//------------------------------// // Loops 56 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 56.1 (Zetrein) It had been years since Twilight last woke Celestia up in the middle of the night. While it had tapered off in the time leading up to Twilight's move to Ponyville, Luna's occasional midnight wake-up calls had taken their place in recent months. Thus, Celestia was understandably confused by the purple mare waking her up at four thirty nine AM, surrounded by the other bearers, wearing black bodysuits. "...Please wake up! Princess? You're awake!" Twilight said, withdrawing the hoof she had been shaking her with. "I'm so sorry for waking you like this, but we need your help." "What's wrong Twilight? What time is it, anyway?" Celestia asked, coming more aware, as Twilight pulled a notepad from her bag. "I'll have to be fast about this, we're actually in a strange Heartsong intermission. It's what we somehow used to infiltrate the castle without being seen." She replied, flipping to the desired page in her notepad. The Princess saw the signs of Twilight preparing an explanation, as she finished crawling from bed. "Six days ago, I was visited by my future self, who had travelled back in time to tell me how to save Equestria. So far, everything's been going according to the plan she wrote out for me, right down to accurately predicting the Heartsong. "Step two hundred eighty nine: Short Explanation to Princess Celestia, check. Step two hundred ninety: Give Princess Celestia sneaky stealth suit, check?" Twilight gave her a questioning look, another black bodysuit being pulled from her bag. "Very well, Twilight," Celestia sighed, "But I expect a full explanation, once this matter is concluded." As the seven sneaky stealth suited ponies stepped from Celestia's doors, the Princess couldn't help but ask, "Did you have to knock out my guards, Twilight?" "I'm really, really sorry Princess, but Future Twilight was very serious about us not being seen until we got the Elements out of the castle. She underlined that step three times! They'll be fine! Really!" Came the nervous reply. "I... see. And how are we to get halfway across the castle without being seen? There are a great many guards along the path." "The Heartsong!" Twilight eagerly replied, citing her notepad. "Step Two hundred ninety one, continue previous Heartsong to Elements, and out of the castle." "Well," Celestia grinned, "It has been some time since I was last part of a Heartsong. Ah! There it goes." Sure enough, the sound of trumpets started sounding all around them, the seven ponies started taking dramatic poses to the punctuation of the music. "With cat like tread! Upon our prey we steal!" The ponies were already halfway down the hallway. "In silence dread! Our cautious way we feel!" They were almost to the stairs. "NO SOUND AT ALL!" The entire castle seemed to shake, as all the standing guards bellowed out the last line, with an underscore of the Royal Canterlot Voice echoing from elsewhere in the castle. "We never speak a word!" This was blatantly untrue. "A fly's foot-fall, would be distinctly heard... So stealthily the ponies creep while all the castle soundly sleeps." They were anything but stealthy, and yet the guards didn't react at all as they went by, in plain sight. "Come, friends, who bear Harmony!" They were on the right floor now. "Trust to Luna's singing!" It occurs to Celestia, that the guards might not be reacting to them due to the narrative causality of the Heartsong. "Though she sets our ears to ringing!" She'd have to look into that later. "Let's vary world-saving, With a little burglering!" Elements secured, and sent away aboard a pre-dawn train, a bemused Princess Celestia strode into the throne room. While she was able to keep her reaction to the guard's looks hidden, the way Luna boggled at the bodysuit she wore tested that control. "Good morning Luna, I've had an interesting time this past hour. Guardspony, go wake Captain Armor, we have a situation. "I just helped Twilight continue a stable time loop, that required I send her and the other Bearers off to parts unknown with the Elements. I'm sure they can handle the situation, but I dislike not knowing what I've sent them to." "And since thou were not to go with them, any actions we take from here would logically be part of the loop, including trying to find out what their mission is, and what we might do to aid it." Luna finished her sister's thoughts. It would be several fruitless hours of searching before news of the Crystal Empire's return reached them. Twilight sat in a room with her friends, in the Crystal Castle. They had shown up, saved the mysterious city-state, failed to blast the badguy with the Elements, then succeeded to blast him with the Crystal Heart... which they did by blasting it with the Elements. Now though, she was trying to find where Future Twilight wrote how to convince the crystal ponies to not crown her their queen-protector, and not hurt their feelings in the process. Sadly, the notepad had no answers for her. "Why didn't Future Twilight mention this? Maybe she hasn't figured it out yet, and I loop sometime soon? But where do I find the spell? Is it somewhere in the city? I'm too young to be a queen-" Twilight stopped mid-panic as she Woke up. Blinking, she checked her loop memories. Little hints told her the others were Awake, and a big hint from Pinkie in the form of the Gilbert and Sullivan Heartsongs. She looked up at her friends, and asked: "Did I just prank myself?" 56.2 (Hubris Plus) Twilight came Awake in her usual spot over the book describing the rise of... Bad Horse? That was a new one. A little on the nose, even by pony name standards. She was about to reread the passage to double check for other inconsistencies with the baseline when the familiar rumble from her assistant signalled an incoming letter. In a moment he'd unrolled the scroll and was about to read when music filtered in from the edge of hearing. Three ponies in cowpony gear suddenly appeared beside her, bouncing gently in time to the tune, and sang out. "Sun Mare, Sun Mare, She's good, Sun Mare! Oh, She raises moon and sun At dusk and dawn each day! She got the station- -ary that you sent her way! In answer she has one, Yes just one thing to say: Your lonely studies have to end, So off to Ponyville, make some friends!" The trio of ponies vanished just as quickly as they'd arrived and Twilight blinked slowly as she absorbed what had just happened. "Okay, one: Apparently heart songs can be induced via postage," she said to herself, already wondering how one might accomplish such a thing. "And two: Was one of them Applejack?" 56.3 (Kris Overstreet) "Twilight?" Pinkie Pie had an uncharacteristic expression of concern. "What's up, Pinkie?" Twilight asked. "Remember when we assumed this was a baseline Loop?" "Yeeeees...?" "Well... you better come see this." Twilight sighed. She, Pinkie, and Sweetie Belle were the only ones Awake this Loop. That meant fewer eyes to find potential bugs in the baseline that might need to be dealt with. Her experiments would have to be postponed until the next half-moon. She turned off the gas stove, carefully unwound the bungee cords, and informed the chicken that it could return to Fluttershy's house. "So, can you tell me what this is all about?" she asked as she and Pinkie walked to Sugarcube Corner. "Well... no, I really better not. It's something you just can't believe until you see it." Pinkie frowned and added, "I've been dealing with it for a week, but it's beginning to creep me out." When they arrived, Twilight understood Pinkie's reluctance. Could she have imagined that malevolent black face without the blade-like red horn? Could she have believed it, without actually staring into those flaming eyes... those eyes that, for whatever reason, kept pointing in different directions? "MUFFINS," the earth pony hissed as they walked past. "Just keep walking," Pinkie Pie hissed, leading Twilight behind the counter and towards the kitchen. "MUFFINS," the earth pony repeated. After the mares had left the room, he leaned over the counter and added plaintively, "Aw, c'mon... muffins..." Twilight's prediction that the altered Sombra was an amusing but harmless glitch in an otherwise baseline Loop was proven wrong not quite two years later, when the Crystal Empire suddenly reappeared after its thousand-year exile... in the middle of the Appleoosan desert. And an eldritch voice echoed through the canyons and over the mesas, saying, "I just don't know what went wrong..." 56.4 (misterq) Celestia stretched her back after getting off her throne. It was gradually getting easier to move around without assistance after spending so long attached to that chair. She managed to make her way to through the doorway and into the vast dinner hall that now served as a conference table. Even after her many loops, she still found it a novel experience to be human. Leman Russ, his two faithful talkative wolves, and his adopted mother, Fluttershy, sat at her side. And there was Pinkie Pie, once again the chaos goddess of joy and celebration. With her near infinite power, she was now taking the grinning form of Pinkie Pie, equestrian earth pony, and looking utterly and almost hilariously out of place. However, across the table, sat her genetically engineered sister. Luna Lupercal Horus, leader of the Luna's Night Wolves Legion, once traitor to the empire; was newly reformed from being scattered into the warp. Reformed, she claimed, in both meanings of the word, mostly thanks to the efforts of Twilight and her adepta sororoitas. It was an uneasy truce and the tension in the room was palpable. "Let's begin with something we can all agree upon," Celestia, God Empress of Mankind, smiled diplomatically, "How about some cake?" 56.5 (Crisis) Twilight was the only Element Awake again, though she'd cottoned onto some clues that indicated either Luna, Nyx, or both were Awake and planning another Nightmare Moon prank, and going about her duties as the Summer Sun coordinator. Everything had been going according to the baseline so far and she was on her way to Fluttershy's as usual. But when she got there, her brain locked up at what she saw. Fluttershy wasn't training birds to sing this Loop. No, she was training... Twilight had no idea what those creatures were, but they looked like someone had cross-bred a bat with a helicopter. "Oh!" Fluttershy whispered in surprise. "I didn't see you there. Are you the Summer Sun coordinator?" "Yes, I..." Twilight responded automatically before her curiosity reasserted itself and demanded to know what the heck was going on. "I'm sorry, but... what exactly are these critters you're training?" "You've never seen a heyleut before?" Fluttershy blinked in surprise. "That's rather surprising given that they're one of the most popular pets in all Equestria." As Twilight attempted to process that, the local version of Angel Bunny zoomed up on his wheel-like limbs and skidded to a stop next to Fluttershy. Yep, it looked like it was going to be one of those Loops. 56.6 (Lord of Bones) Klauthiartrysx, the Bloody Star, the Red Dragon of the Mountain, opened his eyelid slightly and resisted the urge to groan out loud at the sight of yet another annoying pony out to spoil his nap. His ominous growl shook the loose rocks of his lair, and the malevolent red glow of his mouth warned the approaching lesser being about the consequences of annoying one of the First and the Last. The pony, a lavender-furred unicorn, simply smiled winningly and levitated what appeared to be a few brochures and assorted documents up to the wyrm's face. "Good afternoon, Mr. Klauthiartrysx! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm representing Plots and Plans, Equestria's leading real estate developer, and the Royal Canterlot Moving Agency. We are fully prepared to reimburse you for the full cost of your current dwelling and set you up with a new one. Our brochures have both Standard and Deluxe options available for your perusal, and don't worry about the price!" His curiosity piqued, the incredulous dragon unfolded the brochure and decided to humor the mad pony. A scaly eyeridge rose at the selection of caves, ruins, abandoned fortresses and hidden temple lairs on offer; many of them looked much more appealing than his current home. "State of the art security, lava rivers, automatic gem sorter, mannequins, trick hoard...hang on, who's this?" He pointed at one of the photographs, where a rather pretty dragoness was sunning herself on a cliff. The lavender unicorn peeked at the picture, and beamed. "That's one of your possible new neigbours, of course! And you're in luck, we have one last Super-Deluxe package available, and if you take it she'll be your next-mountain neighbor!" "How much?" The unicorn smiled. It was not a nice smile. "All expenses are paid for by the Crown of Canterlot. Please, sign here." Smiling, Celestia unfurled the Friendship Report. "Dear Princess Celestia....dragon has left...found a new home...please find enclosed bill for moving fee and Super Deluxe Lair Package? What?" 56.7 (Stainless Steel Fox) Celestia Awoke in mid-heart song, as she did a painting on a wall of a night sky and a string of lights that seemed to float in it. "Tomorrow night... The lights will appear... Just like they do on my birthday each year... What is it like... Out there where they glow... Now that I'm older... Mother might just let me go..." Loop memories kicked in. She was named Rapinzel. She was human, and she only had access to a trickle of her normal power levels. She tried levitating the brush and pot she held, and judged her power level as equivalent to a filly's. She and Luna... Lovelace, who was down below, working on a loom to make some silvery material, had lived their entire lives in this tower, cared for by their mother, Gethel. Apparently the world outside was far too dangerous for innocent, fragile girls such as themselves. She would be coveted and a prize for the many evil people because her long blonde mane - hair - had the power of healing any injury when she sang a song. Said long blonde hair was very long, as it lost its power when cut. Lovelace would have her own problems as her midnight blue skin and blue hair would make people think she was a demon, not to mention the blemish on her forehead. She was far better off using her special ability which was to gather moonlight into thread and spun cloth which helped to support the three of them. "Luna... I mean Lovelace. Are you thinking what I am?" "Indeed." Luna stopped weaving and spun to face her sibling. "Now I am Awake, Mother Gethel's story doth smell greatly of cheese. Our home is more of a gilded cage than a sanctuary, and gilded mostly by our own efforts at that." Celestia descended, in-loop reflexes causing her to automatically flip a length of her hair over a support beam to slide down. "Unfortunately, from my memories, Gethel is a powerful spellcaster, and I find myself with only the smallest scrap of power. If we forced the issue, I don't think I could stand up to her." Luna frowned in concentration and then in frustration as a shimmering wavery bolt of silver energy formed in front of her, then poofed out of existence. "Myself also. Tis infuriating! Cans't sense the greater part of mine own power, but hath separated from it, unable to use more than a mote." Celestia noted Luna's reversion to high-speak, a sure sign she was getting stressed. She focussed what power she had into shifting to mage sight, fortunately something that required more knowledge than power. She examined both herself and then Luna. "Interesting... I am truly human, but my hair is almost a separate entity, and one that is associated with the sun. It is diverting my alicorn powers, making them a part of it's own. You on the other hand are an equine, transformed to human form. I'm fairly certain that in-loop you were a unicorn and someone had managed to steal away your horn..." "And now we do know how the crone comes by her powers." Luna growled. "But she carries no staff or wand that might hide it. Mayhap she has engaged in binding rituals so that she might call on it's power remotely, which would'st mean it could be anywhere!" Celestia mused, thinking it through. "If we could move around, and pooled what power we had, we might be able to do some divinations and try to triangulate on the source. But we'd need maps, tools, things I can't make out of what we have in the tower. I also want to find out what those light are that appear every year on my birthday. I feel they're somehow connected with my in-loop origins. At the very least I don't think they're natural, so we may find people and some of the things we need." "We shall need time, also." Luna added. "Gethel shalt hound us as soon as she finds out we are gone." "I know!" Celestia exclaimed brightly. "I'll ask for some of that white seashell paint as my birthday present. It'll take her three days to go and fetch some. I was going to ask to be let out, but we know why that won't happen." "Tis a cunning strategem!" Luna was equally pleased. "We shall away to see the lights, and find my horn. With it we can defy Gethel and free ourselves of her bondage!" The two sisters made a fist and hoof-bumped. 56.8 (54.3 continued) (Kris Overstreet) The town of Zumzum wasn't the center or heart or gateway of anything. It had no great opera houses, no magnificent palaces, no historic monuments, and not all that much of anything to do on a Saturday night. It was just a town, an outpost of civilization surrounded by mostly uninhabited forest. (That is, uninhabited except for monsters and bandits, neither of whom appeared on the census rolls, which demonstrates a tragic lack of any sense of civic obligation on their part.) Thus it was the perfect place for a traveling circus and medicine show to set up... with a few drawbacks. The most notable drawback lay in the town's antiquated laws about travelling players, requiring them to camp either outside of the town walls or in the town square- no use of other facilities allowed. Since the gates shut at sundown, and thus cut off the paying audience, this left Von Payne's Sparkle Show with no real option but to park their wagons and set up their tents and stage in the town square. Next to the gallows. Which, as it turned out, was occupied. "We can't perform HERE!" Trixie shouted when she saw the arrangements. "Performing next to corpses is disrespectful- and unhygenic!" "Vell, if dot's a problem, we-uns got y'all covered!" one of the dangling bodies replied in a cheerful voice that, unfortunately, possessed a train wreck of two entirely incompatible accents. "WHAT?" Trixie shrieked. "You're still ALIVE??" "Yah, vell," another of the bodies chimed in, "Jagers, hyu know? Ve bin here two dayz zo far. Been pretty peaceful." She tried to nod her head, but the noose and gravity converted it into a full-body sway. "Hey, you'll knock off mein hat!" the third one said. "Can't hyu hold schtill?" Twilight, walking with one of the other actresses, noticed the movement from the gallows, where two of the jagers were trying to kick each other with their bound feet while the third shook her head and rolled her eyes. The voices sounded familiar... and thankfully jagermonsters weren't limited in skin and hair color to the usual human palette, so she had more hints. The one with the cavalry hat had orange-ish skin and hair that split the difference between pink and purple. The one about to lose her fez had white hair and gray skin, with a pair of enormous glasses covering her eyes. Finally the one shaking her head, though an old helmet and goggles covered most of her hair, could be identified by the big red bow tied around the helmet's cockade. And, since Twilight hadn't bothered to crop her own distinctive purple hair, she found she also was distinctly recognizable. "Hey, Twilight! We was wonderin' when hyu vould show up!" "I beg your pardon... ladies..." The Loops had given Twilight plenty of time to learn how to act... and also how to lie, which are two different things. "I am Madame Olga, soothsayer extraordinary." "Aw, c'mon, Twilight, ve're all Awake," the jager in the cavalry hat whined. "Hyu don't haveta pretend-" Through an impressive exhibition of gymnastics for someone who's bound hand and foot and hanging by their neck from a noose, the helmeted jager managed to use her feet to smack the orange jager on the head. "If'n she says she's not named Twilight, we DON'T CALL HER TWILIGHT. Savvy?" "You forgot your accent," the orange jager whispered, shaking her head in a vain effort to de-smush her hat. Twilight suppressed a groan. Despite all the Loops, and all their talents, those two were definitely two-thirds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and they still had their moments of what could only be called anti-genius. Best to stop this quickly. "Madame Olga feels a vision coming upon her!" she cried, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead in a suitably dramatic fashion. "I see... an apple tree in bloom!" She pointed to the helmeted jager. "And... and a child's scooter!" She pointed to the cavalry-hat jager. "And... yes, I see it... an elegant silver teaspoon!" She pointed to the last jager, the one with the fez and glasses. "Wow, she's good," the last jager grinned. "I'm Silver, und dis next to me is my sister Scuta. An' our fearless leader iz Blum." "I also see... a large seed... and a sugar-encrusted bell. What can you tell me of these visions, monsters?" "You mean Babs and-" Scuta Lu flinched as Apple Blum tried to kick her. "OOOOOH. Um, sorry, but ve know nutting of dem. Ve see nutting, know NUT-TING!" "Dot's a bad German accent, not a bad Slavic accent," Silver (Spoon) muttered. "Well, whatever your names are, the Great and Powerful Trixie von Payne will not have her performers play next to corp... er, to bod... er... to whatever you are!" Trixie slipped a brief wink into her tirade. "I'm going to go have a word with the mayor about this insult!" "Goot luck vit dot," Scuta chirped. "The mayor's der one keeping der book on ven ve finally kick off!" A high-pitched whine echoed overhead, and Twilight looked up just in time to see a contrail zip across the sky. It glittered with faint rainbow colors. "Mind if I join you?" Twilight asked Trixie. "I want to know if anybody's placed a bet on, 'jagers released by daring hero with Europa-wide reputation.'" As they walked off, Silver muttered, "Thanks for askink about Diamond Tiara... 'Olga'..." There were three guards at the east gate. The guard captain was a grizzled veteran of the Long War and the fight against the Other, and he had the sense to try diplomacy with monsters, especially monsters riding dire bears. Unfortunately the other two were just kids with no real battle experience, and thus no sense. Plenty of rattled nerves, though. "The gate is closed until dawn," the captain said, not without a bit of stuttering. It was a very big bear. "Der gate iz not actually clozed," the female jagermonster on the bear's back said. Multicolored pink hair and a pair of angry eyes were all that stuck out from behind mask and wraps. "I merely vish to enter-" Up on the walls, one of the other guards suffered from a twitch in their trigger finger. Without looking up the jager caught the crossbow bolt and snapped it in her fingers. "I forgiv. Vunce." Then one of the young guards panicked. "FIRE!!" At which point, in the guard captain's professional estimation, it all went to hell. Twilight had just finished explaining her plan to Rainbow Dash, who had watched the performance of The Sparkle Boys and the Race to the West Pole with the aid of three buckets of popcorn. "What's that sound?" she asked, poking her head out of Madame Olga's fortune-telling tent. "Sounds like a convenient diversion!" Rainbow Dash said, pushing past Twilight and pointing at the guards abandoning the square- and the gallows. "Okay," Twilight said, dashing over to the gallows. "Girls," she said to the trio strung up on the gallows, "play along with Rainbow, then meet up with the circus on the road in a couple days, okay?" "Play along?" Applebloom asked. "How did you think we got up here in the first place?" Rainbow Dash grinned a little embarrassed grin. "Whatever," Twilight said. "I've gotta go run and scream in panic now, OK?" About thirty seconds later, Rainbow Dash jumped to the top of the gallows and shouted, "WICKED MONSTERS, HEAR ME! If you swear to defeat the monster attacking this fair city, I shall release you from this slow but well-deserved death! What say you? Shall you join me in this glorious cause?" "Oh! Um... Ja! Ve vill do az hyu zay... for now!" Scootaloo's acting was just short of dreadful, but the panicked townspeople, their attention grabbed by the great hero Rainbow Trygvassen's shout, ate it up. A blade flashed out, three ropes were snapped, and four figures rushed towards the center of the chaos. "VE HUNT!" "VE HUNT!" "CUTIE MARK JAGERS TOWN DEFENDERS, YAAAAAY!" "Um, what?" "Sorry, it just slipped out." "So," Diamond Tiara asked, brushing her bear, "you say you found Twilight?" "Shore did." The four jager-fillies didn't bother with the Loop-local accent when alone. "An' she smells right. She's the one we wuz lookin' for afore we Awoke." "I don't like that," Diamond growled. "I mean, we've been in war Loops, you know? But I've never felt so railroaded by a Loop before." "I've never felt so gypped by a Loop before," Applebloom grumbled. "I'm supposed ta be th' technical genius outta us, right? So how come I don't get to be a Spark? How come I'm comic relief?" "Because... you're covered in tree sap?" Diamond Tiara pointed out. "Not our fault Fust knocked us into that stand of pines," Scootaloo muttered, pointing at the sheepish-looking bear. "You know," Silver Spoon whined, trying to get her glasses clean, "this was so funny when it wasn't happening to me..." "I really miss Sweetie Belle," Applebloom sighed. "I wonder if she's even in this Loop?" 56.9 (Detective Ethan Redfield) It was the day after Summer Sun Celebration at start of the new loop, and all the crusaders minus Nyx were present and awake, Silver a unicorn this time around. One thing was strange though, the teacher was nowhere to be seen. The crusaders had their desks circled since the teacher was so late and they discussed the odd phenomenon, Applebloom leading the discussion. "I recall he was never on time to class. Ya think it's a variant teacher, or a looper?" Scootaloo and Diamond bet five bits on a looper while Silver, Applebloom and Sweetie believed a variant teacher was here. It was ten minutes later that the stallion arrived, a unicorn bearing an orange red mane and a very light tan coat with a strange five-spoked circular cutie mark unlike any they had seen before. He strode to the front of the class rambling to himself loud enough to be heard by all, "Hm, fascinating. Human Equine body in nature, too short to be full sized horse, race must be pony size throughout lifecycle. Symbol on flank, image of citadel council, what could it mean? Must check memories. Hmm...yes, I see. So the purpose of the mark is your special talent, wonder why the citadel council, could be because of connection to special tasks group, supporting the council in their intelligence roll. Also a school teacher, must be replacing a local looper else I'd be a professor at a college in Manehatten, anchor perhaps?" He shook his head as his horn started glowing, bringing chalk to the board, "no no no no, must always have an anchor, Shepard is anchor, not me. Someone else must be anchor. How am I going to write the daily plan, hm, seems the chalk is moving for me surrounded by an orange glow. Biotics? No, I can sense no implants in my own head, wait, I can scan my own head without omnitool? bizarre, must be something similar to biotics, maybe...yes, yes, YES! It must be magic, like the one in Potter's universe, good times replacing Snape as potions master." Silver, Applebloom and Sweetie groaned and forked over several bits to the victors of the bet. After copying his lesson plan to the board from memory, the stallion turned to his class, "Greetings, class, sorry for the delay, was preparing a lesson plan, got caught up and lost track of time." The class droned, "Good morning, Professor Solus!" The teacher gave a small grin, "Excellent, but remember you can call me Mordin. Now, I have a question, only raise your hoof if you understand what I'm asking, how many of you are loopers?" As five hooves rose, Applebloom thought at least the loop wouldn't be boring. 56.10 (Kris Overstreet) "Um... welcome to Equestria!" Twilight Sparkle looked over the strange unicorn. Blue coat, white mane, and a beard that Starswirl would have been proud of. A cutie mark of a golden crown with rubies mounted into the tines. Strange eyes with no iris and pupils that had a white spot in the center of each. "Oh, hello there, hallucination," the unicorn said, his voice wavering a bit with age. "I have to say, this Loop seems quite like home. And my hallucinations seldom begin conversations." "I'm not a hallucination," Twilight said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I'm the local Anchor." "I'm the Ice King. Pleased to meet you. Are you sure you're not a hallucination?" the old unicorn asked. "You're not a ghost, a spirit, a magical being?" "Well, I am a magical being," Twilight said. "This is the magical kingdom of Equestria, after all." A glint appeared in the old pony's eye. "Magical kingdom? Tell me, purple horse... do you have... princesses?" "Why, yes," Twilight said cautiously. "In fact, Princess Celestia will be in this town tomorrow for the Summer Sun Celebration. Why do you ask?" "Oh, no reason," the Ice King said, smiling broadly. Twilight noted the sharp, angular teeth. "... Princess Celestia!" The curtains opened, like usual, and the balcony was empty, like usual. And then, in a clap of thunder, it wasn't empty anymore. It was full of Nightmare Moon, much more furious than Twilight could recall her being in any Loop, Awake or not. "WHERE IS MY SISTER?" The Royal Canterlot Voice, amplified by a thousand years of slow-cooked stewed evil, shook the walls of the town hall. "NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO KIDNAP MY SISTER EXCEPT ME!" "Um... who are you, exactly?" Applejack, who wasn't Awake, asked. "And what do you mean, 'where is your sister'?" asked Rainbow Dash, who was. "Aren't you supposed to have sealed her in the sun or something?" "This was my plan," Nightmare Moon nodded. "But obviously there are more important things afoot than my revenge. Some foul villain has dared to lay hooves on my sister! For the honor of Equestria, this must not stand!" In a swirl of smoke, the Nightmare shifted from the balcony to the floor of the town hall. "My little ponies, who shall join me in bringing this miscreant to justice?" "Aw, yeah!" Rainbow Dash grinned. "Kicking flank alongside Nightmare Moon? I like this Loop already! C'mon, girls! You know what time it is?" "It's a quarter past five," a voice murmured from the door. Rainbow Dash groaned and facehoofed. "Oh, I'm sorry," Fluttershy said. "My watch might be a bit slow. Please don't be angry. Never mind." 56.11 (Masterweaver) "...And, ah... who are you, um, all representing?" Chrysalis smiled. "The badlands, sir. I thought it was about time for us all to be represented in the Equestrian Games, seeing as we've been rather... well, disorganized up to this point." "I still don't see why I have to fly against prissy ponies--" The changeling queen snarled at the red dragon. "Do you want to spend a night in beetleblack cavern?" "NomaamI'llbegoodmaam!" "Good." Chrysalis took a breath and turned back to the official with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. Anyway, my application?" "Ah..." The poor stallion tapped his clipboard nervously. "I'm not sure phoenixes are allowed to race." "Oh, well." She sighed and nuzzled the dejected hatchling. "Sorry Peewee, I guess we'll have to go with plan B. Oh consooooort?" A blue unicorn with glittering butterfly wings trotted up. "You called upon the Great and Powerful Trixie?" "I do so hate to impose, but would you do me the honor of joining in this relay with me?" "Trixie supposes she has time in her schedule for that." "Great," the red dragon muttered. "Now one of my teammates is-" "Beetleblack cavern." "-an absolutely awesome pony!" he finished with a tight smile. "I can see why she's your consort, ahahahaha!" The poor race official took a deep breath... and shrugged. "What the hay. You're in." 56.12 (Crisis) Twilight had lived through solo baseline Loops more times than she'd ever care to recount to anyone. Some of the antics by her non-looping friends could make her smile in nostalgia, or at least shake her head with begrudging amusement. Some though... Some just made her grit her teeth every time they came up. Like the current situation. The attempt to fake a timberwolf attack on Applejack to clear Spike's 'life debt' had turned into a real timberwolf attack and everyone, including Spike, was running around in panic. "Spike," she deadpanned as the dragonling ran past her. "We have to get out of here!" Spike shouted back, before turning back around. "I have to help Applejack get out of here!" "Spike," she put a bit of force into her words this time, and was rewarded with her little brother/adopted son/it's complicated's attention. "Timberwolves are made of wood." "Uh, yeah?" "You breathe fire." "Oh," Spike blinked at that, before getting that look of dawning comprehension. "Ohhhhh..." The dragonling turned back towards the timberwolves with a malicious grin. "Go get 'em Spike." (optional ending by KrisOverstreet): The next day the girls all visited Spike in the hospital. The little dragon in the body cast was glad to see them... well, all but one. "'Timberwolves are made of wood,' you said," he grumbled. "Er, yeah, I did say that, didn't I?" "'You breathe fire,' you said." "Yeah, that was me too." "Pity you forgot to mention that soggy, rotten, green wood doesn't burn for beans." "Um, yeah. That was my bad." Twilight scratched the back of her head with her hoof. Thankfully Applejack had persuaded Spike that, for risking his own life (and nearly losing it) to save hers, he and she were quit of that life-debt thing. "By the way, Twilight? Could you bring me my crayons?" Spike still had the use of his right arm. "Sure, I'd love to," Twilight said. "What are you going to do with them?" "I think the Honor Code of Noble Dragons needs an edit. 'If someone saves your life, you owe them service until you can return the favor- unless that someone was the one who put you in danger in the first place." "You're just not gonna let me live that one down, are you Spike?" "Nope." Twilight sighed and apologized for the fifth time. It was going to be a long, long rest of the Loop. 56.13 (Kris Overstreet) "... Ponyville qualifies!" Rainbow glided over to where Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy were waiting. "That. Was. INCREDIBLE!" she gushed. "I would never have believed she could do it! And for that leg of the course, with the corkscrew hoops and the double backflip maneuver! I was feeling really guilty about joining the Cloudsdale team," Rainbow added, kicking a bit of cloud under her hooves in embarrassment, "but with her on the team, Ponyville has an honest chance to medal!" Back at the finish line, a certain cross-eyed pegasus received the congratulations of the Wonderbolts. "Well, the thing is," Fluttershy said, "all we did was tell her that, as soon as she got the horseshoe, she was to fly as fast as she could in a straight line towards the goal." "A straight line?" Rainbow Dash looked up to see the blonde pegasus require three tries to grasp a well-wisher's hoof for a hoofshake. "Yeah... yeah, I can see that." "YEAH!" 56.14 (Goldude) "So that means you could fly with us." Spitfire offered. After all, she thought Rainbow Dash was better than Soarin anyway. They could definitely qualify with such an asset. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, had some doubts. "Fly? You mean... practice with you?" Fleetfoot smirked and nodded. "Yeah, exactly. So what do you say?" Spitfire added, "You can be our third. At least until Soarin's better." Rainbow Dash had a decision to make. It was either Ponyville, or Cloudsdale. Or she could switch between them and hope no one notices. Or... "Sure, I'd love to." Spitfire and Fleetfoot smiled. Now they'd definitely qualify. "You can practice with all of me!" Rainbow Dash turned to face her Ponyville team of Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy and inhaled a large breath for a yelling order. "BRING 'EM HERE, PONYVILLE!" The two teammates looked at each other and nodded, then flying off. Spitfire was a little confused. "Um-" "Shh. Wait for it!" Rainbow Dash smiled as she urged The Wonderbolts to see her big surprise. Soon enough, the sky began to darken... then turn blue. Both Fleetfoot and Spitfire removed their sunglasses and squinted. A sea of blue was converging on them, and in that sea of blue were a bunch of prismatic manes. Rainbow Dash smirked. The Mirror Pond came in handy at times. 56.15 (EdBeccera) The Sun has set, and Luna presides over her Night Court in Canterlot. "Mac, call the next case." 56.16 (Crisis) Twilight had a plan. A plan to ease Luna's reintroduction to Equestria in general and Ponyville in particular before the Nightmare Night incident came around this Loop. It was a plan that involved Pinkie Pie, so great care was needed to make sure it didn't get out of hoof. "Pinkie!" Twilight reigned in the Unawake version of her hyperactive friend. "Look, I know you're excited and all, but please don't go overboard on this." "But Twilight," Pinkie pleaded, "you said she hasn't had one for a thousand years! There's so much time to make up for and–" Twilight cut her friend of by the simple expedient of shoving her hoof in Pinkie's mouth. "And Princess Celestia has told me that she wants to be the one to make it up to Luna in her own way and time. You wouldn't want to deprive her of family bonding time with her sister, would you? Not after a thousand years apart." Pinkie's expression softened and she shook her head in the negative. "So, just one party," Twilight reminded her friend. "We're not making up for a thousand years of missed opportunities, we're welcoming a brand new friend who's essentially new to Equestria. One who is probably feeling a little overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar sights and maybe even a bit left out by how different she is from everypony else. One who could really use some new friends who won't judge her unfairly. Think you can do that?" Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. "Really, sister," Luna huffed a bit as the diarchs trotted up to the Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville, "what possible business could thy student have today that could not be put off?" "Patience, sister," Celestia chided playfully. "You'll see when we get inside. Why don't you do the honors?" Luna rolled her eyes and reluctantly opened the door before stepping into the surprisingly dark interior. Really, could her sister's student not at least arrange for sufficient light– "SURPRISE!" chorused over a dozen voices as the sudden illumination of the room temporarily blinded the diarch of the moon. When her eyes adjusted, she took in the near-sea of ponies in the main lobby, the decorations, the massive banner... Reading what the banner said caused Luna's eyes to tear up and her hoof to fly to her mouth from emotional shock. They'd remembered. She hadn't thought anyone remembered, pony or otherwise. That they'd all forgotten. That Tia had forgotten... "Happy birthday, Luna," Celestia whispered to her sister as she gently nudged the moon princess further in towards the awaiting well-wishers. 56.17 (Crisis) It had taken a number of Loops to figure out how to set it up, but Twilight was finally ready to reenact a rather funny skit she'd picked up from the Hub at some point. Sure, she'd needed to change a few things. For one, actually killing the non-looping contestants (since this reenactment wasn't to be a stage production) wouldn't be particularly funny, no matter what some other loopers out in the multiverse thought. So she'd replaced the 'shooting yourself in the head' bit at the end with 'hitting yourself in the face with a pie'. For another, ponies generally didn't wear undergarments, so she'd needed something else for the 'removing a bra' portion. Several other parts of the contest had been altered to fit pony society and in general ensure the safety of the contestants in spite of themselves. Twilight looked out over the field and the contestants who were lined up. Blueblood had practically fallen over himself to sign up despite the rather obvious implications in the contest name and numerous other nobles and wealthy elite, like Upper Crust, had followed his example without thinking. Twilight actually thought it was rather unfair how easy it had been getting their willing participation, but the humor potential was too good to pass up. "Mares and Gentlestallions!" she called out to the crowd from her position as announcer. "Welcome to the first annual 'Upper Class Twit of the Year' competition!" 56.18 (OracleMask) "And you usually lose how many of the other students?!" Twilight Sparkle, currently a teenager and also known as a 'Super High School-Level Wizard', stared at her new classmate with a mix of astonishment and horror. Naegi - a.k.a. 'Super High School-Level Good Luck', and Anchor for loops in Hope's Peak Academy – wilted pretty much instantly under it. "I'm not saying I try to let it happen or anything," Naegi countered, shamefacedly, "But getting a loop with no deaths is barely doable in my baseline. So I warn anybody new to this loop ahead of time about the body count, since I know my loop is...kind of depressing." That was putting it mildly. Twilight sighed. "You also said that you know who the person who started this twisted game is, right?" "Yeah..." Naegi glanced warily at the nearby cameras, "Why?" "If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it," Naegi admitted, "Although I don't know if that spell you did really 'reformed' her any." Behind them, lying amongst a pile of shut-down Monokumas, the Mastermind known as Enoshima Junko hugged herself and giggled. "Luckily my talent was 'wizard', so I could still cast that spell," Twilight said, "But it was supposed to make her feel all the suffering she inflicted on others." "And it was the BEST!" Enoshima exclaimed suddenly, latching onto Twilight's ankle, "All that despair! That wonderful, wonderful despair! Do it again? Please? Pleeeasse?" "Only if you're good," Twilight found herself replying. Naegi rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. Well, this was one way to make sure everyone lived. And if Enoshima gave her new 'bestest best friend in the whole wide universe' a break, maybe Twilight could try that memory spell she'd mentioned. It'd be nice to finally get that memory of his first year of school back... 56.19 (Indalecio) Cheerilee awoke. She was human again, which was becoming rather common recently. She was at the controls of some sort of flying craft. Some sort of weird combination of helicopter and jet. It seemed to be on autopilot at the moment, which she was thankful for, as she probably wouldn't know how to fly until her loop memories hit. 'Ah, there!' she thought. She'd been hired to tutor a child and she'd was currently on the flight to his location. The job itself filled her with misgivings. For one thing, the remote location. Who, possibly, living way out in the boonies would hire a tutor? Secondly, her sources, mainly gossiping secretaries at the temp agency she worked at, said that the previous tutor, a Mr. Shu, had been on the job for less than a day. That didn't bode well. Was her new boss difficult to please? Was the child temperamental, causing him to quit? Its possible he was a lousy teacher, but the other two options loomed in her mind as well. If nothing else, at least the money was good, if she could stay on. She was coming up on the address, 439 East District, supposedly near the foot of Mt. Paozu. Nearing the mountain, she took the craft off of auto, and looked for the house. It wasn't too long before she spotted it, a small and simple domed house, one those prefabs you could buy in a capsule. The very opposite of fancy. She brought the craft in for a landing and stepped out only to be greeted by a black haired woman wearing a simple purple dress. Cheerilee smiled and returned the greeting. "Hi! You must be Chichi Son?" "Yes! You must be the new tutor the agency sent." Chichi returned the smile. "Yes! I'm Sara Lee. Pleased to meet you!" "Oh, the same here. Its so hard to get good tutors up here, and while my Gohan can study on his own, there's no substitute for a good teacher." Cheerilee continued to make pleasant conversation with Chichi until she brought her to what he assumed to be Gohan's room, opening the door. "Gohan, you have a new tutor! Say hello to Ms. Lee." When Cheerilee entered the door, she saw a small kid, possibly 10yrs old. He had his black hair cut somewhat short, and was wearing a tea shirt and pants hung by suspenders. As he got up, he crossed the room and gave a short bow. "Pleased to meet you." he said. "Oh, he's quite the charmer." "Well, I'll leave you two to his studies. Dinner's at 7." said Chichi as she closed the door behind him. "You're different." The got Cheerilee sweating. "Is that good or bad?" "Well, your powerlevel is about as high as most people, but I keep getting this weird echo that tells me that there is more to you than that. Are you a fighter?" "Well, I don't think I am, but I received a little training from someone in the past." She thought back to the loop with the battle clothes. "Can you teach me?" "It wasn't that much, and I think your Mom wants me to teach you more from what its in those books." she said as she pointed to the books on the desk. Gohan looked crestfallen. "Awww..." The kid could sense power levels, whatever that was, but he's pretty young. How much could he know? "Well, ask your Mom, and if she says okay, I'll see what I can teach." Cheerilee hadn't know how she got there, but she was standing in a grass field. Bottles of milk flew off majestically in the distance. A white cat with a cane walked by next to her and asked her where the bus to Orange City was. She pointed to the bus stop, which had mysteriously appeared to her left, and he thanked her by telling her she needed to look behind her. When she did, there was Gohan. "Hi." he started. "Um..Hi." "We're in a dream you know." "Is this one of those lucid dream things where you can control it?" "Not quite. I apologize for entering your dream. I felt guilty about asking you to train me, and I couldn't sleep." "Oh why is that?" Gohan looked down and tapped the tips of his fingers together. "Umm...I'm one of the strongest fighters on this planet." "What?" Cheerilee started, "Now I know I'm dreaming." "Its true. Both sides of my family have a strong martial arts tradition, and I'm also a half alien on my father's side." "You know you sound crazy." Gohan thought for a moment. "Well my dad won one of the former martial arts tournaments. I can show you the belt from that when we wake up." "So if that’s true, how come you still wanted me to train you?" "Well, my mom wants me to study all the time...and I thought if you could convince her, I could get out of the house every now and again." "Wow. Your mom is hardcore about studying." "Yeah. You could say that." Once she was up, Gohan had indeed shown her the Championship Belt from the World's Martial Arts Tournament. That confirmed, she had tried to get Chichi to tell her more at breakfast. Gohan, who'd just polished off 5 massive stacks of pancakes, had gone back to studying. "So Chichi, Gohan said his dad won the World Tournament." Cheerilee said as she buttered some toast. "Oh yes." Chichi got a faraway look in her eyes. "I actually met my husband Goku there. Well, actually I hadn't met him there. I knew him from when we were kids, but it was the first time I'd seen him in awhile. I was competing as well and we met in the semi-finals. He proposed to me the same day. It was very romantic." Cheerilee smiled. "So you're a martial artist, and your husband's a martial artist, how come you want Gohan to study so much, not that I'm complaining, as I'm here to help with that." "Well, you see, martial arts doesn't pay so well. I grew up in my dad's castle, my dad is the Ox-King, you know." Cheerilee searched her memories for a reference to someone named or titled the Ox-King, but came up empty. She, however, smiled and nodded for Chichi to continue. "But poor Goku never really went to school and he was poor for most of his life. I don't want my Gohan to end up the same way." "But surely he could use a break every now and then." Chichi's eyes narrowed. "Gohan put you up to this, didn't he?" Cheerilee put up her hands in a placating gesture. "I can't let him stop. He'll fall behind. He can rest after he's graduated from a good school." "I don't think you need to worry about. He's very bright for his age." "Yes, but schools are very competitive nowadays." 'Time to bring out the big guns,' Cheerilee thought. "You know Chichi, you can't just have him keep studying and studying. The mind needs to rest every now and then. It needs variety. The latest education research shows that those who take the occasional breaks get better results and retain what the learn better." "That can get out of hand and you know it." Chichi gave her a serious look. "Why don't we do this? We'll put together a study and relaxation schedule. When its time for study, we study, but when its time for a break, he takes a break. And...there are standardized tests for these sorts of things, so we'll know exactly where Gohan's progress lies, and where his strengths and weakpoints are," Chichi put a hand on her chin as if consider it. "Well okay, maybe we can try that out and see where it goes, but if I don't like the results, we're going back to doing it my way." "Thats excellent! You won't regret it!" It went well. Gohan got a few hours of break interspersed throughout the day, and he'd never been happier. However that all changed a few weeks later. Cheerilee had been about to enter the house when it suddenly slammed open of its own accord, throwing her against the house. Pushing the door back the way it came, she suddenly saw Gohan running, then flying off into the distance. As she started to move, it suddenly swung open on her once again. "Oww..." "Don't just stand there! You've got a jet copter! After him!" Cheerilee wasn't about to risk angering a distraught Chichi, so she pulled out the capsule and activated it on the ground in front of her. With her in the pilot's seat, and Chichi in the copilot's, they took off. "There. Head that way." Chichi pointed in what seemed to be a random direction. "What happened? Why?" said Cheerilee, already adjusting the course. "I can sense Gohan in that direction. There'd better be big trouble, or he's in big trouble." The big question on Cheerilee's mind kept popping up, so she risked asking it. "So Gohan can fly?" "Yes, he learned how to a few years back." There was an edge to her voice that indicated she really wasn't willing to say anything further on the issue, but that was interesting. It was the second time she'd encountered humans flying in the loops, and she wondered if it was common. After a few minor course corrections, they landed in a desert plain strewn with boulders and mountains in the distance. There was Gohan, and he wasn't the only one. There were also what appeared to be a green haired teenaged girl, a warrior with major scars on his face and a floating cat by his side, a bald midget in an orange gi, a taller warrior with a pink shirt with the word 'Badman' on the back, a purple haired warrior with a sword strapped to his back, but the strangest and unusual of all were the triclops, the other flying midget who seemed to be wearing clown makeup and a green skinned being that her loop memories were shouting was Demon King Piccolo, the person who'd nearly destroyed the world years back. "Isn't that the Demon King Piccolo?" "And he's probably behind putting my Gohan in danger." said Chichi as she leaped from the copter. "You! What is wrong with you..." yelled Chichi as she ran off to Piccolo. "Scary..." Cheerilee muttered to herself as she landed the jet copter and took off her helmet. After observing the group dynamic for a moment, she noticed that Gohan was mostly at ease with the crowd and Piccolo had made no move to destroy everybody despite Chichi ranting at him, Cheerilee decided it was safe to come out of the Jet Copter, "Hey Gohan! Who're your friends?" "Oh, hi, Ms. Lee! That's Mr. Piccolo, Krillin, Bulma, Yamcha, Tien and Chaotzu. That's Vegeta, and that purple haired warrior over there, we don't know the name of yet, but he totally saved all our lives." Gohan pointed to each in turn. "You totally missed it! He just went Super-saiyan, and slash-slash, Frieza and his father were beaten." "That remains to be seen. Kakkarot and I are the only Saiyans left. If you count the half-breed, that makes three. So where'd mystery boy come from?" Vegeta thought for a moment. "And for that matter, who're you?" It was 30 seconds, and Cheerilee already didn't like Vegeta, but she responded. "I'm Sara Lee, I'm Gohan's tutor." There was a wave of 'Ahs' and 'Ohs' from the assembled group, with a single 'Hmmph' thrown in from Vegeta. "So what are we waiting around for?" asked Cheerilee "We're waiting for my dad!" Gohan cheerfully cried. "Your dad?" "Mystery boy claims he knows when he'll arrive." muttered Vegeta. A couple of hours had passed and a loud whistling could be heard in the sky followed by what looked like a meteorite came crashing down to earth. "That's him! Lets go!" Him and half dozen others took off after the decending craft. Cheerilee was about to head back to her copter when Bulma stopped her. "Wait! Gohan, you carry your Mom. Yamcha, you can carry both of us." "What!" cried Yamcha. "Okay!" responded Gohan. Bulma and Cheerilee sat in the copter, while Yamcha carried it from the underside. "Much quicker this way. So I'm assuming you're a looper? Its very rare for the Sons to get more than one tutor. Usually, the first one sours them on the whole experience. I'm Bulma Briefs, the anchor of this loop." Cheerilee took the offered hand and shook it. "I'm Cheerilee, a looper from Equestria." "Oh Equestria! That's always a fun place. I was there once. Replaced Twilight Sparkle for the loop, from what I understand. I think I remember you, though you weren't Awake at the time." "Anyway, after the next events, which seems to be starting soon," Bulma nodded to the approaching impact crater, "Gohan will probably be too busy to study, so you'll probably be out of job. See me when that happens, and I'll try to set you up elsewhere." Bulma produced a card from a card from somewhere and gave it to Cheerilee. "That’s very nice of you. Thanks!" "Your welcome." said Bulma, and then suddenly leaning out of the copter, she yelled "Good job Yamcha! Keep it up!" A muffled "Oof" was all Cheerilee could hear. Bulma had indeed been correct. The threat of the androids had forced Gohan's family to put his studies on hold. With Gohan off training, there was nothing for her to do, and while Chichi had given a good recommendation, she was curious about Bulma's offer, which was why she found herself sitting across from her at the present moment. Bulma had set out the most delicious peaches she'd ever eaten, and despite her willpower, she couldn't help but eat peach after peach. "These are heavenly." "Funny you should mention that. They are just that. They're called Ensenji, and normally they grow in the Otherworld, but I've manage to cultivate them on Earth in my private atrium." Cheerilee stopped chewing as her eyes opened wide. "Oh, don't give me that. I'd never give you something harmful, in fact just the opposite. These will help you survive this loop. They significantly raises the powerlevel of the eater, though the law of diminishing returns kicks in sharply after a set point. They've got the added benefit of providing near eternal youth, which is, while my baseline self is not exactly old by any stretch of the imagination, I still look like a teenager." Cheerilee continued to chew, but slower. "I eat one of these a day, at least. They're really quite good," Bulma continued. "Now I imagine you might have some questions?" Cheerilee swallowed her bite, and then spoke. "Gohan mentioned it before, but what is powerlevel?" "Its a measure of your ki, your internal energy, if your not familiar with the other term. Its primarily used for fighting, but it can be used for other things like flying, as you might have noticed. Those peaches should grant you enough energy to easily run around the planet several times a day without rest. "You're kidding?" Cheerilee exclaimed. "Nope. Its kinda crazy. But it is necessary, because even though 99% of the time you won't need it, every few years some incredibly dangerous opponent tends to threaten the earth." "Your very blasé about all this." "Remember? Anchor? Loops?" stated Bulma. "Right." "Anyway, we tend not have much problem with them anymore. While I can take care of all threats, and I have at one point or the other, I prefer just to nudge things in the right direction when no one else is looping." "So, back there, my loop memories were telling me that that was Demon King Piccolo, someone who had previously tried to destroy the earth on national TV, and at the World's Martial Tournament, but Gohan seemed downright friendly with him. I must be missing something, right?" "It's a little more complicated than that. This Piccolo is the son, and genetic clone, of that one. He's got all his father's memories, but in recent years, he's reformed. A lot of the fighters you met are like that, to one degree or the other. Reformed I mean, not the other thing." "Of course." "So, I've probably talked enough about myself and my loop. How're the loops treating you so far?" "Its very overwhelming. I've not had many loops, but the last two were fused. The one before the last, I was teaching at this weird high school where the students did battle with these self aware school uniforms. The one afterwards, I was again a teacher, a music teacher specifically, but the world itself was very bizarre, with cause and effect seldom agreeing with each other." "Did you pick up any souvenirs?" Cheerilee's eyes narrowed. "Oh don't be like that. I'm a scientist and engineer. I like seeing new pieces of technology. I might be able to even improve on them in some way." "Well okay. These are two main things I've got. The first.." Cheerilee activated her bracelet, which swapped her life threads uniform with her current clothes. "The second are these.." She removed what looked like two integrated circuits. "These are EBEs, or Electronic Brain Enhancements. They snap to your forehead like this.." She placed one of the EBEs on one side of her and the other on the other side. "They stay in place for some reason, though I'm not really sure the reason why." Bulma had quite the large grin on her face. "Cheerilee, girl, you've just become my new best friend. You've given me something new to play with!”