//------------------------------// // Loops 16 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 16.1 Discord snapped his fingers. “Well, so much for the gallant captain of the guard.” Shining Armor’s coat washed out and became grey, as his Discordification took effect. “…wait…” Discord looked over at the Element bearers. “Why aren’t you worried?” “Discord?” Twilight said, sniggering. “My brother’s talent is defensive spells. What’s the opposite of defence?” The Draconequus started to say something, paused, and then sighed. Snapping his fingers, he created a podium and stepped onto it. “Can I at least have time to pose?” “Ooh!” Pinkie hopped up and down. “I know the answer! It’s offense!” Twilight shaded her eyes as the Plasma Lancer spell triggered. 16.2 “Thanks, Shining.” Cadence said, nuzzling him for a moment. “Just a month to go.” Shining Armor blushed, then nodded. “Can’t wait.” After a moment more, Shining left his fiancée’s rooms and headed home. “One month?” A voice said from down the corridor. “Excellent…” Cadence looked around. “Who was that?” A servant, one who had gone past not five minutes ago doing laundry, flashed green and became a black, insectile alicorn-like creature. “Me. Queen Chrysalis. And I’m sorry to say… little pony… but your wedding isn’t going to go as planned.” Chrysalis walked forward, green magic glowing around her horn. “Well, in one way in particular. It won’t be you up there with Shining Armor… it’ll be me…” Another flash of magic, and Cadence was facing her double. The newest princess of Equestria blinked… then grinned. “Excellent!” “…what?” Chrysalis nearly tripped over. “Oh, hang on, there’s some mistakes with your disguise. That shade isn’t quite the colour of my coat… and that’s the wrong horn spiral curvature… yes, that’s better.” Cadence stepped back and walked around the befuddled Chrysalis. “And I don’t think much of those fetlocks… wait, is my rear really that large? I need to lay off the cakes…” “You won’t have any cakes where you’re going!” Chrysalis rejoined, trying to regain the initiative. “Well…” Cadence used her magic to lift over a huge pile of paperwork. “Here. I discovered that my aunts were taking on far too much of a load of paperwork, and so I volunteered to help out. Of course, they then each gave me half of theirs, so I’ve ended up overworked myself… honestly, I was letting it pile up a bit… of course, you’ll have to handle that yourself, if you’re going to replace me.” Cadence looked over at the faux-alicorn. “Or did you not expect that?” “NO!” Chrysalis shouted. “Of course I didn’t! I thought it would be a pleasant month or so in nice surroundings, draining love from your sickeningly devoted fiancé, and then I would invade Equestria!” “Yeah, no.” Cadence shrugged. “Funny how plans don’t work out, isn’t it… I wanted a quiet wedding.” This time, she thought to herself. “Anyway,” she summoned magic to herself, “Bye!” “Well?” Shining asked, as Cadence materialized in his room. “Either she’s left, or she’s going to do all my paperwork. Either way, I think we can get away with a weekend in the mountains.” Cadence grinned. “Twilight was right, this is more satisfying than just kicking her or something.” 16.3 If there was one thing that Rainbow Dash had learned through the course of the Time Loops, it was restraint. It hadn’t come easy to her, to be certain, but she did manage it now and again. But this was one of the Loops Twilight had said she could cut loose on. So that wasn't a consideration. Dash entered the first stage of her Best Young Fliers’ competition set. Rather than go with something outwardly flashy, she simply executed a series of loops, Immelmann turns and finally five Kulbits in a row. Oh, they were well performed, certainly, but nothing to compete with her usual pyrotechnics. But… She could already hear it. The pegasi in the audience with an experience of stunt flying were noticing it – her aerobatics were breaking the laws of physics quite thoroughly. Firstly, because she was doing the whole thing in a glide. And given that… Heh. Dash felt a grin emerge, as she let the airflow fall off her wings completely. Yeah, I’m stalling. And it doesn’t look like it, does it? A simple backflip in mid air, and she caught the airstream again. This time, she beat her wings – once only, the first time since she’d started her set. And rocketed forwards. Spitfire gaped. “Soarin’? Is that supposed to be possible?” “Nope.” Soarin’ managed. “She just tripled her speed in one wingbeat.” “Oh, good. I did wonder…” Time for something more impressive. Dash stopped abruptly, killing her entire relative velocity in one go and sending her slipstream rocketing upwards into the clouds around. Then, as she began to fall, the blue pegasus accelerated in earnest. Again, she was focusing on pure skill. Holding her velocity down to the barest fraction below the speed of sound, a cloud formed around her – not the transient one from breaking the sound barrier, but one that just stayed and stayed. It was likely only a few dozen pegasi in the audience would recognize what she was doing – controlling her speed to within a metre per second at the very edge of the sound barrier. But, as her personal weather magic signature interacted with the cloud, it produced a cone of rainbow light all around her. Her expert eye gauged the progress of what she’d set in motion overhead. Nearly… nearly… A wide, sweeping turn took her over a mile away from the stadium. Dropping speed and executing a wingover, she took aim. “…wait…” Soarin’ pointed up. “Should the clouds be doing that?” Spitfire followed his hoof. “Wh-no! Of course not!” A minute ago, there’d been a scattering of light, fluffy clouds – just enough to make it interesting if the pegasi wanted to use them in their routines. But whatever was going on – was it this Rainbow Dash’s doing? – meant that they were coalescing, and turning an ominous black. Actually, it looked like they were about to do a spontaneous lightning discharge. “Everypony d-” Two huge explosions merged into one, drowning out her voice. Dash landed in total silence, the cloud she’d created blown away by the blast. “And I call that the Lightning Cutter. Neat, huh?” After about five seconds, it finally registered that she’d just used a sonic rainboom to block a lightning bolt in mid air. Then the applause started. 16.4 Twilight sent off the usual letter to Celestia, warning her about the imminent return of Nightmare Moon. After a minute or so, she got the reply back – just the same as normal. But the top, as Spike read it out, said: Dear Spike, Please hand this to Twilight without unfolding it. I’m afraid there’s something private I’d like to discuss with her. “Huh,” Spike said, stopping there. “Wonder what she wants. Secret mission?” Twilight shrugged, already guessing what the subject was. Dear Twilight Sparkle, As you may have guessed, I’m Awake again. And, sorry to say, I’m feeling a little bit tired. What do you say, should we work out some kind of gigantic prank on Equestria as a whole? “She wants to see me,” Twilight interpreted to Spike. “I’d better head over there.” “Right,” Twilight muttered, poring over the notes they’d been making. “So… it looks like the most likely option is number three.” Celestia giggled. “Oh, I wish I could see the look on my sister’s face…” “I’ll make sure to record it,” Twilight promised. “Well, basically…” Twilight said to a crowd which included the mayor, two of the other Element bearers and a fair fraction of the town, “The reason the Summer Sun is being held here is because it is closest to the old royal seat, in the Everfree. This has been scheduled for a full thousand years, though,” Twilight shook her head, “it looks like most of the paperwork got lost over the intervening time. Anyway, Princess Celestia is stepping down-” There was a sudden hubbub of conversation. “Excuse me? Thank you. As I was saying, Princess Celestia is stepping down in favour of her sister, Princess Luna. One of the Royal Sisters has to be in the heavens at all times to maintain the cycle of the years, and the other on Equestria to maintain the cycle of the days. Celestia’s time on Equestria is up, so she’s off to the sun.” Pure invention, but it sounded good. “And that means we need to give a good welcome to Princess Luna. After all, she’s been a little out of touch…” “Right.” Mayor Mare gave a determined nod. “Let’s get to work, then!” Nightmare Moon stepped out onto stage. “Oh, my beloved subjects-” Then she blinked. Banners on the wall saying “goodbye Celestia”, “good luck” and “welcome back Luna”? What was going on? Celestia trotted smartly up to her, so brazen that Nightmare found it difficult to react. “Welcome back, Luna. Your job now, I’m off to the sun.” And then she vanished. Completely. “…what?” Then a unicorn came onto the stage. “Welcome back, your highness. Now, we do have a plan of work in place, so let’s start with one of the most important issues – you see, the construction of farming land was given a high priority under your sister’s stewardship, but water conservation and control was rather less rigorously applied. I think a good first place for a tour of inspection would be-” “…what is going on?” Nightmare Moon managed. “It’s the Precession, of course.” The unicorn smiled tolerantly, and started explaining in the tones of someone saying what everyone already knew. Just for the record, as it were. It was all news to Nightmare Moon, but… well, it couldn’t be too bad if she was suddenly in charge. “Why are there so many clouds?” Nightmare Moon asked, scowling into the sky. “Can the Pegasi not deal with them?” “Not really, no,” Twilight said. “They’re kind of overwhelmed. I mean, sun lamps and hydroponics have worked to provide sufficient food for the population, but a large increase in cloud cover is inevitable when it’s constantly daytime over the largest ocean on the planet.” Twilight conjured a visual aid, spinning the blue-green orb to highlight the huge ocean opposite Equestria itself. “See? The area of daylight is causing mammoth amounts of evaporation.” Nightmare sighed. “And would this problem be solved if We made sure it was no longer Eternal Night?” “Pretty much.” Twilight shrugged. “It’s just climate science, really. And it’s a little hard to admire a night through a thick layer of clouds.” “…fine, then.” Nightmare Moon’s horn glowed, and things got perceptibly lighter. “It’ll probably take a few months for the climate to settle back down, I’m afraid…” Twilight said. “Still, the pegasi should earn their keep for the duration.” Celestia spun in the air on her magically-reinforced tungsten-diamond surfboard, the photosphere of her star like a warm breeze against her coat. “I never knew this would actually work! Prominences are much more awesome than mere waves!” 16.5 “…and then we used the Elements on Sombra,” Twilight concluded. Celestia blinked. “Didn’t I say not to take them? I know it was hard, Twilight, but I had to be certain you weren’t vulnerable to corruption… I won’t repeat my mistake with Luna.” The alicorn of the sun rubbed her temples. “I was keeping an eye on you, scant though that excuse sounds, and…” Then she shrugged. “But it apparently doesn’t matter, if you used the Elements anyway. Why did you take them?” “Oh, we didn’t take them,” Twilight said innocently. “We summoned them once we’d got there.” Putting action to words, Twilight summoned her Element of Magic to her forehead. “Neat, isn’t it?” Celestia nodded. “It is, actually. But… oh, never mind. Apparently it is impossible to separate you from them then, so a lot of my worries are alleviated.” Twilight passed over some papers. “Here – I’ve got Sombra assigned to an anonymous group, to help him recover.” The elder ruler scanned what Twilight had given her. “Crystalholics anonymous?” “Grar. I am Sombra, and I am obsessed with… crystals.” “Hello, Sombra…” chorused four diamond dogs, three teenage dragons, a sea serpent, Pinkie Pie and Discord. “Wait.” Sombra pointed at Pinkie. “Pink pony. How?” Pinkie sniffed. “I like granulated sugar, okay?” 16.6 (Stainless Steel Fox) Playing Catch-up Apple Bloom's underground workshop was pretty much as Flim and Flam had seen it, though that was loops ago. She'd pretty much automated the process of setting it up, letting it run while she went off and did other things. The appeared near on alcove which had a whole lot of racks of herbs and plants, and tables full of brewing equipment. Though Diamond Tiara hardly noticed with all the other incredible things they could see. “You built all… this?” The farm-pony grinned. "My talent is inventing and making stuff, the more sophisticated the better. That's why I had so much trouble getting my mark in the base-line reality; most of the things I'm good with don't exist unless I invent them. And while I'm great at application, I don't have the spark of genius to make the original breakthroughs. Computer, give me a standard projection display and two bottles of apple juice, no ice.” “Working.” A voice came from no-where. A vertical, translucent panel of light appeared in front of them, and a tray came flying over as if brought by unicorn telekinesis. However, it had four whirring ducted fans at the corners which were the probable cause. “I've gotta wonder how many blank flanks just never had the opportunity to do whatever their talent was. I can trigger a making and fixing basic stuff cutie-mark now I understand it, but I'd probably never have found my true cutie-mark without the fused loops. Some of them have far higher base tech levels, and I learned everything I could from them." She reached up and touched various pictures on the screen, and it flowed through a succession of cutie-marks, all involving apples and tools or brushes, one an apple cart with a hammer and spanner crossed underneath in the style of a skull and crossbones. It finally settled on her Zap Apple cutie mark, with the bite out of it exposing a golden tracery of circuits and runes. “But we’re not here to talk about me. I figured you deserved to know just how awesome you can be. The first one I was thinking of was in a loop where Equestria was being attacked by aliens… I explained about fused loops, didn't I?" Applebloom checked. At the nod, she continued. She pointed to the three versions of Maritech space fighter lined up, one in pega-form. She touched the screen at various points, and it showed a slide show of video clips from that loop, overflying the Marecross, a second cockpit view of a space battle, the three Crusaders, older and with two in uniforms. They were giving each other a three way high hoof. “An alien battleship crashed on Equestria in the distant past, and the aliens had come to get it – and wipe out any inconvenient discoverers.” That said with a grimace. “However, the Princesses ordered that it be studied and put back together. It advanced Equestria’s technology, and we worked out how to replace some of the things we couldn’t duplicate with magic. “ "But that’s just background, I intended to show you what you can be when you aren't being a jerk… Though in that case you still were, pretty much, but it was for good reason – you know, being an awesome bitch like I said. You two couldn't pilot, but you tested high for Operations. We were in Red Squadron, me and Scootaloo flying a fighter, and you ended up as our squadron's Flight Co-ordinator. Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon were both bridge bunnies,” Applebloom paused, and explained the unfamiliar slang for Diamond, “support operators.” "You were an evil minded sadist, a martinet, a drill sergeant who was such a hard ass we joked that was why you had a diamond on your flank… and you brought eleven out of twelve teams in the squadron out the other side. You have to understand, we were hopelessly outnumbered, and most other squadrons suffered better than one hundred percent losses. After we took that Zentran battleship and Scoots made squadron leader, we didn't lose a single pony." She touched more symbols, and a scene appeared. The view from a camera looking down on part of a control room, with Diamond Tiara at a console, flanked by Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle. “Got the bridge recording after the battle of Ares, it contained some particularly fine examples of Tiara-speak, and it was your birthday coming up…” The uniformed Diamond Tiara started speaking. “Red Five, FC. If you hold your formation any looser, you’ll lose your grip completely, if you haven’t already! Tighten up your interval and bring Beta flight round to 16 mark 125, Red Gamma needs support!” “FC, Five. On it like a bonnet!” Apple Bloom’s voice came back. “FC, Red Eleven, I’m getting my cutie-mark shot off here!” The voice sounded on the edge of panic. Diamond Tiara’s voice cut through it like a knife. “Get that Maritech scratched and it’s coming out of your pay! Use that planetoid at 206 12 as cover and pega-form to shoot them as those pods overfly. Beta’s coming to support you.” FC, Eleven, thanks!” the un-named flyer had clearly calmed down. The scene continued, Diamond Tiara’s pithy comments not interfering with the way she managed Red squadron like a virtuoso. It was interspersed with take from Mareitech on-board and remote satellite cameras and edited together with an exciting soundtrack. It had the feel of a big budget science-fiction blockbuster, and it served to show Diamond Tiara in the best light as she repeatedly manoeuvred the components of the squadron to evade and destroy the Zentradi pods and mobile suits. When the clip ended, Apple Bloom said, “The entire squadron collaborated on making that, Sweetie Belle put together a custom soundtrack , and we showed it to you at your party. I think that was about the only time I’d ever seen you lost for words. She grinned, “Though that certainly wasn’t the case after we captured that battleship. I didn’t have fotage for it, but I finally managed to build a memory reader neural interface a few loops ago. So, this one is direct from my memories.” A new scene formed, Diamond Tiara was facing Apple Bloom's viewpoint, wearing a similar uniform to the one they'd seen earlier. "You are a pair of idiotic, grandstanding, lunatics!" She yelled, then cracked a tight grin. "However, you are a pair of successful, idiotic grandstanding lunatics, which makes up for it a bit. What were you thinking? Scootaloo, I thought you were better than to get boxed like that." "I was riding heard on the rest of the flight, give me a break!” Scootaloo looked put-upon, but still flushed with excitement. “Some of those rookies are awfully green. I stayed in the fight after one engine got blown out and our avionics harness got hammered, and we covered the rest of the flight until they got to safety. But by that time, that battleship had come up and it could have taken us with its point defence, let alone its main guns.” “Huh, they could have hit us with a spit-ball at that range, and that doesn't count the dozens of escort vessels.” Apple Bloom added. “Even if I'd been able to get the engine back up, we'd still probably been nailed trying to escape.” “I read your after action reports. You let a near miss appear to take you out, played dead, though they could have just finished you off anyway. You somehow managed to jury-rig enough computer control to go pega-form with a saddlebag computer, and when they took you on board, bam!” Film-Diamond seemed to realize that she was losing her image, and went back to being coolly detached. “They'd never taken prisoners before, and running away was certain death. To be honest, neither Scoots or I figured what we were doing would be any different, but we reckoned we could take more of them with us.” Diamond Tiara growled. “You do or die types give me an acute pain in the rump! You realise how much trouble I'm going to have try and get the rest of that space happy crew of reprobates in Red Squadron not to try and pull a similar stunt! You had the Princesses’ own luck that you somehow managed to take them off guard, and when you did get blasted, you ended up being blown into one of the machine spaces.” Apple Bloom appeared to shrug. “We were working towards it. Zentran tech is either 'use until it stops working' or self-repairing. We figured no-pony would look for us in the machine spaces. Plus, they may be armoured and secured to Tartarus on the outside, but they've never needed internal computer security. Though even I didn't think I'd be able to crack them that easily. But the engineering forums are right, they don't innovate either. The same programs we used to interface with the Marecross's thousand year old original systems worked just as well for that one.” Scootaloo chuckled. “Oh, man, it was fun to see the havoc when she faked a power core overload and triggered an abandon ship. And scrambling the IFF files so the main guns started seeing everything over the size of a shuttle as an enemy… It was beautiful!” You could hear Apple Bloom’s appreciation in her voice. “Scootaloo gets props too. She got that hulk moving with the controls I jury-rigged from our Maritech and flew it pretty much blind all the way back.” “If you keep patting yourselves on the back like that you'll hurt your fore-leg… or I will.” Diamond Tiara sniffed. “I guess I'd be just as mad either way. If you'd gotten your fool selves blown to atoms, it would have blotted my record. I guess having to ride herd on your fellow flying circus rejects to stop them from pulling something similarly insane is the lesser of two evils.” Apple Bloom chuckled. “We love you too DT!” There was another growl. “Gahhh! Don't call me DT, it's Flight Controller or ma'am! Well, despite the fact that you both look and smell as if you've spent a week on the waste reclamation level, you are in very good odour with the top brass. There was mention of medals, but we'll have to see exactly what comes of that, if anything.” She gave an evil grin, her composure restored. “However, I can tell you that they're detaching a prize crew to send that hulk you captured back to Equestria for refitting, and your good friend Rainbow Dash is getting bumped to Wing Commander and is in charge of the oversize squadron they're sending with it for fighter cover. That means the squadron leader slot of Rainbow Squadron is up for grabs…” Scootaloo was practically hovering in mid-air in excitement as she continued. “…and will go to Lightning Dust. But it means that Squadron Leader Soarin is going to move into Rainbow, and that means you are the new biggest noise in Red Squadron, Squadron Leader Scootaloo and Senior Flight Engineer Apple Bloom. And may the Princess have mercy on our souls.” She sighed over-theatrically at the pegasus, who had a grin that would probably take surgical intervention to remove. “What did I do to deserve this? A poor innocent pony like myself, saddled with two of the biggest ding dongs in the whole of the MDF.” “I dunno. Just lucky, I guess.” Scootaloo grinned. The scene ended with Apple Bloom sporting a distant look and a big grin. “You'd have sooner walked the length of the Marecross's main deck without an pressure harness, but you did care for us, all of us, and we would have flown straight into Tartarus at your instruction because we knew you'd never ask us to do anything if it wasn't in the best way to protect every-pony.” 16.7 (Stainless Steel Fox) (Alert: the previous part of Turning the Tables – located in chapter eight – has been edited somewhat, to better show what Celestia’s intentions as opposed to her results were.) Turning Tables (Continued) If Twilight had been privy to her mentor's thoughts she'd have probably thrown in the towel right then, considering her mission accomplished. In fact, she'd have probably felt a bit guilty at the way Celestia had worried about her. She might disagree with how her mentor had handled the Nightmare Moon situation in the base-line loop, but that didn't mean she didn't care for her deeply. As she stepped up to the ticket booth at Canterlot station, she reflected on the irony of what she was about to do. Celestia's horn-off approach would actually work for this version of Twilight, who was certain she could solve the Nightmare Moon crisis without any assistance from the Princess. In fact, she was looking forward to the challenge of rekindling her old friendships without the framing device of being the overseer for the Midsummer Sun Festival, and doing it while staying under Princess Celestia's radar. “Single to Manehatten, please.” She horned over the bits to the counter-pony, schooling her expression to be slightly sad. This was another false trail she was laying. If her estimates were correct, Princess Celestia and her brother would assume a life-long Canterlot native such as herself, and one who'd spent a lot of time in libraries at that, to stay in Canterlot. Saying in her letter that she couldn't stay at her parent's house would imply that she was looking to stay somewhere else in Canterlot. So the Princess's first response would probably to go through Canterlot with a fine tooth comb before checking the station or air-ship port. When they did, they'd discover she'd gotten a ticket to the far end of the line, and start looking for her there, rather than Ponyville. To further muddy the waters, she had no intention of letting any-pony see her get off there. Teleportation from a moving vehicle wasn't easy, but it was possible if you had as much experience as Twilight did. Eager to be about it, she left the carriage and got out of sight of any-pony inside as soon as they were well clear of the station. First some changes, her horn glowed as she wrapped an illusion around herself that would take an alicorn to pierce. Her coat became a washed out blue, her mane white and tied back in a bun, and her cutie-mark, an open book with a red bookmark in it. Her saddlebags changed too, actually being changed into a simpler, less expensive design, and a pair of manifested pince-nez glasses completed the disguise. Her horn glowed again and she and flashed away and reappeared a few hooves in the air on the outskirts of Ponyville, near the road from Canterlot. A double check to see she hadn't kept any of the trains’ velocity, and that she'd not been seen, and her horn flared and lowered her to the ground. Walking into town she headed straight for the mayor's office. “These credentials are very impressive, Miss Codex.” The mayor examined the paperwork in front of her. “With these you could certainly get a job in any library or archive in one of the big cities. May I ask why you chose to come to Ponyville?” Twilight, now Codex, knew the question was just for form's sake. The old librarian, Flower Dew, had been offered a job in the Royal Canterlot Archives, which not only paid better but had put her far closer to her grand-children in Canterlot. Twilight suspected Princess Celestia's horn in that. As a result, the Mayor had been keeping Golden Oaks open ad hoc, whenever she could find a pony with a few hours to spare. Since none of them were trained in Library Science, the books were in a terrible mix up, put back wherever the pony in charge thought they should go. It was one of the reasons Twilight had found it so hard to find the reference guide. It should not have been in the popular fiction section, under E. The upshot was that the mayor was ready to hire just about any-pony, or a griffon or Diamond Dog for that matter, if they could show they could do the job. She showed none of these thoughts and instead gave a sigh. “Big cities, and all the things that come with them, are exactly what I'm trying to get away from. I have personal reasons for wanting to find somewhere quiet to think things over and put my life back…” She stopped herself as if she'd said more than she intended. “Can we leave it at that? I'd rather not talk about it. I can do the job, if you want me too.” The mayor was a softy at heart, Twilight had worked with her long enough to know how she'd react. She felt a bit guilty at taking advantage of the other mare's good nature, but she could do the job, and although her references were faked, they were actually less impressive than her real ones. The mayor would eventually send off to the archives and to get statements from her referees and find out the deception, but that wouldn't be until after the Summer Sun celebration, which was all the time Twilight needed. “I'm sure we can use you on a trial basis. Some-pony from Canterlot is coming to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and the Princess has requested she stay at Golden Oaks, but if you don't mind giving up your room for the night…” Twilight smiled. “I'm sure I can sleep on a cot for one night. I'll wait until after the Midsummer Sun Celebration to get unpacked. In the mean time, if she's interested in books, I should be there to help her find what she needs.” “Excellent!” The mayor smiled back at her. “That kind of attitude is exactly what we need!” Twilight spent a couple of happy hours re-shelving and cataloguing the misfiled books and getting the place spick and span. When you knew the vast number of household charms she did, and had lived in the place for centuries, you knew exactly what needed doing. Then her stomach rumbled, indicating that teatime was fast approaching. She decided to head for Sugarcube Corner over Sweet Apple Acres, as she'd be able to get in groceries in town as well as some delicious cakes for tea. She knew that Pinkie would have been working at the counter when she first arrived, which explained the lack of an encounter, but she wasn't sure if she still would be by now. “Hello, welcome to Sugar Cube – Wow! I've never seen you before!” Twilight smiled at the hyperactive pink pony behind the counter. “That's probably because I just got into town today.” “That would be why! Gosh you're smart! I'm Pinkie Pie!” “And I'm hungry. But my name's Codex. I'm the new town librarian.” Twilight was basking in the banter. If there was ever a pony to lift your spirits it was Pinkie Pie. “Ohhh! Codex the Librarian? Do you slay mighty Thesauruses with a single strike of your due-date stamp?” Pinkie's manner made it clear she wasn't mocking, just being her usual random self. Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, playing along. “Well I have dealt with some fairly nasty Grimoires, even a few Incunabula. But my mind is sharp, my indexing skills intact, my heart is pure. And my knowledge of the Pony-decimal indexing system is encyclopaedic. Is this your shop? I mean with a name like Pie…” “Oh no silly,” the pink pony giggled, “Just because I'm called Pinkie Pie, doesn't mean I own a bakery. No, the Cakes own Sugar Cube Corner, I just live here. So now we know each other, we're friends. Welcome to Ponyville, my newest best friend Codex.” At that, Twilight let her expression grow more wistful. Time to play her in-loop role. “Friends? Just like that? I shouldn't… but I guess it doesn't matter any more.” She gave a deep sigh. “I'd like that. I had to leave my friends behind when I left.” “Aww! It's okay, you can make new friends here! I can help, I know every pony in Ponyville, and all the cows and donkeys and mules and everyone else. It'll be easy, I mean, I'm your friend, and we've only just met…” the pink pony's brow furrowed in thought, “… though it seems like I've known you for a long time.” That had Twilight confused. Was Pinkie's Pinkie sense, or one of the other reality bending talents that she regularly displayed letting her sense the loops? She covered it with a grin. “Well I'm glad to meet you, Pinkie Pie. Could I have half a dozen of your pineapple perfect muffins please?” Pinkie's eyes widened. “Golly, you're even smarter than I thought! I only just invented them today! I hadn't even put them out for ponies to try yet.” She hoofed over a half dozen delightful looking muffins as Twilight mentally kicked herself. “Uh… Mysterious Librarian Powers. You have to be able to sense hidden cake to stop people leaving crumbs or icing on the pages when they're browsing.” Pinkie gave her a long stare, then exclaimed. “Okie Dokie Lokie! Since you're new in town, have them on the house, or rather the shop.” “I'll need a long ladder then. Sorry, I mean that's very generous.” Fortunately Pinkie liked the joke and chuckled. “You're a lot more fun than our last librarian.” “Um… I read a lot of joke books? Speaking of books, I've still got a ton of work to do getting the library sorted out before I go to bed.” Twilight went away with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. Admittedly making friends with Pinkie was hardly a great feat, but to be honest, this was a far better first meeting than her original one. She was considering how to set up similar meetings with her other friends, and didn't notice when someone came around a corner. She and a white coated unicorn ended up sprawled on the ground, but her telekinesis grabbed her bags of groceries, her muffins, and the bundle Rarity had been carrying before they hit the ground. Okay, maybe there was some force drawing her to the other elements. She reacted pretty much as she would have anyway. “Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!” Twilight sprung to her hooves and offered a hoof up. Her bun was undone and white mane hair was straggling out. “No harm done, I should have been more careful myself.” The unicorn used the proffered hoof to help herself up and dusted herself off with deft flicks of telekinesis. “Thank you for saving my new design. If it had ended up in the dirt, it would have been ruined. And I made is especially for the Summer Sun Celebration.” “Glad I could help.” Twilight had always wondered why Rarity had shown up to the Celebration without a dress, maybe in the base line she'd run into some-pony else with slower reflexes. “Oh, my dear, aren't you straining to carry all that?” Twilight realised that she was still holding up the various items, a tricky load for most unicorns, without showing visible effort. She moved her groceries back into her saddlebags, the box of muffins back onto her saddle, and proffered the dress to Rarity. “It's alright, I'm a librarian, I've had a lot of practice. Books are heavy.” “Oh? What's a librarian doing in Ponyville?” The white unicorn laid the bundle gently across her own saddle. “Running a library… I hope.” Twilight quipped. “I'm taking over Golden Oaks, I just got into town today. I'm Codex, by the way.” “My goodness, where are my manners? I am Rarity, fashonista and proprietor of Carousel Boutique.“ “Pleased to meet you.” Twilight held out a hoof, which still had dirt on it. “Oh… sorry!” “Oh, come my dear, we must get you cleaned up after your little mishap…” Rarity turned around and started leading her towards the boutique. Despite the fact that this was perfect, Twilight felt she had to play her role. She shook her head and hung back. “Please, you don't need to…” “Nonsense, it's the least I can do for saving my dress.” Rarity's tone brooked no argument, so Twilight reluctantly allowed herself to be led exactly where she wanted to go. As she expected, the quick clean-up turned into an impromptu dressing up session, as Rarity politely interrogated her. “So, darling, where exactly did you come from?” Twilight had considered this, and decided it couldn't hurt to stick to the truth. Besides she knew how Rarity would react. “Sugar Cube Corner, but if you're asking where I lived before I came to Ponyville… Canterlot.” “Canterlot?! Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna be the best of friends, you and I… Rubies ?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some sapphires!” Twilight wanted to see how this would have played out if she hadn't run away. “Wait! I'm sorry, but I'm not some fashionable society mare. I spend all my time in libraries, reading about stuff other ponies have done. I never really went out and did anything myself. This is the first time I've ever left Canterlot.” It was completely true for her in-loop self. She hung her head. “I'd like to be friends, but I'm sorry if I'm not what you hoped for…” However, Rarity came through with flying colours as she'd expected. “Oh don't be silly my dear, you coming from Canterlot is merely the icing on the cake, so to speak. I'm sure we'll still be great friends. I love a good romance, or a mystery. Or even the occasional adventure novel.” Twilight didn't have to fake the big smile that brought to her face. “Do you like Daring Doo?” She knew the answer to that; Rainbow Dash wasn't the only pony to be taken with the exploits of the pegasus professor of ponylithic puzzles. However, she wasn't that vocal about it. Rarity blushed. “I have to admit, I've read a tale or two. Not the most refined of ponies, but who can not love the way she finds lost treasures and beautiful magical gems.” “Now wait a second, what about the scene in The Griffon's Goblet where she has to get into the Griffon Ambassador's party to get a rubbing of the map on the ancient shield?” Twilight replied, showing her credentials as a Daring reader quite handily. “She may not be an elegant society pony normally, but she can pull it off when she has to…” Twilight headed back to the library as night came and the moon rose. The discussion had carried on for long enough that Rarity had insisted on making dinner for them both. Twilight, or rather Codex had offered the muffins as dessert. They'd chatted about Daring Doo and other stories Rarity liked, and Twilight had even kicked in some gossip from Canterlot, the sort of things any-pony might know. Once again she'd hinted that something bad had happened to her while avoiding talking about it directly. As with Pinkie this new first meeting with Rarity had been a lot more successful then the original one, and the burgeoning friendship far more solidly based. She took a deep breath of the fragrant night air and looked up at the mare shadow on the surface of the moon. She might not be doing it the usual way, but by Celestia, Twilight was still going to defeat the Nightmare and free Luna, one way or another. She wondered how her mentor was doing. Hopefully she wasn't taking the derailment of her plans too hard. “Your highness!” Shining Armour came galloping up to the Princess's chambers at an unseemly rate, only to find the Princess Celestia poring over a stack of papers and ancient tomes, and looking decidedly frazzled. “I have news of my sister!” “You've found her?” Shining was shocked at the naked relief in Celestia's voice. “I'm afraid not. But I do know why. She bought a one way ticket to Manehatten at the railway station early this afternoon. I'm sorry your highness, I never even considered that Twily might leave Canterlot, I mean she's lived here all her life…” He stopped as Celestia waved a hoof at him. “It isn't your fault, neither did I. It seems my student continues to surprise me with her actions. I assume you've already sent pegasi out after the train?” “The fastest in the Royal Guard, a flying chariot and escort. Unfortunately, they may not reach the train until it reaches Manehatten. I impressed on them the need for speed, but if Twily is trying to lose herself, then there would be no better place than Manehatten to do it.” “Assemble a second team, Captain… Shining Armour. I will personally flash them there.” That knocked Twilight's brother back on his fetlocks. Princess Celestia's flash teleport ability was often talked about, but she almost never actually used it, much less carried others with her. With it, she could travel the length of Equestria in seconds. “Yes your highness, at once…” he hesitated. “Forgive me, bit why is it so important that we find her right away? I'm sure we can track her down in a few days, even in Manehatten. For that matter, I'm sure she'll eventually contact our parents or myself once she's settled down. I know how she gets sometimes, but she'll calm down.” Princess Celestia sighed, and reached a decision. Time to make good on her vow to be more open about what was going on. Telling her brother would serve as practice for when she found Twilight. “I'm afraid we do not have time.” The princess indicated one of the cushions in the room. “I have to tell you a story of something that happened long ago, and the part Twilight was… is to play in righting it. Once upon a time, in this land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land…” She explained the history of herself and her sister, throwing in some elements that she hadn't been sure of when she wrote the original legend. Centuries of research showed that there had been something more than just her sister making up Nightmare Moon, a darker essence that had twisted her sister from simply disgruntled into world ending monster. Then came the hard bit, explaining about the Elements of Harmony, and how his sister and five other as yet unknown ponies were apart of them. She even discussed her original reasoning as to why she'd handled things the way she had, and how she'd later realised her mistakes. By the end of it Philomena had flown over and was sitting on her shoulder, nestling into her mane, and crooning softly. At the end, Shining Armour sat very quietly. It wasn't every day that you heard the confessions of a goddess. “You've given me a lot to think about…” Celestia shook her head, getting a startled squawk from Philomena. "I wouldn't have asked of you or any of your troops what I've expected of Twilight, not without their full and informed consent at least. I'm… sorry, truly sorry, can you believe that at all times I wanted what was best for Twilight, that the last thing I wanted was for her to get hurt…" She stopped herself. “Only the full power of the Elements can free my sister from that Nightmare, and only Twilight can properly reawaken the Elements and use their full power. I was so focussed on preparing her for that, that I forgot that there were other important things she needed to learn. I was at least as close to Luna as you are to Twilight, wouldn't you do anything to free your sister in a similar situation?” By the end she was all but pleading in tone. “I… you don't have to justify yourself to me, your highness,” Shining said quietly. “I am sworn to your service, to give my life to protect you if need be, and I know Twilight is at least as devoted to you.” Celestia gave a rueful smile. “That actually makes me feel worse. It only confirms that if I had started out being open with Twilight about what I needed her to do, she would have instantly volunteered. Hopefully I will still have time to do that, but if I don't, I need you to be at the Summer Sun Celebration.” “Of course, I will protect you…” “NO!” Celestia was edging on using her Royal Canterlot voice, and Shining Armour's mane was blown backwards from the force of it. “Whatever you do, do not interfere! Empowered by the conjunction, my sister will be too powerful for me to defeat. Your defensive spells are without peer, but defence will not win this battle and free my sister. She has to capture me, so I can force her to divert most of her power into restraining me, and trapping me in the sun. That will give Twilight the chance to collect the Elements from the Palace and activate them." "But Princess, won't that hurt you?" “Consider it the contribution of a foolish old mare to the task of defeating Nightmare Moon and freeing my sister. The bearers of the Elements are in Ponyville, and it's my hope that wherever Twilight is, when she learns what has transpired she will come to find out for herself. You must pass on this knowledge in my stead. If there is any-pony in Equestria that Twilight will trust, it is you. Tell her everything, tell her I do believe in her, that she can do this, tell her…. I'm sorry.” “I will… I will prepare a recovery team at once.” Shining Armour bowed his head, and rose up from his cushion to take his leave, leaving the immortal alicorn princess alone with her thoughts, and her regrets. “Princess Celestia?” The voice was Perriwig, her seneschal. “I apologise for disturbing you at this late hour, but there is the matter of a replacement overseer for the Summer Sun Celebrations. Who do I send in Twilight Sparkle's stead?” The Princess sighed, the appointment was unimportant now that she couldn't use it to send Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville. However, she still had to find some-pony, or rather make sure some-pony was found. “Use your best judgement. I trust you will find some-pony suitable.” “As you command, your highness.” he bowed and retreated. As he did he considered the choices. It should be some-pony of sufficient importance that the inhabitants of Ponyville wouldn't feel slighted. He'd thought Twilight Sparkle a poor choice anyway, while she might be close to Celestia and a good organiser she had little official standing… Of course, he had the perfect candidate. He'd overseen the Celebration last year in Canterlot, and was a suitably important pony for the purpose. With a sense of purpose, he headed off to organise things. Whatever distress the Princess might be feeling over Twilight Sparkle's disappearance, at least this was one thing she wouldn't need to worry about. The Summer Sun Celebrations in Ponyville would go off without a hitch. 16.8 “Huh. Human again.” Twilight scanned through her memories. Nothing particular, just that she’d recently moved house. That made her feel uncomfortable. Loops almost always had something going on. And when the other (horse)shoe didn’t drop for a while, that usually meant it was something big. Twilight would never forget the time Pinkie Pie materialized in front of her, warp goddess of the Eldar Empire. “Wait…” A horrible suspicion dawned on her. Something Spike had teased her about for weeks. She reached into her subspace pocket and pulled out a PADD, scrolling through the gathered fiction of the Hub Loop to find what she was after. “Yep. Thought so.” Twilight put the PADD down next to her and sighed. “I’m replacing Bella Swan. Oh, I wish I had TMS Harmony with me…” Right now, the dreadnought class ship would be a great equalizer. Sadly, it was a little big for her to easily fit in her subspace pocket – even now, let alone when she’d been in that Loop. After a bit of feeling sorry for herself, she got a determined expression and stood back up. “Right. Where did I put that wand…” There was nothing quite so satisfying as letting a Loop sort itself out. Well, almost sort itself out. “Right. And what happened next?” the assistant chief asked, flipping onto the third page of his notes. “Well – I don’t know if he actually did,” Twilight said, shuddering, “but he told me that he was sneaking into my room and watching me sleep.” “Right…” “And that’s when I asked dad to handle it. I mean, he’d been worried before, but I thought it was just… nerves, you know? And he hadn’t done anything really creepy until then, but looking back…” The girl shrugged helplessly. “Thank you for your time, miss Sparkle.” The police officer closed his notebook. “I’m afraid this might go to court, but we’ll try to keep the disruption in your life minimal.” “I appreciate it,” Twilight said. “I’d just like everything to go back to normal, really.” That, at least, was true. A chance for several uninterrupted years of schooling in a nuclear-tech level world? Excellent! “But you can’t arrest me!” Edward Cullen shouted. “My father will sort this out! He’s done it before!” “He has, has he?” Charlie Sparkle said, frowning. “And I thought he was such a nice man.” Edward thrashed at the handcuffs, which unaccountably failed to break. Twilight grinned inside. There were no better targets for Mordenkainen’s Disjunction than the Cullens, in her opinion. And now the justice system could handle them quite nicely. “Right, where did I put that physics textbook…” 16.9 “You know what,” Dash said suddenly, “buck it. Gilda, you take my slot.” The griffin blinked. “Dash… this… what? I mean, what?” “Seems fairly simple, Gilda.” Dash grinned. “You take my slot in the Best Young Fliers. You deserve a chance.” “But…” Gilda’s beak opened and closed. She was at a loss for words for almost ten seconds, until she finally came up with something to say. “Dash… don’t do this! I mean, you’ve wanted to do well at the Best Young Fliers for years!” “So have you, you told me as much training last week.” Dash shrugged. Then she caught Gilda’s eye, and winked. “Besides, I think I’m easily awesome enough to get the attention of the Wonderbolts anyway. It isn’t as if a broken down old hen like you is going to have a chance!” Gilda’s eyes widened, and her ruff rose. “Did you just call me a broken down old hen?” “Well…” Dash drew out the word, now looking sly. “You could always prove me wrong.” The griffin seethed. “You bet I will, Dash! You’ll eat those words!” Suddenly, she laughed. “Well, I’m good and motivated now! I didn’t think you ponies could be that devious!” Dash gave her a fierce grin. “Hey, we haven’t been invaded in decades. Why do you think?” Dash gestured skywards. “Make me proud, Gils.” Gilda shot into the air. “Huh…” Dash said, squinting up. “Don’t remember seeing any pegasus use the clouds like that.” Twilight nodded. Gilda was darting from cloud to cloud such that only a few ponies were able to properly follow her movement. To the rest of them, it looked like she was entering one cloud and then appearing from a completely different one seconds later. She was definitely getting the full benefit from joining Dash’s exhausting training regimen over the last few months, that was for sure. Then the griffin started simply gliding. Most pegasi made use of thermals, but Gilda was clearly a master of the art – even spinning her own thermals with minute movements of her wings that resonated in the air. “Hey, I think she’s impressed Spitfire,” Twilight suddenly said, pointing with a nod of her head. “Think they’ll have to redesign the Wonderbolt outfit?” Gilda had entered a dive while they weren’t watching. Now she stooped on the main stage at well over half the speed of sound, flaring her wings to cancel her momentum perfectly on the floor itself. Her landing was light as a feather. “Interesting,” Twilight said as they applauded. “I like the combination of poise and grace, there…” “I’m wondering if I should get her to try for the Rainboom,” Dash replied. “She was getting pretty fast there.” “Could be interesting. Let me know if you need help with that,” Twilight said contemplatively. “I know a fair amount about pegasus magic theory, though you’re second to none at the practical side.” 16.10 Luna stumbled. She was… Luna, again. Why? What had caused the burning rage, which had enveloped her for the last thousand years, to so abruptly dissipate? Accepting there wouldn’t be a quick answer, the Princess of the Night prepared to dream-walk – nothing major, just to observe. If she was to return, it had best be with a full understanding of how culture had developed. Twilight grinned. “Nice to see you, Nyxie.” “Thanks, momma!” Nyx returned the grin. “Hey, I came up with a great idea for a joke to play on Celestia!” The unicorn listened carefully, occasionally offering corrections or asking questions. Dear Princess Celestia, I have come across a young filly who I think would be an excellent applicant to your academy. While I understand that normally those wishing to attend are sponsored by their parents, in this case I feel that I must strongly recommend her attendance on my own authority – such as it is and what there is of it, of course. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight looked up as Spike burped up a scroll. “Is that the reply?” “Yeah…” Spike skimmed through it. “Basically, yes. She’s scheduled an exam for this afternoon.” “Yay!” Nyx said, bouncing around. “Thank you, Twilight!” “You deserve it,” Twilight said, smiling down at the overexcited filly. It was true enough – while Nyx didn’t have access to quite the power of an adult alicorn, she still had a lot of magic at her disposal. And since she’d once turned Fluttershy into a tree… And, just to make a point of sorts, Twilight had given her a cosmic spectrum crystal pendant to wear. It looked good on her, too… “Alright,” Celestia said, entering the examination room. Since there was no need to bring parents along and since classes were in session, the room was nearly empty – she’d decided to attend personally, because that way she could also see how Twilight was doing. Then she blinked. “…what?” “Hi!” the alicorn filly said, running over. “Are you Princess Celestia? Oh, sorry, that’s a stupid question, of course you are! My name’s Nyx!” “Twilight,” Celestia asked, “…where did you say you found her?” “I didn’t, actually…” Twilight shrugged. “What’s the first part of the test?” Now seriously wrong-hoofed, Celestia answered without thinking about it. “Conjuration.” “Okay,” Nyx said, concentrating. Her horn glowed, and her wings half-spread with the effort… And, with a cloud of smoke, Princess Luna fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs. “…oops,” Nyx blushed. “Who’s she? I think I messed up…” Celestia’s eyes darted from Nyx, to her Cosmic Spectrum pendant, then to her sister. “…pass, full marks.” Twilight grinned. She knew what Celestia would be guessing thanks to the presence of the pendant – Nyx had somehow ascended beforehand by way of her pendant, clearly wasn’t evil because the stone would show up the presence of evil, and therefore this was an accident. “Hear that, Nyx?” “Yay!”