• Published 19th Apr 2013
  • 57,114 Views, 9,312 Comments

MLP Time Loops - Saphroneth



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

  • ...
92
 9,312
 57,114

PreviousChapters Next
Loops 36

36.1 (Richardson)


The sea babbled at the hull of the boat. It should have been a good sound, a welcome sound. So why did her head hurt so much? Her loop memories trickled in, tip-toeing around her semi-conscious mind.

"Oi, luv, my rum."

Her eyes snapped awake. Bad mistake, hangover plus mid-day sun reflecting off of the sea did not a charitable equation make. "Ooooh. My head."

"Well, that's what you get for drinking all of my rum. Here, take a bucket."

"To-URK- ugh, that in?" Twilight took the bucket, hiding it under her chin as her feet grew oddly wet.

"No, to bail out the boat it, though I have found it to be most delightfully useful for the first. We're sinking, and I would rather that we make our entrance to Port Royal in dryness and style. One must have a proper sense of showmanship in this line of work." The mysterious figure talked to much. Twilight tried to brain of who he was, but her think was broken and she had a case of the dumbs.

"Who are you again? Everything is all-JACK!"

"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow. Good to see you're finally awake-awake. Ever since we met, this confoundable loop has kept on- what did your friend call it? Ah, yes, it kept on shipping me with you. My Rum please."

"The wha-? I was drinking this?"

"Quite fond of it." Jack took the bottle from her, distractedly pitching it overboard to her confusion. "You drank it all, love. Rum's gone. Now start bailing."

"Bailing, why-"Twilight stopped talking as a jet of water started hitting her in the face.


36.2 (Indalecio)


'I have paws.'

After a couple thousand loops, such things usually wouldn't upset Twilight Sparkle, but then her loop memories hit, and she was a bit weirded out. They were telling her she was a dog named Sparkplug, owned by Luna, who now a wacky inventor. 'Was that trip to the moon for real? Is it really made of cheese?' Granted there had been that one loop back then where Luna had deliberately turned the moon into cheese, but it had been rock before. Also, that one had tasted like Brie, while the one here tasted a bit like Wensleydale, but not quite. 'When did I get so obsessed with cheese?' Must be a property of the loop.


We were running low on cash, so Luna had decided to rent one of spare rooms out. It was late morning when someone applied. Luna went to answer the door, and I remained in my chair where I'd been knitting.

"Oh, its about the room, then?

"..."

"Would you like to inspect?"

"..."

"I'm asking 20 a week, including breakfast."

"..."

Despite only hearing Luna talk, it seemed like there was conversation going. What was even the person she was talking to stepped into view. If I didn't know this was going to be a weird loop before, this certainly clinched it, as a penguin walked into view. I took a double-take, and the penguin stared at me for a few seconds before walking up to the second floor.


I found myself a half hour later wallpapering our spare room. The penguin had took my room! 'Love and tolerance' I told myself. Looking up at the drab ceiling, I could definitely see it needing paint. Instead of getting ladder, I got a brilliant idea. Luna had gifted me, well more like, Luna had gifted herself, with something called Techno Trousers. Basically, mobile, autonomous pants. The neat thing was, they could climb walls and ceilings. It wasn't long before I'd slipped into them, climbed the walls and hung from the ceiling, painting it. Michaelangelo, eat your heart out.

The clicking and clacking from the pants eventually caused our penguin friend to investigate. It was a bit unnerving, as he just stared at the me and the pants, not saying a word. Granted, I couldn't talk in this loop myself, but this was a bit unnerving.


What was even more unnerving, after settling into the newly painted and wallpapered room, was the loud music coming from what was previously my room. Seemed that penguin really liked "Tie A Yellow Ribbon", and played it constantly on the radio. I looked at the clock, with 12:20AM staring back at me. Love and Tolerance aside, you don't interrupt a girl's beauty sleep. I used a bit of PK and flicked off the radio as subtly as I could, dislodging some of the internal mechanism, so it couldn't be turned on again. The music sputtered and died, leaving a bit of static behind, and then, blessed silence.


After last night, and the events of the morning; the penguin, I had never gotten its name and he couldn't talk, had fetched Luna's slippers and newspaper. Normally, this was something I, or at least Sparkplug did in the past. Was the penguin simply being nice? I took a walk to clear my head.

As I was walking by the post office, something caught my eye. A wanted poster for a chicken named 'Feathers McGraw' and a sizeable bounty underneath it. Something seemed very familiar about the picture. I put my paw over the rooster comb to cover it, revealing that our boarder, the penguin, was actually Feathers McGraw, a notorious criminal. I rushed home.


Thankfully, Feathers was out, though I didn't know when he'd return. I entered his room, my room, I thought ruefully. Yes, I can be very petty in my thoughts. Looking through his belongings, I found two very suspicious things. A map of the City Museum, and the Diamond Exhibition highlighted and labelled, and a handgun, very highly restricted in the UK. I had all the evidence I needed.

I waited for Feathers' return.


I hauled the trussed up penguin into the kitchen where Luna was.

"What have you done with our paying customer?" I took out the penguins bag and removed from it blueprints of the city museum with the diamond exhibition clearly marked.

"That's right suspicious." said Luna tapping her chin.

I produced a gun from his bag, and Luna leapt back in shock.

"Oh! Those're illegal!"

Finally, as my clinching evidence, I produced the wanted poster with Feathers face on it.

"Hold on there a second! That's a chicken, not our penguin!" I smacked my forehead. I searched around in Feathers' belonging until I found a red rubber glove, and slapped it upon his head, turning our penguin into a chicken.

Luna gasped! "It was in disguise all this time."


Well, we nabbed a notorious criminal, our money problems were solved for the foreseeable future, and the diamond on display at the city museum remained safe. As for the Techno Trousers? Well... maybe Applebloom will like them.


36.3 (Stainless Steel Fox)


Twilight relaxed in the waters of the out-door hot-spring. She might not have tried this if she hadn’t already consumed a good portion of the jug of pina colada, but it seemed to be working out. The manager of the onsen was a Mr Urashima, a thirty-something male who moved with authority and the aid of a walking stick. She’d expected some resistance, despite the fact that Japan had never gone to more than level two alert, but after a quick explanation, he’d just shrugged his shoulders and treated her like any other customer. She heard him muttering something about Hinata House and how compared to that, this was nothing, but he’d treated her with the utmost courtesy.

Twilight had set an Apple Bloom built universal data-pad to download X-Com’s main database before she’d appeared in their main control and distracted them. Having Dr Vahlen’s clearances and not giving her time to change them before Twilight accessed them had meant the entire system had been pretty much an open book. She hadn’t had time to review it fully, but a quick-learn spell had given her the gist, covering the gaps in Dr Vahlen’s knowledge. It was how she’d decided where to go, though Japan would have probably been on her list anyway.

At the moment she was the only one in the women’s side of the bath, though most of the (female) staff had been cycling through, supposedly checking if she needed anything, but she suspected just to see she was for real. She had no doubt at least one of them had taken some camera phone footage of her in the corridors, but she’d rigged her data-pad to monitor any outgoing data or calls for certain patterns, and set up an area alarm spell covering the resort to identify any approaching soldiers or police.

Unfortunately though from the many futuristic loops she’d been through she had command of technologies that X-Com would give their collective eye-teeth for, she couldn’t use it openly – as in-loop Equestria was its usual tech level, roughly 1930’s base-line earth with magic buffing it in places and a good dollop of magitek outright blurring the lines. Later on she’d be able to justify some knowledge through local study and genius, but she was still limited. Magic, on the other hand, she could go to town on.

Still, for the moment she was just relaxing. She’d had half an hour in her room to rest before the bath was empty, but the vegetable sushi they’d delivered had been delicious, and went well with the rest of contents of the jug. There had also been a cotton yakuta, a simpler version of a kimono, on the bed for the use of a guest. While it hadn’t been much use in its base state, a few spells learned from Rarity had adapted it to her body shape, and changed the structural colour of the white cotton to purple, with her cutie mark emblazoned on the flank. As a joke, she even enlarged one of the umbrellas from the pina colada as an accessory.

Umbrella and yakuta both now lay in a basket in the changing area, along with soap and shampoo, which she’d used extensively with the shower before getting in the bath. The reactions of the staff as she’d emerged had been fun, and asking for toiletries had managed to calm any fears that she would mess up the baths proper.

She could see why. The bath was an area the size of a small swimming pool, a mostly natural bowl in the hillside surrounded with pumice and screened from the outside by bamboo walls. The whole effect was pleasing, and the warmth and minerals in the water washed away her cares and aches as effectively as any of Aloe and Lotus’s herbal formulas. In fact, she could tell that someone, probably a Shinto priest with at least some degree of talent, had blessed the place once. The spell had decayed, but it was a good effort for someone who’d basically been working by guess.

Her horn glowed as she renewed the spell and tidied it up, making it self-sustaining off of the natural geo-thaumic energies that the hot spring produced. It was roughly equivalent to taking a dug-out canoe made by someone who had no knowledge of physics beyond what he could see, and using a degree in nautical engineering and all the right craft skills to rebuild it as a speed boat.

After all, she felt she owed the staff here for how accommodating they’d been, and it should fix the chronic damage she’d detected in the manager’s leg, and the many other old injuries. From the jigsaw puzzle his bones were, it was a wonder he’d survived whatever had caused it.

She had a plan to obtain some operating capital, while she had tonnes of gold and valuable materials stored in her sub-space pocket, as always she didn’t intend to do anything that broke her in-loop persona. Having that one bag of gold and gems, no more than 20 kilograms as her ‘official’ starting cash would make things slightly more challenging. It would be a definite good deed while also announcing her presence in no uncertain terms, and net her some cash and another couple of hundred kilos of gold.

More healing spells on hospitals where casualties from alien attacks were still recovering, maybe raising her own small island to grow potions ingredients, repair spells to speed up the rebuilding, donations to aid organisations once she got some revenue producing activities going, and of course some Mysterious Mare-do-Well antics when and where the opportunity presented itself, yes she’d have plenty to keep herself occupied.

It should go to redeeming the idea that aliens were not necessarily evil, and raising X-Com’s collective blood-pressure, which gave her a warm little glow… No, that was her perimeter alarm triggering. But it wasn’t X-Com or even the JSDF, it was some of the invaders, and they were heading towards the onsen!


Of course they were little threat to Twilight herself. Calling a match up between a dozen of the invaders and an alicorn of Twilight's age and power a curb-stomp was like calling the interaction between a snail crawling on a curb and a descending foot a curb-stomp. Technically accurate, but somehow lacking the full measure of the mismatch.

The question was, why here and now? Narrative causality? Then Twilight realised there was an easier explanation. She'd found the after action report on her capture, and the reaction of the team's psychic to her uncontrolled magic. Using Doctor Vahlen's knowledge, she quickly had a pretty good working theory of what was happening. She lifted herself out of the water and dried herself off by creating a telekinetic shield flush to her fur and flicking away every droplet, which arced around to form a fist sized sphere that she dropped back in the pool.

Now dry, she marched through the changing area to the doors, grabbing her yukata and stepping into it without breaking stride. She was still binding the belt when she opened the door and found the receptionist, Kimiko standing guard. “Twilight-san? Is there something wrong with the baths? The service?”

“No, not the baths. You've all been great!” Twilight smiled up at her, then sombered up. “But I have to see the manager, urgently!”

As she entered the managers office she decided not to beat around the bush. “There are aliens coming, bad ones! I had an alarm spell out against unexpected visitors, but I didn't expect any this... er, unexpected. X-Com, that secret defence agency I told you about must have shot them down somewhere near here then lost them.”

Kimiko gasped, but Urashima frowned. “There was a bright shooting star in the sky several weeks ago. It scared people, but when nothing else happened, people ignored it. Why now? You?”

“I think so.” Twilight shook her head. “I swear, I had no idea this could happen, but I think my magic interferes with their psionic technology. I must be like a beacon to them. Now I know what's happening, I can damp it, but that won't stop them.”

“What can?” The manager got up and limped over to the window. “There are only half-a-dozen guests, thankfully it's quiet, but there are twice that many staff. If you leave, will they follow?”

“Yes, but I don't know where I could lead them that wouldn't bring someone else into danger. I don't think you have time to evacuate and they're coming from the northwest.”

“And that access road to the highway sweeps round that way... you think they will fire on our cars?”

“I don't know, but I think the safest option is for everyone to stay in the building while I put a force shield around it.”

“Strong enough to stop these things from getting in?”

“Strong enough to stop anything short of one of your heavy air-to-ground missiles.” Twilight tapped her horn with a hoof. “This isn't just for show you know.”

Actually it would probably soak a tactical nuke, but she didn't want to give away her full power. Urashima just nodded and picked up his phone handset, punching an internal combination. Seconds later he spoke and Twilight and Kimiko could hear the P.A system relaying his instructions.

“So, what will you do?” Kimiko asked. “Help keep the shield up until someone comes to rescue us?”

“No, I have to go out to face them.” Both humans looked at her in shock. “Hopefully X-Com will respond, but they'll take time getting here. If the aliens can't get in, who knows where else they'll go, who else they'll harm? Besides, X-Com sees me as just another specimen, probably 'capture or kill at all costs' after the way I escaped.”

“But you said you're a librarian, a researcher, not a soldier!” Kimiko exclaimed.

“I was also Princess Celestia's protege, and one of her go-to troubleshooters.” Twilight said, “I've been in fights before. And that was before I became an alicorn. Trust me, I can protect you all.”

Urashima put his hand over the mouthpiece and said, “Well, everyone's inside.”

“Good!” Twilight's horn glowed fiercely, and a purple wash descended past the window. She made another small gem appear which glowed briefly, runes embedding themselves in it in lines of fire. She dropped it in the manager's hand. “To bring down the shield, press this against it and say the word 'release' three times.”

Her head turned slightly, as if she was looking at something only she could see. “They're here, I have to go.”

Kimiko dropped to her knees and put her arms around the alicorn. “Good...”

Both of them vanished in a flash of white light.

“... luck?” Kimiko looked around. They were back in the ladies bath area, the surface of the shield rising behind them in a great dome, covering the entire complex of buildings, but not the gardens or baths themselves. Twilight shook herself free.

Her horn glowed and Kimiko was lifted and pushed back through the shield, which rippled and let her through. Meanwhile Twilight stepped out from the walkway onto the water surface closing her eyes and breathing deeply. Zecora's training came back to her, supplemented by later knowledge from dozens of loops, and the water supported her, stilling to a mirror surface under the ripples from her hooves.

She had a dozen ways she could take them out, two dozen if she wasn't worried about damaging the scenery, but now the civilians were as safe as she could make them, she didn't have to go quick and dirty. Using massive over-power might also scare people. No, this was definitely the place for a more elegant form of combat from a bygone age, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far away. Besides, she needed the practice.

She could justify it in loop as a lost form of unicorn martial art she'd been recreating as a private project. Of course, she couldn't explain a light-sabre, but she'd long since come up with a work-around for that. A purple energy blade extended from the tip of her horn with a low hum, then detached to hover in front of her in a guard position.

Kimiko did what any modern person did when faced with something extraordinary, pulled out her phone and started filming. Three Sectoids, small humanoids, bulb headed and hunched, dropped over the edges of the bamboo screen between the bath and the forest outside, and immediately shot at her with their plasma pistols. The energy blade in front of her moved with almost lazy sweeps, intercepting the bolts and flinging them skywards or into the waters between them.

Even as the duel started, three Floaters flew over the barrier, a form of barely humanoid cyborg who had a body made up of just a torso with a pair of jet engines built into it's back. Their plamsa rifles increased the odds to six to one, but Twilight's energy blade kept deflecting the bolts, slowly moving forward. As a Sectoid got to the water's edge she deflected a Floater bolt into the water in front of it, blinding it with a burst of steam, and then she moved, wings flapping once to shoot her across in front of it as it reeled back, her horn glowing.

It was enveloped in purple light, and shrunk down as she overflew it, leaving behind a plant pot with a geranium in, plasma pistol lying beside it. She flipped over in mid-air and rebounded off part of the rockery wall, still deflecting the few energy blasts that were anywhere near target. Her wings swept again, drawing up steam from the hot waters below and flinging it in front of her, engulfing one of the Floaters. The cloud shrunk and condensed to the density of candy floss, darkening at the same time.

Using its bulk as a screen from the other two she flew towards it and spun to give it a kick with both hind-hooves. Lightning flashed and crackled throughout the cloud, and the Floater dropped out of it to splash into the water below, engines dead and cybernetics shorted out. The cloud was instantly shredded by plasma fire from the other two Floaters, but not before Twilight had popped up from behind it and used it as a springboard to flip through the air over their heads.

One got transformed into a Floater shaped balloon, while the other was hit by the plasma pistols of both remaining Sectoids as she ducked behind it and they frantically tried to register on her. It exploded, leaving her exposed, but the two aliens had no time to use this as they were grabbed by her telekinetic force and flung together, smacking their heads against each others. Twilight landed and dropped the two in front of her, changing them to a potted lily and a small spiny cactus.

Twilight brought her energy blade up into guard position again, and gave a great downbeat with her wings shooting up to fly over the bamboo wall. There were flashes and the sounds of plasma fire, and then the bamboo screen was smashed down as Twilight was flung backwards through it, curled up and glowing with a purple aura. She hit the pumice spire that formed the centrepiece of the bath and went straight through it, smashing the spire to splinters. She finally uncurled and flung her wings out, arresting her flight and dropped down to stand on the water again.

The Muton, a hulking humanoid in sculpted armour that had clearly back-handed her through the wall, raised it's arms and roared in triumph or to call it's allies. It found this was unwise when the purple alicorn flashed from where she stood to right in front of him and blasted him with magic. He was instantly transformed into a cherry tree. Unfortunately it didn't completely block the hole and a trio of Chryssalids, three legged mantis-like aliens with scythe tipped arms skittered through the gap, forcing her to fall back.

She ran backwards out onto the water and one leapt in after her, splashing it's way through more slowly than it's initial rush. Her horn glowed and the water swirled up in a waterspout to engulf it, then froze, leaving it encased in a block of ice. The other two made massive leaps onto the now flattened central rock spire, getting behind her. The remaining rubble shot upwards with a purple glow of telekinesis, battering their undersides and giving her time to turn and face the threat.

One Chryssalid's scythe arms swept down to spear her, but her energy blade flew up and extended to the length of a bo staff, horizontal in the air to catch them by the 'elbows'. The other leapt again to get behind her, and intercepted a pair of hind hooves glowing with energy on the way down. It was thrown all the way back to crash into the cherry tree where it slumped, leaking ichor. Twilight's energy blade continued to duel with the twin arm blades of her opponent, finally feinting to make it over-reach itself.

As the blades speared out to pierce her through and through, she down-winged and jumped flying over then and bringing her energy blade down in a sweep that sliced them off, leaving stubs. The Chryssalid creeled in agony, but was quickly cut short as it was transformed into a spider plant. The ichor leaking one was similarly transformed.

But before she could take a breath, a series of explosions blasted away a good section of the wall, reducing the bamboo to smouldering splinters . Two more Mutons stood there, flanking a massive bi-pod war machine with a row of four glowing lights on it's main body like unblinking eyes, a Sectopod. Twilight was once again reduced to deflecting and dodging fire as the two humanoids fired their plasma rifles continuously.

The frozen Chryssalid was hauled into the air and flung at the Sectopod by Twilight's telekinesis, but it blasted the block of ice and it's prisoner into shards and steam. A few seconds later one of the mutons dropped an alien grenade in the water underneath her and she was engulfed as it exploded, creating a huge dome of scalding steam even as the Sectopod fired again sweeping the volume with energy cannon fire that pierced it, and was absorbed by the dome shield.

Kimiko, who had been recording the fight eagerly, screamed out in shock. “Twilight!”

The Mutons strode forward as the steam started to disperse, spreading out to either side of the Sectopod and sweeping the area with their plasma rifles. One fired at Kimiko, causing her to shriek and hunch away, but the shield absorbed it without a ripple.

Suddenly a massive burst of purple light from behind them blasted the other Muton forward into the air, flinging him against the shield to slump down like a rag doll. His plasma rifle was ripped away from him by a familiar purple glow. The other Muton spun on the spot to target Twilight Sparkle, who was standing behind and between the legs of the Sectopod, yukata ripped and smouldering and with her mane askew, but very much alive and very much annoyed.

His plasma bolt was absorbed in mid-air by an incandescent indigo ball of force that continued on to strike him, throwing him back against the force field and earthing itself into the shield with crackles of purple lightning. He slumped down against it alongside his comrade. The Sectopod was now aware that it's opponent was right behind it, but had no time to do anything as it was hauled upwards as if on an elastic band, weapons facing upwards.

Twilight flew up after it, her energy blade forming above her horn and extending to bo staff length. She came up underneath the robot and the indigo line of energy pierced it from back plate to front, right through it's main control nexus. The row of lights dimmed and died out, and the legs went limp.

Twilight glided down, letting the wrecked robot land between the two Mutons, and transforming them into palm trees almost as an afterthought. She landed back where she'd originally started standing on the water that stilled under her hooves, and looked around, her energy blade shrinking back into her horn. “Oh my gosh! What a mess!”

She lowered her head and raised it, and three balls of water floated up from the bath to slowly orbit her. Her horn glowed with energy, golden this time, and the water exploded outwards in a wave that engulfed the entire area with golden energy. As it slid off the shield and Kimiko was able to see out again, she found that all the battle damage had vanished, the bamboo screening was once more intact, the bath clear of debris and the pumice spire was restored. Indeed the entire bath looked pristine, not so much as a leaf floating on the water. Even Twilight was once more in an immaculate yukata with not a hair in her mane or tail out of place. The secretary finally found her voice, though she didn't stop recording.

“That was... amazing!”

Twilight turned to face her, blushing. “Yes well, customers are expected to leave the baths in the condition they find it. It said so on the sign in the changing rooms.”

“Not that!” Kimiko giggled. “Though that was awesome too! I mean the zapping and the kapowing and whooshing and the whole martial arts bad-ass Jedi spell-caster thing!”

“Oh, that.” Twilight said dismissively. I said I could take care of myself, didn't I? I've been redeveloping an ancient unicorn martial arts style. It's a fascinating project, though even I didn't expect it to be so effective, though that might just be the extra power boost from being an alicorn. Of course I added some new elements to it, like water walking. I learned that from a wise zebra shaman, also precision control of my telekinesis.”

“So I see. You're doing it right now.”

“No I'm... It takes great focus to maintain the increased surface tension...”

She glanced down. There was the expression of horrified realisation, the frantic little fore-hoof dance, and the classic “Aaaahhhaaa!” Sploosh!

Kimiko couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. It didn't help when a pair of ears emerged above the water and moved towards the edge of the bath like a pair of parallel sharks. One hoof, and then another grappled over the edge of the bath, and hauled up a very bedraggled Twilight, mane matted over her face with her eyes closed. She spit out a stream of water. Kimiko was by this time gasping for air.

“Oh sure, laugh it up!” A glow formed around Twilight and she lifted herself out onto the walkway. “You recorded that too?”

“I'm sorry, but it was very funny.” Kimiko calmed down. “Look, I'll edit that out. You don't mind me posting the rest to some sites I know?”

Twilight repeated her instant drying spell and was once more neat and dry. “It's okay, leave it in. My ego's not so fragile that I can't take a joke at my expense. Besides, I want people to know I'm not like those things. Humans are afraid of aliens, and from this lot, rightly so, but my friend Pinkie Pie taught me long ago that it's hard to be scared of something when you're laughing at it.”

Twilight stepped through the shield like it was open air. “Let's go tell Mr Urashima that the trouble is over.”

“Yes, the way you killed those aliens...”

“I didn't kill anyone!” Twilight huffed. “Well, I guess you could call destroying those golems, no robots, killing, but the ones I turned into potted plants are still alive. I could even turn them back, though I don't think I'd be doing them any favours, as X-Com would probably just kill them for real. I first did it by accident on my entrance exam to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Turned both my parents into plants. Thankfully they turned back soon afterwards.”

Kimiko shivered. “They won't turn back by themselves, will they?”

“Not with this version of the spell. Only I can reverse it, otherwise it's permanent.”

“Well it was really impressive. You probably couldn’t hear me but I was cheering 'banzai' the whole time.”

Twilight chuckled. “Shouldn't that be bonsai?”

Kimiko groaned as they reached the manager's office. Keitaro called out for them to come in at the knock and slumped back in his seat when he saw it was the two of them. “Thank the kami, you're both safe! The aliens, they have been dealt with?”

“Yes, Twilight took them all out, it was so cool!” Kimiko replied, and held up the camera. “I even have video! She even cleaned up afterwards!”

Twilight added. “Not quite. There are a bunch of potted plants and some broken robots lying on the walkway outside the women's wash area. But don't worry, when X-Com get here they'll take them all away. Oh, that reminds me could I get a copy of that film?”

“I didn't know you had a laptop?” Kimiko said, puzzled.

“Don't need one. Just hold that phone against my horn.” She did as she was asked, and silvery threads slid down the grooves inn her horn as it glowed. “I originally developed this spell for reading books fast, pretty much any kind of paperwork where you didn't want to actually have to go through it. Based on a spell to share memories. Turns out it works just as well on other forms of stored information.”

She took her horn away and pointed it away from them. A glow appeared at the tip, and a window formed in the air, showing a few seconds from the fight. “Got it!”

Seh turned to see the two humans were gob-smacked. “What? I raise an energy shield over the entire place and this is what impresses you? Kimiko, I think you'd better get that stuff uploaded as widely as possible, and as soon as possible, before X-Com take that too.”

“Yes, of course!” Kimiko practically flew out of the room.

Twilight turned to the Keitaro. “I've had enough of a bath for one night. Could I use my room until X-Com get here? I really don't want to stick around after that.”

“Of course, Twilight-dono.” Keitaro bowed his head. “And thank you, for saving all of us.”

“No need for that formal stuff, it was my fault you were in harms way in the first place.” The bag of gold appeared and she placed a stack of coins and a couple of small gems, maybe a half kilo worth on his desk. “I'd better settle up while I'm here, that should cover it.”

The manager reached out and pushed it back. “I can't accept this. I meant what I said.”

"So did I." Twilight pushed it back. "I need to pay my way, and show I have. Otherwise X-Com, or some other bunch that's scared of me, will claim I mind controlled you all, or something. Oh, and I'd suggest you take a long bath yourself. I have a feeling it will be good for your leg, for all of you."

Keeitaro's eyes narrowed in thought. "You did something to the baths?"

"Well someone did, a long time ago. I may have... improved their work slightly. Healing spells aren't my speciality, but I am widely read in all fields of magic. I made it relatively slow acting, you need to bathe several times to get the full benefit." She looked around conspiratorially. "Don't tell anyone, some idiot will probably get all freaked out about it. Just let the results speak for themselves."

Keitaro finally accepted some gold, but only enough to cover the regular cost of a stay and the yukata she'd modified. “If you want to do something more, make sure you say good-bye to Kimiko before you go. She seems to have taken a shine to you.”

“Okay, if you're sure...” Twilight yawned and put a hoof to her face. “Oh my, I guess that fight took more out of me than I thought. I'll get off to my room. Goodnight, and if I don't get chance to see you again, farewell.”

As she went up to her room, Twilight reflected on how well things had gone. She hadn't intended to be filmed, but when she realised she had she did do things slightly more flamboyantly then she might otherwise have. Still, the bit at the end had been pure serendipity, her concentration failing at just the right moment for maximum comic impact. That would do more to cement her reputation as non-hostile than a hundred heartfelt speeches.

She stripped off her yukata and climbed up into the big, human sized bed and snuggled down under the covers. She had just enough energy left to reset her alarm spell before she drifted off to sleep.


36.4

Twilight stepped up to the hill overlooking Sweet Apple Acres. “So... I understand that these need to be picked, then?”

Mac nodded. “Yup.”

Twilight looked around. “There's a lot of them.”

The stallion positively exuded agreement.

“Okay. I think I can do this.”

“Why you?” Mac said, turning to her and wincing. “Ah know why ah ain't doin' it, but...”

“Oh. I lost a bet with Applejack.” Twilight looked Mac over. “Are you all right? I heard you strained something...”

“Ah'll be fine.” Mac grimaced. “Ah ain't goin' t' the doctor, anyways. Not after-”

“Fair enough,” Twilight said. “I remember Spike shouting about his eyes burning?”

Mac blushed. “Neither of us is much good at winnin' bets with mah sister, ah'd guess.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay... here we go.”

The whole forest began to glow purple.

Whistling something, Twilight corralled the thousands of apples into distinct streams and began decanting them into barrels. Each barrel was carefully packed in a cubic-crystal efficient packing arrangement, then sealed and stacked in the convenient nearby barn.

“Right, that's done,” she said, five minutes later. “I fancy a coffee. Want me to get you something?”

Mac thought for a moment about what he'd seen, and quickly came to a conclusion.

He'd prefer tea, thank you.


“Hey, Fluttershy?” Raindrops asked. “Not seen you up here in a while. We thought you were afraid of flying...”

Fluttershy nodded, and shuffled back to the centre of the cloud she was on.

“Oh! Sorry. But, er... why?”

“Bet with Dash,” Fluttershy whispered, then kicked the cloud uncertainly.

It summarily failed to pop.

“Er... how does this work again?”


Applejack whistled.

Winona nodded to a covey of birds, which took off and headed over to the latest hoof-ful of grain the farmpony had set out.

One of the geese tried to move forward out of turn, and Winona growled briefly.

“Okay,” Applejack said eventually. “Now it's y'all turn, Angel.”

The bunny gave her a dismissive look.

“Well, y' eat what ah give you, or y' don't eat today.” Applejack got out a carrot. “Ah shoulda never made that bet with Fluttershy, ah can tell you...”


“Look,” Dash said wearily. “I can't do dressmaking, so this is basically the only option I had left.”

Scootaloo made a bizarre sound as she tried to hold in gales of laughter.

“Yeah, yeah...” the speedster muttered, shifting slightly in the huge, frilly white dress she was... ensconced in. “Take it from me, squirt. Only make a bet when you're sure you'll win it.”


“...and that is how to make a cake with style!” Rarity finished. “With flair, with grace, with panache!”

Carrot Cake examined it. “Is there... anything under the cream?”

“Well, no...” Rarity admitted. “Is that a problem?”

By way of demonstration, Carrot Cake took up a cake slicer and tried to cut a slice.

“Oh,” Rarity said, as the entire Rarity's Stylish Cream Puff Cake stuck to the slicer. “This is a lot harder than Pinkie makes it look...”


Dear Princess sunbutt!

Pinkie here! Hey, this week we all learned that Gambling Can Be Embarassing! It must be a Very Special Episode, don't you think, 'cause it didn't go into deep societal ills or anything like that but just showed us doing jobs we weren't always all that good at!

Your number one element of laughter, Pinkie Pie!

(PS: there are seven party poppers concealed in this scroll! Collect them all!)


Princess Celestia pulled streamers out of her mane. “Well, I suppose at least I found them...”


36.5

Twilight blinked. “I think I just realized something I never tried.”

She looked around at the gigantic paint cannon aimed for Discord's statue.

“What is it?” Spike asked, lifting another canister of pressurized paint up to the breech end.

“Well, it's too late now... basically, what did Sombra actually want?” Twilight asked, taking the canister and fitting it with care.

“...huh. I know he wanted the Crystal Heart, but what he was going to do with it? No idea.” Spike shrugged.

“Well, I know what to do next time,” Twilight said. “Hmmm...”


“Twilight?” Celestia said, pushing open the door to the library. “Are you there?”

No response.

“How strange.”

Celestia thought hard. Her messages via Spike had only received terse replies about some 'experiment', so she had come to check on her student in person, in advance of giving her the first 'solo' mission she would have.

Her eyes alighted on a note resting on the table.

“Dear Princess,” she read. “I have recently discovered that the Crystal Empire has returned. I have made haste to their capital, in order to assess the situation.”

Celestia frowned, then her eyes widened. “She doesn't know.”


“So, King Sombra, we deliver unto you the Crystal Heart,” Twilight finished, putting the large hunk of crystal on the floor.

Sombra looked at it. “Crystal?”

“Yes, Crystal,” Twilight agreed.

“Are you sure this is okay?” Spike asked, looking nervous. “He looks evil...”

“So did Nightmare Moon,” Twilight pointed out.

“She was evil!” Spike said. “Luna isn't, but that's not the same thing...”

“Sssh, I want to see what happens.” Twilight pointed.

Sombra arose from his throne, darkness drifting around him, and approached the great relic...

Then paused.

“What now?”

Twilight facehoofed. “Oh, you must be joking.”

Sombra tapped the crystal heart, which went tink. “Crystal? Crys-tal?”

One wall exploded, admitting Celestia. “Twilight! Are you alright?”

“Fine, thanks,” Twilight said, dropping a reflex-quick shimmershield. “I wanted to see if King Sombra could do anything with the Crystal Heart. It turns out... not.”

Celestia took in the situation. Twilight, fine... Spike, scared but fine... the Crystal Heart, unscathed but dusty... and King Sombra's horn sticking out of a pile of rubble.

“I see. Wasn't that awfully risky?”

Twilight shrugged. “I keyed it to a teleport, so I could technically summon it to me if needed. It's a tricky spell, involves writing a runic form of my name on the object in magic, but useful.”

Celestia poked the pile of rubble, which mumbled something about crystals.

“I remember him being more dangerous...”


36.6

Twilight could just about taste something off about this Loop.

She wasn't sure what, she wasn't sure how, but this loop was NOT standard.

All that said, though, it certainly looked normal. Twilight and her friends (all six of them Awake) were in Ponyville, as normal. The Summer Sun celebration had proceeded as planned, then not as planned, then as normal for a standard-issue loop.

(They'd gone with the old standby of Twilight getting the Elements working first try, and all six of them blasting Nightmare Moon's smoke-form as she tried to kidnap Twilight.)


As Applejack gathered up her crop for the year (the hard way, relatively speaking, to test out some mental trick or other she'd picked up to help with tiredness), Twilight wondered if she was just imagining things.

Then she vanished in a puff of smoke.


She materialized, horn flaring and muscles tense with alarm, in a grassy field.

With a human (boy, but with white hair) looking at her.

Twilight blinked.

The boy stared for another moment, then jumped into the air. “Awesome! Maybe not as cool as I was hoping, but the chicks will love it!”

“Wait, what's going on?” she asked, confused.

“Oh.” The boy stopped jumping. “I'm Jiraiya. Your new summoner!”

Twilight looked at him for another moment, then facehoofed.

So much for normal loop... they were replacing the toad summons.

Sighing, Twilight looked up. “Okay, then. My name's Twilight Sparkle.”

Jiraiya winced. “Yeah, that's not going to win me any manly points with Orochimaru... but I'm pretty sure Tsunade will love you guys!”

He sidled up to her. “Women like fuzzy animals, right?”

Twilight felt like facehoofing again. This was definitely Jiraiya.


“Wait,” Pinkie said, raising a hoof. “Does this mean we're way back in time from when Naruto normally kicks butt and stuff?”

“It... does, actually,” Twilight confirmed. “Tell you what. Let's try and work out how to seriously reduce the scale of problems the ninja world has. Any thoughts?”

Dash slammed a hoof onto the table. “We gotta turn the country of Rain into the country of pleasant weather! Maybe then they'd be less of jerks all the time.”

Rummaging in her pocket, Twilight withdrew one of her trusty PADDs. “Let's see... yep... yep... that can be blamed on him too... that may be a plot hole... yep... no... and yep.”

She looked up. “Well, I found the source of about eighty percent of all the problems in the Ninja world ever.”

“Oh, let me guess,” Applejack said sarcastically.

“Exactly. Madara Uchiha.” Twilight projected an image onto a wall. “This guy is responsible for just about everything.”

“So, what's the plan?” Dash asked. “We hit him until he stops?”

“Nope,” Twilight replied, projecting up another picture. “This is, as we know, Orochimaru. He's responsible for most of the remaining twenty percent.”

Rarity shivered. “The snake motif is not doing it for me. There's such a thing as going too far.”

The others gave her sidelong glances.

“What?” she asked, looking back at them. “Spikey-wikey is a dragon. Completely different.”

I'm not arguing with you.” Twilight shook her head. “We're getting off track. Anyway, I think I see an opportuinty for societal engineering. We're between Ninja Wars right now, so... who in Equestria do we know is an experienced psychologist?”

“I learned!” Pinkie said, raising a hoof.

“...I think we'll put that in the emergency folder,” Twilight decided. “You're a little... exuberant at times.”

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “I am qualified and have doctorates.”

“That works,” Dash said.

“I think Luna can do it by dreamwalking, too...” Twilight mused. “I'll ask her.”


“So,” Kurama said, lying back on a gigantic couch. “Part of it is, I feel like the Sage just... abandoned us. We were only just created, and he left us – and his sons were complete-”

Luna shook her head. “We can relate, in a sense. Did We tell you the story of Our banishment?”

The huge fox twisted to look at her. “No, actually.”

“Perhaps 'twill prove useful for thy own actualization.” Luna closed her eyes. “Ere long ago, perhaps so long as the time thy Sage had so recently made the moon...”


“So...” Madara said slowly. “You want to 'cure' me, little summon?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“I don't think I have a problem in the first place.” His eyes twisted into the Mangekyo. “So-”

Fluttershy met his gaze.

To an onlooker, it would have been as though little explosions of pure optic intent were going off between them.

“...why did Izuna always manage to do everything right?” Madara asked plaintively. “I tried as hard as I could...”

“There, there,” Fluttershy said, trotting over. “Just let it out, you'll feel better.”


Twilight looked at the book in her hooves.

It was one of Jiraiya's. It was also rather better written than normal – though the subject matter was about the same.

“I never should have let him and Dash collaborate...”


36.7

“Oh, gods, where are we now?” a somewhat scruffy unicorn asked, adjusting his floppy hat. He then paused.

“And how did I do that?”

The glasses-wearing earth pony next to him shrugged. “I don't know either. Still, this looks like another one of those Fused Loops.”

“Great. More exciting things to run away from.”

A large pegasus flapped down to land next to them in a whir of wings. “Greetings!”

“Oh, not you again,” the unicorn muttered.

Looking down at himself, the pegasus frowned. “I am fairly sure it is me.”

“Wait – what's that on your, er... arse?” asked the unicorn, pointing.

“It looks like...” the earth pony squinted closer, adjusting his glasses. “A carrot.”

“How appropriate,” the unicorn said, then his eyes widened and he turned to look at his own flank. “What in the gods' name is this?”

“A dotted line around... a staff-shape, I think.” The pegasus shook his head. “No idea.”

“And mine is... a pair of flowers.” Shrugging, the earth pony looked around. “Do you think we should try and find out where the nearest town is?”

“No,” the unicorn replied promptly. “I like the sound of quiet.”

“I believe there is a town on the horizon,” the pegasus said, pointing. “I don't know exactly how far, though.”

“I can handle it.” With a shy smile, the earth pony closed his eyes.

Abruptly, there was something there. The something was very, very big, a gorgeous gold in colour, and possessed of many scales.

“Hello, Ninereeds!”

“I still don't know how you keep doing that,” the unicorn muttered. “Twoflower, do you really want us to go flying into the air on him?”

“You didn't have a problem with it before, Rincewind,” Twoflower pointed out.

“I have come to terms with a fear of heights,” Rincewind defended. “It is an old friend, who I meet most weeks. However, the fear of falling off is rather stronger than normal, on account of my uncharacteristic lack of hands.”

“Can't wizards cast some kind of spell to stop them falling?” the pegasus asked, frowning faintly.

“We've been over this before, Carrot,” Rincewind said with a wince. “Even if other wizards can do it – and I'm not at all certain they could – I... sort of can't. I'm not what you might call good at casting spells. I'm more of a theoretician.”

Do not worry, Rincewind, Ninereeds projected. I am quite good at catching falling wizzards. Surely you remember the many times I have been able to practise?

“I'd rather not, thank you...” Rincewind grimaced. “Oh, well, why wait for trouble to find us? We may as well meet it while there's still daylight to run away in.”


“...well, that's quite an entrance,” Twilight said, as the huge dragon gently glided down to rest in the main square.

A unicorn clutching a hat to his head with one hoof staggered down from the dragon's side, and collapsed on the floor.

“I never want to go flying again.”

“You said that last time,” said the dragon's... well, presumably rider, based on stance.

“I mean it this time.”

Trotting over, Twilight raised her voice. “Hello! Welcome to Ponyville. My name's Twilight Sparkle.” As she got closer, she lowered it again. “I'm the local Loop Anchor, if that helps.”

“You're the local anchor?” Hopping down from his perch, the earth pony fumbled around for a moment and brought out... a camera? “Can I get a photo? I like to have one of each anchor.”

“Sure,” Twilight answered. “Oh, who are you?”

“I'm Twoflower,” the earth pony replied, checking on his device. A small lizard blinked sleepily at Twilight from the flash pan. “My friend there is Rincewind – he startles easily.”

“Oh, so you're the loopers for the Disc?” Twilight smiled. “I have to say, it's nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure,” Twoflower returned. “This is Ninereeds – though if you know about the Disc, you might well have guessed that.”

Hello, Twilight Sparkle.

“And hello to you as well, Ninereeds.” Twilight looked directly at the dragon as she spoke. “I seem to remember Hiccup mentioning you once?”

Ah, that one. Toothless is most fun.

“They certainly made me welcome,” Twoflower said. “Say 'butter!'”

FLASH.


“Ah, so you're a looper as well?” Twilight sat back in her chair, as Spike passed around tea. “Thanks, Spike.”

“No problem.” Spike handed Carrot his, and pulled over a spare chair.

“I am,” Carrot nodded. “It's been... interesting.”

He grimaced at his new hooves. “I certainly have new understanding of some of Angua's troubles...”

Twoflower peered under a bookshelf. “Come on, Rincewind. Stop hiding under there.”

“I am waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Rincewind said indistinctly. “It always does.”

“Well, unless things not related to your arrival are seriously askew, then we should be fine.” Twilight grinned. “There is the matter of the dark goddess who should show up tomorrow morning-”

Rincewind tried to get further under the bookshelf.

“-but since we can handle her without breaking much of a sweat, I think we should be fine. And the same for the...” Twilight paused and counted. “Three other Princess-level or higher threats, half-dozen or so large monsters, and sundry minor catastrophes.”

She chuckled. “I'm teasing. Equestria is actually sort-of officially designated a sanctuary loop. We'll try to make your stay as comfortable as possible.”

“Excellent!” Twoflower walked back over, apparently abandoning Rincewind to his position under the bookshelves for now. “Don't worry, he'll come out eventually.”

“Try me!” Rincewind called.


Whistling, Discord slid the book containing the Elements back into the bookshelf.

Hide it in plain sight. Hilarious!

As he turned to go, the bookshelf moved.

“Oh?” he asked, peering under the bookshelf with one eye. Then he put the eye back in and bent down. “Hello, little pony.”

“Wizzard, thank you!” a voice said back.

Reaching in, Discord pulled out a blanket, a bathtub and three sets of goggles before finally towing a somewhat-scruffy unicorn out by the tail.

“What were you doing in there?”

The unicorn closed his eyes. “This cannot go well.”

“How astute!” Discord poked his new prey in the cutie mark, which flashed, and grey spread all over his body.

Then the building exploded.


“...oh, I almost forgot about him. Whoops...”

Twilight and the others watched Discord flee across the fields, pursued by about fifty high-grade spells and a unicorn whose eyes blazed with eight-coloured fire.

Twoflower winced at a particularly bright Ultima. “You know, I think Rincewind would be quite good at spells by now, if he just used a system other than the UU standard. He certainly knows all the theory.”

They sat back to watch the fireworks for another few minutes.

“Should we help him?” Carrot asked. “I mean, I know he's a criminal, but that can't be due process.”

Twilight shrugged.


36.8

“Okay, boy, ready?” Spike said, bouncing on his claws.

Peewee nodded.

“Play dead!”

The little phoenix chirped once, then erupted in a searing column of fire.

Twilight chose that moment to walk in. “...okay. Spike, what am I looking at, and what's the reasonable explanation?”

“Well, you're looking at a pillar of smoke and flame in the middle of the library,” Spike summarized.

“Right. And the reasonable explanation?”

The pyre died down, revealing an adult phoenix. Taking a single circuit around the room, singing, he then settled on Spike's shoulder and began to preen.

“...that.” Spike pointed. “I taught Peewee a new trick.”

“And you absolutely had to try it out on the library table?” Twilight asked, conjuring a dustpan and brush out of what had been a set of plaster ducks.

Her assistant winced. “Oops. Well, in my defence, there are cookies cooling in the kitchen, and we might have got ash on them.”

Twilight shook her head. “Well, I suppose I can forgive a lot for a cookie. But we have a laboratory for a reason!”

Spike shrugged. “Trixie's in it, I think.”

“...fair enough.”


36.9 – Elmagnifico

Macintosh poured the fermented liquid into a carefully measured, reinforced container. It fizzed there for a second before settling down. He slid it next to two glasses of more mundane cider, where it would stay unless it was needed.

This was one of those special occasions.

"So, this was ya'll's first kill?"

His customer sighed at her cider, her purple bangs almost hanging into it.

"No, but it's troubling me. There are so many questions. Jadis was a powerful witch, and in that world, those can always come back – she did, I brought her back. Probably guilt... So does it count? Could I have prevented her from using the Deplorable Word some other way? Would she have done so if I hadn't? She didn't use it in the books when she was getting overthrown. I've had these arguments with myself often since then. I've hurt things in self defence before, and fought eldritch horrors and creatures with terrible power, but this time I premeditated the destruction of a sentient being."

The silence hung there for a second as Twilight paused.

"I wonder sometimes if there was a way to do it differently. I've stopped evils with phenomenal cosmic power before without resorting to killing, and I had all the advantages of surprise and time. Perhaps a petrification spell, or illusion or transmogrification. I don't know. It was the only way I knew for sure would work."

Macintosh wasn't sure what to say to that. He'd never dropped a meteorite on someone's head.

Quiet returned like a disapproving spectre.

Twilight seemed content to stare at her drink despondently.

Macintosh thought back.

There was, in fact, something similar he'd done.

"Ah remember mah first."

Twilight looked up at him, her expression urging him to continue.

He hesitated.

This wasn't like sharing the fact of his army experience, or even his looping. This was something deeply personal. A glimpse into his psyche, that could be used against him if shared recklessly.

The violet eyes asking for elaboration reminded him that not only was he helping someone, this was a friend of his. One he could trust.

"It was one of them longer loops, just after th' changeling invasion. A buncha them wound up scattered around tha countryside an' started trouble. Royal guards arrived ta find an' deal with 'em, but they musta missed one or summat.

Mac realized he was rambling, and shook his head.

"The point being, one night ah just couldn't sleep. Took ta walkin' tha grounds, checkin' ta make sure everythin' was tidy. Ah found it in one of the barns. It had taken the form of mah sister, probably waitin' ta replace her that mornin' or summat. It took me a minute to realize though. Ah thought ah was safe that loop. That Applejack was there, not some other mare."

A tiny smile threatened Macintosh's face for a second.

"She'd probably kick mah shin but good if Applejack knew ah was talkin' about her that way, but that's how ah thought back then."

All trace of the smile vanished again as he got back on task.

"It tried to play it casual, like it couldn't sleep either. Wanted to make me think it was just makin' sure the apples were growin' right."

He poked at his glass of cider with a quiet a sigh.

"Maybe ah took it as an insult. Ta imitate Applejack so well, and still be so off. To mock mah sister's depth of character that way."

His voice took on a solemn, grim tone. This was no wistful matter.

"In any case, it made mah blood boil. Ah bucked it but good. Sent it sailing across the room an inta' one of the barn's support beams. We built that barn to stand up to Rainbow Dash. Changeling snapped like a twig."

Macintosh's frown deepened as he thought back, dredging up old excuses.

"Ah tried to rationalize it. That thing was gonna insinuate itself with mah family, cause no end of harm. No telling how it woulda reacted if ah tried to take it out nonlethally. Ah had no clue what kinda mumbo-jumbo them things could get up to. Better to neutralize it then and there. Ah liked that. Made it seem like a good thing. Like ah'd helped. But it didn't stick."

He looked the other looper in the eye. His voice softened. That wasn't Her, but it didn't change what he'd thought then.

"Ah figured where that kinda thinkin' might lead me."

Then he switched his gaze to his cider, the heat in his ears drawing his eyes to the drink, and his mind back to the story.

"That night, ah made a vow. Ah would remember that changeling. Maybe what ah did was necessary. Maybe it wasn't. Didn't make it right. From that day forward, ah promised mahself ah would never be proud of what ah had done, whether ah did it again or not."

"Ah know it's not the same, but ah figure hearing about somepony else's problem'd help get your mind of yours."

Twilight spread a thin smile. It had no teeth, just a lip-quirk of appreciation.

"You're right. I don't think it's quite the same, but thank you. It's the thought that counts."

The silence stretched on from there, but it was a different silence. Both Twilight and Macintosh watched the alcohol swirl in the glass between their ciders. A meditative scene. Two Loopers sharing a moment to contemplate their actions in the company of someone who understood, at least a bit.

Author's Note:

36.1: Hangovers.
36.2: Wallace and Gromit, if any non-English are wondering.
36.3: I sense another one of Fox's looong loops...
36.4: Walk eight furlongs in another's horseshoes.
36.5: Seriously, did he have a plan for that thing?
36.6: Jiraiya suspects what the ladies like.
36.7: Alone of the Anchors, Rincewind has never actually died. Also, I like dragons.
36.8: Peewee hasn't had all that much attention in the Loops...
36.9: Not even good intentions are a shield against bad dreams. In fact, they all but cause them.

PreviousChapters Next