28.1
“Sis?” Big Mac said, worried. She’d been like this – very tired – since the reunion and that thing with the Nightmare Moon or whatever, and he couldn’t see a reason for it.
“Yeah, yeah, Mac,” she replied woozily. “Ah got it.”
She stamped a hoof on the floor, and the earth rippled out from the impact point.
And every single tree in the orchard dropped all its apples.
Amazed, Mac watched as the ripple spread out, reaching the picket fences marking the boundaries of the Apple orchard, and then back in again carrying the just-dropped fruits.
Humping up into a curler, the earth poured them neatly into boxes.
Still with her eyes half closed, Applejack closed the boxes and stamped them with the Apple family proof mark. “Am ah done?”
“…eeyup,” he replied quietly.
“Good.” The earth pony mare walked into the barn, and collapsed onto a hay pile before starting to snore.
“Sorry…” Applejack said, wincing. “Ah know ah was supposed to join th’ discussion yesterday about what t’ do this loop, but after last loop… y’all know, with th’ army of airships and th’ police job…”
Twilight nodded sympathetically. “Yes, I know the feeling – I’ve slept through a loop before after an especially tiring one, though only with somepony else like Dash around to take up the slack… or at least I try to.”
The Anchor smiled. “Still, at least you got the harvest done on time.”
“…ah did what?”
Twilight held up a photo.
Applejack winced again. “Ah, ponyfeathers. So much fer a quiet loop, after that ah’m gonna get interviewed…”
“What happened, then?” Twilight asked, interested.
“Earthbendin’, it’s called. Seems it’s more instinctual than ah was expectin’.”
AJ winked at Twilight’s blank look, then laughed as it turned into ‘swot mode’. “Easy, there, Twi. Ah’ll explain what th’ place was like when ah’m good an’ ready.”
28.2
Nightmare Moon walked out onto stage. “Well, well. It’s been so long since-”
There was a snigger.
“Who did that?” she asked, turning towards where the voice had come from. “Admit it!”
That brought a smattering of giggles.
“Stop it!” she shouted. The giggles died away. “Right. Now. My… beloved… subjects-”
Somepony made a muffled snort sound, as though a hoof was desperately and imperfectly restraining the sound of hilarity.
“Oh, this is ridiculous!” Nightmare Moon fluffed out her feathers and stomped on the floor, producing a roar of laughter. “If you will not take my return seriously, then I am leaving! You’re all horrid!”
Silence gradually descended, with only the occasional strained giggle cutting through it.
Nightmare Moon decided to ignore those brief spurts of hilarity, and got started on her speech. Unfortunately, when she got to the bit about the night lasting forever, it was too much to take and every single pony in the hall burst into uncontrollable guffaws.
“Hmph!” she said, turning up her nose and flouncing out, chased by laughter.
It took quite a long time. After all, she was only filly sized, and that meant a lot of steps to get off the stage.
“How was that?” Nyx asked, reclaiming her glasses and hairband from Twilight backstage.
“I think it went pretty well,” Twilight replied. “Maybe if you hadn’t had a squeaky voice as well it might have been touch-and-go, but that was the masterpiece.”
“Indeed,” Luna said. “Actually, would you handle all my public appearances this Loop?”
“Would I?” Nyx repeated, giggling.
There was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, and several ponies flinched back as the chariot came stooping out of the sky.
Then they paused.
“What?” Nyx asked, ostentatiously paying no attention to her pumpkin costume. “Oh, am I not scary enough? Grrr.”
Somehow, it seemed like the ponies of Ponyville were not as terrified as they might perhaps have been.
Nyx rolled her eyes, making the costume fluff out. “Oh, sure, it’s fine for a pony to dress up as a chicken, but you get the deity of the night coming to her own festival as a pumpkin and suddenly they’re ‘not in the spirit of the holiday’. Well, hmph.”
“Well, did I miss anything?” Nyx asked, wings whirring frantically as she landed in front of the Elements.
Celestia just gave her a look.
“…wow, the party must have been awesome to demolish half the castle like this! How come you didn’t wake me up?” Nyx looked upset. “Is it ‘cause I don’t look old enough to be allowed alcohol? And that’s a stupid rule by the way, I’m totally old enough.”
“I just…” Scootaloo shrugged desperately. “I want Dash to like me, but it seems like I just can’t get her to treat me how I want.”
“Well…” Nyx frowned, clearly thinking hard. “In my experience, nothing helps you connect with a sister figure like turning evil, becoming corrupted by your own power, confronting your sister, fighting her, losing, being banished to the moon by the Elements of Harmony for a thousand years, shrinking, coming back to Equestria in a hilariously abortive attempt at a coup…” she paused. “I might have forgotten the next bit, but anyway it does work. Could be tricky to arrange, though. Do you have super powers?”
“No,” Scootaloo deadpanned.
“Well, we could start with that.” Nyx smiled encouragingly. “Maybe we could get Pinkie to make you a gyrocopter, and you could be Gyrocopter Pony, the Pony with a Gyrocopter.”
At Scootaloo’s look, Nyx shrugged. “I don’t exactly have much to go on here, work with me.”
28.3 (Nutjob)
"...forever!"
Nightmare laughed maniacally as the ponies gathered below her cowered in her presence. It was over. Celestia was defeated, locked within her own accursed sun before the black alicorn halted the infernal orb below Equestria’s horizon altogether. Soon, she would be forgotten, and the sun would be nothing more than a old pony’s tale. Her subjects would learn to appreciate her night, and she would get the respect and adoration she deserved!
“Excuse me, Your Majesty?” a voice called out. The kingdom’s new monarch looked down at the crowd gathered below. A purple unicorn was smiling back up at her. “Hello! I'm so glad to finally make your acquaintance, Your Majesty. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm positively honored to be able to offer my services to the crown.” The unicorn bowed respectfully.
Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow in confusion. This... Twilight Sparkle seemed unnaturally calm compared to everypony else in the room, as though she had been expecting her. And what services was she referring to? The alicorn shook her head. It didn't matter, one of her new subjects was already warming up to her. This presented an opportunity. Reward this subject for her loyalty and more would follow. "Rise, Twilight Sparkle. Your new queen is pleased to see that there are ponies such as yourself that are prepared to embrace her gift of eternal night."
The unicorn looked up at her once again, beaming from the praise. Around her, Nightmare Moon could she the crowd glaring at her, and heard the word "traitor" uttered more than once, but the unicorn paid them no heed. "Thank you, Your Majesty. That means a lot." Twilight produced a pocket watch, and glanced at it. “It looks like you arrived not a minute too soon. I think it's best that we get started right away.”
"Get started with... what, exactly?" Nightmare Moon asked, cocking her head.
This time, it was Twilight’s turn to look confused. “Wait, didn’t your sister tell you?”
Nightmare Moon blinked at that. Her sister? Come to think of it…
A black alicorn appeared in a brilliant flash of light.
“I… have… returned!” she shouted into the air.
“Luna! There you are.” Nightmare Moon to face the voice. Her. Oh course she would be here, but she would not be victorious again. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you again. I have missed you so much, dear sister. Listen, I know you are angry with me, but you should know I scheduled an appointment with-”
The white alicorn disappeared when she was struck by a beam of dark blue magic. “To the sun with you!”
“No, she did not mention anything about this at all.”
The unicorn sighed and shook her head. “It’s just like her to leave me to explain everything. Alright, I’m sorry, you’re probably confused. Let me reintroduce myself. I’m Twilight Sparkle, Royal Psychologist.”
“...all those evenings I spent pouring my heart and soul into the sky, making the stars shimmer and sparkle and crafting beautiful constellations, and... and... *sniff* ...and they just slept through it! Every single night!" Nightmare Moon sobbed. Twilight levitated over a box of tissues. The black alicorn pause her story for a moment to dry her eyes and clean her runny nose. “Thank you… *sniff* I just… I just wanted everypony to see what I created. My sister… she always got all the attention. Everypony thanked her for the sun and the light it brought. But nopony ever thanked me for the moon or the stars. I thought if I just kept trying to make it more beautiful, somepony would notice eventually but… but no matter how hard I tried I… they...”
Nightmare Moon broke down into another tearful fit. Inwardly, Twilight was actually quite pleased with her current progress this loop. The hardest part of this plan, getting the Luna’s egotistical dark persona to submit herself to therapy, was already out of the way. Sure, while the black alicorn may have initially responded by trying to take her head off with a blast of focused magical energy for having dared suggest that her new queen’s mental state was anything short of perfection, spending several lifetimes replacing Celestia during her rule over Equestria had made her quite the diplomat.
Talking her down hadn't been easy, but by playing the scared, helpless unicorn who was only trying to serve her new queen, she had managed to calm Nightmare Moon down enough to stop her destructive rampage. After that, coaxing her into attending the session had been a matter of careful word choices, ego stroking, a few hypothetical scenarios, and a cheerful attitude sprinkled with hints of adoration. Even under the dark influence of the nightmare, Luna, at her core, had still only truly desired some appreciation and attention. After she agreed, Twilight was actually surprised how quickly she opened up. It made her wonder whether or not Celestia had tried this before banishing her sister to the moon for a thousand years. Something to ask about.
Either way, seeing the black alicorn sobbing in the middle of her tree (which she converted into a makeshift office) was something she wished her friends were here to see. Well, her looping ones, anyway. Their non-looping selves, Spike included, were peeking in through a window (she pretended not to notice), but it wasn’t quite the same. It would at least it would make for a good story, but things were starting to drag on, so it was time to make a move.
“Luna… May I call you Luna?” She paused to let Nightmare Moon answer. The alicorn hesitated for a bit, but eventually nodded. Twilight smiled, this was a good sign. “I completely understand your desire to have your work validated. To see something you put so much work into completely ignored must have been devastating. You mentioned that your sister received plenty of attention for raising the sun. Do you think it would have hurt as much to have everypony ignore the night if that weren’t true?”
Nightmare Moon was slow to answer. “Well it… it still would have hurt but… I… I suppose that seeing Tia getting all that attention might have made it worse…”
Twilight nodded. “Would you say you were envious of the attention she was getting?” she asked, careful not to make it sound like an accusation.
“M-maybe…” she said, but the way she sank into the chaise lounge implied a more definitive answer.
“Did you ever tell her you were feeling neglected back then?”
“She… she knew.”
“Are you certain?” Twilight pressed.
“Tia… Celestia knew everything... She... Nothing ever happened in the entire kingdom without her knowing about it… She had to know…” she answered, but her words sounded uncertain.
Twilight shook her head. “Perhaps that she was so busy maintaining a presence in Equestria’s politics was the reason she hadn’t noticed how you felt? Sometimes a pony can get so wrapped up in their work that they fail to notice how their friends and family are hurting.”
Nightmare Moon seemed to consider this, but didn’t respond at all. Objective one complete. Now for the other matter… “So then, this plan of yours, to make nighttime eternal, this is another attempt to get more ponies to notice the night sky?”
Nightmare Moon nodded. “Yes. They won’t be able to ignore the night anymore if it lasts forever.”
“But don’t you think that could be counter-productive?” Nightmare Moon looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “What I mean is, ponies might notice the night sky, but since it comes at the cost of the day and the sun, it could cause them to resent it instead of admire it like you wanted.”
Nightmare Moon huffed. “Then so be it. They ignored me night after night and spent all of their time in the sun. They never cared about me, so why should I care about how they feel?”
Twilight gave a small smile. “You don’t mean that.”
“You don’t know me.” she said, turning away.
“No, but I know you care deeply about every one of your subjects. I know you were there fighting Discord alongside your sister,” she said. Nightmare Moon’s ears perked up, and she turned back towards Twilight.
“You know about that?”
Twilight nodded. “I do.”
Nightmare Moon stared at her for a moment, then turned away again. “Yes, I was there. And for a while, the ponies seemed to love me too. But years passed. Decades. Centuries, and I was forgotten. And as their love for me faded, so did mine.”
“And yet, when you heard about King Sombra and the way he enslaved the Crystal Empire, you once again threw yourself against a powerful enemy in order to protect them,” Twilight added. “If what you say were true, you would have felt no obligation to help them.”
Nightmare Moon faced Twilight again with a disbelieving look on her face. “How do you know all this?”
“Because I’ve been very thorough in researching my homeland’s history,” she said simply. It was at least partially true, but she felt it was best not to mention the whole truth for the moment. “You had no obligation to save Equestria from Discord. You could have left the ponies, my ancestor’s at his mercy and looked for a new land to settle in. But you saw ponies suffering under the rule of a reality-bending tyrant, and you, along with your sister, wanted to protect them. Not so you could rule over them, you did it because you couldn’t stand to see them in pain. It was the same for the Crystal Empire, am I right?”
“I… yes…” she admitted. “But we failed. The Crystal Empire is gone.”
“Maybe, but you protected Equestria from a potential invasion from King Sombra’s slave army. And more importantly, you fought for them. Your subjects, and the crystal ponies. You did care. And while the history books are vague on the exact dates of the events, the fall of the Crystal Empire and your rise as Nightmare Moon were what, a year apart? Two? Certainly not long enough for you to divorce yourself of that protective nature and empathy.” Nightmare Moon’s gaze met the floor. Twilight took that as a “yes”. “And your sister’s public presence? I’m willing to bet that one of the reasons that she managed to maintain such an outward image was because you were helping to keep Equestria running smoothly outside the public eye, correct?”
Nightmare Moon was silent for a long while, then she spoke. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve already made my choice,” she nearly whispered.
“But it does matter! It matters to you.”
“Stop…”
“You still care about them. About us, don’t you? You never stopped caring.”
“I said stop!”
“And that’s why it hurt so much. You adored your subjects, and yet they never seemed to return your affections. Even your sister didn’t seem to have as much time for you anymore.”
“Please! Just stop talking!”
“And that’s why you did it, isn’t it? The pain just became too much. You couldn’t hold it in any longer. So you thought, since loving them was too painful to bear, maybe you could try hating them instead. Scorning them. Replacing your unrequited affections with something less painful.”
“Be silent!” Nightmare Moon boomed, getting to her feet and standing over the unicorn with a brightly glowing horn. She attempted to look as threatening as possible, and to a younger pony she may have. Twilight, however, was not young. She could see that the alicorn’s glare lacked a certain heat to it, her eyes were starting to well, and the subtle twitches of her mouth were clear indicators that she was struggling to keep her emotions under control. The floodgates were about to burst.
“It won’t work, Princess. You can’t simply stop caring about them like that. Somepony like you, who loves her subjects with all her heart, could never bring herself to truly hate them, no matter how they wronged her.”
“S-stop…” she said, her voice cracking. “I-if you don’t… I’ll…”
Twilight shook her head. “No, you won’t. Because you care. Because you would never forgive yourself if you did,” she spoke softly, and gave a soft smile. “And I care about you, too, Luna. So please, let me help you.”
“H-help m-me?” she stammered.
“Yes, help you. Please.” She stood up off her chair. “Let me be your friend.”
Any hint of aggression melted away right there. Nightmare Moon opened her mouth, but only a small hiccup escaped. She tried to regain her composure, closing her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut to hold back the tears, but it was too late. Her legs buckled under her and she fell to the floor weeping. Twilight slowly moved beside her, and leaned down, gently stroking her back.
“It’s okay. Let it all out.”
The alicorn kept crying for several minutes, with Twilight by her side to comfort her. As the minutes passed, Twilight noticed that the black mare’s coat was disappearing, the corruption seeping down her coat like runny makeup onto the floor. Before long, all that was left of Nightmare Moon was a puddle of black on the floor and armor far too large for Luna’s redeemed form.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry,” she whimpered, clinging to Twilight and crying into her chest. “I’m a horrible pony… I..”
“None of that,” Twilight commanded, but kept her voice low. “You’re a wonderful pony, Luna. Equestria was worse off without you, and we’re lucky to have you back.”
“Those ponies… they’ll never forgive me… Tia will never forgive me…”
Twilight smiled. “Oh yes they will. You haven’t done anything that can’t be fixed. And once they meet you, the real you, I know they’ll warm up to you, too.” Twilight turned towards her window. "Right, everypony?"
Realizing they'd been spotted, Twilight's non-looping PFFs and number one assistant ducked beneath the window frame. Twilight rolled her eyes. As if she hadn't already seen them and called them out. "Come on girls. You were all so wonderful to me when I got here this morning. Princess Luna needs that now more than I ever did, you aren’t going to deny her friendship over a choice she regrets making, are you? And I know I taught you better than that, Spike. The door's unlocked. Come inside."
Silence once again overtook the library turned psychiatrists office. Luna gave Twilight a worried look, but the unicorn assured her that they’d come. After a few moments passed, but the group finally proved her right. They walked in slowly, and stood in front of the pair, their eyes wandering between Luna, Twilight and each other as they tried to decide what to say.
Twilight decided to help move things along. “Princess Luna, these are my friends. The baby dragon is Spike, my number one assistant. He was raised by your sister until she put him under my care. The five ponies are my friends. I only just met them when I came into Ponyville, but they’ve been some of the kindest and friendliest souls I’ve ever met. They can help you win back Ponyville’s trust.”
Spike stepped up first. “Well, I’m not sure how I can help but, I forgive you. You don’t seem like a bad pony to me, and Twilight’s right. Your sister helped raise me, and she taught me better than to hold a grudge against somepony that just made a bad choice.”
“Ab-so-lutely!” Applejack exclaimed, moving forward and smiling at Luna. “Ah know Ah probably haven’t given the night the attention it rightly deserves, but Ah reckon without it, the sun would just shrivel everythin’ Ah try tah grow right up. Ah figure ah owe you big for that, so forgivin’ yah is just the start of it fer me.”
“Yeah, what she said,” Rainbow Dash added. “I’m uhh, I’m not too good at these kinds of speeches, but I totally get what it’s like to have something awesome you make go unnoticed. I mean, when I was a filly, I did a sonic rainboom, and nopony noticed.” She threw her hooves up. “It’s a giant rainbow explosion in the sky! How do you miss that!?” She let out a big sigh. “Anyway, yeah, I totally get where you’re coming from, so I forgive you, too.”
“Indeed, I can only imagine how it would feel if every single one of my works were ignored,” Rarity stated as she walked up to Luna and inspected the oversized armor she was wearing. “Although I have to say, your taste in accessories could use some work.” She levitated the helmet and armor off of the alicorn. “Stand up, dear? Good, now let’s get you out of that tacky footwear. Yes, that’s better. Hmm, those ponies don’t know what they’re missing. Why, with a coat like yours, and a little work, I’m certain you could shine brighter than the sun. Figuratively speaking, of course.”
“And I’ll throw you a big ‘Welcome to Ponyville/Welcome Back to Equestria/Thanks for Not Making Night Last Forever’ Party!” Pinkie shouted. To illustrate her point, she pulled a cord that released a bunch of streamers, balloons, confetti and a “Welcome to Ponyville/Welcome Back to Equestria/Thanks for Not Making Night Last Forever!” banner from the ceiling. Everypony stared at her in disbelief.
“But when-” Twilight began to ask, but stopped herself. No matter how many loops she went through she would never get a satisfactory answer to Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie continued. “Don’t worry, everypony comes to my parties, and it will be a great chance for everypony to get to know you and have a great time doing it!”
Luna stared at Pinkie for a second, then looked at the one pony in the room who had yet to speak. “And you? Do you forgive me, too?”
The yellow pegasus hid behind her own mane even as she answered. “Um… Yes. I wasn’t ever really angry. I was more worried about my animal friends. Some of them don’t see very well at night. But um, I’m glad you aren’t doing that anymore. Thank you.”
Luna looked at each of her seven new friends and, finally, gave them a small, touched smile. “Thank you. Thank you all so much.”
Pinkie latched onto her new Princess/friend in a big hug, surprising Luna. Twilight followed next, then Spike, Rarity, and eventually the whole group. With all her new friends embracing her, some fresh tears began to form in the night Princess’s eyes. Ones not of sadness, but of joy. Happier than she could remember being for millennia, Luna hugged them back. She finally had everything she ever wanted. Who would have known it would be so easy?
“I can’t believe what you’ve managed to accomplish today, Twilight.”
Princess Celestia and Twilight sat side by side as the Summer Sun Celebration went into full swing. Princess Luna herself was engaging in many of the festivities along with her new friends, as well as several townsfolk that had since taken a liking to her. Currently, that meant going head to head with Pinkie in a cupcake eating contest, with half the town cheering them on.
“It was nothing, really Princess. You sister just needed a friend. I knew I could get to her.”
“I have to admit, when you came to me saying you could redeem Luna without the Elements of Harmony I was very confused. You knew so much I thought I had hidden from you so well. I honestly feared for your mental state when you began to talk about these… time loops.”
Twilight nodded. “But you always give me the benefit of the doubt. And look at the results.”
Celestia smiled. “Indeed. If only I had known the answer was so simple.”
“Speaking of which, I have you scheduled to join us at our next session on Tuesday.”
Celestia blinked and looked down at Twilight. “Wait, me? But-”
Twilight held up a hoof to cut her off. “Now, now, I won’t take no for an answer. I’m sensing centuries of bad air between you two, and I intend to see you two through it. The sooner we get this out of the way the better. Procrastination isn’t going to help anypony.” She said with finality. “I’m going to go and join my friends. Enjoy the festival, Princess!”
With that, Twilight trotted away, leaving a shocked Princess Celestia behind her. Twilight giggled to herself. Sometimes looping could be so much fun.
28.4 (NutJob)
(Youngster Quartet, Part 1)
“Okay, seriously, what the fluffy kittens is up with this loop?”
Twilight managed to suppress a laugh, barely, to spare her rainbow-hued friend from further humiliation. They were walking through Ponyville in what was quickly becoming a contender for the most bizarre loop Twilight has ever experienced, and considering the weight that statement alone carried with it she could understand her friend’s aggravation.
The loop itself seemed fairly standard at first. She awoke in Ponyville alongside Spike, and a quick check revealed that the other Elements were Awake as well. While it was unusual Awakening in Ponyville, she had certainly awoken to some far less welcome sights. Things only started to get weird when the other loopers started showing up.
Twilight recognized many of them, familiar faces from past adventures and old friends she’d been hoping to see again for… Well, to be honest she wasn’t sure. Keeping track of time was difficult as a looper. Others were new faces, some eager to become friends, some new, inexperienced loopers, and some were kind of moody jerks, and every single one of them retained their original form. In any case, Ponyville quickly became flooded with them, and eventually Twilight had to inform Mayor Mare that Ponyville had apparently become the temporary home of several… hundred interdimensional travelers, each with a multitude of lifetime experiences with varying degrees of mental stability. All things considered, she took it quite well after Twilight pointed out granting them residency in Ponyville would secure the majority vote in the coming election. At the time, the looping unicorn thought her biggest challenge would be to prevent so many people from so many cultures from tearing each others eyes out.
This was before she discovered the loops second oddity.
“Oh, man,” Rainbow moaned, covering her face with her hooves. “I can't believe I said that to him. I’m never going to live this down.”
On top of being the single biggest example of a fused loop she had ever seen, it was also an altered loop with some very strange rules. As far as she could tell no one, whether they be pony, human or otherwise, could say or perform any action that might be considered "inappropriate for children". On top of that, some of the items the loopers had brought with them had been physically altered, as well. Weapons turned into toys or candy, for example, or cigarettes into lollipops. At first, Twilight thought that one of the loopers might have been responsible for everyone's uncharacteristic behavior, but after she got word of other parts of Equestria being affected, and several thorough tests of her new neighbors abilities, she concluded that none of them had the resources or power needed to pull off such a feat. At least not without using a massive amount of easily traceable energy, which there was no evidence of.
It took some time, but eventually most of the loopers had found ways to deal with it. Most treated the loop as a vacation, as the universe was forced into a state of perpetual peace, and the Princesses (Thankfully, also Awake) and mayor helped see to it that each of them was well accommodated. Still, there were a fair amount of troublemakers that tried to “overload” the loop’s censorship, which usually just resulted in their words and actions being more heavily altered, but that didn’t stop them from trying. And when one such looper had started instigating Rainbow Dash, it quickly devolved into what would have been a heated argument between the two, had the universe not decided to make things awkward for them.
“Oh, come on, Rainbow. It wasn’t that bad! Some of the other loopers have been thrown into far more embarrassing situations than you,” Twilight offered. “Remember when Laharl and Etna accidentally promised to start a circus?"
That got a smile out of the pegasus. Baby steps. “Yeah, that was great. Flonne wouldn’t let that one go until they made it happen. Gotta admit, Midboss and Pinkie were great on the trapeze.
Twilight nodded. “I thought Captain Gordon made a great clown, myself. And how about that time Megatron transformed into a Carousel?”
Rainbow Dash let out a chuckle. Almost there. “Okay, yeah. I don’t think anyone saw that coming.”
“And need I remind you about the nine-tailed fox?” she snickered, pointing a hoof towards the Everfree forest, where the remains of the worlds biggest piñata was visible over the treeline.
This finally seemed to get the pegasus’s thoughts off of her earlier humiliation long enough to share a short but refreshing laugh with her unicorn friend. “Okay, okay, yeah. I mean, I guess I don’t have it too bad compared to all that,” she admitted.
“Exactly,” Twilight agreed, smiling. “Besides, I’m sure Wolverine knows you didn't actually mean any of that." Her smile suddenly transformed into a mischievous grin. "Although I have to say I'm sure it would have been quite the wedding."
The pegasus cheeks went from light blue to bright red and she shot Twilight a glare that could melt glaciers. Thankfully, as a countless number of loops had made her considerably more resilient and an oversized block of ice, the unicorn felt comfortable staring back smugly. Still, it was short-lived, as the second Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort she was blindsided by an orange blur that sent her crashing several yards through the ground.
For an instance, Twilight worried that someone had actually succeeded in beating the universal censorship, but one look into the newly formed trench and those fears were lifted. She would recognize that black, spiky hair anywhere, and she knew its owner wasn't the type to attack someone out of the blue.
"Oops. Sorry, Rainbow Dash. That was a little rougher than I was going for."
"Ugh, Goku!? What the happy meals is wrong with you? And what are you hugging me for?"
"Oh, that's because..." the saiyan trailed off, his face twisting in confusion. “Actually, I’m not sure. I just felt like I really had to hug you, for some reason.”
“What? But that-” she started, confused, before she put the pieces together and her expression morphed into one of irritation. “Pinkie Pie!”
“Yessssss, Rainbow Dash?” the pink mare responded, poking her head out from the mound of dirt that had been created beside the trench.
“Did you write my name in the Hug Note again!?”
“Mmmmaaayyyyyybe.”
For the second time in five minutes, Twilight found herself resisting the urge to laugh. And judging from the snickering she heard coming from behind her, she wasn’t the only one. By this point a mass of ponies and visiting loopers had gathered around the crash site. She knew most of them had been drawn by good intentions, rushing over to offer help if someone had been injured, and although tempting as it was to let them stick around and enjoy the show, she felt Rainbow Dash’s ego had taken enough of a beating for one day.
“Okay, everyone! Nothing to see here, move along now!” she called out, shooing the onlookers away. The crowd slowly started to disperse, with several ponies and especially loopers trying to sneak a few more glances before Twilight personally forced them away. Once they were free of any unwelcome onlookers, Twilight turned back and climbed into the trench to assist her friends.
“Goku, you mind getting off me now?” Rainbow Dash asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.
“Uh, yeah.” Goku sheepishly rose to his feet. After helping Rainbow Dash off the ground, the saiyan scratched the back of his head. “Heheh… Uh, sorry about all that.”
Rainbow Dash waved her hoof. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t really your fault anyway. I’m gonna have a talk with-” She was cut off as Goku suddenly scooped the pegasus off the and pulled her against his chest once again. The two stared at each blankly for a moment, before Goku offered Rainbow Dash an apologetic smile, and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in irritation. “Pinkie Pie.”
“Wud?” the earth pony asked, looking up from her notebook with a pen clenched in her teeth.
“Pinkie, don’t you think poor Rainbow Dash has had enough hugs for one day?” Twilight asked.
“That’s silly, Twilight! Nopony can ever get enough hugs in one day!” Pinkie replied, causing Twilight to roll her eyes. “Besides, I know what you’re really asking. And don’t worry, I wrote your name in here right after Dashie’s!”
“Pinkie!”
“Also, I hope you don’t mind but I really wanted to see what would happen if I wrote someone’s name more than once.”
“You wrote my name in the Note twice?”
“Noooooooooooo.”
“What? But then…”
Twilight was distracted by the distant sound of rumbling. Suddenly, the meaning of of Pinkie’s words became all too clear. “Pinkie… How many times did you write my name in there?”
“Um, I wasn’t keeping track. Oh, I know, why don’t you ask them?”
Pinkie pointed behind Twilight. The unicorn almost didn’t look, as she had a pretty good idea as to who “they” were, considering that Pinkie had pointed in the direction of the rumbling. I could just teleport away, right now, she thought. Maybe to Canterlot, or the Crystal Empire. Or the moon. All seemed like, at this particular point in time, a much safer place to be. But realistically, she knew it wouldn’t help. Once her name was written in the notebook her fate was sealed, and with all the loopers and their means of transportation it wasn’t as though she could run, either. She took in a deep breath and turned around.
And saw the entire population of Ponyville running at her as if someone cast the Want-It-Need-It spell on her.
“Oh fluff me.”
“...and I promise never to write anyone’s name in the Hug Note more than once at one time ever again. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Pinkie finished, going through all the necessary motions.
“Good, thank you Pinkie. Could you go let Spike know I won’t be home for a few days?”
“Sure. Sorry again, Twilight.”
“That’s okay, Pinkie.”
Pinkie nodded slowly and left, and Twilight let out a sigh as Nurse Redheart finish adjusting her bed. Now this was something. How many lifetimes has it been since the last time she wore a full body cast? Of all the thousands of horrible loops she could have ended up confined to a hospital bed, this was about the last loop she would have considered this a possibility. Oh well, it wasn’t as though she was terribly busy this loop.
“I don’t see why you don’t just Ascend or cast a bone-mending spell or something,” Rainbow Dash stated. “If you’re afraid that you’ll mess up your magic or something like that, I can do it for you. Just tell me how the spell works, I’ll go Ascend and have you back up in a jiffy.”
“It’s not that, Rainbow, but thank you.” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at this, so Twilight continued. “Right now, crazy as it sounds, Pinkie Pie is the most dangerous threat to Equestria. The Hug Note is one of the few things in this entire loop that’s capable of actually hurting someone, and Pinkie was treating it like a toy. In all honesty, I’m just glad that she learned this lesson with me and not someone else.”
“Okay, well, she Pinkie promised not to do it again. Do you really need to stick around here now?
“She Pinkie promised not to write anyone’s name more than once at one time, but she’s started experimenting with the notebook and that’s a problem in itself. What if she decides somebody needs a really big hug? You want to find out what it feels like to be hugged by a gundam?” Rainbow Dash answered with a wince. “I thought not. As for my decision to stay here, well, let’s face it. Part of Pinkie’s charm is that even despite being technically older than the Princesses at this point, she hasn’t seemed to grow up one bit. I don’t want her thinking that what happened wasn’t a big deal just because I can fix it right away. I’m hoping that staying here a couple of days will make her think her actions through a little better in the future.”
Rainbow Dash mused that over. “I guess that makes sense. Alright, well if you’re sure, anything you need me to grab for you before I head out?”
“Hmmm… actually, now that I think about it, could you stop by the library and grab as many erotic books as you can find? I want to see how the loop affected them. It should be good for a laugh.”
“Ha! That’s sounds like fun, maybe I’ll join you. Alright, I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t go anywhere!” the pegasus teased as she opened a window and flew out.”
“Oh hah, hah!” she called back, knowing full well her friend was already well out of earshot. Still, an amused smile formed on her face. This was surely one of the stranger loops she’d ever experienced, but also easily one of the most peaceful. To be honest, it was nice to be able to just relax with no strings attached. One loop where she could just pretend she was a normal unicorn that didn’t have to constantly fight chaotic gods and eldritch abominations. She took notice a small glass of water on a table beside her, and telekinetically raise it to the air.
“Here’s to you, you wonderfully bizarre flopping loop.”
28.5 (Masterweaver)
Twilight Sparkle walked down the stairs to the dungeons, shooting Celestia a worried look. "And you're saying this... assassin wanted to talk to me?"
"Well... to be completely accurate, she wanted to speak to Princess Twilight." The alicorn of the sun looked down at her student. "I hardly know of any such pony, but given that you are my student I assumed there could be a level of... confusion regarding your rank."
The unicorn nodded, keeping her thoughts to herself. Celestia wasn't awake this loop, so of course she was unaware of Twilight's more powerful abilities. The fact that this prisoner was implied that she was looping, but being referred to as Princess by any of her friends was quite unusual. Therefore, it wouldn't be out of the question to assume that the assassin was a new looper...
"Did you ever figure out why she attacked you?"
Celestia sighed. "Apparently I'm... some sort of tyrant that enslaves ponies. And I managed to escape from the moon and rewrite history somehow. I think she may be a tad delusional...."
Twilight winced, remembering a rather disturbing loop. If the pony in question had woken up then, there was plenty of reason to distrust Celestia. "So... what exactly is this pony like, anyway?"
"That's the thing," her mentor said sadly. "She's not a pony."
Macintosh raised an eyebrow, quietly refilling the mug with cider as Twilight gently patted the shoulders of a sobbing, heartbroken Chrysalis.
He didn't exactly have a full understanding of the situation--it wasn't his place to pry--but from what he had gathered, the last loop that the changeling queen had been in had her married to Shining Armor, of all ponies. Shining hadn't been Awake, of course, but Chrysalis had been. In fact, if he was reading this right, that was her first loop, and she had interpreted her memories of the baseline loop as some horrific nightmare.
And then she'd woken up here, once again Queen of the Changeling Swarm and....
"I AM A MOOOOOOOOOOOONSTEEEEEEEEER!" Chrysalis wailed. She heaved forward with another sob, her silky mane spooling around and into the mug. "I don't deserve to live; I don't deserve any, any of this."
"Look, Chrysalis, you're not really that bad." Twilight rubbed her shoulders gently, watching as she took another gulp of alcohol. "As... aggressive as your invasion plan usually is, it's always started by a need to feed your hive. You just... have a few, um... sympathy issues, that's all."
The unicorn shot Macintosh the look of the desperately flailing. He coughed and nodded. "Family is family. Ah can't tell ya how many loops I fought off timberwolves or joined tha army to protect Apple Bloom and AJ. Ya'll were acting in tha best interests of yer kin, Ah can respect that."
Chrysalis sniffed. "You... you really think that?"
"Sure as tha sun." The stallion nodded. "You look after yer own. Ya just need ta learn ta look after others, too."
With a vague nod, the queen of the changelings straightened slightly.
Then she broke down crying again. "But, but, but.... Shining. I loved... loved him, and... and it turns out that I, was just playing him--"
"That Shining Armor loved you too," Twilight interjected quickly. "That Shining Armor was somepony that you... What I'm saying is, you didn't hurt him. I was in that loop, Chrysalis, and I saw how deeply you two were...." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I really am. He wasn't awake that loop, so the looping version of him won't... remember. Just... you didn't hurt him, remember that. In that loop, you didn't--"
"Cadance was awake, wasn't she?"
The unicorn snapped her mouth shut.
Chrysalis turned to glower at her. "Wasn't. She."
Twilight, very reluctantly, gave a small nod.
The changeling nodded back. "I'm a monster. I'm a complete... complete monster..." She reached for her mug again.
Macintosh pulled it out of her reach with a snort. "So what? Ya think just cause ya made a few mistakes ya'll can just take the monster label and run with it?"
Chrysalis sighed. "It's not like I have a choice."
"Ya know what Ah saw when Ah started looping?" Macintosh pointed at the unicorn. "This pony right here transformed into a Nightmare. Called herself Eternal Twilight, turned Spike into a massive dragon... Ah was completely terrified. Turned out ta be a one-loop prank she was pulling."
"Aheh heh heh." The mare inched away from Chrysalis's incredulous look. "Looping does kind of make ponies a tad crazy..."
Macintosh rolled his eyes. "It wasn't till a lot later that Twilight even figgered Ah was looping. And that was only cause she noticed a lot of things that weren't happening that shoulda been. Ah'd been so terrified of her that Ah'd tried ta keep mah whole condition secret... and it turned out she was, well, Twilight. Not some evil monster, but just a pony that happened ta have been living tha same period over and over again."
Chrysalis shut her eyes, rubbing at them with a hoof. "What exactly are you trying to say here?"
"Ah'm saying... Look. Even if ya are a monster, you can change. Ah mean, even tha baseline has Nightmare Moon and Discord reforming."
"Because they made friends," the changeling queen grumbled. "Or got shot in the face with the Elements."
"Then make some friends!" Twilight said brightly. "Heck, I'm sure Pinkie will warm up to you quickly. And Fluttershy ascended because of you, so now that you're looping she'd love to chat."
Chrysalis blinked. "What do you mean Fluttershy ascended because of me?"
"Oh, um... long story, but basically you can't turn into an alicorn unless you've become an alicorn in a previous loop, and that kind of requires specific things for each pony, and Fluttershy is the element of Kindness so..."
"See?" Macintosh pressed. "Ya have some friends already. Heck, Twilight busted ya out of jail to drag ya here for a drink." He offered the mug back to her. "That there takes some real nerve."
"Well, technically I claimed she was my cousin who ended up messing with an experimental spell and, um, Celestia agreed to release her to my care." Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "I'm amazed she bought that."
The changeling queen looked at the proffered cider. "....I... I still love Shining. My version, anyway. The one in that loop, I don't know if the looping Shining is different... I'm never going to get to find out, am I?"
Twilight sighed. "No, I... I'm afraid you won't."
Chrysalis nodded slowly. "Are... either of them awake this loop?"
The unicorn took a moment to consider the question. "...Chrysalis... you're not going to be able to maintain a relationship with ponies when they're not awake. It just.... doesn't work, there's not a deep connection."
"You didn't answer my question."
"I don't want you to get hurt."
The changeling queen took the mug and sipped it.
"Look... let's just take it slowly, okay?" Twilight smiled gently. "Me and the other elements will deal with Nightmare Moon and Discord and Sombra and all those other things, but other then that this loop is to help you ease in. Alright?"
"...I suppose I have to start somewhere," Chrysalis replied glumly. "I doubt I could ever redeem myself..."
28.6
“…I’d like to show you something…” Fluttershy said quietly.
Chrysalis cocked her head, trying not to wince as another memory ran through her. She’d have to get used to them sooner or later, it wouldn’t be possible to have a conversation if every reminder of what she’d lost threw her off.
Not to mention how much it might confuse the rest of the hive mind.
“What is it?” she asked, pushing her reminiscence aside as best she could.
“Watch.”
Fluttershy’s eyes closed, and she exhaled deeply and evenly.
There was a moment of timeless fluidity, and then there was a wolf standing there.
Chrysalis jumped, her wings buzzing. “What-”
The wolf’s tongue lolled out for a moment, and Chrysalis noticed the laughter in its eyes.
“It’s still me,” the wolf said in Fluttershy’s gentle soprano. “I picked this up somewhere. It’s called Wild Shape.”
“…huh, it is,” the Changeling Queen said slowly. Now she was concentrating, her empathic sense could still detect the sunny warmth of Fluttershy’s emotions. “Where’d you learn that?”
“Oerth.” The wolf sat back, gesturing with a paw, and Chrysalis landed again before stepping forwards. “It’s part of being what’s called a druid. I’m more… in tune with nature.”
“Neat.”
“Actually,” Fluttershy looked down, “I was wondering… what are the limits of your shapeshifting?”
“I’ve never really tested them.” Chrysalis shrugged. “As far as I know, I can’t do much more than taking on the shape of a pony, though what pony is quite malleable.”
She winced again. Even the smallest things seemed to be making her remember her loss. It wasn’t even clear what had done it that time…
“Well,” there was another fluid moment, and Fluttershy was back to being a pegasus. “I think I know a project for us to work on. We could try and push the limits of what you can pull off, changing shape, I mean. If that’s okay with you.”
“That does sound like a good idea,” Chrysalis nodded. “But why are you helping me?”
“Why not?” Fluttershy replied, genuinely puzzled – Chrysalis could sense the polite confusion like a pure musical note.
“I… I invaded your country! Hundreds of times!”
“No you didn’t.” Fluttershy reached out a hoof. “You haven’t. A not-Looping version of you did. You’re not guilty of her crimes.”
Chrysalis sighed. “I have to believe that you think that – I can sense that you believe that – but I don’t believe it myself.”
“That’s okay.” Fluttershy giggled. “I used to be terrible at that. Okay, shall we do this?”
Chrysalis shook her wings. “Not as though I have a choice, is it…”
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t dream of forcing you.” Fluttershy backed off. “But you really would enjoy the challenge, I’m sure…”
Then she got a mischievous glint in her eyes. Faint, but one that would startle somepony from the baseline loop. “And I do think that it might let you play a prank or two.”
“Pranks?” Chrysalis repeated, feeling vaguely silly in having to ask so many questions.
“Well, I don’t do them much myself, but I understand that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie enjoy them, and they’re good to let off steam, and they don’t hurt anyone, and…”
“Alright, I get the picture.” The Changeling Queen held up a hoof, cutting off Fluttershy’s long list. “Right, let’s get started. How is it that you’re changing the shape of the ears?”
“Oh!” Fluttershy rummaged in her mane for a moment, and pulled a biology textbook from her subspace pocket. “Right, here. You see how the attachment of the muscles differs? Aside from that, the main issue is…”
28.7
Sweetie Belle sat back, kicking the table leg. It wasn’t much fun when the other Crusaders weren’t Looping, though on comparing notes they’d more or less mutually agreed that whichever one of them was looping should act like a cool big sister type of person. (Based on the reactions of the non-looping others, being around a pony their age who was clearly more self confident and yet who wasn’t condescending was actually pretty cool.)
But the important thing was that she was waiting on her sister. Rarity had decided to upgrade their cloaks, and had asked Sweetie to take her next test examples over to their clubhouse… once they were finished with, anyway.
There was a knock at the door.
Sweetie glanced at the clock as she walked over. Five P.M. Huh, must be taking her longer than she planned… it’ll be dinner soon, and if I’m going to go over to ‘bloom’s house for tea like I was going to then I’ll need to leave fairly sharpish.
As she turned the handle, she rattled off the well-memorized message Rarity had taught her to. “Hello, welcome to Carousel Boutique. I’m afraid we’re not open right this moment, but we’ll take orders outside hours if… possible?”
She trailed off, staring.
“Spike? What are you doing here?”
Spike looked down at Sweetie for a few seconds, then his eyes widened and he swept a bunch of lilies behind his back to hide them. “Oh, uh, Sweetie. Nice to see you.”
“Do you have flowers behind your back?”
“No…” Spike said slowly, in the face of evidence.
“Whatever.” Sweetie shrugged. “Hey, sis! Your date’s here!”
Rarity appeared with a flash of light. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize the time… wait, my what?”
Sweetie rolled her eyes. “You two are not subtle. I’ve known for ages.”
“You have?” both of them repeated in unison.
“Hey, that was cool,” Sweetie said. “Anyway, yeah, it’s just obvious by now.”
A grin stole across her face. “Wait, did you think you were managing to keep it secret from me?”
“Er…” Spike scratched the back of his head with the hand not holding the flowers. “…yes, actually.”
“I wasn’t sure what you’d think, Sweetie,” Rarity said with a blush. “I know I should have mentioned it, but…”
“You were worried about that?” Sweetie looked Spike up and down. “He’s a dragon. That’s about as cool as potential brothers in law get.”
“Fine, then…” Spike brought the flowers out. “Here, Rares. I know you like them.”
The bouquet rose out of his hands wrapped in alabaster light. “I do, you’re right.” Selecting one from the centre of the bunch, Rarity nibbled it delicately and put the rest in a vase for later. “Much healthier than chocolates. Now, where are we going?”
Spike produced a pair of tickets. “Well, it’s getting harder to find a new place to go, but… how do you feel about a classical music performance with Trixie doing a light and magic show?”
Rarity blinked. “How did that come about?”
“I am not entirely sure…” Spike shrugged. “Could be that Twilight sent Trixie off to that classicist-”
“Octavia,” Rarity supplied.
“Yes, that’s right. Twilight sent Trixie off to Octavia and her friend Vinyl after she turned up here. In any case, the programme says they’re doing Beethoofen, so that should be nice.”
“Yes, that sounds fine.” Rarity paused. “I know it’s probably not as low profile as it could be, but… I’d actually like to fly there.”
“Really?” At her nod, Spike tapped his chin. “Fair enough, then. Pegasus or alicorn?”
“Pegasus.” Rarity matched deed to word, flashing through ascension and then down the other side with wings instead of her horn. “I do still feel nervous flying alone, I don’t think that’ll ever go away entirely, but… not with you.”
Sweetie ostentatiously turned her back as the others shared a long look.
“Hey,” she said, after a minute or so, “should I just head off to Applebloom’s, then?”
“Sure,” Rarity replied, distractedly. “You’ve got your key?”
“Yep.”
The unicorn filly got out of there in case they started kissing.