Armor kept up his commentary. "Looks like the Crusader Wagon is springing into action! Literally."
Up above, Twilight managed to simultaneously laugh and facehoof as Apple Bloom's vehicle extended a set of springs from its undercarriage and started bouncing down the track.
181.24 Vinylshadow)
"FOR TEN THOUSAND YEARS I HAVE SLUMBERED, WAITING FOR THE PRINCESSES TO WEAKEN AND BECOME VULNERABLE AND...none of you look very impressed. Am I doing it wrong?"
Twilight exchanged glances with her friends before turning to face the speaker.
"Well, Mr..." she glanced down at the resume in her hoof, "Sombra...I'll admit you have the look of the villain down, what with the fancy cape and smoky eye shadow, but your dialogue could use some work. Equestria isn't even ten thousand years old, for one thing, much less the planet."
"Now hold on," Rarity spoke up, "He could probably claim to be some primordial force from the dawn of time...maybe..." Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, he could be from a race of...hm...shadows, perhaps. Called the Umbrum, sealed away by the ancient Alicorns and over the years plotted revenge against their descendants, like Cadance who moved into the Empire parked above their prison and locked with the Crystal Heart."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "And then they sent one of their own to masquerade among the ponies, learning about them and inadvertently falling in love, seeing that the Umbrum were wrong to hate the ponies. After some fierce battle, he ends up sacrificing himself to seal them away and the Crystal Heart revives him because he wasn't like the others of his race."
Rainbow blinked and looked around at the others' raised eyebrows.
"What?" she asked defensively, "I've written books you know."
"And covered wars," Applejack coughed into her hoof.
"Anyway," Twilight said loudly, "We'll keep in touch if we need someone of your talent in our show, Mr. Sombra."
As the dark king left the room, Twilight giggled. "Who knew designing origin stories for villains was so much fun? Who's next?"
"One...Tirek the Centaur," Spike read off a list.
"Send him in!"
181.25 (Detective Ethan Redfield)
"THIS...IS...AWESO-–*GULP*"
Pony Dash looked up at her human counterpart and chuckled. "Yeah gotta watch out for those bugs."
She loved variant loops where they stayed pony when traveling through the mirror.
181.26 (Vinylshadow)
Fluttershy woke up abruptly to the sound of voices – extremely loud voices coming from her kitchen.
"Angel Face, pass me the batter, would you?"
"What did you call me?!"
"Pancakes coming through!"
"Hoi! Careful! It takes a steady hand to make vegetable bacon you know!"
"FOOLS! YOU DARE DISTURB MY SLUMBER?!"
"Lemon, your toaster is at it again!"
"I swear on the Emperor, I don't know where he keeps coming from!"
Fluttershy squinted at her clock and sighed. It was four in the morning. On...
She giggled to herself and everything below went silent.
"What was that?"
"Sounded like Mother."
"Did we wake her?"
"You, go check."
"But..."
"You're the youngest one here – Looper-wise. That makes you the expendable one."
Fluttershy turned her back and pretended to be asleep as she heard the heavy treads of one of her sons coming up the stairs. She let her breathing even out and she heard the door open softly.
After a minute, it closed again and the heavy treads went back downstairs.
"She's still asleep."
"Good! Let's get everything ready. Eighth time's the charm!"
"Eight?! I clearly remember you burning the oatmeal nine tries ago!"
"The first six didn't count."
"Your grasp of arithmetic worries me."
"Shut up and get back to work!"
181.27 (Evilhumour)
"We are not amused with what you did, Discord," Celestia glared at the draconequus, who was rolling his eyes at the moment in his claws.
"Oh please," he scoffed as he flicked Luna's stars in her mane with his tail. "I didn't kill the jerk, shouldn't you be happy for that?"
"You turned that stallion into a balloon and threw him into a building full of tacks," Luna snapped, shaking her mane back into place.
"An indestructible balloon, mind you," Discord held up a claw as he bounced his eyes around the room and then back into his head. "I just wanted to give him a scare after what he did to Ruby Pinch."
"Discord, I–" Celestia started to speak.
"He dumped her!"
"Okay, but–" Luna tried to pick up the slack.
"In public so she couldn't make a scene."
"I see, but–"
"With his new marefriend at his side."
"I understand what–"
"And the two of them laughed at her when she started to cry!" Discord snapped, slamming his fist down into the table, snapping it multiple pieces that caught on fire. Pausing to calm himself, he snapped it back into place and looked at the princesses. "Hey, I am still surprised that you came after me and not Berry!"
Luna and Celestia shared a concerned look at each before turning to face Discord. "What did she do, Discord?"
Discord simply opened the curtains and showed the two the still rampaging mecha crying death threats at the fleeing stallion for making her precious daughter cry.
"Tia," Luna said slowly, as she watched Berry Punch's mecha unleash a blast of fire across the street, avoiding everypony but the stallion in question. "We should do something about this, right?"
"I think so, Lulu," Celestia said as she levitated over a kettle. "After some tea, of course. We need to let Berry calm down first, I think."
181.28 (ORBSyndicate)
Twilight prepared to walk up to Nightmare Moon and blast her with the elements one more time. She was going to see if she could just say “The sixth element is Sparkles!” and still get it. Because why not.
She was not going to get any such opportunity, for as she walked up she found Princess Luna cowering on the ground, covered in bruises and blemishes. She was shaking.
“Luna…?”
No response. Just shaking.
“Looks like someone hit her with a rock repeatedly.” Applejack noted.
Well that wasn’t that unusual. Twilight shrugged and just summoned the elements.
Twilight knew something was wrong.
There was no chocolate rain.
No popcorn.
…Was Discord awake and just messing with them?
She teleported to Canterlot to find the Draconequus in question laying at the base of his statue, covered in bruises and unconscious.
What?
Chrysalis was found in her changing room, slumped on the ground.
Twilight’s eye twitched.
Someone was messing with her.
All the major conflicts were just getting resolved by someone hitting people with rocks!
“CRYSTALL– CRACK-BOOM”
Twilight did have to admit - the explosion was bigger than normal.
And evidence did suggest that it was, in fact, a rock that destroyed him.
Not that she had seen it or anything….
She was going to figure out what this was.
Discord blinked. “I think all my seeds have been destroyed systematically by some sort of small crushing device.” He shuddered in memory. “I’m out.” He opened up an umbrella and vanished into the ground.
Twilight twitched again.
Tirek had been discovered beaten up in an alleyway. The stallion bystander said he’d seen nothing since he was too busy cowering in fear. Well, he left the cowering in fear part out, but it wasn’t hard to see what was really going on.
Twilight squinted. “That’s it, I’m going to Starlight’s village early.”
She found the entire village empty, and Starlight’s house riddled with small rock-shaped holes.
She yelled to the heavens.
“AND NOW, TWILIGHT, I WILL TAKE MY REVENGE ON THE ROCK OF DESTINY WITH THIS TIME SPELL!”
Twilight blinked. “The what?”
“The rock of Destiny! Surely you’ve seen it! It’s saved your– never mind.” She vanished into the Time Bowl. Twilight sighed, following.
She found Starlight on the ground beneath Cloudsdale, beaten apparently by a rock.
She shook her head. There was nothing she could do…. She would never figure out what was going on…
The Rock of Destiny had won.
181.29 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)
The pedestal of the Canterlot Wondercolts statue flashed as Princess Twilight Sparkle dashed through. "I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner! Things were going all crazy over in Equestria, and… and…"
Spike waved his paw. "Hey, Twilight! Nice to see you here!"
The alicorn-turned-human blinked. "Spike? Wait, are you…"
"Feelin' Loopy? Sure am." The little dog grinned. "So, how'd you handle Starlight this time?"
"We… took care of her." Princess Twilight's eyes narrowed. "Twilight? Would you mind if your dog and I had a word in private?"
Seeing the look on the other girl's face, Sunset took her hand. "It's okay, Twilight. She's a friend, and she won't hurt him. I promise."
Sci-Twi reluctantly nodded. "Okay."
Spike grinned, and followed Princess Twilight. Once they'd gotten far enough away, she kneeled down. "You're my Spike in this one's body, right?"
"Yep. Awoke right after he got zapped with Fluttershy's magic." Spike leaned over and started scratching behind his ear. "Too bad you weren't here sooner. You should have seen the end of the Games – it was awesome! And I'm not just talking about the usual role reversal we get here."
"Oh? What else happened?"
"Well… there was someone in the audience at the last round of the Games, and she looked just like a grown-up version of Fluttershy." He paused for a moment. "After Sunset got Twilight calmed down and that psycho Cinch started to lose it, the grown-up Fluttershy pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped 'em on her."
Princess Twilight did a double-take. "She what?"
Spike shrugged. "Turns out she was a cop, and she arrested Cinch for abusing her authority or something like that. Then, once she got her in the back of the car, she came back to talk to Twilight and I."
"Ah. So, what'd she have to say?"
The purple dog smiled and nuzzled her. "She took one look at me, and then she said, and I quote, "Spike the dog? You have the right to remain adorable. Anything you say can and will result in you getting your chin tickled." Then she rubbed my ears, told Twilight to trust Sunset and the others, and to take good care of me. Then she left."
Princess Twilight smiled. "Aww…"
"Anyway, that's all that's new and exciting here, and I think we'd better get back to the others." Spike glanced back at the group. "The other Twilight's looking awful worried."
"All right." Picking him up, Twilight started carrying him back to the rest of the group. "So, have you seen this policewoman version of Fluttershy since then?"
"Nada. Haven't heard a peep from her since the games ended, though Dean Cadance did tell us Cinch has been officially stripped of her position."
"That's good." Reaching the group, Princess Twilight handed Spike back to Sci-Twi. "Here."
"Th-thank you," the bespectacled girl whispered as she accepted her pet. "So you're…"
"Your counterpart from another dimension? Yes. Yes I am." Princess Twilight smiled. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, and it's very nice to finally meet you." She held out a hand.
Nervously, Sci-Twi took it. "I'm… also Twilight Sparkle. And it's nice to meet you too." She fidgeted. "Um… how much trouble am I in for what I did?"
"None at all. Between Sunset's messages and Spike vouching for you, I know it wasn't your fault." Princess Twilight smiled as she drew the other girl closer. "What matters most is that you all came through it safe and sound."
Sci-Twi smiled shyly as Princess Twilight pulled her into a hug.
181.30 (Evilhumour, OathToOblivion)
Big Mac liked to believe he was accustomed to the odd stuff due to the loops and the stories he had heard in his bar. He liked to believe that there was very little to surprise him and there was hardly anything that could cause him to jump in surprise.
Having Rainbow Dash break into his bedroom and drag him to his bar did not cause him to jump but he did raise an eyebrow at her as she lifted him by his tail and make another hole in his wall, and then another one as she flew into his bar that was sporting four new Rainbow Dash sized doors, creating a fifth one.
Being quiet as she dropped him on his side of the counter, he raised the other eyebrow at her as he pulled out a drink for her. It would pack a nasty kick and give one eucalyptus size hangover afterwards, but that was suitable payback.
Watching her chug down the contents as soon as he placed it, he decided to venture out and see what got her so riled up. "Problem?" he asked, beginning to go through the usual steps to get his bar ready.
"I'm being sued!" She shouted, to which Mac glared at her as his sisters and his grandmother were still sleeping.
Like he was supposed to be...
Waiting for her to continue, he placed another glass of the powerful but nasty brew on the counter for her. After she slammed it back, wincing and wiping her mouth clean, she said, "A.K. Yearling is suing me for copyright infringements over Daring Do over my Iris Drake novels!" She shouted, ignoring the glare he was giving her to be quiet. "And this is after I had a loop where I inspired her to become Daring bucking Do!"
Giving a noncommittal nod, he poured her another drink. It was going to be a long day now, thanks to this. Might as well as find some way to enjoy it.
"Come on, Twilight!" Rainbow begged her friend and Anchor. "You gotta use that lawyer spell of yours and get me a good lawyer! No one in Ponyville wants to represent me!"
'Gee, I wonder why...'
Rainbow, I don't know what that spell will even do when we're not having a Fused Loop with Phoenix!" Twilight argued. "That spell was specifically meant to call him in particular!"
"There had to have been a real Summon Lawyer spell at some point, though, right?! I'm beggin ya!"
"Alright, alright! I'll do it!" Twilight finally gave in. "Worst comes to pass, I'll represent you in court," she mentioned, firing up the spell.
'There's still no way I'm actually going to be calling Phoenix though...'
At the same time...
Outside
Wright Anything Agency
January 27, 11:07 AM
"Trucy, how did you even get on the roof?!" Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney, questioned of his daughter, who had found herself on the Agency's roof.
...And they didn't even have a roof access.
"Well, I wanted to do this super-cool snowboarding trick, so I got Polly to give me a hand, and one thing led to another, and here I am!" Trucy shrugged.
Phoenix paused for a moment, before looking around. Although it was January of 2028...it was also Los Angeles, CA.
Snow was almost non-existent.
The Comeback King slowly turned to his subordinate in red, who was sweating heavily. "Apollo..."
"I swear, I have no idea where she got the ice machine!" Apollo Justice protested.
"Ice machine? Oi..." Phoenix groaned, rubbing his head in exasperation.
"And I also have no clue about...Mr. Wright, why are you glowing?" Apollo abruptly said.
"Huh?" Phoenix said in puzzlement, before looking at himself. Sure enough, he was glowing a familiar color.
"Well, this looks famil–" And then suddenly, he was gone.
"...I'll just...get the ladder and get Trucy off the roof..."
"Stepladder, Polly! It's a stepladder!"
10 minutes later...
"Rainbow, I know I've been around a while, but I'm primarily a criminal defense lawyer, not a copyright lawyer!" Phoenix argued.
"Come on, ‘Nix! You're the best lawyer ever; I'm beggin' ya here!" Rainbow pleaded.
"Sigh...alright, alright, give me the case details..." Phoenix gave in, rubbing his face in exhaustion.
Stats
Page generated in 0.061 seconds
Total duration
1,028 users online
1,372,954 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I remember when I was briefly a member of the writers. Didn't write much before dropping out, however.
Well, someone's been busy. I know for a fact this chapter - and every one after it - was not here yesterday. Or even several hours ago.
Where'd the toaster come from? Is it from the Warhammer side of things, or was it in one of the MLP chapters and I just missed it?
...In hindsight, I should've seen a Loop like that coming eventually... and yet, my jaw still dropped. That aside, the Soviet Equestria joke is a nice touch. 
...That makes so much sense it's scary.
181.3, 181.5, 181.26:
181.8:
181.14: ...Fluffle Puff is Super Saiyan 3 Pinkie...
181.27: Is it odd that I could totally see that happening?
181.28: What the hay?!?
I READ DMFA 8D!!! Of course Chrys would be a Cubi, heh.
181.8
LOOPS LOOPS LOOPS I THINK MY MIND JUST BLEW OUT *crack*
Ah, I'm better now. But seriously, 9 new chapters?! More than 60,000 words of loop?! 3rd MLP fic to hit 2 million words?! I'm gonna faint!
Yeeeesssss!!!! Loops! Finally!
*hugs the computer* *worships the loops*
181.13
"Well you see--... Rarity how did we get here first?"
"I don't know Twilight, it doens't really make much sense."
"YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY! SOME DAY DOWN THE LINE, YOU WILL HAVE BREAD, AND NO WAY TO TOAST IT! YOU'LL BE SORRY THEN! ONE DAY, YOU WILL WAKE UP TO A WORLD RULED BY MY ARMY OF DRAGONS AND WE WILL TOAST EVERYTHING BEFORE US EXCEPT YOU!"
Oh, I missed these so much.
I'm quite certain the toaster came from Fallout NV
That toaster reminds me of the Fallout: New Vegas addon, Old World Blues. There was a similar toaster in the collection of VI interfaces in the player home in Big Mountain.
7756781 7756742 That is the Toaster from Old World Blues
Fits with the gung-ho attitude of the Warhammer Loopers perfectly
Oh, this was a knee-slapper. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Kirk drawing the line at interspecies relationships? Hilarious! Made the whole chapter.
181.28
Is this, by any chance, related to The Pick Of Destiny? Did Vinyl challenge a volcano to a rock off and win?
Fluffle Puff is Pinkie going Sayan-3?
Chrysalis hitting up DMFA and bringing back a Warp-Aci? Yus! Oh, wait, only half of that happened.
Nice.
Egotistical? Yes. Arrogant? Yes. Insane? So's everyone who's been Looping long enough, but yeah, she ain't no fool.
Quite.
View must be great from that glass house of yours.
I alove that scene.
What the fuck?
Yeah, coughing tends to ruin the impact of an evil laugh
The weirdest part about all this is that it makes SENSE. Kinda.
You fiend!
This is easily one of the greatest moments in the history of the site.
Huh. OK.
I'm not surprised at all.
Fair enough.
Wait, yet. That sounds bad.
I like how she's making sure nothing's wrong.
To be fair, SS3 looks really cool in my eyes.
I'm, not even slightly surprised.
He ain't wrong.
We don't see enough of Zecora so this makes me real happy.
She's right.
That sounds about right.
Valid point.
Right, Unawake then.
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
Ah.
Good.
You set yourself up for that one, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Naturally.
Ooh! I LOVE Wacky Races! Where did I put my popcorn?
This is great.
Right, that comic arc.
It really is.
I love Discord, his powers make him so creative.
NICE.
Poor guy.
Here you gopaintref.com/graphics/sample/beetle196844078.jpg
I feel the need to point out that "interspecies" would mean anything non-human, which describes a good chunk of the couples in Trek itself.
7762612 I'm fairly sure that, as they say, is the joke.
groan
double groan
Now you're just pushing it. :)
headdesk
181.7: Pinkie is independent. That deserved mention. Possibly a time-out for Pinkie as well, but certainly a mention.
wow, and here i thought it ended with 180! keep it up!
reminds me of a scene in the "GI Joe" cartoons where someone blasted a hole in a wall with a bazooka and said, "door."
181.4: Is this the same loop as .2? Or are there multiple where S&R go through that episode as openly a couple?
181.8: I doubt I can imagine how satisfying that would be, after all this time.
181.22: Huh, I actually rather like this version of the events.
181.24: Ten thousand years is really a rather ridiculous timeframe. As in, something like twice as long as the concept of writing has been around in our world.
181.28: ...? I was sure it would be revealed to all be Maud's doing somehow, but instead it's... something that might be a reference to something?
7950592
Why thank you.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
Isn't that supposed to be Trixie?
I have a vision of original Bad Bill appearing, locked into the form of a Nacho Toaster, now.
8016670 (facefins) I have no idea how I missed that error...
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
oh, "kibitz" made me think of this silly fan-comic:
http://www.deviantart.com/art/The-Royal-Flu-Comic-cover-463749287
reminds me of another of my favorites, "a different perspective", where Chrysalis invaded the Crystal Empire to steal the Crystal Heart.
Hehehe, Pheonix really is the best Lawyer in the multiverse after all!
181.21
this made me think of a scene in the online comic "evil inc." where a demon-girl (Demonica, i think), was being forced to marry "the worst villain in the world." her boyfriend won her hand, because, as her father put it, "this guy stinks on ice at being an antagonist."
I laughed so hard, heaved so fast, spasmed so much at this. It's barely even funny anymore
7950592
I think it is a pink eyes reference, as that was the name of Puppysmiles main weapon.
reminds me of a gag in this video:
181.27 - I can... honestly say Discord went with the tame option here. Breaking up is one thing. A messy break up is another, and deserves a good scare. Flaunting it in public and stomping on you when you're down like that? I'm on Berry's side here. In fact, I insist she gets Trixie, Gilda, and Cadence involved as well.
Since when was Phoenix a dad????
Daw... It's mother's Day isn't it.
10024582
Since events before Apollo Justice.
hehehe I get it
Now I imagine what looping Starlight will do.
Fausticorn!