MLP Loops 187
187.1 (elmagnifico)
Macintosh Apple sighed, resting his chin in his hands. It wasn't a pose he adopted often, if for no other reason than he didn't usually have hands to do the resting on. They came by default as part of which side of the mirror portal he'd Woken Up on though, so while they were there he could make good use of them.
As he indulged in the sense of novelty that having hands afforded him, he also enjoyed the distinctly odd feeling of somepony manipulating his aura, in the same sense that a swamp hydra might enjoy a wading bird walking on its back. Tolerating it, for the sake of the task at hand. His task being getting his magic un-stuck from an arcane device intent on sucking it up, rather than impersonating an inanimate object long enough to lure food into striking distance, but the spirit was very much the same.
The somepony in question was seated on the other side of a round breakfast table, the crystal ball that had occupied pride of place when Macintosh arrived shoved aside. And she was a somepony, as opposed to a somebody. The only accessible one at any rate, due to the mirror portal's sudden but inevitable betrayal of convenience. That betrayal was entirely Macintosh's fault though, hence the sighing.
Sunset Shimmer, convicted identity thief, part-time community service worker, part-time "professional wizard", such as it was, worked away at the compass-looking magic trap with a variety of repurposed tools, probing it one way or another, with each movement sending feelings raw and wrong running up his aura, as she kept up a running commentary.
"It's quite brilliant, actually. With how expensive gemstones are here, I'd never thought to try and construct a talisman or amulet to let me channel. This circuitry does the same thing, but in reverse."
She gave him a quizzical look.
"Where did you get something like this anyway?"
Bipedal shoulders made shrugging a more involved process than usual, but Macintosh went through with it regardless. It let him say less. He hadn't told her about the loops, or much of anything really, just that he was Equestrian and knew about princess' students, and only that by implication.
"Ah was out on the farm, mindin' mah own business. Next thing ah know, somepo- ah, body, boots up this thingamajig, an' ah'm losin' magic."
She gave him a deadpan look.
"I can see that. Your aura is entangled with this thing in ways no spellcaster would allow willingly. Just resisting its traction would have overwhelmed most ponies. So who's running around a magicless world trying to steal something they don't believe in?"
Macintosh simply shrugged again. He had no idea either. The Sirens were the only other magic creatures he knew of that had been on this side of the portal when he'd sealed it, and they were in jail and separated from their amulets for non-consensual hypnosis after a not-quite-chance encounter with a tone-deaf police officer. They were still there. He'd checked. Sunset herself had been genuinely surprised to see the device when he'd shown up, so she was out too. No loopers had responded to pings, so he'd defaulted to "somepony playing a prank". Try as he might, he couldn't think of any non-loopers that might try and steal his magic.
His noncommittance earned an eye-roll before Sunset returned to the device.
"Now as I twiddle this, you'll probably feel a pull on your aura. Let me know if there's any pain."
Sure enough, the cold, mechanical pull started up again. Macintosh grunted as he channeled his determination, his vision tinting to green just the slightest, and Sunset let out an intrigued-sounding hum.
Things continued like that for a bit, with the pull slacking and strengthening as arcane components were monkeyed with, until it abruptly grew much stronger. Macintosh channeled harder in response, standing firm without trying to haul his aura out of the machine's grip, to keep from snapping something like he'd done when trying to resist Discord, a set of loop memories and a migrane at the same time. The machine simply yanked harder in turn.
They fought like that, matching pull for pull, until all Macintosh could see was solid green, and then the grip of the device abruptly released. He saw stars for a moment as he did the mental equivalent of falling tail-over-teakettle as the arcane tug of war suddenly became one-sided.
When he'd recovered his faculties, Sunset Shimmer was holding the device thoughtfully.
"Well, this silicon amulet is fascinating, no doubt, but the matrix you used to resist it is the thaumic equivalent of a perpetual motion machine."
She smirked.
"Unlimited power. And now I've copied it into the circuitry."
Her eyes began to glow.
"It's no Element of Magic, but it'll do."
With that, Macintosh realized who had made the device, or amulet. The revelation cost him the initiative though.
Sunset cackled, levitating objects around the room, from screwdrivers and crystal balls to the amulet itself. Macintosh reached for it, now that his magic was loose, to try and crush the thing before somepony got hurt, only to be stopped short by a telekinetic hold.
"Ah-a-ah, no touchy."
The room tinged green again, and he pushed through the hold, only to find it growing in power right along with him.
"I SAID NO TOUCHY."
He grunted, pushing harder. The hold strengthened too, but not as quickly. Just before he reached the amulet, it rose out of reach.
"WHAT PART OF NO TOUCHY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND."
As the amulet floated away again, he switched tacks, punching the floor. The enhanced impact caused a tremor to roll through the building, rattling picture frames and knocking Sunset down. She recovered quickly, but it broke her concentration. Her hold on him slipped, and he charged at the amulet, actually getting a finger on it before it was snatched away again.
"Watch your back, Macintosh. You're better at this, but I'm learning."
With that, Sunset and the amulet vanished in the glimmer of a teleportation. Seconds later, the roar of an engine outside told him where she'd gone, and the receding rumble of tires on asphalt told him she was gone.
"Ah fewmets."
187.2 (Viddaric)
It had started with an attempt to catch a prankster.
Someone had been purposefully swapping around the books in Twilight's library. At first she had thought it was a mistake by Spike, or a careless reader shelving the books wrong by accident. But the library was generally as vacant as always, and Spike hadn't even seen most of the wrongly-placed books. The only other reason she could think of was that someone was doing it secretly and deliberately to get on her nerves. It was well known how... obsessive she could sometimes be about keeping things organized, so it was a pretty good way to annoy her.
So she'd set up a surveillance spell, a simple gem storing the sight and sound around her library. Of course, the spell would drain too quickly if it was recording all the time, so she set it up to only record when she wasn't in the library but another pony was.
That was when things got weird.
There were a few recordings of ponies coming in to check out books while Spike was holding down the fort, most of which she skimmed over, but then a particular one caught her eye.
Rarity walked in, along with... was that Bright Eyes? They didn't seem interested in the books though. They sat down at the stump-like table and started conversing.
“So, Ditzy, what did you want to talk to me about? And why the library?”
“It's Bright Eyes this Loop. Anyway, we need to talk Looper business; Twilight won't be back for a while and Spike is napping, so it should be quiet and private here.”
“True, the library is somewhat... sparsely used. So, what's going on?”
“We need to do something about Twilight. We've managed to common-sense our way out of the usual friendship problems, and if something doesn't happen soon... well, we might be in for an early Smarty Pants Incident.”
“I did notice she was getting a bit... twitchy lately. So, what can we do about it?”
“Gilda and Trixie are both Awake; we could ask them to let things go mostly according to baseline, and if we space them out well enough they should keep her from getting too riled up.”
“Hmm... we'll have to get them to agree with that. Well, we can discuss it tomorrow night at the meeting.” she stood up, and Bright Eyes followed her to the door. “We really should have a more concrete plan for Unawake Twilight, shouldn't we?”
“Nah, it doesn't happen very often, and when it does we can't plan for who's Awake and who isn't. Besides, improvising is more fun!”
“Very true. So what ar-”
The recording cut off as the pair walked out of the library, leaving Twilight very confused and more than a little worried. Very little of the conversation had made sense. Bright Eyes has a false name? Who were those ponies she was referring to as “Awake”? How did they know about her childhood study-buddy, and what “incident” could an old rag doll possibly cause? And what in Celestia's name was a Looper?
Something was going on. And Twilight was going to find out what it was.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I fear that we may have a some kind of conspiracy on our hands. My information has been spotty thus far, but there is definitely a group manipulating major events, subtly and in secret. They call themselves “Loopers”. I have theories on the meaning of this name, but nothing concrete. More important than their name, however, is their influence. I have enacted a procedure of careful observation on these “Loopers”, and what I have found has been... unsettling. Here is what I know or can infer from my findings:
“Looping” is either a trait that all the Loopers share, or an action they all undertake. Looping is most likely magical in nature, as the one feature that seems universal among all Loopers is an uncannily accurate level of precognition. This is backed up further by another term they use: they sometimes refer to each other as being “Awake”, and sometimes refer to non-Loopers as “Unawake”. It should be noted that they don't refer to everypony outside their circle as Unawake, but their interference generally centers around someone Unawake. Usually me. They have also referred to you, Luna, and Spike as being Unawake, which is troubling to say the least. But I digress; while they don't seem to have any kind of immediate future seeing power, they always seem to know when something big is going to happen in Ponyville. Sometimes they intervene, supposedly to avoid some negative outcome (for Ponyville at large or just for them, I cannot say), other times they let things run their course. But they're always subtle about it; as an example, one of them asked me to look up a particular flower, which turned out to be a magical plant called Poison Joke. A few days later, that knowledge allowed my friends and I to avoid a misunderstanding involving Zecora the zebra, who I have written about previously. No direct action was taken or even necessary; just have someone supposedly unrelated give me important information in an indirect way. Who knows how many times they've done similar things in the past. Thus far, such interventions have been seemingly benevolent or benign in nature, but there are two things that make me feel that, in spite of its incompleteness, this information needed to be given to you.
First is what keeps being referred to as the “Smarty Pants Incident”, an event which, as far as I've gathered, centers around me and is something they have to stave off rather than prevent once. I've done every magical check I can think of on that old doll and every one of them has come up negative; I have no idea what it could possibly cause that would warrant so much of their attention, but recently they have changed their tune on it. Apparently, they're going to let it happen and “deal with the consequences”, because those consequences would be “easier to deal with” than the prevention methods. I can only hope that these consequences are not too dire, as I have no idea what this incident will be, much less how to stop it.
The second and far more pressing issue is this: Discord is one of them, and so are at least two of the Elements of Harmony. If my suspicions are correct, the entire battle to return Discord to stone may have been staged (...though honestly Discord's attitude throughout the whole thing should have been a tip off for that). Just how far does their influence reach? Is there a Looper sect in Griffonstone as well? Are they working for the greater good, or just for themselves? So many questions, so few answers.
I am currently working on finding their base of operations, or at least where they meet up to discuss plans every Tuesday night. Its location seems to be a well-guarded secret, but they sometimes refer to it as “The Bar”. If it helps, I've also compiled a list who I've identified as Loopers, and a list of ponies they refer to as Unawake.
LOOPERS: Rarity, Applejack, Discord (there is good reason to believe that he can either communicate while petrified or can escape confinement covertly, as some Loopers have “talked to” him while he was supposed to be imprisoned), Bright Eyes (a mail mare who I found out about by accident. Sometimes called “Ditzy Doo” or “Derpy”. Bright Eyes may be a false name), Gilda (griffon and Rainbow Dash's friend; there was a rough start with Pinkie Pie, but they worked through it. RD does not seem to know about Loopers, and has been referred to as Unawake), Trixie (AKA The Great and Powerful Trixie, a traveling stage magician. There was a bit of trouble involving her, but I have reason to believe that also might have been staged (no pun intended). She left Ponyville on good terms, but I don't know her current whereabouts), and a group of 3 fillies who collectively call themselves “The Cutie Mark Crusaders” (Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Fillies being in on this conspiracy has troubling implications, but all of them have displayed competencies far beyond their perceived age. Illusions or age-altering magic may be involved).
“UNAWAKE” PONIES: Me (apparently, my not being Awake is causing problems of some sort, though they seem content to deal with them rather than confront me about them), you, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, Zecora, and an unknown pony referred to as “Chrissie” (who will apparently be causing some kind of problem in the future).
UNKNOWNS: Pinkie Pie (is Pinkie Pie. She does seem to have some kind of precognition, but hers is much more immediate and very different from the kind displayed by Loopers. She might know more than she's letting on, though) and Big Macintosh (talks so little that it's very, very hard to tell, but he has been subtly preventing problems, so it's likely that he's in on this).
One last thing: the secrecy of my observations may have been compromised recently, and while these Loopers seem mostly benevolent, they also seem to like remaining hidden. If something happens to me... please, find the truth in my stead.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.
If it hadn't been the source of her frustrations for the past few weeks, Twilight would have marveled at the spell's simple brilliance.
She had been looking for something secret; something well-hidden, possibly protected with traps or some kind of invisibility. Instead, she'd stumbled across a tiny little enchantment on the Sweet Apple Acres cellar door, completely by accident while visiting Applejack (and covertly casting illusion-dispelling and truth-finding spells to ensure accurate information). The enchantment was simple: it didn't make the doors invisible. It didn't even keep anyone from entering. All it did was make it... ordinary. A part of the background. Something you never give a second, or even a first thought to because it's just sort of there. No need to even consider it. And if someone went down into it, well, they're probably just getting some kind of stored apple product. Even as she studied it, she had felt herself losing interest in both the spell and the door itself, but she had steeled her resolve. She'd managed to not only make a counter-spell that immunized her from the spell's effects, but also reverse-engineer the spell for herself.
The result had been better than a normal invisibility spell. While standard invisibility was both a massive magical drain involving lots of bending light, and very conspicuous when its effects were observed (doors opening on their own, sounds coming from nowhere, etc), this new spell, which Twilight had tentatively dubbed the “Background Pony” spell, involved only a simple mental deflection, resulting in a barely-noticeable magic drain unless the user was observed by dozens of ponies at once, and allowing the aura of disinterest to extend to most actions taken by the user. This would have been nice to have in the previous weeks when she was conducting her... observations, but oh well.
Tonight was the night. She was going into the Looper's den.
“Ha! My Indominus Rexes in TIE Fighters trump your T-Rexes in F-15s! Your Doom Fortress is mine!”
Of all the things Twilight had been expecting to find in the Sweet Apple Acres cellar, an actual, fully stocked and fully decorated bar had not been one of them. And Discord playing a nonsensical card game with Angel Bunny and Lyra Heartstrings was not helping matters at all.
Lyra looked down at her cards in disgust. “Ugh. There goes my last chance of turning this around. Looks like you win next turn.”
There weren't many others in the place at the moment. A white unicorn with purple shades was talking with Gilda about something called “The Grand Line”, and Bright Eyes was chatting with Mac, who was behind the bar mixing a slightly glowing drink for her. Other than that, it was just the card game and her, off in a corner behind her Background Pony spell.
Angel had his normal expression of slight disgust with the world at large, but it was marked by a bit of a smirk as he laid down a pair of cards. One was labeled “Metal Shark Player”, and had a picture of some kind of stylized anthropomorphic hammerhead shark robot on it. The other was a depiction of Discord himself interwoven with a strange sunburst of arrow shapes, and was labeled “CHAOS: The Game”.
Discord visibly blanched. “You wouldn't...” he said.
“Oh, I'm pretty sure that he would,” replied Lyra. “If I'm not mistaken, the special use for Metal Shark Player is to bring back scrapped things, in this case cards that were removed from Chaos. And in a situation like this...”
Angel pulled out, seemingly from nowhere, a blank card and a carrot-shaped pen. He wrote “BILLY” on the card in large, angry letters and presented it to Discord.
Discord sighed. “Why did I even consider that idea? I mean, I dismissed it seconds later because it was the least fun idea I'd had in eons, but I suppose the damage was done.” He grabbed the spontaneously generated bottle of bleach that had been pouring over him and took a swig from it. “Whelp, everything goes kaput. Draw game. Either of you up for another?”
“Sure... but first we should probably do something about the elephant in the room. Or rather, the unicorn in the room.”
Everyone in the bar turned to look directly at Twilight.
Unimaginable terror flashed through her mind before she lost consciousnesses.
Twilight lowercase-a awoke with a scream. To her surprise, however, she was neither strapped down on an interrogation table, nor in her own bed after what had surely been a nightmare. Instead, she recognized the room she was in as one of the Sweet Apple Acres guest rooms.
Before she could even start thinking about what had happened last night, either in real life or her dreams, she heard a knock at the door. “Twilight? Can ah come in?” came Applejack's voice from the other side.
“Um... yes?” she replied hesitantly. How much of last night had been real? Could she even trust Applejack? She might be the Element of Honesty, but she was also part of a secret and apparently powerful organization.
Applejack trotted in. “Ah shoulda figured you'd do somethin' like this” she said, shaking her head. “You were acting' mighty strange, but we all thought you were just antsy over the lack ah friendship reports.”
“I wasn't–-”
She cut her off with a raised hoof. “Twilight... you've got lots of smarts, but you ain't got much subtlety. It was pretty obvious when you were tailin' us.”
Twilight blushed, but was undeterred. “So... Loopers. Who... no, what are you?”
“Do you really want to know? It might shatter your worldview.” AJ replied, before facehoofing. “Ugh, look who I'm talking to. Of course you want to know.” She did that thing again, like she'd occasionally seen other Loopers do, like Angel did at the bar, pulling an object seemingly out of thin air. The object in question was a thin polymer slab, which lit up at her touch. She tapped it a few times. “This should make things a bit easier to understand, assuming your mind can take it.” She placed the slab on the ground, turning it and pushing it towards Twilight. The lit side of the slab showed a moving picture of Twilight herself... only not. Something about the Twilight on the screen was different from the “real” one; she seemed... confident, in a way that Twilight wasn't.
“Hello myself,” said the Twilight on the tablet. “If you're seeing this, that means something strange has probably happened. Perhaps one of your friends suddenly became an Alicorn, or a giant robot using impossible technology attacked Ponyville, or Discord and Nightmare Moon teamed up and attempted to take over Equestria through the power of interpretive dance, or Celestia decided to stop being Princess and went sun surfing. First thing: do not panic! Your friends most likely have things under control. Unless whoever gave you this message says that they don't have things under control, in which case listen to them and do whatever they tell you to, no matter how insane it sounds; the stability of the multiverse may depend upon it.
Assuming that's not the case however, you probably have questions. The short answer can be summarized in two key points. The first, which you may have already guessed from my earlier phrasing, is that Multiverse Theory is correct. The second is that the multiverse is broken, and if Time proceeds past a certain point in any given universe, it will collapse and cease to exist. And I honestly couldn't tell you whether the “it” in question is the universe or Time itself; this isn't exactly the sort of thing you can do experiments on.
So to prevent this collapse, an emergency backup was enacted, forcing Time to repeat itself until it can be fixed. In other words, Time is looping. And sometimes ponies, dragons, humans (yes, they exist), self-aware robots, and any other sapient being you can imagine come along for the ride. These beings remember previous loops when everyone else forgets, can bring things from other loops and even other universes along with them when Time resets, and are all incredibly old, ridiculously overpowered, and bored out of our barking minds. We call ourselves Loopers, and usually, you're one of them. But the whims of Yggdrasil The Multiverse Tree are strange ones, and being a Awake and looping in one loop is no guarantee you'll be Looping in all of them. For one reason or another, you (which is to say I) am not Looping right now. Are not Looping right now? Whatever, the point is that Loopers get bored, and their antics are probably what's causing weird things to happen around you. But the bright side to this is now that you know, they'll probably let you in on the fun. At the very least, you'll get some amazing stories. Plus, most of them probably know more about science and magical theory than you do at this point, so if they're up for it you'll get some fascinating discussions on that from them, as long as you don't mind being completely outclassed. Though if it makes you feel any better, they may be a step above you in the two things you're normally the best at, but Looping you (IE me) is several steps above them. You can also ask them about the whole multiverse being broken thing, it's not like it's a big secret or anything, it's just awkward to explain to non-Loopers. Anyway, have fun. And try not to do anything too embarrassing; my friends have enough pictures of various Unawake mes in compromising situations already.”
The onscreen Twilight's horn briefly lit up before the screen went dark. Applejack picked the tablet up before making it vanish again with a wave of her hoof. Twilight had briefly considered the idea of a time loop, but this was a whole other level of insane. She could only stare at Applejack in numb shock, thousands of thoughts all fighting for attention in her mind. Why was the multiverse broken? Who's fixing it? Just how many loops had Applejack been through? How many loops had she been through? How many loops had Angel Bunny been through? How are humans real, and where are they? Is Discord still a threat? What's the secret to self-aware artificial intelligence? What should she tell Princess Celestia? Can you actually surf on the sun? What are the rules to Chaos? Who is Billy? Is time linear and being forced into a circle, or branching where the branches that get too long get “trimmed”? Is that why the multiverse is a tree? How do you spell Yggdrasil? Does Applejack really know more about magic than her, and can her ego take it if so? How powerful are the Cutie Mark Crusaders? Should she be worried for the fate of Equestria? What would have happened if time wasn't looping? What's Bright Eyes' real name? Where does Pinkie Pie fit into all this?
Applejack returned the stare with some concern. After a long stretch of silence, she spoke. “So, uh... I'm guessin' you've got some questions.”
Twilight nodded.
“Would ya rather talk about it now, get a stiff drink at Mac's first, or take some time for contemplation while we explore Space in my tree-powered starship?”
Twilight took a long time to answer.
Dear Princess Celestia,
False alarm, it's not a conspiracy, it's just a time loop and a bunch of bored ponies. By the way, the changelings are planning an invasion on Canterlot, which they will launch on my brother's wedding. Tell Cadance to tell him thanks for telling me he was getting married, but make sure she's not actually Queen Chrysalis in disguise first.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.
P. S: did you know you can surf on the sun? If you want to take a vacation and try it, I know a very nice mare named Ivory Scroll who can take over while you're gone.
James Tiberius “Tibbles” Kirk smiled a little opossum smile as he observed Celestia reading and re-reading the rather short note in disbelief. He was pretty confident that “slightly disorganize a library” was a new record for smallest action taken to completely derail a baseline. At the very least a new personal record.
187.3 (wildrook)
"I thought you were starting to overcome this," Twilight muttered. "Your drinking problem's getting worse."
Starlight gave her a look and huffed. "I'm just fine," she said, filling up a glass. Unfortunately, when she tried to take a sip, she missed the mouth entirely and splattered it all over her face. "I'm still working on it."
Spike groaned. "Surely, this is weird enough to ask for help, even by our standards," he muttered.
"It's not that uncommon to miss the mouth," Starlight said. "And don't call me Shirley."
187.4 (wildrook)
(MLP)(Kamen Rider Black/RX)
It's not often said that there might be guests doing the Sister Loops. But when it come to Kotaro Minami and Nobuhiko Akizuki, they fit the bill all too well.
"Kotaro," the white pony with green eyes asked his brother.
"Nobuhiko," the black pony with red eyes said, smiling, "I'm just as confused as you are, but I blame Golgom for the reason why we have wings and a horn at the same time."
Nobuhiko couldn't deny that. Even as ponies, the Kingstone seems to affect their forms. Heck, said Kingstones and their symbols are their Cutie Marks.
"Paranoia aside," Nobuhiko replied, "I just checked our Loop Memories. Our names literally are Black Sun and Shadow Moon, and according to them, we control the Sun, the Moon, and something called the Elements of Harmony."
Kotaro gave out a groan as he looked at his brother. "So, we're co-deities," he muttered. "The one thing I never wanted, and we're stuck like this for...how long?"
"I'd say a couple thousand years, but it's not often that we have a chance to be together without killing each other." Both brothers couldn't deny that bit. Kotaro was Awake more than Nobuhiko due to being the Anchor. "I say we make the most of it."
Kotaro gave out a sad smile. "Well, it's not often you see Shadow Moon as a hero of justice," he said. "And there's no Golgom nor the Crisis Empire in sight. First things first, how do we decide these Elements?"
"From what we can tell, the Elements are split into six categories: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic." They looked at said elements. "It's best to find which key elements fit us the most, because these things aren't to be taken lightly."
Kotaro nodded. "I think the worst part is that they can be negative traits, no matter which side you're on. When you were brainwashed, you had Loyalty to Golgom, you tend to be brutally Honest, and I cannot deny that there's raw Magic involved when dealing with an age-old cult."
Nobuhiko frowned. "It's pretty scary when we find out that Golgom has more of a brotherhood than SHOCKER. But in a way, they can be positive, like your creed as a Kamen Rider. You're a lot more Generous, you protect the Laughter of children, and even though you accentuated the negative out of the pain of being one, you were being kind to the child." Said frown changed to a genuine smile, which Kotaro returned.
However, there was a rumble as a giant minotaur had rampaged the area. Said minotaur was supercharged with magic from the citizens, putting them with a grim realization: No matter what the universe, there was always a force trying to oppress others.
"Guess we might not have that much time," Kotaro said, looking at Nobuhiko as they took three Elements each. "Nobuhiko."
The elder brother nodded as they glided in front of the monster in question.
Said monster smirked. "More magic users?" he asked them. "Isn't this my lucky day. I've never tasted unique species such as you two."
Both Alicorn men nodded as they struck poses, much to the confusion of the beast.
"Hen...SHIN!" Kotaro yelled, bringing his hooves down and making a pose, alternating sides with his front hooves.
Nobuhiko, however, made a different pose as he looked like he was standing on one hoof, the front left one resembling a hand pose. "Hen...SHIN!" he yelled, going on two before relaxing his stance and standing.
In two different flashes, the minotaur had shielded his eyes to reveal their changed forms. The first was a black-clad pony with red eyes and a golden belt with two different orbs. The second was a steel-chrome pony with green eyes, a black belt, and a green orb. The thing they had in common was their bug motifs.
"CHILD OF THE SUN!" the black-clad pony yelled. "KAMEN RIDER...BLACK! R! X!"
"Scion of the moon," the steel-chrome pony said. "I am known as Shadowmoon, and I will be your downfall, foul creature."
The beast was confused. "Kamen...Rider...and Shadowmoon." He then chuckled. "You dare challenge Lord Tirek? I will devour your magic and add it with the power I collected."
"Greater foes have tried," Shadowmoon replied. "All of them met the same fate."
"The power you have gained came from trampling over the weak," RX added. "And as heroes of justice, this cannot stand."
And the fight between Tirek the Devourer and the Legendary Brothers had began...
(Several Years Later...)
"...Rumor has it that the Brothers of Justice, Black Sun and Shadow Moon appear where Equestria is in trouble," a female voice read. "Armed with a mysterious power, they fight as beings known as Kamen Riders and deal with justice on a daily basis. It's also said that they possess the Elements of Harmony, but rarely use it unless the situation is dire enough to warrant them, like the fight against Discord the Unpredictable..."
The purple unicorn then Woke Up mid-story before realizing the implications. They didn't pass off as rulers until the founding of Equestria, saying that they go wherever they're needed. And with times of peace, they went under aliases in order to deal with the bureaucracy.
To her...this meant there were visiting Loopers that replaced Celestia and Luna, but Black Sun and Shadow Moon...
"History from the ground up," she muttered, sending out a ping and feeling several presences. "And they're practically living legends at this point." And despite having a reason to go to Moondancer's Birthday Party uninterrupted, she had mixed feelings. "On one hand, I don't have to worry about missing Moondancer's party. On the other, there's my friends in Ponyville." She then groaned. "And I'm not relying on the Mirror Pool to do both."
"It's one thing to deal with a crisis of the heart," a voice said, catching her attention. "It's another when you already know the solution, yet be tempted by a mystery."
And due to her status as student, she recognized the voice. "Onyx Solaris?" she asked herself, before realising something. "Wait...you're Black Sun, aren't you?"
The black Alicorn had sighed. "You were right, Nobuhiko," he said. "She found us out."
Nobuhiko gave out a chuckle as he appeared from the tree. "Well, this is what happens when I go by Moonstone Orion," he said. "Why the fancy names as our aliases, Kotaro, I don't know."
"Probably because we made history and we wanted to be left alone."
Twilight gave out a small groan. "Subtle," she muttered. "I presume you're from Gentaro Kisaragi's branch...and before you ask, if he was here, I would have heard him go 'Equestria kita' or something before now. I heard about him from Sunset Shimmer."
"Yeah, he's a nice kid," Nobuhiko replied. "Kind of dim, but his heart's in the right place."
"Aside from the point," Kotaro interjected, "we're well-aware that this is a Sanctuary Loop. But I think several thousand years of quality time with Nobuhiko is a vacation alone...especially with our circumstances."
Twilight knew the story. "My condolences," the now purple Alicorn replied. This did clear her concerns of why there's no banishment, especially when they're familiar with brainwashing. "Although I will admit, my unAwake self didn't notice the correlation, but just seeing you two in the flesh...my brother is going to be jealous."
"Not just him," a voice said, catching their attention. A purple dragon had ran up to them, carrying a Comic Book. "Sorry I'm late, Twilight. I had to get Moondancer's present. Still, I didn't think we'd have actual superheroes in control of the sun and moon. Although...is there a history of brainwashing?"
Nobuhiko gave out a small stare. "And that's why we made an effort to not fall into corruption by the Nightmare Forces," he said. "I'm used to people trying to control my actions to the point where the Kingstone itself purged the influence out."
Kotaro nodded. "They weren't as smart as half the people we fought," he added. "But right now, the pressing matter is that of your dilemma...or rather, your lack of dilemma. Just go to Moondancer, but report back in order to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration."
Twilight nodded as she looked at the two. "And I start to wonder what would happen if you met Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," she replied, "but...thanks. We'll be back soon." She then looked at Spike, who nodded as she disguised herself as a normal unicorn.
Both brothers could only sit back and watch.
"I can say this," Nobuhiko said, "she resonates with Magic quite well." Kotaro nodded. "Still wondering why we can't just do what we always do and just step in."
"Like I said," Kotaro replied, "this is a Sanctuary Loop. And as much as I hate to admit it, I think Discord had a point when he called us 'the duo of All Work and No Play.'"
Nobuhiko smirked. "Doesn't mean we can't occasionally step in for some scenarios where they're not around."
Kotaro gave his brother a glance. "And there's the occasional demigod looking for random artifacts of doom to thwart."
"And you two are still as busy as ever," a voice replied, revealing a mishmash of creatures masquerading as one of the branches. "Hello, boys."
"Discord," they both muttered, groaning.
The draconequus then looked at the book. "I will admit, the pages tend to romanticize your efforts," he said, "but I'm pretty sure someone thought I was super-thin. Then again, compared to my ex-best friend, Tirek, I'm looking quite fabulous. Still, someone has to liven your days considering you've been filled with nothing but bureaucracy."
Kotaro groaned. "And it's these days that I forget even Kaijin can become Riders," the black Alicorn replied. "And I doubt you're willing to tell us the reason why you're here."
"It is a paradox, I will admit." Discord gave out a smile. "And young Kotaro, you're a harder nut to crack than the princesses you and your brother are standing in for. Never try to reverse the emotions of someone who has a living backup system is what I've learned."
"And you took your defeat way too well," Nobuhiko added. "Then again, you were waiting for today...probably for the same reason we were."
Discord smirked. "And that's why they chose you as their king through the centuries." That got him a scowl, which the Draconequus backed away from. "Hey, I'm familiar with possession from an unknown force due to some of the locals suffering from the same thing. It's not a unique case. Besides, if I end up in stone, I may miss my appointment with a friend of mine. Kindest pony you'll ever meet, and managed to outwit me twice in Baseline."
"No funny business?" Kotaro asked him, then he realized the question was redundant for a being of Chaos. "And I mean the bad kind of funny business."
"Keep in mind that I was only there to gauge your abilities back then. You two didn't exactly ping considering you were overworked. The only thing I found chaotic was the fact that you didn't fall into the same quirks the others did when it comes to 'Sisters' Loops, but I chalked that up with your determination to stay together." He then brought out a snazzy orange suit with a top hat. "Because, gentlemen, while chaos is unpredictable, it's not always a bad thing. It's why I played the villain when we first met and why I'm not willing to lose my friend's trust in this day and age. You boys knew that there were beings like Tirek running around, who are less than compassionate about others. And I can tell you...it's not often that people like you show up."
They didn't know how to respond to Discord's chatter. It was cryptic, confusing, and rather jumbled, but they chalked it up as Discord being Discord.
"How about that. I managed to get you two confused. And I was just admiring your virtue. Then again, I was channeling my counterpart from the Star Trek Branch, so that could be a factor."
"The only thing I caught is that you're a fan of the both of us," Nobuhiko replied, Kotaro face-hoofing.
Discord smiled. "And that part stuck out," he said. "Until next time, Kamen Riders." He then disappeared in a flash of light, leaving two confused brothers behind.
"I really don't know if I should be honored or not," Nobuhiko replied.
Kotaro had to agree. Out of all the beings they met, Discord was one of the strangest.
The next few years were going to be quiet in Equestria.
187.5 (Masterweaver)
"I don't hate Daring Do. The first series was smart and cool and an amazing nod to old-time serialized adventure books, that somehow manages to be self-reflective and ironic while at the same time celebrating the art form without a hint of cynicism. Which is why I came here to ask A. K. Yearling muzzle-to-muzzle why she sold out and dumbed down the rest of her books into just a series of impossible action sequences!" Quibble Pants stamped his hoof on the table. "I mean, have you ever heard of anything more ridiculous than that tripe?!"
Rainbow Dash folded her forelegs and leveled an entirely deadpan stare on the stallion. "A magical tree beyond all comprehension was damaged in a mysterious accident threatening the entirety of existence, and while the gods are busy fixing the thing they've put the world in a time loop where the only thing holding all of reality together is the mental stability of a neurotic ex-unicorn aided by her increasingly stir-crazy friends and family. They spend most of their time preparing civilization spanning pranks or helping traumatized thundermonkies from other worlds."
Quibble stared at Rainbow.
Rainbow stared at Quibble.
"...Well. Okay then." Quibble stood up. "Obviously we have different tastes in literature."
187.6 (Gym Quirk)
Twilight Awoke mid-step on her way up to her Canterlot Tower apartment. To her mild surprise, she did not stumble or trip before reaching the top landing.
Pausing at the entrance (to spare Spike the traditional face full of door), she went through her start-of-loop checklist. One Ping response, and the Element scan's results were...odd.
It was as if there were an active Generosity, Kindness, and Magic, but if she tried to pin it down, only one of the three registered at any one time. Also the 'strength' of the reading, for lack of a better word, was considerably weaker than what she was used to.
The door opened to reveal Spike holding the usual gift for Moondancer, and a sealed scroll bound with a red ribbon. "Message from the Princess, Twilight," he said, holding out the scroll. "We going to Moondancer's party?"
"Let me see what Princess Celestia wants first," replied Twilight, taking the message in her magic and entering the apartment.
To my Faithful Student,
Although you are the acknowledged expert as regards the Elements of Harmony, I have taken it upon myself to conduct an experiment this loop. I hope that you may find the results of interest. You may see me at your leisure.
Your Mentor
Princess Celestia
p.s. Feel free to attend Moondancer's party this afternoon. Have fun.
Twilight took a moment for a cursory Loop Memory check. Mostly baseline, except that there was no Mare in the Moon legend. Yet Celestia was still the only reigning Princess. It was as if Luna had been removed from the historical record.
She turned to the patiently waiting dragon. "Nothing big. She'd like to see me tomorrow morning after breakfast. Let's go see what Moondancer has planned."
Twilight approached the Princess' private study the next morning with a nagging feeling of concern. Try as she might, she couldn't figure out what was going on with her Element scan. It seemed that the one Magic predominated, but it would shift to the other two seemingly at random.
The guards waved her by as usual and she politely knocked at the door.
"Come in, Twilight," called the Princess.
Entering and closing the door behind her, she looked around the room. Well, that's definitely new.
Partially blocking the hearth was a large something draped in a dark blue cloth. The color brought Luna's coat to mind.
Celestia's horn glowed and Twilight sensed a high-grade privacy spell being cast on the room.
The cloth was whisked away to reveal a helmeted alicorn trapped in what appeared to be a carbonite block. The life support monitor panel telltales showed that its occupant was safely in hibernation.
"In baseline," said the Princess without preamble, "I lost my ability to use the Elements after Nightmare Moon was banished. I've been wondering what would happen if I used a different method to neutralize her."
"So you had an 'Early Start' loop and this is what you wound up doing?" asked Twilight, gesturing at the block.
"Yes. Froze her, made sure she was in proper hibernation, slapped on a stasis spell for good measure, and kept her in my pocket until yesterday."
Twilight frowned. "Setting aside the issue of putting sentients in your pocket... Oh. You were using Magic, Kindness and Generosity when you took down Discord, so that might explains why I'm getting those three when I do my scan."
"I was wondering how you'd read this. Too bad none of the Loyaltys are active. I'm curious how their scans would work out." She pulled a small case from behind the block and opened it to reveal six familiar gems.
"I take it you want to purify her, now that you have a friend here to help you?"
"Please?" The Princess' eyes were pleading.
"Well, of course."
"That went rather well," observed Celestia as they quietly left the suite where the exhausted and diminished Luna would be spending her recuperative time.
Twilight nodded, deep in thought. "And of course you've worked out how to reintroduce your sister to society after such a long absence?"
The Princess of the Sun shrugged. "I think I'll go with something along the lines of 'Went out stargazing and lost track of the time'. I'll work with Luna on the details after she's had time to recover."
Twilight frowned slightly. "If you say so... Also, what do you want to do about Discord? I have a theory that since you never lost your link to the Elements, his containment hasn't weakened. Maybe we should go and check on the statue..."
"...My preliminary results indicate that you can substitute for any of the Elements, just like most other ponies can in a pinch," said Twilight several weeks later, consulting her notes. "The same appears to be the case with Luna. Discord's containment is holding, although I would still keep the CMC away from him on general principles."
"I thought you were of the opinion that their dust-up during the field trip was a symptom of his deteriorating containment, not part of the cause," said Celestia.
"I've been going back and forth on that for the past few thousand loops. I'd just rather not introduce any more variables than necessary until I have a better understanding the situation."
Celestia nodded. "Fair enough."
"That said, do you want to unbind him for use against Tirek? I'd point out that since I've been here in Canterlot since the start of the loop, Fluttershy isn't an option at the moment."
"No. Just keep an eye out for Cerberus so we know when to start looking for cloaked centaurs."
Twilight blinked in confusion for a moment. "Ah. Right. Clothing. For a moment there, I was trying to figure out how to detect an invisible Tirek."
Celestia snorted. "Recent Trek loop?"
"Galactic Republic, actually. Anyway... The bottom line is that there is no way to determine if any attunement you retained this loop will stick through a reset. We'll just have to wait for an opportunity to test in a future loop."
"You look a bit glum, Sister," observed Luna a number of loops later.
"It's this Elements thing. Twilight and I got a chance to test if I was able to use them after that loop when I didn't use them against the Nightmare. I will admit to being disappointed, if not particularly surprised," said Celestia before taking a long swallow of iced tea.
"I'm sorry, Celestia," comforted Twilight. "It seems that your default setting, so to speak, is elements-disabled. Unless the loop history allows for you to not... um... abuse them..." She offered an apologetic grimace.
"And the fact that I am under no such restriction does little to assuage your frustration," added Luna with an understanding nod.
"Yeah. I should have gotten the clue when Nyx attuned to Honesty," sighed Twilight. "The only times when you were placed in a position to employ the Elements against your friends are those role-reversal variants. Default/baseline doesn't impose any such limits."
There was a long thoughtful silence.
"I do have one odd notion that might work," mused Twilight. "Call it an educated wild-ass guess..."
"How many times have you been an undomesticated donkey with an advanced degree?" interrupted Luna with a grin.
Twilight sputtered as her train of thought ground to a halt. Celestia actually smirked as she fought down a chuckle. Luna nodded satisfaction at her sister's improved mood.
Shooting a glare at the moon princess, Twilight addressed the elder alicorn. "It's possible that if you attune to a single specific element to the point where you can establish a soul-bond, it may override your default no-use condition. I have no idea if it's possible for you to do this; the circumstances that would allow it seem a bit far-fetched, but in the abstract, it feels like it could work."
Celestia demurred. "It's kind of you to consider these options, Twilight, but it's really no big deal. I've managed well enough without Element access for this long." And if I explicitly say that I'm interested, the likelihood that the necessary conditions will turn up would probably decrease by several orders of magnitude.
187.7 (Awesomedude17)
Pinkie hummed a familiar Italian song as an Unawake Fluttershy walked into Sugarcube Corner.
"Hello Pinkie."
"Fluttershy, great to see you. Wanna try my dessert pizzas?"
"Umm... Sure?"
"Good. I've got an entire buffet for you and the others to try." Pinkie motioned to a table where all her friends were digging in.
"Mah goodness, Pinkie! This here apple pizza is mighty fine." Applejack complemented.
"Glad you like it."
Fluttershy calmly walked to the buffet, grabbed a slice of s'mores pizza, and took a bite.
Suddenly, her pupils dilated.
22 minutes, not counting commercials, of course, later.
Pinkie stared as Fluttershy slowed down from her babbling stupor. Eventually, Fluttershy passed out from exhaustion.
"WOW!!! Whoda thunk Fluttershy couldn't hold her sugar?"
The others shrugged.
187.8 (wildrook)
A lot of ponies are fond of owls. Twilight Sparkle keeps one as a pet. Angel Bunny...tolerates him. The only ones that don't are mice and shrews...and for this Loop, three-star food critics.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie blinked as Owlowiscious was chasing Zesty Gourmand, Twilight trying to stop the owl from attacking her.
Saffron was confused. "Why is that owl attacking Zesty Gourmand?" she asked them.
"We're still trying to figure that out," Rarity replied, before turning to her Alicorn friend. "Really, Twilight, doesn't Owlowiscious know that's a three-star food critic?"
"I don't know," Twilight said, in frustration. "She's never acted this way before! Owlowiscious, stop biting her tail!"
The pleas fell to deaf ears as the tail was ripped off, revealing...a beaver tail?!?
"What in the name of treebark..." Pinkie Pie muttered. "A beaver tail?"
Zesty growled. "Curse that owl," she growled. "How did she know that I was the queen of the beavers?"
Suddenly, the food tasting like wood made perfect sense this Loop. The assimilation plot by the beaver queen was the one that came out of left field.
187.9 (Masterweaver)
"Next up, decorations." Spike grinned. "It's been so long since I've seen Rarity, I juuuuuuuuuust."
Twilight looked from her assistant to the red stallion hanging up banners. "Um... hello."
"Twilight. Spike."
"...Zuko?" Twilight asked. "Is that you?"
"Yes."
"...you're replacing Rarity."
"That I am."
They stood there as he quietly adjusted a few banners.
"Soooooooo," Twilight managed. "I don't want to imply it reflects on you, or that there's anything wrong with it if it does, but... you seem to have done pretty well with the decorations."
"I've always had an eye for color coordination. One of the few good things about growing up in the Fire Lord's palace."
"Ah, gotcha. So, do you have any plans or–"
"Mostly, I just want to help Azula out. She's not taking being a foal very well."
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I'm liking the weebl reference.
It took me a bit, but damnit I remembered.
And my one contribution to the compilation is finally in.
I'm considering adding the TWEWY crossover too, but that one isn't very pony since it takes place in Shibuya.
Sokka (Did I spell that right?) and cactus juice. From Avatar the Last Airbender.
Cactus Juice; it's the quenchiest!
I actually want to see that last loop play out.
Clever girl.
A plan to calm herself down in case she discovers this stuff when Unawake, clever.
Tirek's more of a centaur.
That sounds about right.
Phew.
Wise move.
This is amazing!
No kidding.
... No comment.
Huh, neat.
I'd imagine.
Re: 187.3
Attention wildrook! I am going to hunt you down. You cannot possibly escape. I am going to find you. And when I do you will get such a hug. Thanks.
(Some or all promises aforestated may be or definitely are exaggerations and/or complete falsehoods. Any guarantees stated or implied may be redeemed for fish with thumbs at any participating Discord's Discount Discordium location and are otherwise meaningless.)
187.7
I once made a chocolate peanut butter and banana pizza while working at Dominos. Who knew burnt chocolate actually tastes good?
Zuko is awesome. I'd love to see more of him and the rest of the Gaang.
Good one, Kirk. Nice power play there.
Airplane I love you
I think out of all the loops; 187.2 is my favorite with Unawake Twilight shenanigans. The Loopers didn’t even have to do anything crazy or insane to garner her attention. Granted it was Kirk who set off Twilight’s discovery, but still a pretty good loop. I wonder what Princess Celestia was thinking after Twilight sent that letter entailing her findings. The next line made it clear a few hours must have passed from when she sent it. Even being four years old, this chapter is pretty good in joke’s alone.
—Cragadilian