//------------------------------//
// MLP Loops 204 
// Story: MLP Time Loops 
// by Saphroneth 
//------------------------------//

204.1





“Okay, Spike, you remember where you need to send it?” Twilight asked.

“Yep!” Spike replied proudly. “The big dumping zone Applejack set up yesterday, right?”

“That's right,” Twilight confirmed. “Okay, here we go!”

A spell washed over Spike, magically boosting the size he could manage with his flame, and he let out a jet of green dragonfire which washed over the rubble in the courtyard of the Two Sisters' Castle.

The rubble glowed green, then dissolved into smoke and curled off back towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“I must admit, this is quite a fine technique, Twilight,” Princess Luna said, relaxing slightly. “I had feared that I was about to witness the destruction of a great part of the castle, and while it is a ruin now it has some sentimental value to me.”

“I wouldn't want to destroy it, Princess!” Twilight replied earnestly. “It's an excellent example of period construction.”

She paused, as Spike continued smokifying debris and sending it off to be disposed of. “Actually, that does remind me... your way of speaking in public, it's the Royal Canterlot Voice?”

Twilight had never really noticed this before, but now she had she had no qualms about asking Luna. And, well... this was probably close enough to baseline.

Best to ask the question several times to be sure though.

“'tis,” Luna agreed.

“Wouldn't it be the Royal Everfree Voice?” Twilight inquired.

“Ah!” Luna laughed. “No, I see thy concern. 'tis true that Canterlot was not the royal court at the time, but the Royal Voice was so named because it could be heard from Canterlot – a place of great importance even during the Diarchy.”

Twilight blinked, thinking about the distance from the Castle to Canterlot.

“I... can see why that would tend to be a very loud voice, yes,” she admitted.

“And many was the enjoyable evening spent on the balcony with Celestia!” Luna added. “Raising our voices so that we might judge quite what qualified as the Royal Canterlot Voice!”

She chuckled. “Ah, those were the days. Didst thou know the earplug was invented here?”

“I'm not really surprised,” Twilight admitted.

“Uh, Twi?” Spike asked. “So I was sending the stuff to that clear area, and I hit this big jeezly tree... is that a problem?”

Twilight teleported past him to look into the next room, and was confronted by the sight of the Tree of Harmony turning to smoke and flying off into the distance. “Well... Quercus rubra.”

“Is there a problem, Twilight?” Luna asked, then looked around the corner as well. “Ah... I see.”

She turned to Twilight. “Please, cover thy ears and those of thine companion.”

After a moment's pause while they did so, Luna then demonstrated quite adequately that it was still the Royal Canterlot Voice.





204.2 (Wixelt, Vinylshadow & BIOS-Pherecydes)

*ring ring ring*

Twilight looked up from the book she was reading in confusion at the noise, tilting her head to one side.

"Odd," she mused to herself, "I didn't think we had phones this loop."

Shrugging, she glanced around, finding that there was, in fact, a phone situated on a small table near the front door of her library. Staring at it for a long moment, the Anchor sighed, before levitating it over to her cautiously.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this a Miss..." the voice on the other end paused, very obviously consulting a list, "...Sparkle?"

"...Yes?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you?"

"We're calling from the Royal Electrics Company. Is your refrigerator running properly?"

"...I'm sorry, I don't believe I have a-" the purple mare began, before pausing, and glancing across the room, where a familiar white appliance now sat, "...fridge."

"Our records indicate you do, miss."

"I see. In that case, you can presume it's running just fine, thank you very much."

"And your freezer?"

Twilight glanced back at the fridge, which was now, sure enough, sat atop a second white unit.

"Present and running, it seems." she answered, narrowing her eyes. The voice was clearly put on, "May I ask who i'm talking to?"

"We told you, miss."

"No, I mean you specifically."

"Um..." there was a pause, and Twilight swore she heard a trio of hushed whispering voices in the background, "Cold Caller, miss."

"Really..." the Anchor smirked, recognition sparking in her eyes, "Well, i'll be sure to give that name to your supervisor... Apple Bloom."

There was another pause, this time much longer. Then, the recognizable tones of a certain orange Pegasus filly piped up suddenly.

"She's onto us. Scatter!"

The sound of the receiver being dropped, followed by the rapid movement of hooves cantering into the distance, was music to Twi's ears.

Chuckling, she put the phone back in its cradle, before turning to examine her kitchen appliances.

Except the spots where they had once stood were now bare.

"Of course," Twilight said, throwing her hooves into the air. "Of. Course!"

Grumbling over more lost reading time, she grabbed a pen and paper and left a note before running out the door. Nearly half an hour later Spike wandered in looking for his caretaker and spotted the note. Picking it up, his face twisted in confusion as he read.

'Spike,

The fridge and freezer are running. Went to catch them. Be back later.

— Twilight'

Sighing to himself, the unAwake dragon slowly set the note down, before fetching some writing implements of his own. Brow creasing, he began to write.





Celestia eeped in surprise as a scroll dropped into her lap, almost dropping her cake in surprise. Tentatively, she levitated the letter up, unfurling it as she began to read, noting this was a message Spike had apparently forwarded to her.

The princess narrowed her eyes. She'd feared this day every loop Twilight Awoke late, but over a kitchen appliance of all thing-

*ring ring ring*

She froze, startled by the sudden noise that had broken her from her thoughts. Slowly, she turned, finding that a phone of some description had appeared on the arm of her throne. Apprehensively, she picked it up.

"Congratulations!" a booming voice exploded forth from the device, "You are our 1000th caller! You have won our grand prize of 100; that's right, 100 cakes-"

"Nyx." Celestia deadpanned, "I know it's you."

There was a long silence, then the voice spoke again, this time in a more recognizable tone.

"...so you don't want the cakes?"

"Don't be daft. Of course I want the cakes."





204.3 (Vinylshadow)

Sunset Shimmer slid into a booth at Big Mac's bar and buried her head in her hooves, shuddering.

Twilight, passing by, noticed and frowned, before taking a seat across from her.

"Rough Loop?" she asked gently, setting a drink before the unicorn.

"Remember that time my empathy powers got out of control at Canterlot High?" Sunset asked, glancing up. Seeing the drink, she took it and sniffed it, curling her lip in disgust at the smell, but chugged it nonetheless.

"From someone overusing their powers, yes," Twilight said. "Why? Did something else happen?"

"Twilight, I was in a high school. I was reading minds without being able to turn it off. Do you have any idea what goes through the mind of a high-schooler?"

Twilight blinked, then winced, then went green. "Oh..."

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one," Sunset said with a groan. "I'm glad I've got other ways to turn off my power if need be, but Null Loops are gonna be rough."

"Just because you don't have access to the ability to turn it off via out-of-Loop powers, doesn't mean you can't train yourself to ignore unnecessary thoughts," Twilight pointed out.

Sunset grimaced, then nodded. "Good point," she said, before rubbing her head ruefully. "There's usually just enough time between Null Loops that I forget about things like that, so when I don't have access to familiar abilities, I panic."

Twilight patted her hoof comfortingly. "There there. Never forget, you have friends on both sides of the mirror that'll gladly help you."

"Cheers to that," Sunset said, lifting her mug.





204.4 (Wixelt)

It was morning in Equestria. Then it was evening. Then it was morning again, as two celestial bodies, empowered by the wills of their respective Looping masters, raced each other across the sky, egged on by millions of awestruck non Looping spectators, whilst Pinkie Pie and Discord took bets on who would 'win', for the given measure, and the Princess of Love and her husband took great effort to keep gravity as it should have been.

Meanwhile, amidst the flickering light, two lovers, one equine and one draconic, indulged in a dance for the ages, though not one of passion. In the starry daynight, thousands more ponies and other creatures moved in unison, making the very foundations of the world rock, as Spike and Rarity led the largest flash mob this world had likely ever seen.

Then, with an explosion to tear reality asunder, great balls of fire erupted above the Celestial Sea, and six colossal mechanical monstrosities of various shapes and builds rose from the waters, their filly pilots prepared for a battle for the ages.

And watching on, a single purple unicorn stared, their left eye twitching.

"Uh..." Applejack glanced across at the loop's Anchor, frowning, "Ya'll okay there, Twi?"

"I-" Twilight began, before stopping herself with a sigh of resignation, shaking her head, "You know what? Buck it. Birch be damned, i'm not in the mood for... any of this. No warning..." she narrowed her eyes, "I'm out."

The mare suddenly seemed to implode on the spot as she retreated into her pocket; a sight to behold to be sure. That said, with all else going on, few ponies stopped to pay notice, the only one guaranteed to simply chuckling dryly before looking back out at the madness that had befallen her homeland for this one iteration.





204.5 (Vinylshadow)

Ivory Scroll jumped in surprise as something slammed into the window of her office.

Looking outside, she blinked in bafflement as a swarm of Changelings zoomed by, chasing a screaming stallion. Her brow furrowed and she trotted to her trusty cabinets, opening them and rifling through their contents before she found what she needed and exited Town Hall.

A pair of Changelings spotted her almost immediately and dived at her.

"Excuse me," Ivory said, holding up a hoof, causing the bugs to screech to a halt. "Could either of you take me to your Queen? There's something I need to discuss with her."

Exchanging confused glances, the bugs then shrugged and motioned for the mare to follow them.

Before long, they came across Chrysalis, who was cackling as she watched her children chase the residents of Ponyville. Noticing her goons and their prize, she turned to face them.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Ivory Scroll, mayor of Ponyville," Ivory said politely, bowing low. "If it's not too much trouble, could I ask you to reschedule your invasion?"

Chrysalis' brow rose. "And why would I do that?" she asked. "I have waited far too long to get my revenge-"

"That's nice and all," Ivory said, cutting across her impatiently, "but you're cutting into another planned invasion of Ponyville."

Chrysalis blinked slowly. "And what does that mean?"

"Do you have any idea how much paperwork is involved with invasions?" Ivory asked. "Property damage, hospital costs, produce numbers, that kind of thing. An unscheduled invasion ruins months of hard work and makes more work for everyone."

"And why should I care?" Chrysalis asked, rolling her eyes.

"Because your invasion is on the same day as-"

An unearthly roar shook the ground and a giant glowing purple bear poked its head out over the trees of the Everfree forest.

"-an Ursa Major," Ivory said with a sigh.

Chrysalis' jaw dropped and she took a step back. "I...I think I left the stove on back at the hive. Children! To me! FLEE!"

A massive black cloud of Changelings lifted from Ponyville and scampered off south.

Ivory rolled her eyes and trotted back to Town Hall, mind already back on her work.





204.6 (Vinylshadow)

Ivory Scroll sipped her tea as she pored over her daily crossword, eyes darting over the familiar black and white boxes that she had filled out time and time again.

While it was exceptionally rare to get repeat crosswords, the natural nature of reliving one's life over and over inevitably led to a few repeats, and this one felt somewhat familiar...

"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis," Ivory muttered, writing it in. There was a knock at her door and she got to her hooves. Opening the door, she gazed up at the familiar visage of Discord.

"You're early," Ivory noted. "Usually you don't break out for another three hours."

"Oh please," Discord said, following her inside, "you know how I operate."

"Yet here you are, taking time to carefully plan your escapades and terrorize Equestria," Ivory pointed out.

"It's called organized Chaos, my dear Mayor," Discord said, sitting down at the table. Pulling the crossword to him, he scowled at it. "I remember this one. Took me months to finish. My claw kept cramping and I made the mistake of then switching to another limb and wound up utterly unable to move."

"You poor thing," Ivory said without a trace of sympathy as she set a stack of paper that was almost as tall as she was down on the sturdy table, which groaned alarmingly.

"Please tell me that's the paperwork for the entirety of Equestria," Discord said, eyeing it warily.

"This is for Ponyville and Canterlot," Ivory replied, setting a page down in front of the draconequus. "The entirety of Equestria wouldn't fit in here, so unless you want to reschedule-"

Discord waved a claw, grimacing. "That will not be necessary. Just show me where to sign to prevent ponies from suing me into oblivion."

"I've already set it up so that by signing one line, all others similar to it get signed as well. The only times you'll need to sign again is when it's about something else."

"Fascinating," Discord said, signing the dotted line. A paper from a little ways down the pile then slid out and he read the fine print carefully before signing again, and the process repeated another dozen times before it was complete.

"A pleasure doing business with you," Discord said, shaking Ivory's hoof.

"Have fun spreading Chaos, and if there's anything else you need, you know where to find me," Ivory said.





204.7 (Vinylshadow)

Ivory Scroll whistled idly as she went out to pick up her morning newspaper.

She was then picked up by a magical aura and brought face-to-face with one Lord Tirek.

"Hello, little pony," he boomed. "Would you be so kind as to give me your magic?"

"Do you have the necessary paperwork?" Ivory asked. "And a signed permission slip from the princesses?"

"...Of course not," Tirek said.

"Then put me down," Ivory said, crossing her forelegs and scowling at him. "It's quite rude to take a pony's magic without permission."

"You don't need permission when you're the most powerful being in Equestria," Tirek said, bringing her closer, opening his mouth to drain her magic.

With a sigh, Ivory summoned some extra paperwork from old Loops she had been planning to finish for fun, and crammed it down his throat.

Gagging, Tirek dropped her and spat out the sheets of paper, before glaring at her.

"Fine," he said with a growl. "I guess we'll be doing this the hard way."

Ivory backhoofed the blast he sent her way and shook her head. "You really don't want to mess with the Bureaucracy," she warned.

With a roar, Tirek lunged at her.





Twilight's brows rose as she trotted into Ponyville Town Hall to drop off her tax returns and saw who was sitting behind the receptionist desk.

"Hello, Tirek," she said cheerfully, dropping off her papers. "Please file these correctly this year."

"Of course," Tirek said politely, eyes darting warily at the door to Ivory Scroll's office. "I'll personally make sure they're filed away correctly."

"Splendid. See you later."

Twilight left, and Tirek broke down in tears.





204.8 (Scorntex)

It had started, as things do, relatively innocently, one afternoon.

Pinkie had been sitting there, thinking to herself in a particularly Pinkie-ish fashion. And the words came to mind.

"What if the party didn't have to stop?"

The idea had burned through her mind, and Pinkie had rushed out to find Rainbow Dash and talk to her about it.

There had been several minutes of confused discussion before Rainbow Dash caught on to what Pinkie was talking about: A party that started in one Loop, and kept going until it ended.

It took Rainbow Dash, who had long since grown and matured from her baseline self into an intelligent and responsible being, approximately two minutes to come around to the idea.

Plans were laid out. They were discussed. Discussions were had over drinks, and then slightly more incoherent discussions were had over even stronger drinks.

But eventually, a plan was hashed out. The next Loop, the two agreed, they would try the Party that Never Stopped.

Immediately upon learning about this, Twilight Sparkle set out to find the two.

She launched into a long, stern yet calm explanation of why this was not a good idea. A slideshow was presented, documents were displayed. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie listened attentively, nodded thoughtfully at the appropriate juncture, answered correctly when Twilight tried to catch them off-guard by asking questions, and filled out enough of the follow up questionnaire to satisfy Twilight's desire to see they had paid attention and were not going to start a Loop long party.

Then they had, albeit with tremendous guile and subtlety, questioned Twilight as to when she would next be visiting her parents / grandparents / brother / teacher-figure / delete where applicable.

Sometimes, it was astounding how intelligent beings could make such easy mistakes.





Fresh sunlight washed over the land of Equestria. It had been mere hours since Nightmare Moon had been defeated (and some might have said anticlimactically, given she hadn't gotten halfway through declaring who she was before getting a face full of harmony), and things were looking good.

Not too far from Ponyville, geographically speaking, two ponies met. In accordance with the rules of trying to be inconspicuous (thought there was no-one to be conspicuous too), they were both wearing sunglasses (even though this did nothing to hide the rest of their very easily identified bodies).

"We ready?" Rainbow Dash hissed, looking suspiciously at the nearby rocks, as if expecting something or someone to jump out from underneath them and catch her in whatever act she might have been up to.

"Oh, we're ready." Pinkie Pie hissed back.

"Great."





Twilight Sparkle took another sip from her tea, and frowned with intense concentration, as she went over some of her notes (specifically: Attack of the Nightmare Universe - How to Deal With Your Evil Alterna-Self).

Her plan for the day was, with any luck, picking a better title, and then looking through the reports Bruce Wayne had sent through on his last visit. With any luck, there would be an acceptable ratio of sentence fragments to coherent information (much as he was one of the finer investigative minds in the omniverse, damn if he didn't have problems showing his working sometimes).

That was when everything started shaking.

This was not the sort of thing that caught an experienced looper absolutely by surprise, so once the initial shock passed, Twilight got out a scanner, and made a note of where the cause of the shaking was coming from.





A quick check around Ponyville to make sure everything and everyone was (relatively) fine, Twilight teleported to the quake's source.

She quickly found a large(ish) crater. She looked up, and saw it.

Slowly ascending into the clouds, giving off a sound not unlike several dozen people going "woo" at once, was a building.

It looked astoundingly like a house. Over the odd sound, she could hear a bass thumping, and as she watched, a lamp dramatically smashed out of the window and fell to the ground below.

Twilight growled irritably, and after a brief calculation, prepared to teleport up to the building.





SIX MONTHS LATER:

Princess Celestia gently rubbed a hoof against the side of her head, nudging the ice bag sitting on top of it sideways.

"Please, Twilight," she said, in the quiet groan of someone who had far too much fun the night before, her immensely pink eyes blinking blearily, "not so loud."

"Sorry." Twilight said. She hadn't actually been speaking that loud, but she knew that didn't matter to someone who'd managed to escape / flee / finally leave The Party.

In the last six months, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash's demented experiment had floated (marauded. She wanted to use the word marauded, and she was damn well going to use it) over Equestria, and indeed anywhere it liked, dragging in waifs, strays, and whatever booze it could find, in it's relentless quest to Have a Good Time.

Several expeditions had been sent, in spite of Twilight's warnings (in hindsight, simply saying "don't" hadn't done the job). Most of them had never returned. One or two had managed to send poorly written letters explaining what had happened to them. Not necessarily to Celestia. Most just seemed to be passed to whoever was there, in the general hope someone would pass it along.

After the Incident with the Dragon, pretty much everyone had decided it was best to just ignore The Party really hard. Everyone but Celestia.

Twilight couldn't entirely recall her discussion with her friends, but the general gist of the napkin she'd woken up with was that Pinkie and Rainbow Dash would at the very least try very hard to keep The Party away from Ponyville and impressionable youths. Failing that, they'd keep their music down.

The Incident with the Dragon was as close as they'd come to breaking that agreement. The dragon had been sleeping, in his mountain, quite happily dreaming about the sort of things dragons dream about, when The Party had come by, as had been predicted by the top scientists (and one ticked off Cheese Sandwich, who'd been following after it with the relentless fury only usually seen in humans, or someone who really wanted their money back), who'd estimated that after several months boozing around the skies, the "fight" with the dragon would produce, if nothing else, a truly impressive fireball.

So everyone had watched, from a safe distance, as the floating house had hovered near the dragon's mountain. They'd watched, and heard, as the dragon woke up, and saw the offending sight. They'd watched as he spat a great burst of flame at the thing.

Then they watched as there was no party-shattering kaboom. Instead, the massive cloud of black smoke had dissolved, revealing The Party, very much intact and untouched.

Then, and only the eagle-eyed observes had noticed this, there was a response of a small projectile which hit the dragon square between the eyes.

The scientists, who'd gone over the resulting crater the dragon made when it fell over with more enthusiasm than was perhaps necessary, had estimated the discarded bottle had been travelling at a very impressive velocity indeed (and, one or two had muttered when they thought no-one was listening, had been pretty well aimed).

After that, everyone had pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that the party would never end.

Twilight knew, from informal messages from Pinkie, smuggled out during the brief periods everyone else was singing, that already The Party had managed to thwart the Storm King, almost entirely by accident. She also knew they'd managed to dramatically improve Pony-Yak relationships, after a similar "accident" with the Yak border. The only downside to that one was that the Yak Prince refused to leave the bar, as he was talking to his "best mate", also known as a half-eaten chair.

This had been seen as an entirely acceptable sacrifice on the Prince's behalf, especially once the news got out claiming he and his men were actually fighting a heroic running battle to keep the neverending party at bay.

No-one bothered questioning the fact his diction, and indeed his ability to write, apparently had gotten much better when he was completely plastered.

And this state of affairs had continued until a very much Un-Awake Princess Celestia had had enough.

She had summoned Twilight, and what few of her friends she could (Fluttershy, it turned out, had guessed someone would eventually try to drag her to The Party, and installed a bunker under her house, refusing to leave for anyone who wasn't small and fluffy). She had informed them of how much she'd had enough, and declared her intention, one way or another, to put an end to whatever Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had unleashed.

It was two weeks before she reappeared, and in that time the moon gained a new feature. Specifically, an arrangement of craters which viewed from, say, the planet below, looked like a message purporting Celestia's inherent superiority to her sister.

Celestia had turned an interesting shade of purple when Luna had mentioned that, Twilight thought.

"I did try to warn you, though," she said, not too sternly. Celestia winced again.

"Then..." Celestia shuddered again, "then... do you have an idea on how to stop this party?"

Twilight looked at Celestia. She looked at Luna, who was taking a momentary break from glowering furiously about the defacement of her moon. She looked at Applejack and Rarity.

"I..." she began. She knew she could. She knew she could stop the party. More accurately, she could kill the party stone dead.

She just wasn't sure she wanted to, at that point.

"Maybe." She lied.





There was a flash, and a pop, which no-one really noticed because they were all too busy having such a great time. This also meant nobody noticed, or really cared, that the guest was an alicorn, face set with grim seriousness.

"Heeeey, Twilight!" A voice called out, with the sort of hoarseness that came of several weeks of concentrated shouting. Without any apparent movement on anyone's behalf, a drink appeared before Twilight.

"Rainbow Dash, I need to speak with you and Pinkie."

Behind her sunglasses, Rainbow Dash's eyes blinked with a glacial slowness. "'bout what?" she asked.

"You know how Celestia came through?"

"Yeah!" Someone nearby called out, apparently in response. Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash.

"Rings a bell..." her friend slurred.

"Well, she's at the end of her rope. I'm at the end of my rope."

Rainbow Dash's eyes focused on Twilight. Or tried to, with their best effort managing to get Twilight's left ear.

"What're you trying to say, Twi?"

"Either stop the party," Twilight said, and she felt a small, momentary bit of satisfaction in the alarm on Rainbow's face, "or I'll make it stop."

"Hey," Rainbow's wings fluttered defensively. "You agreed to this, Twi. For science, remember!"

As if to prove her point, Rainbow Dash pointed to a surprisingly intact and untouched wall of the room they were in. Someone had, at some point, painted a message into it. Someone else, and it was definitely someone else thanks to the different, and much more wobbly art-style, had drawn a very crude depiction of somepony purple next to it.

The message read as follows: "I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, being the greatest of all Princess, do agree that this party can keep on rocking forever, and also that Rainbow Dashshsh is my bestest best friend and I love her. So there."

Twilight glowered furiously at Rainbow Dash, who was grinning triumphantly. "We got pictures."

Rainbow Dash probably meant that to be intimidating. Twilight instead shot her a cool, calm look.

"I repeat. Shut the party down."

"Or what?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight allowed herself a cruel grin, and leaned in toward Rainbow Dash. And whispered.

Rainbow Dash turned a very pale colour. "Pinkie!" she called out, earning many annoyed groans from slumped-over partygoers.





Two weeks later:

Twilight watched as The Party slowly, if unsteadily, gained in height, soon disappearing beyond the clouds, with the eventual destination of space.

In theory, at any rate.

She had surreptitiously spent the last two weeks getting everyone together and making sure any nearby celestial bodies were capable of supporting life, just in case anything should happen.

Which it almost certainly would.

But there was a part of her that wanted to see what happened if Pinkie and Rainbow Dash kept the party going the whole Loop, and she didn't want something like crashing to get in the way of that.





204.9 (Wixelt)

Ten Null Loop Wakers brave Everfree this time,

AJ took up cliff-diving, and then there were nine.

Nine Null Loop Wakers scout a dragon's cave in wait,

Shining wasn't fireproof, so then there were eight.

Eight Null Loop Wakers face the parasprites, a given,

Pinkie's horn was filled with corn, and then there were seven.

Seven Null Loop Wakers watch Discord's chaos thrive,

Trixie's plan blew up in flames, so then there were five.

Five Null Loop Wakers let 'Want It, Need It' soar,

Mac was buried by the horde, and then there were four.

Four Null Loop Wakers combat Spikezilla's spree,

Flutters didn't think to dodge, so then there were three.

Three Null Loop Wakers face down a Changeling coup,

Rainbow forgot the code phrase, and then there were two,

Two Null Loop Wakers restore the Crystaldom,

Rarity's beam was mirrored back, so then there was only one.

One Null Loop Anchor, eye twitching from the "fun",

Twilight had an aneurysm, and then there were none.





204.10 (Wixelt)

Luna Awoke somewhat suddenly, a quick intake of her surroundings informing her where she was. Noting the ponies cowing in fear on the floor below her balcony, she smirked to herself as her ping received only two in return.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving fa-"

"Eeeeek!" "Run for your lives!" "Noooo!"

Luna blinked in confusion as her captive audience began to flee. That wasn't baseline, and she hadn't deviated. This was most concerning.

"Wait, come back! Cries of happiness are what you princess desires!" she shook her head, "Why do you flee from me-"





"-RRRRR? GROWL ROAR ROAR GRUMBLE GROWL."

"Well then..." Rarity watched with mild bemusement at the sight before her, "Any wagers for how long it takes her to notice."

"She's gotten too caught up in the moment to consult her loop memories, so..." Twilight glanced aside for a moment, apparently doing some calculations, "I've got a good mind to think it might be after the Old Castle."

"ROAAAAARRRR!"

"Alternatively," the Anchor mused as Luna did the equivalent of a face-hoof, somehow not noticing her lack of hoof in that equation, "she might never notice."

"I take it you're using that time you were a wolf as reference, darling?"

"I wasn't actually, but..." Twilight blushed slightly, before shaking her head and looking up at Nightbear Moon, "Yeah, this is far too familiar."

"GROWL."





204.11 (V01D)

"So," asked Starlight Glimmer, sitting in Mac's bar with the majority of the Native Loopers "What's the strangest set of circumstances that necessitated explaining the loops to a Non-Looper?"





"I," started Silver, "Replaced Stitch - also known as Experiment 626."

"Because of your lost species marker?" Applebloom checked, facehooving as Silver nodded, "Ok, that's one species to Loop as. Not sure how that applies here though..."

"Because, when, like in Stitch's baseline, I had a 'Glitch' - it didn't manifest in a similar manner at ALL," Silver replied.

"Oooohhh! What happened?!" Pinkie asked eagerly.

Silver deadpanned, "I leaked Chaos magic. I had to explain the loops just so Agent Bubbles - The former CIA agent turned social worker - could help make a cover story."





204.12 (Vinylshadow)

Trixie knocked on the door to Zecora's hut.

The zebra shortly opened the door and looked at the showmare, blinking politely, dipping her head.

"Good afternoon, Trixie. What brings you out here?"

"Oh good, you're Awake," Trixie said, noting her lack of rhyme. "There's something that I want to try and I need a potion of yours."

Zecora's brows rose and she stepped back, allowing the mare entry. She watched the blue mare look around and motioned to a rarely-used coat rack by the door for Trixie to hang her hat and cape on.

"I was going to do this with Chrysalis, but she's not Awake, and the notes said not to try anything at home, so I went elsewhere," Trixie said, pulling a few bottles out of her bag.

"I hope that doesn't mean you're going to blow up my hut," Zecora said sharply. "There's extremely volatile things in here as it is - a few of which could probably erase Ponyville off the map if they go off."

Trixie's ears flicked in alarm and she glanced at the shelves warily. "Alright," she said after a moment, tucking her things away. "Here won't work either then. Sorry for the bother."

"It is no bother, but you did mention a potion you needed."

Trixie nodded. "Right. Do you have any magic replenishing ones? I ran out a few Loops back and haven't been able to restock."

"Of course," Zecora replied, jerking her head. "Third shelf."

Trixie took two bottles and tucked them away. "Thank you ever so much," she said, putting her cape and hat back on. "You should stop by Ponyville in a few days. I have quite the show planned."

"One that requires a magic revitalizing potion?" Zecora asked. "I wouldn't miss that if I can help it."

Trixie grinned, winking at her. "Splendid. I shall see you then."





204.13 (Anon e Mouse Jr.)

The P.A. system beeped, and Sunset looked up in time to hear Vice-Principal Luna’s voice calling. “Sunset Shimmer, please report to the main foyer.”

Once it had clicked off, Sunset smiled at her friends. “Gotta run. I volunteered to show these three new students around the school.”

There was a chorus of “Okay”s and “See you later”s, and she headed out.

A few minutes later, Sunset arrived at the school’s entrance, knowing that the Dazzlings would be waiting for her, and she put a smile on her face. “Hi. Are you the girls I'm supposed to show... around?” She blinked in confusion as she saw Sonata. “Um…”

Adagio rolled her eyes as she saw where Sunset’s own had drifted. “We are. And before you ask, yes, that’s real, and alive.”

“Oh-kay.” Sunset blinked again. “Um… why do you have a live duck glued to your head?”

Sonata chuckled nervously. “Well, I had a little accident yesterday…”

Aria facepalmed. “Our youngest sister is really into arts and crafts,” she explained. “But she’s a ditz, and sometimes she goes a little… overboard. Yesterday, we all went out so she could buy this tube of ‘Instant Wonder Glue’ she’d seen on TV, and on the way home she insisted on stopping at the park to work on one of her projects. And she managed to spill it on her head - don’t ask me how, she just did. Then one of the ducks from the pond landed right on that spot and it’s been stuck ever since.”

“And you didn’t stop at a hospital or something?” Sunset asked.

Adagio shook her head. “We went to the emergency room, but they said she wasn’t a priority. Same thing happened at the vet’s office that we went to afterward. You’d think they’d want to help the duck out, but nooooooo.”

“That’s… odd.” Sunset barely kept herself from asking why they hadn’t just hypnotized the people with their voices, but then she noticed that they didn’t have their pendants. “Well, maybe we can figure something out while we’re here.”

“For realsies?” Sonata brightened up. “That'd be great! Jemima here is nice, but I think she’d like to go home at some point.”

“Quack,” the duck contributed.

“I can understand that,” Sunset told her. “Well, in the meantime, let me show you around.”

As she pointed out the rooms, she wondered where their pendants were this time - maybe the Sirens were normal humans this Loop, or Starswirl’s spell had done a better job of taking away their powers than in baseline.

Finally, once she’d finished showing them around (and Sonata had gotten more than a few odd looks because of the duck), Sunset excused herself to meet with the others for lunch.

“Say, do any of you know how to dissolve some super-strong glue?” she asked.

Applejack shook her head. “Not that Ah know of. Why?”

“Because one of the new girls is a little… odd, and she managed to get something stuck to her head,” Sunset told them. “I was hoping we could help them both out.”

“Both?” Rainbow Dash gave her a look. “I thought you said there were three of them!”

“There are, but…” Sunset looked at her five friends. “You’ll understand when you see them.”

Just then, the trio entered the lunchroom, and Fluttershy let out a squeak of surprise as she saw what Sunset had meant.

A few minutes later, the Sirens arrived at their table. “Hope you don’t mind us joining in,” Adagio told them as she sat down. “I’m Adagio, these are my sisters Aria and Sonata-”

“Quack.”

“And that’s our temporary roommate, until we can get her unstuck.” Adagio rolled her eyes as she saw Sonata feeding the duck scraps of lettuce.

“Aww…” Fluttershy rose up and went over to stroke the duck. “She’s beautiful!”

Sonata beamed. “Thanks!”

“I say,” Rarity breathed. “How ever did you manage to get such a… feathery attachment?”

Sunset half-tuned them out as she focused on her lunch. She wondered if Twilight - her surrogate sister, that is - would know something. She wished she could contact Sci-Twi, since the other girl was all but certain to have an answer, but at this point in the Loop, there was no way of reaching her without arousing suspicion.

At least she’d Woken Up before she would have gone to steal the crown; with that mistake averted, she’d instead focused on apologizing to everyone in the school for her past acts, including Wallflower Blush (once she’d taken precautions to protect herself from memory erasure, of course - even if the Memory Stone couldn’t permanently affect her Looping Memories, as she had discovered in the past, temporary memory loss was still something she wanted to avoid). Consequently, without any of the usual magical flares around the school, Sci-Twi wouldn’t realize anything odd was going on there yet, and the Dazzlings never would have noticed the presence of other Equestrians either. That they’d shown up anyway was another point towards her theory that they were normal humans this Loop.

She was startled out of her musings by a drawn out “Quaaaaack…”, and looked up to see that the duck now had its eyes closed and a very contented look on its face as Fluttershy stroked it from head to tail.





Later that day, Sunset had what she needed and, as Sonata sat very still while the others watched, she dipped a brush into her jar before running it against the other girl’s hair.

A few more applications, and she stepped back. “All done.”

Sonata let out a giggle, and after a moment, the duck slowly stood up, as the glue holding it in place dissolved. Once it was all gone, the animal hopped down into Fluttershy’s arms, and let out a loud quack before she started stroking it and wiping the dissolved glue off the rest of its body, while Rarity took a towel and started drying Sonata’s hair.

When it was all gone, Sonata stood up. “Thanks, guys! For everything!”

Sunset smiled. “It was no problem, Sonata.”

“Seriously, I really owe you.” Sonata went for her bag, and started rummaging through it. “Here! I made several of these for the crafts fair next month, but you can each have one for your help!” She pressed an object into Sunset’s hand, and then presented one to each of the other girls. “Like them?”

Sunset looked at the object in surprise. It was a plush Earth Pony-style version of Sonata herself, with what looked like a hard taco shell and various taco fixings wrapped around her.

“It’s… interesting,” she said.

Sonata beamed. “Thanks!”

Nearby, Aria groaned and muttered something under her breath, and Adagio did her best to discreetly elbow her.

“So, what exactly inspired this?” Applejack asked as she held up her own plush.

“Oh, well, I love tacos, so I made a taco costume for myself for Halloween one year,” Sonata said cheerfully. “And I love animals too, so one day I thought, why not make animal plushies with their own taco costumes? And I did! And then I decided to combine all those ideas and made a bunch that looked like animal versions of me in taco costumes!” She looked at them. “I wanted to make some that looked like Aria and Adagio too, but they said no.” She looked down a bit. “Still, I’m hoping that I can interest more people in them. I’ve got a lot made up already, but I’d like to vary them more.”

Sunset smiled. “Well, it’s very cute, Sonata. Thank you.” She made a mental note to Pocket hers soon.

Sonata gave her a brilliant grin. “Thanks! Um… actually, can I ask you something?”

Sunset nodded.





Several weeks later, Sunset looked around the Craft Fair that they were attending. “You know, I wasn’t expecting things to go this well.”

Pinkie nodded. “Those little dolls she made are selling like hotcakes!” Her eyes wandered. “Mmm… hotcakes.”

On her own side of the booth, Rarity accepted a small handful of bills from a customer, thanking them for their patronage, then turned to them. “Well, I for one think this has been a most interesting day,” she said. “Who knew there was such a market for animal plushies in food costumes?”

“And who knew ones that looked like people we go to school with would be so popular?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Sonata,” two voices chorused as Aria and Adagio walked up.

“Seriously, our little sister has odd ideas, but they really work,” Adagio continued.

“Well, she certainly knows how to have a good tahm,” Applejack noted as she looked off towards where Sonata and Fluttershy were eagerly greeting other attendees. “Ah know Ah certainly enjoyed seein’ what she came up with after we agreed to let her base her designs on us.”

The other girls all nodded in agreement, and Sunset smiled. You know, I really like this Loop’s version of the Dazzlings, she thought to herself. Nice to know they can be genuinely friendly like this every once in awhile.





204.14 (Wixelt)

“Mac, we need your stiffest drink, stat.”

Mac looked up to the frowning features of the local Anchor and sighed.

“Alright.” He shook his head, reaching under the bar for something, “What’d ya’ll see this time?”

“Not me.” Twilight clarified, grimacing as she glanced to the second pony approaching behind her. With a slow stagger, Sunset Shimmer lifted herself onto the bar, eyes distant and body language limited and passive.

“…okay. So, it was one of those loops, huh?” Mac smiled sympathetically, sliding a glass of strong cider across to Sunset, who didn’t seem to notice it was there right away, “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Sunset muttered.

“Really? What branch was it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, who was the Anchor?”

“I don’t-“

“I was.” Twilight cut in, putting a hoof on Sunset’s shoulder to comfort her, “Trust me. It wasn’t good.”

“Do ah actually want to know?”

“I don’t k-”

“Sunset?”

The mare in question blinked at Twilight’s address of her, snapping from her daze, apparently noticing her surroundings for the first time. Spotting the drink, she scooped it up, downing it in one, before promptly passing out.

“So…” Mac stared at the unconscious mare for a moment, before looking back to the Anchor, “To reiterate my previous question…”

“We looped into Annihilation.”

“I think ah saw the movie of that in my last hub loop, but why would she...” Mac’s eyes widened suddenly, “Ah hell. Sunset Shimmer.”

“Yeah.” Twilight shuddered, “Looping in as a potentially non-sentient alien force and/or phenomenon is never fun. Especially not one like that.”

“Well, you’ll be glad to know it likely won’t be happening again.” A new voice cut in, and all present glanced along the bar to find Equestria’s Admin had apparated out of thin air.

“That’s a relief.” Twilight sighed, smiling gratefully, “What’s the verdict.”

“Annihilation is now read only, can’t activate,” Sleipnir shifted, frowning, “and more importantly, visiting Loopers cannot loop in as the Shimmer.” He looked absently upward, “There were considerations of quarantining it, but there’s no evidence it’s that bad.”

“I’m glad it’s not going to be looping at least.” Twilight looked relieved, “I only coped because of the Loops. If Lena were to Awake after all that...”

“Semi-loss of identity weakens her case for Anchor.” Sleipnir clarified, “Even with the loop block, there aren’t any good candidates.”

“Thank goodness.”





204.15 (Vinylshadow)

Twilight Woke up facing her friends, all of whom were wearing various expressions of disbelief.

Taking a quick moment to review her Loop memories, Twilight realized she'd just decided to open a school in Ponyville.

"...Judging by your expressions, you don't think that's a good idea?" she asked warily.

"Darling," Rarity said slowly, "I'm going to put this as delicately as I can...I have several boutiques to manage and look after, not to mention all the orders from them..."

"I'm a Wonderbolt, who has to perform, and sometimes be the military of Equestria. Daily practices, monthly shows to go to..." Rainbow Dash said.

"I own a farm," Applejack said flatly.

"I've got parties to plan and perform, babies to look after, and a job at Sugarcube Corner," Pinkie said.

"I have hundreds of animals to look after and care for, not to mention the reservation that opened up recently," Fluttershy said quietly.

Twilight blinked, rubbing her head sheepishly. "Okay, those are all good points," she said, nodding. "I don't think Baseline me thought this through very well," she added under her breath.

"Beg pardon?" Rarity asked.

"Nothing," Twilight said with a sigh and a smile. "I'll take some time and look things over..." A bulb went on in her mind. "What if we incorporated your daily jobs into the school, so you can teach ponies and other other creatures about what it is you do?"

"I can't imagine Earth ponies or Yaks are going to be interested in learning about Wonderbolts etiquette," Rainbow Dash pointed out dryly.

"But you can teach them about Daring Do and things not related to flying," Twilight countered.

Rainbow Dash looked thoughtful at that.

"As for your farmwork," Twilight said, turning to Applejack, "You could take the students there and show them how things are run. Maybe some of them will take what they learn back to their kinsbeasts and you'll get business with other kingdoms."

Applejack nodded. "That could work."

"I suppose I could help pass along knowledge about business management and dressmaking," Rarity said. "And I can use the students as models for new clothing lines..."

"Rarity," Twilgiht said warningly.

"Kidding, darling," Rarity said, rolling her eyes. "I'd ask first, of course."

"Teaching other races how to care for animals would help them with their own creatures," Twilight said, turning her attention to Fluttershy.

"And they'll make plenty of new friends doing so," Fluttershy said happily.

"And Pinkie, wouldn't you like to know about how other races throw parties and pass on your own tips and tricks?" Twilight asked.

"Fair enough," Pinkie replied. "Let's build us a school!"





204.16 (Pinky and the Brain) (MLP) (Fractalman)

"Gee Brain," said Pinky as Brain paced, "what are we going to do tonight?"

He took a breath, held a paw over his mouth, and whispered "Take over the world, right?"

Brain paused and chuckled. "As a matter of fact...no. Not this night. Tonight...we reform education".

"So that you can indoctrinate everyone to do your bidding from a young age?"

Brain considered that. "Maybe tomorrow night."

"Huh. So what brought this on? Narf!"

"Oh...I looped in as Chancellor Neighsay. Turns out I'm quite good at managing education standards..."





"Twilight, while everything appears to be in order on the surface, I must point out that your ensemble of teachers has almost zero experience teaching, while the foreign students you plan to acquire have no experience attending a school-I worry that you have not adequately planned to compensate for terribly bored students."

Twilight was taken aback. "Welllllll, I did consider loosening the restrictions on classroom decorum to ease them in, but ah, that's not actually up to standards, is it?"

Chancellor Neighsay (secretly The Brain) raised an eyebrow. "I am willing to waive the classroom decorum standards if you agree to pay for monthly performance audits and testing for the next two years. Those particular guidelines do us no good if they create an illusion of high standards while dragging the actual performance down."

Twilight grinned. "Agreed!"

"Oh, and one more thing before I grant you a provisional accreditation."

Twilight "Oh'd?"

"It's obvious by inspection that the foreign students you have lined up are spies. That said, there's spies and then there's spies-do you know what kind of spies you're bringing in?  Have you thought to make sure that the information they bring back will indeed make their nations less inclined to go to war with Equestria?"

Twilight chuckled nervously. "Yes, Chancellor, I'm very sure this will help. Friendship is our greatest asset, not just by blasting threats with a rainbow laser, but by turning enemies into allies."

Chencellor Neighsay nodded. "Well then, all in favor?"

All hooves were raised.

"Then it is settled. I grant you and your school provisional accreditation."





204.17 (Vinylshadow)

"Twilight?"

The lavender unicorn glanced at Spike from where she was sorting books in her castle's library and tilted her head.

"What is it?" she asked, turning to face him.

Spike was holding the book on Limbo, leafing through the pages. "I'm curious as to how ponies know about Limbo enough to write books on it."

Twilight's lips twitched and she shrugged. "As always, it varies from Loop to Loop, but Celestia and I have a theory that it's similar to the place where I went to Ascend after getting blasted by the Elements of Harmony."

Spike tapped a claw on his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if Luna and Discord went there after getting blasted as well."

"Perhaps Limbo is inside the moon?" Twilight suggested.

"Like in Termina's Moon?" Spike asked. "Hm...that makes a lot more sense than it should..."

Twilight smiled wryly and shook her head with a sigh. "I doubt we'll ever get concrete answers, but it's still fun to see what Yggdrasil comes up with in the meanwhile."

"So long as it doesn't treat me to a thousand and one tree pun Loops, I'm fine with it," Spike grumbled.

"Only a thousand?" Twilight pouted. "Lucky you."

Spike patted his mother/sister figure on the flank and the two returned to work.





204.18 (Wixelt)

"Move, Pinkie."

"Nope."

"Please move, Pinkie."

"Nuh-uh."

Twilight sighed at the pink pony blocking her from exiting her own library. An unAwake Pinkie would have been bad enough, but knowing she was Awake made escape impossible. And dangerous, hence her not daring to teleport in case she ended up in the Warp or something.

"Pinkie..." the Anchor grumbled, "I just had 20 lonely loops in a row. All I want is to go out, maybe spend some time with my friends, and not spend all my time cooped up at home for once. I'm begging you, get out of the way."

"But-" the pink mare began, before suddenly glancing upward for the umpteenth time, an uncharacteristic look of concern mixed in with her usual mannerisms. Slowly, she looked back to the purple unicorn, "But that's why I'm stopping you!"

"I said I'm not in the mood!" Having had enough, Twilight barged past whilst the looping Pie was off guard.

"Twilight, wait!"

"No, Pinkie. I will not. I don't care what's so important that I stay at home, but I have dinner with Rarity, so if you'll excuse me-"

*BOOM*

*CRASH*

*tinkle*

Eye twitching, Twilight slowly turned, finding her house crushed beneath a colossal chocolate egg with the image of a certain chaos spirit carved into it. She narrowed her eyes, looking across at her companion, who simply returned an unimpressed look.

"I tried to warn you!" the party pony rolled her eyes, before giving a nervous grin, "Uh... Happy Easter?"

"...and?"

"...April Fools Day, in the Hub, I think..."

"DISCORD!"





204.19 (Vinylshadow)

Pinkie Pie zoomed around the kitchens of Sugarcube corner, getting everything ready for the day.

She heard the door outside open and she pronked into the main room of the confectionery.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner," she said cheerfully, "what can I get for - oh, hi Rarity."

"Hello, Pinkie," Rarity said, looking over her shoulder. "So, I was on my way to the market when I saw Maud. She was with a stallion I didn't recognize."

"Ah," Pinkie said, waving a hoof. "That's her new coltfriend."

Rarity blinked, mouth moving soundlessly, before she took a breath. "Okay," she said slowly, stroking her chin. "Didn't see that coming. How are you taking it?"

"Well, he and I got off to a rocky start," Pinkie admitted. "I pulled a Discord and got jealous that my sister was spending time with somepony else." She rolled her eyes. "But he's a gneiss enough guy and I'm happy for Maud."

"Oh, what a relief," Rarity said, relaxing. "Well, that's that then. May I have a baker's dozen cupcakes with rainbow frosting?"

"Certainly," Pinkie said with a grin, before heading back into the kitchen. She did her best to hide her disappointment at Rarity's lack of reaction-

"ARRRGH!"

-and there it was, Pinkie thought with a devilish grin.





204.20 (Wixelt)

"Hey Twi!"

Twilight blinked, looking up from her lunch to the sight of a certain technicolor pegasus stood opposite her. Sighing slightly, she smiled.

"Yes, can I help you, Dash?"

"Not really, but I wanted to ask something, Looper to Looper." Rainbow responded, an odd smile on her face.

"Oookay? What is it?"

"Well," the flier continued, "You know how some people can get really annoyed and twitchy if you stop a sentence midway through?"

"It's one of the facets of certain varieties of OCD, I believe." Twilight tilted her head, unsure of what her friend was getting at, "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Rainbow grinned, "It seemed kinda topical, I guess. But what I really wanted to know was if it would annoy..."

And then, trailing off very obviously, the pegasus simply turned and walked away without another word. Slowly, Twilight's eye began to twitch.

"Damn you, Rainbow Dash..."





At least 10 loops later...





Humming to herself, Twilight slowly turned a page of her latest out-of-loop literary acquisition, having taken extensive time off this loop to read through it. It was rare now that she found a book that she hadn't read and could get something from, but those moments were well worth waiting fo-

*knock knock knock*

Grumbling, the purple unicorn looked across at the front door of the library, where the offending noise had originated, then back at her book, before sighing and rising, conceding to be polite. With a burst of magic, the doorway swung ajar, and she was greeted by a familiar face.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight blinked in surprise, having expected the mare to be, Awake or not, busy at this point in the loop, "Is something the matter?"

Rainbow simply sniggered, desperately trying to keep a straight face. This didn't last however, and she simply conceded to her point.

"...you."

The loop's Anchor watched with merited confusion as the pegasus quickly sped away, cackling loudly. What in the world was that-

...wait...

"ARRGH! RAINBOW DASH!"

That day, the residents of Ponyville were graced with the spectacular sight of their local weather manager fleeing with laughter from a red and purple fireball that might once have been the librarian and/or Celestia' prize pupil.





204.21 (Evilhumour)

Sunset Woke up in front of the Canterlot High School with a frown; her unAwake self had been looking around for something but she wasn’t sure what yet as her Loop mem-

Without any warning, there was a loud crash behind her, coming directly from the open portal. Along with every other student present, she watched as armoured ponies marched out in perfect unison with each step creating a resounding bang. Not even changing from being quadrupeds to bipeds interfered with their military precision as they created a barrier on either side of the statue several guards long. As soon as the last guard was through the portal, a red carpet was magiced out the full length of guard procession with a strutting unicorn coming through the portal and a train of pegasi bearing horns following behind him.

With a booming voice, the unicorn now human woman, declared, “Hail her glorious majesty, diarch of Equestria, mistress of the sun, the light of the world, Princess Celestia!”

“HAIL!” the guards shouted in unison, bringing the butt of their spears smashing down into the ground with the transformed pegasi blowing their instruments as a towering pony approached the portal. Stepping through, she was transformed into the figure of a goddess; wearing a flowing white dress lined with diamonds and other dazzling gems with a chain of mother of pearls around her neck. Her long flowing multicoloured hair gave off an ethereal glow as she moved forward.

Celestia looked around the crowd before her eyes settled onto Sunset and a smile broke across her face.

“Sunset,” she cried out happily, walking over to her with something in her hand that was most definitely not regal in the slightest. And yet, before the Looper had a second to comprehend the object, the princess hugged her and said, “You forgot your lunch this morning, my silly little filly.” Blinking as a brown paper lunch bag was pushed into her hands, Sunset watched as Celestia continued to say with a giggle, “I will you see later tonight; just have a wonderful day, my little Sunny-Wunny. And I hope tonight I can finally meet all of your little friends.” Then with a grin and a not too subtle elbow to her side, she said in a significantly louder voice. “And maybe your coltfriend.”

“MOM!” Sunset said from reflex, a blush racing across her face.

“You know I tease, my little Sunny-Wunny,” Celestia laughed again, pulling her into a hug. “Because if you had one, I would be very displeased you hid it from me,” she whispered into her ear sharply, causing Sunset to gulp from guilt. “Well,” Celestia said in a loud voice, letting her go and placing a kiss on her cheeks. “Have a good day, learn new things and I will see you home in the castle later tonight.”

With that, she turned around and walked back to the portal, turning back into a pony with her heralds following directly behind her. The guards then banged their spears one more time before departing too, with the red carpet rolling itself up and vanishing, leaving no trace of what had just happened beyond all the cell phones recording the entire event.

With a sigh as Sunset knew that Celestia couldn’t have been Awake and planned this to occur when she had just Woke up, she was more than likely in for a long slew of moments like this during this Loop.

With idle curiosity, she opened the paper bag to find a sandwich, a juice box and a magical sealed piece of chocolate cake that wouldn’t get smooshed or melt during the day. With a shrug of her shoulders, Sunset put her lunch into her school bag and went inside of the high school.





204.22 (Wixelt)

"...and what am I looking at, exactly?"

"It's a pink sandwich, silly."

"I... see." Twilight raised an apprehensive eyebrow at the food concoction Pinkie had laid out before her, "And its ingredients are..."

"Bread and pink." the party mare beamed, "Lots and lots of pink."

"Uh huh..." the Equestrian Anchor sighed, before giving her friend a pleading look, "Pinkie, I know you've been experimenting with new recipes, but would you mind not breaking the laws of physics whilst doing so."

"But I do it so well!" the young Pie pleaded, "C'mon, Twilight. Pleeeease."

"The fact that you brought me out to the middle of a desert to try it doesn't help your case."

"You won't regret it!"

"...ugh, fine." Twilight rolled her eyes. She couldn't say no to that face. Slowly, she levitated the sandwich to her mouth, and after a moment's hesitation, bit into it.

At which point the universe seemed to recognize the impossibility of using the concept of a color as a sandwich filling, especially for an unAwake Pinkie, and everything non-Looping within 50 or so kilometers was vaporised, becoming nothing more than an impressively large glassed crater.

Twilight would later go on to cite the occasion as "the best birch-damn sandwich I've had in eons".





204.23 (Vinylshadow)

"Heyyyy, Nyxie," Zephyr Breeze said, sidling up to her. "How's my favorite mare?"

"Married," Nyx replied, moving to the side of her giant hulking husband who exuded pure fury and hatred.

"I like the squeaks of terror he made," Leman said, watching him flee at top speed to somewhere not occupied by giant pony-eating ponies.

"Play nice, he's your uncle, after all," Nyx said gently.

Leman made a gagging noise. "Forgive me if I don' leap for joy at that prospect."

"I mean, you could always send him through one of your training regimens," Nyx said thoughtfully.

"I advise against that," Leman replied. "Knowing how Yggdrasil thinks - or at least a tiny grasp of its sense of humor, it'd let him excel and we'd have to put up with him more often. Which is not something any of us want."

"You do realize you just doomed yourself to serving under him as your Emperor, right?" Nyx said, raising her eyebrows.

Leman swore so hard he was sent to the moon.





204.24 (DrTempo)

Twilight sighed. "I knew it. I lost to Raven."

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie chuckled. Rainbow Dash then said, "Don't worry about it, Twilight. I had no idea Raven could take that much damage as well. Considering she's from the same universe as Superman, I should have figured that would be the case."

Pinkie then smiled. "If it helps, your skill in magic was said to be on the same level as hers."

Twilight smiled. "Thanks. I needed that. I had a feeling I'd lose, but still being the one to have our Loop have its first loss in a Death Battle Loop is still embarrassing."

Pinkie shrugged. "If I wasn't able to use toon physics, Deadpool would have easily defeated me. But, hey, Rainbow Dash beat Starscream, and that is still one heck of a feat."

Everypony smiled, glad that Twilight wasn't feeling bad about her defeat in a Death Battle Loop.





204.25 (Wixelt)

"Ah, Miss Sparkle, welcome, I hope you're prepared for an unforgettable lunch-"

"No, Pinkie."

"But why..." the looping party mare in question whined, visibly upset, "I put a sandwich in the oven and everything!"

"Look," Twilight sighed from her place in the doorway, shifting uncomfortably in the suit she'd been asked to wear, "Do you really think this is a good use of time, quoting an old meme-" she stopped, blinking, "...did you say sandwich?"

"Yep." Pinkie nodded.

"As opposed to, say, a roast?"

"To be ruined? Perish the thought." the pink pony grinned wider.

"I see..." Twilight nodded, realization dawning, "Steamed Hams aside, this wouldn't happen to be tied in any way to a certain pink sandwich I mentioned-"

"I don't know how she did it!" Pinkie abruptly cried out in anguish, her entire mood shifting as she dropped to her flank in slightly overblown dismay, "She was unAwake. I should be able to do anything my unAwake self can, but..." she withdrew one of her failed attempts from her pocket, the bread soaked through with pink... something, as opposed to the middle finger to the laws of physics remaining between the slices, "This isn't a luncheon. This is a fiasco!"

"It's fine, really, Pinkie. It was one of the best things ever, but it's really not a big deal-"

"It's all of the big deals, Twilight!"





204.26 (Vinylshadow)

Trixie blinked as Rainbow finished telling several gathered Loopers about her time with the old mares in Las Pegasus.

"Hold on," she said slowly. "Are you telling me I may have a father in baseline?"

Dash shrugged. "It's possible," she replied.

"Interesting," Trixie mused. "Perhaps next time you take a trip to Las Pegasus, you can take me along, Awake or not."

"I'll keep that in mind," Rainbow Dash said, before grinning. "Then you can help me keep an eye on the ponies I'm supposed to keep an eye on."

"Of course," Trixie replied.

"Oh, and if Applejack presses a list of things we're supposed to do, ignore it completely," Rainbow said, before glancing at Applejack. "Er...no offense," she added.

"None taken," Applejack said with a sigh. "Sorry for ruining your fun."

"No worries," Rainbow replied. "Turns out old ponies know how to have just as much fun as us young upstarts."

"And since you're an honorary member of their club, you now have another thing to look forward to going forward," Twilight pointed out.

"I'm...probably gonna see if I can't endear myself to those old mares earlier," Rainbow said, "because having VIP access makes carnivals a lot more fun. And I may be able to show them things they haven't thought to try that I like, so..."

"Win-win for everyone," Applejack said. "Now then, who's up for the latest in Apple Family cuisine?"

"Does it have potatoes in it?" Rainbow asked warily.

"I only have disastrous results when making potato cider," Applejack said dryly.

"Tell that to the Apple/Potato Homunculus you cooked up," Rainbow said dryly.

"One. Time," Applejack growled. "And the CMC were involved with that."

"Funny, talking about old mares leads to discussion about young mares," Twilgiht said with a smile. "Now then...lead on, Applejack. I'd love to see what you've made for us."





204.27 (Wixelt)

"Hmm..."

"Go on, Dashie. Try one. They won't eat you, silly."

"Somehow I don't believe you." Rainbow Dash stared apprehensively at the array of logic-defying sandwiches laid out before her, each one filled with a different variety of color-based impossibility, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Rainbow," Pinkie answered flatly despite retained her usual cheerful smile, "I spent the past hundred loops working out how to recreate the concepts of different colors as physical things, and then another fifty converting them into sandwich filling." her smile widened, "You are going to eat at least one these, and you," she glanced across at Twilight, who was also present, "are going to try all of them."

"Um... sure?" Twilight offered, levitating a green-filled sandwich up to her face, "This one first, then."

"Okay, okay..." Rainbow sighed, hoofing up a yellow sandwich, and, before Pinkie could offer her intended warning about possible taste intensities, bit into it.

Immediately, the chromatic mare's eyes began to water, her limbs subtly twitching, though she made little other movement or reaction besides.

"Do..." Twilight stared, clearly unnerved by Dash's reaction, "Is that mean to happen?"

"Well..." Pinkie rolled her eyes, "It is a sandwich filling that tastes like a million lemons being bitten into at once, so..." she shrugged, "Duh."

"Did it ever occur to you that such a taste could knock even an experienced Looper cold?" the Anchor shook her head mirthfully, before focusing back to her own snack, "What about mine? Is it...?"

"One million cabbages." the party mare answered simply, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, "And love, kinda, but don't ask me how that got in there..."

"...cabbages. Okay..." the purple unicorn mentally prepared herself, before taking the first taste. Blinking several times, she grinned, "Huh. That's actually... not overwhelming."

"And it makes you feel bubbly inside, right?"

"Yes. That's... odd, but pleasant." Twilight agreed.

"Kind of almost, y'know, like..." Pinkie seemed to tilt her head, grinning wider as if she expected some manner of compliment. Twilight searched her friend's eyes for meaning, before frowning apologetically.

"Sorry, Pinkie."

"BUCK!" the equine Chaos Goddess cursed suddenly in angrish, abruptly flipping the table they were sat at, sending the remaining bread monstrosities flying, "DAMN BIRCH CHILD OF A..."

"Pinkie, it's okay, really." Twilight tried to reassure her, "It doesn't matter if it isn't pink. It's still nice, and I know you were having issues with that."

"You don't get it..." Pinkie slumped a little, doing her best to take calming breaths, "Pink is literally my thing. I should be able to do whatever I please with it. When you said my unAwake self had made this amazing sandwich, I thought I could surprise you with another one, but..." her brow creased heavily, "Not once, not even close. And what's worse," she gritted her teeth, gesturing the various scattered bread and colors surrounding them, "is that I can get just about every other color, but none of them are even 1% as great, based on the stuff you said..."

"I'm sure you just need time. You'll get it eventually."

"I hope so." Pinkie's eye twitched, "Because i've done Purple. I've done Black and White. Red, Yellow and Orange. Blue and Green. Buck, even most of a Rainbow... But..." she visibly shook, irises igniting chaotically, "I JUST CAN'T. DO. PINK!!!"

"I..." Twilight sighed visibly, "I know I might have said this before, but don't you think you're taking this a little too seriously."

"NO." the Goddess of Parties answered unnaturally, before dropping rapidly back into her non-chaotic state and promptly beginning to clean up.

"Gah!" with a sudden full-body spasm, Rainbow Dash seemed to take that moment to break from her lemon haze, shuddering uncomfortably, "What did I miss?"





204.28 (Vinylshadow)

Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat in Big Mac's Bar, both drinking from large bottles of Brain Bleach.

"Let's never, ever, talk about that Grannies Gone Wild Variant ever again, deal?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know what I'm agreeing to, but the fact I'm chugging Brain Bleach makes me think that that is a great idea," Applejack said, clinking her bottle against Dash's.

Big Mac and Berry watched them curiously.

"Given how your grandmother was involved in the recent expansion," Berry said to Big Mac. "Do I really want to know?"

"You really, really, really don't," Big Mac replied, sipping from a smaller flask of Brain Bleach. "There's always a few Variants that spawn due to implications, whether in the premise or titles given to such expansions that...most Loopers probably don't want to envision."

"I see," Berry said. "Thanks for the heads up."

"Always happy to help," Big Mac replied, before trotting off to help some visiting Loopers who had drunk themselves unconscious.





204.29 (Wixelt)

"...Alright." Rarity sighed, frowning as she and Spike watched Twilight pace back and forth in the middle of the Golden Oak, biting her lip nervously, "What, pray tell, did you do this time?"

"I did a bad thing last loop." Twilight answered sharply, not looking up from her movements, eyes fixed to the ground in abject fear, "A very, very bad thing."

"Care to tell us what it is, dear?" the fashionista queried.

"Yeah," Spike offered, "It can't be that awful, right?"

"It's not just about what, Spike. It's about who-" the Anchor froze as there was a knock on the door in a playful pattern, her irises shrinking pinpricks, "Oh birch, she's here... And she's going to end me..." Twilight sighed raggedly, taking a deep breath, "Look, just- just act natural, okay? I have to tell her the truth, but you really don't want to be dragged into the line of fire."

"What..." Rarity quirked a confused eyebrow, but didn't have any time to ask further as the purple librarian opened the front door, and a familiar pink pony bounced in happily, clearly in a very good mood, "Oh, hello there, Pinkie Pie."

"Hiya Rarity. Spike." Pinkie nodded to both, grinning, before turning to Twilight, "Didya want to talk to me?"

"I did. It's somewhat urgent..." Twilight was visibly sweating, "I'll, um, try and be quick about it, if you'd prefer..."

"Rainbow wanted to try some crazy new thing this loop, but i'm free for ages." the party pony rolled her eyes, then frowned, apparently catching wind of her friend's nerves for the first time, "What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Can we, um... take this into the next room?"

"Sure!" Pinkie nodded, her smile a little more subdued now as she padded through the doorway to the adjacent room, an incredibly reluctant Twilight following after her, giving one final pleading look to her other guests before the door began closing behind her, "What did you-"

Pinkie's voice was cut off as the doorway clicked, sealing any sound inside.

"So..." Rarity blinked several times, "That was..."

"Weird." Spike finished, shrugging, "I know, right? I wish she'd told us what it was, but..." he shuddered, "If it was really that bad, something tells me I don't want to know."

"I do think Twilight may be overreacting, of course." his wife offered, "She has been known to do that, and Pinkie's far more reasonable than we often give her credit f-"

"YOU. DID. WHAT?!!"

"...on the other hand," Rarity visibly shook, heart racing from Pinkie Pie's unexpected bellow of chaos-infused speech that rocked the entire tree, "Perhaps it was as bad she claimed after all."

"Joy." Spike sank back in his chair, shaking his head lightly.





Rainbow Dash was concerned.

It wasn't something that happened often, though it was more frequent than she might like to admit, but here it was.

It wasn't without undue reason, of course. When more than a few of your closest friends all Ping at the start of the loop but, only days later, they all suddenly vanish somewhere without telling you (including Pinkie, who she'd had plans with), there's only so many ways things can go, a mass prank being one of them. And honestly, Rainbow wasn't in the mood, as a sense of unease had seemed to drape itself over everything in the past few hours, though precisely why she wasn't sure of.

She'd asked around, but the only Loopers of the 8 she knew were Awake that she could track down were Mac and Sunset, who didn't have the slightest clue where the others could be. With that in mind, Rainbow had gone on something of a search, dropping by many of the usual outlets and landmarks of Ponyville, narrowing down her search parameters until she began to wonder if she'd have to go further afield.

At which point she trotted into Twilight's library to find Rarity, AJ, Fluttershy and Spike sitting around a coffee table, and she briefly wondered why she hadn't come here first.

"...i'm not walking in on some prank planning I shouldn't be in the know about, am I?" she asked, though the worried expressions her friends carried immediately told her that wasn't the case.

"No, dear." Rarity smiled weakly, idly using her magic to stir the cup in front of her, "I'm afraid any plans we might have in that regard will most likely have to be put on hold for the time being."

"Why?" Rainbow asked, face faltering, "Did something bad happen?"

"Well... um..." Spike twitched warily, "It's kind of like..." he visibly sighed, "How do we put this?"

"It is a little, uh, difficult to explain." Fluttershy supported quietly, "Maybe we should... maybe, um, let her hear?"

"But only for a moment." Rarity shivered, "It's unnatural for someone to speak with such a tone. Applejack?"

"On it." AJ nodded, cantering across to another door off to the side of the room and place her hoof on the handle, "Rainbow, ah'm only gonna open it a crack, but you might want to brace yourself."

"...why would I need to brace myse-" Dash began, but was interrupted as Applejack pulled the door, letting a burning pink light seep through the tiny gap, the sound of crackling warp energies filling the air.

"-AND ALL THE UNGODLY, TWISTED AND BEAUTIFUL MACHINATIONS OF THE LAUGHTER-SPAWN OF THE PINK LEGIONS OF FUN-"

AJ quickly shut the passage again, sparing all present of any further Pinkie-Rage.

"So, yeah." she pulled her hat down over her eyes, "That's what we're dealin' with." she paused, "Or what Twi's dealin' with, I suppose. Be glad Rares was able to cast a sound-proofing spell on the door." she faltered, "And that we can only hear the top layer."

"Oh..." Rainbow winced back, before a sudden look of realization crossed her face, "OH." she visibly took several steps backward, looking vaguely horrified, "Twi told her?"

Everyone present immediately turned and looked at her like she'd abruptly turned a very interesting shade of purple.

"Wait just a moment." Rarity set her cup down, "Do you actually know what this is all about?"

"Yeah. Twi didn't tell you?"

"She didn't exactly have time to before Pinkie arrived, unfortunately."

"Ah." Dash nodded weakly, understanding, "I take it you'd like to know, then?"

"It, um, would be helpful." Fluttershy nodded, before looking back to the door, "They'll probably both need support after this is over."

"Right." the blue pegasus agreed, looking back to Applejack, "Quickly, though. How far are they from being done?"

"Hang on." AJ reached for the door, "Pinkie's been at this for hours, but let me che-"

"-SIMMER THE ENTRAILS AND BATTER FOR MINUS THIRTEEN YEARS IN BUTTER AND INARTICULATE SCREAMING!!!" everyone winced as Pinkie began roaring loudly in multiple dimensions, setting their brain cells ablaze before the door was rapidly sealed up again.

"Yeah..." Spike looked away uncomfortably, "I think we've got time."

"Just a warnin'. I'm gonna do that periodically now until she's done." AJ stated, hoof now permanently on the door handle.

"Okay, well..." Rainbow twitched apprehensively, "You know how Pinkie has that one-sided rivalry with Donut Joe?"

"Yes..." Rarity trailed off, her face falling, "Oh my word, you don't mean to imply-"

"That Twilight looped in as Joe's baking aide." Dash answered swiftly.

"Oh dear."

"And accidentally gave him advice that led to him outdoing an unAwake Pinkie..."

"Well-"

"...by creating a pink donut."

"That doesn't seem so bad." Fluttershy mused.

"Not a pink donut, Shy." Dash corrected, "A pink donut."

"...sweet birch." Rarity was visibly horrified, composure evidently slipping, "It really was as bad as Twi claimed." she made an attempt to right herself, but failed somewhat, "At the very least she recovered the recipe before the loop ended, right?"

Rainbow's dread-filled silence was incredibly telling.

"Oh that poor girl..."

"You talkin' bout Twi or Pinkie?" AJ asked.

"I would say 'Does it matter?', but anyone on the receiving end of such a tirade has my full sympathy." Rarity withdrew a mint-condition book from her pocket, "This was meant to be a surprise, but I think a book she's never read before might be a welcome stress-reliever for our dear Ancho-"

"-IN THE DARKERMOST DEPTHS AND BROKEN HELLS OF UNKNOWN AND UNBRIDLED MALICE I-"

"If the loop doesn't crash from excessive rage, first." Spike voiced morosely, "Geez, I don't think i've seen Pinkie even remotely this angry since Sleipnir told her about Cinder trying to Ascend."

"Maybe we should intervene." Fluttershy suggested with an empathizing smile, "I know you said Twilight didn't want us getting involved, Rarity, but this is taking far too long..."

"If you would like to step in front of our resident Chaos Goddess' barely restrained rage, do be my guest." the fashionista shook her head, "No, I believe our best course of action is to wait them out. Even Pinkie will run herself down eventually at this rate."

Almost on cue, the door to the next room was thrown from its hinges with an otherworldly wave of... something, the warp-light gradually dimming.

"-WITH A TIRE IRON WREATHED IN WARP-FIRE!!!"

Slowly, all present backed away as Pinkie, hair completely flat and colors dulled, paced unenergetically from the room. She looked around the room, eyes pausing briefly on each Looper present, her gaze unimpressed and, in fact, slightly accusatory.

"I'm going to Mac's." she growled, reality rippling at the seams as she spoke, "Do not follow me."



And then, within moments, she was gone, the front door and much of its frame disintegrating into swirling masses of pink-ish dust as she exited.

"Well then..." AJ shuddered as Pinkie's form, flickering with an unrealness now and then, retreated slowly into the distance, "That was... terrifying."

"Yep." Rainbow agreed, "I wonder just how bad Twi had i-" she froze, eyes widening, "Oh birch. Twilight!"

"Accounted for..." A weak voice spoke from behind them. All turned, and were greeted with the sight of a familiar purple Anchor, knees weak and wobbly, in danger of caving beneath her. Her eyes were wide, yet somewhat distant and, somewhat understandably, she looked to be on the brink of tears.

"Oh, darling. Come here." Rarity was the first to actually respond, crossing the room and putting a hoof around Twilight to comfort her, "We're here for you."

"I just... just..." Twilight shook her head despondently as Rainbow and Spike joined in helping guide her to a chair, "Thank you..."

"If you need anything, just let us know." Fluttershy offered, and then in abject understatement, "That didn't sound very pleasant."

"It- It wasn't..." the unicorn prodigy sobbed slightly, "Do you think..." she sighed emptily, "Did I do the right thing in telling her?"

"She would've found out sooner or later." AJ shrugged, "Better it came from you than somepony else."

"I suppose..." Twilight nodded.

"Look at it this way, dear." Rarity posited, "It wasn't as if this were something of grave danger to the Loops as a whole. I'm sure she'll forgive your perceived misdeed once she's blown off some steam." she paused, faltering on her own point, "...I hope."

"Well, we should give her space for now, I guess." Rainbow glanced warily at where the front door had been, "No point in making things worse."

"Should, uh..." Spike frowned loudly, "Should one of us warn Mac that she's coming?"

"No point." AJ mused, "With the aura she's putting off, he'll sense her coming from a mile away."





Across town, in the basement of a barn, a certain red farm-stallion sat frozen behind his bar counter.

Blinking a few times as he tried to process what he was feeling, he eventually sighed, before sifting through his pocket for some of Pinkie's preferred beverages.

"I can already tell this is gonna be a long loop..." he looked across at Sunset, who was frowning into her drink, "You might wanna clear out, i'm afraid."

"I was going to say." Sunset glanced warily at the bar's doors, "I'm not sure I want to know what caused that."





204.30 (Vinylshadow)

Derpy stared at the muffin she had made and poked at it with a hoof.

"Is this normal?" she asked, scooping it up, dropping it on a plate, and deposited the plate on the counter in her home.

Alex Mercer and the Doctor stared at the muffin blankly.

"It's a muffin," the changeling said slowly. "Isn't that a normal thing you make?"

"Yes," Derpy replied, before waving her hoof at it. "But they don't always come out like this."

"I think it fits," the Doctor said, pulling out a pair of glasses and putting them on, peering closely at it. "Maybe a tad overcooked, but it's not inedible."

"It's pink," Derpy said flatly.

"Pink isn't that bad a color," Alex pointed out.

"Pink, sure, but this is pink pink," Derpy said. "It's been driving Pinkie bananas for the past...however many Loops and I really don't want to be someone who managed to make something pink before she did."

"Pinkie makes pink things all the time," Alex said, tilting his head. "Or am I doing that thing where I'm not grasping the bigger picture because 'm not a regular Looper here?"

"That's probably it," the Doctor said, sitting back, stroking his chin with a hoof. "Eh, what's done is done. Either we Pocket it for later study, destroy it now, or eat it."

"I advise against the last one," Derpy said, washing her hooves. "Pinkie's got an eerie sense of knowing when pink has been eaten. May have something to do with her Chaos Goddess powers."

"What if that's what's getting in the way of her being able to bake pink things?" the Doctor suggested. "Sometimes you run into an issue where you've unconsciously been using abilities that interfere with others and making things far more difficult than they need to be."

"So once she hits a Null Loop, she should be fine?" Alex asked.

"...As fine as Pinkie can be. In theory," the Doctor said.

"Well, I'll hold onto this for the time being," Derpy said, putting the muffin into her Pocket. "Anyone up for delivery?"

There was a knock on the door and Alex opened it with a tendril of Blacklight, and the Doctor trotted inside, holding several different bags of food.

Derpy and Alex heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS taking flight and shared an eyeroll before setting the food out for their family.





204.31 (Wixelt)

"Aww... C'mon!"

No, Stanley." Twilight deadpanned at the Friendship School's most recent prospective teacher, who was sweating nervously under her gaze, from behind her desk, "I refuse to allow you to teach my students how to be a con-pony."

"But-"

"Or a travelling salespony." she continued, muttering "The less Flim and Flam wannabes we have around here, the better."

"Ah, fine..." Stan Pines grumbled, slouching back in his seat, "Guess I'll have to go with the backup plan, then."

"That would depend." the local Anchor fixed him with a questioning stare, "Is transdimensional portal maintenance and operation a safe field of study in your loop?"

"Well, safe enough, I guess." the proprietor of the Mystery Shack shrugged, before frowning, "Bill, uh, isn't around this loop, is he?"





204.32 (Wixelt)

"Nice lookin' sandwich you've got there, Twi."

"Hmm?" Twilight blinked, looking up from her lunch as Applejack approached, giving a small nod, "I suppose so. Pinkie really outdid herself on this one." she frowned lightly, "She still feels guilty for snapping at me, I think."

"I think any of us would, really." AJ mused, taking a seat opposite the resident Anchor, "Glad to hear she's calmed down, though."

"Oh, she hasn't."

"Huh? Then why'd ya say..."

"Her anger's just not directed at me anymore, after we talked it out." Twilight clarified, seeming visibly relieved by that fact, "Aside from that, she's been on something of a warpath against Donut Joe."

"Poor fella." the farm mare chuckled dryly, "Doesn't even know what he's done to incur Pinkie's wrath." she glanced at the bread concoction being levitated in Twilight's magic aura, or more specifically the conceptually impossible filling within it, "So... Orange?"

"Orange." Twilight nodded, before her face fell a little, "I haven't worked up the nerve to eat it yet."

"Well, I was gonna to order a sandwich, but..." AJ didn't so much as take her eyes off the orangeness, "If it'd make ya feel better, we could eat it together-"

"...you just want to taste the orange, don't you?" the product's owner smirked with bemusement.

"Darn" the similarly coloured earth pony sighed, "Was it that obvious?"

"You couldn't have been more conspicuous if you were trying." Twilight giggled, breaking the sandwich in two and passing one half to her friend, even as it sparked where the split had been made, "Here."

"Thank you kindly." Applejack smiled, before the pair bit into their respective halves at roughly the same time, "Huh... Kind of tastes like... summer days?"

"Same here." the purple unicorn opposite hummed thoughtfully, "It's almost as if..." she trailed off, blinking several times. Eventually, she rubbed her eyes, "Um... Applejack, are you seeing this?"

"Wish I wasn't, but unfortunately..." AJ affirmed, watching with an expression of deep concern as her vision was filled almost entirely by near blinding sunlight and excessively colourful rainbows, "Yep, this is a thing."

"Well," Twilight tried for optimism, "It could be worse-" she froze, cursing, "Buck."

And then it started raining assorted candies.

Applejack stared and unusual precipitation, before abruptly face-hoofing.

"Aw, birch darn it."

"What is it?" Twilight frowned.

"Well, ya see..." Equestria's Second gave Twilight a long, considering look, before smiling with resignation, and singing, "Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows-"

"PINKIE!"





204.33 (Evilhumour)

"So you're dating," Pinkie Pie said, looking at Maud and Mudbriar.

"Yes," Mudbriar nodded his head.

"And you're happy?"

"Yes, we are," Maud answered.

"Than I'm happy," Pinkie said, hugging them both before whispering into Mudbriar's ear. "If you do anything to hurt my sister, they'll never find enough of you after I am done." She then pulled back, flashing a pure Chaos Goddess grin at him for a split second before hiding it, although by the terrified expression on his face told her that he understood the risks. "So what are you two doing today?" she asked cheerfully.





204.34 (Evilhumour, edited by Anon e Mouse Jr.)

Big Mac was walking through Ponyville, carrying the few deliveries he had left. He was so far the only one Awake this Loop and it had been pretty peaceful with very little out of the normal-

There was a loud bang in the air and Mac could tell it wasn't somepony flying at superspeed. Turning his head upwards, he saw a fleet of ships enter Ponyville’s airspace that he didn’t recognize at all, and his coat prickled as he sensed the energy that came from someone using technology to teleport. With another bang, a vast crowd of robotic warriors appeared.

A towering figure stood in front of them, with back bent legs and dressed in gleaming polished power armour with a red cape attached to its shoulders. The face was covered but Mac could tell it was a male by the body structure despite never seeing his kind before.

“Greetings, you lowly aliens, I am Gerart’Kura, your new lord and master,” the figure said with an arrogant tone. “Resistance is futile, I’ll destroy you all, so on and so on. If you try to oppose me, I will kill a tenth of your population or something, I really don’t care.” He then turned and placed a hand on the hilt of a sword. “I’d kill for a chance to kill some of you, really. So which one of you is the strongest here? From my experience, that one is both the most enjoyable to kill and it usually makes the rest of your lot a lot more compliant and less headaches for me in the future. But you hero types want something so I promise a fair fight that if I lose, I’ll leave you all alone, you get to live happily ever after, blah blah blah.” Gerart’Kura gave his sword to one of his automatons to prove his willingness to fight fair.

Twilight made a move to step forwards but Mac placed his hoof in front of her to stop her. She wasn’t Awake and he wasn’t going to risk her dying due to a joker like this.

“Huh, so one of you creatures is stupid enough to fight me?” Gerart’Kura snorted, shaking his head in amusement. “What are you going to do, paw at me with your little hoofies or some-”

That was as far as he got before Mac got onto his hind hooves and punched Gerart’Kura in the face, the visor cracking as the head snapped back. Stumbling, Gerart’Kura leaned onto his army as he tried to regain his footing before glaring at Mac, who was now standing upright and in a classic boxing position.

Gerart’Kura walked back to Mac, slowly getting into his own fighting position and said, “You’re tougher than I thoug-”

SMACK SMACK SMACK

Mac delivered three quick jabs to the alien’s face before Gerart’Kura blocked and began to hit back, getting the Earth pony in the gut with enough force to knock him at least a block backwards.

Eyeing the invader as he stood back up, Mac knew this was going to be a rough fight.





Craning his neck, Gerart’Kura saw the red pony standing back up and beckoning towards him with a ‘come at me’ gesture. Not one to let someone else make him look like a fool, let alone an animal, the warlord let out a snort, then charged at the pony and began to fight back.

Gerart’Kura launched blow after blow that should have turned him into paste, instead knocking him through building after building, catching glimpses of what passed for daily life in this primitive society. A bakery here, a tailor there, an archive with actual bound books incinerated by their passage. All pointless junk.

Unlike this fight; this damn native was not a joke; his punches were actually damaging the warlord’s armour and by all indications, he was actually getting stronger over time!

Ducking low, Gerart’Kura rammed into his foe’s gut over and over before it blocked his blow and gave him a ferocious uppercut that knocked him into some actual mud!

Snarling in anger, Gerart’Kura saw the alien leap towards him, and grinned at its idiocy at leaving itself open for an attack. With a flick of his wrist, he slid out his combat blade and jammed into its chest, causing every one of the creatures that were not hiding to gasp in shock, including the creature he was fighting. It staggered backwards in obvious pain, its guard dropping for a second, which was all Gerart’Kura needed to grab it by the neck and rain punches into its face while his boosters lifted them into the air. Tossing the alien upwards, he put all available power to smack the alien across the city and deep into the ground.

“Hey, you said that this would be a fair fight!” one of the flying natives, a blue furred one, shouted at him as Gerart’Kura landed on the ground and walked back to his army.

“I know, I lied,” he laughed before looking at his army. “Kill them all,” he ordered as he teleported back onto his flagship. Sitting down in his command chair, he could see that they’d erected some sort of force field over the dungheap of a town but that pitiful action of self preservation made him grin. Tapping out the codes to start the bombardment of the planet, Gerart’Kura leaned back into his chair with a sigh of satisfaction. “Another planet added to the empire,” he mused to himself as he distractedly watched the planet’s destruction unfold.





Applejack stared in horror at the hole her brother had been punched into; she was already trying to dig him out with her hooves with tears running down her face, but the ground was shaking too much for her to even get a purchase. The alien leader had already left, with his army spreading out across the town and everypony was trying to do their best to either fight back or find some place to hide. She could see that Twilight had created a shield to hold back a large portion of the army, but there were still many more in Ponyville.

“SIS!” her sister shouted at her and Applejack dove to the side in time to avoid a blade from one of the metal invaders. The fact that more of them were in the farm must have meant Twilight’s shield had started to fail and Ponyville’s doom was that much closer, to say nothing of how the rest of Equestria or Equuis must be doing.

And deep in the bowels of the planet, an equine figure lay in complete stillness. It was an incredible distance from the surface but the bonds of family proved to be magical as he heard the crying of his sisters.

An eyelid flicked open and a pure green eyeball thrashed in the socket in pure rage and fury.





Applejack was backing up from the strange machine invader, pushing Apple Bloom behind her when she heard a massive shout. Impossibly, it sounded like it was coming from below her. But then, as she let out a squawk of fright, the ground began to shake even worse before something pushed itself out of the ground.

Standing in front of her was her brother, his body glowing green and bulging with muscles, frothing with rage on his face as he tackled the strange metal creature with his hooves, pounding it into scrap before he grabbed a second, holding it by the shoulder and punching its chest flat before folding it in half, with sparks and metal fragments flying everywhere. Another of the things raised its strange lightning box and fired at her brother, but that seemed to to enrage him further, and he moved straight for it. A loud crunch later, and the attacker was no more. Letting out a bellow of rage, he threw himself at more of the invaders.

Her eyes widening as she saw him tearing through the metal army, she felt the ground tremble underneath her, and then heard a loud craaaack. Looking up, she saw something that shook her to her core, worse than anything she’d ever encountered in the past.

And she and Apple Bloom both let out a simultaneous scream of terror.





Mac snapped his head to the side, his rage stilled as he heard his sisters cry out with the ground shaking. Turning his head around, he saw that the entirety of Ponyville was ripping itself apart with the Canterlot mountain about to do the same due to the sustained damage done to the planet by Gerart’Kura’s warships.

Reacting on instinct, he spun around and dove back into the hole, his body still expanding from the gamma radiation that had lain within him ever since that fused Loop so long ago. Reaching into his Earth pony magic, he began to try to heal the damage across the planet, but it was too extensive for him to make any real progress to counteract the strikes from above. Snarling in frustration, he reached deeper inside of himself, into the gamma radiation that burned within him and channeling its power into his Earth pony magic. With a gasp, he felt his magic surging through the planet and connecting him to everything at once.

With a throb of his magic, he pushed the land back together both in Ponyville and Canterlot, being aware of the unicorns using their magic to fix Canterlot. Going even further, he could sense all of the robotic invaders on Equuis and caused trees to grow beneath them all, spearing every single last one of them. He let out a tiny sigh of relief as he knew that the planet itself was safe but then something took his breath away. He felt his body begin to ascend and he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it.

And then in an instant, there was a brilliant flash of light. Standing upright with his form, Mac knew his job was not finished and Gerart’Kura needed to be dealt with. Forcing himself upwards to surface, Mac prepared himself for this final fight.





Moments later, Applejack stared at the figure that now stood on Mac’s hole in awe and terror. Whoever it was, it was not her brother; the figure was twice as tall as he was, their coat a deep faded red, his mane a blaze of pure magic and his eyes-

She gasped; those were Mac’s eyes. This was her brother!

Giving her a wink, her brother, who still had that piece of crystal in his chest with the wound still bleeding, then turned his gaze upwards and did the impossible once again. The ground rose up to form a carpet under his blinding bright hooves as he took off into sky, his direction towards the main ship of the invaders.

The lesser ships saw this and fired at him but Mac did not let up in his incredible pace; instead he sent off chunks of rock he was running on to block the attacks and to strike down the lesser ships with massive trees forming to catch all the debris from falling onto the ground below.

Then the lead ship, the only one left in the sky that had not been destroyed or turned tail and  run, fired the most perfect shot onto her brother, covering the entire area in dust.

Applejack's heart leapt into her mouth as the thoughts of her brother being dead screamed into her head. Just as she was about to fall apart, Apple Bloom pointed to the sky with the most wonderstruck look on her face. Applejack saw what her sister was pointing to and shared that look. It was Mac, still running but now on air as if it were the ground itself. She could only imagine the the absolute terror and regret that this alien now felt after getting in Mac’s way as her brother closed the distance and disappeared into the ship.





Gerart’Kura raced to perform the necessary calculations to make the jump to deep space when the pony alien he thought he had killed - the same one that had just completely destroyed his army - smashed through the viewing port and launched itself at him, picking up from their previous fight.

Where before the pony had hit like ammo from siege tanks, now it felt like being hit by mountains, like a god was pounding into him. He covered his face only for his stomach to be flattened by the blows, ribs breaking and organs being punctured. He tried to punch the creature in its head and the bones in his hand shattered like glass, the protective armour tearing like paper.

The alien delivered a powerful haymaker that knocked him to the ground and threatened to make him pass out then and there if not for the pony placing a hoof onto his chest and one on his head. He could feel the immense potential in that hoof to flatten his head to the floor in a smooth level mess.

“Leave and don’t ever come back or Ah’ll crush your head right here and now.” The alien snorted at him, smoke billowing from its mouth with the smell of fire in the air now.

With a bitter grimace, Gerart’Kura nodded his head and gave the order to his few remaining ships to retreat, his more-than-decimated fleet taking off into space, with the alien staring sternly before giving a curt nod and leaving his ship through the same hole he had created.

Gerart’Kura shook his head as his capital ship left this blasted planet behind, knowing this stinging defeat would be painful to explain back home.





Big Mac watched the ship fly off, waiting until it was finally gone before letting out a sigh; Gerart’Kura hadn’t called his bluff as he wasn’t planning to kill him and things would have got awkward if he had been called out on what he said he’d do.

“MAC!” Turning his head, he saw his sisters run at him and ready to tackle him over when he raised a hoof to stop them.

“Sis,” he said, looking at Applejack as he heard a Ping, and by the subtle change in the magic field above him, his Anchor had just Woke up. “Can ya go get Twilight? Ah think she can explain stuff… And can ya get Nurse Redheart? This,” he gestured to the knife in his chest, which had finally stopped bleeding. “Hurts somethin’ fierce. Ah’d think I’m going to take a nap now.”

With that, Mac fell backwards with a thud.





With a snort as he woke up, Mac pushed himself upright and took in his surroundings. He was resting his bed in his room with Twilight sitting in the corner, reading Mewtwo's latest book before her ear perked up and she turned to look at him.

“Ah, you’re finally awake, Big McIntosh,” she said with warmth in her voice. “And I honestly never thought I’d say this to you, but congratulations on ascending.” The last part was finished off with a light chuckle, with Mac smiling in response.

“Eeyup,” he said in agreement, looking at himself as he got out of his now small bed as he was still in his other form.

“And let me be completely honest here and say in all of my experience as Anchor of this Branch, I have never seen what you’ve done today,” Twilight said as she stared up at him. “An internalized ascension, right?”

“Eeyup,” he confirmed her suspicions with Twilight’s ear twitching subtly as he gave his answer in two syllables.

“Care to explain how you did this?” she asked him, the light smile on her face showing that she wasn’t that phased by his actions. “I mean, it was a complete stroke of luck that the blade that Gerart’Kura used was made out of Cosmic Spectrum, but… how did you ascend so differently?”

“Ah was ascending and Ah felt wings and a horn coming in,” Mac told her as he saw the knife resting on his nightstand, and reached for it. “Ah said nope to it and pushed it down and this happened.”

“That’s it?” Twilight asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

“Eeyup.”

“Well,” Twilight said, clearly off balanced but she quickly recovered and flashed a smile at him. “Congratulations again. I’ve already copied the memories of what happened so your sisters can see this when they’re Awake. And thank you for saving everyone from that alien invasion.” She then tilted her head. “I wonder where they were from, anyway? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like that Gerart’Kura you fought, in any of the Loops I’ve been to or heard of.”

“No problem, and no idea,” he told her as he looked at the knife closely and rested his head against the wall. There was still a lot going through his mind but the fact that his family and friends were all safe and sound was enough for now; he could worry about Pinkie’s party for him ascending and all of that noise later on. Tipping his head to her, Mac picked up his horsecollar, put it around his neck and made his way downstairs to see what his family was up to and what he could do around the farm.





204.35 (Wixelt)

"Aieeee!!!"

"Hmm," Twilight, among others, watched with bemusement as a certain grey pegasus pony flung herself abruptly into a nearby lake, tongue set ablaze, "So that's what a rainbow sandwich does."

"Yeppers." Pinkie nodded from across the table, grinning widely (a little too widely, one could say), "Absolutely my best work so far." she looked over at the lake, which was now begin to bubble and empty into the air as a colossal steam cloud, smile faltering a little, "It may be a teensy bit hard to recover from, though..."

"I'm sure Derpy would have appreciated the warning, darling." Rarity rolled her eyes jokingly, "So! Seeing as she's probably not going to return for a while, what's next in this descent into taste testing madness?" she gestured to a particularly green looking sandwich, "How about this one?"

"NO!"

The fashionista eeped in surprise as Pinkie practically threw herself onto the apparently offending food, immediately pocketing it. The party mare in question blinked several times, and noticing the odd looks she was getting, sighed.

"I... um..." she coughed, "Kinda, sorta... didn't mean to put that one out." she lowered herself back off the table, managing a shrug, "Trust Pinkie Pie, you don't wanna eat that one."

"Why?" Twilight tilted her head in confusion, "I've had a green one before. It tasted of love and cabbages."

"Yeah. Buuuuuuut..." the Chaos Goddess of Parties took pause for effect, "This was made before i'd got all the dumb kinks out of doing color." she narrowed her eyes, "Most of them, anyway..."

"...so instead of love it tastes like-"

"Jealousy, envy, spite..." Pinkie rattled off, sticking her tongue out, "It's a mean sandwich for meanie pants, basically. I'm saving it just in case, though."

"Wait." Rarity frowned heavily, "What in the world could you possibly use such a sandwich for?"

"I'll think of something to use that flavor for." the pink earth pony giggled slightly, before abruptly scowling, "Not like it's unknowable, after all. Stupid pink..."

"I thought you liked pink."

"Not when it refuses to play ball!" Pinkie seethed, her form visibly rippling.

"Well, um..." Twilight knitted her brow in concentration, looking for a way to calm her friend, "Think of it this way. I said it was incomparable to anything else I'd ever known, right?"

"SO?!"

"It's just like you." the Anchor smiled warmly.

Instantly, Pinkie's impending rage fizzled out, and she stared into space for a good few moments, it taking even her multi-dimensional perception some time to comprehend such a comparison, before she began laughing softly.

"Yeah, sort of, I guess..." the party mare answered with mirth, "That's a fun way of seeing it."

"I thought you might appreciate that." Twilight nodded happily, "You alright now?"

"A little bit." Pinkie offered, before abruptly pulling out a new sandwich, "Ooooh. I know this isn't a color thing at all, but I think a sandwich that has joy and happiness as filling would absolutely hit the spot right about now."

There was a general hum of agreement from the other two Loopers present.





204.36 (V01D)

If there was one thing Sunset was very wary of, it was using her memory powers on Pinkie - even an UnAwake Pinkie.

So when Pinkie held out her arm and said, "You know you want to..."

Sunset just politely declined, "No thanks, Pinkie."

Pinkie walked away, shrugging, "Ok, if you say so."

Sunset sighed in relief, there had been times she had done so unintentionally.

Sunset shuttered at the memories, pulling out a bottle of Brain Bleach to suppress the memories. Again.





204.37 (Evilhumour)

“So Vinyl, why are you here?” Twilight tilted her head as she sipped her drink.

“What do ya mean Twi?” Vinyl blinked behind her shades, deciding to have a soda instead of her usual drink just to mix things up. With a loud slurp that got her a look by her friends, Vinyl then let out a loud burp before clearing her throat. “Where would I be if not here?”

“It’s just that I heard that Lyra got a few tickets on that new cruise ship and I-”

“Stop right there Twilight, and let me be perfectly clear,” Vinyl’s posture and tone straightened up, a bit of iron in her voice now. “There is no way in tartarus will I ever go on a cruise ship as long as I can help it.”

“Care to explain why Vinyl, because that’s a somewhat odd declaration, even for us loopers,” Twilight blinked slowly as she moved her drink to the side.

With a tired sigh, Vinyl tapped her hooves onto the counter as she gathered her strength. “One out of ten times, they’re normal enough for me not to mind it too much and Octy really enjoys them. Two out of ten times, Octy and I get stuck on some island that really railroads us into staying on the island. The more I try and get us off, the worse stuff gets and it really stresses Octy out. The other times…” Vinyl’s voice hiccuped as the mare bit her lip. With a loud gulp, Vinyl plowed onwards. “The other times, the loop really is out to get me. I’m guilted into going into a trip that I don’t want to by my friends to spend my time with a mare that degrades me, insults me constantly, holds massive guilt over my head so I will ‘behave’ and I am more or less forced to accept it. Either it is because I drink a bit too much, which I do stop immediately in the hopes of proving her wrong -doesn’t work that often- or I have a wandering eye and I am checking out other mares.”

“Wait, are those loops where the gender ratio is fixed?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, her analytical mind focusing on a random fact while the rest of her mind was reeling at this story.

“Nope,” Vinyl shook her head. “Doesn’t matter at all, I so much as turn my head at a mare and I am locked out of the room until I ‘beg’ to be let back in for thinking to cheat on my ‘marefriend’ and said friends are right behind her for her decisions as I am such a bad pony.”

Vinyl reached out for her drink, the cup shaking in her hooves. “Octavia...she’s downright emotionally and verbally abusive to me in those loops, and whoever takes us onto the trip usually suffers a nasty break up because one of them focused on our quote unquote relationship and not on their partner and I get all the blame for it,” Vinyl let out a tiny sad sigh. “It’s a real nightmare and it is very hard emotionally to deal with when I get an Octavia who is that abusive to me.”

Vinyl then sighed and put her glass down. “But...that’s not my Octy, and when I do get those loop, I just usually bugger off, let her think she won and be done with it. I go out and date other people, and enjoy myself as there is a very low chance of changing her mind,” Vinyl broke out into a wide smile, flicking her mane backwards. “Speaking off, I’ve got a date with this super cute griffin. See ya, Twi!”

With that, Vinyl flared her wub hooves and flew out of the bar.





204.38 (ScyBlade)[MLP:FiM][Magic School Bus]

"Thanks Ms. Frizzle." Twilight spoke while walking with the teacher from another Loop. "So many Loopers want to teach at our school, and have bad ideas for what to teach."

"I can certainly see the appeal." Ms. Frizzle confirmed, eyes twinkling. "However, not everyone is cut out for teaching."

"And not every subject should be taught at school." Twilight gestured for Ms. Frizzle to go ahead.

"Now class, what have we learned?" she asked the Loopers trying to get positions at 'The School of Friendship'.





204.39 (Wixelt)

"Okay, I heard shouting." Spike grumbled, treading heavily down the stairs into the central room of the Golden Oak library, where a frowning purple alicorn was pacing back and forth, "Or cursing, I guess." he sighed, "What did you do this time?"

"I-" Twilight stopped in her tracks, giving her confidant, adoptive younger brother and top assistant a questioning look, "Why do you immediately assume this is my fault-" she blinked, ears dropping ever so slightly, "Actually, don't answer that..."

"So what did happen then?" the dragon queried, "Pink sandwich?"

"Well..." The Anchor sighed, looking across at the far door, Pinkie's muffled ranting still audible through it, "More along the lines of a pink donut."

"Ah." Spike shuddered, "Joe beat her again."

"The opposite, actually."

"So why is she-" his eyes widened in realization, "She was unAwake..."

"Yep." Twilight grimaced, "And she Awoke just after eating it. And her unAwake self did it by accident, so didn't know the recipe."

"Ouch." the married reptile winced, and would've continued, but at that moment the distant ranting petered off, the adjoining door swinging open slowly. Sharing a worried look, Twilight and Spike watched as a familiar pink pony, visibly dulled in color and wholly unenergetic, trudged out to meet them, her expression one of defeat. Looking back and forth between her two friends, she managed a weak smile.

"I... I need a lie down..."

"Of course, Pinkie." Twilight nodded, moving over to give the pooped party pony her support, "Do you want anything else?"

"No... no..." Pinkie giggled faintly, that humor not entirely gone in this state despite her somber mood, "I just kinda... kinda need to recharge my batteries a teeny little bit. Mentally, at least..."

"I'm sure you'll get it eventually." Spike offered, "I can't imagine you not doing so, really. That randomness is kind of your thing."

"Unless that's why I can't... Or I have some dumb curse..." the earth pony nodded emptily, half-jokingly staring off into space, "Become a Chaos Goddess, they said. Party forever, they said..."





204.40 (Wixelt)

"Have you ever noticed that a lot of us collect things in our pockets?" Ruby Rose, Anchor of Remnant, voiced suddenly over her glass of milk, concentration masking her features.

Surprised at the sudden comment, it took a moment for the others joining her for lunch to respond, taking the time to toss the notion around in their heads. Eventually, though, one of them spoke up.

"Now that you mention it..." Rarity mused thoughtfully, slowly setting her tea down, "It does seem to be something of a trend. I take it you mean specific things, of course. To a chosen theme?"

"Yep."

"In that case, we are both guilty of that, it would seem." the Equestrian looper hummed, "I have my fashion collections, and you have your..." she paused briefly, "weapons, if I recall correctly?"

"And ships, kinda." Ruby shrugged, before frowning, "Though I have... less of those than I used to."

"I still think that would classify as weapons, dear."

"I dunno, maybe." the redhead countered absently.

"And I am all but certain Twilight has long since planned to cram as much knowledge as she can into her own personal subspace." Rarity shuddered suddenly, "And Pinkie has... something beyond simply party supplies and the like. I haven't ever worked up the nerve to ask her what it is."

"I could ask Cinder if you like? I'm sure she knows."

"Perhaps another time." the marshmallow unicorn shook her head, before turning to the third Looper present, "And what of you, Miss Heartfilia?"

"Hm?" Lucy Heartfilia, Anchor of the Fairy Tail branch, looked up from a glass of an alcoholic beverage Rarity wasn't quite familiar with, before sighing and setting it down to think, "Well, as a writer, I guess I collect books?"

"Uh... huh?" Ruby narrowed her eyes, allowing herself a tiny smirk, "Just ordinary books."

"Um... yes?"

"That's not what I've heard."

"Really." Lucy turned slightly red, glancing away, "And what have you heard?"

"Oh, I dunno." the scythe wielder giggled, "That you collect..." she leaned in, whispering, "Forbidden books."

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, OKAY?!" the celestial mage blurted out, causing the other two Loopers present to leap backward in surprise, "I mean... uh..."

"Go on, dear." Rarity purred smugly, "We're all ears."

"I..." Lucy tried to find a quick way out, but seeing no escape from this explanation, she relented, "Ugh, fine. I have inert copies of the Darkhold, the Necronomicon and the Kosst Amojan in my pocket." she coughed, "Among others..."

There was a long moment of silence.

"So..." Rarity blinked, "You literally collect forbidden tomes..."

"Wait." Ruby took pause, "That was what I meant in the first place." she narrowed her eyes accusingly at the equine fashionista, "What did you think I meant, hmm?"

"Well, you see..."

"I told you it wasn't like that!" Lucy blanched.





204.41 (Vinylshadow)

Luna Woke up to Grumpy Celestia Noises and opened her bedroom door carefully, poking her head out into the hall.

She took in the scorched decor with a critical eye and surmised that her sister had an annoying Loop, but nothing too bad. Avoiding the bonfires, Luna then set off down the hall.

She knocked on her sister's door politely and waited.

"Come in," came Celestia's voice a few seconds later.

Luna opened the door and stepped inside. Celestia was sitting on her bed amid a pile of cloud cakes, looking out the window.

"What happened?" Luna asked.

Celestia shrugged. "Eh, Twilight had a bad case of Not Telling The Truth and a minor case of Hero Worship. Also, apparently I can't act worth a hoot, which makes me question how on earth I managed to keep peace for a thousand years without you. And it's been 1,111 years since I first raised the moon, which does unspeakable things to the history of Equestria, so..." She rubbed her temples and sighed heavily.

Luna gave her a comforting nuzzle.

"I find that the best solution for such issues is not to overthink them or take them too seriously, because now that you know about the events, they're that much easier to head off before they become a problem. Especially where your student is concerned."

Celestia smiled thinly. "Quite so, dear sister. I try raising her right, but she's an academic, which are usually quick to stick to a certain mindset and never budge from them."

"Mhh, like those New Lunar Republic and Solar Empire idiots?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I...hesitate to call those academics," Celestia replied.

"They read their propaganda," Luna pointed out.

"But that doesn't count," Celestia argued. "That's like saying reading the menu makes you a master chef."

"It doesn't?" Luna said, tilting her head. "So those six years I spent at culinary school were for nothing?"

"I do believe their diplomas were written in crayon," Celestia said dryly. "Which does explain your odd dishes and interesting eating habits."

"You're just jealous you can't eat a pineapple raw," Luna said smugly.

Celestia scowled at her for a moment before smiling. "Well, what's done is done. Shall we go pretend to run Equestria while Twilight does all the real work?"

"You read my mind."





204.42 (continuation of 203.20)





183 loops later for Twilight, 34 for Rarity, and 11 for Discord...





"You know, I think I might make giant hats a thing again this loop." Rarity said suddenly, making Twilight and Spike look up from their respective meals in surprise, sharing a concerned look.

"...come again." the resident Anchor deadpanned, "Don't tell me you had another Witchcraft variant."

"And what of it?" the fashion mare rolled her eyes, "Say what you will about my variant self's war crimes, but I think she might have been on to someth-"

*WHAM*

All three loopers yelped in surprise as something fast and on fire slammed into the ground several meters away, creating a large crater and sending burning earth flying in all directions, only Twilgiht's rapidly created barrier protecting the trio.

"Um..." Spike peeked out warily from behind the lunch table, before his eyes narrowed in curiosity, said emotion getting the better of him as he padded over to the newly created hole to get a better look at the offending object.

Even from several meters away, Twilight could see his face twist into a mask of confusion as he reached in to retrieve the object.

"What is it, dear?" Rarity asked, sharing her husband's curiosity.

"It's, um, well..." Spike struggled to find the words as he lifted the projectile to where the others could see it.

Twilight stared at the singed brick for several seconds of uncertainty, before her brain clicked in recognition, left eye beginning to twitch.

Staring warily at her and then at the brick, Rarity backed off slightly, whilst Spike scratched his head.

"Uh... Are you alright, Twi-"

"DISCORD!"