MLP Loops 94
94.1(Daniel H)
Scootaloo Awoke in mid-run. As every looper knows, the proper response to this is to keep running. While she kept running, she reviewed her situation. She was her usual pony self, running through an unusually creepy forest with strange red lighting. It looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Then her Loop Memories hit, and she realized where she was: asleep on the hiking trip to Winsome Falls.
When you have several lifetimes of experience, you naturally tend to pick up some basic skills. One of them is lucid dreaming, or the ability to sometimes know when you're dreaming and to change such dreams as you want. That one was practically a necessity if you looped into the Inception world. Scootaloo had been there a few times, but she never actually helped with the inception itself: it seemed unethical, and involuntary dream sharing seemed like too big an invasion of privacy. Still, she had learned to control her dreams remarkably well. Immediately, she brightened up the sky to more natural daylight tones, cleared away the forest, and transformed the landscape to Winsome Falls, the destination of their current hike. As an afterthought, she pulled the totem she'd made out of her subspace pocket: a miniature cloud she made with her pegasus magic.
When she looked up from her totem, she found herself face-to-face with Princess Luna. "That was most impressive, young Scootaloo. I doubt very many ponies have that much control over their dreams."
Scootaloo was startled for a moment. Yes, Princess Luna always visited her nightmares during this trip, but for some reason she was still surprised to see her. Perhaps it was that this wasn't a nightmare, or perhaps it was because she had been thinking about the dream-invading criminals, but suddenly the Princess's presence didn't seem as comforting as it usually did.
Scootaloo bowed formally, "Thank you, Princess." Then, trying to keep the accusation out of her voice, she added, "If I may ask, what are you doing here?"
Luna looked confused, and slightly hurt. "There is no need for that, Scootaloo. We're not in any sort of formal situation, and even in my reign 1000 years ago I never required ponies to bow to me in their dreams. As for what I'm doing here, I am the princess of the night. Thus it is my duty to come into your dreams."
Scootaloo stood, keeping her eyes on the Princess. "Isn't that an invasion of privacy? Dreams can have a lot of private information and even lucid dreams aren't always under control. Shouldn't you get permission before entering somepony's dreams? I mean, what if they're...". She trailed off, realizing that a filly of her in-loop age shouldn't be asking that question. But, to her horror, her control of her lucid dream slipped briefly and finished asking the question for her. She quickly put the dream back to the neutral setting of Winsome Falls with just her and Princess Luna, but she was still halfway to the color of Pinkie Pie when she did so. She briefly fidgeted with her totem, turning it around in her fingers.
Luna seemed somewhat upset by Scootaloo's words. She didn't comment on the scene she had witnessed, although she did look a little... curious about something. Instead, she said "I would never divulge my subjects' secrets, Scootaloo, nor would I observe their fantasies for longer than it takes to verify that they are not nightmares. Besides, neither your tent nor your sleeping bag had a dream catcher."
"It's not a matter of sharing them with others; some ponies don't want their secrets known to anypony but themselves, or to have anypony watch those kinds of dreams. You really should get permission somehow, and I don't think I gave it yet. I'll give you my permission to enter my dreams now, because I do trust you, but others might not want to do that." Scootaloo thought for a second, before adding "And what does a dream catcher have to do with anything?"
"A dreamcatcher tells me not to enter somepony's dreams. It catches my attention, and I leave the dreams of forever put it there alone except in the direst of emergencies. Since you didn't have one on your sleeping bag, your tent, or your campsite, it seemed like I was allowed to enter your dreams."
"Are you serious? I hadn't heard of anypony using dreamcatchers for that before. Most people who use them say they prevent nightmares, but I don't think I've seen one in Equestria at all." Scootaloo ran her fingers through her hair. "For something as important as looking inside ponies' dreams, it's important to get explicit permission beforehoof instead of letting people opt out somehow."
Luna looked surprised suddenly. "What? You mean that not having a dreamcatcher is not implicit permission? Thank you, I can see I have much to learn." Suddenly she looked a bit mischievous. "Speaking of which, may I ask about your present form?"
Scootaloo looked down at herself, surprised to find herself human, and not wearing appropriate clothing for the form. Embarrassed again, Scootaloo mumbled "It's called a human. They're a sort of intelligent ape, but they don't really exist in Equestria."
Luna said "For not existing, you can certainly picture both the female form and their typical dance clothes quite precisely. That felt more like a memory than a fantasy."
Scootaloo sighed. It looked like she got the job of explaining the Loops to an un-Awake Luna. Again.
94.2 (Kris Overstreet)
Twilight sat in the passenger seat of the police car and looked at her partner. Oh, this is going to be an entertaining Loop, she thought. I can hear the voice-over now: She's a humanized unicorn with a passion for books. And she's a psychopathic world computer turned adrenalin junkie loose cannon. Together, they fight crime!
"And that's when I poured the super glue over him," Detective Skye Connor completed her story, one hand on the wheel. "Other than that, nothing much interesting. How have your Loops been?"
"Well," Twilight said, "remember last time we met, we discussed CelestAI? After that Loop I decided we needed to take measures in case she ever gets outside her Loop."
"Really? Pardon my snark, but what can magical ponies do to an artificial intelligence? I mean, besides apply massive amounts of C4."
"Hey, I'm not a bad hacker, as you ought to know," Twilight said, nudging the senior cop. "And there's a couple of better ones in our group. So I put them on it, and they came up with a workable solution."
"Really?" SkyNet took her eyes off the road, and Twilight recalled for the fifty-eighth time in the past twelve minutes that the car they were in was pre-airbags, pre-crumple zones, and contemporary with the Ford Pinto. This was a 1970's cop Loop of some kind, after all. And she was pretty sure SkyNet had forgotten she didn't have computer or cyborg reflexes and observation this Loop...
Thankfully there was a stop light, forcing SkyNet to stop the car before continuing, "So, what's the plan?"
"Full thesis or abstract?"
"Abstract. I love having glands when I'm human, but the data storage systems are abysmal."
"Right. Proposal abstract: we put Pinkie Pie in its head."
SkyNet thought about this for a moment. "Er, CelestAI already has Pinkie in her head. And Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, and Fluttershy, and, um, your friend with the hat-"
"No, no, no," Twilight said. "We mean the real Pinkie Pie. OUR Pinkie Pie. Chaos Goddess of Parties Pinkie. Fun Lord of the Sith Pinkie. The Pinkie Pie that makes shoggoths run gibbering in terror."
"Oh." The light turned green, and SkyNet resumed driving at a slightly slower pace as she pondered the point. "Having met Pinkie, I have to say I really wouldn't want a direct mental network with her. But I'm pretty sure I could have dealt with her, even before Looping." Swerving to pass a slower car with maybe an inch to spare between bumpers, she added, "I don't suppose you've had a chance to test it out?"
"Actually, yes," Twilight replied, smiling. "It just so happened that Shepard from the Mass Effect world was visiting that Loop."
"Been there a couple times," SkyNet said. "Lots of nightmares for both organic and cyber life alike. Not fun."
"Did you replace EDI?"
"No, but I met her when I replaced Shepard," SkyNet said. "Why?"
"Shepard had a copy of EDI in her pocket. We got her cooperation to be a test platform for the program."
"What happened?"
"EDI created a test AI subroutine, and we applied the program to that. The program re-wrote the AI subroutine into a kind of palette-swap alternate Pinkie with wings. It broke quarantine and began planning parties."
"Really," SkyNet murmured. "Doesn't sound all that promising to me, I have to tell you."
"The strangest thing is," Twilight concluded, "the new AI kept insisting that EDI was its mother.'"
SkyNet snorted. "Mommy?" She repeated the word, even more incredulous. Then the Looping computer bent over the steering wheel and went into hysterics, laughing so hard tears streamed down her face.
"SkyNet?" Twilight asked. "SkyNet, it wasn't that funny!"
More laughter.
"SkyNet, could you please take your foot off the gas?"
Louder laughter.
"SkyNet, there's a train crossing up ahead, traffic's backed up, do you see it, SkyNet? SkyNet? SKYNET!!"
Doing magic without a horn or proper focus is difficult, even for a specially talented unicorn Looper. It's even more difficult in a world which normally doesn't have magic (except for crossovers with Kolchak the Night Stalker).
But an impending premature end to the Loop in what promises to be an agonizing painful fireball, or at least a cliche ending to Act 1 of the episode, provides an immense amount of motivation.
Engulfed in a cloud of purple sparkles, the cop car soared over the traffic and the moving train.
Fortunately the world's physics were more or less Hollywood, so the landing on the other side of the tracks merely jostled the two cops rather than completely wrecking the suspension and fatally bending the frame of the car.
SkyNet, sobered a bit by the sudden jolt, looked around her. "Did I miss something?"
"Stop the car," Twilight said. "It's my turn to drive."
"Um... okay. Sure." But even as SkyNet pulled off into a parking lot, she resumed giggling quietly. "'Mommy! Mommy!' I'm going to tell every AI I meet this one..."
94.3 (Masterweaver)
Truly it is a powerful thing, Zecora mused, the single flap of a butterfly's wing.
"I can help this pony mend, so stand aside my rainbow friend!" The zebra pushed Rainbow Dash aside, hovering over the unconscious purple unicorn in the middle of the library. "There may be some minor blood from the head, but she is breathing so she's not dead...."
"I-- I didn't mean to!" the pegasus protested weakly. "I thought... and..." She looked around at the various shocked glares she was receiving, landing as her wings curled up. "I'm sorry! I--"
"A mild concussion, I divine. With some help she will be fine." Zecora straightened, shaking her head and turning to the . "If you wish to regain good will, go swiftly now to the house of ill. Bring us back a medical mare that we may leave Twilight in the care."
"R-Right! On it!" Rainbow straightened up, saluting quickly and dashing into the night.
Applejack cleared her throat. "Well. That's that, then. Twilight knew something bout Nightmare Moon, but..."
Zecora thought quickly. "As she and I were headed this way, I heard Twilight Sparkle say that she needed to find a special book. Mayhap we should take a look?"
"Actually, that sounds like a very good idea." Rarity walked over to a shelf, her gaze avoiding the unconscious unicorn on the floor. "Do you know what she was looking for?"
"I believe the words she cried were 'Elements Of Harmony: A Reference Guide'." Zecora trotted next to the unicorn, making a show of looking about.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy mumbled, "why did you come to see Twilight?"
Once more the zebra's mind flew into a frenzy. "I traveled far from the land of my birth to learn the secrets of this earth. So when I heard a scholar was here, I thought to meet up with the dear. I know ponies of Ponyville will avoid me when they will; though my feelings this does hurt, I made to a panic avert. Thus I came afore the morn, though now tragedy has been born."
That, and she and Twilight had planned to introduce her as a ludicrously badass zebra warrior that took out Nightmare Moon solo... before Dash knocked her out.
"Oh here it is! It was filed under E!" Pinkie pulled a book from the shelf and began reading from it. "There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now..."
She trailed off.
"Well?" Applejack demanded. "What's it say?"
"...It is located in what is n-now the..." Pinkie gulped. "The Everfree Forest!"
Gasps of shock and horror came from the four conscious ponies.
Zecora sighed. "If it is the forest you fear, then I suppose my path is clear. I offer my service as a guide; you'll be safe walking by my side."
Rarity turned to her. "You'd really do that? After... well, we have treated you horribly..."
"Sweet as a lamp or dull as a post, I will help those who need it most." Zecora glanced out the window. "But I feel we must act fast; Nightmare Moon's patience won't last."
Applejack nodded. "Let's just leave a note for Rainbow...."
Zecora led the four mares through the forest, sometimes pointing out plants to avoid and other times halting the journey entirely so a predator would not notice them. Their progress was generally smooth... right up until they came to the cliff.
"Listen, Zecora..." Applejack stepped forward. "Ah... well, Ah'd just like to apologize fer mah treatment of you in the past."
"There is no need, friend Applejack," Zecora assured her. "It seems that I have a knack--"
"No, Ah... you need to hear this." She took a breath. "Mah parents... they were killed by timberwolves. It's not normal for timberwolves to come out of the forest... So when Ah heard that a strange mare was liven' out here, Ah told everypony Ah could that she must have... must have controlled them" She sighed. "Ah think... Ah think Ah'm the reason for all your loneliness. And... Ah'm sorry."
Zecora flicked an ear. That had... certainly not been baseline.
"...Do not claim all the blame. Even if you started the whispered tales told of me, the die has already been cast. I forgive you of this past." She glanced down the cliff. "Now please friends, your thoughts do lend; how are we to descend?"
Rarity smirked, pulling vines down from the trees. "Leave that to me, darling." Soon enough a makeshift rope ladder had formed, and they all slowly clambered down.
It took a few minutes for Zecora to recall that the cliff was supposed to collapse. But by that point they had moved on, already following her along the way. She was midway through pondering how and why this could have happened when they ran into the manticore.
"Consarn it!" Applejack growled. "We've got to get that critter outta tha way!"
"Wait..."
"Allow me darling. Hi-ya!" Rarity flung herself at the creature.... who snorted and let out a roar. "My hair!"
"Wait..."
Applejack rolled her eyes as Rarity ran by. "Come on, Pinkie, let's give'm the old earth pony one-two!"
"You betchya! Wait, what's the old earth pony one-two?"
"Wait..."
Zecora managed to clap her hooves down on AJ's tail. "Hold your rage and listen to the sage! Fluttershy has something to say, perhaps we should try it her way?!"
"WAI--! Oh. Um, thank you Zecora." Fluttershy nodded politely to the zebra, before trotting up to the manticore. She kept a little smile at the resultant roar, nuzzling the beast regardless of his feeling. "Shhh.... it's okay. It's okay."
Zecora smiled. As she recalled, this was the point where Fluttershy would pull the thorn out of...
The paw didn't have a thorn. Instead, it had a large gash.
"Oh... oh my goodness. We need to help this poor dear!" Fluttershy gave Zecora a look. "Do you have any medicinal herbs? Antibiotics?"
The zebra recovered quickly. "I do indeed have those things with me. I'll search my bags, let me see..." Soon enough she found what she was looking for and rolled it to the pegasus.
"Thank you. Now, this will sting just a bit...."
After Fluttershy had applied the herbs--and Rarity magically transformed more vines into bandages--the small group had continued on. Zecora was expecting to encounter a grove of fear inducing trees, but no such thing came up. Something about this loop was certainly strange...
Still, it wasn't long before they came to Steven Magnet, who was as per usual wailing up a turbulent tide in the river. "Oh, what a world, what a world!"
"I do beg your pardon, sir, but what--" Rarity gasped. "Oh dear Celestia! Your moustache!"
"It's awful! Simply awful! There I was, minding my own business, when this tacky purple cloud of smoke whisked past me and tore half of it clean off! And now I look simply horrid!"
Zecora backed just out of range of the splash that came when the serpent threw himself down. Foreknowledge, even flawed, had its perks.
Applejack snorted. "Seriously?"
"Seriously!" Pinkie Pie stepped forward. "I can seriously see what you're saying, sir! Your sibilant scales, your silky sideburns, your scintillating scratchers... Such a serpent as your sperentine self seems only so stunning with such a sordid slash!"
"Such scandal!" bemoaned the serpent. "Yet it is sincere!"
"You know what I do when I get down in the dumps?" Pinkie asked, bouncing up a rhythm. "I remember what my Granny Pie would tell me!"
"Oh?"
Pinkie nodded, belting into song. "My little Pinkie Pie, she'd say, there are times when things seem all saaaaaaaad... Times when things all go wrong and the whole world seems to go baaaaaaaaad... But just remember this and keep moving up along, there's always time for a happy upbeat joyous sounding song! So sing your little heart out, let the world be full of cheer! It doesn't matter how bad things are, what matters is that you hear the ever constant promise of hope and things to be! Just keep on humming and soon enough, things will be better you'll seeeee!"
"Really?" Steven asked.
"Oh yes really! Just--"
"Sing my scaly heart out!"
"Uh-huh!"
"Remember what I've got!"
"That's right!"
"Though my visage may be horrible, my voice is certainly not!"
"No it ain't!"
"And my moustache will grow back in time, so I'll be of good cheer!" Steven sang.
"And even now, you're a glorious serpent without peer!"
"Thank you dear."
"No I'm serious, you're incredibawesomamazingtasticerful!"
Everyone stared at Pinkie.
"Why...." Steven smiled. "Aren't you just the most adorable little thing!" And he gathered up Pinkie in a tight little hug.
"Ah still don't think ya needed to cut off yer tail," Applejack commented with a smile. "Pinkie's li'l song sure cheered him up."
"Well, it was the right thing to do, darling." Rarity smiled, though she couldn't suppress a glance back and a flinch. "I couldn't let such a crime against fabulousity go unpunished."
"And now that we have climbed this ridge, the castle should be just beyond this... bridge..." Zecora trailed off, looking into the misty canyon. "I will admit to some fault. The broken bridge, I had forgot."
Of course, that was what was different. Rainbow Dash wasn't here, which... didn't actually explain any of the other discrepancies, but at least it was a starting point.
Rarity's horn glowed for a few seconds. Then she sighed. "It's too heavy for me to lift. If I could just get the broken portion over to those posts, I could tie them up--"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!"
A multicolored streak shot out of the sky, landing in front of them. "Guys! Guys. Look, I'm sorry about what went down earlier, alright? I was wrong about you, Zecora, I was wrong about Twilight, and--"
"Wait wait wait." Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Did you just fly all the way from Ponyville to here just to apologize?"
"And see how I can help!" Rainbow insisted. "I'd never leave a friend hanging... even if they hated me." She sighed. "Look, after we get the elements and beat up Nightmare Moon or whatever, if you don't want anything to do with me... that's fine. Just... let me help, somehow."
The ponies all looked at each other. Zecora smiled. "This bridge needs to be tied to the posts over on the other coast. If you could fly down and take it there, I would call us fair and square."
"On it!"
Zecora led the mares into the palace courtyard. There stood the Element Housing, decrepit and dilapidated as per the norm. Fluttershy and Rainbow brought the stone spheres down carefully.
"One, two, three, four... there's only five!" Pinkie declared. Then she facehooved. "Oh, right, the sixth will appear when the other five are together, I think."
"Hmmm," Rarity mused. "Well.... what were the element's names again?"
"Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty," Pinkie rattled off. "And number six... I have no idea."
"Well. If I had to guess--"
"THERE WILL BE NO GUESSING!" Nightmare Moon slammed into the ground, shattering the orbs. "That you took this quest without my sister's student was something id did not expect, but the elements have been destroyed! THE NIGHT IS MINE!"
Rarity blinked. Then she smiled. "I fear you are quite wrong my dear. The Elements are intact, and right here!" She pointed at the zebra. "Zecora, who was willing to help a group of ponies who distrusted her, is the spirit of Generosity!"
The shocked zebra didn't even object when the shards surrounded her.
"Applejack, who told a truth even when it could have hurt her friendship, is the spirit of Honesty!"
Wait, did not expect?
"Fluttershy, who stopped to help a dangerous beast, is the spirit of Kindness!"
Of course! Nightmare Moon hadn't collapsed the cliff or summoned the fear trees!
"Pinkie Pie, who cheered up a grievously wounded sea serpent, is the spirit of Laughter!"
That was the reason everything was going off script....
"And Rainbow Dash, who returned even after earning our distrust, is the spirit of Loyalty!"
Well, mostly off script. Kind of. It seemed to be getting back on track now...
"But... You still don't have the sixth Element!" Nightmare Moon protested. "The spark didn't work!"
"And yet, darling, it did! I have seen each of these five ponies perform harrowing deeds this night. Not for glory or for fame, but to help their friends. And I see now that this is what they are to me, friends. That is the spark, Nightmare Moon, the spark that summons the final element. For the final element is that of Magic, and I see no stronger magic then the love we all have for each other!"
Rarity began to rise--
"And thus was Luna purified, with me at Rarity's side," Zecora finished. "An event, I admit, I could not fortell... though I hope you take it well."
Twilight chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Crazier things have happened. Rarity as the Magic bearer, huh? And you with that Element..." She smiled. "You really did earn it, Zecora, never doubt that."
The zebra smiled, glancing down at the spiralling black gem around her neck. "I will heed your words, Twilight. But tell me, are you all right?"
"This is more embarrassing than anything," Twilight admitted, shifting in the hospital bed. "I guess I've been looping for so long that I forgot I'm not... entirely immortal. That, and Dash came out of the blue--she couldn't stop apologizing, poor girl..."
94.4 (Namar13766)
Twilight looked over her body and grinned. "I'm an Earth Pony! There's no possible way I can get the same cutie mark this time!'
Several months later, when she felt a tingle on her flank from when she was looking through the telescope (when Rainbow Dash had done her Sonic Rainboom at night), her expression was strangely blank. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-
94.5 (The One Butcher)
Twilight Awoke in the usual place. She looked around and was just about to look back down at the familiar Book underneath her when a dark green filly came running at her.
"Did you just Awaken?", the unfamiliar filly asked Twilight.
"Yes.", the Anchor replied.
"And are you the Anchor?", came the carefully neutral question.
"Yes and Welcome to Equestria!" Twilight smiled. "Wait just a minute while I sort out my Loop Memories."
"Before that, what is the name of the teacher with the three flowers on her butt?"
Twilight looked at the filly strangely. "Cheerilee, why? Did you meet her?"
The filly shouted: "It is her!", just as her Loop Memories hit.
"Oh Wych."
Twilight Sparkle awoke with a smile. Today was the Day! Awakening Day! She downed the antidote for the sleeping potion she took yesterday(She couldn't sleep because of her excitement.) and cast Flower's Five-Second-Shower spell.
She raced down the stairs, grabbed the lunchbox she prepared yesterday, briefly held it over the refresher which made the bread and the eggs nice and toasty while cooling down the lettuce and mayonnaise to just the right temperature. She raced out of her house after a quick "Loop." at her Parents and jumped into the transporter which teleported her directly into her seat at school. She was early of course. In fact she was two hours early and while most ponies would use that time to socialize Twilight took out her PADD and went once again through her notes on the Tome of Awakening, the mysterious Book she finally finally will get to read today, while eating her breakfast. Twilight's breakfast was nothing special, for her that is. Ponies these days were quite used to cooking that every other denizen of the Multiverse might call godlike.
Finally Princess Celestia entered the Room. Twilight Sparkle was quite fortunate to get a seat within the actual physical room the Princess used to address the students of the Three Flower's academy of Magic, an institution that remotely taught ponies all around the Galaxy up to age forty. The graduates then each went into research and engineering, trying to better ponykind through knowledge. She grinned at Sunset and Trixie, whom she greeted with a quick "Loop." They once again ignored her to whisper among themselves.
Well, that was rude. Didn't they know Celestia was the second most important pony in existence?
"Loop, dear Students to Magic Fourteen on this fine Awakening Day.", the Princess said to the cameras, "We will have just two Lessons today before the ceremony, followed by my sister holding her Holiday Lectures on History and Metaphysics. Now let's begin our lesson by saying our thanks." Celestia began the Lesson as if today was not the most important day of her life. Twilight giggled.
After the lessons Celestia led her through a door she has never before seen open. The Ancient Library, where there were giant shelves full of tree-paper bound in cardboard and fabric. That was what books looked like before E-Paper had become ubiquitous. Most of those contained only a few hundred pages and most were older than any pony save the Princesses. Even her thirtyfour-great Grandfather, a member of the first generation of immortals, was younger than some of these "Tomes" as they were called. He'll be so proud I've joined the ranks of the chosen.
Celestia let her to a section containing a lot of glass cases, each holding a single "Tome". These are the Tomes of the Three Flowers, the Holy Scripture of Equestria. They stopped before the most ornate one. Golden, inch thick letters spelled out "The Tome of Awakening." The most mysterious and holy of the lot, whom none but a select few may read. And today she would join that illustrious circle.
She craned her neck to be able to read the Book Number and Password as soon as Celestia unlocked the plaque that held it, but instead the Pentarch opened the case itself!
"What are you doing! What if there's moist air, or sweat or something! It's made of tree paper! What if it gets moldy!" She exclaimed in dismay as Celestia was exposing this priceless historical artifact to the elements.
"But Twilight. You are supposed to read it today."
Twilight froze in shock. "I am... supposed to read... the... the... actual physical copy of the Tome of Awakening? Of the most sacred, most valuable most tremendously important BOOK of all time... I thought I would get the secret catalog number and password to access it!" She exclaimed. She was sweaty! She was sweaty! She was going to ruin it! She was...
"TWILIGHT!" Celestia shouted.
Twilight snapped to attention. "Yes, teacher."
"Calm down. The Tome of Awakening has no Number. It is not in the system. This is the only copy."
Ahahahaha. That made it better! Not only would she probably ruin the most important artifact in Pony history, she would also destroy knowledge while doing that. She fainted.
She came to on the Holy Meadow. "Loop, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna greeted her.
"Loop, your Highness." Twilight said with a small voice. She looked up into the eyes of not one, but all four members of the Pentarchy. "Loop, your Highnesses, I mean."
"I have restored you to full functionality. Please calm down and commence your reading. Don't worry about the Tome, it is protected by Equestria's strongest Magic, the Elements of Harmony. It will never come to harm." Twilight nodded.
"We will leave you now." Princess Chrysalis reassured her. Prince Discord looked as if he wanted to say something, but a glare of his co-rulers quelled him and even he left in silence.
Twilight was shocked. All the rulers of the Equestrian Empire convened here, just because of someone becoming one of the chosen? Discord probably came in just yesterday from his seat in the Andromeda Galaxy... Nobody really knew how many chosen there were, but it was probably less than she initially thought. It was known that the Tomes of the Three Flowers are what binds the Pentarchy together, but for them to convene just...
Twilight steeled herself. The Pentarchy has assembled and today I will join the ranks of their chosen. She opened the Tome to the first page and began to decipher the archaic Quillwritten script:
I, Three Flowers record here the last and most important of my Prophecies:
She has power without peer, she is old of mind beyond the age of the universe, she holds knowledge without limit, she is skilled in all, for she is the Anchor of the Universe. All of Equestria exists because of her, she is the Link between our world and Reality. The shield between us and Oblivion. With a probability of 92% on the day before the longest day of her twenty second year, she will read this book under a tree in the sacred Meadow and Awaken.
About a thousand years in the future, with a chance of 98% she will be born, with a chance of 94% she will be a filly, with a chance of 95% she will be purple. With a chance bigger than 99% she will have a Starburst Cutie Mark of the Element of Magic surrounded by five smaller stars.
Her name will probably be Twilight Sparkle and...
Twilight's hyperventilating got a little too much and she had to stop reading. That... couldn't be right... She? The Anchor of Reality? The most sacred deity? The absent Queen of the Pentarchy? And what did they mean with Awa...
Twilight Awoke in the usual place. She looked around and was just about to look back down at the familiar Book underneath her when a dark green filly came running at her.
"Did you just Awaken?", the unfamiliar filly asked Twilight.
"Yes.", the Anchor replied.
"And are you the Anchor?", came the carefully neutral question.
"Yes and Welcome to Equestria!" Twilight smiled warmly at her. "Wait just a minute while I sort out my Loop Memories."
"Before that, what is the name of the teacher with the three flowers on her butt?"
Twilight looked at the filly strangely. "Cheerilee, why? Did you meet her?"
The filly shouted: "It is her!", just as her Loop Memories hit.
"Oh Wych."
"She knew the Secret Name of Great Teacher Three Flowers, just as the Prophecy has foretold! All Hail Twilight Sparkle! All Hail the Anchor of Reality!" The filly shouted. With that Celestia, Luna, Discord and Chrysalis burst from their hiding places and prostrated themselves before her.
"Starswirl the Bearded?" Twilight asked the grade school teacher.
"Yes?" The Pony asked and turned around... only to fall to the ground. "Lady Anchor! It is such an honor to meet you!"
Twilight masked her irritated frown. "Rise my Little Pony. I am nothing special. Three Flowers has simply played a prank on me and the whole of Equestria."
"So you are not holding the whole of reality together?", the bearded stallion asked incredulously.
"Not through any virtue of my own at least." Twilight said uncomfortably. "The whole ultimate power stuff is simply because I am really, really, really old and had a lot of time to study." The Anchor smiled. "And because there are copious amounts of Time shenanigans and alternate timelines involved I can sometimes meet my greatest hero."
Starswirl's eyes widened. He was a smart stallion after all. "There are several theories on using dotated Diamonds to prepare highly stable high temperature quantum bits I wanted your opinion on, Master Starswirl..."
94.6 (Masterweaver)
"...none of the admins really cared enough before Yggdrasil broke, and afterwards they were all just too darn busy," Twilight explained. "So while there might be something outside of its existence, nobody has really spent the time or effort to craft tools to look, much less had any dedicated research. Hence the concept of Void Realms, realities outside Yggdrasil."
Lyra nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, yeah. See, that explains a lot.I mean, it leaves a lot of room for explanation, but it's room that makes sense--"
The casual walk they were taking was suddenly interrupted by a slap to the face.
Lyra blinked. "Uh... Bonbon, what--?"
"Why didn't you tell me you were looping?!"
Lyra blinked again. "Wait, what? I thought--"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Lyra, Bonbon is sometimes a changeling so she gets access to the hive mind. Bonbon, Lyra probably thought you would be weirded out by her being a looper."
"Yes." Lyra nodded fervently. "What she said. You're a changeling?"
"Well, yes, but that's beside the point!" Bonbon glowered at Lyra. "YOU have been acting so darn weird these past three days and I was completely worried! Then Chrysalis, OF ALL CREATURES, takes me aside to explain this?! I should have heard it from you!"
"Would you really have believed me?" Lyra asked. "I mean, after all the human conspiracy theories?"
"Yes! No! I don't know! You're deliberately missing the whole point here!"
"Am I? You being a changeling--" She turned to Twilight. "It's an on and off thing, right?"
"Yes."
Lyra turned back to Bonbon. "It's an on and off thing! How am I supposed to know when it's safe to tell you?!"
"Safe? Oh, nonono. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying you. Don't. Trust me!"
"What?! Of course I trust you!"
"Then why didn't you tell me you were a looper?!"
"YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT I WAS INSANE!" Lyra yelled.
"AND WHY WOULD THAT MATTER?!" Bonbon yelled back. "I'D STILL LOVE YOU!"
"Wait." Lyra tilted her head. "You'd be perfectly happy with me being crazy?"
"I hung around with the human-obsessed pre-awake you," Bonbon pointed out. "Why's this so different?"
Lyra stared at her for a long moment.... before grabbing her and pulling her into a deep passionate kiss.
"I'll, uh..." Twilight glanced around for a bit. "I'll just be going then." She trotted off, shaking her head. "Those two are weird. Now, where am I going to place the robot Rainbow Dash for the mirror prank..."
94.7 (misterq)
Lyra sat on her couch and once again did the breathing and meditation exercise that Twilight taught her. It helped, but only by a small fraction. Her memories did become a tiny bit less fuzzy and overlapping.
"Breathe in and out. In and out. In and out. My name is Lyra," 'Lyra/Heartstrings/Lyra Heartstrings/Lyra Hartman/Lyra Heartstringer/Changeling 24601,' her memories added.
"I am a mint green unicorn," 'pegasus/earth pony/seapony/human under a spell/changeling in disguise/robot,' Lyra continued her steady breathing exercise in spite of the oddness of some of the outlier world memories.
"I grew up in Canterlot along with my family," 'upper class nobility/middle class barely scraping to get by/orphaned at a young age/secretly a human/a wayward seapony,' never had she been more sorry for almost accidentally 'on purpose/coerced/bribed into' breaking the multiverse. Usually when the loop memories hit, the looper gets all the knowledge of who they were and what they did before they Awoke. But Lyra sometimes got all the memories from all the nearby universes. It was getting hard just trying to figure out who she was. She was getting lost in a sea of alternate realities. A flood of other Lyras, other worlds. Simply looking at Ditzy's 'Derpy's/Brighteyes'/Bubbles'' cutie mark gave her a splitting headache.
"My cutie mark is a lyre. My special talent is music," 'making lyres/music critic/interpreting the music of the universe/I saw another pony with a cutie mark like it and arbitrarily chose it for my disguise.'
"Guess what Applejack did today at the market?" the cream colored earth pony walked into the house, carrying an enormous bag of apples on her back," Also, what in Equestria are you doing now?"
"Hi Bon-Bon," 'Sweetie Drops/Bonita/Bonnie/Changeling 1138,' Breathe in, breathe out, "How's my," 'pony I'm just renting a room from/roommate/best friend since foalhood/something more,' "favorite pony?"
"Don't give me that 'favorite pony' stuff. What kind of weird thing were you doing today?" Bon-Bon and her earth pony strength easily dragged the heavy bag of apples into the kitchen, "They're going to get sick and tired of all the candied apples and apple candies I'm going to make for my shop."
"Well,..." Lyra started.
"It's something related to your fascination with humans, isn't it?" the earth pony mare preempted her, "Something that requires you to sit in your weird way?"
"I sit this way because," 'I like to emulate how humans sit/a reminder of when I was a seapony/It's required posture to play the lyre/I'm triple jointed/I seem to have forgotten how to pony/It's comfortable for me,' Lyra chose the safest answer, "it's comfortable, at least for me."
"Uh huh. Right," Bon-Bon scoffed, "Look, Lyra. I've known you since we were both foals living next door to each other in Canterlot. I know by now when you're hiding something important."
"I.. I trust you Bon-Bon," Lyra let out a sigh, "This is what happened. Are you familiar with multiple universe theory?"
"The one that states that there are an infinite number of universes, each slightly different from the last?"
The green unicorn stared at her friend in shock.
"What? I've lived with you for how long? I know far too much about every wild theory and speculation by now."
Lyra composed herself, "Right. Well I tried to prove that theory a while ago using a mirror, a ninja suit, and a techno-magical contraption."
Bon-Bon nodded slowly with some hesitation. The only indication of emotion was a small twitch in her left eye, "Go on."
"Well, I kind of did something wrong and almost broke it."
"The mirror?"
"The multiverse."
That eye twitch again, "I see."
"Now... imagine that each universe rests on a flat plane, like a tabletop. There are other universes that sit above and below them. Kind of like when you look into a fun house mirror and there's another mirror behind you and you wonder if you go far enough though all those other Lyras, you'll find one that is.."
"I get it."
"Ever since my experiment, those tabletops have turned into clear window panes," Lyra's eyes slowly started to tear up, "You'd think I'd be happy to see all the various different worlds, but they're becoming all jumbled up in my memories. I have to try and focus really hard each day just to figure out which Lyra I am."
"That sounds.. horrible. Is there anything else?"
Lyra sniffled and wiped away her tears, "There's also the matter of a time loop."
Bon-Bon took a deep breath, "Where the same length of time occurs over and over? How long, and is it happening just to you?"
"Several years, usually - although, some loops happen outside Equestria. There are a couple dozen ponies who loop, usually not all at once."
"That's why you've been spending time with Vinyl Scratch?"
The musical unicorn nodded, "She's interested in music and has also recently started experiencing the same time period over and over. She, also, has some pony she cares about who isn't looping. We talk. Try and compare experiences."
Bon-Bon let out a long breath and then walked up to Lyra and gave her a big hug.
When it was over, the green unicorn sat there on the couch, shocked, "You? You believe me?"
"I.. Yes, I do. You can peer into other worlds while time looping. It's sounds insane and crazy, but I'd know if you were lying. And I do trust you, Lyra. That's why I didn't act when I saw you sneak away to Vinyl's house. Or Twilight's."
"Um, Twilight has been helping me with my memory problem and teaching me magic. Oh, I can finally show you what a human looks like! Watch this!"
"Wait. I don't think that's such a good.." Bon-Bon started to say, but it was already to late. Lyra's horn started glowing first, followed by the rest of her body.
Lyra concentrated on her spell matrix. It should be fairly simple to turn herself into a human 'seapony/changeling/robot'. Her memories popped in at the last moment, disrupting the spell.
The glow faded and Bon-Bon just stared, her eye twitching rapidly.
"Okay, that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped," Lyra said, cautiously examining her curled seapony tail with her mechanical arms. The ragged changeling wings buzzed on her back as her pony ears twitched in agitated frustration, "I got the torso and most of the head correct. I still have my horn, so it would be no problem to try again."
"No!" Bon-Bon coughed, "I mean, you might make things worse. I don't see how, but I'm pretty sure you could do it. Instead, you are going to float yourself over to the bathroom and fill up the tub. Under no circumstances are you to try that spell again. I am going to slowly leave my house and fetch Twilight Sparkle. This is what's going to happen."
The earth pony nodded to herself, her eye still twitching. Then she steadily trotted over to her front door, opened it, and walked out right into a stunned Applejack.
"Oh, excuse me."
"Er, no problem. Ah just wanted to come over and apologize for my little sister, and what was that strange critter on your couch?"
"That is Lyra. She is a perfectly normal unicorn pony. That is all."
"Bon-Bon!" came Lyra's voice from inside the house, "I bent one of my wings and I'm not sure if I should get tub water on my robot parts."
"A perfectly normal unicorn pony." Bon-Bon rubbed at her eye, "Now I have to see Twilight Sparkle on a totally unrelated matter."
"You do realize that I'm the element of honesty, don't ya?" the farm pony asked.
"Then tell me if I'm being honest when I say that at this point, I don't really care."
"How ya doing there, sugarcube?" Applejack stood in the open doorway looking at the troubled unicorn.
"I'm... doing. Come on in," Lyra, her eyes bleary and her mane disheveled, walked to one side and let in the cowpony, "So what brings you by, Applejack?" 'Jaquiline/Jackie/Applesmith.'
The unicorn shook her head, regulated her breathing, and tried to clear her thoughts.
"You, actually," Applejack walked inside and sat down on the living room couch, in the normal pony way, "I've heard you've been having a touch bit of trouble, lately. I just though I'd come over to see if there's anything I can do for ya?"
"I really appreciate it, Applejack, but I'm not sure if there's anything you can do about my problem," Lyra looked at her guest and saw all the various incarnations of Applejack at the same time. Fortunately, there wasn't as many as most of the other ponies, so her ever-present headache did not get any worse. Still, there was something she saw in the farmpony's history, "Plus, what about your.. phobia?"
"The seapony thing? This is more important, sugarcube, than the perfectly rational fears of a silly pony." Applejack scoffed, then stated, "Plus it has been getting better ever since Twilight stuffed me into your house while you were a seapony and locked the doors. And windows. And chimney. And reinforced the walls. But that's all water under the bridge. I'm here to talk about your problem, not mine."
Lyra sat down on the couch in her usual way, and looked down at the cushions. A few moments passed this way in perfect silence.
Applejack took in a deep breath, "It's because they remind me of my little sister."
"What?" Lyra turned around at the unexpected sentence.
The orange farm pony continued, "Seaponies remind me of Apple Bloom. They all seem to have the same.. enthusiasm as she does. As Pinkie Pie does. As you do. And all I can imagine when I see them is Apple Bloom; with her reckless energy, but with a propensity for explosives that borders on Trixie levels. I can picture my barn exploding, and then our farm house exploding, and then the locked shed with Mac's secret doll collection exploding; and then Apple Bloom, a wild look in her eyes, coming out of a grove of burning, shattered apple trees announcing that she finally got her cutie mark in pointless gratuitous detonations and all she had to do was use the orchard for target practice."
"R.. Really?" Lyra asked.
Applejack nodded, "I'm a pretty steadfast pony. If the loops have done anything, they've made me more like myself - if that makes any sense. I've just become more Applejack-y as time goes on. And I've always been a cautious sort. But you, Pinkie Pie, and Apple Bloom tend to jump into things with all hooves forward, full steam ahead, regardless of consequences. So when I found an entire race of ponies who lived by that philosophy; I admit, I got scared."
"An entire race of Apple Blooms? That's actually understandable," the mint green unicorn nodded.
"Like I said, a perfectly rational fear. And like I also said; I'm here, today, for you. If you need me to listen, I'll listen. If you need me to just sit here in the quiet evening, I'll gladly do that. I may not be as good a mind shrink as Fluttershy, or even Pinkie; but I just want you to know that if you need a pony at your back, you've got me."
"Thanks. Thank you, Applejack," Lyra sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. The two ponies then sat there in silence. Then, the green unicorn broke it, "Do you want to hear me playing my lyre? I know enough to make the kind of music you like."
"I'm thinking I'd like that," Applejack nodded, "Just let me know if you need banjo accompaniment. It's still the instrument I'm best at."
"I think, I think I would like that as well," and for the first time that day, Lyra smiled.
94.8 (Masterweaver)
The request was the first hint, one that completely flew over her head.
"Hey Twilight. Listen, I've got plans for this loop, but it'll be difficult to set everything up. Could you try to get a different DJ for the fashion show, Fiddlesticks maybe?"
"Sure thing, Vinyl. Heck, might be an excuse to get Sweetie to bond with Rarity."
"Awesome. So I've gotta go, I won't be able to chat for a while..."
"Do your thing, Vinyl, it'll be fine."
The second hint, of course, had been the conspicuous absence of one DJ PON-3 in the papers, but Twilight had dismissed that as just a side effect of Vinyl's plans... whatever they were.
The third hint was the rise of DJ LU5T, and that would have caught Twilight's attention if she hadn't been more focused on prepping for Discord. Simply put, though, she didn't go to night clubs often enough to realize the discrepancy, simply rationalizing that musicians were filling the void left by Vinyl.
It wasn't until she noticed the shield--or rather, the absence of the shield around Canterlot that Twilight started to suspect that maybe something more than a simple prank was ahoof. This suspicion was only confirmed once she arrived, finding no threat filed and Cadance performing the Ladybug dance easily. After congratulating her and Shining, she'd excused herself to wander Canterlot.
The final nail in the coffin came when she actually met DJ LU5T, a grinning white unicorn... with a silky green mane, whose real name was Crystal Wish. She'd introduced herself, sending a codephrase and getting no reply; Crystal had been happy Pinkie hired her for the wedding, noting that "Tavi is so jealous!" among other things.
Ah.
So it was that on the morn of the wedding day, with no small amount of trepidation, that Twilight Sparkle looked out upon Canterlot in the vain hope she could prepare herself for whatever would happen next....
"WAZZUP IN THIS CITAAAAAAAAAAAY!"
And all of the sudden, a swarm of black creatures burst out of buildings, performing an amazingly coordinated dance number as they swung their glowsticks. Strolling through the crowd, wearing saggy pants and a backwards ball cap, was Queen Venation.
94.9(Masterweaver)
"I hereby call the gathering to order!" Sweetie cried, slamming a hoof on the podium. "Our mission is simple: Prevent Celestia from having a single slice of cake this loop!"
Gasps of shock and horror came from her audience. "Sweetie Belle, that... that's suicide!" Nyx protested. "Even when she's not awake, Celestia is dangerously protective of her pastries!"
"Suicide it may be, but there is a reason for this madness. And the reason is... Vengeance!"
"Vengeance?!"
"You're just bored and want to be a supervillain," Chrysalis deadpanned.
"Potayto, potahto. Anywho, I have enlisted you two as my trusted EEEEEEEEVIIIIIL LIEUTENANTS! Chrysalis, you and the changeling swarm will infiltrate the castle and intercept any and all cake deliveries! Nyx, with Luna's powers of dreamwalking you will prevent Celestia from even eating in her sleep. It's foolproof!"
"IT'S MADNESS!" Nyx insisted.
"It's foolproof madness," Chrysalis countered. "Right, I'm in. Should be an interesting challenge."
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Dammit I want to know what the mirror prank is.
3 full sets of Elements, it'll be fun to see what happens when all are activated at once,
The OFC shall be tripled! *Nightmare Moon laugh* I like foolproof madness.
Commentses!
94.1: *Snerk* Thinking on your hooves can be difficult indeed.
94.2: Starsky and hutch?
94.3: Let the mixup possibilities begin!
94.4: poor twi...
94.5: The Pinkie one comes close too.
94.6: I think I love the LyraBon dynamic here, scratch that, I know I do.
94.7: Does anyone know if we can find lyre and banjo music?
94.8: I'd buy it.
94.9: I really hope we see some of how that works out.
Is 94.9 because of Evil Belle?
So much of this is awesome, I can barely find time or thought to comment on it...!
Onward! The (current) homestretch approaches!
94.5: That's gotta be damn near impossible to top for pranks.
Derpy is the multiverse.
No, really, if you look closely at one of the bubbles of her cutie mark, you'll see Yggdrasil.
94.1 Luna is a dream-walking pepping tom.
Baseball caps on backwards?
Egad! They are changelings, walking towards ponies in a menacing way! (yo)
But are they also mean and / or turf?
I'm surprised this didn't come up sooner. It's one of the first things I'd ask upon being in a story like this one
Hey, did they ever say what broke and/or why?
That rhyming is downright precognitive.
>> .4
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"your friend with the hat." Poor applejack, even skynet thinks you are worst pony.
I need to read about Tia going cold turkey from cake.
94.5 was just adorable.
5288771
You've probably already read answers for this issue later on, but...
Well, those are probably the biggest questions that the Admins have up there. As for the readers...:
The Innortal-era Doylist "explanation" for the damage (insofar as there being one in the first place) was just as an excuse for the oftentimes-raunchy shenanigans across and within multiple franchises. However, given the timeline since then, I'm willing to hazard that the original catastrophe was software-based - within the coding, in other words... though that's as narrow as I can get.
Watsonian? Theories have been bounced around, but none have been specifically targeted for further research... though that may be more down to a lack of interest in the subject on the part of the writers than anything else. Quite frankly, no one knows for sure what happened - at least none that would be willing to talk about it.
Put another way, the vast majority of snippets tend to focus more on Looper antics than on showing the Admins at work - which really is the expectation when you think about it.
IM IN!
reminds me of a story where an evil human (well, not a killer, but a con-artist) tried to keep Luna out of his dreams with a dream-catcher...she got tangled up in it, but quickly burned her way out, and when he saw the burning dream-catcher, he realized she had been spying on him, and immediately fled Canterlot.
and the last part reminded me of this story: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/9135/a-slice-of-life
5288771
The system in charge of reality, otherwise known as Yggdrasil, is what broke. How it broke is actually related to the Crash that triggered a lot of new Loopers. The Admins had been trying to kickstart a severely damaged universe that was really close to the still unknown event that caused the damage to Yggdrasil, hoping they could find the answer in that universe. It failed, causing the Crash and effectively removing a reality from existence.
It kinda slams home just why the Admins are so against Loopers prematurely ending their Loop. It damages the Loop, sorta like a mini-Crash.
8478399
if i remember, there's a scene, possibly later on, where one of the Admins tells Twilight that someone, somehow, utterly destroyed an entire timeline.
"it's gone at the CONCEPTUAL level, even WE don't REMEMBER anything about it!"
THAT was what caused the original crash.