MLP Time Loops

by Saphroneth


Loops 49

49.1

Nightmare Moon gathered herself, ready to return to Equestria and take her vengeance.

“Come along, children, this way!” a cheerful voice said.

Wait, what? The Nightmare looked in the direction of the voice, which was behind a small hill, and crept up to the lip of the ridgeline so as to look over.

A motley group of confused-looking colts and fillies were gazing around themselves, or occasionally picking something up to marvel at the low weight. One, a pegasus, was flapping her small wings frantically and beaming as the effort resulted in a hover.

At the head of the group were two adult mares. One was an earth pony with a daisy-based cutie mark and carrying a piece of chalk in the side of her mouth, while the other was a purple unicorn levitating a blackboard alongside them. Nightmare Moon could also sense the magic side-wash of a powerful air bubble spell, providing breathable air for the whole assemblage of ponies.

The earth pony mare stopped and turned around, making Nightmare drop back out of sight in case she was spotted. There was the sound of something heavy landing on the regolith, and then the screeching of chalk on blackboard.

“Now, who can tell me anything about the moon? Yes, Scootaloo?”

“We're so light here! It's awesome!”

“That's correct.” The screech of more chalk. “The moon is smaller than Equestria, and a little less dense. That means that the total gravity here is only one sixth of that on the surface of our home planet. What about you, Snips?”

“Uh... I guess there's that we can see Equestria. It's huge – and really bright!”

“Yes. Like the moon is in our sky, we're in the moon's sky. But Equestria is several times larger than the moon, so since we're the same distance away from it as we normally are from the moon, it looks larger. And yes, Equestria reflects more light than the moon does, so it appears brighter.”

Nightmare peered over the ridgeline again, using a convenient rock for cover.

“Something else you might not have noticed about the moon,” the earth pony mare said, “is that it doesn't have an atmosphere. There's no air on the moon.”

“Uh... what are we breathing, miss Cheerilee?” a unicorn filly asked. As she said that, an earth pony did an exaggeratedly dramatic act of suffocating.

“Good question, Sweetie Belle. Twilight here didn't only get us to the moon, but also cast a spell which has given us air. If you could demonstrate, Twilight?”

The air-bubble spell altered slightly.

Twilight – presumably, at any rate – picked up a feather and a hammer from the tray of the blackboard. Holding them up, she dropped them.

The feather drifted slowly to the ground, while the hammer fell as fast as things normally did on the moon.

She retrieved them, and then dropped them outside the area of the air bubble. The hammer fell just as it had, but this time the feather fell just as fast.

“Now, what happened there?”


“Well, it looks like it's home time, everypony. Tomorrow we're going to be doing the inner planets. Say thank you to Twilight for kindly lending her time!”

“Thanks, Miss Twilight,” the children said in the not-in-unison chorus normal for school pupils.

Then there was a bright purple flash, and Nightmare was alone once more.

She didn't know quite how to take that. The fillies and colts had certainly seemed to be interested in her moon...


49.2 (Zetrein)


"Luna, I think I need to visit my student in the near future." Celestia said, reading her mail.

"Oh?" Luna looked up from her book. "Has Twilight Sparkle done something wrong?"

"Perhaps? I'm confused by the content of her friendship reports. They are wonderful little cartoons, and we had a lovely correspondence about how she animated them, but she doesn't seem to understand my problem with them."

Well now I'm curious "Oh? May I see one, Sister?"

"Certainly, here's the one she just sent. Tap the symbol to activate it." Luna look the offered scroll.

"What I learned today: Book, Cover, yada yada. Is that a zebra? It seems Twilight Sparkle has learned a lesson in racial prejudice." Luna said, looking up from the scroll. "Unorthodox as this letter is, it does get to the point."

"I know, often in a single sentence," Celestia sighed, "But this is not what I had in mind when I asked her to write reports."

"Maybe thy poor student simply doesn't know else how to express what she's learning? As I understand this is beyond her previous experience."


"Right, parasprites next. Hm, amusing as it'd be to send this one off uncensored, I'm gonna have to rewrite it."


Weeks later...


A grim faced Celestia burst into her sister's chambers. "Luna, we're going to Ponyville, Twilight might be in grave danger."

"What danger, Sister? Is the town under attack?" Luna inquired, standing from her desk.

Celestia pulled a scroll from under her wing. "Look at her latest letter."

"Don't ignore Pinkie, or she'll cut you. What! A cry for aid, if ever I heard one! Swiftly Sister, ignore the chariot, we must teleport!"


49.3 (Stainless Steel Fox)


Bishop Riso Bessemer was the head priest of Pelor at Zagy City temple. While this required he be a fairly powerful cleric, courtesy of an adventuring career when he was considerably younger, in the present it mainly required paperwork, lots and lots of paperwork. At least it was a fine day, and the window to the balcony of his chambers was open, letting in a warm breeze as well as bright sunlight. However, as he craned over the latest scroll, the light dimmed as a shadow appeared across the window.

He looked up and was shocked to see a pegasus standing there, perched on the balcony and completely unafraid. Pegasi were notoriously shy, and avoided human contact, which made those captured and trained as mounts worth a medium sized fortune. He'd seen a number of odd things in his past career, but this was definitely up there. However, things got a whole lot weirder when the pegasus spoke. Pegasi were human smart, but they couldn't form words, everyone knew that, except apparently the pegasus in front of him.

"Hey there, are you the guy in charge of this place?"

"Yes, I am, however, I am still a humble servant of Pelor. Bishop Bessemer, at your service."

"Great, the name's Rainbow Dash, and I've got a problem I need some help with, your bishop-ship."

"Pelor tells us to help those who need it."

"Cool! Okay, so I'm a pegasus, but I'm from another... plane, that's the term, and I just arrived here. Pegasi are a bit different where I come from, but I'm stuck in a body for this world's version." She held up a hoof. "Even a human body has better range of motion, and I lay eggs, and that's just plain wrong. Griffons lay eggs, not pegasi. Well, sometimes..."

"I'm not sure how you expect Pelor to help you. Each of us is made the way we are."

"Oh, I can fix things myself, but I've gotta power-up, use some whammy from my home dimension, and my friend Twilight figures the gods will get annoyed if we start throwing the heavy-duty bibbety-bobbity-boo around. So I figure, Pelor's the big good over-deity, right? If he gives us the okay, the rest of them won't cause a ruckus, well maybe the evil types, but buck 'em, I'm on the side of good."

"You claim to have powers sufficient to bring the notice of the gods?" Bessemer was recovering nicely. Whether this pegasus was telling the truth, or was just plain insane, this was far more interesting than paperwork. Besides, he thought he saw the hand of Pelor in this.

"Well Twilight does, and she knows everything there is to know about magic."

"You have a human wizard as a companion?"

"Wizard yes, human no. She's a unicorn, but last time we were in this plane she did a whole lot of adventuring as a wizard. I was a monk, got pretty good at it too. Obviously I worshipped Pelor, Kord too, I mean not in the going to temple every chance I got sort of way, but you know... I helped beat up evil and protect the innocent and be the best I could be, and all the stuff they say you should..."

The Bishop actually chuckled. "I'm sure Pelor is more interested in what's in you heart than on your lips."

"Great! So obviously I'm not looking for a freebie here, what can I do to make this work? I've got some gold to put towards good works and such..."

With the oddness of what had already happened, the idea that she had money too wasn't such a stretch, but he simply replied, "I shall have to pray to Pelor for guidance on this matter, but I already have one idea. A paladin, Lady Salmara Melnor, holds vigil in the temple below, she is young and inexperienced, but she has already shown both courage and compassion in the service of Pelor. She seeks a mount to carry her on further adventures. A seasoned adventurer would be of great help to her. Would such a task interest you?"

Dash tried to rub her chin with a hoof, and winced because her bones didn't flex that way. "A Paladin's mount? Yeah, I could go for that. It's not like we had anything planned... Aw man, I don't know if Twilight would go for it..."

There was a flash, and Twilight appeared. "Dash, don't dash off like that... Oh, chlorophyll!"

She turned to Bessemer. "I'm sorry sir, my friend gets a bit over-enthusiastic..."

"It's fine. In fact, we were just discussing a mutually beneficial arrangement. I believe you wish to use some abilities from your home plane that you are worried may cause issues with the gods. I would like to know more of this."

"Hey, wait a second, I thought you said using powers was a big no-no!" Dash exclaimed.

"Teleport spell, it's only fourth circle, and unicorns can teleport without error inside their groves anyway. All in-loop abilities, so with a bit of tweaking and a Locate Person spell, I was good to go. But I guess I owe the good bishop an apology, and an explanation..."

A short explanation later on both sides, and the Bishop finished with. "I will have to mediate and pray to Pelor for his advice, but I am sure he will give his blessings on those who use their abilities to aid his cause."

"C'mon Twilight, it sounds like fun!" Dash said, and Twilight considered the matter. "I guess it would be something different. I never got to finish off studying the higher circle spells... if I could get access to various colleges and such as we travel around... Alright, I'm in!"


49.4 (Masterweaver)


Rarity fidgeted as Photo Finish snapped her pictures of Fluttershy. This could be her big break, but the intensity of the mare made it difficult for her to interpret her thoughts. The mare had her crew pack up the cameras and turned to leave–

The door to the boutique burst open and Rarity could only watch in horror as her big break was barrelled over by the biggest tomboy in Ponyville. After a moment of confusion, the mare in question sat up, shook her head, and looked down at the unamused photographer. "Oh! Glad to see I'm not too late."

"Rainbow Dash!" The fashionista trotted over, scandalized. "What in Celestia's name do you think you're doing?!"

"Oh, I heard my mom was in town." Dash got off Photo Finish and helped her up. "And it's been a while since we've talked, so I figured – Oh hey, mom, this is my friend Rarity."

"Ve haf met," Photo Finish stated dryly. "It iz good to zee vu, mein blitzschlag, vut I vus on ze way to arrange for ziz quietschende schmetterling to be ze model in mein new line---"

"Excuse me," Rarity said with a very forcibly calm face. "I just want to clarify. Rainbow Dash is your daughter?"

"Ja."

"Oh." The unicorn nodded. "Well, I must say she is a fine pony, although the fact she's related to you is... a tad surprising."

"Oh, um..." Fluttershy blushed from her stage. "I, uh... I thought you knew already. I would have told you, but, um... well..."

"Yeah, me and mom..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. "We kind of move in different circles. But she's still my mother, so... yeah." She chuckled. "Only pony besides you to ever get me in a dress."

Photo Finish's ears perked. "Oh? Somevun else haz finally wrapped up mein kleine blitzschlag?" She smiled slyly. "Iz ziz vun your herz-knoten?"

The pegasus gagged. "Oh, ew! No. No, definitely no. Rarity's just a friend. Granted, she's a friend that managed to convince me to wear frills, but – just – no mom. Just no." She stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes. "Ew."

Fluttershy giggled.

Rarity finally managed to reassess the situation. "Yes, quite. You would not believe the fuss I had to go through designing her gala dress!"

"Ja, mein blitzschlag haz alvays been a fuss fuss..."


"And then she got my baby pictures out," Rainbow said, sipping her drink. "I mean... Rarity's not Awake, all I was trying to do was do her a favour, but.... Eh, I can't really complain. I was awesome even as a foal."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "That and Photo Finish really loves you." She raised an eyebrow. "Does her being your mother happen... often?"

"Well.... it's about one in ten. When I'm awake, anyway. We're usually estranged."

"....I am somehow far less surprised then I should be."


49.5 (Masterweaver)

"Girls, Ah have a very important announcement to make. Ah've been workin' on a secret project fer a while now, something that Ah think you'll like. Course, I kinda got stuck for a bit, but then Silver Spoon here helped me with some of her out-o-loop magic."

Apple Bloom paused, glancing at the silvery sea serpent standing next to her. "Um... by tha way, why are you Steven's niece this time round?"

"As far as Twilight can figure, the Crash hit my identity code and knocked off the species marker." Silver shrugged awkwardly. "The admins are probably getting around to fixing it, but it's not high on the priority list."

"Right. Okay." The earth pony flicked her tail and turned back to the other two crusaders. "Anywho. This project started with lots o' crossreferences. Evangelion, Transformers, tha Marvel fused loop, Twilight's Twibot thing–"

"The time you took me apart?" Sweetie asked innocently.

"Ah only did that one time." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "And ah put everythin' back. But... yes. That did help a mite. And Silver here, miss Alchemist – even if it's not really alchemy like what we got here – she managed ta give me the final component. Girls, ya ready ta have yer minds blown?"

Scootaloo leaned back onto her pillow. "Eh, sure. What you got?"

Apple Bloom grinned, taking off her necklace and putting it on the ground. "Cookie? It's yer show now."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the gem in the necklace pulsed.

Metal slats and squares began to unfold from a space outside space, pushing the necklace off the ground and raising it up. Panels slid across each other in a complicated, strangely familiar pattern. Metal pistons clicked into sockets and became covered by armor. Whirring and groaning reverberated throughout the clubhouse as the crusaders watched in growing awe.

And with a final snap, a metal pony stood before them. Apple Bloom beamed. "Fillies, may Ah present tha Robotic Armor and Partner mode fer intelligent devices." She grinned as two other necklaces manifested on the necks of the gaping fillies. "Purely data, so Ah can transfer it right away and it carries between loops." A yellow hoof rapped against the pony's barrel. "She's hollow too, in case we need a suit of powered armor in a jiffy."

Cookie? flashed Clover hesitantly. How... How do you feel?

The metal pony shifted its head down. "Sorry, this is still new to me. I've barely gotten speaking down, but..." She managed to decently mimic a smile. "I can move. It's... it's amazing, really."

Well, I'm sold, flashed Pansy. How soon till you have the pegasus model ready?

Apple Bloom sighed. "See, that's tha thing. Smart Cookie here doesn't even have Earth Pony magic, let alone pegasus or unicorn magic. Add to that tha difficulty she had in learning to move..."

"The fact is my kind of alchemy wasn't made for equestrian magic," Silver Spoon explained. "I'm... pretty sure I can fit it in eventually, but until then you'll just be pony shaped. And there's no real automatic processing, you have to control every joint manually."

"It's like learning to walk all over again," Smart Cookie added. "Pretty much literally, using bones and muscles that nopony had before. We'd probably get it down in a few loops, but until then, we're just going to be clumsy animated suits of armor." She chuckled awkwardly. "I'm afraid to even lift my hoof because I could lose my balance..."

....still, Clover mused. It's a start. Mind if I assist you in your development of this project?

I'm also ready to help, Pansy offered quickly. Although of course.... I wouldn't want to be seen as abandoning Scootaloo--

The pegasus finally shook her head out of her amazement. "Abandon? Pansy, I would never think that! You've helped me a lot, you deserve this. If anything, I'm willing to throw my hat in the ring too!" She grinned. "Maybe an expert pilot can figure out how to get these things in the air."

"Ooo ooo ooo! If the magic's rune based it might be possible to interweave some musical notations in the spell for more flexibility and, uh, tactile senses!" Sweetie hopped up. "Count me in too!"


49.6 (Starfata)


“Alright class.” Cheerilee began. “In light of recent events, I’ve decided we’re going to be taking it easy today.” Recent events being the beginning of her third loop, but her class clearly thought it meant the Summer Sun celebration. She waited a moment for their cheers to die down.

“So, we’re moving on to Geography and Culture a few years earlier than usual.” She said, with a joking wink to calm down the more studious of the foals. “Today, we’re having a guest come in to answer questions about their home. Can anyone guess who it is?”

“Twilight Sparkle?” A young Apple Bloom raised her hoof- not the looping version, she hadn’t displayed any of the signs that the looping Sweetie Belle had taught her last loop.

“Good guess, but no Apple Bloom.” She answered. “We’re not learning about Canterlot today.”

Diamond Tiara wasn’t looping either- the filly seemed so much crueller now that she had seen what the spoiled filly had the potential to become. Her hissed insult to Apple Bloom would have escaped her entirely in the original timeline.

“Enough Tiara.” She said sharply. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

She glared at the filly until she settled down with a grumble. And she’d taken lessons from Fluttershy in her first loop. Impressive display of stubbornness from the child.

“Alright. Any other guesses?” She asked again. Nopony raised their hoof this time, which she had already expected. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a little disappointed.

“Nopony?” She asked anyway. There was a moment of awkward fidgeting before she smiled and called out. “Alright, you can come in now Zecora!”

Her students gasped in horror as the Zebra walked in.

Zecora ignored their reactions as regally as any Princess could, and bowed her head in greeting.

“Good morning to you all on this day, I hope you listen to what I say.” The zebra began. “Though I live in the Everfree, my homeland is still dear to me. I’ll tell you the tales of where Zebra’s roam, Zebrica our heart and my own first home.”

Cheerilee smiled at her friend. This was going to be so much fun.


49.7 (Stainless Steel Fox) (More Turning the Tables: necromantically raised plot thread edition)


As they moved away from the clearing in the direction Prince Blueblood indicated and Zecora confirmed, they heard a voice from behind them, three voices. “Hey, wait for us!” “Big sis, I'm coming too!” “Rainbow Dash, wait up!”

The three not-yet Cutie Mark Crusaders were scrambling down from the deck of the wrecked airship, Scootaloo dropping down with her wings buzzing to slow her fall, and Apple Bloom simply leaping down, using her Timber wolf pup body to it's best advantage. Sweetie Belle had the most difficulty, hanging over the edge until Apple Bloom turned and climbed her front legs up the side of the airship to provide an improvised ramp. Each of them carried oversized and bulging saddlebags.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “And now we know why the weight calculations were off.”

“Okay missy, you are in trouble!” Applejack told the mini-Timber Wolf. “I told you to stay behind, where it's safe!”

Apple Bloom cringed slightly, which looked odd on a vicious predator made of thorns and branches, but straightened up and looked her big sister in the eyes. It helped that even as a pup, she was the same height as a regular pony. She wasn't able to keep a slight quaver out of her voice, but there was determination there too.

“I know I am, and I don't care if you ground me for a month, or even a year. You taught me family always sticks together, and that an Apple always pays her debts. Well I ain't going to let you two face that mean old Nightmare without me, and I got a debt to pay her myself for turning me into a walking tree! At least like this, I can help, really I can.”

The last part was almost pleading, and accompanied by green glowing puppy-dog eyes.

“Sweetie Belle! What do you think you were doing?” Rarity asked, equally acerbic. “And how did you get on the airship in the first place?”

“We all met up underneath that table while we were hiding from Nightmare Moon, and we got talking afterwards, when everyone said you were going to go after her. I wanted to help too, and see you defeat that nasty Nightmare Moon. We helped with unloading the airship and managed to hide in the lockers in the cabin while every-pony was running around. We brought all the candy we could find.”

“Candy?” The non-sequitur actually blunted Rarity's wrath.

“Well, we sort of thought... Nightmare Moon likes candy so much she eats it rather than foals on Nightmare Night? Well we decided when you were fighting Nightmare Moon and she got an advantage and she was all, 'I have you now my little ponies! Mwahahaha!' you might need a distraction so we'd throw bags of candy at her and she'd go 'Yum candy!' and be all distracted and that would give you time to um... do whatever you're going to do!”

“That's a super-dooper plan!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “What? If some-pony threw bags of candy at me I'd be totally distracted!”

“Yeah! Not that Rainbow Dash needs a distraction to kick her flank all the way to Las Pegasus! I wasn't going to miss a chance to see Dash do something that awesome!” Scootaloo looked up at the hovering Dash with worshipful eyes.

“Hey squirt, just because you're right doesn't mean this isn't some serious storm cloud we're heading into. We don't have time to babysit!” Dash was her usual tactful self. Then she saw how the word had crushed the orange pegasus filly and back-pedaled. “I mean we can't get distracted... we won't... oh horse-apples!”

Scootaloo looked ready to burst into tears and the others were all starting to put their own two bits in. As the babble rose, Twilight pushed out a low level muting spell and said, “We don't have time for an extended discussion! Every moment we delay, Nightmare Moon strengthens the bindings on Princess Celestia and frees more power to turn against us! I know the three of you meant well, but you've put us in a difficult position. We have to decide what to do, and quickly.”

She'd already made a decision, having the three of them along should prove interesting, and she was sure of her ability to protect them, at least better than if they were out of sight. Now to justify it to the others.

“Take them back, of course!” Rarity replied.

“And lose all the time we've made twice over? We'd be too late. Splitting the party is out too, we needed everyone to defeat the last attack, and who knows what skills we'll need next.”

“Couldn't you do that daylight thingie you did before and make this place safe?” asked Dash.

“Between myself, Shining and Zecora, I'm pretty sure I could, but considering the chaotic magic of the Forest and the Nightmare influence, it'd need us here to sustain it for any length of time. I'm sorry, but it seems the safest place for these three is with us.”

She felt a slight twinge of conscience arguing this way, but the fact was that she'd have argued exactly the same way from an in-loop perspective, quite apart from any meta-reasons. The plain fact that they were at hazard, and there was nothing to be done about that. Even a long-range teleport to carry them back was risky, because of the chaotic background magic levels. Doable if she went full alicorn, but she'd already decided to use that only as a last resort.

The three fillies looked ecstatic, and Applejack and Rarity close to mutiny. Twilight turned to them with a stern expression. “This isn't some sort of reward, and it isn't a game. If Nightmare Moon succeeds, that's it, all of Equestria is doomed. So you can't mess about! Stay close to your sisters and obey every order they give you without question! Is that understood?”

“Um... but Miss Twilight, I don't have a sister....” Scootaloo offered nervously.

Twilight mentally kicked herself, but didn't show it. “Rainbow, Scootaloo clearly looks up to you. Will you take care of her?”

For a second, Rainbow actually looked frightened, then covered it up as she glanced down and saw the little pegasus looking up at her worshipfully. “Uh, I guess so... C'mon kid, you're with me...”

The sunshine in the pegasus's smile would have warded off even Nightmare Moon for a bit.

“If all the drama has now past, we can be on our way at last!” Zecora said, moving ahead.

As they forged on through the winding paths of the Everfree under Zecora's expert guidance, Applejack managed to ask Twilight, “Uh, Sugarcube, how did you know Scootaloo's name? I sure didn't recognise her.”

Twilight deflected the awkward question with a shrug. “Someone pointed her out at the celebration – don't remember who. Rarity's sister too. Darn, now that's going to bug me for the rest of the day...”

They continued for several minutes more, and then Zecora slowed down and started looking slightly confused. “I've travelled these paths both near and far, but now I know not where we are. The way I came was right and true, but now I don't know what to do!”

“No matter, I have kept a chart of our progress. I can easily find the right direction.” Blueblood boasted. He pulled a piece of parchment from a saddlebag and examined it, then frowned and turned it back and forth. His horn glowed, and then his eyes went derpy. “Ahhh! I don't know where I am!”

“You and everyone else.” Dash snarked.

“But I have absolute direction sense, it's part of my talent! I always know exactly where I am!”

“Y'know, that explains a lot...” Twilight murmured to Rarity, then lit up her own horn. “Ohhh, clever.... Shiny, can you sense that?”

Shining Armour's eyes grew distant,, then he growled, “Illusion spell!”

“A subtle one too, low powered, so well done even I didn't spot it until too late. Nightmare Moon's next attack, she's covered the entire area in a field that distorts our perceptions. If we can't find our way to the castle, we can't defeat her.”

“But surely now you know it's there, you can counter it, darling, can't you?” Rarity asked.

“I can try, but this thing could cover a huge area. If I don't get it all, it could flow back, warp things further. I'll try a wide area dispel as a last resort, but there's one thing we can try before that. An alicorn trumps unicorn magic, but she can't out-do the Elements, specifically the Element of Honesty. Applejack, you're the one pony who should be able to see past the illusion. Just concentrate on what's real, what's true.”

“Uh... that's all very well, Twilight, but I don't know which way to go.”

“But you can describe what you see, and that should give Zecora enough to go on. If we can just get moving, I should be able to start plotting the field strength and tell when we get near the edges.”

“You're sure about this Twi?” Applejack asked. It was one thing to be told about her Element, and another to actually have to try and use it. And despite her honest desire to make things right with Zecora, it was still going to be odd working alongside the zebra after all the stories. Still, a pony had to do what a pony had to do. She walked up to the front of the party alongside Zecora, and focussed on the feeling she'd had earlier when she'd been listening to the zebra's story, judging it.

At first she felt nothing, and then a warmth started burning in her chest. Her vision turned blurry for a moment, then she felt as if she was shaking off some sort of fine cloth. When her eyes could focus again, the scenery around her had changed, and there was the top edge of a large cliff running across their path. If they'd kept on, they'd have probably run right over it.

She described what she could see around her in as much detail as possible, and it was clear from the others' expressions that none of them were seeing anything like it. Zecora looked particularly puzzled. “I think I know where we've come to, but how we got here I've no clue. Bear to the left and follow the ledge, and have a care and avoid the edge!”

They followed the earth-pony in single file into what appeared to be a massive thicket of sharply thorned brambles, but as they approached, it melted away to either side. It continued the same way, Applejack describing what she saw and Zecora telling her where to go. Barrier after barrier turned out to be nothing more than a phantasm, and every apparent path turned out to lead to disaster. Twilight's horn lit at intervals, and she muttered to herself.

If she'd gone full alicorn, she could probably have blasted the illusion away, but in-loop as a unicorn, what she'd said was the truth. Besides, doing it this way was taking the focus off her and letting the others have a change to shine. Eventually the landscape started to match what Applejack was describing, as they emerged from the illusion.

“Celestia, that was a sneaky one!” Shining Armour exclaimed.

“And it'll get worse before it gets better.” Twilight sighed. “Princess Luna's domain was dreams, magic, and the night, and Nightmare Moon twisted all those things to evil purposes. She'll use mental attacks as much as physical ones. But as long as we stay together, we can beat her.”

“Yeah! That old meany Moon can't stop us! We work together like cake and ice-cream... or ice-cream and more ice-cream, or ice-cream and chocolate, or candy-apples and hot sauce...”

Everyone looked oddly at Pinkie, except for the three fillies who were glancing down at their saddlebags of candy. The pink pony just shrugged it off. “What! Those things are good!”

Zecora held up a hoof, and hissed, “Beware you ponies, quiet now, for danger lurks beneath these boughs. A manticore lives within this range, to work around we must arrange.”

Blueblood frowned. “But in that case, why bring us to this dreadful place?”

“To foolishness do not give voice, this way would not have been my choice. Nightmare's spells took us astray, this path returns the quickest way.”

Shining Armour said, “Very well, we need to be ready. If you can fight melee, come to the front, non-combatants in the middle, magic users and ranged fighters to the back. Twilight, you shield to the rear, I'll take the front.”

Alongside him lined up Big Mac and his sister, with Rainbow Dash flying overhead. Zecora came up with them, and so did Blueblood, just behind. Shining Armour asked the zebra if she was sure she wanted to be up front.

“You still need me to be your guide, I can't exactly run and hide. If manticores we have to fix, this zebra has a few old tricks.” She gave a knowing grin.

“That's all well and good, but Blueblood?” Rainbow Dash asked, rather unkindly.

“I may not be Royal Guard, but I am quite skilled at Polo.” Blueblood stated haughtily.

“Polo?” Dash cackled.

Blueblood plucked a cylinder from his designer saddlebags, which turned out to be the head of a Polo mallet. A flick and the shaft extended, and a ball followed it, floating up in the air above their heads. Blueblood gave a slight frown of concentration and the mallet blurred in an overhead circle that terminated in a double crack, the second of which was a tree branch snapping off neatly a hundred hooves away. “Polo.”

Rainbow Dash shut her mouth, which had unaccountably dropped open, and she wasn't the only one. “Polo. Okay... works for me.”

Twilight and Rarity were at the back, and Twilight saw her friend was now looking at the Prince with a certain interest. She gave a small grin and a nudge to the white unicorn. “Thinking of taking up... polo?”

“Huh... What?” Rarity shook her head slightly and said, “Oh nonsense Twilight, I was merely admiring his form.”

“Yes, I noticed that.” Really, this was too easy.

“Oh, you!” Rarity blushed. “I just meant he does have a certain presence.”

“Ohh! Does he have presents for all of us, or just Rarity?” Pinkie dropped back along side them in a manoeuvre that if it didn't violate the laws of physics, at least invited it out for dinner and a some heavy petting.

“Pinkie dear, just drop it.” Rarity pleaded.

“But I'm not carrying anything! Well except for a couple of cakes, some party streamers, a dozen assorted balloons, a rubber chicken, an eye-patch, a ball, and a pair of fake Groucho spectacles. You know, the essentials.”

The three fillies and Fluttershy were in the centre of the formation after some convincing by Dash that Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were forming 'a second line of defence'.

Sweetie Belle on the other hand was looking around nervously and asked Fluttershy. “This manticore, we won't run into it, will we? I mean with all these precautions, it's got to be pretty scary.”

Fluttershy looked none too confident herself, but she swallowed her fear and said, “Of course not Sweetie. Manticores need a large range to hunt in. The chances that it will be right on this edge of it's range, right in our path is...”

There was a roar from up ahead. “... oh, my.”

“Get ready, but stand firm every-pony!” Shining called out as the shadow of a manticore was silhouetted in the moonlight. “That means you too Rainbow Dash! Let it come to us if it's attacking! It can batter itself against my shield for a bit and then we'll see if it still wants to play.”

His purple energy shield went up, creating a wall that covered the ponies out front. Blueblood raised his mallet, while Rainbow pawed the air and Applejack unslung her lasso. Big Mac just set himself, thorn claws digging deep in the dirt, and Zecora collected some powders from her saddlebags.

They held there while the thing continued roaring and carrying on, but it didn't charge. Shining Armour asked Zecora, “Why isn't it attacking?”

“I study such from far away, why acts it so I can not say.”

Rainbow called out to it. “Well come on then, if you're coming!”

Fluttershy mumbled something, and Twilight, ready for it this time asked right away, “What was that Fluttershy?”

It took several stutters and false starts, but she eventually managed, “I... I don't think it wants to attack us for being on it's range, I think it's hurt...”

“So what do you suggest?” Twilight asked, as if she didn't know.

“I could try and help it...”

“Help it? Fluttershy, are you completely nuts?” Rainbow Dash called down.

“N... no, completely terrified, but not nuts.” Fluttershy's voice steadied. “Please, he's in pain!”

Shining had a sour expression. “I don't like sending any-pony in there alone...”

Surprisingly, it was Big Macintosh who spoke up. “Begging your pardon sir, but every-pony knows Fluttershy's the best pony with animals. If she reckons she can do it, she can do it.”

“So you think she can calm it down?”

“Eyup!” The pony turned timber wolf nodded firmly.

“Alright... but if that thing makes one wrong move, I want her hauled out of there fast. Twily, you cover that.”

With that he opened a hole in his shield and Fluttershy walked forward. The manticore grew more frantic as she approached, but she trotted up to it without showing a trace of her earlier fear. She nudged it as it raised a paw as if to strike, and it instead showed the thorn in it. Looked like Nightmare Moon was running at least some old favourites.

“Oh you poor kitty, you're just hurt. Now let me see that, this may sting, just a little...”

It roared again as she plucked the thorn, and several ponies winced, but when they looked again it was cuddling her and licking her, making her mane an odd shape.

It didn't attempt to attack or do anything as the party walked carefully past, and at the end Fluttershy finally untangled herself and rejoined the group.

“Remarkable!” Shining Armour shook his head in honest amazement.

“That were some mighty fine animal wrangling, Miss Fluttershy.” Big Macintosh added, and the butter yellow pegasus blushed, avoiding the big timber wolves gaze. “It was nothing, I just realised the poor thing needed a bit of kindness. Thank you for supporting me.”

“My pleasure, miss.” He replied, and his eyes glowed with something more than a sickly green aura.

Twilight was a bit surprised, after previous variations, it was a bit of a shock to see something following the base time-line. However, she made one change, when Fluttershy spit away the thorn, she captured it in a hoof sized ball of telekinetic energy just as it turned into smoke. She flashed the interior with intense sunlight and the smoke evaporated with a shriek.

“That's one bit of Nightmare Moon that won't be reporting back on our progress.”

They continued on deeper into the forest, and into the darkness. Clearly, as they'd gotten closer to the castle, they were getting closer to the base-line route, and Nightmare Moon was doing the same. Which meant that she was likely to pull her old 'scary face' routine next.

As the darkness closed in Sweetie Belle quavered, “I can't see anything, I don't like this...”

Apple Bloom replied, “I can see just fine, just keep next to me, okay?”

Twilight lit her horn, and the other unicorns quickly followed suit, while Zecora threw up some powder that formed a greenish light ball hovering over them. It didn't do much more than light their immediate area, and made the shadows beyond it deeper, but at least it was something.

Of course, right on cue, the trees around them seemed to twist and reshape themselves into terrible faces with gaping mouths of needle sharp teeth and empty eyes that promised nothing but an eternity of terror and despair. They seemed to move without actually moving, the way the horror that chased you in your deepest nightmares did, and every second you delayed would only make it more terrible when they captured you.

Twilight could have covered herself with a shield against the fear they were casting, but that would have been cheating, as in-loop Twilight couldn't. Instead she put her considerable mental ability towards resisting. The other ponies weren't so able.

The fillies were cowering in the centre of the clearing, utterly immobilised, and the adult ponies around her were no better, even the normally imperturbable Blueblood who was curled up in a fetal position, whimpering, “Not the blancmange!” over and over. The only other pony still resisting was Zecora, and even she appeared to be weakening. Of course, there was one exception.

As expected, it was Pinkie who broke the spell, trotting right up to the nearest face and making faces right back. If anything, the fear effect was even stronger than usual, and Twilight was the only one near enough to her right mind to ask her what she was doing, triggering her song.

It was actually a fascinating study, watching the power of the Element of Laughter push away the fear effect, and soon she had all the ponies trotting around and joining in the fun. The fillies took a particular pleasure in laughing away the evil faces, but even Blueblood took his part, sneering at them and calling them 'tawdry, shallow hoof-paintings with no depth or sub-text.' before laughing them into non-existence.

When the last of them was cleared away, Applejack asked Twilight, “What the hey were they?!”

“Images imbued with raw fear. I said we needed to expect mental attacks. If they hadn't been stopped, we could have been trapped here, immobilised with fear until it was too late. Fortunately we had Laughter on our side.”

“You're welcome!” Pinkie said brightly, bouncing past wearing the groucho spectacles.

Zecora shook her head. “Never have I felt such fear, it made my wits quite disappear.”

“All the same, I'd prefer it if you could figure out a way to stop that happening again, Twily.” Shining Armour asked.

“Now I've seen it in action, I should be able to counter-spell, at least enough to give us a chance to resist.”

They soon reached the shores of the wide river, churning and frothing. “Horse-feathers, you ground pounders are never going to get across that!” Dash exclaimed.

“Can you teleport us in groups, Twily?” Shining Armour asked.

“Not safely, not with the amount of chaotic magic in the air. We might end up in the middle of the river instead.”

“Uh guys, we've got a bigger problem...”

Steven Magnet, the river serpent was heading downriver towards them at a rate of knots, but rather than bewailing his lost moustache, he was raging against the ones who had stolen it.

“What the hay? We didn't do anything to his moustache!” cried out Applejack.

Twilight was already casting magical scans. It seemed Nightmare Moon was playing cute again. “Nightmare Moon's cast another symbol on him, a Symbol of Wrath, but she's cast it on his eyes!”

“So counter-spell it!” called out Shining Armour as he raised a shield to take the blow of a claw.

“I will but I need every-pony to hold his head still so I can aim! Bring his head down to the ground!”

Her telekinesis would have been enough, but that would have required going to a higher power than she wanted to risk, besides, casting the counter-spell at the same time would be awkward. Still, her purple energy wrapped around his head, joined by Rarity's and even Blueblood's. Shining was still doing shield duty. Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo formed a cheering section, albeit in Fluttershy's case a very quiet one. 'woo hoo!'

Rainbow landed on Steven's neck and tried to push him down, while Applejack launched her lasso, wrapping it around his muzzle. Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh grabbed the free end of the lasso and helped pull.down on it, but the river serpent was still resisting. Then Zecora whipped out a sling and whirled it around, launching a puffball at Steven's face. It exploded into fine powder, and seemed to stun the river serpent for a moment, enough time for the combined efforts of the ponies to pull his head down level with Twilight.

She released her hold and fired the dispel charm right into his eyes. They glowed for a second, then lost their red tint, turning puzzled. The waters calmed as he stopped thrashing about. “Mi may, my moo Mi ma a mp mrnd my mummle.”

Twilight signalled to Applejack to release the lasso, and the river serpent was free to speak. “My goodness, I don't know what came over me. There I was minding my own business, and suddenly this tacky little cloud comes past and rips of half my beautiful moustache clean off. Not only that but I was suddenly absolutely enraged!”

He sniffled, “I'm sorry if I scared you all, but I really wasn't myself. But my moustache is still absolutely ruined. I look absolutely horrid!”

He started wailing, and the thrashing of his tail roiled the waters again.

Dash looked incredulous “Really? Suck it up, you're a dragon!”

“Dash, how can you be so callous!” Rarity exclaimed. “Look at his lovely luminescent scales, his expertly coiffed mane, even the fabulous manicure on his claws...”

“It's true, it's true...” The river serpent was calming down.

“So much effort put into looking his best, and it's all ruined without his beautiful moustache.”

That set Steven off again, worse than before. Rarity declaimed, “I can not let such a crime against fabulousity go uncorrected!”

She plucked a scale from his skin, eliciting an ouch of pain and a query from the hapless dragon, and lifted it over her own tail...

“STOP!” Blueblood stepped forward. “Miss Rarity, there's a shortage of perfect tails in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours. I find myself in agreement with you, this fashion crime can not go uncorrected. However, while gold and purple is a bold statement, wouldn't all gold be better?”

Rarity was honestly shocked. “Prince Blueblood, are you offering what I think you are offering? Your tail is magnificent too. Are you really offering it as a replacement?”

“It should be, I have the best stylists in Canterlot work on it daily.” Blueblood took a noble pose. “However, needs must, and you've forgotten, I am Prince Blueblood, trend setter of the Canterlot social elite. If I can't make short tails for stallions the must have fashion of the season, I'll turn in my membership card for the Canterlot Country Club.”

Rarity's eyes sparkled with unshed tears, and she lifted the scale, aiming carefully. Shick! A wave of gold dropped to the floor, to be caught by her telekinesis. The dragon had calmed down again fascinated at the drama unfolding below, and it was the work of a moment for Rarity to expertly weave the new gold into the existing stub so expertly it seemed a single set of whiskers.

Steven examined himself and went into transports of delight. “My moustache, ohohohoho! It's back, and it's perfect!”

Rarity smiled up at him. “You look smashing.”

“Okay, this is cool and all, but we really need to get across the river soonest!” Dash exclaimed with a huff.

“Oh, allow me!” Steven laid his coils across the river forming a bridge. As they reached the other side, Rarity turned to Blueblood,eyes glowing warmly. “When we get back, I'll do my best to clean up that bob. I may not be a Canterlot stylist, but I can at least get it looking presentable. That was a truly noble thing you did, your highness.”

“Yeah, way to take one for the team, your highness-ship.” Applejack added.

Shining Armour shook his head in disbelief. “I didn't think you had it in you.”

Blueblood actually looked slightly embarrassed at the complements. “To be honest, neither did I.”


49.8 (Lord of Bones)


As the letter appeared in a flash of green flame and ash, Luna saw her sister reach out with her magic and undo the seal. Celestia unfurled the letter with a smile, which quickly turned into a look of incredulous astonishment, right before she vanished in a burst of purple light.

Somewhat bemused by her sister's departure, the Night Princess levitated the letter over and read it out loud.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

You know I value the lessons you've taught me over the years, but you simply must stop secluding yourself in that stuffy old throne room. Princess, there is more to life than bureaucracy, so I'm inviting you over for the Ponyville Winter Wrap-up, and I have a more important task for you: make some friends.

Your Student,

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. I expect a report on what you've learned."


49.9 (OracleMask)


Applejack eyed the necklace dubiously. If it hadn't been the glowing image of Celestia herself that'd appeared to give her the thing - and done the same for four other mares in Ponyville - Applejack would've assumed it was a prank. In horrible taste, no less, what with the whole Nightmare Moon Is Real thing going on.

But the five of them had managed to get through the Everfree Forest with the power of these things, and now were facing the big bad alicorn herself. Using their necklaces separate hadn't done the trick, so where was only one thing left to do!

"C'mon ya'll, let our powers combine!" Applejack declared, "EARTH!"

"FIRE!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, confetti somehow firing from her mane and tail at the same time.

"WIND!" Rainbow Dash cried.

"WATER!" Rarity added.

"...um...Heart?" Fluttershy offered.

Their powers formed a glowing rainbow sphere in the air, and a purple alicorn princess in fancy dress flew out of it.

"By your powers combined..." she announced, "I am PRINCESS TWILIGHT!"


"...and nopony else suspects a thing," Celestia said, grinning at her partner-in-crime, "I certainly couldn't have pulled this off without you, Twilight."

"Glad I could help," Twilight replied, grinning back.


49.10 (Masterweaver)


"AAAAAA!" Babs shot out the door and galloped down the stairs. "CHANGELING!"

Apple Bloom blinked. Then she glanced back at her wings and sighed. "Ah have got ta stop ascending in mah sleep..."


49.11 (Masterweaver)


"Mayor Mare." The pony at the bar drained her mug. "It's literally my name, Macintosh. Mayor. Mare. I mean, some loops I'm also Ivory Scroll, but... well, that's the thing, isn't it? Every loop, I'm stuck behind a desk and even knowing what's going to happen, even preparing for it, I get the same documents to sign, the same fiscal reports... I love this town, and I love running it, but the same thing over and over again feels..."

"Pointless?"

Mayor Mare nodded sadly. "How can I serve ponies when.... it all just gets washed away. Phhhfft." She waved a hoof. "And... really. I don't want to be famous. I just want to be... useful."

Macintosh nodded to himself. "Ah can understand where yer coming from. But... think bout it like this. Mah lil' sis usually sets up her lab ta do science of some sort or other. If she needed ta worry bout zoning permits, she'd be champing her bit, but... well, she don't need to, thanks ta you. And there was that time when you and Twilight pulled off tha sovereign nation of Libraria... Ah don't know if you were awake then, but... Mah point is, we really do appreciate you. And tha fact is, we're all kinda responsible fer giving other loopers a place ta relax. We may not say it often, but.... well, Pinkie always pulls a party fer you every time tha election rolls round, and she means it as one big thank you."

"...I.... appreciate that, Mac. I really do."

He smiled. "Say, did Ah ever tell ya about tha time Ah was a princess?"


49.12 (Masterweaver)


Zecora was...

Incensed? Perhaps. But it would be more accurate to say she was actually quite hurt by Ponyville's actions this day. Even though the Mayor had calmed the screaming crowd and insisted--with papers that the zebra didn't remember signing--that she was a fully licensed ranger, the odd suspicious glance still cut at her.

The purple pony helping her shop smiled sympathetically. "Hey, Zec, I know how it is. A lot of ponies look at me and only remember the town drunk." She shook her head, sighing and indicating another booth with a subtle hoof movement. "At least all your friends are looping. Me, well... I have to live with my daughter... although, I did see my sister run off to Sweet Apple Acres, so she might have started."

"I am afraid you must forgive me, but your sibling eludes my memory."

"Cheerilee," Berry Punch explained. "The schoolteacher? We're estranged, but.... well, even when the loops say we aren't sisters, we usually have a past together." She cut herself off as the boothkeeper turned to them, and Zecora noticed the subtle shift in her face as she shifted from speaking to a looper to speaking to a normal pony. "Excuse me, my friend needs some herbs? Here's a list."

The boothkeeper raised a suspicious eyebrow. At least it wasn't fearful cowering. Still... although Zecora knew the pony couldn't remember everything that had... not happened yet, his distrust hurt.

Berry noticed and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry. Near as I can tell, everyone who's looping is Awake this time. I don't know why, but you can probably ask Fluttershy when she gets back. She lives closest to the Everfree, after all..."


49.13 (Lord of Bones)


"Your Highness? Have you seen our daughter?"

Celestia's face fell as she turned from the distraught Bearers to meet Twilight Velvet and Night Light. The unicorn couple peered at her worriedly, and Celestia wished she had answers. Her faithful student had vanished after the dressing-down she'd been given, and while Chrysalis had been unmasked – by a disoriented Blueblood, no less, who'd botched a teleport and ended up in his cousin's prison – Twilight herself was nowhere to be seen.

The familiar appearance of a Friendship Report drew a sigh of relief from the alicorn, which wasn't unnoticed by the smaller pair. Unfurling the scroll, she began to read out:

"Dear Princess Celestia,

If you're reading this, I have gone evil-"

"What?!"

Celestia just stared at the words numbly, as though in disbelief. "I – I have gone evil, possibly due to toying with eldritch arcane secrets beyond mortal comprehension or a brutal heartbreak at the hooves at the ponies I thought I could trust the most.

Following narrative tropes, I may have chosen to alter my name to something more evocative and ominous, like Dusk Eternal or Endless Eclipse. I will also have gathered allies, like corrupting Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon, breaking Discord's prison, stirring Sombra from his tomb and summoning Sunset Shimmer to serve as my lieutenant."

There was a hitch in the Sun Princess's throat as she finished the sentence. Horrified looks were being exchanged between Twilight's friends and family, and the Alicorn forced herself to soldier on.

If Spike isn't there when you're reading this, he'll be with me as my final link to all that is good and pure about friendship, loyal to the end but curtailing my darkest moments. Also following narrative tropes, he may end up sacrificing himself to save my life from you or one of the girls-"

Rarity choked back a sob.

"The act of which would see me spiral deeper and deeper into my hatred and darkness as I numbly cradle the still body of my oldest and most faithful friend while you stare in horror. Undoubtedly, this will cause me to desire nothing more than the most terrible revenge imaginable, and so I'll confront you with Nightmare Moon and Sunset Shimmer, so that you can brood on the irony of being undone by your greatest failures."

Your ex-faithful ex-student,

Endless Eclipse, Lady of the Twilight, Queen of the Dusk and the Dawn.

The letter fell from Celestia's telekinetic grip as the Sunbringer stared numbly ahead. Twilight Velvet snatched the parchment and breathlessly read out the last few sentences.

P.S. If you've received this letter and I'm not evil...well, you'll know to take precautions, won't you?