//------------------------------//
// Loops 31 
// Story: MLP Time Loops 
// by Saphroneth 
//------------------------------//

31.1 (Anowack)




Chrysalis, Queen of the Changeling Swam, actually had been quite fond of tea.

It was a habit she'd picked up from one of the first ponies she had fed on extensively, a middle-aged divorced mare in Manehatten with a weak spot for young fillies with sob stories, too much spare time under her hooves, and a dangerously unquestioning nature. The scent and taste of the beverage brought memories of those simpler days to Chrysalis's mind, and in her personal chambers deep inside the hive could be found the battered tea set she'd stolen after the mare had died, along with some small containers of carefully hoarded leaves.

She hadn't drank tea since she had started Looping. The once fond memories were now tainted by the gnawing sensation of guilt. She half-feared, half-hoped that if she dared to dwell on those days too much she would find that she missed the aging pony who had always been ready to offer her a cup of tea, two chocolate chip cookies, and a shoulder to fake-sob on.

“Would you prefer something else to drink?” the mare seated across the small table from the changeling queen asked.

“No, it's fine,” Chrysalis answered, staring morosely at Cadance's reflection in the still, gently steaming liquid. That was the last form she wanted to take – she could have gone a thousand Loops without ever seeing that pink-furred face again – but her companion had offered it as a simple way for them to have their conversation in pleasant surroundings without attracting unwanted attention.

Indeed the various ponies who passed by the balcony where they sat barely gave the two (apparent) alicorns having tea a second glance, but Chrysalis was fairly certain the suggestion had been a way to put her off balance, or a test, or both.

If it was a test, she had probably failed, she concluded, but it was too late now.

“I must admit I was surprised when Rainbow Dash brought you to me,” Princess Celestia said as she raised her own tea in golden light and took a sip.

She didn't need to explain why. “I'm not sure of the details myself. I didn't even realize what was happening at first.” Chrysalis caught herself before saying 'Princess Twilight,' the habit of her second lifetime still hard to break. “Twilight Sparkle has an explanation for why I started to Loop that she is satisfied with, at least.”

“Not that. After Nyx, I expect I shall hardly ever be surprised by who can start Looping again.” The true alicorn chuckled briefly. “Usually I've heard of newcomers from Twilight several Loops before getting a chance to meet them myself.”

There was an awkward silence for several moments.

“You've not spoken with her of me?” Chrysalis asked finally.

“No,” Celestia said.

Chrysalis's throat was dry suddenly, and she forced herself to take a gulp of the tea before speaking. If Twilight hadn't explained, she could only imagine what Celestia was thinking, what she might do. The green aura engulfing her teacup flickered for an instant. “I swear,” Chrysalis said quickly. “I am no threat to Equestria, to your ponies.”

Celestia put down her teacup. Chrysalis followed suit a second later, trying not to squirm under the Princess's piercing gaze. This was the real Princess Celestia, veteran of probably more Loops than Chrysalis could imagine. She was no doubt vastly stronger than either Celestia Chrysalis had fought before, fully capable of squashing her like... well, a bug. She certainly had done it, too, dozens or hundreds of times.

“You're terrified of me,” Celestia said, something in her voice the changeling couldn't identify.

Chrysalis looked down, strands of Cadance's tri-colored mane falling through her vision. “Of course,” she whispered.

“Look up,” Celestia ordered, and Chrysalis obeyed immediately. “Why?”

Chrysalis felt her mouth open in surprise. “Who wouldn't be?” she asked without thinking, dumbfounded.

It couldn't be hurt she saw in the Princess's eyes. “I would think one of the very few who can say they defeated me fairly in single combat,” she said. Her mouth twitched briefly. “Over a dozen times from my perspective. You're shockingly powerful when well-fed.”

The last thing Chrysalis needed was a reminder that Celestia had cause to seek personal revenge. She didn't dare look away, couldn't move.

Celestia frowned. “You said you didn't realize you were Looping at first.”

“Yes.” Tears welled unbidden in Chrysalis's eyes. “I thought the... real timeline, was a dream.”

“What happened?” Celestia asked. “What did I do?”



Twilight Sparkle had known this would be an interesting loop from the moment she'd Awoken as a pegasus filly in the sky city of Cloudsdale. A memory check showed her family had been similarly transformed and transported, while a brief investigation discovered that Rainbow Dash – the only other Element Awake this time – and her family had taken their place as Canterlot unicorns.

“You're really doing better, Fluttershy,” Twilight encouraged her friend, gesturing with one wing to try and get the yellow filly to fly the short distance between her cloud and the one Twilight rested on. Twilight knew that in the original timeline Rainbow Dash hadn't befriended Fluttershy until some months down the line, but she hadn't seen any reason to wait. “You'll be ready for summer flight camp in no time.”

Fluttershy inched up to the edge of her cloud, peeking out from behind her hooves. “It's so far.”

Twilight didn't know whether she meant the distance between them or the distance to the foundation cloud below, but neither was terribly long. “You'll be fine, Fluttershy,” she said comfortingly. “I promise.”

Instead of taking heart, Fluttershy gasped and scooted back.

“Fluttershy? What's wrong?” Twilight asked.

“Somepony's coming!” The yellow filly hunkered down, trying to sink into the cloud.

Twilight looked around and laughed when she saw the older, white pegasus flying closer. “Don't worry; I know her.”

The mare settled onto the cloud next to her. “Hi, Twily; is this your new friend?”

Twilight nodded. “This is Fluttershy.” The named filly let out a quiet whimper. “Fluttershy, this is my big sister, Gleaming Shield.” It wasn't the first time Twilight's sibling had been a mare, or a pegasus, but Twilight was fairly sure it was for both at once. (Twilight had checked, and Cadance was still female this Loop. That hadn't stopped her from getting together with Gleaming in a few past Loops, though the fact that Twilight's sister was currently dating a stallion she'd met training for Wonderbolts tryouts suggested this Loop might be an exception.)

“Hi!” Gleaming said, waving a hoof at Fluttershy, then looking at Twilight. “Twily, there's a filly named Sunny Skies at home asking for you. Says you need to work on a project for school?”

Twilight frowned, just long enough for Gleaming to notice, then quickly forced a smile. “I'd almost forgotten that. I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Twilight took the quiet noise from her friend as assent, and shortly thereafter was back at home, alone in her room with a pale-furred, pink-maned filly about her age. “Is something wrong, Princess Celestia?” she asked her visitor.

“Rainbow Dash brought me a surprising guest this morning,” Celestia said.

“Oh?” Twilight asked.

“I had a very interesting and informative conversation over tea with Queen Chrysalis.”

“Oh,” Twilight said again, a little more weakly.

“Twilight, why didn't you tell me?” Celestia's voice was sad.

“I was planning to play some kind of prank on you with her,” Twilight said. “She's... a little unsure of herself and her place now; I thought that would help break the ice.” And the look on Celestia's face would have almost certainly been priceless.

Celestia just looked at the other filly for a moment. “That's not what I meant, and I think you know it, Twilight.”

Twilight swallowed. “Oh,” she said one more time. She forced a laugh. “It's hardly the first time I've had to fight a version of you in a weird Loop.”

“Yes,” Celestia agreed. “You've stopped me as Infernal Blaze from roasting Equestria under eternal day and asked me to critique your strategy the next time we met. You teased me about the Loop where I was Discord's queen for what must have been a thousand years at least from your perspective. We dealt with that version of me trying to forcefully transform all of Earth into ponies together.

“You didn't want to talk to me about this Loop.”

Twilight sat back and tried to find words. She didn't want to talk about it, but she knew better. “Those ponies might have been Celestia, but they weren't you,” she said finally.

Celestia smiled slightly. “We don't quite have the right words in our language for the Loops, do we?” she asked.

“I have a paper I wrote one Loop somewhere,” Twilight said, eager to change the subject, and started searching her subspace pocket.

Celestia's smile widened, but she turned serious again quickly. “I assure you, Twilight. If I had been Awake that Loop, you would have been well aware within moments.” Her voice promised cleansing solar fires that probably would not have actually ensued – as viscerally satisfying as it might have been, Celestia of course knew that destruction would not have really solved anything.

Twilight sighed. “That's not what I meant.” She glanced about her room for inspiration, finally hitting on a photo of her sister from her time at the Wonderbolts Academy. “In this loop, my sister is aiming to join the Wonderbolts, like baseline Rainbow Dash,” she said after a moment. Celestia nodded, and Twilight continued. “It's not so different from how Shining wanted to join your Guard. She and her coltfriend sneak around the same way Shining and Cadance did. She is Shining.”

“I think I catch your meaning,” Celestia said, her small filly's wings shuffling slightly, “but I am not sure I like it.”

“You think I do?” Twilight Sparkle asked, more harshly than she intended. “The Infernal Blazes, the tyrant Empresses, the crazed madmares; they aren't you. They are different ponies.”

“And this Celestia?”

“That Celestia bought me off the auction block at the Royal Canterlot Slave market, separating me from my family for what that me knew was almost certainly forever,” Twilight said, “but she also held me when I cried that night. When we fought she almost cried herself as she begged me to explain why I rebelled. She loved me, I think, maybe as much as you do.”

“If she did,” Celestia said angrily, “she would never have allowed you to be a slave. Do you think so little of me, Twilight Sparkle?”

“No!” Twilight said, too loudly. “It's... if she'd been evil, it would have been easy. But she wasn't. She was almost you. I could look at her and see you. She spoke like you, acted like you, fought like you.”

“Except she was a slaver,” Celestia said.

“Yes,” Twilight said. “Except for that. And I loved her, that Loop's me. I hated her, but I loved her too, and I hated myself for loving her. And I... this me... I feel like I failed you somehow. She was almost you, and I hurt her terribly and...”

Celestia reached over and hugged her. “I won't forgive you, Twilight Sparkle,” she said softly, and the purple pegasus sobbed, “but only because I know you did nothing that needs forgiveness. But I can tell you, that if that Celestia really was almost me, if she really did love you like I do, she forgave you in the end, no matter how badly you think you hurt her.”

Twilight couldn't stop crying, burying her face under Celestia's wing. “I'm sorry,” she said.

“I told you,” Celestia said. “You did nothing wrong.”

“I... we should have had this conversation Loops ago,” Twilight said, slowly disentangling herself. “I'm sorry for that.”

“For that, I do forgive you,” Celestia said, smiling gently.

There was a knocking on Twilight's door. “Is everything okay in there, Twilight?” her father asked, a little worry plain in his voice.

“Yes,” Twilight said, her voice steady. “We're fine now.”




31.2 (Masterweaver, Stainless Steel Fox)




Space.... the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship Ponydrive. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life, and new civilization. To boldly go where noone has gone before.

We join our crew as captain Twilight Sparkle strides onto the bridge. The unicorn's a little young for command, but from the way she carries herself she's confident in her ability. "Helmsman, status."

"We're still on course sir," reports the pegasus working the helm, and if Twilight was young then this pony was practically a child.

"Keep her steady, Scootaloo. We need this survey done by the end of the week." Twilight turns to what looks, at first glance, to be a bright pink pony. "I hope your circuits aren't giving you too much trouble."

"Negativo, captain! You'd need a lot more then a simple science survey to stumble a Positronic Intelligence Equestrian!" The pink pony leans back. "Truth be told, it's been kind of boring. Don't these loops usually have some sort of excitement in them?"

"Yeah, I agree with Pinkie." A blue pegasus glances up from her console, flicking her rainbow mane out of the way. "I mean, I'm the chief of security, and things look pretty darn secure!"

"That means you're doing your job right, lieutenant." An ivory unicorn gives her a serious look. "Stay in character, please?"

"Oh, fine Rarity."

"Ahem."

"Commander, sorry."

Twilight smirks. "Apology accepted, Lieutenant Dash. Lieutenant Pinkie, keep up the scans." She sits in her chair, stretching out her hooves. "So, Spike, anything on the comm channels?"

"Not yet, Captain." A small dragon sighs. "We're in a completely dead system, near as I can tell."

"You were away from the bridge for a rather long time," Rarity comments. "What kept you?"

"Ah, well... Fluttershy and Sweetie had a very interesting experiment going on down in the labs. Apparently they were attempting to standardize healing songspells." Twilight coughs. "I may have gotten a bit carried away talking magic with the doctor. Sweetie tried to keep up, but..."

The commander chuckles and shakes her head. "You really must keep a lid on those impulses or you'll drive our poor consular mad!"

"I can't help it! It's practical magic in a sci-fi setting, do you know how hard it is for me to study that kind of thing?"

Rainbow leans over the banister. "I would have thought you'd be more interested in the machines that Apple Bloom's whipping up down in engineering."

Twilight gives her security officer a worried look. "She's experimenting that close to the warp core?"

"Don't worry, the chief engineer is keeping an eye on her. I don't think AJ would let Bloom do anything too dangerous."

"Captain?" interupts a voice.

The unicorn turns to her science officer. "Yes Pinkie?"

"You may want to see this..."



"An object is approaching us at high warp velocity, warp 9.8... no, it's slowing down, decelerating to rendezvous it looks like. I wonder if they want to be friends?"

"Let's hope so, but just in case... Leiutenant Dash, bring up our shields and go to yellow alert. Passive tracking solution only. Helm, slow to sub-light and be ready for evasion pattern Perseus One."

"Shields, yellow alert aye aye!" Rainbow tapped the two holo-panels positioned within easy wingtip reach, and an alert sound started hooting.

The object on their main screen expanded into a sphere and matched their velocity with trivial ease, then expanded into a checker patterned wall. Scootaloo slowed the Ponydrive and brought her round to skim the surface to avoid crashing into it. "Smartly done, Ensign! Bring us to a halt at 10000 klicks from it."

"Captain! The object has expanded over one tenth of a lightyear in every direction almost instantly. My sensors can't read the material or forcefield type. At least the pattern's pretty."

"It's also familiar..." Twilight sighed. There was a flash, and Discord appeared in front of the main screen, wearing a zoot suit, big sunglasses and a pimp cane.

"Greetings! I am Q, Q to my friends, but you can call me Q." He raised the glasses and stage whispered, "It's actually me, Discord!"

"No, really? Your cunning disguise totally fooled all of us." Twilight replied deadpan. "So this is your basic 'Alien super-being with time on his manipulative appendages decides to test the puny mortals?' I assume?"

"Pretty much." Discord nodded.

"Very well." Twilight said. "All hands prepare for Ponyfleet scenario 5C."



31.3 (Masterweaver)



Twilight shelved a book quietly. "You know it has to happen sometime. She'll know something is up if you don't show up when you should."

"I don't think I'm ready for this. Actually, I don't think I'm ready to do anything this loop, I'm just going to hide out in Macintosh's bar."

"He's not actually Awake," the librarian pointed out with a small smile. "So the bar doesn't actually exist."

"...does it have to be now?"

"No, not right now. But... sometime this loop, you really should talk to her." After a moment, the unicorn smiled. "Celestia is awake this loop too, you know. And, after your conversation with her--"

"I know, I know, she's... not her." After a moment, the black pegasus let her wings droop. "Alright, alright. But... you have to be there too."

"Fair enough."





Princess Celestia of the Sun sipped her tea, letting her gaze drift to the pink pony on her left.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza sipped her tea, examining the diplomat across from her.

Twilight Sparkle, Magic's exalt, sipped her tea and glanced toward the diplomat sympathetically.

Chrysalis, Queen of the Changeling Swarm, held the teacup in her magic nervously as she sipped, unable to look at any of them.

Cadance put her cup down gently. "A peace accord. Based on public integration of Changelings."

"...yes. That is, well, why I approached Equestria. Diplomatically."

Celestia and Twilight said nothing, waiting for one of the other two to make the first move.

Eventually the pink alicorn sighed. "You're looping, aren't you."

Chrysalis wilted even further. "...yes. I... I just want to say, I'm sorry and.... and really, that about covers everything I could say." She cringed. "I can understand if you hate me--"

"Look. The invasion, baseline... yeah, it left an impact on me." Cadance shrugged. "But I've had literally thousands of loops to deal with all that emotional baggage, and so long as you don't do it again--which you're probably not going to do, seeing as you're negotiating for peace--I'm perfectly willing to extend the olive branch."

The changeling queen's ears perked. Twilight relaxed.

"So, Chrysy--can I call you Chrysy?"

"." Chrysalis took a breath. "Ah.... I... honestly prefer you wouldn't." For some reason she was flushing furiously.

"...oooookay." Cadance tapped her hoof for a moment. "...Anyway, how long have you been looping?"

"Oh, um.... maybe... five loops?" Chrysalis nodded. "Yes. Five."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. By her count there had been six loops so far for the changeling queen, but she was quick enough to recognize exactly what Chrysalis was dancing around.

"Huh. Well, I hope the loops so far have been, you know, kind to you." Cadance smiled. "If there's anything I can do to help your transition--"

"That really won't be necessary! I'm coping." Chrysalis smiled, trying to meet Cadence's eyes. "Princess Twilight and her friends are helping me."

An eyebrow was slowly raised. "Princess Twilight?"

"Ah...." Chrysalis coughed. "She... can be a princess. It's a formality, really, if you think I should drop it I can."

"No, I'm fine with it, I was just curious..."

"It's rather understandable," Celestia pointed out, "given that Twilight had to overthrow me in Chrysalis's first loop."

"Oh?"

"Mmm, yes. Apparently that version of me practiced slavery--"

"Princess!" Twilight snapped.

"Twilight, I understand that you were very shaken by--"

"Wait." Cadance blinked. "Are you... You were awake?!"

Silence slammed down at the alicorn's shout, the queen of changelings curling up in her chair as the princess of love panted, her hooves against the table. The reigning diarch stood from her chair; her student had buried her face in her forehooves.

Cadance took a deep breath.

She let it out.

She took another breath, sitting back down. Slowly, Celestia retook her own seat, though her eyes never left the other alicorn.

After a moment, Cadance composed herself. "So. You were... awake for that loop?"

Chrysalis looked up, briefly. Twilight reached out and patted her shoulder.

"...yes. I..." The changeling gulped. "I... thought the whole, baseline loop was... a bad dream."

After a moment, Cadance sighed and shook her head. "Alright. Okay, I... I can see where you'd be coming from. And I can't really blame you for Shining, there, that..... I just... argh." She rubbed her temples, her eyes screwed tightly. "Did you know how I felt? Every time I looked at you two, I remembered the baseline and.... and I had to remind myself constantly that wasn't what was going on, that you hadn't actually stolen him--"

Celestia looked between them, somewhat confused. "Wait, what are you two talking about?"

Twilight sighed. "In... that loop, Shining wasn't awake, he helped Chrysalis run an underground railroad... they fell in love..."

"I did sense those emotions from you," Chrysalis explained awkwardly. "I... just thought it was a natural thing. You know, Alicorn of love, I eat love... I was actually very impressed with how you repressed your bigotry." She sighed. "Except it wasn't bigotry, was it?"

"No, not... well, maybe a little. But not really." Cadance sighed. "Resentment, more like... and I could see you two were genuinely in love and... Ugh. This is just... Look, can we start over here? I don't, well... I'm not sure how to feel about this."

Celestia brought her hoof to her forehead gently. "Twilight... why didn't you mention this before?"

"It kind of ties in to why I never mentioned that loop at all," the unicorn offered, rubbing the back of her head. "I mean, this whole situation is weird..."

"You really don't know how to feel, do you?" Chrysalis tilted her head. "There's flashes of anger and pity and... I... Um. Sure. Starting over sounds good..."

"Yeah, very good. So! I'm Cadance, and... it's nice to meet you, I guess."

"I'm Chrysalis and... I... am happy that you're happy to meet me...?"

Celestia took a breath. "Well, at least this ended up being peaceful enough. Maybe we should arrange for Shining Armor to--"

"No!" Chrysalis cried. "No. I am not... nearly ready enough to handle that. No. Can we not tell him?"

"I guess," Twilight replied with a shrug. "He's not Awake anyway..."

The changeling queen perked her ears. "He... isn't?" She turned to Cadance with an awkward smile. "Um, would you mind terribly if--"

"We're dating," the alicorn replied flatly.

"...ah. Oh, um. Okay..."

Cadance let out an annoyed grumble. "This would be so much easier if I could actually hate you..."





"So... that went well!" Twilight chirped brightly. "I mean, all things considered."

Chrysalis gave her a long, flat look.

Then, after a moment, green flames burst up around her and she smiled. "I'll go give Macintosh your love."

"What--" The unicorn blinked as she rushed out of the library. "Chrysalis!" Twilight ran after her double, trying to catch her before she made the loop more embaressing then it was, but already Chrysalis was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, um, Twilight?" Fluttershy walked up timidly. "Hello. What is, um, how are you?"

"Quick, Shy, did you see me run through here?"

"Oh! Well yes. Chrysalis went that way."

"Thanks, you're the--Wait, Shy's not awake this loop." Twilight turned to her friend and raised an eyebrow. "Haha, very funny. You got me."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes and burst into flames, turning into a black pegasus. "You're really too smart for your own good, Princess."

"Look, in all seriousness... it could have gone a lot worse." Twilight shook her head. "I think this is good though."

"That whole thing was incredibly awkward."

"Not nearly as awkward as the time I killed Cadance and married Shining. Man, when she got back from the dead things were weird..."

Chrysalis blinked. "I... what?!"

Twilight sighed and snorted. "Okay, so my preawake self was basically a sociopath in that loop, and the local Pinkie Pie somehow managed to bake a portal to the afterlife--no, I don't understand it either..."



31.4 (Stainless Steel Fox)




Academic Excellence - Epilogue

Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash entered the Commandants office to find Spitfire already there. The two of them had rested up (much to Pinkie Pie's disappointment until Twilight reminded her that they still had the party to set up for later) and had received orders to report as soon as they'd recovered. The yellow pegasus looked at them over her glasses as they came to attention in front of her.

“Well. I have to say, when you bust clouds, you don't do half a job! You will be pleased to know that your entire group will be receiving commendations on their records, and the Silver Bolt, for actions above and beyond the call of duty.”

The two pegasi couldn't help cracking at least a small grin. It wasn't the highest award the Wonderbolts could bestow, but it was respectable. Full fledged Wonderbolts had gone through their careers without getting it, and the number of cadets that had received it could be counted on one hoof, without the hoof.

“However, the two of you require special attention. As the highest scoring wing pair in the group, you were its de-facto leaders, and that's borne out by my interviews with the other cadets. They followed your lead on this. That's why I'm trying to decide whether to have you commended to the Princesses for bravery, or to kick you off the cloud for doing something so reckless!”

The sudden change in tone caught both of them by surprise.

“The Wonderbolts have their own records which I've studied since we returned. The last time a Tempest emerged from the Everfree Forest, it was driven off from an attack on Cloudsdale, not destroyed, and doing so required the combined efforts of the Wonderbolts and the Cloudsdale Royal Guard contingent. Not without casualties either.

“Cadet Dash, you apparently knew about this thing's capabilities. What in Equestria possessed you to attack it, and risk yourself and the other cadets?”

“Ma'am, we didn't start out intending to attack it. We received the distress call from Twilight, and set out to rescue her balloon. I explained what I knew, and all the other cadets agreed to the risk. But the initial plan was purely to distract it, play keep away to distract it while we got the balloon out of there then disengage.”

“All the same, you put the other cadets in considerable danger.” Spitfire said sternly.

“Permission to speak ma'am!” Lightning Dust piped up.

“Yes cadet?”

“The information may have come from Dash, and the plan was developed by all of our group working together, but Dash looked to me for the final say go ahead. I'm the Lead pony of the leading wing pair, which means it was my call. I gave the okay, so if there's trouble coming, it's my responsibility, not Dash's.”

Dash couldn't help but look side-long at her lead in surprise. Then she felt bad for being surprised . Lightning Dust might have flaws, but lack of courage wasn't one of them. She wouldn't leave her friend hanging. “But it was my advice you followed. We went into that storm cloud together, you're not going into this one alone.”

“Attention!” The two snapped back to attention to look forward at Spitfire., who took her sun glasses off and folded them deliberately.

“Much as I enjoy watching the two of you play the reverse blame game, I will decide who is responsible for what, and what should be done about it. Rescuing civilians, I don't have a problem with. But you still have to explain why once they were out of danger, you didn't disengage. You correctly alerted the Officer on Deck, you must have known we we'd scramble everything we had to come support you.”

The two ponies glanced at each other, and Lightning Dust gave a slight nod, which Dash took to be a sign to take the question. “It was firing bolts of lightning ma'am, not just short bursts but long streaks that homed in, but it could only track so fast. Close in, we could evade them, but if we'd increased the range, we or one of the other wing pairs would have gotten hit.

“We were trapped. That was my fault, I didn't know it could do that, but having seen it up close, sensed how the weather magic inside it held it together, I realised a large enough burst of weather magic to it's core could break it apart. But it took both of us to deliver enough energy to finish the job. I know it wasn't a good option, but at that point we didn't have any good options. At the very least, the disruption would have allowed the other wing pairs to get clear.”

“And you agreed to this plan?” Spitfire looked over at Lightning Dust.

“Yes ma'am! Rainbow Dash is a skilled weather pony, and the only pony in Equestria able to do a Sonic Rainboom...”

“Not any more.” Dash whispered, then shut up at a quelling glare from Spitfire.

“... more than that, I trust her judgement. If she believed it had a good chance of success, I wasn't going to disagree. In truth she deserves to be Lead pony far more than I do. The entire group from Ponyville already works together like a Wonderbolt team, has blown away every group record they've gone up against and she's never been anything less than supportive of any of them.

“She even managed to get me turned around. I was heading for a bad place, but she never gave up on me, no matter what I did. She might risk herself, but she would never risk her team mates, or ask them to do anything she wouldn't do herself. With respect ma'am, she showed me what being a Wonderbolt actually means, and if we do get kicked off the cloud, I can think of no finer company to be in as we fall.”

Spitfire stared at them both for a long moment, then heaved a big sigh. “Very well, if that is your decision... Lightning Dust!”

“Yes ma'am!” The green pegasus straightened up waiting for the thunderbolt to hit.

“As Lead pony of your cadet group, you will be awarded the Golden Bolt for Valour and you will be commended to the Princesses. If I don't get you a Monarchs Thanks out of it, I'll go back to crop-dusting. Not just for dealing with the Tempest either. A true leader takes responsibility, and in your defence of Rainbow Dash you showed moral courage to equal your demonstrated physical bravery. You are also promoted to the rank of Cadet Leader.”

That rank was only ever given to cadets who came back for advanced training, and then only to a senior cadet who was in charge of a junior group. She broke into a wide grin at the thunderstruck expression on Lightning Dust's face. “However, if you ever pull a stunt like that again without orders I will pin your wings back so far you can clean your pinions with your tail! Do you read me Cadet Leader?”

“Ma'am, yes ma'am!” Lightning Dust saluted so hard, she almost brained herself with her hoof. She glanced at Dash to see how she was taking it and saw only a wide grin as the rainbow pegasus reverse punched the air.

“Rainbow Dash, the position of Cadet Leader is already taken, however, I intend to see you wearing a Golden Bolt, though my sources tell me I don't need to commend you to the princesses. I do however have a position in mind, Assistant instructor Dash, if you're willing to accept it.”

Rainbow Dash's wings almost lifted her off the ground. “Woo hoo... I mean, ma'am yes ma'am! I do ma'am!”

Spitfire polished a lens against her lapel and put her glasses back on. “Considering the job you've done up till now, I figured why not make it official? Now, I believe you have a party to go to. Dismissed!”

The two of them saluted again, and filed out. Dash hesitated in the door for a moment, looking back at the seated pony, silhouetted by the setting sun coming through the windows behind her.

“Um... ma'am?”

“What is it Rainbow Dash?” Spitfire's response was short, but not unkind.

“Would you like to join us? When you come off duty that is. There's going to be plenty of food for every-pony, and Applejack's only gotten better at baking since the Gala.”

Rainbow Dash was as easy to read as a Wonderbolts promotional poster and for that Spitfire was glad. This wasn't an attempt to curry favour, though what more could she want? It was nothing more than a genuine offer for Spitfire to come and enjoy herself.

“I have a lot of paperwork to do... but I'll make my way over as soon as it's finished.” She pulled the first report from a stack, running the Academy wasn't all hoof-printing autograph pictures, and sighed. “Thank the Princesses I'm rotating back to operational duty next month. The paperwork only ever seems to stack higher.”

“I hear you ma'am. Cloud use reports, thunderstorm health and safety assessments, an earth pony could haul the water to Cloudsdale just by stacking up the weather patrol paperwork and climbing it.”

“Go on!” Spitfire waved her away. “Go have fun, you've earned it. Maybe when I get there you can show me how to do that Sonic Rainboom of yours. This chassis may not be the latest model, but I can still buck the blue with the best of them. And maybe this old pony can teach the two of you some new tricks.”

“Ma'am yes ma'am!” With that Rainbow Dash closed the door behind her.




The party had run well in to the twilight, and Twilight was well into running the party. Firefly tiki torches were scattered around the cloud it was being held on, and the Pinkie/Applejack buffet was being done great justice by the assembled ponies. Pinkie herself was part of the group playing cloud volleyball over to one side and a number of other ponies were just chilling with drinks and listening to a Victrola which was pumping out 'Good Striations' by the Cumulus Colts. 

(Yes, it is your typical surfer beach party.)

Lightning Dust and Rainbow dash were at the centre of this group, at least until they saw Spitfire approaching. Rainbow Dash greeted her with a grin and a wide wave of her wing.

"Welcome to the party!"

Lightning Dust was a little more thoughtful. "Uh ma'am? Permission to speak freely?"

Spitfire gave a grin of her own. "We're off the clock, so you can cut down the ma'aming to a minimum "

"The meeting, the whole getting kicked out, was it all a test?"

"Life is a test, and there's no retakes." 

Spitfire thought she heard a muffled snort from Rainbow Dash, and wondered what was so funny.

She continued. "In short, yes and no. I needed to understand not just what you did, but why. I knew you had courage, but did it make you reckless? In a regular Wonderbolt, a willingness to take risks isn't necessarily a flaw, if they're able to follow the chain of command, harness it to the overall plan, but a leader has to have something more. the ability to assess the risks, make the decisions as to whether they're worthwhile, balance the needs of the team with the needs of the mission, and put both ahead of their own needs."

She tapped the younger pegasus on the chest. "You demonstrated just that in the way you responded when I made the meeting adversarial. You got the good stuff because you exceeded my expectations once again. You're going to make one heck of a Wonderbolt, and that goes for you too, you grinning maverick!"

The last was addressed to the smirking Rainbow Dash. "Okay, now if Soarin hasn't finished them off, I'd like to get some of those pies, and then we'll see if I can buck out a Sonic Rainboom."




31.5 (Masterweaver)

"So, um, Mom..."

Twilight smiled to herself, still feeling her heart warm up a bit even after all these years. Then she turned around. "Yes Nyx?"

The young black alicorn shuffled her hoof around in a slow circle. "You know how, um... in my original loop, there was the whole Cult of Nightmare thing?"

The scholar nodded, wondering exactly where this was going.

"Well... I just found out there's a small cult here too... but, um..."

"....but?" Twilight prompted gently.

"They're not... exactly... competent. Or sane, actually." Nyx shrugged. "They've got a clown, two other ponies... I'm pretty sure one of them is a stoner, but I can't figure out which one. Oh, and their leader does manage the whole Evil Minion thing. That's actually all he does."

The librarian blinked. After a moment she nodded once. "Okay, so you have some... strange fans. It's happened to all of us, Nyx, and if you ever need to talk about it--"

"Ah, um..." The reborn incarnation of Nightmare Moon, Embodiment of Eternal Night and Tyrant Usurper, let her eyes fall to the ground awkwardly. "I kinda... sorta... maybe invited them over for dinner tonight."

"....what."

"They were genuflecting! I panicked!"




Twilight and Spike shared a look as the pie dripped slowly down the librarian's mane.

It had turned out that Nyx had missed two members of the cult, resulting in a mad kitchen scramble to redistribute the portions while Twilight got to know her daughter's... stalkers, to be totally honest. Clippy Clop the clown was apparently mute, but made up for it with humorous japery... of which Twilight was a victim. He was probably only in the cult because of Screwball, who had ended up being the town fool in this loop instead of Diamond Tiara's mad sister... or mother.... or Discord's daughter, thank Celestia the chaos god wasn't awake that loop.

A yellow stallion sighed and levitated the pipan off their host. "I'm... sorry about him, he takes his job seriously." He smiled apologetically, further cementing his status in her mind as the sane member of this group.

"No, it's fine mister Cosmic." Twilight shook her head, dislodging some of the cream as she levitated a towel out of the kitchen. "I've had worse, and I'm sure mister Clop was only expressing his appreciation for my delicate care of your deity."

"Indeed, bro, that's an awesome thing you're doing. Awesome like the wave I totes saw in my cereal this morning." The white pegasus mare stretched her wings. "Like... whoa.."

Apparently Sunny Daze was an actual pegasus this loop, instead of just an alias, and Twilight couldn't exactly fault Nyx for thinking she was high; the surfer tone made sense, but the observations she made were rather... unusual. She'd almost blown cover by accidentally calling her princess, but Sunny had assumed that Twilight was just referring to her position as the most radical of Nightmare Moon's followers.

"Thank you, miss Daze."

"Whoa, dude, miss Daze is my mother."

Screwball screwed up her face. "I thought your mother's name was Whipcurl?"

The pegasus rolled her eyes. "Totes being metaphor, dudette."

"Why is she a dudette when I'm a dude?" Twilight asked lightly. "We're both mares!"

"Whoa. You're a dudette?"

The librarian blinked. After a moment, she took a breath and turned to the other pegasus in the room. "So... um... Rocken Coconut. Those are some interesting colors you've painted yourself..."

Coconut preened, brushing a black hoof through his mane and obliviously pulling some of the dried blue paint out of its blonde strands. "Thank you. I felt it was only natural for me to emulate the Goddess's form. Of course I'd never wear my horn in public, that would be blasphemous." Clippy Clop honked solemnly.

Twilight nodded slowly. "That... makes sense." After a moment, she took a breath and turned to the final stallion. "You've been very quiet, mister...?"

"Tiiiiireeeeeeeeek." The whispered growl emerged slowly from the dark shadows of the hood. "Bringer of tooooooormeeeent and looooooooyal servitor to her high empressssssss. I see no reeeeeeeessssson to speak to you."

The librarian rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say. If you'll excuse me, I need to check on dinner...."




31.6

“Look, Dash,” Gilda said, “I don’t get why you’re so uptight about this. You were never this boring in Flight School.”

Dash winced internally. It was tough, dealing with Gilda. Half the time she was reminding Dash of how much they’d been friends, and the other half the time she was being kind of a jerk.

Yes, Dash could engineer a reconciliation or at least a less firey breakup, and stay in touch. But doing it over and over again got kind of wearying after a while.

“Fluttershy’s my friend, too, Gils,” Dash replied. “I mean, she’s… yeah, different, but…”

“Heh.” Gilda looked down. “Different, yeah. Hey, watch this!”

“Wait-” Dash was speaking to an empty cloud.



Gilda landed just around the corner from where Fluttershy was, then walked out acting oblivious. It didn’t take long for the two of them to bump into one another.

“Oi!” Gilda shouted, and roared at Fluttershy.

The great noise sent ponies all around the area scurrying for cover.

When it ended, Fluttershy cocked her head. “Are we having a roaring contest?” she asked, politely.

“…eh?” The griffin blinked.

“My turn.”

Abruptly, there was a large wolf standing there instead. It threw back its neck, and howled to the sky at the top of its lungs. It went on, and on, for at least thirty seconds.

When done, the wolf looked down, then blushed… somehow. “Oh, sorry…” Fluttershy said, transforming back and rubbing her hooves together, “…that wasn’t a roar, was it? I suppose you win…”

Gilda breathed deeply, forcing her raised hackles to go down. Once she had them under control, she preened her wings a bit, then dropped the task until later. “What the buck just happened?”

Fluttershy just looked down and shuffled her hooves.

For her part, Gilda looked conflicted. “…I mean, I didn’t imagine that, right? You just turned into a wolf?”

“…yes…”

“You know…” Gilda’s expression firmed. “That was actually pretty cool.”

“Really?” Some of the strength came back into Fluttershy’s voice.

“Yeah.”



From her cloud, Dash thought over how to take that.

Apparently griffins did respect strength. Cool.




31.7

“Basically,” Twilight said, looking at Chrysalis over a pair of spectacles, “I think it would help you to move on a bit.”

The Changeling Queen looked less than convinced. “I don’t know if it would. Or, for that matter, if that would be a good idea in the first place.”

Then she pointed. “And what’s with the spectacles, anyway?”

“I dunno,” Twilight replied, shrugging. “I found them in the library once, and they seemed to be a good thing to keep around. I’m thinking of getting them rose tinted. But back to my point. You can’t just pine over Shining forever – that’s not fair to yourself, it’s not fair to him, and it’s not fair to Cadence either.”

“I know it isn’t,” Chrysalis replied. “But he’s still… he was still… my first real love. Up to then, love wasn’t something I fully understood, I think. It wasn’t the way the hive works – that’s an intense affection, but it’s like… a limb. Or something. You’re just so used to it being there that you have to take a step back to notice it. But Shining… it was something I wasn’t used to, and it was… wonderful.”

Twilight nodded. “I see. And I do have sympathy for you – the way you put it sounds a lot like how I first got friends. But… you don’t need to have just one love. Ponies move on from their first loves, and it doesn’t make the second any less sweet.”

“And you’d know?” Chrysalis challenged.

“Nope,” Twilight replied. “Not directly. But I’ve paid attention to how all this works.”

After a moment, she pulled a scrapbook from her subspace pocket and turned to a double-page spread, full of photographs. “See this human?”

“Yes…” Chrysalis replied, confused by the non-sequitur.

“His name is Bran. I Looped here once, and… oh, never mind, it’d take too long to explain. But Bran’s a werewolf, one of several there. That’s his second wife.”

“And he loves her?”

“Nope.”

Chrysalis looked at her in astonishment.

“He lost his first wife, and it hurt too much, so he deliberately picked as his second mate – and wife – someone who was too petty, too judgemental, to become part of his heart.” Twilight closed the scrapbook again. “That’s an option, too, but I really think you’re not the sort of pony to take it.”

After a long minute of thought, the changeling nodded slowly.

“On a completely different tack, though, you don’t need to find a special somepony straight away if you do decide to follow my advice. In fact, I’d advise against it.” Twilight shrugged. “Spike and Rarity are an extreme case – they spent over a hundred years getting to know one another again before they made it official – but the idea is sound. Don’t commit too soon, at least if you’re going to do more than what Bran did.”

“Alright, then.” Chrysalis nodded to herself. “I’ll give it a go.”



“So…” the disguised Changeling said awkwardly, shifting on the chair as her pegasus’ wings tried to flare in nervousness. “What do you do, then?”

“Oh, I give self help seminars, actually,” Iron Will replied, pouring them both drinks. “All about being tough and courageous. Very gryphonic philosophy, in a way.”

“That’s interesting…” Chrysalis said, and then nearly got bowled over by a sudden rush of vehement, forthright emotion.

“Don’t be half hearted! If someone’s being square, give them a nasty stare!”

Somehow, Chrysalis thought, this isn’t going to work out.



31.8

Twilight felt the Loop settling into place around her in a familiar way. Canterlot, just found out about Nightmare Moon, all that jazz.

“Okay, Spike, take a-”…

Something was wrong.

“I… think you might have confused me with someone else,” a decidedly female voice said from behind her.

Twilight scanned through her loop memories as she turned to the speaker. As it happened, she was a blue baby dragon.

“…oh, hold on,” Twilight said, interested. “Are you a new Looper?”

“Well, new to here. Hi, I’m-”

“Saphira, yes,” Twilight nodded. The dragon seemed slightly surprised, and Twilight tossed her mane. “Loop memories tend to support a self-consistent reality, and since you’re taking the place of my assistant, Spike… that means I know your name.”

“Ah, of course.” Saphira nodded. “I’m sorry, we’re not very used to fused loops. I think this is only the third or the fourth…”

“Right. Oh, are you the Anchor?”

“No.” Saphira paused. “Well, mostly no. My bonded human is, and we have a fairly close empathic bond, so we’re hardly ever not both Looping.”

“Interesting…” Twilight dashed off a note with magic while she spoke. “Well, we’ll see how the first few days of the Loop go, and see if your Anchor is around.”

Saphira held up a hand-paw. “No need, my link just started working. He’s here. And apparently a… lacemaker. Well, at least he’s good at that.” The little dragon carefully hid a good-natured chuckle.

“…well, that answers the question of who he’s replacing,” Twilight said.



The anchor in question, Eragon, sank back onto a couch in the library. Saphira walked over and sat next to him, and they exchanged a fond look before turning to Twilight.

“Okay. Basically, where we come from, there’s this huge empire, then some elves, and rebels.”

Twilight nodded.

“My Loop starts right about when the elves try to send a dragon egg –“

“That’s me,” Saphira said.

“Yes, that’s Saphira, to someone who works for the rebels.” Eragon looked at Twilight with a sardonic expression. “I’m simplifying just a bit, in case you couldn’t tell. Anyway, I pick it up, then miss Blue Scales here hatches out and things get a bit… complicated.”

“Complicated meaning,” Saphira said with a tart smile, “he and I become the single most valuable bargaining chip in Alagaesia. Dragon riders were the old rulers where we come from, so old Slow Feet here and I are champions and legitimizers all rolled into one – and it didn’t help that we were both breathtakingly naïve, politically, the first time. Add to that that I’m the only female dragon that entire world knows exists, and…”

Twilight winced.

“So, long story short, we’re looking forward to a loop as quiet as we can get.”

“Right…” Twilight nodded. “Good news for you there, actually. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna declared Equestria’s Loop to be a sanctuary. You can have your quiet loop.” Then she paused. “By the way… what’s with the lace?”

Eragon shot a glance at Saphira, who held up her hand-paws. “Guilty, guilty, I accept full responsibility.”

“You’ll pay for that,” he warned, and she grinned. “Anyway, it’s actually how we fund the Varden – that’s the rebel group. Magic is costly of energy, more costly than doing the same thing by non-magical means, but it’s perfect for finicky detail work.”

“So you work for the rebels?”

“Sometimes.” He stretched his forelegs out on the couch. “Sometimes I try the Empire, sometimes the Elves, sometimes I go my own way. It’s a right bear trying to make my world actually work out.”



“Well…” Spike said, looking down. “I didn’t expect this.”

The alabaster dragon about the size of a small cat gave a wing-flipping shrug in response.

“Hey, join the club,” Hiccup said. “I get about one loop in fifty where I’m the dragon, these days.”

“Huh.” Spike snapped his fingers, summoning his lightsaber. “Well, I might need this… anyway, where’s Toothless?”

“Officially, he’s dead. Unofficially…” Hiccup opened his jacket, revealing a six-inch fire lizard hanging from the inner lining.

Hey, Toothless broadcast on a broad band. You wanna buy a dragon? 




31.9 (misterQ)



"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I reckon I do," said a despondent looking Applejack. She looked over at Twilight Sparkle, only to see that her friend was already in therapist mode. Every pony who was awake this loop decided to take this round off and go on vacation. Celestia was teaching her sister and Nyx how to surf. Most of her friends were enjoying themselves on the beach, along with Derpy and her daughters - who Applejack remembered should have also been in Ponyville at the same time. Of course, she remembered having seen Derpy at the young flyer's competition in three different places at the same time. Applejack just silently filed this fact away in her mental vault along with the memories of all of the non-euclidean mind-warping things she had encountered.

"Why don't you start at the beginning of that loop, Applejack," Twilight said as she sat in her beach chair, "I assume you mean the one where Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and myself went off to help a non-looping Spike with his dragon curiosity issues?"

"Yep, that's the one," Applejack sipped from her large mug of cider and wondered if she'd need anything stronger to tell the tale, "I mean, things started off like they all happened originally. Then Princess Celestia called on me and Pinkie and Trixie, of all ponies, to help her deal with an issue."

"It is strange she would call on Trixie…"

"The Princess told us it was because we needed a unicorn, and you and Rarity were gone at the time."

Twilight contemplated that for a short while, "Still, it seems odd that she would need Pinkie and Trixie, of all ponies, to accompany you on what was supposed to be a diplomatic mission."

Applejack sighed, "That's because I reckon our princess has days where she done dumps a bunch of fuel on the fire to see how big the flames are going to get. And that's all fine and good unless the flames are suddenly consuming all the rational parts of my mind."

"Right," Twilight sighed. She was very, very well antiquated with the mischievous side of Celestia. She looked over to see the grinning sun princess telekinetically pulled the surfboard out from under Luna, plunging her sister into the water and chastising her about keeping her balance, "So.... seaponies."

Applejack gave a small shudder and acknowledged, "Yup. Seaponies."

The was a long silence as the orange earth pony took a long sip of her cider, "The first thing you gotta know about seaponies and mermares is that they're all insane. All the ponies under the water are completely crazy. Pinkie Pie said that they've been battling undersea horrors for so long, they're on their last sanity point; whatever that means."

"And Pinkie was sent with you on a diplomatic mission to Aquastria?" Twilight blinked, astounded, "Why?"

In answer, Applejack just pointed her hoof at the epic water fight erupting between the two alicorn sisters. Then she continued, "Although it may be because Pinkie was the closest to their way of thinking. Anyways, Trixie cast the 'don't drown and die', or whatever it's called, spell on all of us and down we went."

The earth pony took another sip from her mug, remembering, "Do you know why King Leo is a seal?"

"Sea Lion," Twilight Sparkle corrected.

"Seal, sea lion; what's the difference?"

"Longer whiskers, longer flippers, and ear flaps to start with. Seals only have little ear holes."

"Ear flaps? Seriously?" Applejack sighed, "Anyways, do you know why King Leo isn't a seapony? It's because someone rational has to be able to keep them all from blowing everything up or setting everything on fire."

Twilight opened her mouth, but Applejack interrupted, "And yes, I know that they live underwater. But trust me on this. Setting themselves and everything else on fire is a very real danger with unmonitored seaponies."

The purple unicorn debated with herself before asking, "How?"

"The first thing you got to realize is that seaponies are all water-benders. For a people with no real limbs and only a tail, they are scary powerful. You'd think you'd be safe on land, but I've seen them create water spheres around them and roll right on after their enemies. Then they can create water tendrils that can happily rip apart a lava demon and beat them to death with their own severed body parts while the seaponies all laugh and sing and harmonize."

"That all actually happened, by the way," Applejack clarified, "While the mermares and the seastallions had their annual no-holds-barred race, some lava demons all done decided to attack. The reason the actual seapony leader who - doesn't like ruling, and thank the herd for that; Queen Marina called for Equestrian help was to try to convince King Leo to open up their strategic reserves of both explosives and cheerleading outfits to fight the encroaching forces of the Squirk, the Kraken King."

"Cheerleading outfits?"

"I don't rightly know. Only that it mightily disturbed King Leo to see Pinkie Pie when she found one. Then he called her over and whispered something to her about Squirk, and she quickly got out of it."

"I.. see," And Twilight really, really wished she didn't; so she changed the subject, "I don't think I've ever met this Queen Marina."

"She's usually on the front lines, fighting them undersea monstrosities that Pinkie talked about. Elegant mermare, pretty tail and fins, but she gets a really scary grin on her face when she's all talking about explosives. She and Trixie got on like apples and more apples."

"When Pinkie and I got back from baking our contribution to the victory feast, Pinkie latched on to the conversation about things that go all boom," Applejack finished off her cider in one long sip, "They started resonating crazy, Twilight. The three of them, Trixie, Pinkie, and Marina, started scaring me real bad. I pulled them apart when I started hearing phrases like 'willy pete fiendfyre variant', 'everything explodes forever', and 'how difficult would it be to summon a chlorine trifluoride elemental underwater'."

"Oh, Applejack. Just enjoy this vacation loop, okay?" Twilight gently hugged her distraught friend, "Just do me one favor, alright?"

"What is that?"

The purple unicorn smiled, "Don't go in the water."

Applejack returned the grin, "You don't have to tell me twice, sugarcube."