//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Owls Well That Loops Well // Story: Very loopy // by Sollace //------------------------------// TICK TICK TOCK TICK TICK Sweetie Belle paged frantically through her book—a massive black tome with golden inlays and a glowing red skull floated in front of her, shimmering with a green glow as she muttered to herself and turned the page. “...No, not that...” —the next page—“Chalk Pentagrams and how to— No...” Princess Celestia, Celestia, and Princess Luna, Luna had already made themselves comfortable in their respective beds, Rarity’s old clock-tocked urgently from its position hung haphazardly above the dresser. Every tick announced their gradual procession towards midnight, grinding on Sweetie’s frazzled nerves whilst the Princesses’ bickering battered against them with a sledge hammer. “Move over,” Celestia crowed. Sweetie winced. She shut her ears to the sound, and turned her head away, putting the base of Celestia’s bed to her back. Celestia wriggled uncomfortably, causing her side of the bed to creak and moan in anguish. She tugged at the edges of the covers with her magic, unsheathing herself in the process. “Me, you’re taking up all of the sheets again!” “I’m taking up all the sheets!?” Celestia shouted back. She pulled the covers in response, rolling over as she unlevelled herself from the bed. “Yes!” Celestia confirmed, then tugged them back, uncovering her other counterpart once again, and began shoving her way towards the centre of the bed. Celestia jolted and pushed pack, shying away from the edge of the bed. “Stop that!” she snapped back, then grabbed her end of the sheets and began to pull, all the while fending her side of the bed from the encroaching invasion—as Princess of Celestia, it was a point of pride to never give up her land, even if it was just a bed, and the invading forces were unquestionably her own. She was a stubborn mare when she wanted to be. Old age, you see. “This is a princess-sized bed. It’s big enough to hold a small family, and their barber, and somehow you are taking up all the space!” “Are you calling me fat!?” “If the cake fits,” Celestia shouted back at herself. She then tugged on the covers, and began a tactical retreat on the northern wall to head her victory on the pillow hills to the south. “Your hiney-est.” With a quick yank, she pulled the pillows out from under herself, and positioned them neatly beneath her own head. “Ah-g-” Celestia gawked. She glanced to Celestia, then to Luna, and finally to Luna, as if to confirm what she’d just done had actually just happened. “No fair!” She screamed. Then, looking with pleading eyes to Luna, she pouted and begged. “Referee—” Luna glanced, a look of contempt—and exhaustion—etched across her face. Her eyelids were dropping with exhaustion—“I want a recall!” Celestia said. Sweetie Belle grimaced. She covered her ears with her wings, using the largest of the feathers as makeshift earplugs to drown out the constant bickering. The last thing she heard before the muffled silence was a yelp on the Princess’ part, and the distinct riiiiip a sheet being torn in two. “Dark spell, Dark spell, how to resurrect Nightmare Moon—”she called out each spell as she flipped through each of the sections. Each one only seemed to be getting darker than the last by the paragraph, and progressively harder to read as the author's sanity was clearly tested. At one point the text seemed to be written in crayon, and the pages began oozing some form of raspberry jelly. –“Foal’s guide to Mind-control”—She earmarked that one. Then, licking the sweet substance from her hooves, she flipped a few chapters ahead. The section on cutie marks was oddly missing, but there was still plenty of material on sleeping spells. Luna nodded. She blinked, dozed for a moment, and then looked to herself. The room fell into a grateful silence as they whispered between them for a second, before the other Luna raised her hoof to announce their verdict. “We announce Celestia as the victor,” the first said. “Can we go to sleep now?” the second added. The Celestias looked at each other and frowned. They turned back to Luna and screamed in stereo. “How is that helping!?” Luna raised her hooves in self-defence, and almost missed smacking her sleeping counterpart upside the head. "Hey, hey! You ask for our help, we offered a solut—" “Aha!” Sweetie Belle's shout caused everypony to jump—including the sleeping Luna, who gave a loud yelp as she was almost jolted out of her bed by the aforementioned jumping. Celestia dropped everything and they both scrambled to start picking up the pieces of their fight. By the time Sweetie belle had looked up from her book, they had just disposed of the torn sheets and had donned their A-grade, never before failed, most innocent—we totally did nothing wrong—polite grins. The types of grins normally reserved for when Fancy Pants caught them with a hoof in the cookie jar, so to speak, or when ponies start asking what happened to Blueblood. Sweetie's smile faded as her eyes settled on the princesses and the scene around them. She raised an eyebrow at Luna, who returned with a shrug, but otherwise decided it best to ignore them, for the most part. It was already more than obvious what had happened. Just by looking at the lack of covers on the bed, the over abundance of loose feathers, skewered and deflated pillow cases strewn across each Celestia’s horns, and the glowing black portal shimmering above the headboard, she was pretty sure she didn't want to find out. “I found it,” she said. Sweetie held her book slightly higher, putting, its thick, strong binding between herself and the Celestias as she began to read from it. “To induce a death-like slumber, one must begin by drawing a pentagram...” Pouting, she scanned further down and continued, “Sacrifice the blood of an older sister...” She rolled her eyes then flipped a few more pages. “Declare my undying loyalty to the dark lords Cuddlethulu...” As she turned the last page, her eyes lit up. “A-hah!" She tapped the page. "Here we go!" Her horn crackled, and Sweetie directed a short bolt to the Celestias. Her voice cracked as she squeaked the magic words. "Aaaand sleep!" The princesses collapsed into a head atop their bed, a loud, rumbling snore emitting between them as the bed settled under their weight. The black-hole portal behind them, now with no master, wobbled and rippled, and silently slinked out of a nearby window to begin its long and varied adventure across Equestria. The faint, however welcomed, tick-tick-tock of the clock pervaded. It added an almost calming serenity to the room, like the gentle breeze after a summer hurricane, one change which was more than welcome in Sweetie's mind. She lowered her wings and gently folded them at her side, or at least as close as they would go without brushing against the floor. She straightened her tiara with a flicker of magic then took a glance over the silent room. “Okay...” She drew a long breath, taking a moment to recollect herself. “Now that they’re asleep...” Another deep breath and Sweetie began collecting the magic for another spell. She set the book aside, and directed her attention, and horn towards the other bed. “All we need to do is put—” Sweetie Belle paused. Both Luna's were lying sprawled in a heap, the covers all but abandoned as they cuddled against each other in their hooves. Their platinum regalia were missing, replaced by moon and rainbow themed pyjamas. The top one bore a wacky grin, whilst the latter had her tongue out, trailing a stream of drool towards a puddle on the floor beside the bed. Both snored like a pair of stunted jack hammers. Sweetie felt herself crack a smile at the sight. She lowered her magic, and decided to turn away, deciding to leave them. “... O-Okay then,” she said, stifling a giggle. With her job done, and a mild case of heart palpitations [1], Sweetie Belle carefully made her retreat, cantering back to the dresser as quickly as her tiny hooves could carry her. She pulled out the chair and took a seat, glancing back to the clock to check her time. 11:15 “... Now I just have to wait.” A soft tap-tap tap-tap-tap called Sweetie’s attention to the window. A small owl fluttered outside, and when she let it in, he came to perch himself on the back of Sweetie’s chair. “Oh hi, Owlowiscious, do you want to come with?” “Who?” “You know that’s not funny, right?” “... Sorry.”