66.1 (Ghrathryn)
The three members of the Famous Five sat around a table at Mac’s bar, ignoring a group of what appeared to be ‘space captains’ sitting in a corner discussing their home loops and how each went nasty. “So we’re replacing people from this loop?” Julian asked his hooves around a tankard of Sweet Apple Acres’ Cider. “And because of that, you can’t use these Elements of Harmony?”
Twilight shifted slightly. “Well, we can, but it would mean trying to find someone to take over Kindness, since we’ve already got ‘backups’ for Magic, Loyalty and Honesty. I don’t think I can find anyone in one night that could work for Kindness and trying to use multiple by yourself is straining when you’re not an alicorn.”
Julian and Dick shared a look before pointing a hoof each at their sister. “Anne could possibly handle it.” Julian said, causing his sister to jump. “She’s usually the gentlest of our group, though she’s also extremely protective at times.”
“Let’s not bring up the times we ended up Tainted.” Dick said with a grimace. He hated remembering those times. Usually it brought their worst traits to the surface at the worst possible time. “Though if this is a ‘like for like’ replacement in some areas, I can see Anne and Fluttershy getting along well and she certainly had a knack for handling the animals around her earlier.”
Anne blushed at the praise from her brothers. “Well… I guess I’m just good with animals.”
Dick rolled his eyes. “Anne you’ve been a Green Lord dragon with millennia of experience leading up to the fall of Atlantis. I’m pretty sure you had New Forest as your domain during that period and most of the creatures there were peaceful compared to elsewhere in the world.” He pointed out. Seeing Twilight’s look, he shifted slightly. “The Fireborn loop we were in, the five of us. Me, Ju, Anne, George and Tim were all humans that had dragon souls reborn I don’t know how many times. In that universe Atlantis had existed, but it died or vanished when magic was locked away from the world.
“When magic came back there were areas that were… corrupted that we had to try to clear amongst other things. Each of us also started having dreams of being dragons back in the Age of Atlantis. Eventually we learned to access our abilities from then. We each had different dragon forms. I think we were all Drakes, sort of like Spike except larger and with wings.” He said, indicating the dragon, who was currently with a white unicorn he didn’t recognise.
“Thing was we each had different abilities. Group Mind and Alternate Form were common but… I was a Storm Lord, meaning Heir of the Storm was my strongest ability. George was a Fire Wyrm, Ju was Cold, Anne was a Green Lord and Tim was a Stone Lord.” Dick shrugged as he explained their main abilities before jumping as a thump came from his right. Looking that way, he saw a set of books on the table by his brother.
“These are everything we could find on that universe, though they’re not entirely accurate.” Julian said. “For example they list Nobility as being the key Power for the Storm Lord Legacy, it isn’t, Heir of the Storm is the Power you need.” He continued, pushing them over to Twilight who frowned, casting a spell and touching her horn to the books and papers in turn.
Bringing her head back up, Twilight frowned as she rubbed her horn. “That world is… strange. It seems so like the Hub at first, but then there’s everything that happens and so many people turning into dragons.”
“We know,” The siblings said together.
“Still, I think we could try Anne with the Element of Kindness.” Twilight twitched her tail as she summoned the Elements from the old Castle. “I don’t think we will need these yet, though it will probably be a good idea to test them before we do. As I said, I think Luna is awake this time out so we probably won’t need to worry about Nightmare Moon. The next real problem will be Discord and while he’s looping he has a nasty habit of not letting anyone know that he is so we can never tell whether we’ve got his baseline or the looping version.”
Dick frowned. “If he’s like that, then it will probably be a good idea to have a few backup plans ready, just in case he tries things.” He was, honestly, more used to normal human enemies than gods. Even in the Fireborn loop it had taken all five of them to fight off a Dweller and they had received far worse injuries than it had. If Discord was at that level they could possibly force him back if there were all five of them there to fight, but it wouldn’t be pretty.
Jo blinked at the four others in front of her, then looked at the glass in her hand and promptly slugged it back, coughing as the taste of alcohol hit her. Even with the fact she was sitting here in fur and with bat wings while George had three female cousins this was still too weird for her.
“How does that even work?” She asked as George reclaimed the shot glass and put it on the table.
George shrugged. “No idea, but reality is all pete tong…” She trailed off and grimaced. “I hate rhyming slang some days.”
“What?”
“Sorry, just spent far too long in London, specifically London as it probably will be in sixty or seventy years. The slang stuck rather more than I would like.” George admitted with a sigh.
Shifting slightly, George looked up at Jo. “Alright, I went over this yesterday, but I guess I’d better fill you in as well. Normally my cousins, Tim and I have a number of adventures you’re not privy to, usually fifteen to nineteen, I think, though it sometimes varies high. We’re probably going to skip the first one and just have a normal holiday this time out. There’s not really much point when we don’t need to forge friendships in fire nor when we’re under threat of losing things from not having money so we’ll see what turns up. Most likely, particularly if Mom and Dad decide to take you in, come Christmas time we’ll be back on track with Roland and his ‘artist’ friends trying to steal Dad’s work.” She pointed a finger at Jo. “Most likely it’ll be because you’ve never been to school before, normally it would be me not having been to school and the boys getting sick, but since we’re likely all at the same school we can probably limit things a bit and given there’s three loopers, one of whom knows what’s going to happen here we can probably get through things so we have less of Roland than normal.”
It was at that point that Fanny and Joan came into the room, the latter carrying a tray full of what looked like potato slices covered in some sort of sauce. “Speaking of schooling,” Fanny said as Joan placed the tray down. “I just finished talking to Gillian. It seems that instead of Graylands, you five will be going to Malory Towers.”
George blinked. “Isn’t that the one in Cornwall that Darrel and Felicity Rivers usually go to?”
Fanny nodded. “Yes it is, and yes they are aware that you don’t normally go there. It seems that this loop is a fusion of the pony world into the joint one for all of us, which has changed some things around a bit.”
“Well…” George started only to trail off again. What could she say to that? It had almost always been Graylands that she and Anne had gone to, in part because they allowed pets so Timmy could join them, but at the same time she did want to find out what happened for Darrel, since the other girl was apparently the anchor for the Malory Towers group. Maybe they should get in touch with everyone they could remember from the various groups and see if they could have a meeting. What sort of adventures would the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, the girls of St Claire’s, the girls from Malory Towers, the Five Find-Outers (and Dog) and the Mannerings and Trents get into if they all met up?
“Why would we be going to some place we never heard of?” Lauren asked. “Graylands was fine last term.”
Fanny shared a look with George. This was probably going to be one of those things that they couldn’t really explain well. “It seemed more sensible to try to get you all into the same school and Malory Towers is the closest that has the space for five extra girls in their first and second years.” She explained. “And from what Gillian told me on the phone, Graylands has had to shut down for a year to deal with several things, including a lot of modernisation.”
Lauren blinked. “I didn’t see anything about that before the term ended.”
“It might be because it happened after we left.” Rayne put in, “There might have been a storm or something happen that wrecked things leading to the school so they’re having to completely redo things.” She moved to wrap an arm around Lauren. “C’mon Lauren, think of this as a chance to find new friends with our cousin and show her what we know.”
“Tell you what,” George interrupted any comments Lauren or Jo might have given. “How about we get a lunch together and go to the island for a picnic. We can worry about schools getting changed when we actually need to.” She twitched her tail. “It’s always nice to see the rabbits on the island, particularly as they’re so tame.” That got Felicity bouncing in place a bit.
“Oh, I wonder if they’re anything like Angel back in Equestria.”
Lauren blinked. “Equestria?”
“Never mind, Lauren,” Rayne sighed, getting to her feet.
Lying on her back, Rayne looked up at the nearly cloudless summer sky above Kirrin Island. It was odd to think that this island could be so peaceful and yet have such a history of adventures as the ones George had told them about. Of course Lauren still didn’t quite believe everything she had been told, but that was a common problem when non-loopers were involved in loops.
She frowned, hooking her arms behind her head and stretching her wings out. If George was right, they had seven years here, possibly more, meaning the loop was about as long as Equestria’s was currently and there was bound to be other things happening, particularly in a linked loop.
“What would happen if these people ended up in another actually interesting school and holiday time line?” Rayne asked the air, not really expecting an answer. Most likely they would take most scenarios along that line relatively well, except for Eiken and places like that.
Given the atmosphere, particularly around Kirrin, maybe it would be an idea to see if she could get Twilight to see if they could find a way to talk to the other anchors for this group of loops, set them up as another sanctuary. Certainly it would be good to have multiple universes that could actually deal with their own problems in-house and let any other looper take the time to relax.
Feeling a weight on her stomach, she raised her head slowly to find a rabbit sitting, watching her with wide eyes, its ears up. “Don’t try biting me.” Rayne warned the bunny before dropping her head back to her arms. Maybe it would be worth finding out what would happen here and seeing if the various anchors would be willing to help Equestria out by giving other loopers places to unwind. If they could figure out how to deal with the ones that were in a really bad way given there was no Elements of Harmony here.
66.2
“Okay, how do I do this?” Spike asked, sitting cross-legged.
“Well, I don't know exactly how yours is gonna work,” Dash hedged. “I mean, this is kinda a personal thing. But for me, it grew out of the idea that I had to be there for my friends. That meant that I had to know where they were, how they were and if they needed me.”
“Following you so far,” Spike nodded.
“And, yeah. So the Element of Loyalty is all about that – well, my one is. I want to be there for my friends, but I can't just hover over them. So...” Dash shrugged.
“Okay. Can you demonstrate?”
“Sure.” Dash crouched down, focusing, and something pulsed.
“Okay, I felt that!” Spike said, excitement tingeing his voice. “Sort of a pulse of really deep magic. Like, bones-of-the-earth deep.”
“That's the Elements, alright.” Dash nodded. “Okay, now I'll scan for you.”
Another pulse.
“Yeah, I felt that as well, but I couldn't get a direction...”
“Okay.” Dash sat back on her haunches. “Let's try a different tack. You know Rarity, of course.”
“Well, duh.” Spike gave his fellow Element of Loyalty a look. “We've only been going out since forever.”
Dash grinned, and punched him in the shoulder. “It's called a conversation starter, doofus.”
“I resemble that remark.”
Dash shook her head, chuckling. “Anyway. Think about Rarity.”
“You don't need to tell me twice.”
“Right... okay, now, where is she?”
Spike frowned. “Probably working on those dresses-”
“Don't give me probably. Tell me exactly where she is, right this minute.”
The dragon blinked, as her tone abruptly became more forceful. “Huh-”
“Is she safe? You don't know, do you?”
Spike made to stand up, and Dash pushed him back down again. “No, don't go and check. Just answer me.”
“She's in her kitchen,” he blurted. Then blinked. “Okay, how did I know that?”
Dash grinned. “Right. I think we have our angle on your Loyalty power. Kinda like a dragon's hoard, really – you need to know if it's safe.”
“Right...” Spike nodded. “That felt really strange.”
“Eh, you get used to it.” Dash shrugged.
66.3
“What's this?” Twilight asked, pointing.
Pinkie grinned, with usual squeak noise. “It's a Party Time boat!”
“What...” Twilight paused, and facehoofed. “PT boat. Right. But it's bigger than most destroyers!”
“It depends on the time period, Twilight,” Pinkie said seriously. “I thought a smart pony like you would know that.”
“I do, it's just... all right, what's it all in aid of?”
“Well.” The earth pony put on a jaunty hat. “I sail the seven seas, bringing party to all within range!”
“We only have about three seas on our – wait, range?” Twilight zeroed in on the most concerning word.
“I have fourteen UACs – Unmanned Aerial Cakes – along with a VLP system with ninety-six cells, and four QF 15-pounders.” Pinkie pointed. “The VLP system is a Vertical Launch Party mechanism, which is able to engage forty-eight flopped parties in less than fifteen seconds with time-for-party fire at a range of up to twenty miles, and the guns are Quick Flan dispensers.”
Twilight gave the ship another look-over. “And by the looks of it, it can go up rivers, too... okay, what did you call it?”
“PTAS Laughable!”
“Right.” Twilight decided not to ask what PTAS stood for. Knowing Pinkie, it would be 'Pinkie's Totally Awesome Ship'. “So, what do you need my help for?”
Pinkie shrugged. “I only just realized I built it in a lake. Can you teleport it to the ocean, please?”
“...can't you do it yourself?”
“Yeah, but I've just built a ship. I'm on strike.” Pinkie waved a union flag.
“Oh, fine then.” Twilight built the spell, then triggered it.
Gustav le Grande sighed. “There is no ozzair choice. Ah must leave zis place of ponies and return to mah homeland.”
Something flew in the window and exploded in a puff of sugar and spice.
When the smoke cleared, he discovered he was wearing a pointed party hat. And there was a cake on the table.
The icing spelled out Who's Awesome? You're Awesome! Complete with translation into four different languages, none of which was his own native tongue, and a note apologizing for forgetting that one.
“Is that a Partydar?” Twilight asked, pointing. “How did you...?”
“Well, it's really just a clock!”
The 'radar' screen beeped, and flashed something about taking some cookies out of the oven.
Pinkie hopped over to the bridge oven, explaining further as she went. “I use the Element of Laughter to tell when someone's having a mope, and party away!”
“...your use of sophisticated military technology to deliver amusement is both scary and heartwarming.”
“Thanks! Hey, try a Cluster Cookie, they're dispersal-tastic!”
66.4
As the sky in the east turned pink with the promise of dawn, the ponies of Ponyville waited for their ruler to appear.
“..and here she is,” the Mayor announced. “Please welcome, Princess Celestia!”
Applause started, then stopped in moments when a scruffy gryphon slouched on stage.
“Er...” the Mayor said, nonplussed. “Where's Princess Celestia?”
“She got called away. Family emergency or something.” The gryphon blew a bubble with some gum, then popped it with a claw. Starting to chew the gum again, she shrugged. “I'm the backup act.”
“How can you be a backup act?” Rich asked uncertainly. “I mean... just... how? Princess Celestia is an alicorn who raises the sun and rules the country! You're a gryphon we've never seen before!”
“I'd vote for her,” Dash announced into the silence. “That's my old flying school friend Gilda.”
“Oh, hi Dash!” Gilda perked up slightly. “Fancy meeting you here.”
The Mayor coughed. “Miss... Gilda, is it? You still haven't satisfactorily explained why-”
“Yeah, yeah.” Gilda spun her tail around. “Ta-da.”
Light streamed in through the windows.
“Right, when do I get paid... I swear, getting me out of bed at three in the morning...” Still muttering, her words occasionally interacted by the smak of her gum, Gilda sloped off stage to the near-silent sound of bafflement.
“There we go, Gilda dear,” Rarity pronounced. “I'm not sure why you wanted this, but I think I did reasonably well with the time available.”
“Nah, 's cool.” Gilda inspected the caparison. As instructed, it permitted her wings full range of movement, while still hanging down with enough surface area to permit a pattern to be displayed.
Since the pattern Gilda had requested was the phrase CAUTION: BORED GRYPHON, it amounted to the pony version of a t-shirt with a slogan.
“I figure, I give a warning, then maybe I'll get bothered less...”
66.5
A pegasus with brown, shaggy fur and unkempt wings went charging down the main street of Ponyville, drawing stares from the crowd.
This then turned into astonishment as Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity followed her at a run. Rainbow Dash circled overhead, and Fluttershy brought up the rear at a walking pace.
The reason why she had chosen this strategy became clearer a moment later, as the brown pegasus went past her in the other direction, followed by most of the Elements.
“What's going on?” Rose asked Fluttershy, her voice quavering.
“Well,” Fluttershy said, then slowed to a halt. “My friends got very excited about something and started running around after that pegasus mare there. I'm sure it's important...”
The whole procession went past a third time. This time, the brown mare was chasing the rest of them.
“Is it... dangerous?”
“I don't think so,” Fluttershy answered with careful honesty. “But I'd stay out of the middle of the road, myself.”
The two earth pony Elements rushed out of the alleyway between two houses, followed by the brown pegasus, and with Twilight and Rarity behind her.
Dash blundered out of the top floor of Rarity's shop with a bedsheet wrapped around her, and tripped over the end, crashing by the most astounding coincidence directly into her friends' quarry.
“Got'cha!” Applejack shouted. “Nice work, RD!”
“Thanks, Spike,” Rainbow Dash said woozily. “Why is it all white?”
Leaving the frowning Rose, Fluttershy ambled over to her friends. “We caught her?”
“Yep!” Twilight confirmed.
“Yay.”
“Now, let's see who you really are,” Twilight added, casting a spell at the brown pegasus. There was a flash of light, and she turned into... a black pegasus.
“Gasp!” Pinkie enunciated clearly. “It's Old Mare Crankshaft from the water mill!”
“I had to get you away from my house at night, in case you discovered my secret!” Old Mare Crankshaft said bitterly. “I'm a were-pegasus.”
Several ponies blinked.
“But... you are a pegasus,” Rarity pointed out sensibly.
“Yeah.” Old Mare Crankshaft shrugged. “And I'd have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling Elements. And your dog!”
The friends looked around.
“Winona?” Applejack tried, then shook her head. “We ain't got a dog here.”
Pinkie barked. “I volunteer to be the dog!”
“Well, mystery solved,” Twilight pronounced, in the face of evidence. “Good job, gang.”
Chrysalis giggled. “The looks on their faces...”
“It's performance art, really,” Twilight agreed. “Nice work, by the way. Same time next week?”
“Sure.” Chrysalis thought for a moment, still giggling. “Maybe this time I could be a crooked land developer who wants to turn the library into a chimney...”
66.6
“I am Smaug the Red!” The huge dragon leaned down close to Spike's nose. “I am without equal! My armour is as battle steel, my teeth are swords without peer, my claws like manifold diamonds, my wings bear terror aloft with the force of a tornado, the shock of my tail cuts all defence, and my breath the ruin of nations! I have burned Napoleon's Europe and slain five hundred dragons in the doing. I alone spread fire and destruction across Deraine, Sagene and Roche, with neither the puling Anchor Kailas nor his pet Storm able to stop me. Neverwinter was but windblown ash by the time I left it. I have incinerated Corellia in a day and a night, defeated the mightiest battleship of the Imperium of Man, and destroyed the Volturi and all their kin!”
"And yet," Smaug's enormous head snaked still closer to Spike, sniffing him once before drawing back in disgust, "here you are. A whelp, a hatchling, nursed with the milk of lesser beings and their ideals! Who are you, to dare to call yourself a dragon? Who are you, to think you have the right to challenge me for my hoard? To deny me the right to be what all dragons should be?"
Spike looked back up, taking a single quick breath, and then exhaled deeply and evenly. “I am Spykoranuvellitar, known as Spike. I do not challenge for your hoard, because I have no need for it.”
“Blatant lies,” Smaug declared, rumbling. “All dragons need a hoard.”
“Storm, that you mention, has no hoard beyond the love of his rider.” The larger dragon snorted his contempt, but Spike continued. “Toothless, who you may have met, is a partner with his rider. Temeraire, who you must have met, sees his hoard of gold and gems as important – but mainly for where it comes from, and specifically for who it comes from.”
Smaug frowned. “Pretty words, youngling. But why do you not need my hoard?”
“I have a better.” Spike straightened his shoulders. “For me, no gold nor gems compares with my friends. They, and their love, are my hoard in truth.”
“Truly foolish.” Smaug blew a jet of fire into the cavern, which licked around a stalactite and made it glow cherry-red. “Love of lesser beings... no gold... how can you even claim to be a dragon?”
“Dragons aren't mindless beasts,” Spike said, and didn't react when Smaug roared laughter. “We're intelligent, just like humans or ponies or dwarves. We can choose to follow our instincts or not.”
“But why should we not?” Smaug pressed. “Dragons are the greatest creatures in existence! I do what I will, and none can gainsay me!”
“Then you're not a good person.” Spike shrugged. “Being a dragon doesn't mean you're immune to morality. It means you're powerful – that's all.”
Smaug's teeth clashed together no more than a foot from Spike's muzzle. “I am powerful!” he roared, shaking the cavern. “You are a mere wyrmling who consoles himself with the affection of nothings, who has no hoard worthy of the name, who comes before me alone and presumes to lecture me on what a dragon is!”
“I do presume.” Spike nodded. “I presume because, for all your might and majesty, you're really kind of sad.”
Smaug blinked, actually unable to believe someone would dismiss him that thoroughly.
Spike pushed on into the pause. “Your wealth is measured in gold, in gems, in treasure and in vanquished foes. But I can ask my friends for help, no matter the time or the place, and get an answer. I have a wife, who I love and who loves me. I have others, and that's one thing you don't have. You're alone, atop your hoard, in a splendid isolation... and yet, more than anything else you want someone to share it with. To tell them how wonderful you are, because it always rings hollow when you tell yourself.”
With a tiny flash of blue light, a ring appeared on Spike's finger. It was made of a bluish metal, surmounted by a diamond, with a tiny fragment of shining red within it. “This is my most valuable possession. Not because of what it is, but what it signifies.”
“That is the thing you have which holds most value?” Smaug repeated, softly. “Then I desire it.”
Spike looked up, frowning. “Why? I mean, it's my wedding ring... That's why it matters to me.”
“Because you have it, and I do not.” Smaug spread his wings. “I demand it, because it is the right of the strong to take what they wish from the weak. If you do not wish to cede it, then show me what real strength your wife may grant you!”
Smaug inhaled massively, causing the gems in his hoard to clink and rattle with the wind he produced. His neck reared back, and he breathed out a massive gout of red flame directly upwards – shot through with orange, and yellow, and cones of bright blue.
The entire mountain exploded.
Twilight jumped as the sound of a mighty explosion reached her, and rushed to the window.
All over Ponyville, heads were poking out of windows and ponies out on their afternoon shopping runs turned towards the Everfree Forest.
Twilight followed their gaze, and gaped. That pyrocumulus cloud must be half a mile high!
Why is there a volcanic eruption going on in the Everfree?
A colossal red shape exploded out of the cloud, extending vast wings, and performed a sharp hairpin turn before launching a lance of white-hot fire directly downwards.
Twilight blanched. Spike had gone off in that direction for 'a chat' with the dragon of the Everfree... but that certainly was not the dragon of the Everfree. What was going on?
A holodisc clattered to the table behind her.
Snatching it up with her magic without taking her eyes from the wyrm, Twilight triggered it.
The sound of an explosion came through, followed by a cough. “Spike here, Twilight. Everything's under control-”
A loud slam came next. Looking at the hologram, Twilight saw that Spike had just barely avoided a rock the size of a house from landing on him.
“Well, sorta... that's Smaug. Don't worry, I'll handle him – just make sure we don't wreck everything nearby in the process.”
The message ended.
Twilight felt frantically for her element-sense... still two Loyalty elements active. Since one was the (unawake) Dash, that meant the other had to be Spike.
Still, what the buck was going on?
She began composing her own messages. One each to Shining Armor, Celestia, and Luna, asking for their help in keeping the devastation localized.
With a hissing roar, the lance of plasmated air focused in from ten feet across to a single inch, and Spike's blue lightsaber drank it up without much more than a flicker.
Spike mentally shuffled through his Pocket contents, trying to find what it was he'd need. One set of Rarity-quality robes – as flammable as a granite tor, thanks to the fact they were made out of woven diamond and sapphire – and the shield that Shining had made him once. It might not be a particularly 'jedi' thing to have, but it was at least large enough to hide behind in a pinch.
“Do I see a knight in shining armour?” Smaug laughed, then continued in a tone of heavy sarcasm. “Truly a true dragon, to wield weapons to fight rather than rely on tooth and claw and flame!”
Spike squinted upwards, trying to see through the smoke, and reached for the Force. It was there in a moment, a strong cable of blue and white light, and he drew on it gladly.
The shield snapped up almost of its own accord, driven by a flash of precognitive insight, and a blast of wider, less focused fire splashed off it like rain.
“An impressive trick, hatchling!” Smaug said, chuckling. “But inadequate.”
The Force warned Spike of danger, and he leapt clear-
Smaug unleashed the full force of his fire.
The ground where Spike had been standing simply melted. Everything within ten yards of the impact area became a puddle of lava, and the force of the blast cracked the rock around it in a crazy pattern of broken and crumbling pieces.
Spike landed badly, blown off his impact point by the sheer impact of the concussion, and sprawled before rolling upright.
“Twilight!” Shining called, galloping into the library. “What's going on?”
“Spike's in a fight in the Everfree,” Twilight summarized. “I need-”
The Royal Sisters materialized in the kitchen. After a sneeze as Luna's wings hit Celestia's nose, they were sufficiently untangled to move into the main room.
“Right.” Twilight started again. “I need you three to help me throw up a shield around the Everfree. Spike can handle himself, I'm fairly sure, and the best way we can help him is to make sure he doesn't have to worry about us.”
“What caused this?” Celestia asked, already channelling magic to supply Twilight with.
“Spike went off to... I think he said to try and recruit the Dragon of the Everfree for some support group, or something. But-” Twilight winced as the ground shook. “It turned out to be Smaug from Arda, instead. And he's Looping.”
Luna's expression hardened. “Right. We shall aid gallant Spike in defeating this-”
“No,” Twilight shook her head, building the shield spell. Her brother pitched in, layering his own spellforms on top of hers. “Spike said he could handle it. I'm willing to let him have a try.”
Celestia looked at her for a moment, then nodded. “Indeed. He isn't a child any more.”
“He hasn't been one for a long time,” Twilight agreed. “Right, that should hold. I'm going to start evacuating the wildlife.”
Right, I'm fighting Smaug. The Dragon Dread. The Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities.
Spike raised his shield, blocking a blow from Smaug's tail. The knife-bladed appendage glanced off and scored a long furrow in the bedrock, and Smaug laughed.
Smaug the Impenetrable. Well, there's one that didn't turn out to be true...
He jumped again, drawing on the Force, and shot across from one side of the cleared area to the other. Slipping his shield back into his pocket, he drew a yew longbow and nocked an arrow.
A moment's concentration, and he let it fly.
The arrow flew straight and true, striking Smaug's scales right over his heart, and glanced off. Smaug grinned, baring his teeth, and hovered above the smaller dragon tauntingly. “You think me a fool, to fall for the same trick more than once?”
“It's worth a try.” Spike shrugged. “Besides, I like archery.”
He drew back a second arrow and released it.
Smaug spat flame at it, and it erupted in a blast of unbound magic. “I am not blind, hatchling!”
Between one word and the next, Smaug released his Dragonfear.
Spike felt a wave of atavistic terror stab through him. Intellectually, he knew what it was – clearly Smaug had picked up a few supernatural tricks from his time in Faerun – but Dragonfear didn't answer to rationality.
“Look at you, cowering before me,” Smaug said softly, landing before the shivering purple dragon. “Defeated, as all are before me. Smaug Unconquerable, Smaug the Magnificent.”
There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no chaos; there is harmony.
Spike stood, looking Smaug in the eye.
There is no death; there is the force.
“It'll take more than that.”
With a gesture, he replaced his lightsaber in his subspace pocket. “Believe it or not, I don't actually want to kill you.”
“You? Kill me?” Smaug shook his head, a dangerous orange light building behind his teeth. “I think it is not I who must fear that.”
Smaug fired another blast of full-power dragonflame directly at Spike. This time, he didn't dodge.
Twilight shielded her eyes against the flash of blue-white light.
“Is he okay?” Shining asked.
The younger sibling just smiled.
Smaug blinked. “I must admit, that has never failed to work before.”
Spike shrugged, as the molten rock around him began to cool to obsidian. “I'm a dragon, remember.”
He jumped, and kept going as wings snapped out from beneath his robe. Smaug spread his huge wings, and slapped the air to follow.
Thank you, Fluttershy and Dash! Spike thought with the small corner of his mind not focused on keeping ahead of Smaug. The larger dragon was a powerful flyer, but Spike had both technique and agility on his side. The former thanks to his fellow Element of Loyalty, the latter because Fluttershy had finally worked out with him how he could shift wings out of proportion to his size. More area meant more manoeuvrability.
Fire blazed through the air around him, and spawned savage upcurrents which clawed at his airflow. With a thought, he spun Smaug's latest dragonbreath into a single compressed ball of energy, and absorbed it to heal a few minor wounds.
Twitchy tail, the Force whispered, and he dove out of the way of Smaug's claw as it tried to smash him from the sky.
“That's kind of impressive...” Twilight said, quietly, as Spike did an aileron roll (without ailerons) and spun away from Smaug's dragonfire. The plasma burst hit her shield, which rippled but coped with it quite nicely. “I wonder why he's Looping...”
“Well, assuming the admins were responsible at all, they're not exactly infallible.” Shining nodded to her, and she winced, remembering a few examples of less than perfect planning. “And he's kind of a major player in the book.”
Twilight shaded her eyes from another flare. “True. But if we've got the job of clearing up again...”
-
Right. Spike executed a Kulbit, shedding speed so dramatically that Smaug overshot him entirely, and slowed to a hover. No more tactical retreats.
“I thank you, hatchling, for giving me such an exhilarating chase,” Smaug said in a conversational tone. “Nevertheless, I also thank you for simplifying my task. Now, hold still so I do not destroy that ring of yours when I destroy you.”
Spike inhaled, and blew a thin jet of green flame as Smaug unleashed his own roaring inferno.
“Whoa!” Shining said, dancing backwards a step as a cone of flame erupted from the apex of the shield dome. “Did it just fail?”
“Nope.” Twilight's voice was smug. “I think he listened when we discussed tactical use of teleportation. He's flame-sending Smaug's own fire.”
The flame-jet died down, and Spike grinned impudently. “No luck there.”
Smaug stared fixedly at him for a second, and then his tail lashed forward like that of a striking scorpion.
Spike moved smoothly aside, with all the time in the world, and took hold of the tail just behind the flat spade. With careful precision, he pulled just before Smaug reached maximum extension and caused the wyrm to sprawl forwards in the air.
Courteously, he waited until Smaug had recovered his equilibrium.
Another fireblast came his way. This time, Spike held out a palm, and enclosed the fire in a blue globe of Force energy. Bringing it to his muzzle, he ostentatiously blew it out.
Smaug growled, smoke seething from the corners of his mouth, then lunged forward with shocking suddenness and bit down on Spike-
Tried to bite down.
Spike bared his own teeth in a fixed grin as he held two of Smaug's fangs, one in each paw, while pushing down with his feet to keep the mouth open.
Strength of the earth, sugar. Ain't nothing like real earthbendin', but you hold your stance and it ain't trivial to move you.
For fully ten seconds, he held Smaug's jaws open, then gathered himself and pushed.
Smaug resisted for a moment, then let his mouth hang open and began coughing. Spike dropped free, performed a wingover and hovered once more in front of Smaug's nose.
He shrugged. “Well?”
Smaug looked at him with half-lidded eyes full of hate. Then smiled. “So, your friends give you strength, do they?”
The huge red dragon... vanished.
Spike blinked, then gaped, turning towards Ponyville – where Smaug had reappeared, outside the shield, and was already inhaling.
“Oh, cress!” Shining blurted, realizing the magnitude of the disaster. “Twi! Quick, move the-”
Twilight's horn was already glowing, building a new set of shields over Ponyville. It would be a race to see who was ready first.
Then her first shield shattered like glass.
Spykoranuvellitar of Equestria, already a hundred feet long and swelling every second, hit Smaug the Red like a horizontal meteorite. The abruptly smaller Ardan dragon was body-checked clear across the town and floodplain, and impacted on a nearby mountain with Spike's paws still on his side.
“Let me make one thing very clear,” Spike rumbled, his tone deceptively soft. “You don't hurt my friends.”
Smaug made a funny wheezing sound, a little like a punctured accordion. This was probably because Spike was sitting on his torso.
“I meant everything I said before,” Spike added. “I do think you're lonely, I do consider my friends to be the thing I most prize, and I didn't want to kill you. I still don't,” he said, contemplatively. “But you're certainly making it tempting.”
“I... surrender,” Smaug gasped out. “My life and my hoard are yours. Do what you will.”
Spike looked down at his erstwile opponent. “I make you a gift of your life. Do not squander it.”
“Why?” Smaug asked. “Why would you just...”
The purple dragon shifted, taking his weight off Smaug. Then he sighed. “Hay, I dunno. Maybe it's because you're kind of what I could have become.”
Smaug looked blank.
“Way back in the baseline, I had this... breakdown, I guess, where I went mad with greed. Grew to a huge size – like this, but not controlled properly – and started to rampage. I didn't hurt anyone, not seriously, but that's more luck than anything... and Rarity pulled me out of it, in the end.”
“Rarity...” Smaug repeated. “Is she the wife you spoke of?”
“Yeah, though she wasn't then. It took hundreds of years for us to start going out – we took it slowly, for good reason.” Spike smiled briefly, then let it fall off his face. “Anyway, I kind of see you as what I might have been like without her to save me. Consumed by the desire for more wealth, more concerned with what you could get than what you already have...”
Air hissed through Smaug's nostrils.
“And desperately alone, as well. I read the book – you were the last of the dragons on Arda, weren't you?”
The red dragon nodded reluctantly. “I was indeed, after the death of Ancalagon the Black.”
“And I bet you spent a lot of time with him next loop, didn't you?” Spike asked, earning an even more reluctant confirmation. “Besides, it's kind of a rule around here. No-one gets written off.”
After a long moment of silence, Spike rolled fully upright. “Right. On the understanding that you don't try to kill anyone for the rest of the loop, I'm willing to return your hoard to your control. Further, if you will pledge to refrain from killing where not necessary, I will teach you how to carry objects between loops.”
Smaug's eyes snapped up. “How to...?”
Spike nodded, concealing a smile. Gotcha. “I also request – not require – that you talk to a friend of mine, by the name of Fluttershy. She is a shapeshifter – a Druid, in Faerun parlance – and understands the workings of instincts. I think it would be helpful for you.”
Another long pause. Then Smaug slammed a claw into the rubble. “Alright! I agree, curse you!”
Spike beamed. “Nice doing business with you.”
“I see...” Fluttershy said, scribbling some notes down on her pad of paper. “Yes, I've seen that before in created metabiological bauplans. It's a classic case of imperfect construction of instinctual-sapience balance, which means your intellect is unable to properly balance the conflicting requirements of your baser wants and needs.”
Smaug growled, two jets of smoke curling up from his nostrils.
“Don't take that tone with me!” Fluttershy admonished. “Or you won't get a lollipop after we're done. Now, as I was saying, this doesn't mean that you're inferior in any way. After all, it's hardly your fault, and this kind of problem is resolvable with a course of treatment.”
The pegasus finished writing, and ripped a sheet of paper off the pad. “Right, that's my diagnosis for the physical side. Now, tell me about your mother.”
“My mother? My mother was the very living rock of Arda itself, and when I and the other dragons were spun from the earth we left it base and dulled!”
Fluttershy nodded. “I see. And how does that make you feel?”
“Superior,” Smaug stated bluntly.
“Right, let's start there...”
66.7
“The main question before us,” Commander Hurricane said pompously, “is to determine the structure of the military. For it is well known that the military is what truly forms the foundation of a state-”
“Tosh and drivel,” Princess Platinum interrupted him. “After all, nobility is the only true continuity of a realm. Mares and stallions come and go, but the Duke of Black Rock will always be ruler of the Duchy of Black Rock.”
“Everything's built on the land!” Puddinghead said, brightly. “If it wasn't, it'd just fall down!”
The other two leaders chuckled, but their aides took a closer look at Puddinghead. That had sounded altogether too obvious, but once you looked a bit deeper...
“Yes, well,” Hurricane added kindly, shaking his head. “As I was saying, you can have military nobility, of course. It's a good way to ensure competent stallions in competent roles-”
Lieutenant Pansee coughed. “Sir, if you recall, the last hereditary commander of the Pegasi was relieved from duty after he flew upside down into a mountain while drunk.”
Hurricane looked back for a moment. “Well, it's easy enough to lose your way in a snowstorm-”
“It was a glorious cloudless day, sir.”
“Yes, well.” Hurricane sighed. “Alright, you've made your point.”
“FINE!” Platinum shouted, cutting off the four hundred and twenty third repetition of a demand from Puddinghead for a proper electoral system. “You can have your damned parliament!”
Puddinghead stopped talking, grinned, and started cheering.
“But only if you shut up!”
Puddinghead stopped cheering. Then she caught the eye of Smart Cookie, and winked ostentatiously. Neither of the other two rulers noticed.
“But who's going to get into parliament?” Hurricane asked. “I don't trust elections.”
A bell rang.
The six founders stopped talking, and looked towards the front of the room. “How was that?”
“Excellent, thank you,” Cheerilee said, as they all dropped their alternate forms and returned to being changelings. “It looks like it'll have to be a double period, but that's really getting the spirit of those discussions down.”
Chrysalis spoke up from the back of the empty classroom. “It really helps when we can actually ask Pansy, Clover and Cookie about it. And yeah, acting's fun.”
“You didn't actually do any of it, my queen,” one changeling muttered.
“I'll pretend I didn't hear that,” Chrysalis replied loudly. “Especially as I'm playing Celestia in the second part.”
66.8
“Okay, this time, tanks,” Applebloom pronounced. “They're easier to fab, so we should be able to have the match next week. Oh – and, remember, baseline World War Two tanks only!”
The other CMC members nodded. “Gotcha!”
Diamond Tiara climbed into her SU-100 SP gun. Not quite a tank, technically, but close enough – and it fitted her preferences. (Besides, they hadn't let her have six T-34.)
Then the ground started to shake.
“That is cheating!” Tiara shouted from the forward half of her tank. The back half had been completely crushed under-tread by something the size of a large whale.
“What?” Applebloom asked, from her P-1000 Ratte. “It's totally a WW2 vehicle.”
“Which they never even bothered making because it's...” Tiara counted on her hooves for a moment. “One, stupid, two, impossible, and three, it couldn't move over the ground! Look, you're sinking, for acorn's sake!”
“Ah.” Applebloom disappeared back into the hull. Something went clunk. “Ah, great, there goes the fourth engine today...”
There was a grinding roar, and the Ratte began to move. Just.
“Can't it go any faster?” Tiara asked, giggling.
“Not with that many engines broken.” Applebloom shrugged. “Couldnt'a ambushed you if ah hadn't had a hill to go down.”
Something flew overhead.
“Now that, there,” Applebloom added, pointing as the aircraft did a careful turn in the distance. “That there is cheating. Hey, Scoots! Yer cheatin'!”
“No I'm not,” Scootaloo protested over the radio. As she got closer, it became clear that it was indeed a tank.
Sort of. It did have enormous wings strapped to the side, and a buzzing propellor providing power.
“See,” Scootaloo continued as she got closer again, “I heard of this thing called the M1932. So, yeah. Besides, it's not as silly as what Sweetie's got.”
“I dread to think...” Diamond Tiara said absently.
Something surfaced in the waters of a nearby lake.
Applebloom sputtered. “That's just a submarine with tracks!”
The submarine in question trained its deck gun on them, and then fired a torpedo into the water.
“Whoops...” Sweetie said. “Wrong button.”
Tiara and Applebloom dove back into their armour, as the (really very small) deck gun started plinking away at the side of the Ratte. Said Ratte had moved a full six feet since starting up.
“This is a farce, is what it is,” Diamond Tiara opined. “Wait a sec. Where's Silver?”
WHAM.
Silverback chuckled, and wrapped her prehensile tail around the sighting equipment.
Nobody had said she couldn't use a really big artillery piece...
66.9
“Well,” Twilight said, eventually. “That was a thing.”
She joined the others in staring at her drink. Then, as though on a signal, the five mares drank.
“Sure was,” Applejack concurred, as her brother came around and refilled their drinks. “Any idea where... she is?”
“She's in Sugarcube corner,” Dash replied promptly. “Which is a good thing.”
They stared at the drinks. They drank the drinks.
“If I ever meet E.Nesbit, I think I might give her a good slap,” Rarity mused.
Fluttershy winced. “Her. And, well, it's not really her fault,” she said, as Mac topped up their drinks.
“Okay, where th' hell were you?” he asked, sitting down next to them with a glass of water. “Ain't seen you like this in a good while, sis.”
“Ever read a book called Five Children and It?” Twilight inquired. When Mac shook his head, Twilight continued. “It is a sand-fairy that can grant wishes – well, in the book, at least. And we were the Five Children.”
Mac blanched.
“Yep,” Applejack confirmed. “Pinkie was It.”
“It was how she treated it as a game of wish tag,” Dash muttered, then took another long swig. “Especially 'cause she was always It by definition.”
66.10 (Masterweaver)
"Right, so..." Takua brought his hands together. "Most of you who are... replacing?" He shot a questioning glance to Spikama and received a confirming nod. "Replacing the turaga already know some of this. But... well, there was a great and terrible war, and a world was shattered into fragments. The Great Beings built Mata Nui to help fix the world - and spend a hundred thousand years exploring the galaxy to observe other societies and figure out how to keep the thing from happening again. But the smaller beings that the Great Beings built to maintain Mata Nui... they gained sapience somewhere along the way and one of them - Makuta Teridax - decided he wanted to take over. So just as Mata Nui was getting back, Teridax knocked him out and set a few things in motion, which also resulted in us Matoran ending up here and amnesiac."
"Whoa." Leinbow'dash rubbed the back of her head. "No pressure, huh?"
Poplejack crossed her arms. "So, what exactly is the plan here?"
"Well.... Mata Nui is, technically, dying. So we've got to get a willing volunteer to go a few kios south to a dangerous island, find their way through chambers that will test their worthiness, claim the mask of life, head straight down through the pit - filled with sea monsters and former warlords - and into Karda Nui proper, and..." The matoran took a hiss of breath. "...willingly put on the mask so it sucks out their life force to stabilize Mata Nui."
The gathered toa, turaga, and matoran stared at him.
"....what," Scowkii finally managed.
"It can't be any of these toa," Takua added, pointing at the six tall warriors, "because they're needed elsewhere. And it can't be me because the last time I did it I ended up in some place where I was completely organic and had these... creatures constantly wanting me to..." He shuddered. "Why can't organic creatures be built like normal?"
Talight winced in sympathy. "Yeah... I can see how that would be traumatizing, especially for you. Especially as your first fused loop. Future reference, you're the Anchor, don't get yourself killed."
"Right." Takua nodded. "Um... usually it's Matoro who... dies. But it could be anyone."
"Does it need to be one of us?" Tialer asked quickly. "Or can it just be a big source of life energy?"
"I... don't know, actually."
"Right. Apple Bloom, you're going to build us a boat and when we get to Karda Nui, you, me, and Silver will be growing the biggest tree possible."
"Got it."
The local anchor blinked in surprise. "You three have the power of the green?"
"It's an aspect of our native loop," Spoohli explained.
"...Right. Um. Be prepared to transform into Toa on the way. That tends to happen. Also you should take Bloomparu, Scowkii, and Nyngu with you too. And if you run into Velika, tell him not to activate Marendar." He shook his head. "Anyway. So, you six toa will find a list of things to do to prepare to wake Mata Nui up. After... whatever life force thing happens, you need to find stones to unlock a chamber in Karda Nui and convince the Mask of Life to insert itself into a generator. It's alive but.... very immature. Oh, also, avoid the Makuta and try to evacuate Karda Nui as quickly as you can."
The toa of air crossed her arms. "And where will you be during all this?"
"I'll head downstairs and get the mask of light. Oh, I should have mentioned this earlier, sorry. I'm going to become the toa of light and ask you six to help me imprison Teridax; you have point all your elemental powers at him at once. Then you'll need to get the matoran back down to Metru Nui quickly while I try to hold his mind inside his body, because he... can telepathically project himself, and if he does that while Mata Nui is waking up he can take over Mata Nui's body - "
Spikama sighed. "I've had telepathic training. We should have the turaga help keep him mentally imprisoned."
"Right. Anyway, after Mata Nui wakes up, he'll fix the shattered world and then we can all get out. But we'll have to deal with the natives..."
66.11 (Drachefly)
Captain Zelnick ran his fingers over the command chair's arm-rest as he debated what argument he'd try this time. The Zoq-Fot-Pik were remarkably hard to minimize the losses of. In twenty loops, he'd only once managed to get them to completely cancel their near-suicidal scouting missions deep into the heart of the Ur-Quan Doctrinal War, and he wasn't entirely sure how he'd done it then. It was easier to get the Utwig to stay put, and they had a mechanical oracle telling them to go.
With a deep breath, he opened the channel. "Hellllllwhat."
With a smile, the white unicorn at the left gave her violet mane a toss and said, "I take it you're looping."
The pink pony at the right gave a broad smile and screamed, "Woo! Humans! I knew we'd get humans sooner or later! Ni-ice ship! For this universe, anyway."
Zelnick blinked.
"Sir?", lieutenant Fenson asked. "What's wrong?" The rest of the bridge crew was even more nervous, but keeping quiet - up until now, the captain had been preternaturally confident and effective in dealing with aliens.
The question helped reset Zelnick. He got up out of his seat and closed in on the main viewscreen as if it would actually help him see them more clearly. "Uh. Right. I'm Captain Zelnick of the New Alliance of Free Stars. We, uh... I'm sorry, who ARE you?"
The one at the right blurted, "Pikkie Pie, but you can call me Pinkie!"
At the left, "I am Rarity, a..." she paused, amused "'Zoq'. Which is a fancy way of saying 'unicorn', it seems."
The middle one said, "I'm Fottershy..."
Zelnick staggered. "You TALK?"
"... I'm sorry? I messed that up, didn't I? I'll be quiet now."
The other two swarmed in on her, Rarity making soothing sounds. "Oh, Fluttershy, he doesn't mean you shouldn't. He was just... impressed!"
Pinkie turned and came in close to the camera. "You're making Fluttershy cry. And do you know what we do with people who make Fluttershy cry?"
Zelnick sat down hard in the seat. "Allow them to apologize and start over?"
Pinkie thought for a moment. "Hmm. I was thinking 'antimatter confetti', but yours is better."
Zelnick sighed in relief, and stared at the quivering pegasus. "I'm sorry? I just..." he trailed off. No good explanation for this came to mind.
Pinkie interrupted, "You had this vivid dream where you were in a time loop and everything was always the same and you knew ahead of time what would happen and you could learn what worked and didn't work, and you were getting really good at it, and then we showed up instead of the Zoq-Fot-Pik and it was like Hello-what?"
Zelnick was about to concur when Pinkie amended, "Actually, it was more of a Hellllllwhat?"
"Ahem. Yes, that pretty much sums it up." He held up a finger to put off the bridge crew's urgent questions, and turned back to the aliens. "So... who are you and where are you from?"
Rarity replied, "Why don't you come down, or we come up, and we'll have a nice long chat about that?"
"As soon as I've explained to my crew, yes."
"... so I should start the Thraddash/Ilwrath war as soon as possible, and the Yehat civil war as late as possible?" Rarity took down notes. "Are you sure those are necessary?"
"Well, you can do without the Yehat, but in the long run, it would save lives to start it. I suspect the best timing is to let it run for only three or four weeks. Nothing big happens by then, usually. And for the others... maybe you can manage to convince the Ilwrath to pick on the Kohr-Ah, but I usually can't. I actually lost twice, trying. And then we all die."
"I... see. Well, I'll get this distributed. If anyone I know ends up looping into your role, this will be very handy."
Zelnick sighed. "This exchange would be a lot more useful for me if I had a pocket like you do."
Fluttershy allowed, "That would be... nice."
Zelnick opened the channel, more hopeful about meeting Talana than ever before. Some day, she could actually remember him.
His hopes came crashing down. The woman on the screen was definitely Talana, all right. But... "Fllrgl!"
Taluna shifted her wings. "I'm impressed. That's even less coherent than the average first utterance by a human captain on making contact with Syreen."