Caramel wasn't always a Changeling, but he's going to become one. And he's going to do it for the sake of his very special somepony.

This is a fic based on the Time Loop Files, the format of which was first codified by Innortal on fanfiction.net.
Here's a brief guide.
The basic idea is, one character (the Anchor, usually the main character of a fictional setting) is looping back to the very first moments of their parent series every time either they die or some kind of time limit expires. They of course end up monumentally stir crazy given enough time.
Eventually others start to loop as well.
The reset is not always perfect. Sometimes a loop's history will be different to the "prime" loop, or canonical plot.
"Crossover" or "Fusion" loops also occur, randomly. These can involve the home loopers having a guest, or the anchor for one universe spending time in another, or replacements of one character by another.
Vacation Loops are where the Anchor (or others) decide/s "buck it" and lets off steam by doing whatever comes to mind. There's little or no attempt to maintain the original timeline.

In addition, and particularly more recently, it should be known that this story has a collaborative element to it - people may submit loop ideas or loops, ideally at the Spacebattles thread (a link to the current version of which is on the Trope page), and they may become included.

There's two page image options, thanks to Filraen - the current page image has been edited by the original creator from this work of theirs.. The other one is here:
http://hourglass-vectors.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Loops-466030169

Following the return of Nightmare Moon, Canterlot was in turmoil. Noble houses and loyal ponies stood in defiance against the fallen Princess and perished. The Elements of Harmony cleansed the Nightmare, and the Princess of a millennium ago was returned, but the damage was done, and lives were torn asunder.

Noble House Vanity, a house repute of true self reflection and inner strength, lay in ruin, its thousand year history on the brink of closure. Viktor Vanity, one of the last living members of his house, desperate to save it from bankruptcy and ending the bloodline, takes matters into his own hooves. Faced with no other options, in his eyes, he transitions to marehood believing it will allow her to find a sympathetic suitor. However, things are not so simple when it goes beyond the game of politics after a mysterious murder of a friend in high standing and strange games of subterfuge begin to put the nobility at each others throats.

No longer is she and her house trying to rebuild, but survive a coming storm that could shatter the masquerade that the nobility dances about in its corrupt blissful ignorance and threaten all of Canterlot, if not all of Equestria.

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Pre-reader credit. Thank you Cyfrostan, Captainhoers, Moonfire, Bombora, and my greatest ally in writing, WellaWeiss, whom this is dedicated to.
All character artwork in photo album is credited in the description of each art piece. Art cover credit goes to Silk-Ribbon on Deviant Art. Also, you can see the character art photo album here!