//------------------------------// // Loops 4 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 4.1 “Right.” Dash trotted back and forth in front of the other pegasi. “We have precisely six months until the Grand Galloping Gala. I want us all to be ready.” Lightning Dust sneered. “For what? I thought this was some kind of special flight camp.” Other pegasi nodded their agreement, or just rustled their wings awkwardly. “I’m glad you asked.” Dash crouched, shot upwards, and broke the sound barrier after about ten seconds before circling around, shedding speed again, and landing in front of them. “That is the Sonic Rainboom. Now, the Dash Certificate of Awesomeness is only awarded to those who can pull off a Sonic Rainboom on command.” The rainbow pegasus grinned. “Any other questions?” “How the hay did you do that?” a pony halfway to the back blurted. “Training. Meticulous training, and being awesome.” Dash’s grin didn’t change. “Now, who doesn’t want to be able to do that? Because you can leave.” “No, no, no!” Dash shook her head in exasperation. “You’re not going to break the sound barrier like that. You have to actually USE the weather magic. Make the wind push you, make it strengthen your wingbeats.” “…so that’s how you did that?” Dash shrugged. “This isn’t easy stuff.” Overhead, Lightning Dust flubbed a wingstroke and bounced off the sound barrier. Fluttershy caught her just before she hit the ground. “Oh, right.” Dash grinned. “Yeah, I did that at least a dozen times before I managed to get it right. Don’t worry!” “The idea of screwing up a dozen times in a row isn’t a nice one…” Dust muttered. “And… go!” One by one, fifteen pegasi dropped off the cirrus cloud. Successive booms sounded across the prairie as each left their own individualized explosion of weather magic. “Nice work!” Dash said later, to the exhausted ponies. “Tomorrow we just rest, because we’re doing part of the entertainment for the Grand Galloping Gala.” “How?” asked Cloud Dancer. “Hell if I know.” Dash shrugged. “Twilight Sparkle gave me the details.” “Goodness, Twilight.” Celestia said, watching as the instruments were moved into the dance hall. “That’s a little much, isn’t it?” “Well, for the dance music, yes.” Twilight hefted a carillon in a magical grip. “But I’d like to have a piece about halfway through using all of these.” “What piece could possibly involve a carillon, a full orchestra and a pipe organ?” The purple unicorn grinned to herself. “You’ll see.” “Attention, everypony.” Twilight said. “I would like to present a piece of music I researched exhaustively over the last year, the Overture.” Rarity looked glad of the distraction from Blueblood. Pinkie and Applejack, meanwhile, were comforting Fluttershy after having made sure she wasn’t going to go after the animals this time. Twilight’s horn glowed, and the music began gently with strings. Twilight was having a great deal of fun doing this, actually. Running an entire orchestra – especially doing two counterpointing themes at once – was tricky enough that it was hard for even her to manage properly. Maybe I could ask Rarity how she manages so much telekinetic control at once… I’d probably have to wait until she Awakens, of course. The second theme built towards a crescendo. Unnoticed, she slipped in a little signal spell into the magic she was doing. Dash spotted it at once. “That’s the signal! Dust, go! Now Dancer, aaaand… Raindrops!” Three explosions sounded over Canterlot in quick succession, making most of the listening ponies jump. Twilight grinned, and then got the carillon going. You thought that was surprising… “And… now!” Dash set the second fight of pegasi going. The spectacular finale of the 1812 Overture blasted holes in the sky over Canterlot and shattered every window in the city. “Well?” Twilight asked brightly, turning around to see every other pony in the building trying to hide under tables. “What did you think?” 4.2 “And that’s why I think Cadance has become evil.” Twilight finished, and cancelled the creation spell that had provided her slide projector. Nopony said anything for a moment. Then Celestia frowned. “Twilight, my dearest student… are you sure you’re not just jealous? I mean, your brother has apologized for not letting you know earlier-” “I can prove it!” Twilight overrode her. “Dispel magic!” The purple-tinged spell shot across the room, and hit a shocked Cadance. Who detransformed, becoming Queen Chrysalis. “Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Q.E.D.” Twilight said. “Thanks for your confidence, by the way, guys.” All the others looked thoroughly embarrassed. Chrysalis looked from the six Elements of Harmony, to the Princess of the Sun, to a rapidly recovering (and pissed) Shining Armor. “Er… I plead Queen’s Evidence?” “We don’t have that law.” Twilight said. “We do have laws against kidnapping, mind control, impersonation, all-up identity theft…” Twilight kept going for several minutes, “…and looking at you I think you’re even in trouble for entry into the country without a passport.” 4.3 “Right!” Twilight said. “I’m sure this’ll work.” Element of Magic, check. Lump of Cosmic Spectrum stone, check. Alicorn Amulet, check. The Rainbow of Light, from that Loop with that nice Megan girl, check. Rainbow of Dark looted from Tirek in a different iteration of the same loop, check. Hanging both Rainbows – one pouch, one locket – around her neck and then the lump of crystal, she put on the Element of Magic, transformed, took up the Alicorn Amulet, and came back to awareness in a gigantic crater. In front of her were her friends – and Trixie, strangely – wearing five of the Elements of Harmony. A circlet with a wand on it graced Trixie’s forehead, and they were all panting heavily. Twilight looked around, then up – and noticed that the sky was full of gradually shrinking stars, returning to their normal sizes. Oh. Note to self, don’t push your luck. “…sorry.” She muttered, glancing down at her feet and seeing the ruins of most of the magical artefacts she’d been wearing. “I kind of overdid it, huh.” 4.4 Twilight nodded to Fluttershy. “Alright, ‘shy, I’ve got a job for you.” “Y-you have?” Fluttershy said. “Okay. I’ll give it a go.” Picking the Kindness necklace up from the floor, she handed it to Fluttershy. “Here. This has a spell attached to it which should keep you safe. Now, I’d like you to see if you can negotiate with Chrysalis.” “Eep!” Fluttershy flinched. “I… why?” “I think you’ll do fine.” Twilight said firmly. “Remember, you’ve not let us down yet, in any Loop. And I’d like for the wedding to go smoothly for once.” Fluttershy mulled it over, then her face set determinedly. “I’ll do it, Twilight.” “So.” Chrysalis laughed. “A lone pony comes to us, speaking of peace and coexistence. Something we have not been shown in a thousand years or more from your Princess Celestia.” “Really?” Fluttershy said. “Do they know about you?” “Clearly.” Chrysalis replied sarcastically. “How else did you find us?” “…actually, I was just seeing who built the building I saw from the air.” Fluttershy answered, truthfully. After all, it might have been Diamond Dogs. A few changelings looked quizzically at the yellow pegasus, feeling waves of universal affection rolling off her. She liked all of them. “Feh. Words.” Chrysalis, and made to turn away. A ripple ran around the assembled changelings, and she stopped mid-movement. “Oh? How strange. It seems the hive has some affection for you, little pegasus. I may keep you around… for their amusement.” “Alright.” Fluttershy said, agreeably. “If they feel that way, that’s fine.” “I don’t understand it, Twilight.” Rarity said. “Fluttershy has gone missing. She wasn’t at the spa for our appointment yesterday. Do you know where she is?” “Don’t worry, Rarity.” Twilight soothed. “Fluttershy is fine. She’s just making some new friends, that’s all. She might be a while, I’m afraid.” “Oh. She mentioned she was going, but I didn’t realize it would be for that long. Well, tell her to stop by the second she gets back.” Twilight nodded, and Rarity left the library. Dash looked up from her Intricate Webber book. “That’s totally not the whole story, is it?” “Nope.” Twilight replied easily. Ever since they’d shared a Loop as the Princesses, she’d felt closer than ever to the pegasus. Dash seemed to have the same comfortable familiarity with her, as well – a result of having been sisters-in-name for centuries. “Fluttershy is making friends. They’re just insectoid shapeshifters, if you get my meaning. And I sent her off with her Element, too.” “What – oh.” Dash grinned. “Be nice to have her in the club.” As ponies took their places in the seats before the wedding, a cry of surprise went up from one of the guard detail. Others followed his pointing hoof, and then started to see it as well. Shining Armor sighed, upset at the interruption and what it might mean. “Sorry, dear. I hope this is nothing.” “That’s alright,” his fiancée sighed. “I wish it hadn’t happened, but it’s not your fault.” She stole a peck on his cheek, and he gave a little silly grin before putting on his work face. By now, the approaching objects were close enough to be seen by everypony. There was a loose cloud of black-looking shapes flying through the air towards them, with two slightly larger ones leading them. Of the Element bearers not in on what was going on, Pinkie worked it out first. “Yay, Fluttershy’s back! And she brought friends!” Circling the field once, Fluttershy led Chrysalis and a hundred changelings in to land. The way her landing pushed up her hair made most of the watching ponies gasp – she had a small but still quite apparent horn on her forehead. Trotting up to Celestia and Luna with Chrysalis half a length behind, she bowed. “Princesses, may I present Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, here to pay her respects to the happy couple.” Rarity pushed Fluttershy bodily towards Carousel Boutique. “You really should get your mane done, darling, it needs to show off that horn much better. And I need to make a dress for you – one suitable for a coronation, no less! Come on, you do need these measurements.” “Um… okay…” Fluttershy said, skidding slightly on the floor. “I’d rather… no, never mind, if you think it’s important.” Chrysalis watched with some confusion, and leant over to Twilight. “Is this normal?” “For Ponyville? Yes.” Twilight, Applejack and Dash chorused. Pinkie was currently suffering from a mild case of party overload, trying to work out which event to celebrate first. “…Ooh, I could do the diplomatic reception… but that didn’t go so well with the Buffalo. Maybe if I started small with the Fluttershy’s Back party, and went straight into the Fluttershy’s a Princess party…” “Out of curiosity, how do changelings react to sugar?” Twilight asked. “It’s a useful nutrient, and we can eat a lot. It can substitute in for love for a little while – not that we’ve had any problems since Fluttershy showed up.” Chrysalis said. “She is just remarkably… nice.” “Pinkie’s going to like you.” Twilight said with conviction. “Ask her to show you her Genocide By Toffee.” Seeing the queen’s reaction, she tossed her head. “It’s not actually fatal… that is, if you stop in time. It should feed every changeling you brought, with some to spare.” “… that concept is actually strangely terrifying.” Chrysalis muttered, watching the bouncing pink pony. “And yet I find myself suddenly hungry.” 4.5 (Sonic) “In the world (her world!) where life is strong, In the world (her world!) life’s an open book-” “Can you stop singing!” Twilight snapped. “I know you like having you own theme tune this time, but come on!” Dash shook her head unrepentantly. “I love this world! I thought you’d enjoy it too, Twilight!” “Being eight years old is putting a dampener on it.” Twilight adjusted the manifold to the piston engine on their biplane. “But yeah, I’m not surprised you enjoy a world where you have to run at four hundred miles an hour just to go shopping.” “They have loop-the-loop roads, Twilight!” Rainbow looked like she wanted to introduce them to Equestria. “The only downside is that Dr. Robuttnik. And I like kicking robots in half, too, so that’s not all bad.” 4.6 (Evangelion) Twilight staggered against the wall of a railway car as she Awoke into what seemed a fairly high tech loop. “Oof! Ah, great, I’m human…” “Hi. You sound new to this Loop,” a voice said. She turned, memories of the Loop settling into place, and saw- “What is it with me and being the sister of human Anchors?” “Oh.” Shinji Ikari said. “So you’re… Twilight Rokobungi, right? My half sister, this Loop?” Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Equestria is my home Loop.” “Ah, you’ll be familiar with this kind of thing, then.” At her perplexed expression, Shinji elaborated. “We have giant robot fights here too.” For a moment, the normally-a-unicorn wasn’t really able to make a sound. “Pardon? You think we have giant robot fights?” “Well… yeah. I was in one of your loops. I mean, I stayed out of the way, but I was there alright. There was some giant robot… the megalicorn or something?” Twilight slapped her forehead with her palm, staggering slightly as she got the hang of bipedalism again. “That wasn’t our prime loop. Nothing close.” “It did seem a little too ‘Power Rangers’.” Shinji agreed. “Right, come on. Time to get out of the danger zone of Lord Derpface the Easily Defeated.” He pulled on Twilight’s arm, and she followed him at a staggering run out of the way of a flying machine crash. “I don’t get it.” Twilight said, frowning. “You are not required to understand.” Gendo said, staring down at his daughter. “You are only required to obey.” “No, what I mean is, why did the giant monster thing attack here? I mean, it is statistically incredibly unlikely that a giant monster with no understanding of language or humanity would come down one of the few places with one convenient giant robot, let alone with three.” Shinji stood back, interested. “We will discuss this later. If the Fourth Child will not obey orders, then the First Child will be used instead.” Twilight shook her head hastily. “No, I’m not… okay, look. I’m questioning your methods and motives, not the necessity of stopping that thing from stamping up and down on the city until it breaks. Excuse me… is it Doctor Akagi?” The scientist nodded. “Would I be able to look at the literature concerning those monster things? I might have a few ideas.” With that, Twilight started walking briskly towards the gantry to Unit 03. Twilight didn’t listen to the briefing much. In fact, she wasn’t really able to hear much. Her talent with magic apparently extended to this artificial machine’s ‘AT Field’, and she was able to sense everything within a mile of her Unit’s location. But ick. This is not a robot. Just ewww… She finally noticed Sachiel, and grabbed it in a telekinesis-style AT grip before holding it fifty feet off the floor. “What should I do with this?” Shinji was laughing himself sick in Unit-01, and everyone else was shouting about sync ratios. “Um… don’t know?” Misato eventually said. “Just throw it into the sun!” Shinji gasped out through his paroxysms of laughter. Twilight gave a mental shrug, and threw Sachiel as high as she could. While she didn’t think it would make the sun, it did seem to hit escape velocity. “Only units 01 and 02 will be deployed on this mission.” Misato said, pointing at Israfael. “Why?” Shinji asked. “Twilight’s doing fine, throwing Angels at the moon.” Asuka looked torn between being impressed and being upset. She’d been rather startled when Twilight made her Unit throw Gahgiel into space, but at least it was another girl showing her up. “We’re kinda getting complaints from the JSSDF that we’re showing them up.” Misato said, stifling a grin. “But orders are orders.” “Okay.” Twilight shrugged. “I’ll go chase up that classified information. Ritsuko owes me a favour anyway…” Rei brought out the Lance of Longinus. “Wait.” Twilight said, incredulous. “We have an anti angel melee weapon and you’ve not used it? Right, that’s it.” Twilight opened fully to Unit 03, wrapped an AT field around it, and materialized in low earth orbit. She grabbed Arael and threw it at the moon, then caught the Lance as it went past. “Okay, I’m keeping this.” Lilith rose from the earth, and began Instrumentality. “Does this happen every time?” Twilight asked. Shinji nodded wearily. “It’s scary the first time, trippy the second time, and after that it gets kind of boring.” “Your Loop is weird. And I say that in full knowledge of how strange all the other Anchors would find a world inhabited mainly by ponies.” 4.7 (from Filraen) "Tia, wake up!" The piercing voice of her sister Luna woke Princes Celestia in her room at Canterlot Castle. Had Celestia been in a clearer mind she would have given thanks that Luna didn't use the Canterlot Royal Speaking Voice, it was especially annoying to wake up to that. "Nnnrrgh, give me five minutes Luna. The Sun isn't even out yet." A not-so delicate eyebrow rose on the Moon Princess' face "You raise the Sun, Tia. Of course ‘tis still night." "All right Lulu, you win." And, yawning extravagantly, Princess Celestia raised herself from her bed. "Was there something important today?" "We'll need to check preparations for the celebration for the Elements of Harmony bearers after defeating Discord... again" Luna answered with an annoyed-sounding voice; but Celestia knew better. Both Luna and Celestia, due to being alicorns, had great magic power and amplified traits from earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns. More importantly, they were also well aware they were very long-lived in comparison to the other pony races, having seen their subjects live and die many times before. And while she had lived a long time, this relatively new "time loop" incident around Twilight Sparkle was most unusual. Celestia then went to a nearby mirror to start brushing her mane, noting the amused look in her sister's face. The movement of the brush was calming, not at all like it was the first time she looped. She was so worried all her recent work was for nothing… It had actually been Twilight Sparkle who informed her about the time loops. And while she was initially worried Equestria was in danger from some unknown force and worried as much again for the Element bearers as the Royal Pony Sisters weren't Awake often enough to protect them, she soon realized the loops were a blessing in disguise. While Celestia may admit that was a selfish thought, the long years of her sister's banishment made her realize that effective immortality is only good if you can enjoy it with other, hopefully also long-lived, ponies. After her faithful student claimed the Element of Magic that fateful day, Celestia could enjoy it with Luna again, and now they could also share their long life with Twilight Sparkle and the other Element holders due to the time loops. However, should they get separated from one another, Celestia also asked them to write Friendship reports about those other worlds Twilight sometimes went into… those "pseudo-loops". It wasn’t much, perhaps, but for Twilight to remember she would meet her friends and mentor again was all the help Celestia could give… and she was a bit curious on what those other worlds were like, after the loop in that Konoha place. After finishing brushing her mane Celestia walked towards her sister, thinking how glad she was that the loops always started the day before the thousandth Summer Sun celebration – instead of, say, just after Nightmare Moon was imprisoned. 'Thank Harmony for small miracles'. Finally Celestia stood in front of her sister, looking directly at her. "Luna, can you do a little favour for me?" "What would it be, Tia?" Luna's level look lasted until her sister nuzzled her and said "The next loop we both are awake... would you be my sister again? No matter who we are?" Luna just smiled, and nuzzled her back. "Always." It was a good day to be alive. 4.8 (Any human self insert. Preference is “Hands” by AJT, I think.) “I honestly have no idea how to solve this.” Twilight said, looking at the unconscious human lying on Fluttershy’s lawn. “I didn’t know this could happen.” “Ooh! Ooh! I know!” Pinkie said. “You could make a conver-mmmph!” Twilight’s hoof had gone into Pinkie’s mouth without her looking. “Let me make one thing clear, Pinkie. We Do Not Talk About The Bureau!” “Mmkay.” Pinkie mumbled. After a moment, Twilight pulled her hoof out again. “Right. Now, there’s a few options. We could put an illusion on him and pretend he’s a Diamond Dog.” “That… could work…” Fluttershy mumbled. Twilight nodded. “Only problem is getting him to go along with it. Second option is that we keep him out of sight.” “Booooring.” Pinkie said flatly. “Or we just let things happen and see how it goes.” Twilight finished. “Well-” Fluttershy stopped. “Do you hear… something?” “…omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh I WAS RIGHT!” Lyra dopplered over the closest hill and skidded to a halt, throwing up big rooster-tails of dirt. “You guys found a human!” “Right.” Twilight said, calmly. “Option three it is, then. Pinkie, go let Celestia know to ignore any reports of mass panic out of Ponyville in the near future.” 4.9 “Twilight!” Spike said, as they Awoke. “What the hell-” “Sssh!” Twilight said, then dropped a privacy spell around them. “Calm down, Spike.” “What the hell happened!” Spike said, unrepentant. “Last I remember, I was thirty feet long, couldn’t talk, and you were a human!” It took Twilight a moment to remember. “Wow, your luck isn’t great. That was when we met Hiccup, which was ages ago for me.” Loop memories settled. “And it’s Twi-gon Jinn, here. And you’re Spiky-one Kenobi.” “Those are stupid names.” Spike muttered. “Stupid or not, they’re what we’ve got to work with. Now, do you remember what we’re supposed to be doing?” “Yeah, I – yeah! That’s really bizarre!” Spike took the lightsaber from his hip and looked at it. “Cool, I can swordfight now.” “Focus.” Twilight reminded him. “We’ll need to be – oof!” A pulse of darkness rolled across the Force, as their ship was destroyed. Twilight enclosed herself in a bubble of air as poison gas flowed into the room. Spike didn’t catch what was going on, and took a sniff. “Hmm. Quite tangy.” After a moment staring, the Jedi Master rolled her eyes. Of course Spike could breathe poison gas. He could eat Baked Bads, this was nothing. The door hissed open, admitting battle droids. Twilight sent them flying down the corridor with a telekinetic shove. “Come on, Spike, let’s go register our disapproval with the accommodations.” “Alright, that is it.” Twilight said, as Destroyer Droids rolled up. “Come on, Spike!” With a flash, she teleported them both to the Naboo surface. Applejack struggled woozily awake. “What th’hell happened to me?” “Please be calm, you are still recovering.” A voice said gently. Applejack’s vision cleared enough to see it belonged to a human-like figure wearing bandages and goggle-lenses. “We found you near the wreckage of a crashed ship. There were no other survivors. Do you remember what happened?” She scanned her Loop memories, getting a basic sense of how this Loop operated, and winced. Apparently she’d been captured as a slave by pirates or something…well, at least she’d escaped, if that was how you wanted to put it. “Here.” The figure reached behind itself. “There is something we found in the wreckage – it was the only other thing of value, instead of basic supplies and metal. You should probably have it.” Applejack’s eyes lit up. Well, I’ll be darned. That’s the Element of Honesty. Ah guess it followed me here. “Thanks,” she said, slipping the Element around her neck for safe-keeping. “How kin ah repay you?” “I will admit that we do not have much in the way of surplus. Perhaps you could help us gather food and water?” “All right.” Applejack nodded. “Soon as you say ah’m ready, ah’ll do it.” “So, how’s Rarity doing?” Spike asked, slicing a battle droid in half. Twi-gonn spun her saber telekinetically and deflected blaster bolts with a shield, then coupled it with a lightning spell. “Fairly well. She’s using the Loops to try to find the perfect dress for every possible occasion.” “Neat.” Spike finished off the last droid. “Right, everyone on the ship! You as well… Queen, right?” “That is correct, my young padawan learner.” Twi-gonn said. “Twi, that sounds like I use a paddle to hit things.” “Right, let’s see…” Applejack focused. There was that one loop she’d been blind, which had taught her a lot about earth chi, and then there was earth magic… Breathing deeply, she took a stance and pushed. Channel the energy. Don’t try to provide it yourself, just act as a channel. The Sand People watched, astonished, as an apple tree sprouted from the bare sand. It got to about four feet high before Applejack staggered. “Ergh… sorry, I don’t exactly have this all down yet. Ah’ll give it another go tomorrow.” “No!” Spike shouted, as Darth Maul thrust his lightsaber into Twilight’s body. Then Twilight flashed purple, and exploded with magic that bounced Darth Maul off two walls and into a giant pit. When the flash blindness had worn off and Spike could see again, he saw Twilight with wings and a tiara. His jaw dropped. “…wait, you can DO that now?” “Whenever I want, pretty much.” Twilight confirmed, then detransformed after checking her injury was healed. “Come on, let’s get back to wherever the Queen is.” “So, how’d you swing this with Yoda?” Knight Spike asked, looking across at Padawan Skywalker. “I mean, if we’re still a team?” “We are.” Twilight confirmed. “I said that young Anakin would need both of us as guidance rather than just one master, because he’s older than normal.” Twilight fretted as she paced on the starship. Having Spike go off on his own to investigate Kamino was worrying enough to her – never mind that he was an adult himself now, he was barely even a stripling by Looper standards – and now Anakin had managed to get them onto a trip to look at his mother’s condition. Admittedly, though, from what Hiccup had told her, she was lucky Anakin wasn’t Awake… “Coming out of hyperspace.” Anakin said. “…huh. I think we got the wrong star system. That can’t be Tatooine.” “Why not?” Twilight asked, peering out the window. “Well, look at it!” Anakin pointed. “It’s… green. And that’s an ocean!” The Jedi Master levitated up a holonet comm. “No, this is the right system. Right planet, as well. And… oh, okay. You know how there’s a million planets in the galaxy?” Anakin and Padme nodded. “Turns out that even interesting news doesn’t show up if it happens in the outer rim. There’s just too much to keep track of. This has been going on for years.” The H-type yacht landed in Mos Espa, now a city with verdant plant life everywhere the eye could see, and a party came up to greet them. Twilight gaped, almost stumbling down the ramp. “Applejack?” “Howdy!” Applejack said, grinning broadly. “Ah thought y’all had to be somewhere. And you’re a Jedi, eh? Can’t say ah’m surprised.” “But… but…” Twilight gibbered, pointing between Applejack’s wings and horn. “How?” “Beats me.” Applejack shrugged. “Happened about when ah’d managed to green the whole Jundland Wastes, and it made the rest of the job all much easier ah kin tell you.” “…right.” Twilight started to recover. “Of course. Massive achievement involving trees, and earth magic and stuff. And if you have the Element of Honesty here, that’d catalyze it properly. Well, welcome to the alicorn club.” “Am I missing something, master?” Anakin asked. Spike looked up defiantly at Count Dooku. “Twilight will take your entire separatist movement apart!” “Oh, I don’t think so, young Jedi Knight.” The tall Sith stalked around Spike’s force cage. “We are quite ready for one Jedi Master.” There was a sudden rumbling BOOM, and the top half of the Geonosian hive went flying, exposing them to the air. Two alicorns flew in, the purple one spinning two lightsabers by telekinesis and the orange one slamming her hooves into the floor to cause huge waves of earth and rock. “…oh, you meant literally.” Dooku said, in the tones of someone hoping he had spare trousers somewhere. “In that case, Chancellor Palpatine is Darth Sidious, please don’t kill me!” “That was evil.” Spike said, nodding in approval. “I’m quite proud of it.” Twilight agreed. She’d taken Darth Sidious and Darth Tyrannus, slapped Sombra-grade power limiters on them and dumped them on the surface of the forest moon of Endor. Let them try learning Ewokese… “Oh, why did you get the Jedi Council to change the rules on marriage? And, er, how?” “Basically…” Twilight tailed off. “Why is because Anakin and Padme are clearly in love. How is that I gathered up a list of all the Jedi who have had children. It includes a fair number of the founders of the order – like Nomi Sunrider and the whole Sunrider family – and one of the sitting members of the council, Ki-Adi-Mundi. But to really make my point, I printed it out. I used up the paper in that printer.” “Huh.” Spike muttered. “So it just doesn’t work.” “Yep!” Twilight said, then shrugged. “Besides, Cadance would try to strangle me if she heard I’d gone along with a Loop where love was banned.” 4.10 (from Vulpine Fury) (first time in Gen 1) Twilight sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. The new coat colour was going to take some getting used to, almost as much as looking exactly like her mother in one of the 'normal' loops. But then, this loop, it seemed, every first-born mare looked like her mother. "Baby Twilight!" a grandfatherly voice called from behind her. "What brings you to the old Moochik?" She seethed slightly at the "Baby." She was at least as old as the Cutie Mark Crusaders in a normal Timeline, for Celestia's sake! She took a deep breath like her Cadance had shown her and hoofed away the annoyance. "Mister Moochik? Can you teach me?" He might not be Celestia, or even Cheerilee, but he was definitely at least as good as Professor Bastion Yorsets from Celestia's Academy. Far be it from her to pass up a magical education of any sort. Who knew? She might be able to apply some of the lessons when the Loops were over. “Huh.” Twilight said, looking from the book titled Enemies of Ponyland to the enormous chariot-riding Centaur, Tirek. “This Loop might be a lot more fun than I was expecting…”