//------------------------------// // Loops 46 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 46.1 (Masterweaver) "This is just weird," Sweetie Belle commented at recess. "I mean, none of us had any plans to shake things up. Well, outside of Trixie's thing with the dragon." "That was more a 'what would she do' then anything," Scootaloo pointed out. "And it's still early in the loop. Maybe Diamond has some sort of secret prank she's planning on Equestria." Apple Bloom shook her head. "Nnnnno. No, Ah don't think she was planning anythang. No offence to ya'll but... Well, Ah can read her better then you two, and she seemed pretty normal yesterday." "You think she got sick?" Scootaloo asked. "If she were sick Filthy Rich would have sent Cheerilee a note," Sweetie pointed out, glancing at the schoolhouse. "Do you think we should check in on her?" Apple Bloom looked across the playground. "Maybe... but first we should go talk to Silver over thar." The crusaders all turned toward the little grey filly sitting alone on a bench, her tail flicking idly as she focused on quietly chewing her food. She'd glance up, occasionally, taking in her classmates playing around before she simply sighed and returned to snipping off tiny bites of her meal. "...yeah, that might be a good idea," Sweetie agreed. "She doesn't look too happy." The three of them trotted over to the bench, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sitting to either side of Silver Spoon as Scootaloo stood off to the side. The grey filly glance up and them and sneered, her eyes almost completely free of tears. "What do you all want?" Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Well, I personally want to revolutionize the field of aeronautics and join the Wonderbolts. I'm pretty sure Sweetie here wants to become a pop star, and Apple Bloom wants to build an army of robots to do her bidding." "Not an army," Apple Bloom countered blandly. "Ah'd be fine with a small squad o' twelve, Ah'm not greedy." Silver Spoon blinked at them. "...what?" "You asked us what we wanted," Scootaloo explained. "No, see – what do you want with me?" the grey filly demanded, trying to get a hold of the situation. "We saw ya sitting here alone and we figured... nopony should be alone." Apple Bloom shrugged. "Cliche, yeah, but...." "I don't want to talk to you," Silver grumbled, picking up her lunch and standing. "I'm going somewhere else." Sweetie Belle put a gentle hoof on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. Whatever we did... I'm sorry." She pushed the hoof off and glared at the unicorn. "Look, I don't know where she is, so stop bugging me!" Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Where who is?" "Diamond Tiara!" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "What does Tiara have to do with anything?" "I..." Silver faltered, but rallied herself quickly. "That's obviously why you're talking to me! You want to find, find out where she is!" "We are worried about her," Sweetie allowed, "but right now we're honestly more concerned about you. Diamond can take care of herself." "There! That!" Silver Spoon pointed at the unicorn. "How do you KNOW that?! You've only been friends with her for, like, a week! And somehow she's... not her! You changed her!" The crusaders shared a look. Ah. "And what was that?! What aren't you–?!" "She still considers you a friend," Sweetie interjected swiftly. "Really. We never meant to steal her from you... it's just..." "I don't think Silver would believe us without proof," Scootaloo interjected. "And, well... you know what Nyx told us about how Twilight felt when Fleur and Flash ended up, um–" "I'm right here!" the grey filly huffed. "Why are you ignoring me?!" Apple Bloom took a breath. "...Silver, there is... a really big secret, but Ah think it should be up ta Diamond whether we tell ya or not." "Oh, right, let me guess. You're all princesses." Scootaloo grinned broadly. "...no." Silver Spoon boggled. "You're joking, that can't be right." "Scoots, stop messing with her mind." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "No, we aren't princesses." This loop, anyway... "Look... Diamond Tiara really cares about you. Really. She's always worried when you're not around." "...she is?" Apple Bloom nodded solemnly. "Yep. Can't get through a day without wondering if she should have brought you along..." "....oh." The grey filly scuffed at the ground, not meeting their eyes. "...You know," Sweetie Belle mused, "real friends will forgive each other no matter what. Even after the worst argument." Silver's eyes snapped up. "How did you know about that--?!" "You were telegraphing it so obviously that even I noticed," Scootaloo deadpanned. The unicorn gave her a look. "I was trying to be subtle." "Whatever you said can't have been that bad, though," Scootaloo continued obliviously. "I said I hated her and wished she'd change back to normal..." Silver admitted quietly. Apple Bloom sighed. "Tell ya what. You get miss Cheerilee to set whatever assignments she has for us aside, and we'll go find Diamond so that you two can talk. Alright?" "...I..." Silver Spoon sighed. "...Alright..." 46.2 (misterq) "We have a pattern... Red? No, w..white? A pink pattern? What does this mean?" Misato stared at the screen. Shinji blinked, trying to sort through his extensive loop memories. A pink pattern could mean one of a few different types of looping angels. He kind of hoped it would be the angel version of Dan Hibiki. "Where is it?" the third child asked. "It's nearby. The magi are having a hard time locking on. It's over the water, no wait – twenty miles out. Fifteen miles southwest. Now it's three miles to the north. I can't pinpoint its location." "Have you tried looking right behind you?" asked a high pitched, yet helpful voice. "No, we haven't looked......" Misato stopped mid-sentence and everyone in the NERV control center slowly turned around. Shinji paled as he recognized that particular pink-coated pony, who was now apparently the fourth angel – Pinkiel. "Hi there!" the adorable abomination chirped. "Do you all like parties?" Shinji thought frantically. He remembered what a looping Pinkie Pie was capable of. Still, there had to be a safe way of diffusing the situation. That was when his father pulled out his pistol and fired six rapid shots at the pink pony – who was suddenly no longer standing where she had been. "Wow! You got me gifts!" Pinkie was now on top of a computer monitor, balancing on her back two legs while happily juggling six spent bullets, "But I didn't get you anything." "Oh, I can show you a magic trick! Watch this! Nothing up my sleeves," The pink pony gestured at her front forelegs and giggled, adding, "Because I'm naked!" Then she reached behind her back and into her mane and pulled out a large cupcake. A cupcake topped with the embryo of Adam, the first angel. One quick gulp later and it was gone. "Mmm! Instrumentalicious!" Pinkie licked her lips of any loose crumbs as she started glowing, "Oh, I guess that's the ball game. Go team Angel!" There was a bright flash of light. "Get up Shinji! You'll be late for school." After having more than a few loops together, Shinji recognized the voice to be his mother's. "I'm awake. What happened?" Yui Ikari walked into his bedroom, "Did you stay up too late yesterday? If you want, I can call your school and tell them you partied too hard yesterday." "Partied? What was yesterday?" "Yesterday was a party day," Shinji only now realized that his mother was wearing a t-shirt that read, 'If you can read this, you're far too sober! "Party day?" he asked. "That's right. A day dedicated to celebrating the joy and wonder found in life. But don't worry, Shin-chan. Today is a party day, too." "Are... are there any days that are not party days?" Yui looked aghast at such a thought, "What would be the fun of a non-'party day' day? Now I'm off to work at the balloon factory. If you decide to go to school, bus fare is on the table. I'll have to stop by your father's work and make sure he gets the lunch he forgot. I swear, he would leave his head if he didn't need it for his job managing the cookie mines." Shinji just stared as his mother put on a silly party hat and left the apartment. Happy dance music could be heard outside while the front door was open. He went to the living room and cautiously turned on the television. A lady dressed as a harlequin was announcing the weather – an eighty percent chance of confetti with possible flurries of glitter later in the evening. The former Eva pilot just sat there in a dazed state on his couch, only barely noticing that it was made from one giant marshmallow. (addendum, from FanOfMostEverything) I Am. Or Am I? I forget. And I'm not sure which bits are supposed to be spoken in Big Important Capital Letters. Is there a guide for this somewhere? Anyway... oh, right, all the ominous threats and "Grr, I'm awesome, fear me" stuff. And something about "the Base Earth," but really, that just seems kind of racist. Unless it's in the sense of there being an Acid Earth somewhere. What? What do you mean I'm out of time? Who's in charge of this recording studio, anyway? Fiiiine. I am the Pony of Celebration. The Joy of Faust. I am Pinkiel. I have come. To party. 46.3 “Observe, Ponyville, the multitudinous talents of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie called, setting off a few fireworks. “Why do I have to wear the bunny suit?” Chrysalis grumbled. “For two reasons. First, all magicians' assistants have to wear sparkly bunny suits,” Trixie informed her. Chrysalis looked unimpressed. Her current form was that of a black-coated pegasus with a crystalline flower for a cutie mark, so the bunny suit merely looked mostly ridiculous. “Second,” Trixie coughed. “I like seeing you in a bunny suit.” At that, the disguised Changeling perked up a bit. There were a few chuckles from those of the audience close enough to hear the by-play. “Right!” Trixie said, getting back into the swing of things. “The first trick that the Great and Powerful Trixie shall do, is the disappearing coin trick!” She looked over to Chrysalis. “Lend me a coin, will you?” “I'm not falling for that again!” Chrysalis protested. “Not after the last fifty times.” More giggles. “Fine then.” Trixie looked off into the distance for a moment, theatrically sighing and frowning. “What about this?” She reached behind Chrysalis' ear, and pulled a bit from behind it. “That's just pathetic,” Chrysalis griped. “I've seen that before.” Another bit fell out from behind her ear. Then another. With a clinking rush of wealth, at least fifty bits poured out from behind Chrysalis' ear, leaving her looking quite confused. “Oh, so that's where they keep disappearing to,” Trixie said, nodding. “Mystery solved.” “Are there any more back there?” Chrysalis asked plaintively. Trixie reached back again, this time with both hooves. “Hold on a minute, I think there is something...” There was a series of clang noises. Then the sound of something heavy falling over, a croak as though from a frog, two snatches of music, and the noise a plate makes when it spins around on the floor. “Got it!” Trixie announced, flourishing her prize – a large red stick with a lit fuse. “Uh...” Chrysalis pointed. “Trixie?” “Use my title!” Trixie snapped, waving the stick around. Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Oh, Great and Powerful Trixie. You're holding an explosive.” “Eh?” Trixie brought it up to her face to examine it. BOOM. Both unicorn and faux-pegasus blinked away soot from their eyes. “...ignore that!” Trixie called, wiping her face clean with a towel. “Now, where was Trixie?” “I don't know, you tell me,” Chrysalis snarked. “Ah, the classic! A rabbit from a hat!” Trixie swept her hat off her head, reached in up to the shoulder, and pulled out Angel. “Ta-da!” Angel bit her hoof. “Ow!” Trixie leapt a foot into the air. “Chryssy! Catch that bunny!” Chrysalis lunged forward, missed Angel completely, and fell into the hat. Angel bounced off, throwing a carrot as a parting shot. “...oops.” Trixie picked up her hat and shook it. “Are you okay in there?” “Get me out of here!” a slightly echoey version of Chrysalis' voice demanded. Trixie turned the hat upside down and shook it. Two more rabbits (less violent than Angel), a cheese wedge, a spare cloak, three magazines and a wardrobe crashed out. Then there was a loud splash, and some water pattered out of the opening. “Are you in the swimming pool?” Trixie asked, moving the hat right side up again. “Not quite,” Chrysalis replied, over the sound of running water. “I think this might be the games room.” Trixie frowned. “There's no water in the games room!” “There is now,” Chrysalis said grimly. “Hold on, I can see the opening.” With an ungraceful splat, a black pegasus flew upside down out of the hat's innards and promptly crashed into the stage. Trixie put her hat back on (resulting in a rush of water) and lifted Chrysalis off the floor. “The rabbit escaped.” “I do not care in the slightest,” Chrysalis said distinctly. “What now?” “Well, Trixie has not done the saw-a-pony-in-half trick-” Chrysalis turned to go. “-but she supposes it may be possible to skip that?” Trixie tried. The pegasus stopped. “You'd better.” “We have clearly hit on a winning formula,” Trixie said over tea that evening. “No kidding,” Spike said, putting a plate of biscuits on the table. “That was hilarious!” “I'm glad you approve...” Chrysalis muttered. Somehow, the bunny outfit had survived unscathed through the hour or so of... postmodern magic show? “I notice that it introduced you both to Ponyville quite nicely, though,” Twilight said encouragingly. “True.” Chrysalis then shot a look over at Twilight. “Has that extra suite for Trixie and I been finished yet?” “Yes, it usually is by now when you want to stay here,” Twilight confirmed. “Good.” Chrysalis grinned suddenly. “The hive mind thinks I've gone a bit strange, though.” “Is that-” “That's accounting for the loops, yes.” The Changeling Queen then shrugged. “But it's clearly working, so they don't exactly mind.” 46.4 “Okay, here we go.” Applebloom poured out the pre-programmed mycelium vial. The billions of tiny nanomachines suspended in solution spread as a golden haze over the surface of their target rock, eating into it, then spread to others as it turned to dust. It grew more like a plant than a machine, sinking roots into the ground and spreading micron-thin solar film to gather energy. About two minutes in, a quiet signal from Cookie indicated that the mycelium had obtained access to sufficient magically charged crystal to initiate a crystal turbine, supplying additional power and accelerating the growth process markedly. In some ways, the slow progress it was making was annoying for the engineering specialist. It would go much better in a world where electricity was common, as opposed to a small number of hydro dams. But, well, she had the time for it. “I'd say... about a week,” she muttered to herself. That should give it time to properly dig out the areas of space for her lab, shore them up so the roof wouldn't be troubled, and get to work building the larger machinery she was going to need. It would also give her time to select a suitable drydock location, of course. And for the inevitable arguments with the other Crusaders about just what each of them wanted to have built this loop and what would be fair. (They were still resentful of her little trick with HMS Dreadnought. Just a bit.) “That can't be fair!” Scootaloo protested. “We're starting only twenty miles apart?” “Well,” Sweetie replied, eyeing the Skokaku-class aircraft carrier floating just offshore. “If we started at much further than that, then it'd be a full day of you just bombing us all to bits. We know aircraft carriers are longer ranged-” “Yeah, and I'm kinda annoyed that I'm getting so nerfed by this.” Scootaloo twitched her wings. “Besides, have you seen how many flak guns Applebloom's got on that ridiculous Yamato?” “Don't bring the Yamato into this,” Applebloom said, sitting back and crossing her hooves. “Oh, for crying out loud!” Nyx slammed a hoof on the floor. “We built the things, now are we going to use them or just spend all day arguing?” Sullen muttering trailed off into silence. “Right. Now, as the referee I'll make the decision. Start fifty kilometres apart.” All of them started complaining. “See?” she pointed out. “At least all of you are unhappy.” “Alright, then, fine.” Tiara shook her head. “I suppose that'll be alright.” A dozen dive bombers tipped over, one by one, sailing down towards the mammoth battleship which was their target. Which seemed to explode beneath them. Scootaloo blinked, reading off the reports in her high-tech plotting room as her entire first strike disintegrated. “Okay, what. Applebloom?” A chat connection opened. “What the hay did you just do?” “Shotgun rounds for the main guns,” Applebloom replied mischeviously. “They were part of the original equipment, but I... fixed a few glaring problems.” Scootaloo sighed. “Okay, that sucks.” The connection blanked out for a moment, as the Yamato fired a full broadside. “Oh, hey, Tiara turned up. Stand still, dang nabbit!” The pegasus giggled; having sunk her entire allowance of resources into a destroyer flotilla at least twenty strong, Tiara was going to be a pain for any of the others to take out. That just left Sweetie to make an appearance. And she'd kept her setup secret from the others, so... With a button press, Scootaloo closed the connection and started putting together a torpedo bomber strike. The last of the fifteen Avengers rose gently from her flight deck, circled once to join the rest of the formation, and set off towards the madly evading battleship over the horizon. (A Catalina loitering well above any possible counterfire was still reporting on the battle – Yamato was hit once by a torpedo but still game, and Tiara was down to fifteen destroyers. Scootaloo wanted to be able to hit the winner before they could head for her.) She took a moment out on the flight deck to watch them leave. It kinda sucked that she couldn't fly the attacks herself, but – well, there weren't enough of her, and everypony who knew the Shadow Clone technique had decided not to teach it to the Crusaders. For some reason. Then Scootaloo spotted an unusual wave pattern just off the bow. Nyx adjusted her binoculars. “This would be so much easier if I'd thought to have them make a plotting board for me...” With a bright flash, Scootaloo appeared. “Oh, come on! First down again?” The alicorn turned to her. “Hi, Scoots. What got you?” “Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo removed the teleport harness, grumbling. “Ever heard of a submarine with a twelve-inch gun fitted to it? 'cause I have now.” Fire and flame belched out from the Yamato's position, and Diamond Tiara appeared in another flare of light. “Hard left and... oh, shrub.” “Shotgun rounds?” Scootaloo asked. “Shotgun rounds,” Tiara confirmed. They settled down to watch. “Hey, I found out what Sweetie's driving,” Scootaloo volunteered. “Submarine monitor.” Tiara giggled. “Now that'll be a surprise.” Applebloom put her spanner down. “Counterfloodin' successful.” The compartments were sealed, stopping any more water getting into Yamato, and adding water into the port side of the ship had got her back onto an even keel. Now the only question was, where were the others? Gunfire started, with the small quick-firers blazing away on the port side. By the sound of things, Scootaloo's second strike was on the way in... torpedo bombers this time. The torpedo bomber strike hadn't been much trouble, not with the ridiculously heavy AA complement of Yamato. It was confusing that they'd all come in on the same vector, not at all like Scoots' normal flair for air tactics, but Applebloom wasn't complaining. But it was over an hour later, and still no sign of another attack. The Catalina buzzing around keeping an eye on her was getting nerve-wracking, as it happened. And there was this nagging feeling she'd forgotten something. Then the Jaws theme started playing. “Sweetie?” Applebloom asked, checking the radar. “Peek-a-boo!” Sweetie's voice said gleefully, and then there was a very loud bang. “Ah, fiddlesticks,” Applebloom muttered. “No wonder she kept it secret...” “I could have taken her,” Tiara proclaimed. “I have ASDIC.” “Had,” Scootaloo corrected. “Er...” Nyx looked down from the cloud. “Any idea when she's coming up 3?” 46.5 “Right,” Queen Twilight said, with a deep sigh. “Now, since you're all past your majority-” She broke off to glare at Nyx. “And you. I've been keeping track.” Nyx looked embarrassed, then with a flash of magic aged up to the same as her sisters. They looked somewhere between just-post-elements Luna and Cadence. “You mean she wasn't just ageing slowly?” Diamond Tiara asked Applebloom. Applebloom shrugged. “As if I'd know.” “As I was saying,” Twilight resumed, ignoring the peanut gallery. “Since you've reached adulthood, you get to take on responsibility.” “Do we have to?” Scootaloo asked with a hint of whine. “Scootaloo,” Twilight said pointedly. “Why are we currently in the New Annexe?” “...'cause we burned down Canterlot Palace, the Old Annexe and the Canterhorn,” Scootaloo admitted. “Tryin' to get a princess specialization for something something volcano.” “Turns out that a volcano isn't just a mountain doused in resinous pine sap and set alight,” Sweetie added. “Who knew?” “Everypony who's ever looked at a geology textbook?” Tiara asked. “Shush, you're not helping.” “As I was saying,” Twilight dragged them back on topic, “I've been sorting out various catastrophes you lot have been causing for just about half of my time awake for the last fifteen years.” “Hey, four of those years were before we Awoke,” Sweetie said with a pout. “Those don't count!” “In short, I need a break. Seriously. Divide things up amongst yourselves, I'm off for a nap. And the country better be in good shape when I get back!” Twilight flashed purple, and vanished. In her place was an ornate document assigning the five of them as co-princesses regnant. They were all silent for a few seconds. “...hey, cool,” Sweetie said eventually. “I know how this is supposed to work. Mom's away for the day-” “-century,” Applebloom contributed, nodding up at the sky. They looked, and saw a constellation spread across half the night. It was a good likeness. “When did she learn that?” Tiara wondered. “I did overhear her say that moons were a bit passé a few loops ago,” Nyx volunteered. “She may have gotten tips from Okami Shiranui about it.” “Anyway. She's away for a while, and... well, the usual thing to do is party.” “Can we really sustain it for a century?” Applebloom asked, then frowned and got out a computer. “Actually, we probably could. For given values of party.” “Golden age?” Scootaloo suggested. “Dances every night? Flowering of art and culture? Designated ruler and the rest of us getting drunk?” “This might be a bad idea...” Nyx said, nervously. “Oh, sure,” Applebloom said with a shrug. “We're not stupid, we'll stop if it's not working. But – well, look at it this way. When have we ever had a chance to have proper college-style parties?” “Looking at it that way, it's good for us.” Sweetie put on a pious expression, fooling precisely nopony. “Experiences we haven't had before.” Diamond Tiara grinned. “Bet I can make a real archaeologist's dream of a jewellery industry!” 46.6 (Masterweaver) Silver Spoon stared at her friend. Well.... at the pony that had once been her friend and probably would be again once she finished processing this. "...this is crazy." Diamond Tiara tapped her hoof against the table. "Yeah, it's... pretty insane. Especially since..." She trailed off. "...since...?" "Erm. The entire reason you're Awake now is, uh..." The pink filly sighed. "You know how I said we're not the only universe? One of the other universes just... collapsed." She shuddered. "Gone. Completely. Like... even the memories of that universe are gone, and all the admins have are a few corrupted files. Every loop just went through a hard reset because of that, and most of them have new loopers. And, uh... that's you." Silver Spoon blinked. For a moment she sat completely still. Then she started hyperventilating. "GONE? Barely a trace and, and, a whole world and all those ponies and that could happen to us without warning and we have no idea when any of these problems are going to be fixed and–" Diamond's hooves slammed onto the table as she shoved her face into Silver's. "ZIP YOUR LIPS! It's the job of the ponies up top to worry! Your job is to keep yourself as sane as possible and in the trenches while the world loops! I don't ever want to catch you thinking about problems you can't solve, is that clear filly?!" "...y'sm'm..." After a moment, the stern face pulled back and morphed into something somewhat recognizable. "I'm... sorry about that. You didn't deserve to see me as a drill Sargent, I just... I didn't know how to comfort you. I'm... not good with that." Diamond sighed. "In all seriousness, when it comes to Yggdrasil, you should leave things to the admins. They make mistakes, but... they know what they're doing for the most part." The two of them sat quietly for a long while. "...you've changed," Silver Spoon said finally. "I've had literally millennia of experiences," Diamond Tiara pointed out. "Occasionally in one loop." After a moment, Silver Spoon pushed her chair back and got up. "I... I'm sorry. This is... I... Miss Twilight is this anchor pony, right?" She trotted toward the door. "I, I think I'll go talk to her." "Silver wait! We're still friends... right?" The grey filly paused, her hoof on the door. "...Are we? I mean, we. Because you're not the the Tiara I know and... let's face it, if you're right, you've passed over millions of Silver Spoons before me. I... maybe one day we'll be friends. Real friends. But right now... we don't even really know each other, the real each other, Tiara." She shook her head, not looking back. "I would love it if we became friends but right now... no. We're just strangers." With that, she stepped out. 46.7 Twilight had Awoken... behind a desk. That wasn't particularly usual, unless the loop was starting far enough back that she'd be in school. Much stranger, however, was that she was at a desk built for humans. As a human. And that there was a large, yellow flag with a rendition of her cutie mark on it draped over the desk. At this point, she decided that it would be easier to just scan her loop memories rather than try to work it out on her own. “...huh,” she concluded intelligently, walking over to a window and looking out. She was La Presidenta, ruler of the tiny Caribbean nation of Tropico, and an absolute presidential dictator. In theory. In practice, she was having to balance the desires of about eight factions, each of whom wanted something completely different from their Glorious Leader. “Right.” Twilight cracked her knuckles. “I do enjoy a challenge.” NewsLine September 3, 1950 The small Caribbean island nation of Tropico has recently announced a programme of subsidized government research into space travel. La Presidenta was quoted as saying 'space is the future of mankind, and I feel that Tropico is uniquely well positioned to lead the world in space travel'. International observers are skeptical, with many pointing out that space travel is at most a theoretical concept at this date, and that the republic of Tropico currently has a struggling economy. La Presidenta's economic policies to date have resulted in a 4% reduction in unemployment this year, but prominent economists state that this is merely a case of 'regression to the mean'. NewsLine July 11, 1955 Stunning the world, La Presidenta of the small island nation of Tropico today informed reporters that 'as of eleven PM, local time, a satellite is in orbit around the planet Earth'. The satellite, which is apparently named 'Eos' (dawn) contains a simple radio transmitter powerful enough to be detected across an entire hemisphere. The signal it broadcasts is a simple Morse code, which has been decoded to mean 'peace'. Mr. Forest, the radiotechnology pioneer who stated in this very paper just a few months ago that space travel was impossible, was not available for comment. NewsLine November 18, 1956 The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics has announced the launch of a radiosatellite of the Eos type into a polar orbit. In their press release, the Premier said that the satellite – known as Sputnik – was the start of a grand plan to spread Socialism beyond the boundaries of the planet Earth. La Presidenta, when contacted, simply smiled. Journal of Economic Science 1958 edition “...curiously, Tropico's unemployment rate over the last fiscal year has been at one tenth of one percent. This may simply indicate that the statistics have been fiddled with, of course, but in my last visit I was unable to discover such an adjustment. The other possibility is that this is related to the way the small nation has become such a hotbed of scientific advances in the last eight years. Much like the United Kingdom in the last century, sustained technological advantage leads to an economic advantage in train...” NewsLine April 11, 1963 The nation of Tropico, already one of the world's wealthiest, has entered into negotiations with telecommunications companies around the globe to sell time on so-called 'Geosynchronous' satellites. These satellites, devised originally in an article by Arthur Charles Clarke (the well-known science fiction writer) perpetually orbit at a fixed position over the rotating Earth, thus making them trivial targets for radio beams. The downside of these satellites is that they are sufficiently high up to induce latency into a telephone call, though television transmission will of course not be affected. Internal memo White House, 1963 ...in the absence of any sign of Red affiliation in the nation of Tropico, the lack of a government willing to be influenced by the United States can perhaps be overlooked. Tropico is becoming an important stabilizing influence in the entire Caribbean and the north coast of South America, and knocking it out might result in not only Tropico but the whole area going Red. Recommendation: no action. Radio transmission June 21, 1965 “...this is the Nyx lander, reporting from the Bay of Dreams. We're down, Madam President. Soft landing, everything looks green.” The most difficult question with this kind of loop, Twilight mused, was precisely how much to 'cheat'. She'd done... well, quite a bit of cheating over the last two and a half decades. Supporting the technologies which she knew would work, prodding at inventors to produce faster results, even occasionally slipping a paper or two into the publication schedule under an assumed name when the intellectual community got a little stuck. And the latest drive system was... well, about fifty years early even given everything else. Still, she decided, watching the firey re-entry trail of Celestia IV as it brought home the year's first load of Helium-3, it was satisfying to see what Tropico could become with just a bit of outside assistance. Twilight sipped at her lime cordial with the satisfaction of a job well done. Besides, she thought with a smile, it's better than the normal round of coups and revolutions any loop. 46.8 (OracleMask) Twilight was having trouble deciding what to do for this Summer Sun Celebration. Neither Luna nor Nyx was awake this time, and none of her usual ideas were appealing. The unicorn had blinked over to Ponyville to see if any of her friends had anything to try. Twilight was trotting down Ponyville's main street when she spotted an interesting conversation taking place over a plate of hay fries. "Really? I've always wondered what it was like underwater..." Fluttershy was...on a date? Okay, that was definitely new. The butter-yellow pegasus was sitting on the other side of the cafe table from a brown pegasus stallion with yellow hair. Before Twilight could get any sense of what was going on, Fluttershy spotted her and waved. "So he's a looper?" Twilight asked Fluttershy. The pegasus's ears twitched. In response, Fluttershy looked abashed. "Um...he would like me to remind you that he can hear you perfectly fine, even if he doesn't like to talk very much...if that's okay with you, Twilight." "Right, sorry," Twilight said. This was the strangest one-sided conversation she'd ever been in. 'Doesn't talk much'...seemed more like 'doesn't talk at all' to her. At least Fluttershy could translate for her, otherwise Twilight would never have understood what Link was 'saying'. "Nightmare Moon will be here in two minutes. Are you sure that's all you want to use?" Twilight asked. Link nodded, his wings shuffling a little bit as he adjusted his grip on his extremely complicated-looking slingshot. "Um...he said, 'You said she can teleport, right?'," Fluttershy translated. "That's right," Twilight responded. Right on time, Nightmare Moon burst in through the curtains and began her speech. Just before she finished, the pegasus loaded a seed into his slingshot and fired it at Nightmare Moon. It landed on the stage between her forehooves and cracked. "The night shall last...what? Wait! N-NOOOOOOoooooooo!" A tornado erupted from inside the seed, tore a hole in the ceiling, and carried the screaming Nightmare Moon off into the distance. Less than five minutes later, she reappeared on the stage, disheveled and furious. "It will take more than petty tricks to -" This time the seed hit Nightmare Moon's helmet. Five minutes later, Nightmare Moon reappeared. There was a tree branch stuck in her ethereal mane. "WHOEVER IS DOING THAT -" ...Ten minutes later, a very dizzy Nightmare Moon reappeared on stage, staggering like a drunk. "We...WILL find you, whoever – ugh – whoever you are, and–" This time three seeds hit Nightmare Moon. Twilight briefly went to check on the Mare in the Moon when she didn't come back and found Princess Luna, out cold, stuck in an apple tree in Appleloosa. "Not bad," Twilight said, "You said those were called Gale Seeds?" Putting away his slingshot, Link stretched his wings out – revealing his cutie mark of three golden triangles – and nodded. "Which Link are you, anyway?" Twilight asked, perusing her list of Hub fiction. Link gave an elaborate wing-shrug. Fluttershy went wide-eyed. "Oh my. That sounds terribly confusing." "What did he say?" Twilight asked. "He said 'Your guess is as good as mine. I've been them all, and there's some reincarnation thing going on that doesn't help. Zelda tried to explain that part to me a few times but I don't really understand it.'" Link waved a hoof, and Fluttershy dutifully added, "'But didn't you say something about a chaos monster appearing later today?'" "That's right, Discord. He doesn't seem to be looping this time, but he makes it hard to tell for sure." "'Huh. Okay, I think I have something that should work really...Fluttershy, you can stop now?'...oh, sorry," Fluttershy said. Discord broke free of his stone prison. He stretched, idly turning the hedge maze into a wobbly pile of jello. Being stuck in one pose for a thousand years gave him such a crick in the neck! "Finally! Time to spruce up this boring world with some of my patented chaos!...Eh?" In front of him was a brown pegasus holding a bottle with a lit fuse attached. Without a word, the pegasus tossed the bottle to the ground just as it busted open with muffled BANG and a puff of soot. The soot fell to the ground, revealing...a chicken. "Hmm," Discord said, studying the soot-covered chicken with a magnifying glass and ignoring the unholy look in its beady eyes, "Is it Chicken Day already? How unexpected of Celestia to keep my national holidays!" It took Discord another moment to realize the pegasus had taken off at a dead run. And then, crowing their wrath, the Cucco Horde descended. Getting a Cucco into a bottle was hard. Attaching a small bomb to the bottle without angering the Cucco further was harder. Using the Cucco Horde Bomb on unsuspecting victims, Link thought to himself as he watched the carnage from several miles away, was priceless. 46.9 (masterweaver) Draco took a moment to consider his position. It was, on the whole, not very good. One: He was a travelling performer. Or rather, replacing a travelling performer. That meant no money and barely any reputation to use, which in turn meant actual work. Two: The nobility here was so... naive. There wasn't anything like blood purity or even a secret source of power. Equality was the name of the game, and that meant nothing he could do would convince the others of his inherent superiority. Three: The native anchor was angry at him and having him go through these... pointless morality lessons. Loyalty was of course something he already understood, though that rainbow pegasus had insisted that it was a "two way street". Generosity and Kindness were supposed to be masks, not ideals. Honesty was simply idiotic, and laughter.... laughter was just too random to put into this already pathetic mishmash. Even magic wasn't properly represented, sounding more like Dumbledore's silly friendship nonsense then anything practical. Four: Twilight Sparkle had made it utterly clear that she or any of the other native loopers could easily make his life hell. That just wasn't fair. He was from the first five! These... ponies were damned upstarts! Which led right into the final point: He was a pony. Granted, one of the obviously superior unicorn race, but still. At least his coat was a lovely slytherin green. He did not see how this could get any worse. Draco tromped up the library stairs, slamming the door to the gueest room open. A day of boring lectures, vile animals, tedious hard labor, inane prattle, veiled insults, and deranged giggles was over and done with. No doubt the next day would contain more of the... same... Something was stretched languidly on his bed, flicking its tattered tail idly as its mane dripped down its neck. It was very definitely female, and vaguely pony shaped, but covered in black chitin with holes in its long, slender legs. The creature was appraising him with half lidded cat eyes, its fangs gleaming in the moonlight. An eerie green glow surrounded the crooked shaft of its horn; Draco heard the door behind him swing shut. "I am quite... put out." Draco Malfoy narrowed his eyes at the buzzing voice. "Really." "Hmm, yes. You see, the entertainer you're replacing, she and I are... involved, shall we say." The creature slipped off the bed, cricking its neck idly. "And of course I can... survive, without her. It's not too much of a problem. And yet... I find myself offended by the fact she was replaced by something as pathetic as you." Normally Draco would have shouted his own merits, but something about that statement held him back. He trotted idly round the outer edge of the room, eyes never leaving the strange beast. "I apologize for my insult." "You do not mean that," the creature pointed out. "It would be obvious to a non looping foal you did not mean that, and that is exactly why you have earned my ire. I have never visited Hogwarts, but from what I understand the house of Slytherin is supposed to be home to the cunning." She glowered at the unicorn as he moved. "But you, you were sorted into that house because you were too cowardly for Gryiffindor, too stupid for Ravenclaw, and too lazy for Hufflepuff. You have no ambitions, no true cunning, and the only reason the Hat didn't expel you then and there was your connections which just barely qualified you to be in the house of snakes." He froze, his face controting in rage. "...You dare to judge my worthiness? To say I have no place in Slytherin when you have never even visited--?!" "Yes." "You have no right--!" "I have every right, Draco Malfoy." The creature took a single step towards him. "Every loop, I am in charge of a race that has to feed off of love." Another step was taken. "I have to make sure my children are not starving, and to do that I have to earn the love of a non-looping populace." And another. "Look at what I am, Draco. I am beautiful and hideous, and my children do not share my beauty." And another. "And yet, every loop, my swarm survives. Not through force, but through crafty manipulations, through our ability to take other's forms and feel other's feelings, though coordination and sly tricks and never once has Equestria suspected a thing." Her breath was cold on his face. "You were sorted into Slytherin, Draco Malfoy. I was born into it." The blonde unicorn took a moment to process the words. "...then we have a common enemy in Twilight Sparkle." "No." "But–" "A true Slytherin has no enemies," the creature stated as she pulled back, "or at least none worth naming. Enemies are for the brave Gryffindors to fight, for the intelligent Ravenclaws to outwit, for the persevering Hufflepuffs to endure. Any creature that would be an enemy to Slytherin is to be... subverted. The reason for its opposition removed. And if that is impossible, then ensure it will also fight one of the other houses. In the baseline of this world Twilight Sparkle has every reason to hate me and my children, but as an Anchor I have convinced her to allow my nation to thrive. That is the true power that Slytherin claims. And that is the power that I will instil into you." She smiled. It was not a kind smile. "The elements are telling you what their traits are, how to embody them. I will teach you how to use them properly in the house of snakes. I will teach you how to be a harmonious Slytherin. And I will teach you this. You would try to deny me, but I can ensure you will suffer till the loop's end. So, Draco Mal–" "AVADA KEDAVRA!" The creature fell dead. Draco took a moment to catch his breath before breaking out in a wide grin. Ha, as if that thing could ever– With a long, dry creak, the door swung open. He turned to see the newcomer--and his jaw dropped in shock. "Did I forget to mention? My people have a hive mind." The thing smirked. "It's not possible to kill me." After a moment, Draco Malfoy fainted. Twilight raised an eyebrow as Chrysalis giggled and hopped down the stairs. "I take it things went... decently?" "It's been so long since I've played the evil queen! I've forgotten how fun it can be!" The changeling waved a casual hoof, preemptively dismissing the librarian's concerns. "Don't worry, I won't let it get to me. I promise." "I'll hold you to that." 46.10 (masterweaver) Twilight blinked Awake, looking up from her standard book of lore... ...and coming face to face with three very human looking women. "Oh. Did... I do something wrong?" "We don't know yet," Urd said, conjuring up a chair and sitting down. "But you did come in contact with a Skaia protocol. That means you and every other looper involved in the session need to be debriefed." "Sleipnir's gathering your friends up," Belldandy added. "He thought it might be better for the local admin to send out the call... That and, well, we don't blend in with the natives very well." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "We're in a public park..." Skuld crossed her arms, glaring at her sisters. "I told you we should have waited for her to get to the library. But noooooo, you two had to get to her as soon as possible--" "Do you have anything from that loop in your subspace pocket?" Urd demanded. "Alchemically manufactured items, sylladexs, pumpkins, ectobiology devices, anything?" The unicorn sighed, reaching into her mane and pulling various things out. "I assume that you're going to confiscate all of this anyway..." "Not necessarily," Belldandy reassured her as Skuld began sorting through the items. "Anything that could cause Skaia-type alchemy or ectobiology to develop, yes. Anything that's a danger to the loop, yes. But everything else–" "Safe!" Skuld tossed a wand back to Twilight, who caught it and put it to her left. "Could you double check and make sure no Grist got caught in there? That happens sometimes." "Sure." Twilight tugged at the opening of her subspace pocket, peering down into it. "I've got to warn you, though, the others don't have theirs as organized as mine, so it might take a bit for them to find anything in their pockets..." Various abstract forms were swept out into the open. Urd smiled a bit. "You're being very helpful, I like that. Most of the time we get people who feel cheated that they didn't get to see the universe they created." That got the librarian's attention. "Wait, the genesis frog worked? I thought that the loops would--" "The Skaia protocol is... something we haven't quite locked down," Belldandy admitted. "We got all the programs that were active at the time of the crash looping, although we haven't activated any loopers in them. Too many potential malicious loop entities..." "The fact is enough Skaia programs got shaken loose that they started drifting." Skuld shrugged. "Most of the time they go for something near the Hub, but occasionally we'll get a seed out here. We lock em down as quick as we can find them, but we usually only find them after they've generated a new branch." Twilight tilted her head. "Why a frog, though?" Urd shrugged. "The guy who programmed the protocol was... weird." "Anyway," Skuld continued, "it's now standard procedure to debrief all loopers who get caught up in the Skaia protocol, check any universe they created, and see if any other problems have arisen." "Like prototyping a first guardian?" Twilight shook her head. "I read Homestuck before this, and I tried to ensure nothing like that happened. Um, is the looping Skaia protocol--" "Yes. It's Homestuck." Belldandy shuddered. "And now you know why we will never activate anyone in there." "Ah." 46.11 (SpaceKGreen) He sighed as he woke up unexpectedly. He hadn't been careful enough, and as he had learned, one mistake and you had to start all over. Taking stock of his surroundings, he noticed some oddities. Everything looked... smoother. His body felt weird. Maybe this was one of those–? Unfamiliar memories flowed into his mind. At the same time, senses formed over countless years screamed at him. One word stood out. DIAMONDS. Applejack and Twilight stood and stared at the odd sight in the orchard. A tree stood there. More accurately, part of a tree stood there; branches swayed merrily in the breeze, ignoring the fact that a large section of trunk was missing. Every now and then one of the branches would remember that gravity existed, falling to the ground. Nearby was a strange wooden box with various pieces of wood and apples strewn about it, and next to that was a strange hole leading deep into the ground. "Ah'd say it was a Diamond Dog, but..." began Applejack. "Yeah, Diamond Dogs don't leave floating trees. Or dig perfectly square holes." Twilight racked her memories. "Hold on..." Applejack shot her a questioning glance. "Remember that one strange loop we were in a while back? Where everything was blocky?" asked Twilight. "Yeah, Ah remember that one. Apple Bloom an' the others were thrilled with it fer some reason, Sweetie Belle especially." Applejack's eyebrows shot up. "Wait. Ah thought that place was one of them universes with no Anchors or home loops." "So did I." Twilight admitted. "It didn't seem like it was, well, fleshed out enough to have a stable loop. I heard stories from other Anchors who ended up there, and nobody seemed to have the same experience." She looked up as the last branch realized that there wasn't anything holding it up and fell with a crash. "Well, it seems that we have a new Looper on our hooves. And if their home loop is different every time," her eyes widened, "they probably don't even know that they're looping. This will be an interesting explanation." Applejack peered down the hole. "If'n we can find them." 46.12 (FanOfMostEverything) It was late in another lonely Loop, and Twilight had gotten sucked into the enchanted comic. Once again, Spike was demonstrating the greatest superpower of all: exposition. "You're the Masked Matter-Horn!" he told her. "You can fire all kinds of crazy power beams out of your horn!" Twilight smirked. "Really?" She'd done some research after her first trip here, using nonmagical comics. The Matter-Horn was actually a pegasus who'd invented a sort of artificial horn, which explained why she'd had so much trouble using it the first time around. Now, however, she knew how to properly use the bizarre blend of magic and technology this subdimension insisted on. A bit of focus, a subvocalized command, and a pale blue ray shot out of her horn at a decent fraction of the speed of light. It struck the Mane-iac, who blinked and looked around, clearly confused. Her mane went still, then gently lowered her onto her hooves. "I…" She looked at the Electro Orb in one of her tendrils like she'd never seen it before. "What's going on?" The ponies (and dragon) were promptly ejected from the comic. The others boggled at Twilight for a bit. Spike broke the silence. "What did you do?" "'All kinds of crazy power beams,' right? Well, how hard could it be for the Masked Matter-Horn to fire a beam of sanity?" Twilight nuzzled her number-one assistant. "Couldn't have done it without you, Spike." 46.13 (Stainless Steel Fox) "Power ponies!" The Mane-iac exclaimed, "How kind of you to join us." The six ponies and one dragon started stripping off their costumes. "What is this?" The lunatic mare grinned, "So intimidated by me that you're going to give up without a fight?" "Not really," called down Twilight. "We just didn't want these costumes cramping our style." Mane-iac grabbed a cart and flung it at them, only to have it caught by a purple glow of energy and set down beside them. "But... none of you has that power..." Applejack jumped off the building they were on, and dropped to the street below, cracking the pavement as she landed. "I reckon you need to be more... grounded." She slammed her fore-hooves into the ground and the pavement around Mane-iac exploded upwards to encase her up to her neck. Pinkie appeared from a trash can beside her. "Heh he! Good one!" "Since when could Mistress Mare-velous control stone!" "The name's Applejack missy, and you ain't seen the half of what I can do!" Mane-iac growled and started smashing away at the stone with her hair-strands. Rarity glided down, having grown a pair of wings. "Dear me, your hair is completely unmanageable. Time for a make-over!" A massive pair of blue translucent shears appeared out of nowhere and started trimming away Mane-iac's locks. "Noooo! My locks are impervious to even your attack constructs, Radiance." "It's Rarity, and this is tectonium, a little something I whipped up to comb a mane of pure force. Which yours isn't." Mane-iac was half bald by now, and completely enraged. Her hair was regrowing, but Rarity was trimming it faster. "When I get the electro-orb to my secret weapon..." "You mean this electro-orb?" Pinkie appeared on the opposite side of the street, holding it in a hoof Mane-iac looked at what she was holding and found it was a cupcake. "How... Give it to me!" "Uh uh, you meanie-pants, you didn't say the 'Pinkie says'..." Twilight landed in front of her, in full floating hair princess mode and casually flicking away thrown pieces of pavement. "You see, we've fought real villains..." A lock of hair that had escaped Rarity's shears formed into a needle point and speared down at her, only to be trimmed by a rainbow shockwave that reverberated along the street. "... Thanks Dash, real, world ending honest to gosh, deity level threats. By comparison, you aren't even a warm-up." All the ponies had gone full floaty mane alicorn, and were letting their auras show. Mane-iac, now bald, cringed. But it was Spike who dropped off Twilight's back and strode up to her. Mane-iac gave one final snort. "Letting your useless sidekick Humdrum feel like he's useful? How heroic." "Oh, Spike is plenty useful. It's amazing what one of his smiles can do to convince ponies." "Ha, as if!" Spike suddenly swelled up into a great ancient wyrm and lowered his head to her level, grinning to expose teeth bigger than she was. He rumbled, "Care to reconsider?" But Mane-iac had fainted. 46.14 (Nikas) Silver Spoon screamed as soon as she left her – once – friend's home. It wasn't frustration, it was several times her weight of airborne predator snatching her up in it's talons and bearing her skyward. The filly's scream dopplered as the pale griffin bore her up and dropped her on a convenient cloud. To her shock she didn't fall through. This phenomenon stopped her screaming, as she cautiously poked the strangely solid (for an Earth Pony) cloud. "Why aren't I falling through?" The griffin responded, revealing she was a female. "I compacted it so it was solid enough to walk on without magic." Silver Spoon rubbed her hooves on the cloud. "Flyers can do that?" The griffin's beak split in what might have been a smile. "If you are sufficiently awesome, sure. But enough about me. This is about you getting over feeling bucked by your timing for Waking Up." Sliver Spoon could hear the capitalization, and spat, "A Looper." The griffin nodded, "Yeah, and so are you. So do we do this the Pony way and talk about how stupid your snit is? Or the Griffin way?" The filly cocked her head, "What's the Griffin way?" The smirk on the griffin grew, "I tie both forelegs behind my back and wire my beak shut, hand you something really powerful to give you half a chance, then there is bruising, a bit of blood, and probably a high speed dirt dive for one or both of us. We bond over the recovery, then I explain how stupid your snit is." Silver Spoon looked at the Griffin. The older flyer could obviously take her even before the Loops, and afterwards... even with only her hind paws and wings, and whatever that 'equalizer' was, she didn't fancy her chances. And it surprised her how little she cared about that gap right now, after D- after Tiara... She shoved the feeling of betrayal aside. "Why don't we try the Pony way for now." The Griffin's smirk got even bigger, as if she noticed her way wasn't off the table yet. She waved her tail in an oddly precise pattern and a couple of cloud couches popped up. Silver Spoon gave the griffin a look as hers was a classic psychiatrists' couch, but she hoped up on it. It was a measure of how weird her day was that the colour draining back into the griffin only merited a raised eyebrow. "Aren't you the Chief Weather Mare's friend?" The griffin nodded. "Yep, name's Gilda. So want to talk about why your friend looked like she just took a gut shot down there?" Silver Spoon didn't know why, but she just exploded. "That isn't my friend! I don't know who she is! I knew Diamond Tiara, but that pony that replaced her is a stranger! YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT FE-". The rant was cut off suddenly. Silver Spoon hadn't seen the griffin move. Gilda was just suddenly THERE. One set of talons was clamping her muzzle shut, the other cradled the back of her skull. Silver Spoon also noticed that the griffin had gone all pale again, and the look in her eye said it would be easy to snap the filly's neck, crush her skull, or if feeling merciful just break her jaw. "You are a new looper, so I'll let a lot go in the wind. But not finishing that sentence, understand?" Taking the abortive nod as understanding Gilda steered the filly around to another view off the cloud. The pair were now looking over Sweet Apple Acres. "A little visual aid here to show where things stand, and how much stupid nearly came out of your mouth." She pointed to the reservoir pond for the irrigation system. "That pond? That's Twilight Sparkle's status as an Anchor. The mare needs to lose weight." Silver Spoon surprised herself at the semi-hysterical giggle at the snide remark. Gilda continued, "Each tree is someone in Equestria. Get enough water from Lake Twilight and you start looping." A talon pointed at the Zap Apple orchard, the largest and oldest trees on the farm. Gilda started naming them, "Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash. My best friend." Ignoring Silver Spoon's squeak Gilda continued pointing at trees, moving out to younger and less water hungry varieties, still naming them. "Princess Celestia. Princess Luna. Twilight's brother Shining Armor. Princess Cadence, her sister-in-law. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. I'm about there and Tiara is right next to me." The talon finally pointed to a row of freshly planted saplings "And you are right there. I figure the gap between me and Dashie is larger than you and Tiara." Silver Spoon hardly noticed Gilda letting go, or the colour flowing back into her again as the filly flopped to the cloud. "How do you ever catch up?" she asked in despair. Gilda shook her head, "It ain't a question of catching up chick. Let me guess, you feel like your buddy left you behind?" At Silver Spoon's nod the griffin sighed, "Brutal Honesty is my schtick. So here it is. One of the curses of Looping is feeling like you are leaving everyone you care about who isn't Looping behind. The feeling sucks worse than a downdraft. We hope our friends join us, and fear them doing so for how experiencing that will make them feel. You'll get it quick, because..." Gilda pulled an apple from, somewhere, and bit deep into it. The bite nicked the core, exposing some apple seeds. "Remember when I was pointed out trees?" The griffin pointed to two seeds, "These are your parents." Silver Spoon's stomach dropped. "Wait, if I'm looping now, how long till Mom and Dad start?" Gilda shook her head, "It's not something even Twilight can put a number on. But from what I understand, your Looping is practically Divine Intervention. Sequoia willing things will be fixed before Twilight gets big enough for your parents to get watered." Silver Spoon choked back a sob, "How did you and Miss Dash deal with the gap?" The griffin put a talon gently under the crying filly's chin and gave her a lopsided grin. "Badly. Ran off for a few loops with Trixie and had interesting adventures trying to establish myself as a looper." Silver Spoon had to ask. "How 'interesting'?" Gilda chuckled. "Oh Oak, oh Ash, we are all going to die." She gave another grin. "I will tell you this though. No matter how busy she got. No matter how urgent the crisis. No matter how frustrated you made her at not being able to change? Every time the two of us were Awake and some version of you was in town, I always saw Diamond Tiara making time for her."