//------------------------------// // Loops 79 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 79.1 (Stainless Steel Fox) Pranking a princess “…And now, it is my great honour to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!” The Solar Princess stepped out onto the platform overlooking Ponyville Town Hall and all her little ponies. It took all her centuries of experience and practice to remain suitably regal when inside she was waiting for the other horseshoe to drop. Why hadn’t Nightmare Moon already attacked? She was a creature of rage and vengeance, not cool calculation. She should have come after Celestia as soon as she broke free of the moon, and Celestia had seen the her sister's shadow disappear with her own eyes as the conjunction reached it's climax. The idea that she might have learned to plan filled the princess with a cold that even her sun couldn’t banish. If she attacked now, all the ponies of Ponyville would be at risk from the side-effects of two alicorns fighting. The only thing to do to protect her subjects would be to let Nightmare Moon defeat her as quickly as possible. Until then, she had a duty, which would normally be a pleasure. “My dear little ponies, once again we stand at the dawn of a new day…” She hadn’t actually bothered to write a speech this year, as she hadn’t expected to have a chance to deliver it. However, she had a thousand year back catalogue to draw from, and a thousand years of experience at public speaking. She kept it short, she kept it simple, she filled it with what would have been platitudes if they hadn’t been so genuinely meant. The only concession she made to what was to come was a brief sentence on the end. “There will be times ahead which will call on all of us to be our best, but I know that all of you are more than equal to any challenges the future may bring. Though it was first brought forth in the deepest winter, the fire of friendship still lives in all of our hearts of all of us even now. Let it shine as the sun shines.” It was time. She drew on her power and rose into the air, wings outstretched. In this moment when all her power was focussed on the sun, she’d be vulnerable. If Nightmare Moon was to strike, it would be now. She readied herself, but didn’t deviate from her task. The sun rose, silhouetting her against the window behind the balcony, and ponies oohed and aahed as birds around her sang a triumphal fanfare. She landed and smiled benevolently at her cheering subjects, expertly hiding the strain on her eyes behind a mask of cheerfulness. As she looked out over the crowd, she could see Twilight and Spike cheering as loudly as any-pony else. She hadn’t expected to be able to talk to her student again, at least until after Nightmare Moon was defeated. She made a sudden decision and jumped off the balcony, gliding down. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight came forward joyfully to meet her. The purple unicorn had a rather fetching costume on, complete with a tasteful star shaped ear rings and a matching choker. Considering Twilight normally only wore saddlebags, and then only to carry books around, it was a pleasant surprise. Celestia gave her first genuine smile. “My faithful student, I’m glad to see you here.” “Well of course, I had to make sure the Celebration was up to your standards. Was it?” Her eagerness made Celestia want to chuckle. “Yes, a task most excellently done. And your studies of the old legends of the Mare in the Moon?” Twilight shook her head. “Don’t worry Princess, I put them aside just as you instructed. I understand now what you intended for me to learn. I've read similar stories often enough, a pony gets so wrapped up in some goal, wealth or power or knowledge that she forgets that there are other important things in the world, like friendship and happiness. There were things I learned in Ponyville that I couldn’t have learned in a thousand libraries. It’s been amazing! “I’m just sorry I panicked about some silly legend in some ancient book. If your sister really was going to come back as Nightmare Moon to bring eternal night, you’d have prepared Equestria to defend against her. You wouldn’t have needed my warning, or my efforts. I guess that’s why you assigned me that reading material, to remind me to check my sources and never belief something without corroboration, just because it’s in a book. “Oh, what am I thinking, I want to introduce you to my new friends. You did say I should try and make some…” Celestia had maintained her composure with difficulty. Twilight hadn’t carried on studying? She’d never expected the workaholic unicorn to take her at her word! But then Twilight was also obsessive about following instructions, and ones from Celestia would be treated as holy writ. This was bad, when Nightmare Moon attacked, Twilight needed to have enough information to find the Elements of Harmony… She calmed herself. No, it was fine, there were copies of the right reference books in the local library and the first thing she’d do after Nightmare Moon was proven to be real would be to hit the books and find out what she needed to know. And she had made friends, the critical component for activating the Elements. While Celestia was adjusting her plans, Twilight brought forth her first friend, an orange earth-pony with a blonde mane and a Appleoosa-style hat. She was balancing a plate with a piece of cake and a fork on her saddle, and it stayed rock steady even when she bowed her head to the princess and doffed her hat. “Princess Celestia, I’d like you to meet Applejack. She runs Sweet Apple Acres, they did all the catering.” Celestia smiled warmly. “Ah yes, I remember giving the Apple family the land grant. I understand it prospers?” “We get by, your princess-ship. It’s an honour to meet you. I figured raising the sun and all would most likely make you powerful hungry, so I brought over a slice of our finest apple cake, made by yours truly. Them chefs in Canterlot probably don’t feed you right, all small helpings with lots of fancy avec all over them, so I thought you might like to try some plain, down-home cooking for a change.” Celestia lifted the plate off the earth-pony and sampled the cake. It really was excellent, moist and flavoursome with the apple pieces perfectly complementing the farmhouse sponge. “Mmmm, this is wonderful. You’re a credit to your family.” “Why thank you kindly. I hope you’ll consider Sweet Apple Acres for any of your apple related needs in future.” That gave Celestia pause, at least mentally, though she kept eating the cake, because… cake! No it was probably just natural pride in her skills talking, and not a shameless plug for her farm. She was about to ask the farm-pony more about her meeting with Twilight, but the purple unicorn had already brought forth her next friend, a white unicorn with elaborately styled hair and a dress more suitable for the Grand Galloping Gala. She’d been up on the balcony as some sort of stage manager, Celestia remembered. “And this is Rarity. She did all the decorating, and she’s an amazing designer and dressmaker. She’s also very generous, she even gave me this dress and matching jewellery so I’d have something appropriate to wear for the occasion.” That made Celestia examine the white unicorn more closely. The Element of Generosity maybe? Rarity bowed her head, but was almost immediately up and talking. “Oh my goodness, your Highness, this really is an honour and a privilege! I never imagined when Twilight told me she was your personal student that I might have a chance to meet you face to face! I so admire Canterlot, the glamour and the fashions, I even try to emulate it in my own small way, such as the ensembles I threw together for Twilight and myself. They aren’t ‘too much’ I hope?” Celestia quashed the unworthy suspicion that both Rarity and Applejack had been less than honest with her student. They were both just enthused by their passions, and surely hadn’t just be-friended Twilight to get a shot at sweet-talking Celestia. “No, both the outfits are lovely. I’m glad Twilight found such a firm friend so quickly.” “Of course, Twilight knows she can call on me for anything she needs. She already offered to help me make some contacts in Canterlot, or rather her darling little dragon has. For that matter your highness, if you ever felt the need for something other than your normal regalia,it would be an honour to provide something suitably regal.” At least the unicorn in front of her didn't lack brass. “Thank you, but not at the moment. My regalia is durable, whereas most normal clothing falls to pieces after only a couple of centuries. But I will keep your kind offer in mind.” The next pony Twilight brought up in front of her was a blue pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane. “And my next friend is Rainbow Dash! She's the lead weather-pony and cleared the sky for today in ten seconds flat, I know because I timed it! She's an amazing flyer, and could well be Wonderbolt material. She works really hard every day training to improve her flying, just the way I do my magic, so we even had something in common. Getting into the Wonderbolts for her would be like when you took me on as your student. She really is astounding!” The pegasus grinned. “Yep, it's all true. Twinkle here knows talent when she sees it.” “You mean Twilight Sparkle, don't you?” Celestia asked. She had grave suspicions as to exactly who'd convinced Twilight to give such a glowing recommendation. “Uh yeah, that's what I said.” The pegasus said with a shifty look. “We got talking when we met, and she thought maybe having you put in a good word with the Wonderbolts for me couldn't hurt.” This was a lot more blatant than the other two, however Twilight looked so eager, Celestia didn't have the heart to call the pegasus out. “I see. Well, I'm glad to see Twilight taking such an interest in her friends' well being.” Twilight was already bringing up her next 'friend', or rather levitating her, despite the fact that she was a pegasus, and could fly well enough on her own. “And this is Fluttershy, who orchestrated the bird-song chorus for your arrival. She cares for all the animals in Ponyville.” Celestia looked down at the cowering yellow pony, who would clearly be quite beautiful if she didn't look so scared. At least this one wasn't trying to get something out of her. She knelt and tried to look as non-threatening as possible. “I'm very pleased to meet you Fluttershy. Thank you for the music, your bird-song choir was lovely.” “y'wlcm.” The words were stumbling and barely audible, and Celestia could only just make them out. “Are you alright? I assure you, I may look intimidating, but I'm quite friendly when you get to know me.” She'd intended it as a light jest, something to break the ice, but if anything, the attention seemed to make the pegasus shrink back even further with a whimper. “I'm sorry Princess, she was a lot more articulate when I talked to her yesterday afternoon. As soon as she saw Spike she almost flattened me getting to him, and she couldn't stop asking him questions.” It took a lot to make Celestia feel awkward, but the pony in front of her acting as if she was the headless horse was getting her there. “I'm sure its just stress from the long night. Fluttershy, you may go rest if you wish.” The yellow pony vanished from in front of her, and she thought she saw the edge of a pink mane peeking over the edge of a table on the far side of the room but she couldn't be sure. “And finally there's...” Twilight's introduction was cut off as a pink pony appeared out of nowhere. “... Pinkie Pie! Oh my gosh we have to have a party for you as you're new to Ponyville and I throw every-pony who's new to Ponyville a party, like Twilight when I met her in the street and went...” She jumped up in the air and froze in a splayed out position, mouth opened in a shocked gasp. “... because I know every-pony in Ponyville but I didn't know her so I dashed off to set up a party with cakes and balloons and party games and hot sauce and every-pony because I thought that if she was new to Ponyville then she wouldn't know any-pony here and if she didn't know any-pony here she'd have no friends and be sad and that makes me sad so I went and set up the party so she'd meet lots of ponies and make lots of friends and smile and that would make me smile.” The Princess wasn't sure where the earth-pony had gotten the air to breathe, let alone say all that at once. She'd visibly deflated at the end, and the massive gulp of air she took had somehow managed to rustle even the princess's ethereal mane. At least this one seemed genuine if more than slightly indiscriminate, not to mention crazy. Then Pinkie put her hoof to her chin in a 'thinker' pose. “But I suppose this whole Summer Sun Celebration is really your party, but we could always have a party inside the party... Wowie! That would make it partyception! I have to go find more streamers...” As she vanished, Celestia turned to Twilight to see her pull a piece of paper from inside her dress and tick something off, muttering, “Show my new friends to the princess... done!” “Twilight... Is that a check-list?” “Yes, yes it is. I wanted to make sure I'd done the job properly. Thankfully this whole making friends thing was a lot easier than I thought it would be, I expected to have to hole up in the library and do some serious research on the best techniques on friend making, but it turned out I didn't need to. As soon as I told ponies who I was and why I was there, they were jumping at the chance to be my friend. I must have a hidden talent for this sort of thing... right girls?” The last was directed towards the first three friends who'd grouped up at the buffet. Two of them replied right away, with false sincerity. “Uh huh, sure as shooting sugarcube!” “Oh, absolutely darling!” but Rainbow Dash required a nudge from Rarity before she called out, with obviously faked enthusiasm, “Yeah, whatever you say Twinkle... whooo!” Celestia looked back and forth between them and her student. Surely even Twilight couldn't be this clueless? But all she saw on Twilight's face was a broad smile. “You see? I have such great friends.” Apparently she could. It suddenly occurred to Celestia that it might have been worthwhile to actually convince Twilight to take part in more social events around Canterlot, practice her social skills and making friends rather than simply dropping her straight into it when the fate of Equestria relied on her getting it right. Thank her sun that Nightmare Moon hadn't actually made an appearance. “Ha ha ha ha! Free at last! Free to bring my glorious night over all Equestria!” Celestia spun to face the balcony, where Nightmare Moon had appeared in all her glory. This was bad, this was very bad. With a lack of information and no true understanding of friendship, Twilight wouldn't be ready to get the Elements. Celestia drew on her power, her mane and tail starting to glow like solar prominences. Hopefully she could grab the Nightmare and teleport them both far above the sky where she could fight without restrictions. With her sun already in the sky, she might just have a chance against the conjunction empowered alicorn. “Now stop this at once!” Celestia was aghast, Twilight had teleported right in front of Nightmare Moon and had materialised a soap box so she could see eye to eye with her. Celestia couldn't do anything without breaking her power up sequence and losing any chance to defeat her sister. Well she could speak at least. She called out. “Twilight! Run!” Astoundingly the unicorn glanced at her with a confident smile. “Don't worry, I've got this!” “Little foal! Do you know who I am?” The Nightmare raged, her midnight mane hauling the unicorn's face back to face her. “Do you not know the prophecy? Did you not see the signs?” Twilight's purple magic amazingly pushed the mane away, and she rolled her eyes. “Yes of course, you're the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon. You'll return on the longest day of the thousandth year, starts aid your escape, yadda yadda. Take over Equestria, bring eternal night, unlimited rice pudding, etcetera, etcetera.” She sighed, “The problem is, you don't actually exist. If the prophecy were true, Princess Celestia would have done something to prepare for your return, like gather the Elements of Harmony she used to banish you once before, but they're probably just part of the story. She specifically told me the legends were nonsense, well she actually told me to stop reading those stuffy old books and get out more but the implication was clear.” “How, HOW DARE YOU!” Nightmare Moon raged, using the full Canterlot Royal Voice. “Can you not see me with your own eyes?” “That proves nothing.” Twilight replied, “These are hardly controlled conditions. You are most probably a hallucination, triggered by overwork, tiredness from the all night party and the legends I was reading up on, and using my magical power to manifest as a physical illusion. Or possibly I ate too much of Applejack's amazing cake and you're due to some quirk of digestion. There's more of apple than of apocalypse about you!” Celestia was almost ready to act, but that last comment seemed to hit Nightmare Moon just as hard. She stepped back a pace and her mane and tail seemed to droop. “Really?” Twilight shook her head again. “Look, I'm sorry. I know this was probably really important to you, but the Mare in the Moon is just an old pony tale, at least the prophecy part. Seriously, it sounds like the set up to a bad Daring Doo fan fic. Some-pony would probably have to go on an epic quest to find the lost Elements of Harmony with a band of stalwart companions who despite being randomly picked would turn out to be exactly who she needed to make them work. I mean, really....” She looked at the other mare, who looked away and said in a subdued voice. “Well, this is embarrassing. Uh... I should probably go, shouldn't I?” “That's probably for the best.” Twilight nodded. She brightened up. “Hey, I know, why don't you come back on Nightmare Night? Well technically since you're a figment of my imagination you will if I decide you should, but that's not a problem. A real imaginary Nightmare Moon running around would really liven things up.” “I might just do that.” Nightmare Moon stated with a decisive nod. “Ahem. You can go about your business, my sun loving subjects. But mark my words, I will be back... Mwahahahaha!” She vanished in a puff of logic, and Celestia tried to recover from total brain crash. “But... what... Nightmare... Luna... What?” 79.2 (Conceptualist) "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces." As typical for loops where Princess Luna and/or Nyx were UnAwake, Nightmare Moon had returned from the moon to shroud the land in Eternal Night. How unfortunate for her. "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last for-" "Gima bak Mha Litle Nomes!" Silence fell over the room. No pony dare speak for fear of snickering or giggling, and possibly offending one of the two legends that were about to clash. "What," Nightmare deadpanned. "Gima bak!" "What gnomes. I don't have any gnomes. I just flew back from the moon, and have only-" "Ah! So dats whare da danambit cult put em. Tak me to mha Nomes." "No way am I going back to my moon now. I just got back and still need to make my night etr-" *whak* "Ow!" In the silence, the first whak echoed loudly. Nightmare Moon stood still, in shock that somepony would dare whak her with a rolled up newspaper. Nopony dared to move lest they draw the Pony Princess's ire, until - *whak-whak* - the whakking continued. "I am you're-"*whak*"- rightfull prin-"*wham*"-cess and I -"*Wham*"-demand that-"*KABONG*"...Ouch..." "Now, to da moon! I needs Mha Litle Nomes! They be missen dear sweet Old Mare Henderson." And so, the Nightmare returned to the moon and the day was saved. Nightmare Moon got the evil beaten out of her when Old Mare Henderson found out there actually weren't any gnomes on the moon. Princess Luna took Henderson back down to Equestria, and never set hoof in Ponyville again. 79.3 (Masterweaver) "...and that's how I earned the Element of Kindness." Trixie whistled, waving Macintosh over to refill her drink. "Huh, neat. Simon the digger had that element when I got magic once, but it was more battle mercy than anything." Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, fistfight with the moon, you've shown me the pictures." She tapped her necklace thoughtfully. "So, with Gilda's honesty and Spike's loyalty, that makes, what, four out of six?" Berry Punch slapped another necklace between them. "Laughter. Five out of six." The two of them stared at the grape-shaped crystal for a few moments. "...okay, what?" Trixie finally sputtered. "How in fagales...?" Chrysalis added. The bartender sighed. "I don't like bringing it up, cause.... well, the loop was a variant where Nightmare Moon killed Celestia before she could be banished, and since Nightmare Moon was Luna she kind of went insane with guilt and rage." She shuddered. "And the dominos fell, and... it was a dark loop, literally and metaphorically." 79.4 (TokoWH) It was still rather early on in the loop for Spyro, and for now he decided to mostly keep things rather baseline. He had a rather funny plan later on for how he would beat Ripto this loop, involving a bucket of shaving cream, and complex system of ropes and pulleys, and a catapult, but until then he had nothing better to do at the moment other than rescue the dragons. He checked his atlas, making sure he had gotten everything he usually did by that point. Smirking, he went over to the near by pool and started jumping on the stones. All he had left to do now was the speedway. Typically in the loops, he'd handle the speedways last. Not that he didn't like them or anything, quite the contrary. Though it was rather easy for him to get quick times on them now, he still liked the glorified obstacle courses and how he could blaze through them. It's just that he had gotten into that habit when it came to handling things baseline. The secret 'passage' opening to reveal the hidden portal, Spyro was quick to jump in. A quick trek through the portal mini-dimension and Spyro found himself once again at the start of the first of many speedways on his journey. Spyro was quick to check the score board... and promptly did a double take shortly after. Sunny Flight Speedway record - 0:10.00 - RD Spyro narrowed his eyes. Somehow, he felt like he and Sparx weren't the only loopers this loop. Night Flight Speedway record - 0:10.00 - RD Twitch Crystal Flight Speedway record - 0:10.00 - RD Twitch Wild Flight Flight Speedway record - 0:10.00 - RD Twitch twitch Icy Flight Flight Speedway record - 0:10.00 - RD Twitch twitch twitch Sparx looked at the record, and promptly scratched his head. "I can understand her wanting to get the records for the speedways after we met her in that fused loop, but what up with the whole 'ten seconds flat' thing?" Sparx glanced over to Spyro, rolling his eyes. Spyro was sitting on the hill with a blank expression on his face, his eye occasionally twitching as his gaze was glued to the scoreboard. Sparx sighed. He got the feeling with all the crazy stuff other loopers from different loops could pull off, this was going to happen eventually. Compared to that other Spyro they met a few loops back, his Spyro prided himself on his abilities and had a rather big ego to go along with it. So if there was one thing he could not stand, it was someone being better at something than him. "You going to be alright?" Spyro stood frozen for a few seconds, before he finally scowled. "Sparx, I think I know what we're going to be doing for the next few loops." As Spyro turned around and started to walk off, Sparx face palmed and let out a long sigh. On top of a nearby hill, Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself. True, she could have gotten a much lower time than ten seconds for all these speedways, but she didn't want to completely discourage Spyro. Considering from the time he spent in his first fused loop in Equestria, she could gather the dragon thought of himself rather highly. As such, it was going to be rather fun knocking him down a few pegs. Now she only wondered how long she could keep this up before he rage quits and tries to end the loop like that time he tried to fight the non-awake Discord. 79.5 (Midnight Crescent) Twilight the Underdog - Chapter 3 Twilight woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She quickly answered, and sat up in her bed. “Hello?” “Hi Josie, it’s Yugi. Grandpa found a package for me this morning, and you’ll never guess who it’s from!” “Wait, it’s that time already?” Twilight asked, as her mind finally caught up with her. She lowered her voice for her next question. “And, let me guess, your grandpa is still in the room, right?” “Well, yeah, it is to do with Duellist Kingdom... But that was just a lucky guess!” “Alright, when do you want me to come round for?” “Can you get here for 10?” “If you brew a pot of coffee, I can be there by 9:30.” “Sure! I’ll see you then.” Twilight climbed out of her bed, wandered over to her wardrobe, and started to get ready. When Twilight walked through the door of the game store, the first thing she saw was a pot of coffee on the counter, and Yami stood beside it, hands firmly wedged in his pockets as always. “I hope this is to your liking, Twilight.” Yami said. “Yugi and I have never tried to make coffee before.” Twilight eyed the black liquid suspiciously, before adding a dash of milk. Taking a sip, she sighed in relief. “For a first attempt, that was fine.” Twilight said as she began to cradle the cup. “So, what happens now?” “Well, we have to wait and see how Pegasus acts, but...” “Why do I have the feeling that but is going to be a major pain?” Twilight asked, taking a seat on the counter. “Alright, so far, there have been a few different versions of Pegasus. Sometimes, he focuses purely on his Kaiba Corporation takeover, either for their holographic technology or for the money. Sometimes he and Yami Bakura essentially switch places. I have seen loops where he does the tournament in his late wife’s memory, and others where he cancels the tournament last minute because of Kaiba’s mysterious disappearance.” Twilight sighed “So what you’re saying is that we have no idea what could happen? I’d ask why that doesn’t surprise me, but I have a feeling the answer wouldn’t either.” “Well, most of the time, he does end up as his baseline - an eccentric billionaire inviting many children and young adults to his private island to play a children's card game.” “Sure... Wait, what?” Twilight said, doing a double take. “So, remind me not to be in a room alone with Pegasus then...” Yami continued to smirk “Duly noted. Now, no matter what version of Pegasus we end up with, the invitation remains practically the same. Unless he cancels the tournament, he will send a VHS inviting me to take part in the tournament. Sometimes there may be a shadow game, sometimes not.” “Well, if that’s the case, how are you going to get me out there? It’s not as though you can ask a tape...” “That will depend on if there is a shadow game or not.” “What does that have to do with anything?” “If there is a shadow game, then I will be duelling with Pegasus. That means I can talk to Pegasus, and at least try to get you included in Duellist Kingdom. No shadow game, then no conversation, and we can only try the baseline.” “So we hope there’s a shadow game?” “Unfortunately, yes.” Twilight poured herself another cup as she contemplated things. “So be it. How much longer do we have to wait before everyone else gets here?” “Tea should be here any minute now. And Tristan said he had other things to attend to. I assume it will have to do with... Nyx, was it?” Twilight nodded. “Yeah. I’m just glad there’ll be someone with her. Maybe we should get ready while we wait for Tea?” “Solomon is setting everything up. Although, he did start before I even called you. Perhaps we should check on him...” Once Tea had shown up, the group sat down in the back room, and began the tape. A man appeared on the TV, in a scarlet suit, sipping a glass of wine. “It’s started sir.” A voice flowed through the TVs speakers, evidently from someone behind the camera. The figure sat in the chair on camera nodded before speaking. “Greetings, Yugi-boy. I am Maximillian Pegasus, creator of Duel Monsters.” “We al...” “But I’m certain you knew that already.” Pegasus took a sip of wine. “Your recent defeat of Seto Kaiba has thrown the duelling world into quite the furor... and I must say I approve. Seto always was a little up tight. I think you’ll be a breath of fresh air, Yugi-boy.” “What is he rambling on about this time?” Solomon asked quietly. “This time?” Yami asked. “Shh, he’s started talking again.” He’s very clearly avoiding the question, Yami. Yugi pointed out. I noticed. What I want to know is why... Yami replied. “Ahh, I seem to be getting ahead of myself. I’m certain you’ve heard of my little tournament I’ve arranged. Well, to be blunt, ever since your duel, no-one’s seen or heard from Kaiba-boy. Which is a problem. I need someone to be the big draw at my tournament. And, if I can’t have Kaiba-boy, then who better than the rising star who beat him?” “But that was my first real duel. How can he be so sure I’ll be good enough?” Yami “It was broadcast across the country, Yugi.” Solomon said, placing his hand on his Grandson’s shoulder “You deserved to win, no doubt about it.” "Everything you’ll need is in the box this tape came in. Goodbye, Yugi-boy.” “Tea, what’s in there?” “Give me a sec...” She pulled out a tray, containing a glove, two small tokens shaped like stars, and two Duel Monsters cards. She placed the tray on the table. “Hey, wait. There’s something still in there.” Digging more padding out of the box, tea produced another tray, its contents the same as the first. “Wait, why were there two?” Yami asked, a puzzled look on his face. Seriously, do you have any ideas, Yugi? Sorry Yami. I’m drawing a blank too... Yugi replied. “I suppose it’s now or never...” Solomon said. “Pegasus wanted Duellist Kingdom to be the largest tournament ever. So he’s invited every Regional Champion, reigning or former.” It took a moment or two for Yami and Yugi to catch on to what that meant. The pair switched places before Yugi continued the conversation. “But it’s been years since you really duelled, Grandpa. Are you sure you’re up to this?” “No, Yugi. I’m probably not. You’re right, I haven’t duelled in years, I haven’t even seen half of the new champions, and my deck is probably completely out of date. But I’m still going. I didn’t want to retire when I did, but I had no choice. I have another chance, and I want to take it.” “Why not just send someone in your place, say they’re your student or something. I’m sure Pegasus would understand...” “And who would I send, Yugi? You’re already going, and Tea, while she may be improving, wouldn’t last two turns against the professionals.” “Actually, I was thinking of Josie...” “Josie? She doesn’t even have any Magic or Trap Cards in her deck. I’d be better off sending Tristan, and he doesn’t even duel!” “Actually, Mr Muto, I’ve been building a new deck, with Yugi’s help. Maybe if you taught me...” “There’s less than a week until the tournament, there is nothing like enough time to teach you.” “Give her a chance, Grandpa? Duel her. If she still doesn’t impress you, then we’ll drop this. If she does well, will you at least consider it?” Solomon stood deep in thought for a few minutes. Eventually, he gave his answer. “Alright, one duel. But I won’t be going easy on you. We’ll be playing by Pegasus’ rules. And I’ll be judging your skill. Even if you somehow win, that may not be enough.” “I understand. Thank you, Mr Muto.” “If you’re going to duel me, call me Solomon. Unless you really doubt yourself that much.” Solomon quipped. “I just thought I’d show ya some respect, old timer.” Solomon stared across the table at Twilight, his lips slightly curled, obviously annoyed by the comment. He took a breath, before sliding his deck over to her, as she did the same. “Let’s duel!” The pair echoed as they drew their hands. “Ladies first, Josie. You’ll need all the help you can get.” Solomon said, as he looked over his cards. “And you’ll regret that decision. Believe me.” Twilight drew another card from her deck, and looked her hand over.Well then, let’s see how he likes this... Twilight smiled as set her first card on the table “I play The Secret Village of the Spellcasters. As long as I have one of my Spellcasters on the field, your magic cards are useless. Then I summon my Fool of Prophecy, and lay one card face-down.” She laid her mirror force behind her Fool. “Your move.” Solomon looked puzzled as he drew from his deck. “An interesting strategy... I’ve never seen those cards... May I?” Solomon held out his hand. Twilight slid them over. “I would assume you’re using a lot of Spellcasters, given this villages effect? And this Fool... I expect I’ll see these Spellbooks later...” “I guess there’s little use denying it.” Twilight said, returning her cards to their places “But that’s only half the problem you have, isn’t it? Even if you know what’s coming, the question now is whether or not you can stop it.” “We won’t find out by talking about it.” Solomon said, looking over the cards in his hand. He selected his Mirror Force, Swords of Revealing Light, and Horn Imp “I’ll set this monster face-down, and place two more cards face-down. That ends my turn.” Twilight drew, and looked over her hand. “I’ll set a monster face-down.” She set her Temperance of Prophecy “Now, my Fool will attack your face-down monster.” “And you were doing so well...” Solomon said, flipping one of his face-down cards. “Mirror force redirects that attack, taking down your fool. Are you done?” Twilight groaned in frustration. Should have seen that coming... She thought, before responding. “Yeah, your move.” “Then prepare to face one of my strongest monsters.” Solomon added a card to his hand without even looking, before drawing out a card from the centre of his hand. “I’ll bring out my Summoned Skull, in attack mode. Destroy her face-down monster.” “Oh Solomon, if it’s good enough for you...” Twilight said, flipping her Mirror Force “Say goodbye to your little skeleton.” “... I’ll admit, I should have seen that coming. Good move. But it’ll take more than that for you to win. I end my turn.” “Thanks.” Twilight drew a card, and smiled as she added it to her hand. “Now, time for you to meet one of mypowerhouses. I summon Fortune Lady Dark to the field in Attack mode.” “Another new card? What does this one do?” Solomon said, looking across the desk, trying to read the cards text upside down. “For now, it’s a level 5 spellcaster, with 2,000 Attack and Defence points. It has another ability, but you don’t need to worry about that right now, she can’t use it just yet.” “For now? Ahh, I see now, a level increaser. This new deck of yours is just full of surprises. What happened to the old, batter down the doors mentality?” “Oh, it’s still here. I can hit you just as hard as ever. I just realised that I’d end up in a war of attrition if I did. So I came prepared. Oh, say goodbye to your face-down monster, by the way.” Solomon sighed as he moved his Horn Imp to the graveyard. She put her Spellbook of Power face-down “I’ll place a card face-down, and then it’s your move.” Wait, attrition... That’s risky for her... Yugi thought. Grandpa’s deck is pretty much built around waiting to draw certain cards... You mean Exodia? Twilight’s monster will just continue to get stronger. It would only take two more turns for her Fortune Lady to be stronger than everything else in that deck. With his magic cards sealed off, Exodia might be his only option... So, Grandpa doesn’t have long to draw the cards he needs, even if he doesn’t realise it. Considering what else is in that deck of hers, no, he does not. We should probably be paying attention to the duel, though, Yugi. Oh, right... “...End my turn.” Solomon said, his Koumori Dragon now face-down on the field. Twilight prepared to draw a card. “And now that it’s my Standby Phase, my Fortune Lady goes to Level 6, and gains an extra 400 Attack and Defence points.” She then drew her card, and added it to her hand, taking out her Solemn Wishes. “I place one card face-down, and attack your face-down monster. Your move.” Solomon drew his card “Fine, I’ll just set another monster in defence mode, and end my turn.” He placed his Battle Steer face down on the table. “Then I’ll let my Fortune Lady grow to Level 7, before I get started. Now, let’s see...” Twilight looked over her hand “I think I’ll summon my Solitaire magician, and attack this monster with my Fortune Lady Dark. And, as a result of my attack, I’ll activate my Solemn Wishes Trap. It’s your move.” Solomon moved his hand to his chin, and sat in thought. “This is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be... I owe you an apology, Josie.” “Thank you. It is meant to be a major step up from my old one.” “However, I’m not going to go down without a fight. My comeback starts here. I place this monster face-down, and end my turn.” He placed his Sangan face-down as soon as he drew it. “That’s exactly what you did last turn...” Twilight said, puzzled. “No matter, my Fortune Lady Dark gains another level, taking her to over 3,000 attack and defence points, and I get an extra 500 life points in my draw phase, bringing me up to 2,500.” Twilight placed her new Swords of Revealing Light on the field face-down “Now, as a contingency, I’ll place this face-down, then get my Fortune Lady to take out your new monster again.” “Thank you, I needed that...” Solomon smiled, as he moved his Sangan to the Graveyard. “Now I can add a monster to my hand, as long as their attack is 1500 or less.” “So you get a weak monster? How could that help?” “Maybe it’s weak by itself, but the Left Arm of the Forbidden One is another of the pieces I need to win this duel.” “Pieces? Maybe you could assemble something, but you just gave me exactly what I need to win. Still, it’s your move now, go ahead.” “Gladly.” Solomon looked over his hand. She must be bluffing. As long as I can keep laying monsters in defence mode, she can’t touch my life points... What is she up to? After a minute or two, he finally decided on his move. He placed his Rude Kaiser face-down “I’ll put another monster in defence mode, and end my turn.” “Still struggling to get what you need? I know I’m not. First my cards effects activate, taking me to 3,000 life points, and taking my Fortune Lady to Level 9. Then I’ll play Monster Reborn. And I think I’ll target your Sangan.” “What use is he to you?” Solomon said, puzzled. “He’s not as strong as your Magicians, and his effect is useless to you unless he’s destroyed.” “On the contrary, this will complete my strategy. I activate my Solitaire Magician’s ability. By sacrificing three levels from my Fortune Lady Dark, I can destroy one monster on the field.” “And how does that differ from attacking my mo... wait, the field?” “And now you know. I’ll destroy the Sangan I just revived to bring Fortune Lady Light into my hand.” Twilight smiled at Solomon as she shuffled her deck. “Since I weakened my Fortune Lady, I’ll be careful and skip my attack this turn, so it’s your move.” I’m out of options... Heart of the cards, please, don’t fail me now. Solomon closed his eyes, and drew a card. His shoulders visibly slumped at the result. He placed his Celtic Guardian face-down “I place a monster face-down, and end my turn.” “Now where has all that enthusiasm gone?” Twilight smiled, as she pulled another card from her deck. “My life points increase to 3,500, and my Fortune Lady regains one of her lost levels. Now, I summon my Fortune Lady Light, and activate my Solitaire Magician’s effect. My Fortune Lady Dark loses another three levels, and my Fortune Lady Light goes to my graveyard.” “Wait, you went through all that effort to sacrifice it immediately?” Solomon’s face dropped, as the realisation dawned. “It has another effect, doesn’t it?” “You catch on quick. I get to Special Summon another Fortune Lady from my deck whenever Fortune Lady Light is destroyed by a Card Effect. And I choose my Fortune Lady Earth.” Twilight placed the card on the field, and began to shuffle her deck again. “Just so you know, she starts at Level 6, giving her 2400 attack and defence, and she causes 400 life point damage every time she destroys a monster. Then, when she does, my Fortune Lady Dark’s effect can activate, allowing me to resurrect my Fortune Lady Light when your monster is destroyed.” “...Allowing you to sacrifice her again, to bring out another Fortune Lady...” “Until my field is full of monsters. But I won’t even need that many. This duel will end on my next turn. But, until then, say goodbye to your new monster, 400 of your life points, dropping you to 1,600. Finally, let’s welcome back my Fortune Lady Light, in defence mode. It’s your move, Solomon.” Solomon sighed and leant back in his chair. “Congratulations, Josie, if you’re telling the truth. I draw a card and end my turn, since there really is nothing I can do. Let me see what you have in store.” “Alright, my Fortune Ladies all gain their boosts. Now, my Fortune Ladies all get stronger, and I draw my card, raising my life points to 4,000. I switch Fortune Lady Light to Attack mode, and use her to attack your face-down defence monster.” Solomon scratched his chin, trying to fathom out the previous move. “You failed to destroy my Rude Kaiser. I don’t know how you expected that to work, with such a weak monster. You lose 1,200 life points for that.” “That’s easy, it wasn’t meant to. I just needed to get one of your monsters face up, and hope it was strong enough.” “Strong enough?” Solomon asked, more confused than ever “Strong enough for what?” “Just sit back and watch, this is going to be fun. I activate Solitaire Magician’s ability, lowering my Fortune Lady Dark three more levels, in order to destroy my Fortune Lady Light. And now, I get to Special Summon my Fortune Lady Fire. Her special effect activates when she is special summoned in Attack mode, like she just was. She destroys one of your face-up monsters, and deals damage to you equal to that monsters attack power. Which, with Rude Kaiser’s 1800 attack power, should be enough to finish you off.” Twilight waited for a minute, before breaking the uncomfortable silence “So, how did I do?” “Josie, I didn’t land an attack. The only damage you took was self inflicted, and even that was intentional. I was forced to rely on a gamble to have any chance, and it didn’t pay off. If you want my honest opinion, I was struggling the moment you played that Secret Village. I’ll need to call Pegasus and make sure there’s nothing preventing this, but I honestly doubt it. Good luck in Duellist Kingdom, you deserve to be there.” After a few minutes, Solomon headed back through to the front of the shop, as Twilight began to reassemble her deck. “Well, I guess that’s one disaster averted. So, what do we do now, sit back and relax?” Yami waited until he could hear Solomon’s voice drifting through the doorway from the shop floor, before closing the separating door. “You need to be a little more careful, you were lucky he still went ahead with the duel after that old timer comment. I may not have known you long, but that doesn’t seem like you.” “I called him an old timer?” Twilight asked, a puzzled look spreading across her face. “Right before the duel started.” Yami replied, sitting across the table from her. “Do you seriously not remember?” Twilight shook her head. “Does this sort of thing happen to you often when you loop?” Twilight continued to shake her head. “No, but Tristan said something, when we went to visit Nyx. He said a couple of the things I said reminded him of Joey.” “Well, Joey should know by now not to say that sort of thing to Solomon face to face, but he never was the brightest of the group to begin with...” “So it is something he might say?” Tea nodded in agreement. “It sounds about right, but that still doesn’t make any sense.” She turned to Yami “If Twilight is here instead of Joey, shouldn’t Joey, you know, not be here?” “I must admit, I cannot recall anything similar to this from any loop I have been in.” “But what about you and Yugi, could it be anything like that?” “I sincerely doubt it. Yugi and I are extremely closely linked, so much that even once we began to loop we could not be separated. You and Joey have no such bond. Tell me, does anything feel wrong in any way?” “Other than not realising what I’ve said one time? Nothing at all.” “Then I say we leave it there for now. It may get confusing for anyone else Awake that we run into, but I doubt it will be a major problem in the short term. If you start talking in a Brooklyn accent all the time, then we should try to figure out what’s going on. Does that sound fair?” “Sure, I’m fine with that.” Twilight rose from her seat “But you still haven’t answered my first question – where do we go from here?” “Well, once Solomon tells us whether you’re in or not, we should make sure to be packed early. Other than that, make sure Josie was up to date with her homework before you arrived? You don’t want to be kept out of the tournament for so...” Yami started, but was cut off by the clattering of the chair Twilight had been leaning on falling to the ground. “Oh god, no! I’m going to miss the tourn...” was all they could make out from her insane rambling before the front door swung shut behind her as she started to run home. “She needs to sort out her priorities...” Yami said, his mind still trying to figure out exactly what had happened. “You said it...” Tea nodded in agreement. 79.6 (namar13766) "Twilight?" "Yes Rarity?" "You're Spike's biological mother in this loop?" "Yes?" "So that makes you my mother-in-law?" 79.7 (Kris Overstreet) Three pairs of eyes glared at Trixie. "We tapped the trees," Sweetie Belle said, "and didn't get a drop on us." "We carried th' full buckets from th' forest inta Ponyville," Applebloom continued. "It took us seventeen trips. An' we didn't get e'er a one drop on us." "And then we filled the pressure tank," Scootaloo said. "The BIG pressure tank. Sweetie and Bloom needed an eight-foot ladder. And despite all that, we didn't get a drop on us." "The Great and Powerful Trixie is most sorry," Trixie sighed. "The chemistry says quite clearly that tree sap in aerosol form should be explosively flammable. I thought I was making a flamethrower, or maybe a rocket." Three pairs of eyes continued to glare at her from under the thick layer of tree sap. "Perhaps I should have picked a different method of vaporizing the sap than simple pressure release," Trixie added. "Ya THINK?" three voices cried out in unison. "Please, please stick to conventional explosives, Trixie," Sweetie Belle said. "You're less dangerous that way." 79.8 (Valentine Melkin) Flint Lockwood looked at the two people that were looking at his celebration-in-a-box. "So, this tiny box is capable of causing a party like atmosphere in any location?" The brown-haired male declared, while the pink haired female's finger crept towards it. As the box exploded, Flint blinked as the two strangers held up cards marked with a 3 and a 4. "Too many streamers, way too many streamers." The pink haired girl stated while putting down the 3 card. "You coat everyone within 10 metres with streamers, and the entire room in cramped spaces..." The brown haired man moaned, "Now, let's show you REALLY how to fit a party into the smallest space possible without excessive use of unintentionally adhesive streamers." A short time later, Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie Pie walked away from the party that was still going, despite the reason for it having been forgotten several hours earlier. "Our work here is done." Cheese declared to the rubber chicken in his jacket pocket. "What am I meant to do with several dozen prototype party-in-a-boxes that are pretty much redundant?" Pinkie asked. A unknown time later, Ciaphas Cain wondered what the new button someone had attached to the console was for. Ten seconds later, Ciaphas Cain was cursing the name of Pinkamena Pie yet again, while every loyal imperial soldier in the cramped room wiped streamers off their uniforms. Did that pink creature have to keep tormenting the Imperium so?