//------------------------------// // Loops 17 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 17.1 Rarity passed Spike another gemstone. “Can you round this one off?” “Sure.” Spike carefully whetted the ruby with his claws, slicing off the cornered edges and following that up by rolling it around in his paws. “There you go; that should be fine.” She plucked it from his hands without looking, and slotted it carefully into a recess in the outfit she was designing. “Right, that should do…” Needle and thread worked, sealing over the recess so that the gem was concealed beneath a thin layer of silk. “So, what are you going for?” Spike asked, drilling a hole through a sapphire with his claw. “Well,” Rarity said, “I’m trying to make something to work as Applejack’s semi-permanent coronation dress. Something for her to default to, if you see what I mean.” She caught sight of the blue stone, and winced. “Oh, dear, did I give you a sapphire? Oops – that should have been an emerald, since I’m trying to stick to apple-related colours.” Spike nodded. “Right – I’ll try to remember that myself. Can I…?” “Go ahead.” The dragon popped said sapphire into his mouth, shattering it with his teeth and swallowing. “Delicious. So, why are the gems not so apparent?” “Well, you know Applejack…” Rarity moved her work light over the outfit. “The gems aren’t immediately visible, but they still colour the silk over them. It’s to represent how her country-girl nature is still her foundation – as the silk is foundation to the dress – but it conceals refinement within.” “Ah, I see.” Spike frowned. “Wouldn’t cotton work better? I mean, it is a plant, and silk thread is animal based and usually associated with wealth itself…” “…drat.” Rarity rolled her eyes, and the dress flew apart in a burst of telekinesis. Cotton snaked in and started to reassemble the base frame. “Well spotted… I can’t believe I missed that.” Spike started in alarm. “Won’t that wreck all the work you’ve done so far?” “Not really, no…” the unicorn assured him, still focusing on her work. “A lot of what I do is… building the image in my mind as I build the dress itself. Since I’ve already got a fair way into the process, I can just reconstruct what I’ve already done.” Her horn glow died down. “There. See?” Spike nodded. “Very impressive. Oh – what did you want next?” “Peridot, please,” Rarity said, frowning at the area of the spine. “And then some topaz.” “…there are yellow apples?” “I admit,” Rarity shrugged, “Applejack doesn’t seem to grow many. But they do exist – from a different part of her family, but it’s there. Now, how do I handle the wings…” “There we go,” Rarity said eventually, “I think it looks fairly good.” Spike evaluated the dress. It looked fairly simple, mostly white, but with more than enough trimmings in orange to keep it from being considered a bridal dress. But when the light hit it, it shimmered green-red-orange-yellow. In fact, the way the colours of the smaller gems moderated the larger ones, it had the rough complexion of an apple as well. The wings were properly accommodated for, as well – an ingenious fold in the fabric on each side concealed holes, and when extended the wings would be able to beat without stretching the dress too much. On the other hand, there were so many gemstones in it that it could probably deflect crossbow bolts, entirely separate from the enchantments woven into it. That made flying a chancy prospect for anyone who wasn’t either an alicorn or Rainbow Dash. “Interesting, certainly…” he said diplomatically. “I’m just afraid that AJ might consider it too frou-frou for her.” “You aren’t suggesting that my dresses are too frou-frou, are you Spike?” Rarity asked, with a pleading note in her town that was almost entirely feigned. “No, no,” Spike assured her. “A hypothetical Applejack is suggesting that.” “Well, so long as it’s only a hypothetical one, then I’ll endure it quite well,” Rarity said tartly. “I might test her reaction to a lesser version of this – one without the wing holes – though I’ll probably need your help for that one as well.” “No problem,” Spike said. “Same time next week?” “Alright, then,” Rarity replied. “It’s a- time.” Neither of them commented on what she’d nearly said. “So, how’d it go?” Twilight asked. “Alright,” Spike said, shrugging. “I helped her make a dress – very gemstone heavy. Learned quite a lot about how gemstones hold enchantments, too, which was interesting.” Then he grinned. “And I don’t think I’ll need dinner tonight, either – shaved crystals.” Twilight nodded. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” “What are you working on, by the way?” Spike asked, looking at her paperwork. “Oh,” Twilight shifted the papers. “I’m trying to arrange a clerical error that has Discord’s statue shipped to the Griffins.” “Huh.” Spike paused. “Why?” “Why not?” Twilight replied. “I mean, we’ll be on call in case it turns out to be less funny and more tragic. But I’m partly wondering if he even can discordify a griffin – does he just rely on the magic of cutie marks?” “Fair enough.” 17.2 “Twilight!” Trixie said, trotting over. “I have a perfect plan for Nightmare Night!” “Oh?” Twilight asked, looking over Trixie’s costume. The younger looper was, in fact, dressed as Maleficent – hopefully just a fashion choice… but after a moment Twilight mentally shrugged. After all, she’d worn practically every Nightmare Night costume she could think of. For that matter, she was just going to ascend for her costume this time. “Observe!” Trixie said, lifting something from the nearest rooftop and bringing it down for investigation. “A simple firework.” “Yes…” Twilight said, warily. “It is completely safe, having only enough fuel to fly for half a second, and burns up completely upon exploding – the actual pyrotechnics come from a small bound spell which produces only light,” Trixie continued, indicating components of the rocket. “Right.” Twilight nodded. “Looks nice and safe. Entirely subdued. How many did you set?” Trixie pondered. “Not sure. I lost count somewhere around twelve thousand.” “Celestia’s star, Trixie!” Twilight said, then lowered her voice at the looks of ponies around them. “Sorry. But with that many-” “At least twice that many. I lost count many times.” “With a minimum of twenty-four thousand fireworks, it doesn’t matter how small they are, it’s going to look like the whole town’s exploding.” Twilight threw up her hooves. “Right, I suppose it’s too late to take them down again. But be careful!” Luna circled Ponyville, preparing for her return to partake of the festivities in this Nightmare Night. Something about her dark side? She wasn’t sure of the details. About all she’d been able to get out of Celestia was that costumes were worn. Then there was a huge bang, followed by a hissing shriek that went on and on. Her guards nearly flubbed their wingbeats as Ponyville was enveloped in fire and smoke. Red and orange and yellow sparks fountained out of the top of a smoke-shrouded cone shape as she looked on, astonished. There were periodic explosions, sending the smoke rippling away, and then a huge shape of winged fire shot skywards. Extending feathered wings with a craaaack, it turned – revealing itself to be a huge phoenix – and ascended into the heavens. “Don’t you think you overdid it!?” Twilight shouted, hooves and wings over her head. Trixie adjusted her hat as firework launch sticks rained down. “Not really. All Trixie did was give Ponyville itself a Nightmare Night costume – as the site of the birth of a phoenix!” “…phoenixes don’t do that,” Twilight deadpanned. “Seriously, when they hatch they just hatch. They’re birds, not volcanoes.” “Oh.” Trixie shrugged. “Better than nothing.” Luna’s chariot half-crashed into the library. The princess and her guards tumbled out, running for cover as Luna snapped off spells skywards. “Princess!” Twilight called. “Over here!” “WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” Luna shouted. “SOME KIND OF GRIFFIN TRICK, WE THINK!” Twilight shook her head in exasperation. This was going to be one hell of a letter to Celestia. (The salient point would probably be ‘please don’t invade the Griffin Lands’). 17.3 Celestia ran, the sick taste of failure in her mouth. Her student – her beloved student – had fallen into corruption no less deep than Luna’s own, of a thousand years past. And all five of her friends had fallen the same way. She was being chased through her own castle by six twisted alicorns, who blew walls and columns aside to follow her. Then there was a blur of motion. “Haha! Have at thee!” a familiar voice said, accompanied by a musical series of twangs. Celestia turned to find Discord – Discord? – holding off dark-Applejack and dark-Fluttershy with a piano in one hand and a duck in the other. “Celestia!” he said, shouting over his shoulder while making it rain tofu to slow the alicorns down. “Retreat! Get out of the castle, I’ll join you outside!” Thoroughly confused, Celestia looked for a good escape route. The windows caught her eye, but dark-Rainbow Dash shot past them as she made for the closest. Another Discord ran past her in the other direction, wielding a swordfish and a scroll marked ‘FiM script, S4E1’. “They’re this way as well!” Her head swivelled. Yes, the first Discord was still where she’d last seen him, and the second one wasn’t something she’d imagined – he was dance-battling dark-Pinkie Pie. “Hurry up!” Discord implored her. “You’re the only one who can use the Elements of Blarmony!” Celestia frowned. “Elements of WHAT?” Both Discords and all four visible alicorns sighed. Twilight and Rarity materialized next to Celestia, and all six of them went back to normal. “Smooth move, Doofus,” Twilight said, hitting the left one on the head with a baguette the right one handily provided. “You couldn’t have come up with a better name?” “I was under pressure, so sue me.” Discord crossed his arms and huffed. The other one put on a lawyer’s wig and began taking depositions from the six Element bearers. “…what?” Celestia said helplessly. "Sorry, Celestia,” Twilight apologized. “Next time we'll do much better." "... What do you mean, next time?!" Ignoring her mentor, Twilight turned to point at Discord and Pinkie. "This is the last time I let you two plan our pranks." "Why's that Twilight?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head. "Because you're really bad at it – too much improv. Seriously, next time Applejack and Fluttershy plan the prank, although you can of course offer suggestions." 17.4 “Okay,” Luna said, finishing her note. “Celestia’s Awake, as well… I checked.” “How?” her double asked. “We have a code. A flag she puts up if she’s Awake, so I can scry for it.” Darkness enveloped the note and it vanished. “Anyway, it’s sent.” “Good.” Both of them sniggered. “Well, well, my beloved subjects,” Nightmare Moon began. “Excuse me?” a cross voice said from offstage. Another Nightmare Moon walked onto the dais from the left side. “Your subjects?” “They’re mine as well,” the first one said indignantly. “I think.” “Oh, you think?” the left one said. “Well, I know.” “Doesn’t matter.” One Nightmare Moon stuck her tongue out at the other one. “‘cause it’s my Night.” “No it isn’t.” “Is too.” “Is not!” “Is too!” The assembled ponies of Ponyville watched with utter confusion as the two Nightmare Moons argued like fillies. “Is too, a hundred thousand times!” “Is not, infinity times!” The one who hadn’t just spoken paused, staring at her hooves. “Is too… infinity plus one times!” “That’s just infinity times. I win.” Another stuck-out tongue. “Why you…” The right-hand Nightmare Moon reared up, and slapped her counterpart on the cheek. The other one touched the mark, and then slapped back. “…what the buck?” Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight. “Is that evil alicorn having a slap fight with herself?” Twilight shrugged. Suddenly, there was an explosion of light in the corner. “GIRLS!” Both dark alicorns froze, blushing guiltily. “Why are you arguing?” Celestia asked, stepping from the flare of her appearance. “She started it,” the left one said quickly. “Did not!” “Girls!” Celestia sighed. “Fine, I don’t want to know. Just say sorry to one another.” “…sorry,” the right hand one said grudgingly. “Sorry to you too.” “Right. All better?” The two Nightmares nodded. “Yes, big sister.” “Right. Now, go to your rooms. I’ll deal with you later.” As the two identical alicorns vanished in teleports, Celestia turned to the crowd. “Sorry, my younger sisters can be a little impetuous at times. Where were we?” Laughter rang in the halls of Princess Luna’s room. “That was hilarious!” Luna said, finally calming herself enough to speak. The alicorn filly on the bed giggled. “Bet we confused everypony!” Luna nodded. “Yep. You know, Nyx? I like your style.” 17.5 (QI based Loop) Twilight shuffled her papers. “Good evening, good evening, good evening, good evening! And welcome to QA, the show that’s all about things which are amazing. With me tonight are the Monarch of Mirth, Discord!” The assembled audience applauded. “The Sovereign of the Stars, Nightmare Moon!” More applause. “The Mistress of Mutability, Queen Chrysalis!” A buzzing underlay this applause. “And… the court jester, Prince Blueblood.” Blueblood rolled his eyes. He didn’t know either why or how Twilight Sparkle had managed to get three major threats to Equestria onto her panel game, but Auntie had made him be the recurring guest. “Right.” Twilight’s horn glowed, and an illusion appeared in the air – the city of Manehattan. “The first question is, why is Manehattan called the Big Apple?” Blueblood pressed his buzzer, which produced a short burst of circus music. That made him seethe – and he’d bet a thousand bits the other three had some kind of royal march. “Yes, Blueblood?” Twilight said. “It’s from a series of race meetings,” he answered confidently. Alarms went off, the words “race meetings” appearing in place of the skyline. Twilight shook her head, as Blueblood triggered one of the “wrong answer” traps. She had to set them up ahead of time, so it was just bad luck – or credulousness – which meant he kept hitting them. “No, sorry, that’s not correct.” Discord buzzed in with a brief snatch of The Duke of Plaza-torro. “It’s because the Apple clan were involved in settling it.” “Is the right answer!” Twilight conjured more images. Nightmare Moon spoke up. “Was that not when they were a family of nobility?” “That’s right, points for that,” Twilight said. “Not many know that the Apples at one point had a patent of nobility. I understand that it more-or-less lapsed fifty years or so later when none of them really wanted it; though their seat in the parliament lost through the patent was quickly replaced by one won in election.” 17.6 “What do you want to do, Rarity?” Spike asked. “Next time, I mean.” Rarity frowned. “…surprise me.” “Really?” Spike blinked. “Are you sure?” “Yes.” The unicorn nodded emphatically. “This is supposed to be a two way street, but you’ve just been a little too accommodating… which is sweet of you, but it doesn’t give me much of an idea of what you like.” “Fair point.” Spike scratched the back of his neck. “I’ll see what I can think of, then.” “I don’t know,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “And if I did I wouldn’t tell you. She has a point.” “I guess so.” Spike hung his head, then looked up again and started walking off muttering to himself. “Alright,” Rarity said eventually, “this is a fairly pleasant walk, but I’m sure that’s not what you were going for.” “Not really, no,” Spike replied. “And I suspect what you are going for is in that bag?” “Yep.” Spike adjusted the strap. “Not far to go…” Around a minute later, they emerged into a fair sized clearing – the first they’d encountered in the hour or two they’d been walking through White Tail Woods. At the far end were a number of round straw butts, with concentric rings painted on them. Rarity squinted. “Are those… archery butts?” “Yep.” Spike slung the bag down off his shoulder and extracted a yew longbow, as well as a smaller bow made with more modern composites. “Which would you rather use?” She took the smaller bow. “This one, I think… I didn’t know you liked archery.” “It’s a kind of Jedi training – I don’t know if Twilight told you about that whole thing?” She shook her head, so Spike went on. “Basically, my… third loop, I think, Twilight and I were part of this kind of awesome order of ninja magic monks. They taught a lot of self control stuff, which…” Spike broke off and gestured to himself. “It’s been kind of helpful for me, it’s where the age shifting got started. And it’s been useful otherwise. But archery’s really helpful training how to use some of the powers – because if you can see where the arrow would hit if you let go, then you can aim it properly. And that helps train precognition.” “You can see the future?” Rarity asked. “Only really, really close in stuff. Second or two.” Spike shrugged self-deprecatingly. “It’s based on what almost has to happen, unless you do something different – more or less. I don’t really follow it myself… anyway.” He picked up the yew bow and an arrow, and began breathing steadily. An image began to appear in his mind – an arrow, striking the outer ring of the straw. Concentrating on the image, willing it to stay stable, he tracked slowly across until the arrow hit dead centre. Then he released the string. Rarity applauded politely as it struck. “Very well done.” “Thanks,” he said, blushing slightly. “Your turn.” The whole smaller bow glowed and lifted into the air, accompanied by an arrow. Rather than vertically as Spike had to, the unicorn held hers horizontally – sighting carefully down the arrow, and then raising it slightly. Swoosh-thwack! Spike blinked at the arrow, right on the outer ring of the bull. “Wow.” Then he looked suspicious. “Have you done this before?” “Guilty as charged!” Rarity said. “I actually do this a little myself – though not to any great standard.” “If that’s not a great standard, I’d like to see what is…” Spike said. “Shall I move them further away?” “That would be nice.” 17.7 “Crystals.” “Okay!” Pinkie said abruptly, pulling out a hat and apron – followed by a table, a cash register and a sign. “Welcome to Crystal Catering, can I take your order?” Sombra blinked. “What?” “We~ll…” Pinkie slid a menu across the table and checked her hat. “We have a full selection of crystal varieties – Olivine structure to Quartz structure, and in carbon or silicon-based with various additives. If you want an ionic structure, that’s extra unless it’s on the menu.” “Um…” The startled unicorn took the menu and began reading it out of reflex. “Barite bonanza, please.” “Okay, coming up!” Pinkie vanished through a door that hadn’t been there before, and turned up again after a lot of grinding noises. She passed the plate to him and pointed out a table. “Here you go! Extra Iridium on top.” “Thank you.” Sombra dropped some bits on the counter and turned for the table. “…seriously?” Shining Armor asked. “He was hungry?” Pinkie shrugged. “I dunno.” 17.8 (Serenova) Twilight awoke sitting in a chair. It was nice to be sitting down for once. Before she even opened her eyes she checked her loop memories. The fact that she felt funny sitting in the chair meant that she wasn't in her normal quadrupedal form. She had to hold back a groan as she realized this was another Trek loop. At least she wasn't shaped like a pony this time - THAT had been one bucking weird loop. Slowly taking inventory of her loop memories, she figured out her family history and that she was on the Enterprise-D. That would explain the slight vibration she felt through her boots. Finally opening her eyes she took a look around and took stock of her quarters. From what she knew of this loop, it was standard crew quarters. Bedroom, bathroom (sonic shower included) and living area. She was seated at the desk in the desk in the living area, apparently going over reports from some physics experiment she was working on. As she began reading through the notes on the PADD in front of her she was interrupted by the computer. "Incoming transmission from Shining Armor," the computer intoned. Twilight turned to the monitor on the desk and said, "On screen." The screen lit up and she was greeted with a very confused person, who, coincidentally was Shining Armor. "Shiny!" she said happily, "To what do I owe the honor?" She didn't know if this version of her brother was looping or not and didn't want to give anything away until she knew. None of the other elements were with her (she had felt along the connection and gotten nothing), but she had no magical connection with her brother to check. "I'm awake Twilight, please tell me you know how to walk on two legs," Shiny said plaintively. Twilight burst into giggles at her brother. "It's easier to use your loop memories for moving around," she said through her giggles. "I'm about…" and she paused to check how far she was from their supposed home, "Twelve hundred light years from you right now, so you're on your own with getting around," she finished. "Aww, man, and Cadence isn't awake either," Shiny almost whined. "Don't you start that with me B.B.B.F.F.!" Twilight said with a smile, "You'd just grab her and go on another honeymoon. I'm going to try to grab some tech to have for when we're back home while we're here. I'm thinking some tricorders will do well, along with some medical supplies." Shining Armor just shook his head at his sister, "You do that, I'm going to figure out what in the world I actually do here. I'll talk to you later," he said, and the connection went dead. Shaking her head, Twilight went back to what she had been doing this loop. Three days and a skirmish with the Romulans later, she was praying for this loop to be over. She'd already replicated two tricorders (one science, one medial) and stuffed them in her subspace pocket. She'd also nabbed a hypospray and some extra PADDs with medical and scientific data in them. She figured the looping Applebloom and Scootaloo would appreciate it at least, along with adding to her own reading. She only wished that there was actual paper around, but she'd live. It was harder to not slip up around Captain Picard. She was very experienced with random loops by now, but even non-Looping Picard could be intimidating. Especially when Twilight's base self in this loop was much like the studious original Twilight before she started looping. Eventually, Twilight managed to enjoy herself and relaxed for the rest of the loop. She was glad she wasn't replacing anyone important and simply let herself enjoy being along for the ride. Designating this as a recreational loop (even if she worked really – that science experiment she was running), would be nice. 17.9 (Indalecio) (Dragon Ball) As Apple Bloom woke up she felt, different, this loop. Coupled with the new memories slamming into her and the fact that she no longer had hooves, she could tell that she was going to be human for that loop. 'Well, this is a new experience I reckon.' Twilight told her about some of the times that she was human, but it was the first time she was experiencing it for herself. Apparently her name was Bloom Apple, and she along with her sister Jacqueline Apple were the heirs to the large and wealthy Seed Corp. She turned back to the book and artifact she has been studying short before awakening. The Dragonballs, of which there were seven of, would grant one wish to whomever gathered them all. She had briefly considered wishing for the perfect colt...boyfriend. 'Need to watch those terms there.' Her sister Jackie, had always been the refined, social butterfly, and truth be told, she had been a little jealous of the attention she got. But, after awakening, it seemed a waste of the awesome power of the dragon. 'But what to wish for? I guess it'll come to me in time.' As she stepped out the door, she grabbed her backpack and took off for the unknown. The boy named Goku sitting across from her kept giving her odd looks as they were eating. She was about to ask him about that when he finally spoke up. "You're a looper, aren't you?" It shouldn't have surprised her that there would be other loopers in this world, but it did. She finally found her voice. "Yes, how did you know?" "This is the third time I'm looping. The person you're replacing, Bulma Briefs, looks different than you, also." "So what this this Bulma like?" "She's one of my oldest friends, she's a bit spoiled, but she's a genius engineer." "Hmm.." "So whats it like where you came from?" "Well, I and all my friends are ponies where we came from." "A what?" "Little horse." Goku pointed to his throat. "No...little horses. Ponies." "Ahhh.." said realization, but there was a hint of mischief in his eyes. "You..made that joke on purpose, didn't you?" "May....be.." continuing he said "Do you ponies have martial arts?" "Yeah, I been studying with my master Temple Fortress." "Would you like to learn human martial arts?" "A..hmmm" Goku took a few arm and leg bands from a bag he carried with him. They were indentical to ones he wore. "Put these on." Taking the offered arm and leg bands, Applebloom noticed they were quite heavy. "I spent a majority of my last loop learning Kaioshin magic, specifically learning on how to make thing heavy." Realization hit her. "Oh these are for training." "They seem heavy now, but after awhile you get used them. And then you get heavier ones." Having put them on she felt like she could hardly move. This was definitly going to take some getting used to. She stretched her arms out and slowly waved them around. "So what now?" "We've got a turtle to rescue." We awoke the next day and found the turtle just where Goku said he was. After talking with it, the turtle asked for some refreshments. "Salt water? Seaweed? I don't think we've got seaweed, but salt water is doable" I got out a bucket, and put some water and salt in it. Taking the salt water, the turtle drank. "The truth is, I've wandering around the past year and I've been trying all this time to get back to ocean" I got out a map, and did some quick mental calculations. "Thats 120km from here. You're going in the wrong direction. Wow. Thats far." The turtle looked cresfallen. "We could take him to ocean. Thats no big deal." said Goku. I thought for a moment and fished around for my packet of seed caps. I selected one and after using, a hand cart appeared. "We can use this and take turns." My arms were ready to fall off by the time we reached the sea. I was used to pulling carts in my pony form, but this was a totally different experience. In the end, I did most of the pulling, while Goku scouted. I could hear various roars and shouts as Goku cleared the path before us, and in the end we got there without problems. The turtle insisted on repaying us and after entering the ocean soon came back with a short, old man with a Turtle Shell on his back. After greeting us and introducing himself as the Turtle Hermit, he sought to give us a reward. "Come! Immortal Phoenix!" he shouted. After a few minutes of nothing happening, the turtle spoke up. "Umm...the Immortal Phoenix died of food poisoning." "Oh right. I was going to summon the Immortal Phoenix and grant you all eternal life.." 'If the Immortal Phoenix died of food poisoning, the immortality it granted probably wasn't it was cracked up to be' I thought to myself. "...but instead, I'll give you this!" "Nimbus! Come to me!" This time, a cloud came down and stopped right in front of us. "With this you'll be able to fly anywhere you want, but it only works for the pure of heart. Let me show you how it works." He jumped on it, and landed on top. "Tada! Now you try it." Goku seemed slightly surprised by this, but jumped on and rode around it for awhile and came back to a stop in front of us. "Just like old times." "What?" "Nothing. Nothing." I noticed what looked like the 3 star Dragonball hanging from the Turtle Hermits' neck. "Hey mister. Could we possibly have that ball thats hanging from your neck? It looks like one of the ones we've been searching for." "She helped you out right?" the hermit asked the turtle. "She practically pulled me all the way here!" "Wow! Thats pretty impressive! Not many girls your age would've been able to do that. I guess you can have this. Its an old necklace I found at the bottom of the sea a hundred years ago." He handed the necklace to me and I examined it. It was the third star ball alright. "Hey Bloom. Try to get on!" I gently tried stepping on the cloud and it took my weight. With more confidence, I climbed on and held onto Goku. We thanked the Turtle Hermit and zoomed off into the night sky. "Normally Bulma isn't able to ride this, but you seemed like a good person, and this opens up our options." he continued. "I think you impressed the Turtle Hermit, and I was a bit surprised as I've never seen him able to ride it before." "Oh? Why not? "He's actually a pretty decent guy, but he's usually really pervy." I giggled at that. "So Goku, where to next?" "I was thinking of trying to learn shapeshifting. Want to try? "Sure." We dropped by a place called Aru Village and after settling things there between Oolong and the villagers, we received the Six Star ball for our efforts. "Oolong's a shapeshifter, but he never mastered it. Our next stop with Yamcha and Puar should go better as Puar's the better of the two." "Who Yamcha and Puar?" "Yamcha's a desert bandit. He joined us in our adventures, but never managed to keep up. He dated Bulma for awhile, but it didn't pan out. Puar is his friend and as I said, a shapeshifter. He looks like a blue flying cat most of the time, though." After hitting a stretch of desert, Goku had Nimbus slow down. After searching awhile, we saw someone in the distance and sped to them. What had seemed like one figure, quickly became two, a woman with rainbow hair and a flying orange pony. "We're looking for Yamcha..the desert..bandit" and then Goku couldn't hold it together, he burst out laughing, nearly falling off the cloud, and after what he'd just told me, I couldn't blame him. "Rainbow Dash? Scootaloo?" The two looked pretty angry by whole thing. "Its Dashcha the dessert bandit!" "And Scoot!" "Whoever told you our names was way off. I'm not sure why you came out here, if you know of us, but you're going to regret it. Give us all your capsules and you money, and maybe we'll think of letting you live." So, they weren't awake this time. And yet, being on this cloud, I couldn't help but smile at the irony of Rainbow being on the ground at this point. And apparently Goku couldn't either, for his own reasons, as he, unable to contain himself, finally did fall off the cloud. "Sorry. Sorry. You just weren't what I expected." He sniffed and smiled. "Again. Sorry." "Not sorry enough!" as she drew her sword and attacked Goku. Goku fought back, dodging and weaving and eventually knocking her on her butt. "Feh. So you've got some skill afterall." Dashcha stood up and dusted herself off. "So why did you come out all this way." I spoke up. "We actually came to see Scoot." "We heard there was a shapeshifter in the area and wanted to see if you could teach us shapeshifting." Scoot was about say something when Dashcha cut in. "Whats in it for us?" "Ah've got one capsule with a car with a full tank of gas in it." "Sounds fair. Alright, we accept." said Dashcha, Scoot still trying to get in a word edgewise. "So I was going to say, I can unlock the ability to shapeshift, but after that, it takes a lot of practice in order to do it well." "Ah'm okay with that. You can't get very far in anything without practicing." "Okay, the two of you stand still for a moment." Scoots hovered over and placed her hooves on mine and Goku's forehead. I felt warm for a moment and I felt a whole less solid, like I could collapse into a pile of jelly at any moment. "Okay, now try to these simple exercises..." Goku's POV While Bloom was practicing shapeshifting, I decided on trying to spar with Dashcha, again. "So Goku, where'd you learnt to fight?" I dodged one of Dashcha kicks. "From my grandpa, Gohan Son." And returned on of my own, which she didn't bother blocking, but as soon as she got up, she became all excited "Oh my gosh! You're related to Gohan SOn? He's like really famous. After the Turtle and Crane Hermits, he's probably like the second strongest martial artist in the world. Oh hey! Let me get my scrapbook." Living up her name, Dashcha ran off and in maybe 10 to 15 minutes later returned with a scrapbook. It had lots of old newsclipping and pictures of the Turtle Hermit, the Ox-King and Gohan Son. "Wow. There isn't anything I'd wouldn't do to meet the Turtle Hermit, but he's probably dead by now. No one's heard from him decades. But I'd love to meet one of his students." "Actually, we just saw the Turtle Hermit this morning. And my grandfather's on Mt. Paozu. I'm sure he'd love a visit from a fan." "ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh,ohmygosh!" Dashcha started hyperventilating and grabbed me and screamed into my face. "Where! Where did you see him?" "By the coast. I think he lives off on an island somewhere." "This is so awesome! Scoots! We're going!" Dashcha grabbed Scoots hoof and ran off in the direction of the ocean. "They didn't even take the capsule we promised them." Bloom's POV "I know the next Dragonball is on Frypan Mountain. I'm a little anxious. This is the time and place I met my future wife Chichi and her father the Ox-King.” We were zipping along on Nimbus heading for a next destination. "Eh? What are they like?" "The Ox-King is a huge mountain of a man, and very protective of his daughter. Chichi was also a fierce martial artist, and had a clumsy awkwardness she later grew out of. In her later years, she was very education minded, and made our eldest son, Gohan, study all the time." "You named him after your Grandpa?" Goku got quiet for a moment. "Yeah. In my original timeline, I….killed my grandpa without knowing it. You saw my tail right?" He wriggled it around for emphasis and it tickled my nose. "Yeah, what’s that got to do with anything?" "If I have it, if it’s not cut off, I transform into a giant ape when seeing the full moon, mindlessly destroying things and….people." "In my first loop, I avoided looking at the moon, and my grandpa still lived in that loop. Along with learning Kaioshin magic, I also learned to control the were-ape form. It took a year of constantly transforming, but I managed to get it down. My grandpa still lives in this loop too, and for that I'm glad." Goku continued. "I think I see Frypan Mountain in the distance. Strange, it’s not on fire. Let’s land." Goku's POV I hopped off of Nimbus with Bloom right behind me. Up upon Frypan Mountain, I could see Ox-King's castle. Down below, was a small village bustling with activity. "It seems so normal…" I scratched my head. "Ah! You must be tourists! I knew a little advertising would pay off. Please, please let me show you around." I turned to the voice, seeing a girl about my age. She looked like Chichi, sounded like Chichi, but she wasn't Chichi. It must have been the purple hair, and purple wizard robe and hat. "Chichi?" "Excuse me?" She looked inquisitively at me. "Are you Chichi?" "Twi Lee." "Wait. Are you Twilight Sparkle?" Bloom interjected. "Oh! You must be loopers! I was wondering when someone else was going to show up. Honestly, I haven't the foggiest idea what I'm doing this loop. It’s all very refreshing." Uh oh. Guess I'd better not spoil any of it. "It’s me! Applebloom!" She pulled Twilight into a quick hug. "Applebloom! You're….can't….breathe." Bloom eased up and let Twilight down. "How are you? Have you seen any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" "I'm good. I've just seen Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, but they're not loopers this time, though they've replaced some friends of Goku, here." "Pleased to meet you" "Oh, so you must be familiar with this loop." "Looped two times already. So far each has lasted about 80 years." "Wow! That long? Ours just lasts a few years." She paused, and then continued. "So, when you landed, you said everything looked normal." "Yeah, usually everything's on fire. The Ox-king sets fire to the area surrounding his castle to protect his treasure, but it goes out of control, and he isn't able to get inside." "Oh dad… I guess it’s kinda weird to be calling him dad… I convinced him not to do that. There's natural gas pockets all over the area. Instead, we're now mining the natural gas and using it heat the castle and surrounding residences…." At this point I zoned out. Bloom looked really interested, and conversed excitedly with Twi Lee. I was hoping to pick up some science and engineering-fu, but I guess it wouldn't be this loop. Goku and Twi Lee rode the nimbus until they started passing over a mushroom forest. "Bloom, are you ready?" The disembodied voice of Bloom Apple answered from a suitcase that was also on this cloud. "Ready as I'll ever be." "You sure this is going to work?" "Yes! This is going to be great! First they'll see the dragonballs, and then 'Pow'!" A minute later a rocket propelled grenade shot at them. Goku narrowly dodge but dropped the suitcase. He quickly turned around, but someone in a mini-mecha ran up and grabbed suitcase. "Ah!" "Wait!" "Stop!" cried Goku waving his arms. "Your acting is terrible." "It worked, didn't it? Now we just need to chase after them, but not too fast." The self-styled Emperor Pilaf stood with his underlings Mai, a woman sporting ex-Red Ribbon army fatigues and duster, and Shu, a short, dog-faced Ninja. We're not sure what Emperor Pilaf is, but he appears to a goblin in what could charitably be called a clown suit. "All the dragonballs! At last the world will be mine!" Emperor Pilaf cackled loudly and his henchmen soon joined in. "Wait, why does one of the Dragonballs have eyes?" There was a large puff of smoke, and then 'Pow!' "This is Bloom. Come in Goku and Twi Lee." Bloom spoke into her cellphone over the 3 unconscious forms of Pilaf, Mai and Shu and all 7 Dragonballs. "We read you." "I've got the Dragonballs." "Did you have trouble?" "E-nope" Miles away from there, on the desert floor, three figures assembled with all seven Dragonballs gathered before them. The balls glowed, and a giant purple dragon appeared. "I AM SPIKRON, THE ETERNAL DRAGON. SPEAK YOUR WISH NOW, AND I WILL GRANT IT." Bloom stepped forward. "I want all our friends from Ponyville and all Goku's friends to be awake in this loop." "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT." Bloom explained the situation. "THAT IS BEYOND MY POWER. SPEAK ANOTHER WISH AND I WILL GRANT IT." Bloom thought for a moment. "You know Goku's saiyan heritage and giant monkey form. I want something very similar to it, just as giant equine form." Turning to Twi Lee, she asked "Do you want in on this?" Twi Lee frowned. "No, I'm good." "Okay, then just for me." "IT SHALL BE DONE!" Out of the base of Bloom's back appeared a long red pony tail. "YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED! FAREWELL!" the eternal dragon vanished, the balls dimmed to pieces of rock and scattered to the four corners of the world. Goku frowned for a moment. "That might not have been the best wish to make. You'll be at the mercy of the full moon, and the transformation is quite painful, blinding you to what’s going on around you." "You mastered it, didn't you?" said Bloom absentmindedly, examining her new tail. "Well, yeah, but it took me a year. A long year of waking up naked surrounded by destruction. Just be careful not to look at the moon until you get it. Meditate and train a lot, it should help, especially the meditation." There was a pause and Twi Lee spoke. "I kinda wish Spike had been awake, though. I can't wait to tell him about this." Bloom continued examining her tail. "He was pretty cool." "You know the Dragon? "He's my assistant back in my home loop, but he's only a baby at the time. Just yea tall", said Twi Lee, gesturing. Goku turned to Bloom. "Well we found the Dragonballs, mission accomplished. What do you plan on doing now?" "Hmm…Ah've got school in a couple of weeks, so I'm probably going to go home. What about you two?" "Twi Lee and I have been talking. We're going to visit my grandpa on Mt. Paozu for a bit, and then maybe wander around. Maybe see Otherworld. I might be able to coax King Kai into teaching us more Kaioshin magic." "Sounds fun. Do you want to meet up again when the Dragonballs return?" "Count on it!" And time passed. Goku and Twi Lee travelled around. They visited Goku's grandpa on Mt. Paozu, the Turtle Hermit, King Kai and finally found themselves on planet Yardrat, generally seeing the sights, and picking up new tricks when they could. Goku and Twi Lee use instant transmission to travel to King Kai's planet, appearing in a flash of light. They fall before King Kai and genuflect. "Please train us!" "Who are you people?" After Bloom experimented with her were-pony for the first time, she vowed to make the creation of stretchy clothes a priority. Dashcha finally found the Turtle Hermit and began training with him. Later as Bloom went to search for the Dragonballs again, Dashcha approached her with a request. "Training with the Turtle Hermit is a dream come true. But I keep wondering, with him being so old now, What was he like in his prime? I gotta know. I heard the Dragonballs can grant any wish. I want to see and be trained by Master Roshi in his prime. Can we ask the Dragon to grant that wish?" We eventually found some of the other Elements of Harmony. Rarity and SweetieBelle had taken the place of Goku's old rivals Tien and Chaotzu and we confronted them at the world tournament. Rarien, sporting a small blue gem in the centre of her forehead and clad in a purple sari, confronts Dashcha at the Tenkaichi Budokai tournament. "Your orange gi clashes with my purple sari. We'll have to fix that," said Rarien with a smirk and small emphasis on the way she said "fix". Fluttershy took the place of Launch, now calling her self Kachushy, and was taking care of Piccolo Jr, after we had dealt with his genocidal father. Kachushy stands before a Piccolo that’s at least a head taller than her and stares him in the eyes. "No Piccolo, you're not killing anyone, you hear? I thought I taught you better than that!" "Yes, mom." Pinkie Pie we didn't find until many years later. A dwarfish alien clad in wizard robes stands before a large organic sphere that suddenly split in two. The room fills with steam. "Yes, yes! Arise Majin Pie and serve Babidi as you've served my father before." Finally a woman with bright pink skin and clad in a stereotypical genie's clothes appears. "I feel sick" She barfed four times, her mouth growing cartoonishly wide each time, each time vomiting up one the swallowed supreme kais. "Ughhh…." 17.10 (by Ranma-Sensei) (Hey, Arnold) “Huh, seems like I have a middle sister, this loop. Well, at least it’s not Asuka, again. And it’s definitely better than Ranma Heyerdahl.” Twilight opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was herself being human. The next, that before her stood a human girl, about 1.20 meters in height and wearing two pigtails of golden blond hair. “Uh, hi?” The girl before her sighed exasperatedly. “Please don’t tell me this is your first fused loop.” Twilight shook her head. “No, I just tend to awake mid-stride it seems, and I ran into a wall, this time.” She smiled. “Twilight Pataki, nice to meet you. So, what do you do around here…. Helga?” Helga G. Pataki grinned. “Oh, troll my peers, usually. When people around you have the mental capacities of Fourth-Graders, you’ve got to be inventive.” She turned thoughtful. “I wonder if Arnold’s awake.” Twilight searched her Looper memories. “The boy you have a crush on?” Helga gave her a withering look. “I’m only saying this once: I. Love. Arnold. No crush, capiche?” The pony-once-again-turned-human nodded frantically. “Okay, change of topic: Why am I wearing Gothic style clothes?” Twilight sighed. Here she had hoped to get a chance at studying in a nuclear society school. Instead, all her peers seemed to want to do was slack off and beat up on younger students, as was currently the case…. “Yo, shorty!” the boy she had come to know as Wolfgang hollered, “Get your weird football head out of my way.” The next moment he shoved Arnold against the hallway’s wall. Twilight bristled. “Wolfgang!” Stepping forward, she grabbed onto the boy’s neck, which was considerably helped by the fact that she was bigger than him. “What do you think you are doing to my sister’s friend?” “More like boyfriend, if you ask me.” the spindly boy next to her sniggered. Wolfgang flailed around. “Shut it, Edmund, and help me!” At this point, Twilight had quite enough and swung the bully around, letting him drop on his ass behind her. “Get lost, Wolfgang.” “I will get you, Pataki, I swear. One day, I will get you!” “Yeah, right.” Turning around, she said: “Boo.” Laughing as the goon squad turned tail and ran, Twilight then helped Arnold up. “You alright?” “I think so.” Dusting himself off, the football-headed boy then extended a hand. “Arnold Shortman, Helga’s boyfriend. And you must be Twilight, I presume?” “Uh, yeah.” Taking the proferred hand and shaking it, Twilight grinned. “So, I take it you are awake, too?” “Yep, and as Helga, I am grateful you are nothing like Asuka or….” he shuddered, “Lina.” “Say….” Twilight gauged him. “What do I have to do around here to get some studying done?” “I…. think I can help with that.” “This is great!” Twilight rolled around on her bed and squealed. The moment Arnold had shown her to the public library, her eyes had gone all watery. It was a little upsetting that it had taken so long to register for a library card, and only being allowed to borrow twenty books at once felt unfair, but according to Helga she had a rough timeframe of about one year and a half, so it was only a minor setback. “Time to start having fun,” she said, and opened the book labelled Astrophysics 101. 17.11 (Elmagnifico) "So, why didn't you come forward? Most newly Awakened ponies seek me or the Princesses out for help within the first few Loops..." Big Macintosh looked sheepish. After the scene Twilight had made at Sweet Apple Acres last night, he had wanted nothing more than to bury his head in one of his freshly-plowed fields. The fact that both his sisters were constantly badgering him about the cause of said fracas made the subject even more awkward. Now, to clear the air, Twilight had offered to straighten things out (after a good day and a half's rest), on the condition that he agree to be interviewed. He sighed. Talking had gotten easier as time went by, but he still didn't like doing it unnecessarily. Might as well get it over with. "Well, ya see Ms. Twilight, ah didn't right notice for a while mahself. Mah routine's pretty straightforward, and some days it just runs into itself, often the only way ah keep track of time is from the seasons. Don't have much goin' on aside from the farm, so harvestin' and plantin's all that needs payin' attention to. Plus, weird stuff happens around mah sister an' y'all mighty frequent, so things lahk a moon goddess attackin' th' Summer Sun Celebration didn't tip me off the first time it all repeated." Twilight nodded. "I can see that, but you obviously noticed at some point. Why didn't you ask me then?" "Well, after ah sussed that the first few repeats weren't a string a' coincidences ah couldn't pluck up the courage to ask." "Oh? Why not?" "When y' see somepony turn into ah goddess firsthoof, it don't seem quite appropriate to bother them just cause you think stuff oughta be happenin' different." Twilight paused. 'Alicorn Mode' was certainly intimidating for non-Awake mortal ponies, a new Looper would plausibly have the same reaction. "I suppose that's reasonable. For the first couple of days, at least. But why didn't you come forward later that loop?" "An' then y'all turned evil and yer dragon friend grew fifty stories high. Somethin' about Eternal Twilight?" Twilight's ears fell. That loop. Now that was bad luck… apparently she was too skilled an actor for her own good by now. Macintosh continued. "After thatn', ah was plum scared you'd do it again, so ah resolved to keep as far away from ya as possible. Weird stuff kept right on happenin', an from that point on ah just tried to help any way ah could. Ah kept mah family safe, no matter what. Sometimes, one or both of mah sisters'd act weird too, hangin' around you an' doin' strange stuff, so ah never explained to them either. They kept forgettin' stuff every time things reset anyway, so ah just kept quiet. Watchin'." Twilight's eyes widened. She briefly wondered if there were any other Loopers in Macintosh's position, whether her crazy antics had driven any other ponies into hiding. "Now, ah'm not normally th' kinda pony that needs change. Ah like a routine, an' for things to be reliable-like. Over time though, it got painful watchin' mah sisters, an' other ponies, gettin' hurt in stuff that ah could do somethin' about. Ma an' Pa may not be around, but they didn't raise me to be a stallion that'd stand by when he could help. On the other hoof, ah didn't want to be a snack for no dragon." Macintosh sighed. Best to just get this out as quick as possible. "So over time, ah saw how little things would change what happened. Ah got to learnin' the patterns, how ta change things without gettin' attention off th' scary purple unicorn. Ah guess this time ah finally did too much good." Twilight could feel her emotions roiling. Shame at scaring Macintosh, a touch of anger that he'd been so vexing, and many others warred for dominance behind her eyes. In the end, she stretched up and put a hoof on Macintosh's shoulder. "Well Big Macintosh, I guess I owe you an explanation. You see, it all started with this tree called Yggdrasil..." 17.3 redux (Filraen) Celestia ran, the sick taste of failure in her mouth. Her student – her beloved student – had fallen into corruption no less deep than Luna’s own, of a thousand years past. And all five of her friends had fallen the same way. She was being chased through her own castle by six twisted alicorns, who blew walls and columns aside to follow her. Then there was a blur of motion. “Haha! Have at thee!” a familiar voice said, accompanied by a musical series of twangs. Celestia turned to find Discord – Discord? – holding off dark-Applejack and dark-Fluttershy with a piano in one hand and a duck in the other. “Celestia!” he said, shouting over his shoulder while making it rain tofu to slow the alicorns down. “Retreat! Get out of the castle, I’ll join you outside!” Thoroughly confused, Celestia looked for a good escape route. The windows caught her eye, but dark-Rainbow Dash shot past them as she made for the closest. Another Discord ran past her in the other direction, wielding a swordfish and a scroll marked ‘FiM script, S4E1’. “They’re this way as well!” Her head swivelled. Yes, the first Discord was still where she’d last seen him, and the second one wasn’t something she’d imagined – he was dance-battling dark-Pinkie Pie. Suddenly dark-Pinkie Pie left a howlish scream "NO!" and vanished, just to appear in front of Celestia, except as an earth pony completely untainted by the corruption. "EVERYPONY STOP!" "What's the matter, Pinkie? We were doing so well." Twilight Sparkle appeared alongside her, now back as unicorn. Soon Twilight's friends appeared alongside them. "It's... HER!" The pink pony suddenly moved to where a white pegasus with a brown mane was apparently leading other ponies away. "Ah!" "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie. Who are you?" Pinkie Pie asked with a big smile. The surprise from the white pegasus faded back into a knowing smile as she looked to where Twilight was "You caught me. I'm Starlight Breaker." "Starlight... Nanoha?!" Starlight Breaker nodded. "Even stopping a prank for a visitor? I'm not sure if I'm honored or disappointed. How have you been?" “…what?” Celestia said helplessly as their lively chat continued. 17.12 (Filraen) (31 minutes) "Twilight, we are already on air!" Fluttershy's voice brought Twilight Sparkle to her senses. One day wasn't nearly enough to get used to this loop. The world seemed nuclear-tech level but against all odds she hadn't seen any human or pony yet. Then again, Twilight Sparkle knew this was going to be a weird loop wen she saw herself in the mirror after awakening and saw Smarty Pants looking back. "Right," Twilight Sparkle, anchorpony plush, placed her woollen hooves over the desk she was and looked at the camera with her button eyes in front of her in a way so she could also see the screens by its side, on containing the live TV broadcasting and the other scrolling text. "Welcome back to 31 Minutes, the most important news bulletin on television. "Mass protests have been happening in Puppetrolis in the last hours, and there it's our reporter Pinkie Pie to give us more information. Pinkie?" The broadcasted image now showed Pinkie Pie, whose body was only a pink microphone with eyes, jumping up and down. "Oh, hi Twilight! You know there's a lot of people here in Puppetrolis getting together so I made a note about that's happening. "Hi everypony, this is Pinkie Pie's Pop Poll! Today's question is 'what do they call you?'" After a small introductory curtain the image showed Pinkie Pie asking different people the pop question. Answer ranges from 'no-face' from a beheaded doll, to 'Nim' from what appeared to be a black alicorn plushie, 'cool guy' from an ice cream and 'R2-D2' from a trash can from a park. What most confused Twilight was, except for the beheaded doll, everything could have eyes attached and if it had eyes it could talk even if it had no mouth. It didn't make any sense! By the end of the note Twilight could swear Pinkie Pie was having a wide smile if she had a mouth, waiting for her feedback. Well, the note itself wasn't actually bad but... "Pinkie, what did it have with the mass protests in Puppetrolis?" "Isn't it obvious, Twilight? Nopony has a good nickname, that must be why everypony is out here!" "O...k..." Twilight said barely containing the urge to scream in frustration. "Thanks for the note, Pinkie." "Bye Twilight!" And with that the direction cut transmission with Pinkie Pie. Focusing herself to talking to her viewers again Twilight continued "And now the weather forecast report with our meteorologist-" "ME! Nightmare Moon!" Nightmare Moon looked as menacing as a big black alicorn plushie toy could be. "Good evening, Twilight Sparkle." The anchorpony was confused: she had met Princess Luna in the editorial meeting earlier today, what could have happened? "Psst, Twilight," Fluttershy, in a plastic doll body, approached her from the opposite side of Nightmare Moon. Apparently Twilight was dumbstruck for too long. "Just go along for now, we are almost finished." Fluttershy was right, the weather report was the last part of today's program and it was Princess Luna's section. "Right," the anchorpony continued with false cheer. "Good evening, Nightmare Moon." "Very good night for you too, Twilight Sparkle." Nightmare Moon answered emphasizing the word 'night'. "The next week on Puppetrolis will have clear skies all the time, giving a perfect opportunity to watch and enjoy the night sky. "Temperatures will go on decline: for Tomorrow we expect zero degrees maximum and by the end of the week we'll have maximum around the one hundred negative degrees." "How that can be?" Wronghooved, Twilight couldn't help but ask. "We are in the middle of summer, and not even in the coldest winter days we get under minus ten degrees!" "But that's obvious Twilight Sparkle. Because the night will last... FOREVER! MUAHAHAHAHA!" "Twilight Sparkle." A voice could be heard loud and clear through all the studio. "Director Celestia?" Hopefully she could help with this trouble. "I left something for you under the desk just in case something like that happened. Please free my sister from the blackness." Nightmare Moon's laugh stopped cold when she saw Twilight arming herself and Fluttershy with some sprayers. "No! Please! Anything but bleach!" "Know what Nightmare Moon? I've quite frustrated since I awoke yesterday and now you've given me a great source of relief," Twilight said with a grin that matched Nightmare Moon's in her best days. "Let's go girls." In the TV broadcasting screen Nightmare Moon's pursuit made the backdrop to the credits roll. 17.13 (Namar13766) Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the looping Six exchanged surreptitious grins. For this loop, their plan for dealing with Nightmare Moon involved the introduction of pizza to Equestria, a spare Lance of Longinus from an Evangelion loop, and an operatically trained Spike, who possessed a singing voice that could cause a pair of panties to spontaneously combust. Wait for the mayor to finish, let the curtains pull back, see a black cloud, and watch it form...KING SOMBRA?! "Who are you? What have you done with Princess Celestia?" The early-returned banished king merely smirked, sipped from a glass of water before speaking. "GREETINGS! I'M KING SOMBRA! I HAVE WALKED PARTWAY FROM THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE TO CANTERLOT 3 TIMES! NOT TO ACTUALLY GO THERE, BUT TO GET A RUNNING START TO JUMP TO THE MOON! WHERE I WILL KNOCK OVER NIGHTMARE MOON AND CALL HER A MASSIVE POOF!" The silence that followed dragged on uncomfortably, until it was broken by Lyra dryly commenting to Bon Bon, "Well, at least it can't get weirder." "MUCKLE DAMRED CULT! 'AIR EH NAMBLIES BE KEEPIN' ME WEE MARES!?!?" As one the looping six twitched, as the memories of a particularly crazy loop, one which even Pinkie had described as Batshit Insane, resurfaced. Spike for his part, merely facepalmed. "Oh, no. How did Granny Smith become Old Mare Henderson again?!"