//------------------------------//
// Loops 78 
// Story: MLP Time Loops 
// by Saphroneth 
//------------------------------//

78.1

“Wunderbar!” Photo Finish gushed. “She 'az the poize, the... ow you say... élan, that marks a true model, a star!”

“Isn't élan a Griffish word anyway?” Dash muttered to Twilight.

Twilight nodded to her. “Yep.”

“Oh, er... I'm glad you think so,” the butter-coloured pegasus said with a smile.

“Alas, that you 'ave only one coat unt only one mane! I am sure fraulein Rarity has a truly expansive wardrobe for the photographing, ja?”

“Well, I do,” Rarity said, slowly. “But... I'm not sure if it's my place to...”

“Oh, don't worry.” With a flash of green fire, Chrysalis turned her coat a dusky red. “What about this for the autumn range?”

Photo Finish stood stock still for a few seconds. Then shook her head. “I go!” And ran off.

“Oh, dear,” Rarity winced. “Are you sure that was wise, er, Chrysalis?”

The current Element of Kindness shrugged. “Whatever else she was, she wasn't afraid. In fact-”

With a blur of motion, Photo Finish skidded back into view with three large cameras. “Oh, this will be ausgezeichnet! Can you do the, the horn as well?”

Chrysalis nodded. “Yep.”

“Marvellous!”





“That was an awful risk you took for me,” Rarity started, some hours later. (Photography was over for the day, but Finish had insisted on coming back for at least the next two weeks to sample everything in Rarity's wardrobes.) “I mean, I'm grateful, of course I am, but...”

Chrysalis shook her head, flashing back to her base-form for the loop. “Seriously, Rarity, it isn't a problem at all. I may be nervous around cameras, but I can do this for you. We're friends, after all,” she added in a tone of slight wonderment.

“Well, yes,” Rarity admitted. “But-”

“No, really.” Chrysalis' mouth quirked up at the corners. “Hay, maybe I could see if we can get you in a few of the shoots?”





“Smoothly done,” Twilight complimented her later that night.

“Thanks.” Chrysalis dispelled her shapeshift, and examined her silver-and-green Kindness element. “I'm still coming to terms with this thing. Not sure I've got the hang of it yet.”

“You're doing fine,” Twilight assured her. “If you need help or advice, just ask.”





78.2 (The One Butcher)

Spike found a diary.

He wasn't Awake, so he couldn't resist. He opened the last written page.

It was old and yellowed and full of of protection spells As far as he could see it was an ancient Book, easily measuring it's age in the thousands of years, still the last entry's ink was fresh.

"Attempt 1528 Lyra during the Discord Award Ceremony.
Suggestions: Remove Lyra with influenza. Engage Bonbon to silence Lyra some way(more elegant, but will take more loops. Preferred method, because it's nicer and I will take lots of tries anyway.)"

What? 





78.3 (The One Butcher)

Maud took Pinkie aside. "Pinkie, I really have to ask. Why is your friend Twilight Sparkle wearing a giant chicken suit?"

Pinkie looked mightily sheepish.("No offense Woolma." "None taken.") "Well, actually I never asked."

"You never asked? Does this mean she often wears a giant chicken suit?"

"Well, actually she ALWAYS wears a giant chicken suit." Maud Pie looked at Pinkie in absolute disbelief. Pinkie never saw her that astonished. Her left eyebrow rose four hundred micrometers.

"Pinkie, that is strange, even for you. I will ask." really, she never asked?

Maud walked over to Twilight and asked:"Why are..." was as far as she came before Rainbow Dash snapped her up and flew away.

The Elements minus Twilight assembled around Maud. Rarity began. "Maud, dear, we do NOT ask Twilight about the chicken suit."

Maud's eyebrow shot up another twenty μms: "Why?" She asked exasperatedly. Not that anyone noticed.

"Believe us, we tried. We tried asking for years, but it never worked out and only got more and more awkward and dangerous." Applejack explained.

Maud was speechless. Almost: "Dangerous?"

"Because", Rainbow started, "every time we so much as try to ask her something extremely awkward or terrible happened. The very first time someone tried to ask her Princess Celestia was kidnapped and her crazed sister tried to kill everypony by bringing about eternal night. After we defeated her without asking about the chicken suit it was really awkward to bring it up. When I finally ponied up and went to ask her a stampede was coming right at the town and only narrowly averted. When Pinkie tried to ask next, another stampede, this time made of bunnies devastated the town. Then an outsider tried to ask about it and a huge glowy bear rampaged through town. When my friend, a griffon, came to town and was about to ask a huge red Dragon came storming into Ponyville, demanding we give him his hoard back. A Zebra nearly managed to get the words out and we all ended up being poisoned. Then Parasprites invaded the town, the next time diamond dogs kidnapped somepony. Finally at the Grand Galloping Gala a mare exclaimed her outrage when she saw Twilight wearing a beautiful dress over her chicken suit. Before she could say the word "chicken" however an animal stampede ripped the Gala apart and Discord broke free of his prison."

Fluttershy put in her two cents: "Since then we tried to run interference and apart from one incident with Spike destroying half the town when Cheerilee couldn't contain her curiosity our lives have gotten a lot quieter."

Pinkie took Maud's head in her hooves. "So please sis, don't ask."

Madness. Still Pinkie Pie was seldom so serious. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."





It had been so long. They had to know. They took Twilight to a remote location and secured it against EVERYTHING.

"Twilight,", The Elements spoke, "why are you wearing a Giant Chicken Suit?"





The world ended. 





78.1 continued (earlier)

“Can any pony match Trixie's skill?” Trixie Lulamoon asked, laughing. “Anything you can do, I can do better!”

“I can,” a pale pegasus volunteered.

“Ah, a new challenger!” Trixie announced. “What are you called?”

“Fluttershy,” the pegasus replied, and took a fluttering hop up onto the stage. “And I... I'm psychic. I can tell what ponies are thinking.”

“Oh, really?” Trixie nodded to herself. “Well, then, what am I thinking?”

“That I'm making it up,” Fluttershy said promptly. “Well, now, shock, and an undercurrent of fear... and you're wondering how I'm doing it. No, it's not that way, I really am psychic. That moon-and-star blanket of yours looks cute, by the way.”

Trixie flushed. “H-how did you know about that!?”

The pegasus tapped her forehead. “I said I was psychic.”

The unicorn shook her head, pulling herself together. “Well, Trixie is impressed. But she can tell exactly what you are thinking without even looking!”

There was a loud bang, as a delayed-action fireworks spell triggered.

“You're startled!” Trixie said quickly.

Fluttershy smoothed her ruffled feathers. “That wasn't very nice... okay, I'm going to make a prediction, and then I'll go.”

She passed over a piece of paper. “This prediction will come true later.”

As the pegasus left the stage, Trixie curiously unfolded the paper.

You will be at the Corner Cafe, the one run by Cozy Corner, at seven fifteen this evening.

My treat.

Trixie blinked, and felt her eyes widen. Then she hastily swept off her hat and stuffed the paper into it. “Aherm. Now, where was Trixie?”

“On stage!” a pink pony said brightly.

“Thank you,” she replied absently.





“So...” Trixie said, awkwardly. “Why did you invite Trixie to dinner?”

The pegasus sitting across the table from her nibbled on a breadstick. “I like what I feel of you.”

“...that's not cryptic at all,” Trixie replied, picking up a stick of celery. “Why is this red?”

“Oh, they put it in flavoured water,” Fluttershy replied. “The water goes up the capillaries. Try it.”

Trixie did so, crunching off the end of the stick. Her eyes widened. “This is great!”

“I thought you'd like it,” her companion replied.

“More of your psychic powers?” Trixie asked, chewing.

“I knew as if I'd seen you eat here before.”

“Well... thanks.” Trixie swallowed. “I don't always have the chance to eat a good meal, out on the road.”

“I know.” Fluttershy nodded.

Trixie chuckled. “You seem to know everything about Trixie.”

“Most things.”

There was a clatter of hooves outside.

“Miss Trixie!” two young voices said, on top of one another.

Trixie turned. “Oh, Trixie's fans. What is it?”

“We awoke an Ursa,” Snips said.

“So you can banish it!” Snails continued.

“And show how great you really are!” they finished together.

Trixie blanched.

Fluttershy got up from the table, and stepped around to face the colts. “That was a very bad idea! That poor Ursa – imagine how you would feel if someone woke you up from a sleep just to get beaten up!”

“But...” Trixie said, distantly. “I... I can't-”

Fluttershy turned to her, and gave her an encouraging smile. “Don't worry. I'll deal with it – but I'll need your help.”





I seriously hope this works, Chrysalis thought to herself.

As the young star-beast entered town, growling, she stepped forward and focused. “Stop!”

The Ursa ground to a halt, gaze fixed on her, and roared.

“I know you're scared,” she added in a soothing voice. “Those silly colts woke you up, didn't they? But they're gone now. You just need to calm down, and Sleep. Go back to Sleep.”

The threatening growls gave way to confused, drowsy rumblings.

“That's right, no-pony here wants to hurt you,” she said, preparing a fourth Suggestion spell. “Just Go Back To Sleep, and you'll be home in a jiffy.”

The last rumble turned into a snore, and the Ursa's eyes closed. Then it slowly began to fall forwards.

Chrysalis turned to Trixie. “Catch it – quick!”

Trixie's horn flashed into light, and a matching blue glow caught the Ursa before it hit the ground. “There!”

“Good work,” Chrysalis said. “Now, we need to get him back to his mother.”

“Mother?” several ponies repeated.

“Quietly!” Chrysalis hissed. “He's only asleep, remember? Now, come on. I can't carry him, Trixie – can you lift this much weight for that long?”

Trixie frowned. “I can try.”

“Good. Follow me.”





“Nicely done,” Twilight said the next morning. “Did you-”

“Yes, she knows I'm a Changeling,” Chrysalis replied. “”I told her on the way back. She took it well, actually. And I told her to keep in touch.”

“You know that, if she doesn't ultimately love you, it's not the looping her...” Twilight checked.

“Of course I do, I'm not a fool.” Chrysalis looked down. “But if she can... or even if I give her a happier life... then I should try.”





78.4 (TheEyes)

Nurse Redheart walked over to Twilight's bed and looked at her clipboard on the door, "According to these charts...she's...going through her Changeling phase."

Princess Celestia gasped...then blinked in confusion, "Wait, WHAT?"

Redheart set down the clipboard and looked the sun pony in the eyes, "Apparently it has to do with her connection to the Elements of Harmony. Her body is channeling the magic of friendship and she will eventually Ascend... after cycling through every sentient species on Equestria."

The nurse slid open the door, where Twilight lay in bed. About the only thing recognizable about her was her mane, with its familiar purple-and-pink-highlights, the rest of her was covered in black chitinous plates. The apparently-a-Changeling-now waved.

Celestia waved back, her ethereal mane looking uncharacteristically ruffled. "...what?"





Twilight looked down at her purple dragon body. "Huh. Well, on the plus side, I guess I can do more hands-on research into postal magic."

Celestia winced as a lean, rainbow-colored dragon sped through the sky, blowing up clouds with bursts of fire breath. Perhaps now would be a good time to reconsider the brandy content of my morning tea. She glanced towards Sugarcube Corner, where a pink dragon was breathing what looked like cotton candy at random passers-by and giggling madly. Yes, definitely brandy.

Spike stared slack-jawed at a lithe white dragon with iridescent lavender scales, smirking back at him with lidded eyes.

"I am TOTALLY FINE with this change!"





"Shoo bee doo, Princess Celestia!"

Celestia's eye twitched.





Lyra Heartstrings bounced in excitement "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!"

Twilight stumbled on unsteady legs and fell, catching herself by wrapping her arms around Lyra's flank. Lyra didn't seem to mind one bit.

"OHMYGOSH!"





Celestia sighed in relief. Her mane was a frazzled mess, and she hadn't drank any tea with her morning brandy in weeks, but today was the day it all ended. Two months of bizarre shape changes, strange inexplicable powers, and chaotic interspecies mood swings were finally over, at least according to Twilight's research notes and Nurse Redheart's tests. Today Twilight and her friends would Ascend, and all this weirdness would be over.

Six tentacled manticores stood in a circle under her watchful (and slightly bloodshot) eyes. Slowly they began to glow, the now-familiar sign of transformation shifting brighter than ever before...

...and faded, leaving six draconequui standing, blinking at each other.

There was the distinct sound of glass breaking, or perhaps that was the sound of a mind shattering, and Princess Celestia fell stiffly to one side, twitching occasionally. 





78.5 (Valentine Meikin)





Twilight stood in front of Nightmare Moon, glaring her down.

"Go to your room right now, and you're grounded until Celestia's back!" She snapped, everyone looking shocked as Nightmare Moon actually bowed down and slinked off towards the library, "And I want you to stop possessing her sister right now!"

Everyone looked at her, and she just shrugged. "She'll be fine. I'll get her some cookies on the way back to the library."

"It's not that... You GROUNDED Nightmare Moon for attempting to create Eternal Night!" Applejack explained.





Twilight walked into the library a few hours later to see Nyx looking unhappy.

"Sorry, Mummy, for creating the Eternal Night..." The filly alicorn whined, for Twilight to smile at her, while thinking, 'Yes, I just defeated Nightmare Moon by being her mother. Must get Fluttershy to specifically handle Discord... I don't understand why, but it works.'






In the palace, Celestia looked at Luna, who was wondering what the hell happened.

"All my hatred, anger and loathing just seemed to disappear... I don't know what came over me..." Luna explained.

"We've all had bad time outs." Celestia muttered, as she glanced at the report, mentioning that Nyx was catching up on a millenia of no hugs and cookies from her mother, and was really sorry about her and her sister ganging up on her. 





Twilight penned a letter to Celestia as she got a message asking how she was able to claim to be the mother of the dark side of her sister, planning the most audacious act possible... She was going to tell her the complete and honest truth about how she was a Alicorn Time Looper whose daughter was the embodiment of Nightmare Moon.

"Dear Celestia, The being you know as Nightmare Moon is actually my daughter, Nyx Spa..." She began to write, then it screeched to a halt as she considered finishing that sentence, and called Nyx over, making a decision she knew she'd never want to go back on.

"Now, we know that you are born from what remained of the original Nightmare Moon and my own blood... For many loops, you've just been, well, Nyx." Twilight stated, before asking, hopefully, "I'm not sure if you'd like it, but I was thinking that Nyx Sparkle sounds much...."

The filly shaped missile that hit her, saying that she'd love to be considered properly a Sparkle, was a surprise... but, as she continued the letter, running a hoof over Nyx's mane, she knew that it was the best idea possible. No more would Nyx's full name be Nightmare Moon, now she could say her full name was Nyx Sparkle...

Nyx sniffled, then turned her head upwards. “Wait. We don't use family names, do we?”

“Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't.” Twilight smiled. “If you want to take part of my name, go right ahead.”





78.6 (Detective Ethan Redfield)


"Behold," shouted Nightmare Moon as she appeared in the Palace's Throne room, a magical spell already primed and armed. "Dear Sister, I have returned from my thousand...year...slumber."

Her voice trailed off and the spell flickered out as a Draconequus Celestia sat in a plaid throne room with mushroom clouds hovering in the rafters made of cotton candy. Celestia blinked. "Welcome back, Luna. I know you want to fight it out, get revenge and all that, but maybe we could just talk it out? Would you like to sample some of the cheesecake," she said, bringing out a cake made entirely of cheese and icing, "while the therapist I hired works us through our problems?"

The throne doors made of Jello squirt open, revealing a pink Draconequus. "Hi there, Black Snooty! Oh wait, you're Celestia's sister...Nyx right?"

Nightmare shook her head several times to clear the distractions. "Sister? What hast thou done? Didst thy vile foe, Discord, free himself and wreck havoc upon Equestria whilst I slept?"

More confused glances. "Are you feeling alright, Luna? You seem...ill? Discord is still imprisoned in the gardens."

Nightmare's horn glowed navy blue once again. "I wilst not fall for thou tricks. Thou art Draconequui, and mine sworn foe! Return mine palace to the way it was long ago, and dispell thine strange confections I see before mine self!"

Celestia and the pink Draconequus looked at each other. "Maybe she needs to see the happy ponies in white? Captain Armor, send for Sound Mind and his team immediately!"

Another Draconequus appeared seconds later from the doorway, gave a salute, and turned to walk out. Nightmare fired off a bolt at the captain, who merely raised his shield and deflected it. Then, weird things started happening to the dark alicorn. First her front hooves morphed into a griffon claw and lion's paw. She stared on in horror as her lower hooves took the shape of an eagle's talon and a goat leg. Her body shed all its fur and took the scales of a dragon, her tail now that of a snake, her wings were that of a bat and pegasus and her horn disappeared, replaced with moose antler and a goat horn. She felt herself all over and started screaming.





After a few minutes of hysteric screaming, Twilight Sparkle emerged from hiding behind the throne and cast a sleep spell on the exiled princess, mercifully sent Nightmare Moon into a deep sleep. Celestia sighed. "As always, Twilight, your magic is impressive. But the perception filter was a bit too powerful. What did you make her see anyway?"

Twilight was at least sheepish at what she had done. She pulled out a photo from her scrapbook and floated it to Celestia. It depicted Celestia and the element bearers as draconequus all standing upside down on the Canterlot Palace, where everyone had been draconequus and Discord (there named Harmony) had been sealed in a statue for trying to ruin their chaotic fun times.

Celestia giggled for a second, then asked, "Mind if I take a copy?" She was totally planning on using this as blackmail against Discord.

Twilight shrugged. "Sure." 





78.7 (Elmagnifico)

"Mom, why are we clownfish?"

"I have no idea, Nyx. Let's play along, I'm not sure how to do magic yet with this body."





Twilight swam around, in a half state of panic. Straining again, she manifested her Element. Sure enough, the tiara appeared. Like the last half dozen attempts, this was followed immediately by a vexing beep that reminded her of one of the default alerts on a computer from the Hub, and the crown simply Ceased to Be. Items from her pocket had been met with a similar response.

She groaned in frustration once again.

Why had Nyx even swum out there? The “Butt” was clearly an excursion boat, which meant divers, and potentially poachers were about. Those other fish were clearly the loop's version of Babs Seed, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, each with relatively baseline personalities. Why hadn't she, Twilight Sparkle, Anchor and Archmage, noticed the developing situation until after the fact?

A deep breath. Calm down Twi, self-recrimination will not get Nyx back.

Baseline capabilities were not enough to beat this. She needed assets, she needed allies.

Twilight perked up at that thought.

She needed her friends.

The plan was simple. Assemble her friends, as many of the others as she could. A ping at the beginning had returned results, so there were others around. And if those resources proved insufficient to effect a rescue, start building power among the loop's unawake inhabitants and mount an amphibious assault on humanity until they gave her back her daughter.

Even if she couldn't use them, she could still feel the Elements.

So, she started swimming. 





78.8 (Zetrein)

"Sure, next thing you'll tell me is that Princess Celestia can walk on water."

"She can, actually. If she wanted to."

"Well, o'course she can, I'm sure there's a spell for that."

"Well, yes, but she doesn't need it. You know how clouds are water vapor? She can just manually overcharge her pegasus cloud walking ability, and trot across a pond. With enough training, some pegasi could learn it."

"Really now? 'Suppose you could do it too, overcharge'n that cloudwalking spell o' yours?"

"Oh no, not that spell. I mean, I could, but the spell matrix wouldn't work like that. Spell structure is too rigid for that. You'd have to put so much power into it, to make it work, that you'd be much better off with an actual waterwalking spell." 





78.9 (TheCentauress)

"And now, my little.... Wait a tick, Why aren't you ponies?"

"FIRE!"

As the smoke cleared, the Dracoequui Elements blinked. Where once stood the serpentine figure of Chaos, there was a whipcord-lean pegasus Stallion of Celestia's stature with a cutie mark of an irregular hunk of crystal containing a swirled rainbow pattern. The stallion unfurled his wings, showing that the left one was a royal-looking swanlike feathered appendage, while the other was one that was more fitting for a member of the Night Guard.

The changed Spirit of Entropy looked down, then whined;

"Tiiiiiiiiiiiiia!" 





78.1 continued

“Miss Chrysalis?” three voices asked, not quite in chorus.

The no-longer-even-bothering-with-a-disguise Changeling turned. “What is it?”

“Well... we're trying to get our cutie marks,” Applebloom began.

“And we thought we'd get one for Hearts and Hooves day,” Scootaloo continued.

“And our teacher doesn't have a special somepony, so we thought you could help,” Sweetie Belle took up the thread.

“Who does Miss Cheerilee like?” they asked in unison.

Chrysalis shook her head, grinning. “Yeah, no, not a good idea.”

“Why?” Applebloom retorted. “It's a great idea! Like that princess... you know, the one whose got a love talent!”

“She had an article in the Canterlot Times last week!” Sweetie said. “It was great, but a bit mushy.”

“Princess Cadence?” Chrysalis frowned, as the reminder hit home. She needed to work out what to do about that.

But for now, she had a thankfully simple solution to this particular problem. “Your teacher doesn't want to find a special somepony right now, girls. I'll ask her, to make sure, but I think she's happy as she is. And so is your brother, Applebloom.”

Applebloom jumped.

“Now, I do know how you can check to see if you could get cutie marks for it,” Chrysalis continued. Then weighed the pros and cons of what she was about to do.

Buzz it. I'm the Element of Kindness, I can do this bark.

“Applebloom, you need to set up a special booth – over by Sugar Cube Corner, okay? Make it so it's concealed from people going past – so it's private. Scootaloo, I need you to go and pick up something from this address in Canterlot. It's a long way, and you'll be carrying a lot on the way back, so take your scooter. And Sweetie, learn this music.”

All three of them blinked as an address, a bag of bits, several dozen planks of wood, a hammer, some nails, a complicated food order and a pile of sheet music landed between them all.

“Where'd that come from?” Scootaloo demanded.

“Super secret Changeling powers,” Chrysalis replied glibly. “Now, hurry up!”

Two of the three fillies shot off in different directions.

“Now, you get to learning that music!” Chrysalis instructed. “When I tell you, go hide in a bush near where Applebloom's going to have built the booth, and get singing.”

“What are you gonna do, Miss Chrysalis?” Sweetie asked, already mouthing bits of the music to herself.

“I'm going to go and deliver two tickets for free meals,” she said enigmatically, and trotted off.





“Alright, alright, I'm here, like you said,” Cranky muttered. “Now, what's this about free-”

“Cranky?” a voice interrupted him.

The old donkey's head snapped up. “Matilda?”

A gentle song started to float out of the air.





About a mile away, Chrysalis smiled as a pulse of incredulous joy rolled across her empathic sense.

One down. Now, if I got that just right...

The sound of three extremely happy fillies echoed off a nearby mountain.

Sure, they weren't Hearts and Hooves cutie marks... but they probably had a heart in them somewhere.





78.10 (Crisis)

Twilight Farkle sighed as she and her dragonling assistant Psych trotted into Ponyville. She'd Woken Up with a cutie mark of dice, the student of Farcelestia, and a feeling that it was going to be one of those Loops.





"I'm Window Flash! Best window cleaner in all Pedestria!" the cleaning pegasus pronounced proudly.





"Reverend Verity, darling," the unicorn priestess introduced herself.





"Amberjack," the mare who ran the local fishery shook her hoof, "pleased ta meetcha!"





"I-I-I-I'm St-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-tuttershy..." the pegasus speech writer just managed to get out.





"I'm Jinkies!" the glasses-wearing earth pony mare declared. "And we've got a mystery to solve gang! Come on!"

Yep, definitely one of those Loops. 





78.11 (Filraen)

Pinkie Pie blinked.

She was suddenly in her room Sugarcube Corner. She had Awakened again! What kinds of fun would she have this loop? But wait! She wanted to prepare her newest model of Party Cannon to intercept Nightmare Moon on her way down from the moon and...

'Pinkie Pie, did you just Awaken?'

"Yes Chryssy, you too?"

'Keep your thoughts down! You Awoke as a changeling and the hive mind is in panic!"

'... Sorry.' 





78.12 (Andrew J. Talon)

He wasn't like any of the other humans who they had encountered through the Loops. He was tall, certainly, but with prematurely gray hair on a young face. He wore working boots, a long coat with obvious signs of Rarity's design work, and a gunbelt loaded with firearms and a retractable staff. And he had on a pair of spectacles that he adjusted as he sat in Twilight's library, keeping his tea in his slightly shaking hands.

"Do you need anything? I mean, I can find sugar," Twilight said kindly. "I mean, I can just conjure it now out of my subspace pocket-"

"Ah, no," the visitor said. "No, I-I'm fine... I'm fine..." He sighed and rubbed his temple with his hand. Twilight tilted her head.

"So... Last time I saw you, you weren't an alicorn," he said. "I-I mean... My Twilight."

"So, we know each other in the other universe?" Twilight asked with a smile. The human chuckled a little, and nodded.

"Yeah... We're very, very good friends. Ahem."

"You act as though we're more than that," Twilight said, tilting her head back the other way. Princess Celestia had taught her just how to do it properly in order to convey several levels of meaning and to make oneself look too adorable to lie to. The human rubbed the back of his head.

"We are... Off and on. We have issues, we fight sometimes..." He smiled. "I love her to pieces, it's just not easy."

Twilight nodded. "Romance seldom is. I mean, unless it's in books... And I imagine that's why you might have some issues."

"That and we're also dating Fluttershy," the human said. Twilight's eyebrows rose. The human coughed, and sipped his tea. "It's... Complicated."

"I can imagine," Twilight said, a bit amused. "So... Frankly, this is a bit unusual. I mean, you're from an entirely different version of Equestria..."

"And here I thought I had crossed enough boundaries just being the first human in Equestria," the man chuckled. "I feel like such an overachiever!" He looked at her with a smile. "So... What are the differences here? My world make first contact with yours in the distant past? Humans never showed up?"

"Humans do show up, regularly," Twilight said. "But they tend to be Loopers."

The human frowned, confused. "Loopers?"

"Time Loops," Twilight explained. "You see, we're caught in eternal time loops. We're in a kind of... okay, reality consists of all universes, and dozens of timelines consisting of small subgroups of universes repeat over and over, with only a few aware of it at any time and able to take advantage of it. Seems to be a kind of system wide glitch in reality that they have yet to resolve-"

"But because of the time loops you have essentially an eternity to fix anything, so why not enjoy yourselves?" The human concluded. Twilight smiled.

"I see why my counterpart likes you," she said gently. The human smiled back and shrugged.

"I do my best. Tends to end with me in the hospital, and her yelling at me... But we work out pretty well."

"Still, while you're here," Twilight said, "you could find ways to enjoy yourself. At least until we can send you home?"

"Home?" The human smiled. "Yeah... Yeah, home." He chuckled. "That's what it is now..." He nodded. "All right. I'll be Bill Murray, you can be Andie MacDowell."

"This means you have to learn to play the piano and speak French, you know," Twilight said. At the gobsmacked look on the human's face, she giggled. "I've picked up a few things from various human pop culture references over the millennia."

"Man, that is going to be hard to get used to," the human laughed. Twilight smiled.

"Might make it easier if I knew your real name?"

"Andrew. Andrew Eugene Shepherd..." 





78.13 (Masterweaver)





"Wow, Granny, Ah had no idea ya used ta be an aquapony!"

Granny Smith grinned. "Sure as shooten'! Why Ah used ta wow the crowd with some of tha best hoofwork ya evah did see, if Ah sah so mahself."

Applejack smiled. "Heh, sounds like quite tha time yah had. Ah hope ya never ran into trouble with seaponies."

"Are ya kidden? Mah swimmen' was so great they even let me compete in some of teir own sports!" The elderly mare smirked. "Heck, that's where ah met yer grandpappy, finest fins in tha seven seas."

Applejack blinked, suddenly frozen. Her eyes grew distant as she pondered this revelation.

"Um... AJ?" Apple Bloom poked her sister. "Are ya okay?"

It took a few seconds for the farm mare to do anything, but she did eventually paddle out of the watering hole, shake herself dry, and walk off without a word. They later found her rocking silently back and forth in the library. 





78.14 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

Twilight learned long ago to expect the unexpected, but there were just no preparation for this. Every window in Ponyville was smashed. Barnyard Bargains was in tatters. The building was on fire, every window was long since broken with electronic appliances scattered everywhere. Countless ponies surrounded the building, stamping on appliances shouting vile things about toasters and ovens. Off to the side, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were roasting marshmellows atop smaller, less dangerous wooden cinders and Fluttershy was running around in a draconequus outfit shouting for Discord.

The unicorn mage turned to Pinkie, an unawake Pinkie, and said sternly, "Explain!"

Pinkie looked a bit sheepish, "I was brainwashed by the toaster! And we are ridding the world of this evil."

Discord had something to do with this, she just knew. As Twilight forced a migraine down, she said, "OK, start from the beginning."

"Well, when a stallion and a mare love each other very much-"

Twilight's hoof stopped Pinkie, "I mean, the toaster."

"Oh, it all started when my toaster spoke to me and demanded toast."

At that, Twilight tuned out her long winded explanation, Discord, She thought, Definitely.

He wasn't awake either, but every now and then, an unawake Discord could prove difficult to predict. Unfortunately, no one was awake, so Twilight had to deal with this insanity on her own. She came back to the conversation just as Pinkie was finishing up, "And Celestia freed us from our brainwashing by throwing the toaster out of Canterlot. We, the former Holy Order of Toast, thanked Celestia for her benevolence and vowed among ourselves to rid the world of all toasters and their great evil!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "And why are you destroying the other appliances?"

Pinkie returned the eye roll, "Don't you know, silly filly, that the toasters are only the servants of the greater evil, electricity and all appliances! We will purify the world of its evil influence!"

One interesting thing about this world though, Pinkie was on medications. This was not Discord's fault alone, "Pinkie, how about you come to your house with me and we'll help purify this great evil that has Ponyville in its grasp, what do you say?"

Pinkie gave one of her patented grins, "That sounds nice, Twilight!" 





78.15 (Zetrein)





999, Moonless age. Dawn of the Final Day.

"My dearest, most faithful cultist, Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must get out of that dusty old tower.

My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I've asked Princess Celestia to have you supervise the preparations for this year's Summer Sun Celebration, in Ponyville. In addition, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some (more) friends!

Your friend, Cadance.

P.S. Why don't you take Nyx along? I'm sure she'd enjoy getting out of town for a couple days."

Handing the letter back to Twilight, Nyx commented, "That's a keeper, I think." She had Woken up a couple months ago, and had been enjoying her time as Twilight's little sister. "Suppose the Cult is up to something? For real this time?" Nyx asked her usual mother. "Like, bigger than the bakesale last year."

Twilight sat beside her on the train. Spike was still in Canterlot, following an incident Nyx totally had nothing to do with, so it was just the two of them.

"Hard to say, I keep expecting the other shoe to drop with them." The elder unicorn replied with a shrug. "I'm sure something is going to happen. You know how that goes. Try not to get kidnapped by a crazy cult, okay?"

"You mean, besides your crazy cult?"





"Increased Moonpony ship sightings! Foreshadowing of the Moon's return, or prelude to invasion?"

"The 'Thousandth Day' approaches, where's the Moon?"

"Moon or Myth: Does Luna actually exist?"

"Moonponies stole my chickens!"







Ponyville was much like it always was, Nyx reading off amusing tabloid headlines as they walked by the train station news stand. And much like she always was, an unAwake Pinkie gave them her physics defying gasp greeting... Though she likely wasn't Pinkie this time, on the grounds that she was lime green.

"...Right, green. We can handle this. Sweet Apple Acres to start, as usual, right?" Nyx said, looking up at her mother.

"Sunny Orange Orchards, actually." Twilight corrected. "One of the butterflies Luna caused. Somewhat less worrying than Greenie Pie, or whatever her name is this time."





Taking a deep breath, Whiskey Sour continued introducing the Orange Family to them. "...Rhode Red, Valencia Blossem, and Clementine. Up'n'attem, Clementine, we got guests."

Taking note of their names this loop, Twilight leaned over and whispered to Nyx. "You're helping me eat all this, right?"

"Heck, Sugercube," Whiskey appearantly overheard her, and slapping her on the back told them, "we got enough for everypony! Ya'll go on and eat your fill now, y'hear?"





"Well, actually," Nyx answered Rarity's question, "my sister is overseeing the preparations." Pointing at the groaning unicorn, who was leaning on the wall next to the door. "But she's still recovering from our visit with the Oranges. Too many lemon tarts, and a lot of drinks they wouldn't let me have."

The white unicorn's eyes widened with understanding. "Oh dear. I know all too well what your sister is going through. Come along dear, let's go back to my house, and try and get her sobered up a little."





Some time later, with Nyx having taken the lead with Fluttershy, they found their way to the library door, and the expected party behind it.

"Hi, I'm Key Lime Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh huh huh?" Color aside, Pinkie seemed just like she always was. "I saw you when you first got here, remember? I was all gasp, and you were all 'right, green' remember?"

"Stop." At Twilight's command, the energetic mare froze mid bounce. "Key Lime Pie? Any relation to the Orange Family?"

"Yupperoony! Did you already meet my cousins?" Key Lime resumed bouncing as she spoke.

"Yes, I ended up sampling the catering." Twilight replied with a flat look.

"Oh!" Key Lime snapped her hoof. Somehow. "Don't worry about that! This party is foal-friendly! No booze, unless you want to ask Whiskey for something. She likes mixing drinks, it's her special talent!"

"That explains why there's an open bar as part of the catering." Twilight sighed, as a pegasus flew up behind Key Lime.

"So that's why you threw up on me earlier? Whiskey got you good and drunk before sending you my way? Totally not cool, by the way." Rainbow Dash crossed her forehooves, trying to glower at both Twilight and the farm mare at the same time.





For once, Celestia's entrance had gone off without a hitch. The sun had even been up for a whole two hours before things went pear shaped.

"Hey, Twilight?" Turning to the familiar voice, Twilight was faced with Minuette and Lyra, wearing black suits and sunglasses. "We're really sorry about this."

With that, Lyra sent a stunning spell at Nyx, while Minuette clocked Twilight upside the head with an enchanted baguette. The last thing Twilight saw, as the magic bread smashed into her face, was Lyra lifting Nyx onto her back.





Twilight woke up upside down in a bush, with the broken remains of the aforementioned baguette impaled on her horn. Judging by the position of the sun, twenty minutes had passed. She could hear somepony addressing the crowd, from atop city hall.

"...Celestia has fled, in the face of Princess Luna's return! But there is no cause for alarm, as the wise Princess Cadance has taken the reborn Luna under her wing, and together they shall lead Equestria into a new age of prosperity!" It was Flash Sentry, of all ponies. Pulling the bread from her face, Twilight saw that he too wore a black suit. 





78.1 continued

“Um... can I have a word with Cadence? Er... alone, please,” the yellow pegasus asked.

Twilight gave her a look, then nodded. “Sure.”

As soon as they'd left, Cadence chuckled. “Well, well, well. I never thought I'd see another changeling here... without my having planned it, at least.”

Chrysalis shrugged, her pastel-green-and-pink dress shifting slightly. “Metamorphia. I wish I could say I'd never expected to see you again.”

“Oh, still bitter?” Metamorphia closed the door with a quick flash of magic, and then dropped her shapeshift. “We did say, may the best ling win. And I did. Frankly, you're lucky I only forced you into exile...”

She shook her head. “But, well, far be it from me to ignore the workings of fate. Want to rejoin the swarm? I could ue someone as powerful as you... so long as you obey my commands without question, of course.”

Chrysalis smiled. “I'll decline, thank you. But I did have a question.”

“Go ahead.” Metamorphia smirked, licking one fang. “I'm sure it'll be worth it.”

“Why are you doing this?”

The Changeling Queen blinked. “...have you become soft in the carapace? We're Changelings – it's what we do. We need love to live, and we get it by taking the place of loved ones. This 'Shining Armor' loves so strongly, he could feed the whole hive.” Metamorphia clacked a hoof on the floor. “I have to take the easiest way out, you know. It's better for all involved – really. He gets to exist in a state of mindless, loving bliss, we get our food and the hive can survive and grow.”

“And the other ponies in Canterlot? In Equestria?”

“You have gone soft.” Metamorphia snorted. “The needs of the hive come first. The needs of these ponies – come nowhere at all.”

“You're really not very good at this whole ruling thing, are you?” Chrysalis challenged.

Metamorphia blinked. “What?”

Chrysalis ran back over all the second thoughts, all the horrible realizations, all the times she'd beaten herself up for what her baseline self had done.

“Well, first of all, you didn't even consider diplomacy. Equestria is no dark empire, exterminating changelings wherever they can be found – the ruler of the moon, Luna, attempted a coup against her sister, Celestia. Yet they rule together today.”

“Weakness,” Metamorphia shrugged off. “Only one queen can exist in a hive. Anything else is contradiction.”

Chrysalis continued with something that hadn't occurred to her the first time, but which sank the plan all alone. “Your plan, as cruel as it is, would work... for a few decades, at most. Then Shining Armor would grow old, or die, and then... then you have nothing. No ponies left to drain, other races on their guard, and ultimately changelings die out.”

Metamorphia began to speak, but Chrysalis held up a hoof. “Except that your plan wouldn't work at all. The elder ruler of the ponies of Equestria is Princess Celestia. She is no mere figurehead – she raises and lowers the sun! Her sister commands the moon.” Chrysalis gestured out the window, at the blazing light of near-noon. “Without them, whether you gain Shining Armor or not, the sun would freeze in the sky. Half our world would burn, the other half would freeze.”

The Queen frowned, clearly thinking hard.

“And thirdly... you didn't do all your research. Have you heard of the Elements of Harmony?”

“That weapon the ponies use against their enemies?” Metamorphia dismissed it. “I have taken steps to neutralize it. The guards covering the door to the treasury are all disguised changelings.”

Chrysalis nodded. “That would be helpful, except for two factors. Firstly, the Elements are a weapon – but each individual one is a mark of great virtue. Friendship, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty... and Kindness. That alone should tell you that they would at least listen to you.”

“Words, and words alone,” Metamorphia said, but Chrysalis could taste a slight confusion in her mental state. A sense of uncertainty, of details unknown.

“And, finally... you didn't know who the bearers are.” Chrysalis finally dropped her shapeshift, and with a flash of green light her Kindness necklace appeared from her subspace pocket.

Metamorphia's jaw dropped.

“I rarely even go in disguise any more around town,” Chrysalis added. “I only shifted today because the dress fits better with my pegasus form.”

She released the lock on her emotional bleed, and let it drift into the air. Letting the changeling who could so easily be her younger self taste her sincerity. “We can still solve this without fighting, Meta. Please.”





Princess Cadence lay on the floor of her prison, lightly napping to conserve her strength.

Celestia had taught her how alicorns could go 'dormant' to while away long stretches of time with no food, water or air, but it wasn't working as well as it could. And she still held out hope that somepony would realize her place had been taken.

So, napping it was.

Then, a tapping sound broke into her slumber.

She opened her eyes, and struggled to her hooves as the tapping came closer. It was the staccato clop of two sets of hooves... or possibly one set, taking small quick steps.

The sound paused for a moment, then resumed at half the speed.

“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?” a soft voice asked, from around a corner.

“It's me,” she replied, relief warring with caution in her heart. “Who's there?”

A butter-yellow pegasus stepped around the corner.

“Who... oh, I saw a picture of you,” she said, frowning. “One of Twilight's friends, yes?”

“I have that honour.” The pegasus paused. “This might be a little shocking, but please don't panic. I promise, it'll all be fine soon.”

Then her form rippled and changed in a flush of green fire.

Cadence gasped. “Changeling!”

“I am, yes,” the revealed shapeshifter confirmed. “But I had no part of imprisoning you, nor do I wish you to stay entombed.” She reached up, slowly, and tapped the Element dangling from her neck. It gave a faint flash of warm green light.

“My name – my real name – is Chrysalis. For the last several years, I've been pretending to be a pegasus by the name of Fluttershy. She doesn't really exist – it's just a name and form I made up.”

She paused, and Cadence spoke into the silence. “I... don't understand. Why would you do that?”

“When I did... ponies didn't like changelings. They still don't like them, much, but in Ponyville, and in Apploosa, things are different.” Chrysalis closed her eyes for a long moment. “I'm glad they are. Anyway, I was invited to your wedding, and I quickly noticed that your place had been taken by another changeling. My elder sister-”

“Queen Metamorphia,” Cadence finished. “She taunted me, told me who Shining was really going to marry.” The young alicorn's voice wavered. “It... hurt.”

“I know,” Chrysalis said, softly. “The feeling, of knowing that somepony you love won't be with you, and you won't be with them, and they don't even know. It's... horrible.”

Then she shook her head, and wiped away a tear. “I had a talk with my sister, and... well.”

Another voice spoke up. “I... I don't really understand all this yet, but I am sorry, Cadence. I'll get you out of here, and then my sister will plead my case to Celestia. Hopefully, if we're to be run out of Equestria, we can at least get a head start.”

“She'll understand,” Chrysalis assured her. “Now, Cadence. You've got a wedding to go to.”