83.1
“Do it again!” Dash asked, with the biggest eyes she could muster.
“Okay... fine.”
There was the clop of a hoof striking the floor, and then Rainbow Dash was a griffin.
“Awesome!” she said with an enthusiastic grin (well, as close to one as a beak could accomplish), and flew off into the sky.
“What's goin' on?” Scootaloo asked, looking skywards. “Oh, huh. Dash looped in as a griffin?”
“Nope,” Silver Spoon replied, rolling her eyes. “She found out that I can do crazy chaos magic, and she's been pestering me to turn her into random flying creatures all day.”
Scootaloo blinked. “Huh. I'd have thought she'd already been... well, everything that flies.”
“And a lot that doesn't,” Silver confirmed. She frowned, and her tail poofed out into a squirrel-tail, which she wrapped around herself. “But she says it's useful for double-blind testing of relative flight speeds. Or something.”
83.2
Silver Spoon (AKA Quicksilver, Silverbeak, Silverback, Silverleaf, and just about any name with silver in it at various times) Awoke in a large, well furnished room.
“Huh,” she said, intelligently. “This is... nicer than my usual room.”
The bedclothes were pale cream and cloth-of-silver, thick and plush. A large wardrobe sat half open, with the hems of a number of dresses and other outfits visible within.
There were a number of alchemical flasks on the dresser, along with a broken glass vessel (a sharp retort) and large symbols Hg and Ag picked out in silver on the door, above an ornate and stylized spoon.
Very thematic, in other words.
“Wait,” she added, looking down at herself and spotting a familiar squirrel-tail, along with a scaled arm and one with sparkling, starry fur. “Am I a...”
The mirror on the wall liquefied, flowed over to her and reconstituted itself. The upside-down image thus produced confirmed what she already suspected – she was a draconequus. All her usual body parts as such a creature were there – a silver-shimmering raven's wing and one from a bat, the left leg with holes in it, a curly horn and a nub that barely showed above her fur...
And, of course, the huge poofy squirrel tail.
Further reflection (no pun intended) was interrupted by a clatter of hooves.
“Hey, Silver!” a voice called. “Are you Awake?”
Silver took a moment to recognize the voice. Nyx. Her sister, fellow daughter of Queen Twilight-
urk!
The young draconequus can probably be forgiven for falling out of bed as the loop memories coalesced.
Only her erratic chaos magic, however, could explain why she fell up.
“So you guys have had one of these before?” Silver asked, some time later.
“Yeah, we have,” Applebloom answered. “Back after DT, Scoots, Sweetie and I all ascended within like twenty loops of each other. It was fun stuff.”
The alicorn fillies exchanged grins.
“We totally spent about a thousand years partying and drinking before Twilight came back,” Diamond Tiara said with a grin. “So, how come you're a draconequus?”
“Oh, were you not there for that one?” Scootaloo asked. “Silver and Zecora basically tried Human Transmutation – well, Pony Transmutation – on Silver. Big magic boom, Zecora's now a zebralicorn and Silver ended up as a draconequus.”
“Huh. Okay, that's... not what I was expecting...” Diamond Tiara noted.
“It rather came as a surprise to me as well. But at least it means that I can solve my species issues, and of course I also have this lovely bushy tail.” Silver matched action to words and wrapped it around herself. “Nice and warm...”
Nyx reached out and stroked it gently. “Yeah, that's some good fuzzies.”
After the others all admired it for a bit, Silver – Princess Quick Silver Spoon of Equestria, to give her her apparent title – raised a claw. “Okay, what are loops like this like?”
“Well, we're all kids of Queen Twilight,” Nyx pointed out the obvious. “This is kinda like our version of those loops where one a' the others is her sister. Or brother. Anyway, Discord's banished, and things go from here.”
“She does try to make as much time for us as possible,” Scootaloo said, smiling. “Which is nice... but then, we're eight-years-old at the moment, and we're princesses. I think it's practically a constitutional and legal requirement that we cause havoc.”
Sweetie nodded enthusiastically. “And she can always do what she did last time we got too much for her, and go have a thousand year nap.”
“Presumably coming back shortly before Dad does, right?” Silver checked.
There was no answer. Largely because the other five had turned to stare at her.
“Before...”
“Who gets back?” the other four finished the sentence Nyx had started.
“Well...” Silver shrugged. “Seems obvious. I'm a draconequus, you're all my sisters of the same age, there's only one other draconequus around, so...”
Dead silence for several seconds.
Nyx raised a hoof. “I move that we all try to forget that last minute or so.”
“Motion seconded!” the other four alicorns chorused.
Queen Twilight of Equestria rested her head against the desk and groaned.
She hated it when Loop memories were too detailed.
And given how rambunctious the five Crusaders had been last time one of these loops had come around, and given how there was now a young draconequine added to the mix... she was going to need a lot of headache medicine.
“Okay, girls,” Twilight said, taking her regalia off. “I understand you're probably all excited to be royalty again – or, in the case of Silver, for the... first time?”
“I've been an illegitimate daughter of Celestia once, I think,” Silver replied, frowning. “I wasn't an alicorn that time, though, and it never really came out.”
“Right.” Twilight nodded. “Okay, anyway. There's a few basic rules. Rule one – none of you have precedence. I'm the only one who knows what order you were born in, and I'm not telling.”
“Seems fair,” Sweetie said amicably.
“Second, no hurting anyone. We don't want this to go the way of that poor Elsa from Arendelle, do we?”
“She's doing fine, I thought...” Scootaloo frowned. “Isn't she?”
“Well, yes, but I meant her baseline self.” Twilight looked over at Silver. “That especially applies to you, I'm afraid – your powers are rather less controllable. If you're having trouble, just ask, and I'll see about setting up something to dampen them. Until then, though, try and control them as they are.”
The draconequus nodded, frowned, and snapped her claws together. A bouquet of flowers materialized next to them.
“Oh, that's nice!” Twilight smiled, touched.
Silver was looking at her claws in irritation. “Yeah, but it was supposed to be a cake...”
The elder alicorn shrugged. “Well, practice makes perfect and all that. Right, the third rule is – don't abuse your position to order people around. I'm sure none of you would do that anyway, but it's just a point I'd like to make.” She sighed. “After the hypersonic potato cannon incident last time, I do like to make sure of these things.”
Applebloom had gone bright red.
“Anyway, I think that's about it. The good side of it all is, loops like this are a lot longer than normal, so you can sort of stretch out in a way you can't in a normal loop.”
Twilight paused, frowning. “Oh, something I forgot to check. You have your catalyst, right, Silver?”
Silver blinked. “Catalyst?”
“Reascending needs a catalyst. I gave Zecora one when she first ascended – one of the normal cosmic spectrum pendants, I've got several spares – but I forgot that Discord might not necessarily have told you.”
“I... don't think I need one,” Silver said slowly. “I mean, I've shapeshifted several times in just that first loop... unless – oh!”
The alicorns all looked at her.
“I think I might have absorbed the philosopher's stone we used.” Silver's eyes lost focus for a moment, then she nodded. “Yep, there it is.”
“Huh,” Diamond Tiara said, contemplatively. “That's convenient for you.”
“Never expect a draconequus to do things sausage,” Nyx said gravely. Then giggled.
83.3 (Kris Overstreet)
The ponies gathered in Ponyville's town hall hushed- again, Twilight thought.
Fluttershy's birds warbled their fanfare. Again.
Mayor Mare gave her not-brief-enough introduction speech. Again.
The curtains opened to reveal nothing. Again.
The mayor mouthed her usual inanity about there being a good reason, another pony commented that Celestia was gone, and Pinkie Pie complimented that pony's explanation. Again, again, again.
Twilight had thought she'd outgrown, so to speak, the frustration of having to relive the exact same moments so often, especially the first two days or so of the baseline before much could really be changed. She'd been wrong. There were baseline runs, and probably always would be, when she had no new ideas on things to change or experiment with, when nothing better came to mind than to go through the motions for the umpt hundred thousandth time. And those baseline runs would always, to some greater or lesser extent, be more dreary than fun.
And this time Twilight felt exceptionally weary. She didn't want to go through it all again this time, but every alternative that came to her mind had been done at least twice before. Nothing appealed to her. Not even doing nothing appealed to her.
The only thing that kept her going, standing and waiting for the inevitable, was the fact that this wasn't quite a Lonely Loop. She'd detected one other Looper Awake, and she was fairly certain it was Luna. But Luna had avoided her so far- no response to messages, making herself scarce when Twilight visited the moon to look for her, nothing. That meant, Twilight deduced, that Luna had her own plan.
Curiosity about that plan outweighed Loop-induced boredom and depression... barely.
After all the ponies in the room had begun chattering to one another about the state of things, all lights in the hall suddenly went out except for the spotlight on the balcony. A swirl of star-speckled smoke rose from the balcony floor, gathering in upon itself until it condensed into the form of Nightmare Moon, who sat on her haunches for a moment, stoic, apparently unmoving.
This silenced the ponies for about three seconds. As soon as the first, "Who's that?" echoed through the room, Nightmare Moon straightened herself up slightly. With the greatest solemnity she picked up a white-tipped black cane from the floor, holding it in one fetlock. Next came a large white straw boater hat, which she placed squarely on her head with equal gravitas.
Off in a corner of the round hall, a tinkly piano played a brief hook, and in the span of four beats of music Nightmare Moon launched launched herself to her hind legs, knocked the straw hat back into a jaunty cocked position, and began to dance with high kicking steps, singing:
Hello my ponies, hello my subjects,
Hello to Ponyville
Open your sleepy eyes
Celestia's gone bye-bye
Bow to me soon now, I'm back from the moon now,
The moon was such a bore
Oh baby this night will last forevermore!!
The brief song concluded, Nightmare Moon ended with a spread-limbed pose and a grin to her audience. The ponies responded with frozen shock, except for Pinkie Pie, who tromped the floor with applause and cheered, "Encore! Encore!"
"Oh... oh... oh yeah?" Twilight managed to stammer out. "Well, we'll stop you, Nightmare Moon! We won't-"
All further threats were cut off by the large whipped cream pie to the face.
As Nightmare Moon's departing laughter faded into the night, Twilight wiped white gunk from her face and growled, "Of course you realize THIS means WAR."
83.4 (Masterweaver)
"I keep telling you, it's Ivory Scroll now!" The brown mare shook her head as her secretary left the room. "Honestly, if they ever start looping... Ah! Pinkie. What legal bamboozlement do you want this time?"
The party pony slid into her chair. "Pokémon."
"....The franchise?"
"No, a pokemon league, except with any critter we can find." Pinkie pulled out a list. "Timber wolves, vampire fruit bats, cragadiles... I've got the mechanics down, pokeballs and safety spells, and I've already run this over with Fluttershy to avoid being too cruel. I just need some sort of legal foundation."
Ivory Scroll tapped her chin. "I think I can have something for you, but not this loop. Still, we can go over the paperwork and next time we're both awake--I'd have to be there," she added quickly, "mayoral authority--I'll set it up after Nightmare Moon's return."
"Thanks auntie!"
Scroll blinked. "...excuse me?"
"Oh. Some loops you and me..." Pinkie gestured vaguely. "On my father's side. I, uh, forgot that hasn't happened while you're awake."
"Oh. I... hmm." Ivory Scroll nodded to herself. "Alrighty."
83.5 ( Masterweaver)
"DAAAAASH!"
Rainbow Dash barely had time to react before Twilight plowed into her. "Agh! What the--"
"The new Daring Do book finally came out!" Twilight's face broke into a wide grin. "It's baseline too!"
Rainbow blinked twice... then grinned back. "SO AWESOME!"
83.6 (Crisis)
Twilight stared at what she'd found at the centre of Equis this Loop.
The centre of the planet was... chocolate. Pure, sweet, chocolate.
Twilight turned to address her copilot for this expedition. "Pinkie must never learn of this."
"Agreed," Spike nodded.
83.7 (The One Butcher)
Twilight has been spending a lot of Loops with Lyra lately. The Geeky Unicorn was fun and quirky and often made her laugh. Also she had a variable collection of crazy conspiracy theories Twilight could enact in a later Loop.
Twilight guessed that Lyra would maybe start Looping soon, therefore every Loop as close to the End as possible she made sure to play a collectible card game with Lyra. And play a custom Card.
"I play "Yggdrassil Crashes"! It will turn you into a Time Traveller trapped in infinitely repeating Time Loops, making you repeat the same stretch of time again and again until you go completely stir crazy and do anything to alleviate boredom!" Twilight exclaimed in a dramatic fashion.
"I never heard of that Card... What's it do?"
"Turn you into a Time Traveler trapped in infinitely repeating time Loops, making you repeat the same stretch of time again and again until you go completely stir crazy and do anything to alleviate boredom!" Twilight repeated. "Well, it will also sometimes catapult you into alternate realities with strange creatures and lots of adventures, where you can pick up useful skills, but that's not the main function."
Lyra looked at her strangely. "I don't wanna hear the Flavor Text. What is it's effect on the Game?"
Twilight smirked. "You will become so bored with winning these matches you will let me win.", she said smugly.
Lyra blinked just as the Loop reset.
Twilight Woke over the Legend of Nightmare Moon, thinking:"I did this several thousand times now, but it's going to be SO worth it when it finally works."
83.2 continued
Queen Twilight Sparkle stood on the lawn of Canterlot Castle, looking fixedly at her daughters.
“Any comments to make?” she asked quietly.
“...not really,” Scootaloo piped up. “I mean, like you say, we don't often get a chance to stretch out like this.”
Behind her, there was a cracking rumble as the top of the Canterhorn fell off. The large, pointed lump of stone bounced down the mountainside, flew through the air, and landed ten feet to Twilight's left.
Then the bell tower emitted a strangled clang, followed by a squelch.
“Really?” Twilight asked, sighing. “Blue cheese bells?”
“Hey, it's not my fault,” Silver protested, putting her hands behind her back and twisting her tail with them. “I mean, I was kind of drunk, sure, but can you blame me? It was our twenty-first birthday!”
“I can, actually,” Twilight informed her. “Because the legal age here is eighteen. You've had three years to get used to getting drunk.”
“Well...” Sweetie said, slowly. “It's not as though we've gotten that drunk before. I mean, this was the first year they made that special commemorative coronation cordial.”
“And I didn't know it'd affect me that strongly,” Silver added. “Sorry, er, Mom.”
“Well, everything's fine, so it looks like there's no problems,” Twilight said kindly. “Right, I'm off for a well earned rest. I'll be back in nine hundred and ninety one years.”
She vanished in a swirl of dim orange light and glittering stars.
“That was quite a precise date, actually...” Nyx observed. “Wonder why.”
“Eh.” Applebloom flared her wings, then turned to the others. “Okay, same thing as before? Rotating authority, so any individual one of us gets most of the week off?”
“Sounds good,” they replied, or words to that effect.
“...s'not fair,” Silver muttered. “This isn't my duty day, why do I have to...”
“Because you've got the most experience at this. By, like, ten thousand percent,” Scootaloo replied. “Now, they're turning up in five minutes, so get to it!”
Silver sighed. Then snapped her claws.
As the delegation from White Tail Woods entered the audience chamber of the Hexarchy, they were met by Princess Scootaloo in her bronzes – and a doe they did not recognize, bedecked in silvery jewellery.
“Welcome to Canterlot,” the doe said, smiling. “I am Princess Quick Silver Spoon, this is my sister Scootaloo.”
The eldest buck bowed. “We did not know that your highness was a deer...”
“Oh, I'm not, but I thought I'd make you more comfortable.” Silver bowed in return. “Now, are you all refreshed from the journey? Drinks can be provided for our discussion if not.”
“...you really are good at that stuff,” Scootaloo complimented her, as the orange alicorn pulled down the sun and lifted up the moon. “You know. Diplomacy.”
“Well, as you say, I have the experience.” Silver examined her reflection. “I mean, I've been basically everything.”
The moon's lower half cleared the horizon.
“Right, that's me done,” Scootaloo said, unlatching her peytral. “I'll go tag in Sweetie.”
“...this is all a kind of compensation for my not having had one of these before, isn't it?” Silver asked, then shrugged. “Oh, well. At least it's never routine.”
83.8 (Scygnus)
"Alright. So I'm the Princess of Dreams. Dreams are strange. So I've seen all sorts of really odd, off-the-wall things that Discord himself couldn't even conceive of. But this. This is... wow." Luna commented, flying alongside the climbing human.
"I don't think that's a compliment!" Vincent shouted, heaving another block into alignment so he could keep climbing up.
"But as much as I think Twilight will enjoy this system of puzzles, if I can duplicate it, I think I'll leave out the enormous human buttocks with eyes."
"NO! REALLY? YOU AREN'T GOING TO GIVE HER THE PLEASURE OF ALL THIS DEADLY PERIL? I MUST SAY, IT REALLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE!"
"Truly?" Luna cocked her head to the side, looking at the boxers-clad man with disbelief.
"NO! ARE YOU GOING TO PICK ME UP AND GET ME AWAY FROM THE GIANT ASS WITH EYES OR LET ME DIE WHEN I'M TOO OUT OF BREATH FROM SARCASM-ING AT YOU!?"
"Oh! My apologies."
83.9
Trixie ran into the library. “Twilight!”
Her old friend and fellow student of Celestia looked up. “What is it, Trixie?”
“Nightmare Moon's attacking!”
Twilight stood up, pushing her chair away. “Then we must go!”
The two unicorns cantered back out the door.
Their assistant, Spike, frowned. “What the...”
Curious, he followed them out the door.
“Nightmare Moon! Junipers!” Twilight said, in shocked tones. “So it is true!”
“Who are you?” The dark alicorn turned from her triumphal speech. “Why do you interrupt me?”
Twilight's shock turned to a grin, one she shot Trixie who responded in kind.
She turned, raised a hoof, and bumped Trixie's outraised hoof. There was a bright flash of light.
“Wonder Twin Powers Activate!” they chorused.
Spike shook his head. “You're not twins, and-”
“Form of... an alicorn!” Twilight continued, causing Spike to stop mid-sentence in bewilderment.
“Jinx!” Trixie said quickly, as the light cleared to reveal both of them with wings to complement their horns.
Nightmare Moon's jaw dropped.
“Why do you always turn into the same thing as me?” Twilight asked waspishly.
“Because you always pick alicorn,” Trixie replied.
“It's a good form! Very balanced, good for combat, highly mobile...”
“Exactly,” Trixie countered. “I like those properties as well.”
“Whence have two additional alicorns come?” Nightmare Moon inquired, in tones that made it an order. “I was not aware of thy existence!”
“Oh, for...” Trixie turned to face the evil equine, and began speaking in terms suited more to a small child. “It's called a super power. Twilight and I are the Wonder Twins, we can transform into things. Don't you read comic books?”
Nightmare Moon's bafflement appeared to only increase.
“Right. Right, we can deal with this. Look, here's how it's supposed to work...”
“I... believe I understand,” Nightmare Moon said slowly. “So, rather than attack straightaway that I return from exile, I should establish a fortress of darkness and thence launch attacks, resulting in a continual pattern of strike and retreat?”
“That's correct,” Trixie replied, nodding. “You've got it. Now, I recommend that you build a base actually on the moon, because that's always cool, and start recruiting your evil mooks. I know a fashion designer who can do you some very snazzy uniforms...”
Some weeks later, Nightmare Moon sat back on her Midnight Throne in the Sinus Noctis as her first battalion of Night Guard paraded before her. In their very snazzy uniforms.
Her last confrontation with the apparently inaccurately named Wonder Twins had been complicated, with magical battle in the skies under Cloudsdale. Her night had held for three extra hours that time, before Twilight Sparkle had broken the spell keeping the dawn from coming and she'd retreated to plan the next attempt.
As she watched the thestral company pass in review, a thought occurred to her.
Wait a minute. Have I fallen victim to an extremely well performed scam?
She dismissed the idea. After all, she was a proper supervillain now. With guards and everything.
Her idea of just taking over in one go was absurd! Why, it was practically begging for a desperate band of thrown-together heroes to stop her at the last minute, if she was understanding Trixie's lectures correctly.
83.10
Ciaphas Cain, almost certainly future Hero of the Imperium, leant back against the chair of his transport ship suite.
As a Commissar, he of course got one of the officer's quarters, so he had a little privacy while he pondered the uncertain future of a new loop.
Well, 'uncertain' was a flat lie. He was good at lying to himself, but not that good.
The future was dark, chaotic, and involved far too much peril.
And to make things worse, his memories of his schola education included-
There was a knock on the door, breaking his resigned reverie. Sighing, he got up and walked over to the door.
When the door opened, there was a woman standing in the doorway. She was about average height, which meant several inches shorter than Ciaphas, and wore insignia he didn't recognize. (Unusual, but by no means ridiculous. After all, every PDF had its own, and with Lord Russ awakening ten thousand years into the past at times that meant that there was often far too much divergence.)
“May I come in?” she asked quietly.
“By all means.” Ciaphas stood aside, and waved her in. She walked to the bed, swept aside a few objects on it – mainly laspistol parts – and sat.
“Ciaphas,” she began. “I hereby swear that I will do you no harm nor will I attempt to cause harm to come to you, by your definition of harm, while I am here.”
The Commissar blinked. “That's... an unusual opener.”
“It needed to be said.” She looked up, and her eyes were calm but sad. “As you may have guessed, Pinkie Pie is currently replacing one of the four chaos gods.”
Ciaphas nodded, returning to his own seat and pouring some amasec. “It was sort of obvious from the fact that it's called the Eye of Parties again, yes.”
The woman shrugged. “Well, party is as party does.” She rummaged in a pocket for a moment, and removed a laminated card. “Here.”
She slid it across his desk. Ciaphas took it, tilted it to properly illuminate it, and hissed through his teeth.
Get Out Of Party Free coupon
Good infinity plus one times
“...you are miss Pie, aren't you?” he asked, without looking up.
“An avatar,” she replied, nodding. “I still retain the ability to make shadow clones and other such copies in many ways, which serves to help spread my influence and let me keep tabs on everything.”
Ciaphas nodded, without otherwise reacting.
“Ciaphas,” she continued, in measured tones. “The reason why I like parties, the reason why I've always liked parties – and fun – boils down to how they relax people. Give them happiness. And it's clear that I'm not helping you do that.”
She shrugged. “So, that card is valid. You just need to ask, and I'll stop – either stop the party altogether, or help you leave beforehand. I hope that in time you'll come to trust me and to appreciate my parties – but it really is your choice.”
Her hair flashed bubblegum pink for a second, then she vanished with the sound of faint cheering.
An envelope floated to the floor.
With not a little trepidation, Ciaphas picked it up and opened it. Inside was a perfectly ordinary letter (albeit one written on paper that smelled faintly of icing sugar).
By the way, the uniform's Fenris Planetary Defence Force. Leman was kind enough to let me get a rank of majorette, which is nice of him.
P.S. don't be surprised if a few dozen Light Eldar show up to help out. There's a company commander who I think might be sweet on you. Actually, do you know anyone called Amon Belethir Vae'el?
Ciaphas parsed the Eldar name into Gothic, frowned, then realized it was more like a homophone than anything.
Then, unable to help himself, he started laughing.
That would look good on Amberley's list of accomplishments for the Ordo Xenos next time...
83.11 (Masterweaver)
"Diamonds?"
"Sparkle, sparkle?"
"Diamonds diamonds diamonds diamonds?"
"Sparkle sparkle sparkle sparkle." Twilight sighed. "Sparkle sparkle sparkle, sparkle."
83.12 (TokoWH)
The loops weren't always the same down to the last little detail. Twilight had learned this fact so long ago that even when there were loops where Equestria was stationed on the moon or in a cyber punk setting, she could easily take it in stride. However, some details weren't always as pronounced as others. Occasionally, some more subtle stuff would happen that wouldn't change things too much, like AJ's farm being a grape farm, or one of the CMC's already having their cutie mark, or even her tree home being a few inches to the right or left from where it was originally. Nothing really too big or worth note, but it was there.
There would also be time's where a ponies personality would also be different from how they normally were. It was rare, but it happened. Like that time Rainbow Dash could give Rarity a run for her money in terms of elegant upper class manners, or when Pinkie was actually fairly normal and nowhere near as hyperactive as she was in baseline -a fact that had made Twilight worry the loops had become unstable-, or the loops that must not be named with their hooves on Celestia.
Twilight shivered. Thankfully, those loops were becoming rare as of late.
Shaking her head, she could see Fluttershy's house not far off now. It was a lonely, so for now she was going to let things play out like baseline. She had a rather funny idea later on at the wedding that involved Chrysalis, an odd conversational 'judo' she had planned that involved rubber ducks, and several buckets of soap and water, but that was a ways off for now. Right now, she was doing her usual preparations for the Summer Sun Celebrations.
"YeeeeeeeeeAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
Twilight turned around, Twilight's eyes shrunk as she barely had time to dodge a skateboard to the head. Raising her head, Twilight watched as a Pegasus skated off to Fluttershy's house. Getting a good look at the Pegasus, it took everything Twilight had not to laugh.
There was Fluttershy, doing a front flip off the skate board. She had a blue baseball cap on, folded backwards with some of her pink bangs poking out. She dashed over to some nearby birds, a confident smile on her face as she refilled their feeders. Twilight was tempted to sent out another pulse to make sure it wasn't the looping Fluttershy messing with her, and had it not been for even the looping Fluttershy, despite the many loops she'd been through, getting to this level of confidence to pull of a loop like this, she likely wound have.
Doing rather well at suppressing whatever laughter that was desperately trying to make it's way out, she decided to continue on with what little 'baseline' of the this loop that could be salvaged.
"Um, hello?" she asked, approaching what could easily be mistaken as RD in Fluttershy's body. "I'm looking for a Pegasus named 'Fluttershy'?"
"You're lookin' at her!" Fluttershy said, giving a wink as she put her hoof to her forehead. "Really, the name's a rather big oxymoron, but still!" she continued, sticking out her tongue.
Twilight was actually rather surprised. Despite her vast millennium of experience, she was having a rather hard time keeping a straight face. Luckily, Spike was quick to speak for her.
"That was pretty cool what you did back there!"
Finally catching the attention of 'Skatershy' -Twi's current work in progress name for this odd variation of Fluttershy-, the Pegasus' eyes lit up.
"Wow! A baby dragon! Cool!"
Twilight watched in amusement as Fluttershy went over picked Spike up in a hug. Despite the massive personality difference, something never changed.
"U-uh! You can let go of me now, you know!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry!"
Putting Spike down, Fluttershy chuckled nervously. "Sorry 'bout that."
Twilight smiled, shaking her head. "It's alright." looking on in amusement, she smirked. "So, you like dragons?"
Fluttershy glanced back a bit, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well... only if they're babies. Any dragon older than that kind of freaks me out."
Twilight chuckled. More out going personality, but still Fluttershy deep down. Spike smirked, looking at Shy's skateboard. Spike gave a big grin as he looked at her.
"Say, do you think that maybe-"
"No," Twilight quickly cut him off.
"Aw! Come on! Please!
"No,"
"Pretty please?"
"No!"
"Aaaaaaw! But why!?"
"Because I don't want you breaking your neck, that's why!"
Spike frowned, turning around and pouting. Twilight rolled her eyes. Whoever heard of a skateboarding dragon anyways?
'Oh, wait, Spyro... right.'
Fluttershy chuckled, before she noticed something in the distance. Not far off near Carrot Top's stand, she could see Angel poking his head out from a nearby barrel. Rolling her eyes, she gave a soft smile.
"Sorry, um... oh dear!" Fluttershy said, eyes wide in surprise. "How rude of me! I almost left without learning your name!"
Twilight smiled. "It's Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."
"And I'm Spike!"
Fluttershy nodded, smiling. "Nice to meet you both. Wish I could stick around and talk more, but I need to deal with this."
With that Fluttershy flew back and grabbed her skateboard, before rolling off into town. "Angel! No! Bad bunny!!"
Watching her roll off into town, Twilight stood silent for a few seconds, still resisting the urge to break character and bust out laughing. Even though she had something planned, she felt like it could wait. Now, she just wanted to see how this loop would play out. If there were a few things that were for sure, it was that this would be an interesting loop, and she would need to take pictures at some point lest no one believe her.
Spike stood silent for a few seconds, before he turned to twilight and grasped his hands together.
"Please...!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. 'And making sure Spike doesn't break his neck. That too.'
83.13 (The One Butcher)
To see Fluttershy of all Ponies come into Mac's Bar with a depressed expression, clutching at Angel like a grumpy teddy bear, broke more hearts than anything else ever had.
"Something against horrible guilt, please..." Mac winced. Fluttershy having even accidentally done something bad was always something that hung around her for a long time. Still, Mac poured her a glass of Luna's Distilled Moonshine from that weird Loop where no Pony except the Princesses had ever heard of alcohol.
"Wanna talk?" Mac started even as Fluttershy started shaking. "Poison has to get out you know."
Fluttershy clutched Angel even tighter. Finally she picked up her glass with her lips and downed it. The cool draught went down like silk and lubricated her tongue. It was almost a shame not to use it in this state. She shot Mac a dirty look which would have killed him if it weren't for his enhanced Hulk-metabolism burning the sweetness, but started:
"I am too cute..." Mac was the only Looper who could have kept in his snort at that, once again proving his bartender ability. "At first I thought that was just a joke she told me... I didn't want to be a monster Endbringer. I wanted to be the "make peace with humans" Endbringer, but...", Fluttershy began to cry in earnest, "There just wasn't enough insulin!"
83.14 (OracleMask)
Awaking in a human form was not a sensation Zecora was unaccustomed to. But to find herself inside a small craft flying through the air at the same time was definitely a novel experience. A glance over the side told Zecora very little about where she was flying: this brand new world was currently veiled in night, and under the cover of darkness there was no ground in sight.
Loop memories chose that moment to reveal themselves, and Zecora prudently backed away from the side of her airship. The reason there was no ground in sight was actually because there was no ground to speak of down below her.
Now then, according to her memories, her name was still Zecora. But instead of a Zebra, she was a human of the Silver Civilization, sent on a special mission by the Elders of the Silver Shrine. Her task was no simple one: Zecora was to recover five ancient gems called Moon Crystals and bring them back to the Silver Shrine before the primitive peoples of this world - Arcadia - could use their power to summon equally ancient man-made monsters called Gigas. Another Silvite named Ramirez had been sent on this task before, but failed and never returned.
Her tools for the mission were...lacking, Zecora noted with a frown. She had an airship that even her loop-self did not know how to operate besides the basics, and mostly out-of-date information on Arcadia's current population.
The bracelet on her wrist chirped, before morphing into a pudgy teardrop-shaped creature. It sniffed at her in obvious curiosity, then chirped again, this time more loudly.
"Indeed, it seems your mistress I am replacing," Zecora replied, "Though I hope you will aid me with the task I am now facing."
There came a few more chirps.
"You are called Cupil? A pleasure. Zecora is my name," Zecora answered, "Let us go together as friends, as the Moon Crystals we reclaim."
The first challenge of the night came upon them almost immediately - a large, metal airship that opened fire as soon as it got in range. Zecora considered trying to steer the ship out of harm's way, but none of the cannons on the other ship actually landed a hit. Instead, the air was peppered with explosions that rattled the ship like a tin can.
Zecora did the prudent thing instead, and huddled down with her arms over her head. Cupil, chirping urgently, suddenly morphed into disc that floated over her head and helped to shield her from the blasts. Their airship was not so shielded, however, and there was soon a shudder and the sense of slowly dropping downwards that indicated damage to the engines.
Cupil returned to bracelet form as the artillery barrage ceased, and the metal airship came in closer. Seeing soldiers in full plate armor, Zecora decided to keep playing it safe and feigned unconsciousness. The soldiers pulled her onto their airship as soon as they were close enough, and she watched through barely opened eyes as her own vessel sank down into the lower cloud layers. What a waste.
Zecora found the term 'sack of potatoes' came to mind as the soldiers carried her 'unconscious' body into the ship, though the ride became a bit gentler as she was brought to the bridge.
"Admiral Alfonso, sir! We have the girl here."
"Excellent," came the reply (it was a snide, upper-class voice), "Now then, let us return to Valua at top speed. One such as myself cannot be seen lingering in such a low-class area as Mid Ocean, after all -"
There was a muffled explosion.
"Wh-What was that?!" Alfonso yelped.
"Air Pirates! We're under attack!"
Zecora gave up the ruse of feigned unconsciousness after she was rudely dumped into what felt like a small boat, and sat up. She had been carried all the way from the bridge to a cargo hold, and the huge door was opening to reveal bright pre-dawn light and a sea of clouds.
Oddly enough, she had been dumped into a small boat, albeit one designed for flight. Deciding that the time for playing the damsel was past, Zecora climbed out of the boat and made her way into the shadows. Her Mokuton was not the only skill she had gained from time spent as the First Hokage.
" - perfect conditions for you to make your escape, Admiral Alfonso," a man in full plate armor was saying.
The one who he was speaking to - with gleaming, elegantly-coiffed hair and wearing a shining, gold-trimmed outfit - reminded Zecora of some of the worst loop-variations of Prince Blueblood. Admiral Alfonso flipped back a lock of golden hair with one hand and sneered.
"My preparations are finished as well," Alfonso replied, "Preparations to dispose of a traitor."
Oh...this would not do. It seemed like the vain man was going to throw his second-in-command off the ship, then blame the dead fellow for the successful pirate attack. Zecora could not stand by and watch an innocent life be snuffed out so callously.
"Cupil, we cannot let that man be harmed," Zecora whispered, even as she stealthily made her way across the hold as fast as she could, "Your shapeshifting - make a rope to reach his arm."
Cupil chirped urgently.
And because Alfonso didn't bother to look back, arrogantly assuming that his plan was foolproof, he didn't see the Valuan soldier grab a silver rope that seemed to appear from nowhere.
"Hold fast to the rope and we'll pull you in," Zecora called down to the soldier, "We will not leave you to a fate so grim."
Back in the depths of the cargo hold, Zecora heard shouting and roaring, as if some kind of strange beast was rampaging. Since it wasn't near them, she focused on helping Cupil pull up the Valuan soldier instead.
"Y-You..." the poor man was shaking hard enough to make his armor rattle, "You s-saved my life. But - but you're th-the..."
"Please rest after your harrowing plight," Zecora reassured him, "I promise that Cupil and I will not bite."
Cupil gave a squeak, reforming into its normal floating blob shape and wiggling tiny fins at the Valuan in agreement. Somehow this sight did not reassure the man very much.
There was a whoosh of air as the small metal boat Zecora had been dumped into earlier suddenly flew past, the now disheveled and harried-looking Alfonso flying it as fast as he could. It was easy to see why, as something that looked only vague like a cow was chasing his boat. Seeing the massive horns jutting out of each shoulder - and how they were crackling with thunder and blasting lightning bolts in Alfonso's direction - Zecora could only think that such a beast really wouldn't be out of place inside the Everfree Forest.
"You're supposed to be attacking them, Antonio! Not meeeee!" Alfonso wailed as he made his hasty escape.
Antonio, whatever sort of beast it was, had enough sense of self-preservation to stop when it reached the edge of the hold. Unfortunately, this put Zecora and the Valuan soldier she'd rescued as the closest targets for Antonio's continuing rampage.
The Valuan soldier, in a surprising show of bravery, scrambled to his feet and put himself between Zecora and Antonio.
"Run to safety, young lady!" he ordered, "I'll try to hold him off!"
"Your noble gesture, I appreciate!" Zecora replied as she reached for one of the tools in her pocket, "But harmless, this bull I can make. And as for you Cupil? Form of a slingshot, if you will."
You didn't live in Everfree very long without knowing how to deal with dangerous neighbors...up to and including the foliage. Cupil chirped, quickly morphing into a slingshot. Zecora loaded up a single bright blue pellet and aimed at Antonio, firing it into the beast's mouth when it roared at them.
"Huh? What's that?" the Valuan soldier asked.
"Concentrate of Poison Joke - and not a safe thing to eat," Zecora explained, "Capable of giving a lightning bull a case of rubber feet."
Antonio gave a wobbly roar and fell. One of the horns hit the deck and bent like it was made of soft rubber - which it was, now. With another sickly bellow, the beast went still. It seemed that being made of rubber didn't agree with Antonio very much.
The Valuan soldier whistled.
"That's twice you've saved my life," he said, turning and bowing, "My name is Sub-Commander Abilio, I'm in your debt."
"My name is Zecora, and Cupil you've met. We did only what was right, you owe us no debt," Zecora answered.
Abilio suddenly whirled, taking a defensive stance once again.
"You're those Air Pirates! I won't let you lay your filthy hands on Lady Zecora!"
The pirates - a girl in a yellow dress and a boy in a blue jacket with a glass eyepatch - both sighed. The girl rolled her eyes.
"Hey! Don't you know we're Blue Rogues?" the girl retorted, "Besides, you've got a lot of nerve calling us filthy after attacking that poor girl yourself!"
"Err..."
"Perhaps we should calm down and go inside? Before the wind blows someone off the side?" Zecora offered.
That reminder shut Abilio's protests off immediately.
83.15 (LordCirce)
Twilight entered the clearing near Zecora's house. She had a few potion ideas she wanted to get Zecora's input on. She knocked on the door and waited. After a brief pause, the door opened. Twilight blinked.
"You're not Zecora."
The normally pink Earth Pony, now coated in white flour with black ink lines running across her body, giggled. "Twilight, don't you see? Zecora is me! For I am dripping, in poetry!" As Pinkie spoke, several ink drops fell off of her coat and landed on the floor. Upon landing, the ink spread out, writing out a rather risqué limerick on the floor involving Discord and a leprechaun.
Twilight facehoofed.
83.16 (misterq)
Pinkie Pie has learned a new move: {Sing}!
Pinkie Pie wants to learn {Sing}, but Pinkie Pie already knows 4 moves!
{Giggle} {Offscreen Teleport}
{Pinkie Sense} {Bend Reality}
Do you want a move to be forgotten to make space for {Sing}? {N}
"And that's why all the buffalo were mad at my song," Pinkie finished explaining to the very confused Cutie Mark Crusaders.
83.2 continued
“Where are we going tonight?” Princess Applebloom asked.
“Oh, hey Bloom.” Diamond Tiara grinned, and held up a bottle. “Nyx opened one of the old cellars, and there were bottles in there that must have been maturing for at least five hundred years, so...”
“Nice.”
Sweetie took up the explanation. “So we're taking about two each to visit the head of the Dragon council, and we're hoping we can get some of his special reserve off him in return.”
With a snap of claws, Silver turned into a dragon. (Plaid. No, just kidding.) “I'm sure he'll be willing to help us.”
Scootaloo cantered in. “Okay, girls, I got the chariots ready.”
“Why do we need chariots?” Applebloom queried, glancing over at Silver. “I mean, we've all got wings...”
“Yeah, but we're gonna be about three times too drunk to fly on the way back.” Scootaloo shrugged. “I mean, that mead dragons brew is... whoo!”
“Fair enough.” Applebloom peered into her pocket for a second. “Okay, I've got enough hangover cure for all of us brewed up. Is Nyx okay with this?”
“Yeah.” Diamond Tiara pointed out the window, to the slowly rising moon. “It's her turn anyway.”
Princess Nyx coughed as a cloud of dust cascaded off the old reports.
“Faugh... how long has it been since we checked on these?”
There was a slight clink.
“Ooh, another bottle. Nifty.” Her navy-blue magic enveloped it and shifted it out of the way, adding it to the pile. “Right...”
A report on the floor caught her eye.
In this, the year 20 past the defeat of Discord, the Queen Twilight Sparkle did enclose herself in sun and starlight and remove herself from the world of mortals, leaving her children to rule.
“Huh.” Nyx calculated. “So... it's the year 1010 now, which means... cool, only a year until Mom gets back. That's good to... know...”
She blinked.
“Wait, how long was it between sealing Discord and when Luna went Nightmare, the first time?”
“This is going to be great,” Diamond Tiara said, as the chariots began their descent. “Just a nice night in with the ruler of the dragons.”
“Yeah.” Silver snapped her claws together, and a robe appeared around her. “Got to make a good first impression...”
“What's with the Hawaiian print?” Tiara asked, looking at the complex web of colours.
“I think it's a rule. Draconequus powers have terrible taste in clothes.” Silver swept it off, lightly scorched it, and put it back on. “There we go. Black.”
A blur of starlight shot past them, circled around, and matched velocity. “Girls! We have to get us all back to Canterlot as soon as possible!”
“Aw, do we?” Sweetie called from the other chariot.
“Yeah, we do.” Nyx sighed. “Dad is coming back. As in, tomorrow.”
They took a few seconds to process that.
“Back to the castle!” Diamond ordered. “Silver, please convey our apologies to the Chairdragon that we've been called away on urgent family business.”
“On it.” Silver spread her wings and rose up out of the chariot seat.
“Hey, girls?” Nyx said, in tones of distraction, as they dug through more old storerooms.
“Yeah?” Sweetie replied.
“If I ever start a prank war with Mom... remind me not to?” the black alicorn asked. “I mean, this has got to be the longest-delay prank I've seen in a long time.”
“I agree with that,” Scootaloo muttered. “Aha!”
She pulled a large, golden box out of the piles of stuff.
“This looks about right.”
“Well, bad news,” Diamond Tiara reported. “I found the ponies who'd normally be the Element bearers – they're about the age they'd normally be when Discord turned up. The tricky thing is, they're... well, not their baseline selves.”
“Oh, you're kidding.” Applebloom put her head in her hooves. “What are we talking here?”
“Fluttershy's a weather pony specializing in fog. Dash is a personal fitness trainer. Rarity's a miner, Pinkie Pie makes balloons, and as for Orangejack...”
“Whoa.” Applebloom nodded. “That ain't baseline.”
“Nope. And Trixie appears to have a successful career as a stand-up comedian.” Tiara rubbed her eyes. “Well, nothing for it. We're gonna have to use these suckers ourselves.”
She smiled up at them. “I mean, it can't be that hard. Everypony else who's had a Sisters loop has done it, right?”
The statue shattered. “Ta-da! Alright, where's the popcorn?”
Discord looked around. “Oh, this has potential... I like the variety of statues. Deer, dragon, griffin... really, Twily, were you trying to get one of every sentient creature here?”
A twig snapped.
The draconequus turned. “Ah, so good to see- you?”
Five alicorns stood in a rough crescent, facing him. Above them floated a feminine draconequus.
“Five alicorns! My goodness. And not one of them Twilight. Do you know where she...” Discord tailed off, then put his tail back on again. “Oho. Are you all her daughters?”
“Hers,” the black one confirmed.
“And yours, actually,” added the second draconequus.
“But that don't mean much.” The red-maned one tossed her head.
“After all,” one with a pink coat started,
“We kinda take after our mom,” continued the one with the delightfully clashing orange coat and purple mane.
“Especially her.” The last to speak, a mare with a white coat and melodious voice, pointed up at the draconequine hovering overhead.
They all frowned in unison, and with a momentary distortion of air produced six small stone spheres.
“Oh, come on,” Discord complained, hands on hips. “I just got out of the slammer!”
“Sorry,” the draconequus said, and sounded like she meant it. “But visiting hours start next year.”
There was an explosion of rainbow light.
“Well, that went well!” Diamond Tiara said, smiling. “Easier than I thought it would be, actually.”
“Yeah,” Silver agreed. “I mean, I'm a draconequus... and yet, harmony?”
“It's what's inside that counts, right?” Scootaloo said. Then winced. “Okay, that was trite even for Equestria. But true, nevertheless.”
“Hey... girls?” Applebloom said, plaintively. “Ah think we've got a situation.”
They looked over at Discord. Nope, he was still a statue.
“No, over here!”
They looked at Applebloom, to see where she was pointing. Then they followed her hoof up to her brow, where a glittering steel tiara rested.
“Wait, has that got a gear on it?” Silver asked, drifting closer. “Is that... an Element of Magic?”
“Is that what it is? Ah was worried it was a leavin' 'gift' from Discord.” Applebloom took it off, and examined it. “'Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from' magic?”
“And I've got a necklace,” Scootaloo contributed, lifting it over her head. “That's that cutie mark I got when I ascended...” A glance at her flank revealed a matching mark.
“Same here,” Sweetie added.
“This necklace has a tiara on it.”
“Mine's got... a spoon. Of course.”
Nyx cocked her head. “I'd almost forgotten that was my cutie mark the first time...”
“Oooh boy,” Sweetie Belle sighed. “Looks like we've got us a complete set of working elements.”
She paused, then shook her head with a smile and pulled out her device. “Of course it's not going to replace you, Clover.”
Well, yes, that's what I hoped. But still... wait, what kind of element is it, do you think? Who's got what?
“Well, whoever's got the Element o' Loyalty could tell us, if'n they learned how to use it.” Applebloom shrugged. “Absent that, though, it's waitin' for Twilight.”
“Did she plan this?” Silver asked the air.
“Could be, actually...” Nyx muttered.
83.17 (misterq)
A sea-green coated unicorn sneaked silently into the forbidden section under Canterlot Castle. The regular guards were no match for her stealth suit, spells, and ninja-like skills.
When Bon-Bon had noticed said skills and cautiously asked about them, Lyra had the answer. She said even though she wasn't one of Canterlot's wealthy privileged class, a younger her still needed to pay for her elite music schooling somehow. Lyra recalled being a part of a musical themed trio of cat-burglars. She was the ghost of the team. Earth pony Octavia was the muscle and Vinyl Scratch, with her bass cannon, was the wild card. Bon-Bon thought for a few moments and then said that she didn't mind as long as those days were firmly in Lyra's past.
Lyra frowned at that thought. As far as the candy making earth pony was concerned, Lyra was visiting her parents. And in fact, she totally had visited them, right before jumping out of her old bedroom window and making her way into the castle at night.
The sea-green unicorn scanned first for magical wards that would detect and alert if any pony scanned for traps. After disarming those, she scanned for more mundane traps.
It took an hour of working slowly before Lyra finally made it into the chamber. The place that housed the artifact. The Artifact!
First, there were the hushed rumors dealing with the fate of Celestia's former apprentice. Then came whisperings of Twilight Sparkle's perilous mission to recover the element of magic.
Then Pinkie Pie blabbed the whole thing when Lyra casually asked about it.
So here she was, pulling out a device that looked like a large radio with a dozen different dials from her saddlebags and aiming the little focusing gem at the magical mirror in front of her.
Several years ago at the last symposium on poly-dimensional theory, Lyra saw the usual mix of unicorns and learned science ponies. However, there were a few surprises. The attendance of Celestia's new student, Twilight Sparkle, was not unexpected. The appearance of Pinkie Pie and Ditzy Do sitting in the back row, avidly taking notes and sharing a large feed bag full of muffins, however, was.
Fast forward several amazing discussions with an unconventional baker and an insightful mail-mare, nights spent constructing a thaumic dimensional dialler device with those spare parts Ditzy recovered from a mysterious big blue box, and time tracking down an actual working dimensional gateway - all had led Lyra Heartstrings to this one singular moment.
SNAP!
The moment which was utterly ruined as Lyra looked down to see one of the essential dials had broken off and was now sitting innocently in her hoof.
"This isn't going to be good," she stated as her device started to shake and spasm. Three multicolored beams shot out of the focusing gem and impacted the mirror, causing it to glow. Then three beams shot out of the mirror, merged, and struck Lyra on her head.
She was Lyra Heartstrings, unicorn mare. A musician and avid aficionado of the strange and unusual. Mostly stories of mythical humans with their dextrous hands and the legendary seaponies. She possessed neither ninja skills nor the brilliance needed to make a dimensional dialling device, but she was happy in Ponyville with Bon-bon.
She was Lyra Heartstringer, seapony mermare. A musician, under the rule of Princess Trixie - who managed things (explosions) while the seapony queen was off doing battle. That Lyra was also an enthusiast of the strange and unusual, namely stories of mythical humans and earth ponies with their hooves and legs. She enjoyed competing in underwater musical demolition concerts/duels, but she had always felt something had been missing from her life.
She was Lyra Heartson, human girl - a young woman, really. Although a little bit uncoordinated and somewhat of a klutz, she was a music student at a top university. Her dorm room had posters full of unicorns and space aliens. And space unicorns.
She was... waking up in a room with the unmistakable scents of a hospital.
There was also a space unicorn looking at her. Well, an alicorn with stars in her mane. Princess Luna stood next to her sister, Princess Celestia. The newly ascended Princess Twilight was also there, not looking very pleased.
Lyra spoke first, "It didn't work?"
Twilight sighed, "If you mean, did you collapse three entire universes and set the multiverse back by a few thousand loops, then no. I'm happy to say that it didn't work."
The musical unicorn blinked in confusion, "What?"
Twilight strode over to her bed and sighed, "What exactly were you trying to do, Lyra?"
"I was.. I was trying to find proof that humans and seaponies exist," the sea-green unicorn stared at the princesses as she processed her new memories, "And they do! I now have the memories of me as a seapony and as a human! I can prove it, too! What happened to my dimensional dialler?"
"The machine you used? Sleip.. I mean, some-pony higher up came and closed that little loophole that gave you access to a read-only universe's technology. He wasn't best pleased to find he missed one."
Lyra tried to process this new information. She spoke after a moment of silence, "What?"
"With your little stunt, you forcefully changed your own status to active looper - something that no pony, at least, has ever done before," Twilight Sparkle sighed tiredly. "Congratulations, Lyra, and welcome to the loops."