//------------------------------// // MLP Loops 206 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 206.1 (V01D; edited by Saphroneth & Wixelt) Sunset Shimmer walked outside, and - though she had been planning to meet Sci-Twi and Fluttershy - froze at the number of animals on the lawn. There was practically no grass visible through the mass. Face-palming, she worked her way carefully through the crowd of animals to the duo. "Really. Fluttershy... why?" Sunset deadpanned. Then, upon seeing that Twilight wasn't confused - just watching - Sunset hugged her sister in all but blood. "Nice to see you again Twilight," she said warmly. Twilight, for her part, smiled, and opened her mouth to speak, when a cough interrupted the pair. “Um... Sorry to be a bother, but…” Fluttershy asked meekly from somewhere amidst the crowd of creatures. “Would you mind helping me fit all of them back in my backpack. It’s… it’s ever so slightly difficult to hold it open and pick up my friends at the same time…” 206.2 (Scorntex) A question had been on Sunset's mind for some time. Days had passed, then weeks, then whole Loops. Things had occurred, and even the occasional Thing (Pinkie Pie insisted there was a difference, and no-one was going to argue with Pinkie Pie if they could avoid it), and so the question had occasionally settled down into the back of Sunset's mind. And then, one Loop, she'd been watching Rainbow Dash playing out on Canterlot High's soccer field, practicing her shots, and the thought rose up out of the back of Sunset's mind. As she sat there, several things began occurring to her all at once, and seized by a moment of inspiration, she walked over to her friend. "Hey, Rainbow Dash?" she called out. "'sup?" Sunset frowned as she thought of the best way to phrase her question. "Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow stared at her apprehensively. "Yeah?" "You manage the soccer team, right?" "Yeah." "And the football team." Rainbow's frown deepened. She let the ball she'd been practicing with drop to the ground. "Yeah..." "And the hockey team... along with literally every other sports team this school has." "Yeah..." Sunset smiled carefully. "I was just wondering... where do you find the time to do all this?" Rainbow Dash stared blankly. Somewhere, a cricket chirped. And then she grinned. "Sunset." She placed an arm around Sunset's shoulder, "that's an easy one." "Please, don't say "It's cuz I'm Rainbow Dash"." Rainbow Dash gave her the cool look of someone whose train of thought had been derailed by someone inadvertently dropping a small mountain in its path. It was several seconds before she managed to readjust herself. "Alright." Rainbow Dash said, "you want the truth." She sighed. She looked about, and leaned in. "Truth is... I've been getting folk to fill in for me. Replacement Rainbow Dashes." Sunset allowed this thought to sink in. She processed it. She tried to say something on this, and the words failed. "I... no. Wait. Sorry, what?" "Rainbow wigs, contact lenses, a few Coolness Lessons, some of Rarity's make-up." Rainbow Dash picked up the ball and spun it idly on one finger. "No-one noticed the difference." Now it was Sunset staring blankly. Rainbow Dash stared back. "What?" she asked defensively. "I'm just one person. I can't run every sports team in this school all on my own and be lead guitarist for a band and barely hand my homework in on time all at once. That'd be nuts. Pinkie Pie nuts." Sunset nodded. She wasn't entirely sure what else there was to do. Reality seemed to have momentarily snuck out around the bike sheds. "You okay?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You're looking a little funny." "I need to go sit down..." Sunset did at least manage to stop herself from adding "for several hours". As she turned to leave, a distressed girl rushed past, headed towards Rainbow Dash, carrying what looked amazingly like a rainbow ponytail wig covered in various types of condiment. (DrTempo) [MLP/Samurai Jack] From the Journal of Sunset Shimmer, Second Volume (Post-Return to Equestria Adventures) It is rare that I talk about a return visit to a Loop I have visited before in this journal, but this is a special case. Recently, the Admins were able to complete the baseline for Samurai Jack's Loop, and I found myself in that baseline expansion. Fifty years had passed in Samurai Jack's baseline between where the baseline previously ended and this expansion; in that time, all the time portals were destroyed by Aku, and when the last one was destroyed in front of Jack, events occurred that had him lose his sword. After this, Jack wandered the world, not getting as much as a gray hair in that time. I was a friend of one of the Scotsman's many daughters; that guy has a really big family. I had heard about the events of the past fifty years from the Scotsman's, who asked me to go find Jack while he led an army to fight Aku. I knew that would only end in utter defeat, but the Scotsman, who revealed he was Awake, said not to worry. It didn't take me long to find Jack, who had met Ashi, one of a group of assassins sent to kill Jack. Thanks to Jack, Ashi(who sounds a lot like Twilight, now that I think about it) saw the world was not what she had believed it to be, and the two had begun falling in love. However, after Jack reclaimed his lost sword by coming to terms with his inner anger, a confrontation with Aku was inevitable. In that confrontation, Ashi was revealed to be Aku's daughter, and Aku used mind control to make her fight Jack. In baseline, Jack would lose all hope until the Scotsman, who was now similar to a Force ghost, led an army to save Jack, and the final battle began. However, Jack told me not to worry, as he let himself be captured in an attempt to save Ashi. Jack would accomplish this, and when Ashi was freed from Aku's mind control, she realized she also had all of Aku's powers... Including the ability to create time portals. Jack tossed me a version of his sword he had put in his Subspace Pocket a long time ago, and before he left, he told me that in baseline, he stopped Aku from ever taking over the world, but Ashi would disappear due to a time paradox. As he told me he knew Ashi would Awaken one day, he asked me to defeat Aku in this timeline to ensure peace returned to the world. Jack and Ashi left to undo the future that is Aku, and with a few attacks, I made sure Aku was defeated for good in that timeline. Seconds later, the Loop ended as Jack defeated Aku in the past. My last thoughts before the Loop ended were that Jack was right, and Ashi would Awaken someday. After all Jack has been through, he deserves that. 206.3 (Vinylshadow) "So..." Berry Punch said as she washed the counter tops, helping Big Mac close up his bar. "How's things with you and Sugar Belle?" "Going splendidly, despite what a recent expansion may have you think." Big Mac replied, putting the chairs up on the tables. "Your usual cringe-inducing romantic comedy plot we've all been through and are thoroughly sick of, solved by simply not leaping to conclusions and talking with your partner about what's going on and how I can help." "That's good to hear. Did Discord behave himself?" Berry asked. "He was Discord," Big Mac said with a shrug. "Mhh...I'll talk with him about that," Berry said with a sigh. "Be nice to him," Big Mac said, glancing at her. "He has his own rough patches, same as the rest of us." Berry snorted, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure he does. Enjoy your evening." "And you as well." 206.4 (Wixelt) [MLP/Madoka Magica] "Drink. Now." Mac considered the pair before him, a couple of young mares, before shrugging as he recognized the duo, pulling a particularly strong beverage from beneath the bar. "Ya'll wanna talk about it?" "Not really." one of the pair - a blue furred earth pony whose clef and sword cutie mark denoted her as Sayaka Miki, Anchor of the Mitakihara branch - sighed before looking to her companion with a frown, "Probably should, though..." The other half of the duo - a red pegasus with a crucifix and a spear on her flank - stared emptily into space, eye twitching occasionally. "Well, ah'm all ears." The bartender offered, pouring out a glass for both of them. "Alright then..." Sayaka took a deep breath. "Well, it's kinda like..." She pondered momentarily. "Ever since we were restored and I was made Anchor, there's been an increase in variants where the 'narrative' of the world is centred on me, rather than on Madoka." "Ah, so ya'll take her place, then?" "Occasionally," the Puella Magi shrugged, "But not usually. Her unAwake self is still that girl with all the timeline potential built up, but..." She took a swig of her drink, shaking her head. "Well, in baseline there's certain events that always happen, right? But all the stuff between changes because the Tree doesn't remember it clearly?" "Eeyup." "Put it this way, then. All of the solid parts of this variant, at least from the point it breaks from baseline and afterward, mostly feature my actions." Sayaka blinked. "Well, mine and..." She gestured to Kyouko, who was still unmoved, not noticing the drink placed before her. "And so? Sounds like ya'll have been through this one a lot." Mac mused. "I have." Sayaka interjected, "Kyouko hadn't before the last loop." She shuddered, grimacing. "And it was a null loop. And we got a bad ending sub-variant." "...Ya might need to explain that one to me." "It's hard to explain, but I'll try." The bluenette narrowed her eyes. "Sometimes this variant has these, sort of... narrative landmines, I guess you'd call them. There's like 4 or 5 of them scattered throughout these loops, and most of them involve my death." She took another long drink. "Heck. If I'm not careful, I die on the first day after the split from baseline." Sayaka shivered visibly. "Giant scissor witch..." "And ya girlfriend here?" "Yeah, um..." Sayaka blushed briefly, before shaking her head, "I've Awoken late in this variant enough to know the two of us almost always, uh, hook up, at some point along the way. Something about past timelines tying us together, I think." Her face fell. "So if I die..." "...she don't take it well." Mac realised, "And with what that means in your branch..." He managed a sympathetic frown. "Yeah, even if your death means the loop crashes, that can't be a fun realisation." "Tell me about it. One minute we misjudged the time I need to escape as a witch turns into a mini black hole and it..." She shifted uncomfortably. "...spaghettifies me. The next..." She shot another look of deep worry in her girlfriend's direction, moving to touch her occasionally twitching hand - an attempt to comfort. "Here I am." "Ouch." "And she had to watch..." "Geez..." Mac winced. At this particular moment, Kyouko seemed to pass briefly from her daze, her eyes drifting down to glance at the glass she'd been offered. Without so much as missing a beat, she scooped it up and began chugging it enthusiastically, all present jumping back in surprise at the speed of the motion. Even by looper standards. "Um..." Sayaka watched her other half with concern at her lack of stopping for breath. "Kyou?" "Hah!" With a deep inhale, Kyouko slammed the glass down on the bar top, a look of melancholy crossing her features. "Needed that." "Ya'll feelin' better?" "Slightly." The redhead rolled her eyes, before reaching to her pocket for something. "But if ever I see another black hole it'll be too soon..." Her gaze narrowed, darting across to Sayaka. "You knew." "I, err..." The Anchor in question flinched backward. "Thought I could avoid it?" "You still could've told me, y'know." Kyouko shot back, pulling a small box from subspace. Slowly, she managed a slight grin. "Idiot." "...I'll bring you up to speed for next time, I guess." Sayaka glanced downward. "Kind of glad we didn't get to that variant's big one, though." She paused, "Well, second after old Walmart Night... actually... it'd be the third..." The swordswoman trailed off, eyes becoming distant. "...huh." Kyouko watched her partner with apprehension, before making a subtle gesture in Mac's direction, who nodded, pouring out another litre of drink for both of them, "Something else I should know?" "I..." Sayaka began, before shaking her head. "Later. This is a sanctuary loop. I don't want to burden you with anything before we take some time off." "...fine." the spear wielder grumbled, before jabbing a hoof at her girlfriend, "But don't think I'm going to just forget this, baka." She thought for a moment, noting how distressed the blue haired girl actually was. "It isn't a Kyubey related thing, is it?" "Believe me, I don't think I could, and..." Mitakihara's Anchor glanced around, before nodding. "Sort of. He was Awake with me for one of these Loops, so he told me..." She blinked, brow creasing in unhappy surprise as she turned back toward Kyouko, "Wait. Baka? Re-" She stopped, blinking at the sight of Kyouko Sakura, in all her glory, with around 10 individual sticks of pocky jutting out of her mouth at disparate angles. "Mmhphmph!" "Pfft!" Sayaka couldn't help but burst out laughing, giggling at the sight before her, "Damnit Sakura! Every time..." She sighed again. "To quote a wise woman, I needed that." "Rrry? 'az uh cnn fut murr unn!" "Please don't." "Ah've got a stock of pocky in the back." Mac cut in, a light smirk playing across his lips. "Figured I'd need it this loop." "For the love of oak, don't encourage her!" Sayaka mock-facehoofed, still finding herself mirthful. "This is your revenge, isn't it? Against your poor baka girlfriend." "Mbbe. Bt yr-" Kyouko coughed lightly, removing the sticks from her mouth. "But you're my baka girlfriend. Wouldn't have you any other way." "That's sweet in... a weird sort of way." "I try." 206.5 (Wixelt) "190?" "Yes, 91?" "You... um, wouldn't happen to have any idea what brought this loop on, would you?" "Unfortunately, having had this variant before, I do..." 190 rubbed her forehead lightly, summoning a scroll and quill and making several notations on it, "You're aware of that variant of Discord who's his polar opposite, correct?" "Accord. Right?" 91 raised an eyebrow, twirling her purple locks nervously, "This is his doing? He didn't seem like the sort." "Not normally, but imagine him with Discord's usual mischievousness, and a slight malicious streak." 190 sighed, "If this loop is anything like the last, his final curse before 74 and 48 sealed him away 1000 years ago was to make it so all of pony-kind could only address each other using numbers in place of their names." she shuddered, glancing at the scroll on which she had written 'Twilight Sparkle' next to her number, "It's lucky he didn't manage to affect written word as well..." "I dread to think." 91 frowned, "That doesn't explain why Pinkie is still just Pinkie, though." "Nothing ever does. It was like that last time too." 190 shook her head. "And you didn't try to-" "Nope. Not happening. Not giving myself another aneurysm..." 206.6 (Wixelt) "Ah, Twilight, there you are." Ivory Scroll trotted into the Carousel Boutique to the sight of the local Anchor modelling a dress that, going by it's style, gave away that Rarity was very likely Awake. "I've been looking for you everywhere." "Well, given that Rarity won't be back for a few minutes, I guess I have a moment," the unicorn in question smiled, "What do you need?" "Some information actually," the Mayor of Ponyville clarified, "I have some paperwork I've been arranging with the possibility of pranking someone in a future loop, but there's a key piece of information I'm missing." she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "What, pray tell, was the activation order of the first few loopers after you? I don't believe I've ever asked." "Oh, that's all?" Twilight giggled lightly, having expected something more, "That's simple. It was me, then Applejack, then... uh..." her confidence faltered, "...huh." "Wait... how do you not know?" "I'm... not sure, and that deeply concerns me." the Anchor frowned, eye twitching lightly, "Was I not paying attention at the time or something? But why wouldn't I..." she rapidly shook her head, "It was Rainbow and Pinkie next, followed by Rarity and Fluttershy, but they didn't start in the same loops, so which way around... Which..." the purple mare groaned, putting her head in her hooves, "Why is this so difficult to remember?!" "I... can come back later, if you'd like." Ivory grimaced as she watched the local load bearing looper have a nervous breakdown. "...appreciated." Twilight nodded frantically, unpocketing a chalkboard that she immediately began chalking diagrams and various writing onto, "This... this may take a while." 206.7 (Wixelt) [MLP/RWBY] Extract from the RWBY Loops. Weirdest Reasons for Crushes "Well, I guess I kinda had a teensie crush on Trixie a long time ago..." Nora rolled her tongue, before shrugging, "But, y'know, not going to put that one forward." "Why not?" Weiss quirked a suspicious eyebrow, before smirking knowingly, "I didn't think much embarrassed you." Nora stared at the ice queen for a long moment, then abruptly narrowed her eyes. "You're on." she grinned widely, taking a deep breath, "Well y'see, it all starts with this story she told me about the time she made thermite-" "Nope." a voice suddenly called out from across the table, silencing the hammer-wielding looper. "...but therm-" "Not happening." Gilda, for this fused loop a vaguely griffon based Faunus, gazed accusingly at Nora, "The only reason she told you was because I wasn't there to stop her." she laughed dryly, "Try and tell it. I dare you." "Aw..." "...oookay?" Weiss shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "Next, then?" 206.8 (Evilhumour) Twilight was sitting with her friends, looking up at the sky, all bored as could be as they had no real ideas of what to do today. They were all Awake, and thus had an above average level of what could pass for fun, but they were currently stumped- "You know what?" Pinkie Pie said, clapping her hooves and her mane poofing up as she got an idea. "I'mma going to be like a cat and ignore stuff." "What are you going to ignor-" Twilight started before she saw the earth pony begin to float up in the air, swimming around in the sky. Twilight blinked at this, her eyebrows pulling an Applejack with her eyebrows retreating to her mane as said farmer suddenly shot into the sky, swimming around like a seapony. Twilight looked around as her non-winged friends ascended into the sky by ignoring gravity before she shrugged her shoulders and decided to join them. At least it was something. 206.9 (Vinylshadow; edited by Saphroneth) "Congratulations, Spike." Rarity said, giving her husband a nuzzle. "Hm?" He looked up at her, tilting his head. "What happened?" "Have you not gone through the new expansion yet?" Spike went through his memories, before his face brightened. "Oh, that. Yeah. Uh... I went through that a long time ago, actually." Rarity blinked in surprise, flicking her tail. "What do you mean?" "Well," Spike said slowly. "Apparently the Hub leaked some things and some got mixed into the Loops for a little bit before Sleipnir removed it." "Is...is that possible?" Rarity asked blankly. "Apparently," Spike said. "The Loops wasn't particularly stable and there were a few things missing. Sound effects, for one." "So you didn't bring it up with us because it may not have come to pass?" Rarity said. Spike shrugged. "That was a possibility I considered, but the fact I didn't keep my new additions in subsequent Loops was another factor. Would be pretty silly if I ran in hollering about new attachments, only for them to not show up, right?" He waved a claw. “Besides… it’s new for baseline. I’ve pretty much always been able to give myself wings, this is just getting them… naturally, I guess.” Rarity's lips twitched in amusement. "That makes sense," she said with a nod. "But now you have them - as you say, baseline. Congratulations." "This is gonna make talking with Scootaloo kinda awkward," Spike said. "Well, unAwake, anyway. Although lately she doesn't seem as concerned about not being able to fly, so..." "There's plenty of things to do on the ground," Rarity pointed out. "Just look at Fluttershy, for example." Spike stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I wonder if Scootaloo has ever apprenticed under her. I'll have to ask them at some point." "Quite so," Rarity said. "Now, could I bother you for a moment? I'd like your help with modeling some dresses for me. Now that you can fly without making a fuss about it, that'll make adjusting hemlines and such so much easier." "Of course, dear." 206.10 (Wixelt) [MLP/El Goonish Shive] "I'm boooooored." "We know, Dash." Applejack rolled her eyes, "But y'know these sorts of loops happen now and then." "Yeah, but..." the pegasus, a normal human for this loop, shook her head, "A null loop, and we're nowhere near where this branch's action usually happens. Just great..." she glanced out of a nearby window, where a small group of grey aliens were wandering past, all wearing shirts with 'Hugh Mann' on them, going largely unnoticed by the general population, "If it wasn't for the... oddities, I'd think we were in the Hub." "Give it some time." the purple haired girl to AJ's left offered. After a moment of thought, Twilight hummed, "This loop does seem to have some not insignificant background magic. If I had access to the correct materials, I could probably tap into it and track down the local loopers, if they're Awake. Pinkie, do you have-" she turned, about to ask her pink companion for aid, only to find the party planner in question had vanished from her seat, "...huh." "That's... kinda ominous." Applejack stared at the empty chair for a moment, eventually forcing herself to look away, "But who knows. Maybe she'll be able to tell us what's goin' on here when she gets back." Several thousand kilometers away… "Hey! Is that demonic duck of some sort?" Sarah Brown pointed suddenly, causing her travelling companions to all glance at the empty car seat, only to find... "Hiya!" the pink haired woman grinned, pulling a balloon from her hair, before popping it, "That distracting enough for ya?" "Um... Looper?" "Yeppers!" "Right." Sarah shifted uncomfortably, sharing a look with Susan, who simply shrugged, nonplussed, and returned her attention to driving. "That's not really a duck..." Grace Sciuridae, the only apparently unAwake one present, eyed Pinkie nervously from her adjacent seat, moving away slightly, "Hi?" "Yello!" the looping Pie beamed, "D'ya like parties?" "...yeah, actually." Grace perked up, beginning to smile, "We had a big one for my birthday recently." "Awww, and I missed it." Pinkie deflated slightly, but almost immediately picked up steam again, "Nevermind, though. 'Cause we can have a big 'We Found the Local Loopers' party later!" "...isn't this a null loop?" Susan commented flatly, not even bothering to turn around. "Your point being?" the being sometimes made of cotton candy blinked several times, "Oh! I need to get my friends first! You aren't on your way to somewhere, are you?" Sarah rubbed her temples. This was going to be a long loop… 206.11 (Wixelt) [MLP/Freelancer] Edison Trent liked to think that, as young as he was in comparison to many other loopers (still below the 100,000 mark, last he'd checked), that he'd seen enough of others to not be surprised by any of the insanity they tended to bring to his branch, or at least not outwardly show it. Presently, his jaw was hung open in shock at the sight before him. When Apple Bloom, resident mechanic of the Equestria branch and called Ambrosia Bloom this time around, had taken his place in the loop, whilst he took the role Tobias normally had as an equipment dealer (a nice change of pace, Trent considered, not having actually experienced it before) and Bloom's in-loop father figure, he expected maybe a few ships of a higher tech level than was normal for his branch's society to turn up. What he wasn't expecting was that the moment Apple Bloom turned up at the Leeds dealership and he filled her in on how the loop usually went, she'd unpocket a heavily modified 40K Imperium warship in orbit, warp jump straight to the Nomad dyson sphere on the other side of the sector, and blast the parasitic curator race to oblivion, using the key artifact to send the stragglers to another region of space several months before it happened normally. "Well..." Trent worked his jaw from his passenger seat near the back of Bloom's personally built cockpit, "That was something." "Yeah, I guess I did go a tad bit overboard, didn't I." The littlest Apple giggled nervously, looking out at the burning remnants of the sphere, "Sorry 'bout that. I kinda forget some loopers aren't used to this sort of thing yet sometimes." "Between you and the Gurren Lagann lot, I think I'm going to have to." the Anchor of the Sirius Sector branch massaged his temples, "But since that's the Nomads mostly dealt with for now, we could go on a tour of the sector. Whenever I get a visitor, there's sometimes a few extra systems in the routes." "I think I'd like that, ya'll." 206.12 (Wixelt) "Twilight, I'm feeling a little Loopy. Have you seen my... um..." Spike paused mid-step, raising a concerned eyebrow at the scene before him, "Is everything alright?" To say the Golden Oak's central room was a mess was an understatement. There were books on everything from psychology to quantum theory scattered haphazardly about the place, countless chalkboards full of notes and equations that seemed to become increasingly erratic and scrawled the newer they got, and an uncomfortable number of empty or half finished cups of coffee dotting the various work surfaces. And the shelves. And the floor. In the middle of it all, Equestria's resident Anchor sat almost perfectly still, hair a mess, right eye occasionally twitching. "Perfectly, Spike." Twilight answered, voice flat without variation, grin far too wide to be anything but unhinged, "Why do you ask?" "Well..." the looping dragon shuddered, before looking across at the chalkboards with measurable disdain, noting a pattern among them, "Twilight, Applejack..." he sighed, "The activation order again? Really?" "I never stopped. The memories just won't come to me, no matter what I do." the librarian giggled emptily, before shivering harshly, "I've... had a lot of lonely loops to focus on this. Started really bugging me after a while." "Yeah, I kinda noticed." Spike rolled his eyes, "You've looked in a mirror, right?" "I was trying to avoid it if I could, seeing as how I can't exactly be a pretty sight right now." Twilight brushed her hair back with one hoof, a poor attempt at neatening it up, "Now that I think about it, I should probably take a break. Refresh, as it were." "It'd probably be a good idea." her companion shrugged, then frowned deeply, "Really surprised Sleipnir didn't know, though." Spike watched in surprise as Twilight Sparkle froze midstep, eyes blanking as she sought to process something. "Uh... you did ask him, right?" the dragonling frowned, "I mean, I only assumed. Seemed like one of the first things you'd do..." Slowly, the purple unicorn drew in a deep and measured breath. "You know what. The break can wait." she said sharply, left eye twitching this time, cold and hysterical amusement bubbling beneath the surface, "I need to go and slam my head against a wall for..." she paused, calculating, "Well, I suppose the rest of this loop should do the trick." "Um... Okay?" Somewhere, a certain equine Admin chuckled to himself. 206.13 (Evilhumour) Zecora was working on her latest potion when there was a knock on her door. Frowning to herself in wonder to who it could be, the zebra opened the door to see Rainbow Dash hovering above the threshold. "Hey Zecora, can we chat...and do you have any booze?" the pegasus asked, looking to the side. "Oh and, I'm a bit Loopy and all that." "As am I, Rainbow Dash," Zecora said, tilting her head. "Come on in." "Wait, why aren't ya speaking in rhymes?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's a variant where we zebra don't have to rhyme, Dash," Zecora said with a snort. "And I hope that this isn't a chance to raid my stock as no one else is Awake or this could be a variant where zebras don't carry alcohol too..." "Right," Rainbow Dash, rubbing her hooves together. "Well, I had a rough last loop; a Nightmare for writers." "Ah," Zecora said as she reached for some of the apple cider she had bought last year. "Let me guess, you replaced a man named Paul Sheldon and were at the mercy of one of your Idris fans?" "No, worse," Rainbow grumbled. "I replaced the crazy fan, and held A.K. Yearling hostage." The mare shuddered and accepted the cider passed onto her. "Thanks Zecora." "It's my pleasure to help a friend," the zebra said, pulling her into a hug. 206.14 (Wixelt) “Pinkie, this is an intervention.” The pink mare in question looked up suddenly from her work, finding three of her five closest friends, both in and out of the loops, standing in or around the doorway of her bedroom, for this iteration repurposed as a lab. They wore expressions ranging from concern to genuine worry. Pinkie took several seconds to look at each of them, taking in their emotional states, the subtleties of their faces and their apparent stance and reasons for an intervention in the first place. Then, after looking back at her work, she settled on Twilight again, and grinned. “Nope.” “Pinkie, this is serious.” The purple Anchor pleaded, moving one hoof forward, “You need to take a break.” “Don’t be silly Twilight, I took a break last wee-” “20 loops ago, from your perspective.” “I-” Pinkie blinked, surprised, “20 loops? Really? Really really?” “It’s true, sugarcube.” Applejack, exerting her authority as Equestria’s Second, stepped forward behind the looping Sparkle, “None of us have trouble with ya’ll and pink sandwiches for the most part, but you need to rest. Ya know we’re right.” “Aww. But I’m so close...” “You said that last time we looped together as well, dear.” Rarity spoke up, “And you hadn’t taken any sort of reprieve then, either.” She sighed, “You remember how that turned out, I presume?” “I… heh, try not to…” “You see what we’re getting at, then.” Twilight reached out, placing a hoof upon Pinkie’s shoulder, smiling comfortingly, “Look, we know how much you want to work this out, but we’d much rather you be in a state where you can enjoy that victory when; and I do say when; you do.” “…okay.” Pinkie returned the gesture after a moment, “I’ll stop for a teensie little while.” Slowly, her grin returned, “…after this.” As if on cue, one of the experiments behind the party pony, namely a glass sphere full of half formed pink-ness nestled among various cooking implements, began to spark and glow with the unnatural shades of the Warp. “Pinkie!” Applejack growled in annoyance, her face falling slightly, “I thought ya’ll would’ve-” “Stopped it? Why would I do that, silly billy. I already started doing it.” “Which means nothing, darling.” Rarity spoke out, “We all know you could neutralize it right this moment if you truly wanted to.” “Buuuuut… I don’t wanna.” The non-Baseline Chaos Goddess giggled, scooping up the sphere with one hoof, “I’ve absolutetively got it worked out for real this time.” “Come on. Just take the birch damn break.” Twilight stalked forward, eyes narrowed, making her target jump in the surprise of her sudden intensity, “Don’t make me call your sister.” “You wouldn’t dare, Sparkle.” “Try me.” The two friends glared into each other’s eyes for several moments, a battle of wills taking place, before Pinkie abruptly drew in a large and gasping breath, harking back to the pair’s first meeting. “Twilight,” the mare said simply, though only for that brief second, “I am Pinkamena Diane Bucking Pie: Third or Fourth of the Equestrian Branch; Alicorn of Laughter, Sovereign of the Structured Chaotic; Amuser of the First Sanctuary; Maestro of Mirth; Source of the Pink; Chaos Goddess of Parties, who sends Shoggoths gibbering in terror; Darth Terror'Anment, Fun Lord of the Sith and Head of the Looping Sith Ladies; Founder of the Pink Lantern Corps; High Lady of Genki Girls; She Who Appears; Sibling of the Mistress of Stone; Friendship Ambassador to Yakyakistan; The Impossible Color; First Bearer of the Element Humorous; Qualified and Vetted Rock Farmer; Bringer of Confections; Defiler of Sanity and Wellspring of Fun; The Joy of Faust; Confetti’s Wrath; Seer of All and Beyond; Premier Peppy Pink Party Planning Pony of Ponyville and Other Places; Part-Time Eldritch Abomination; Baker of Sugnar’gumai; Warden of Cipher, Bane to the Equilateral Eye; Consumer of Shadow Demons; She Who Makes Reality Weep; It Which Need Not Be Noticed; Mark of the Thrice Inflated; That Which Gives Great Old Ones Pause; The One Whom Fear Itself Fears; The Laughter That Never Ceases, The Party That Never Ends and The Host That Never Dies; The Horse of Despair’s Demise; Worthy Opponent to Deadpool; That Which Shall Not Rest Unhappy; She Who Threw a Party For a Honey Badger; Holder of This Pointless Title; Eternal Rightful Best Baker in All of Equestria…” she suddenly smirked, her irises flickering with a warp-fuelled madness, “…and sometimes made of cotton candy.” “Did…” Twilight gaped, mouth moving even though, for a fleeting moment, no words came out, “Did you just outdo my spiel?” “By one title.” Pinkie answered, body flickering with unrealness every now and then, “I will finish this, then I will rest. But only then. Because, no matter what it takes…” her form burned pink, “I will make that sandwich and I WILL OUT-BAKE DONUT JOE!” “…fine.” Twilight sighed, defeated in that she could no more convince Pinkie to stop than she could make a honey badger give a damn, “But I’m holding you to tha-” *CRACK* The gazes of all present snapped instantly to the sphere, the source of the noise, which now has a sizeable crack running down it. Slowly, Twilight and Pinkie met each other’s gazes. Nervously, the Bearer of Laughter did as the name implied, trying to ignore her incredibly twitchy knee. “You, uh, heh…” Pinkie smiled as reassuringly as she could manage given the situation, though it crossed right over and became downright jarring, “Might wanna get far away. Like… Really, really, really far away!” “Don’t need to tell us twice.” Applejack nodded, quickly fleeing from the room with Rarity close behind her. For a moment she could be heard shouting, “Rainbow! Pinkcon 1! This ain’t a drill!” Twilight remained for a moment longer, staring at the sphere, now beginning to leak its infernal energies into the room. Then, she fixed Pinkie with another hard stare. “Good luck.” She said, before vanishing in the flash of a teleportation spell. For a moment, a split second at most, everypony within sight of Sugarcube Corner saw an awful light coming from the upstairs windows, a gap into a world unknowable. Then, all of them experienced a brief flicker of color, varying from pony to pony, some seeing purple or orange, whilst others caught sight of a full rainbow flurry passing them by, before they abruptly found themselves somewhere else, far from their hometown. Somewhere that a sudden spike in their natural instincts told them was far safer than where they had been before. Milliseconds later, Ponyville and everything for miles around it was abruptly engulfed in a large burst of impossible color, consuming all around it in a plume of horror reaching far into the sky that threatened to tear open a hole into the Warp itself. “Do you think it’s safe yet?” “Ya’ll tell me, Twi. I have about as much of a clue as you do.” “C’mon guys. We’ve been down here for two weeks. And you had Spike tell Celestia not to come close to Ponyville until one of you gave the all clear. We’re on our own unless we peek.” “Really, you three.” Rarity raised an eyebrow at the sight of Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash huddled in conversation around the sealed hatch of the impromptu bunker they’d had around 8 seconds to build between them, “Here of all places? There must be more comfortable places, even in such a cramped space, to have this manner of conversation than directly next to the exit.” The three offending mares shared a few looks, before collectively sighing and backing away from the locked passage. “Alright.” Twilight nodded, “But that still doesn’t answer my question. Whatever Pinkie’s experiment did has made it near impossible for me to reliably check what’s going on outside without physically looking, no matter the method I opt for. And I think you’ll all understand when I say I don’t feel like teleporting out into a place that could be infested with daemons completely blind.” “Perfectly.” AJ sighed, “Well, I suppose that means we should-” *knockknockknock… knockknockknock* “Gyah!” Rainbow Dash, being the closest to the hatch, squawked in surprise as something unseen began tapping on the other side, “What in the branches…” *knock… knockknockknockknockknock* “My word. Is someone there?” Rarity took a step forward, calling out. *knockknockknockknock… knockknock* “Ah don’t think they can hear ya, darlin’.” Applejack gestured across to the resident Anchor, “Pretty sure Twi sealed this thing with every spell she could think of at the time. Ain’t no voices gettin’ through that. Heck, we can barely hear the knocking as is.” *knockknockknockknockknock… knock* “There’s something about this that’s almost… Ah hah!” Twilight’s eyes widened, and she suddenly pulled a sheet of paper from her pocket, “It’s a tap code!” *knockknockknock… knockknockknockknock* “What. Like in prison movies?” “Exactly.” The purple unicorn nodded, before peering at the chart on the sheet, “Now let’s see here…” As she began noting down from memory, the knocks continued. *knockknockknockknock… knockknockknockknockknock* *knockknockknockkknock… knockknockknock* *knock… knockknockknock* “So, if I’m getting the right context, that’s N-E-R-V-O-U-S-C.” Twilight blinked, “Nervous C? What in birch’s name…” “Maybe it’s a particularly worried changeling, dear.” Rarity rolled her eyes, “Why doesn’t one of us simply teleport for only a moment, see what’s out there, then come back before anything happens to us.” “I don’t know about you, Rares,” Rainbow stifled a snort, “But I don’t exactly wanna go out there if the full message turns out to be ‘Nervous Chaos God’. Just my two bits, there, though.” *knockknock… knockknockknockknock…* “I… Nervous C I… Nervousci?” Twilight’s eyes widened, and she suddenly bolted for the hatch release, “Nervouscited! Pinkie!” “Well, whaddaya know?” AJ smirked at the gawking spectrum mare, “I guess ya’ll were right after all.” With a hiss, the gateway to the outside world swung open, and a brief wash of pink-ish liquid flooded in, pooling on the floor in front of the hatch. Behind it, the rock walls were stained the same, a similar color to the slightly melancholic pink party pony who had, at that moment, stuck her head into view. “Hiya girls.” She gave a small smile, far below her usual level of enthusiasm, “Are you all okay?” “We’ve been through worse, darling.” Rarity assured, wiping the stainless color from her hooves, “I think it’s you we’re really worried about.” “Of course.” Twilight agreed, face fallen a little, “I was worried we wouldn’t see you again this loop.” “Pfft. Nah, I’m fine.” Pinkie brushed the worry off, though her expression still betrayed her mood, “But… uh…” she looked over her shoulder, “You… kinda sorta… may want to mentally prep for this.” “…this?” “Yeppers. No other way to describe it.” “…okay. This is…” Twilight gaped at the scene before her, “Um…” For one thing, Sugarcube Corner was completely gone, a flat plane of land taking its place. Most other buildings had suffered some measure of damage, with the closest buildings to the epicentre (and Twilight’s library, somehow, despite being further away, leading to Applejack and Rarity departing to check that their own structures were at least intact) being as non-present as it was. But that wasn’t the main thing. Everything was pink. From the walls to the ceilings to the floors to the lamp-posts to the carts to the plants to the clouds. All of it was stained. And it wasn’t as if it were simply that everything was gunked in pink… stuff. All these things, as far as the eye could see, had simply given up their original color in favour of the new pink order. “Well… uh…” Rainbow worked her jaw for a moment, “Congrats, I guess? You have the pink filling now, sorta.” “It’s not pink.” Pinkie answered flatly. “What?! But it looks-” “I know. But it’s one shade off. One birch-damned shade.” The party mare growled, “It Isn’t. The Right. Pink.” She took a deep breath, before letting out her stress in a sigh, offering Twilight an apologetic look, “I’m sorry. I guess I maybe should’ve stopped being an obsessive meanie-pants and taken that break sooner.” “It’s alright, though I am surprised it didn’t cause a loop crash.” The librarian smiled reassuringly, “Why don’t we take a holiday for the rest of the loop. I hear the island on the other side of the planet’s got a resort on it this loop.” “That… would be… Amazing!” Pinkie seemed to immediately cheer up, her hair poofing up once more, “Oooh. Once I’ve cleaned all this up we can have a Beach Party!” “Heck yeah!” Rainbow grinned, “Been a while since we’ve had a vacation loop.” “Of course, I’d appreciate an explanation first.” The trio jumped in surprise, before turning to find a very worried and very unAwake Celestia staring them down. “Princess!” Twilight put on the act of bowing briefly, “I wasn’t expecting you so soon.” “Well, when you sent the all clear, you should have known I would make it my top priority to ensure my faithful student and her friends were safe.” The sun monarch expressed warmly, before frowning around at the overall scene once more, “That said, I was not expecting such a scene as this. It is most… concerning, if surprisingly delicious.” “Well, I-” Twilight blinked, sharing looks of confusion with her two companions, “I’m sorry, did you say delicious?” “Indeed.” Celestia affirmed, “I happened to scoop up a sandwich somepony left at a table that had fallen victim to all of this. I saw it as my duty to ensure this color was not actively harmful but found it instead to be quite the delicacy.” “Really?!” Pinkie leapt forward, happiness exuding from her form, “You mean that?” “Indeed, Miss Pie.” The princess giggled at the pink pony’s forwardness, “Why, I’d say it’s almost as good as the confections of one Donut Joe.” “…what.” “Though I suppose Joe does have a gift for baking, so it’s rather an unfair comparison. This is still lovely, that put aside.” “…what.” “I suppose that, once this is cleaned away, I should ask you for- …Twilight, why are you slowly backing away? You too Miss Dash?” Celestia watched the two retreating ponies, a deep nervousness forming in the pit of her stomach, “Is something the matter-” At that precise moment, two things happened to the princess at once. Firstly, she caught another glimpse of Pinkie Pie, form rippling and shimmering with an ungodly presence, as well as a deeply ingrained rage bubbling beneath the surface. Secondly, she Awoke, and realized her mistake. “Oh… oh birch.” Taking a long, reality defying breath, Pinkie looked Celestia dead in the eyes… …and opened her mouth to spea3rwFeGfF8G4AfHSa3S3rdGGfH3GuJSUKi6FrA7GAiGuFdGnA7F-- *FZZT* [ALERT: Loop Crash In Progress] Cause: Looper Instigated – Pinkie Pie. Advise Punishment Loop as Deterrent. Groaning in annoyance, Sleipnir slammed his head against his work desk. “…you crashed a loop with a Chaos Swear.” “I was angry.” Pinkie said simply, sipping her apple cider innocently, though her eyes seemed mildly haunted somehow. “You crashed a loop…” Sunset repeated disbelievingly, “With an ash-damned Chaos Swear.” “It was a very strong swear, y’know.” “Um…” “Sunset,” Twilight sighed, eyes as distant as her pink companion’s, “Repeating it isn’t going to change it.” “I know, I just…” the orange-ish unicorn shook her head, “Alright, anyone else going to counter that?” when no-one responded, she shrugged, “Okay. ‘Weirdest chain of events in a Baseline loop that led to a loop crash.’ goes to Pinkie, with her… how recent was that?” “Mhm.” Pinkie mumbled through her drink, likely to avoid saying anything else. “Six loops ago.” Rainbow clarified, before shuddering, “Pinkie, Twilight and I spent all of the iterations in between alternating between G3 and Eiken.” “…ouch.” Sunset shivered, glancing away uncomfortably. “I think Sleipnir’s exact words were ‘Any time you try to make a pink sandwich and fail from now on.’” “Then I just won’t fail.” Pinkie slammed her mug down, grinning for a moment before visibly subsiding, “Break first, though.” “Sure,” Twilight rolled her eyes with a measure of good humour, “Because that’ll help.” 206.15 (V01D) "Vinyl?" "What is it Sunset?" "Why is all the camping gear stacked in odd configurations?" "It's Tent-ris." "..." "Should I go turn off the music?" "Yes. You. Should." 206.16 (Wixelt) “Bit for your thoughts?” Pinkie shifted her gaze upward from her slumped, and admittedly somewhat uncomfortable, position, locking eyes with her long-time friend. “Heya Twi…” she smiled weakly, head not lifting from her splattered and worn work desk, both from sheer exhaustion and the lack of her usual enthusiasm, “Is everything okay?” “Normally, I would say yes, but…” Twilight’s eyes flicked briefly to Pinkie’s most recent failed experiment, now only a mangled mess of ripped bread and bubbling not-pink. It had already burnt a large hole in the aforementioned desk and was already getting to work on the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen, several floors down. Hopefully, with all due prayers to certain god trees, it wouldn’t reach the core of the planet before the loop ended. “Well, it’s kinda like…” the pink Chaos God sighed lightly, considering something, before speaking with an unusual levelness, “Do you think I should give up?” “Pink Sandwich?” “Yep.” “Well, as much strife as it’s caused us, I think you should stick at it.” The purple Anchor offered, patting the looping Pie on the shoulder comfortingly, “I mean, we’ve all said it’s a matter of when, rather than if.” “But I’ve tried everything!” Pinkie whined half-heartedly, leaning her face forward against the worktop, voice becoming muffled, “EWRYHNNG!!!” “Believe me, I know the feeling.” Twilight shook her head, eyes lidded with sympathy. “That silly activation order thingy?” “It just won’t come to me! Why can’t I-” the unicorn stopped herself mid-sentence ahead of shouting, coughing lightly, “My point is I understand completely. But that’s the thing.” She grinned, “I’m not giving up just yet, and neither should you. In the meantime, though…” Pinkie blinked in surprise as Twilight unpocketed a bottle of some alcoholic beverage, and a very strong one by the thickness of the container. Something that seemed very similar to… “Is that what I think it is?” the party mare giggled, “I didn’t know there was any of it left.” “This is one of the last bottles, I think.” Twilight turned the bottle in her telekinetic aura, displaying a label marking the drink as part of Applejack’s very first batch of Potato Cider, “I was going to suggest something a little weaker, but I thought you might appreciate this more.” “Mhm.” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, “How’d ya even get AJ to part with it, anyway? She never lets me use it for any of my super-duper party loops. Or for anything else, really.” “I don’t collect blackmail on my friends just for fun, you know.” “Oh, you are evil, Sparkle. Eeeeevil.” “Says the pony who crashed a loop by cursing.” “Hey! That wasn’t evil. I invented a new impossible curse. That was visionary!” “Tell that to Sleipnir, would ya.” Pinkie Pie groaned, gradually becoming aware of the world around her once more. Slowly, she tried to open her eyes, just a crack, but recoiled, wincing back as blinding light poured into her view. With both her Chaos physiology and looper constitution, the hangover would fade in moments now that she was aware of it, but that didn’t make it any less unpleasant. The pink pony tried to open her eyes again, millimetre by millimetre this time, giving herself time to adjust to the light. Through this, she noticed she was slumped forward onto her desk, the vague shape of an equally potato’d Twilight, lying unconscious in a nearby chair, visible in her peripheral vision. Pinkie sighed to herself. She’d have to thank the Anchor once she was awake again. In spite of the very much immediate aftereffects that’d come from downing a single shot of AJ’s old shame each, it’d been worth it, and just what she’d needed to break from her work. Speaking of which, the Chaos Goddess found her eyes wandering back across to the pile of work, skimming over the still largely full bottle as they went. Maybe now she could approach the situation with a fresh perspective- … She blinked. Then blinked again. Then rubbed her eyes to ensure she wasn’t seeing things. Then downed multiple aspirins to ensure she really wasn’t seeing things. But no, there it was. Sitting in the middle of her desk, amongst several clearly used methods and ingredients, was a sandwich with pink filling. A very specific and reality-defying pink filling. Pinkie felt her lips curling up, mouth quivering with barely concealed euphoria and joy as vague memories came back to her. Memories of having had a spark of inspiration during the several seconds of deliriousness between downing her drink and passing out. Delicately, she lifted the sandwich up, finally feeling the perfection sitting atop her hoof. There was only one way to be sure, though. In a flicker of motion, Pinkie vanished, the sudden movement being enough to stir the other inhabitant of the room. Groaning, Twilight opened her eyes, beginning to move to clutch her head. *THROOOOOOOM* With a squawk of alarm, Equestria’s Anchor toppled from her chair, her hangover dissipating in an instant as her instincts for self-preservation went into overdrive. Eyes darting around as the world shook to its core, the mare took in all the details she could find. Pinkie’s lack of presence. Missing ingredients. Hazy memories. Massive, yet extremely distant, explosion of some kind. And then it all clicked, just in time for a somewhat charred yet incredibly excited party planner to reappear in the room, beaming widely. “I DID IT!” Pinkie tackled Twilight with a high velocity hug, barely giving the unicorn enough time to react as said looping Pie motored on, mouth moving at a mile a minute, “I was trying too hard! Can you believe that? As soon as we drank it just came to me! It's easy-peasy now! All I have to do is not really think about it too much! Like this!” with a blur of movement, Pinkie suddenly produced another pink sandwich, handing it to her friend, “Here!” Shocked but full of anticipation, Twilight took the food from her friend, eyeing it cautiously, though there was a certain hope in her eyes. For a moment, she vanished in a flash of teleport glow. *THROOOOOOOM* Seconds later, as the ground settled again, an equally singed purplette blinked back in, a look of joy on her face. “So… Sandwich party?” “Yep! Sandwich Party!” 206.17 (Evilhumour) [MLP/40K] "-so you see brother, this method would result in soaking our dear Anchor thoroughly," Big Maroon said as he and Corn Curse walked into the Sugarcube Corner, both ducking to fit inside the bakery's doorway. "I'm not yet convinced that you could truly orchestrate all that to occur perfectly, even being a champion of Tzeetnch," the bat pony said before a strange look passed over his face and a vicious grin broke across his face. "And if you will pardon me, I have just recalled I have other duties to attend to." With that, the primarch of the VIII Legion vanished, Maroon raising an eyebrow at his actions before turning to look at the counter and groaned at what he saw. "Oh no," he said as he rubbed his face with his hoof. "Hiya Maggy," Pinkie Pie said as she walked into the service area of the bakery, using a nickname for him, that while he detested it tremendously also permitted as he was sorely outclassed in sheer power against the Chaos Goddess that lived in the materium. She looked at him with what passed for a frown on her face. "What's wro-" "It seems that my dear brother has made his pink sandwiches again," he snorted as he prepared to banish them away for everyone's safety. "Wait, wh-" she began but Maroon cut her off again as he sent all but one into the warp. Holding up the sole remaining sandwich, he looked at the mare. "I know that you are going to say that I should at least try one, as to maintain my good relations with Russ," he said as he bit into the pink sandwich and blinked as he started to swallow it down. "Hm, it seems Russ is improving; far less potent than his usual creations." It was then he noticed that the mare next to him was leaking warp energy into the bakery and that she was vibrating on a dangerously fast frequency. For a split second, everything went pink and chaotic at once with the laws of the materium gone. The next second passed and the mare let out a breath of air. "If you will excuse me, Magnus the Red," she said in a completely calm voice that caused him to back up in self preservation. "I need to see your brother for some information." With that, Pinkie Pie walked, not bounced, out of the bakery and closed the door behind her. Maroon then let out a sigh before wondering how much trouble he’d just got his brother in and how much he would need to hide to avoid the payback. 206.7 continued (Wixelt) [MLP/RWBY] Extract from the RWBY Loops. Weirdest Reasons for Crushes "Okay, so this was in my very, very early loops." All present turned back to the end of the table, where a young woman with purplish skin, normally in an equine form, was in deep thought, "It was before anyone else except Applejack was looping, and she wasn't Awake at the time." "Who was it?" Weiss frowned, "Surely an older looper such as yourself doesn't have many hang ups left after all this time, so I personally can't think of anything that might qualify-" "Pinkie Pie." "...huh." the heiress sighed, shaking her head, "I retract my claim." "Thank you." Twilight nodded with a smile, "I've had a lot of feelings regarding various others over the loops, but this was the first time I remember, as it was before we knew of the larger multiverse as well." she sighed wistfully, "It was an otherwise Baseline loop, but that version of Pinkie was very obviously attracted to me." "How subtle was she?" "As a brick through a window." the Anchor of Equestria giggled to herself, "She kept making these bold romantic gestures every chance she got. I wasn't as experienced at the time, so it really started getting to me after a while." she blinked, "The thing is, if that loop had lasted any longer, she might have actually won me over, which is why, even though I'm willing to share it here, I need your words that this won't get back to Pinkie." "You never told her?" Ruby raised an eyebrow in surprise, "But, my shipping tendencies aside for a moment, I'd think you'd want her to know." "If I'd told her earlier, maybe." Twilight shook her head, "But the only person I could and did tell at the time was AJ, and i'd mostly forgotten about it by the time Pinkie began looping. If I told her now..." she grimaced, "There's never really been anything between us as loopers, but she'd either be incredibly offended and upset or throw a party I wouldn't enjoy if I let her know now. I don't want either of those things." "...fine." Ruby grumbled, slouching back in her chair, muttering something about wasted potential. 206.18 (Wixelt) Silently, Twilight grumbled to herself. Loops like this were the worst. Well, she supposed, not the literal absolute worst, but still fairly mind numbing. Even with loops of experience at being patient, any looper, she felt, would find themselves somewhat irate in her position, especially without the looping abilities this null iteration had so generously deprived her of. Already being relatively inanimate, that left her with nothing to do other than attend to her own thoughts. "Sir, we have a problem. The base's main firing mechanisms aren't working. It's almost as if they're simply refusing to start up." Well, almost nothing. Twilight Starkill smirked mentally to herself. Stopping these First Order charlatans from killing millions of innocents was at least a mildly fun use of her time. "This is Starkiller Base to Kylo Ren. Our own computer systems have turned against us and are demanding a daily sacrifice of 5 million books as appeasement-- ...No, sir, I haven't been drinking. Honestly, I wish I was." 206.19 (Vinylshadow) Chrysalis and Twilight sat across from one another at an outdoor cafe in Ponyville, perusing the menu. "Ya know," Chrysalis said, eyeing the lemonades, "that Tree of Harmony is a bit of a dick, don't you think?" "It's based on the Pillars of Equestria," Twilight pointed out. "They weren't perfect." "Obviously," Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes as she placed her menu down. "But it's still kinda worrying when one of its defense mechanisms is to drain the magic of the creature assaulting it." "Friendly reminder that you drain love from ponies to feed your species instead of sharing it," Twilight replied. "Something you still do." she added, arching an eyebrow. "Because my changedling form is eye-searing white," Chrysalis grumbled. "Were it darker, like Thorax's brother, I wouldn't be as opposed to it. Plus, the holes really spice up one's love life far better than only having-" "There's foals present," Twilight said. Chrysalis sighed, rubbing her temples. "It's just frustrating," she muttered. "Baseline is getting as wonky as the early Loops. And that's not adding in whatever derails you lot inadvertently introduce during your escapades." Twilight's lips twitched slightly. "That's fair," she said, resting her chin on her hooves. "Doesn't help when said derails cause later events to happen earlier, such as Cozy Glow, the Crystal War, or whatever else Yggdrasil digs out of its...roots, I guess." "Do trees even have butts?" Chrysalis asked. "I do believe Changelings were born from trees in one common Variant, so..." Chrysalis went an unhealthy shade of green and pushed her menu away. "Thanks for that mental image. I'm gonna go find some brain bleach." "Enjoy your Loop," Twilight said cheerfully.