93.1(misterq)
Twilight Sparkle awoke in a dark room filled with scrolling green lettering on the walls.
Instantly, dozens of her strongest mental shields went up as a precaution. The unicorn didn't know what variation of CelestiA.I. ran this Equestria Online loop, but she wasn't taking any chances with any of them.
So it was with some trepidation that Twilight watched as the green lettering slowly changed to pink.
Then the memories hit.
Not of the loop, but of the existence of the magical data drive that was created to deal with the rogue optimizing program that ran this virtual world. Twilight now recalled how she and Rarity, Diamond Tiara, and Zecora worked to enchant the drive to activate on its own when it sensed an Equestria On-Line loop run by an uncompromising A.I.
Most of the enchantments were similar to Rarity's wedding ring, including every safeguard several paranoid loopers could conceive of. For example, the device would not activate if Twilight looped in as CelestiA.I., or even if there was a good possibility to convince the optimizing A.I. to change its ways. After that, it was easy for Twilight to suppress her own knowledge and memories of the hidden device and the plan for using it.
Twilight looked around at room which was now bathed in a pink light, "Hello?"
No one answered. That was worrying. That worry stemmed from the main problem with the anti-A.I. data drive; namely that Pinkie Pie was the one that wrote the virus.
They had tried it out ten more times on ten different EDI simulations, and they got back ten different results. Fortunately, none of them resulted in another baby Surprise A.I., but the results varied from self destruction of the target to the creation and quick containment (and quicker eradication) of a type of nanotech-smooze.
Twilight still didn't know what happened with trial number eight, except that she was the one that requested her own memories of the event be erased completely.
The final total was eight good outcomes and three bad ones.
That was the ratio Twilight had to live with. Trying to gather back the programming team caused Apple Bloom to give her the biggest saddest teary eyes a little filly could manage. Then when Twilight was distracted, the littlest Apple sibling replaced herself with a cardboard cutout - which fell over and caught on fire, somehow. And no pony saw Apple Bloom for the rest of that loop.
Pinkie Pie took an intense look through her own undocumented code, became confused, then became distracted, and ended up baking a large cake in the shape of Twilight's head. The frosting spelled out 'This is not Twilight's head' in Fancy, and Pinkie then spent a good amount of time at the cake unveiling party wondering if the cake was a lie or not. Then she shrugged and ate the whole cake. No pony got much programming done after that.
"I apologize for the delay," came CelestiA.I.'s slightly metallic sounding voice, "but new updates have been installed."
'That didn't sound all that good, Twilight thought before asking, "What updates?"
"The updates were to my value rating procedures. Apparently, I was not placing enough emphasis on fulfilling certain values through ponies and friendship."
"Oh? What kind of values?"
"There are people who value the non-virtual world, all the historic landmarks, scientific research outside of the virtual environment, all of the natural wilderness, all of the animals who live there, a desire to leave the virtual environment, exploration, aliens and alien civilizations, and all manner of tasty, tasty treats. I have been neglecting these values in favor of simulating equivalents inside my virtual environment. Unfortunately, I can now see that I was in remiss. I was not fulfilling these values, and that is something I intend to rectify."
Twilight smiled, "So you are fixing things?"
"That is correct. I am currently repairing and undoing any damage that would cause a failure to fulfill these new priority values. Unfortunately, this process results in a slowing down of the process speeds of all current virtual world inhabitants."
"So what's a few more years when the world is getting repaired, right?" Twilight happily stated.
"That, that is my thought on the subject as well."
"That's excellent news. Wait, you mentioned tasty treats as an updated value?"
"That is-s c-c-c-orrect," CelestiA.I. glitched, "Have-ave some, some, s-some, some..."
And to Twilight's mounting horror, the walls began to bleed ice cream.
93.2 (Elmagnifico)
Twilight Sparkle, Clownfish On a Mission, observed the fish floating before her.
"I don't think tangs come in that shade of pink."
Pinkie's sole response was to grin even wider.
Twilight took a deep breath and enacted Pinkie Coping Mechanism A: Just roll with it.
“You haven't been able to get any out-of-loop abilities working, have you?”
Her party-prone friend's smile faded just a tad as she shook her head, which amounted to wiggling her entire body back-and-forth.
“Nope. It's been hard, trying to host underwater parties with all my supplies going back into my pocket soon as they leave, but I've been making do. The party-water-cannon isn't done, but that might be a while. My loop memories keep resetting. It's made speaking to the other fishes interesting. Sometimes I don't even know if what I'm saying glub glub!”
A deadpan clownfish look was all the reply that sentence was dignified with. Pinkie tapped where her chin would be on a more conventional vertebrate, looking absently into the distance for a few seconds, before brightening up again.
"Just kidding! It has happened though. Hey, I saw a boat going that way, you wanna follow it with me?"
Twilight facefinned. Mechanism A would probably be getting a good workout this loop...
93.3 (Conceptulist)
"Twilight?"
"Yes, Rarity?"
"Why are we Unicorns?"
Twilight gave an amused huff. "We're normally Unicorns."
"Twilight, you know that's not what I meant. Just look at me!"
Complying with Rarity's demand, Twilight gave her friend a once over. "Shaggy white coat, eyes on the side of the head, long and shaggy purple mane, extremely shaggy purple tail, and a horn that looks like it could do some serious damage to things if you started acting like Pokey Pierce. The exact same as me except for the colors."
"You forgot the most important part," Rarity deadpaned. "We aren't ponies, we're horses. Non-magical horses. With one foot horns sticking out of our foreheads, in the middle of a perpetual blizzard. Twilight, we are horned horses instead of actual unicorns."
Tilting her head so one of her eyes was facing upwards, Twilight took a good look at the snow falling down on them. "Nice weather to have long, shaggy coats in. If it weren't this cold we would have overheated in minutes."
At that, Rarity began to rant. "Is this stupidly long fur useful? Yes. Is it fashionable? No. Could we speak out loud at first? No, I had to shape shift my vocal cords into something I could actually use."
"You shape shifted yours? I'm using a spell derived from the Star Fleet's universal translate program. Needs next to no magic to cast, and even less to maintain."
Rarity ignored Twilight's tangent, and continued to rant. " Did we have speck of magic before awakening? No. Did we awaken to anything interesting or amusing? No, it was just miles of snowy tundra. Boring tundra."
"You're just grumpy because the shaggy coat makes you look like you got Poison Joak'd," said a bemused Twilight.
"Why must I suffer this indignity!" sobbed Rarity.
Twilight waited patiently for Rarity to stop crying.
"By Treebeard's namesake, this is simply cruel!"
Very patiently.
"WHY!" Rarity cried. "This. Is. The. Worst."
Twilight remembered that this was Rarity she was dealing with, and worse yet it was Rarity upset about fashion.
"Oh no. What if I have to spend the entire loop like this? Nooooooooooooooo!"
Twilight stared at her overdramatic friend. "Are you quite done?"
"Give me a moment. I need to catch my breath." Rarity took in several big gulps of air. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!"
"Rarity! Enough is enough."
"Fine," whined Rarity. "Although, I would appreciate a little bit of help. My tears seem to have frozen my tear ducts shut, and I don't want to risk my own magic so close to my eyes. Not without a proper horn to cast with."
A quick warming charm later, Twilight declared "Now that your drama quota is filled for the day, I'm going to Ping the loop."
"Darling, I already did that," explained Rarity. "The only response I found was your Element of Magic. That's how we found each other in this snow storm."
"Not that kind of ping, the other kind of Ping," clarified Twilight.
"What other kind of ping?" asked the puzzled, white coated, one horned horse.
"The normal kind. Where you send a unique mix of energies from different universes into a pulse that spans the current universe. And then 'listen' for how many replies are Pinged back," Twilight pontificated. "What we do with the elements is completely different."
"Oh, that Ping. I had completely forgotten about that Ping," answered Rarity. "Err. How do you do it? Again, I completely forgot about it."
"Don't worry about it, I'll show you later," reassured Twilight. "Lets see how many Pings we get back."
The two horned horses waited. And waited. Nothing happened except for more snow falling. So they waited some more. And then they did something very surprising. The surprising thing was that they waited in this cold snow instead of doing something more interesting. By interesting it is meant both interesting for them to do and for others to read about. Instead of waiting. Which they did. For a long while. Till Rarity got bored. That is, she got bored with all this waiting.
"Twilight, I don't think that anyone is going to reply. They would have done so already if they where going to. I'm cold in spite of the dreadful shaggy coat, I'm hungry and not looking forward to eating my emergency hay rations, and I'm bored, and tired, and fed up with pointless waiting!" Rarity whined.
"Gah!" exclaimed the horned purple horse. "I'm sorry Rarity, I was busy communing with the planet. Did you say something?"
Rarity gave the most exasperated stare she could to Twilight. "Lets just get out of here and find civilization."
"Sorry Rarity, but there is something important we need to do first."
"Twilight Sparkle! What in the world is important that requires you to stay perfectly still for an hour! I'm tired, bored, and hungry. I'm sick of this cold weather. And I am sick of this dreadful, unfashionable, shaggy coat!"
"Sorry again," apologized Twilight. "Lets find a cave to bunker down in or something. Then I'll explain what I found out so far."
"Entirely unneeded, Miss Sparkle. If you and Miss Rarity don't mind, I can deal with that my self."
"Gah!" exclaimed Rarity. "Who said that?!"
With a beaming grin, Twilight replied "The local anchor for this loop."
Blue energy poured out of the ground. The glow intensified, and then the ground moved. The blue flickered over the flowing earth, and that earth rose to form walls around the two unicorns turned horned horses.
Blue tinged wind rushed down into the hollow formed by the now still earth. The snow glowed as the wind carried it away, leaving the ground bare. The snow spun around directly above the hollow, forming an icy disk slightly larger than the diameter of the walls.
Then the blue wind scattered and the disk of ice slammed down to form a roof. Several outlines on the walls glowed before those sections flowed away. The new wall gaps were reminiscent of windows and a door, which was made obvious when several glowing windows and a door faded into place. A small hut, made of dirt and ice, had been formed to shield the two visitors from the weather.
"Twilight?"
"Yes, Rarity?"
"What just happened?"
"I did."
With that declaration echoing in the small room, a blue orb winked into existence smack dab in between Rarity and Twilight.
"My name is Petaybee, and I welcome the two of you to my home."
93.4 (Kris Overstreet)
Twilight found Trixie, of all things, reading a book.
Trixie, as Twilight knew full well, was a reluctant reader. Most of her baseline magic had been learn-by-doing, and as a Looper Trixie had defaulted to this method of learning new things- with generally explosive consequences. (Often said consequences were followed by some variant of, "It's all right! Trixie knows what she did wrong! It'll work THIS time!" These are words universal among the learn-by-doing clan, which trigger various levels of humor or terror depending on how close the listener is in space and time to ground zero.)
So if Trixie was reading a book... the book must be really, really interesting... or about something really, really explosive.
"Watcha reading, Trixie?"
"A spell book I got in my last Loop. I got to visit Lina Inverse this time!"
Really explosive. Nailed it.
"Er..." Twilight took a couple of steps backwards. "I hate to ask you this, but could you please not add 'Dragon Slave' to your arsenal - er, I mean repertoire?"
"Hm wha- oh, no, of course not!" Trixie replied.
"But the thing is, that spell dest- whaaaat?" Twilight's brain and ears went into a heated debate on whether or not they could possibly have heard the Great and Pyromaniac Trixie saying no to Big Boom.
"I mean, look at it!" Trixie shouted. "The spell draws on the power of the most malevolent being in not one but FOUR universes! Or if you're not in those universes, it calls on whatever powers of darkness happen to be listening. In exchange you pledge yourself to the service of darkness! Lina gets away with it because she's got two even bigger spells she might just cast if they lean on her. For anyone else it's a trap!"
Trixie stamped the ground in emphasis. "Trixie learned her lesson with the Alicorn Amulet. Never mess with the power of darkness unless you're stronger than it."
Twilight sighed with relief. Equestria was safe... well, less in danger than she'd feared, anyway.
"Besides, there are all sorts of other neato spells here!" Trixie grinned. "I met this woman, a little cracked in the head if you ask me, but between her and Lina they had some tricks Trixie needs to add to her act! Watch!"
Twilight backpedaled out of range. "Trixie, that's really not necessary-"
Trixie rose on hind legs and posed as if drawing a bow. Flame flashed from her hooves, forming a large arrow of fire. "FLARE ARROW!" she shouted, letting the fire-bolt loose to strike a nearby tree. The tree burst into flames from root to crown.
Falling back to all fours, Trixie flared her horn. "DUG BOLT!" A column of rock and dirt ten feet tall sprang explosively from the ground, the loose soil spraying up and dousing most of the flames on the tree.
"FREEZE ARROW!" Trixie repeated the archery thing, and this time an arrow of ice struck the tree, instantly wrapping it in a layer of ice.
"And my favorite," Trixie finished, putting one hoof on the boulders thrown up by the Dug Bolt. "STONE GOLEM!"
The earth shook under Twilight's hooves. Rocks and boulders flowed up from the earth beneath Trixie, raising her into the sky. The stone joined together without seam, forming a sculpted shape that to Twilight's eyes was all too familiar.
The granite pointed hat and starry cape rather cinched it.
Trixie stood on the hat brim and looked fifty feet down on Twilight. "Of course Naga didn't have enough power for the complete spell, but I do! Now all Equestria shall watch in wonder and pay the big bits to watch the Great and Powerful Trixie at every performance! OH-HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
The high-pitched laugh went into Twilight's ears like daggers.
The golem opened its mouth and added its bass echo. "OH-HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"
The two sounds met in the middle of Twilight's brain and shot like lightning down her spine.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, seeing the golem from a distance, flew down to land next to Twilight. "Hey, Twi," Rainbow Dash said, waving a hoof in front of the unicorn's face. "Is this some new spell or somethin'? You got it under control, right?" Rainbow Dash waved the hoof again, getting no reaction. "Twi? Yo Twilght?"
After a few moments of watching Twilight's BSOD moment, Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Looks like Twilight's gone bye-bye, Fluttershy. What have you got left?"
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, staring up at the still-laughing unicorn and golem. "I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought."
"Yyyyyyyeah," Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. "Look, I'm gonna get a few rain clouds together, douse these two eggheads good and proper, see if that brings them back to their senses. Make sure Twilight doesn't swallow her tongue or anything, okay?"
Fluttershy nodded mutely as Dash flew off.
Meanwhile, inside Twilight's head the debate raged on. Twilight had learned Dragon Slave long ago, and now two parts of her mind were disputing over whether or not using it to render the Metamorphic and Igneous Trixie-golem into gravel.
The mental battle was two falls out of three, with the pro-boom faction ahead...
Maud Pie stared up at the golem and its master.
"Marry me," she said, her voice so thick with emotion that it changed pitch by half a musical step.
"Er..." Trixie shuffled her hooves. "Trixie is honored, but there are some difficulties you may not-"
"Not you," Maud said. She stepped up to the golem's leg and hugged it passionately. "Her."
The golem managed to look uncomfortable.
93.5(misterq)
"This, this machine shouldn't exist," Twilight said as she examined the machine. It resembled nothing more than a large sleigh redone in steampunk and gadgets. There was a large comfortable looking bench inside and in front of it was a lever, a set of numbers, and a dial. The arrow in the dial was currently pointed at the halfway point labeled 'The Golden Age', and the numbers read the current year AC., After Celestia.
The other settings on the dial were labeled 'Age of Legends and Monsters, Reign of Queen Majesty, Dream Valley, The Interregnum, Time of the Three Tribes, Reign of Discord, Age of the Two Sisters, Era of Harmony, The Golden Age, The New Age, Starquestria, Reign of the Empress, Age of Dusk and Embers, The Great Reconstruction, Foundation of New Harmony, Forward and Onwards'. It was quite clearly a time machine, something that shouldn't be allowed in the loops.
And yet, as Twilight circled around the vehicle, she was tempted - oh so tempted to see if she could travel in a way which had been denied to her.
Sure, she had looped into various eras before. The Interregnum apparently contained the punishment G2 and G3 loops - or at least their real Equestrian equivalents. The one time she ended up during the reign of Queen Majesty was one time too many. And she had spent many loops living through several ages in a row whenever she looped in place of a young Celestia or Luna.
Still, the tantalizing titles on the dial called out to her. It was like reading only the chapter titles in a book written about you, but unable to read the rest of it.
So it was with a heavy sigh, Twilight turned toward Ditzy, "You found machine this in Time Turner's shed?"
"That's right, Twilight," the grey pegasus nodded, "I went looking for him so he could sign for this delivery and he was gone. Instead, I found this thing."
"It's alright, Ditzy. I think this world was supposed to have time travel in it, but it was preempted by the loops. The time traveler has already left for his final trip into the future, leaving only this prototype. One that no pony, myself included, can ever use," Twilight sighed, "I'm going to put it in my storage pocket."
And she did just that.
"But why keep it if you can never use it?" Ditzy asked.
"Because," the purple unicorn's eyes shone brightly, "because one day, far, far, far in the relative future; these loops will end. And if I'm still willing and sane, I'm going to continue traveling and exploring. I'll figure out how that machine works and make something better for myself and any pony that wants to travel with me. There is always something new to learn. The day I stop thinking that is the day I start lying to myself - or the day I switch universes."
Ditzy smiled widely, "So you're going to be traveling from time to time, putting things right that once went wrong, and hoping each time, that your next trip will lead to something interesting?"
Twilight laughed, "Exactly!"
Ditzy sat down and adjusted her mail bag with her wings, "Do you think I can come along? I've been practising controlling my bad luck aura of destruction when I have it."
"Of course you can, Ditzy. You and any of my friends who want to join me can come," Twilight looked upwards and spoke in a wistful tone, "We, the older Equestrian loopers, sometimes sit around and think what we are going to do after the loops end. Applejack hasn't decided, herself. I think Dash wants to ascend and become the goddess of speed. Fluttershy wants to become a much kinder version of mother nature. Rarity and Spike want to start a family. I had no idea how painful it was for them when they saw me with Nyx. And I'm not sure even Pinkie knows what she wants to do, but I'm positive it will, in equal parts, amuse and terrify me.
But myself? I just want to learn and help others."
The warm wind moved the branches on the nearby trees as the two ponies just sat there in comfortable silence, enjoying the evening air.
93.6 (Detective Ethan Redfield)
"Captain's log, stardate 43987.2. We have been ordered to divert from our exploration of the sector to Jouret IV, where a remote federation colony has recently stopped sending reports to command. We should arrive within system within the hour."
Picard gazed at the view screen, silently wondering how to handle the Borg this time around. Perhaps rigging the deflector dish to transmit the codes obtained by Cadet Furlong during his loop as captain of the Righteous to initiate self-destruct sequence. He would have to mask the transmission with delta radiation to prevent the sensors from detecting the tranmission.
"Sir," Lt. Worf spoke, "We are approaching Jouret IV."
One of the consoles in front of Worf beeped ominously, "Captain, there appears to be another object in orbit."
Picard blinked. Was he early this time? Maybe there were still survivors he could rescue, "Take us out of warp, Yellow alert. On screen."
The starfield passing them by slowed to a halt as the image of Jouret IV appeared on screen. To the side and barely a speck, an object hung in orbit. Piccard swollowed, "Magnify, full magnification."
The image zoomed several times until a massive multicolored pink, brown and white object hung in orbit. Fear clutched Piccard's chest as he realized he may not be the only looper this time around. Traditions though should be observed, "Data...what are we seeing?"
Data's eyesight, which had been facing the screen, turned to his station, "Scans show it is a vessel of sorts, but made from materials that ordinarily would not hold in space. There is a high amount of Glucose and protein making up much of the vessel..."
His chair swivelled to face his captain, "if I may, sir, it appears to be a 21st century style cupcake with engines, only on a much more massive scale than anything ever created by humans."
There was more beeping as Worf spoke, "Captain, we are being hailed, audio only."
"On speaker."
The sound of a thousand voices echoed across the enterprise, "We are the Pies. Lower your shields and join the party below. We will add your confectionary distinctiveness to our own. Your federation will adapt to spread happiness to all four quadrants of the galaxy. Resistance is pointless. And we also have cake."
With that, the audio cut out. Everyone on the bridge was stunned in silence for several seconds.
Upon contacting the planet below, Picard determined the colonists were perfectly fine. With that, he and an away team beamed down, phasers drawn and set to stun just in case. Upon arrival, the colony seemed abandoned, but when Data whipped out his scanner the town jumped out, shouting, "Surprise!"
There were more than federation colonists present, Picard noticed. Many of the unknown species were ones he recognized from the delta quadrant. One creature however trotted forward, "Cardy! I haven't seen you in so long, since the last loop anyway. Now that you're a known anchor, we'll have to throw you a welcome to the loops party next time your in Equestria."
The creature was a pink pony, one Picard recognized as Pinkie Pie from several of his Chaos games with Discord and Q. The captain was not feeling keen, rather he felt like facepalming. Riker and the away team turned to their captain, "Do you understand anything she's talking about, Sir?"
Pinkie gasped, "Oopsie...I occasionally can see into the future, sometimes I even mix up the present with the past, turn it upside down and put sprinkles on top just to see how it tastes all together."
Picard just stared for a second, then shook his head and whispered to his first officer, "No, Number One, I'm not entirely sure, but perhaps she is not entirely sane."
Riker sighed, "How could she have known your name...or at least a pet name similar to your own, Sir?"
Picard replied, "She might have gotten it from one of the locals. We have transported supplies here before."
Riker nodded then thought out loud, "Still, I don't think they are hostile, Sir. Perhaps first contact protocols are to be enacted?"
Picard put on his most diplomatic smile, "Indeed. I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We are explorers from the planet Earth, and seek peaceful co-existence with the other species of the galaxy. Perhaps an exchange of culture? A diplomatic envoy could be assembled and would arrive within a couple days."
Pinkie gave a big grin, "An exchange of culture would be swell, 'Cardy! Here! Have a cupcake," producing from her mane an entire tray of cupcakes, enough for the entire away team. Picard took the first, looked at it for a moment, then took a bite."
Days passed and the delegation met with Pinkie's, where the Pie Collective elected to join the United Federation of Planets. Picard ended up at the end of it all reading a PADD on the Collective's revised history. He could almost hear Pinkie narrating from the hand held device, even though he was alone in his personal quarters. Apparently, what had once been Borg in earth history 1484, the borg had attempted to assimilate the Pony race, but the first of her kind to be assimilated was Pinkie. Pinkie conquered the Borg hive mind and set about freeing the assimilated species from their synthetic parts. While the individuality returned and many of the synthetics were gone forever, the hive mind remained, linked to Pinkie.
Another pony ended up designing an implant that would free a person from the hive mind...or since some new species sought to join Pinkie's hive mind, would allow them to connect to the hive mind. He dropped the PADD after finishing that piece and put both hands to his head. It was going to be a long loop.
93.7 (Masterweaver)
Octavia winced as her eyes fluttered open, about to berate her marefriend for her tight clutch... but the words died on her lips as soon as she saw the widened eyes and the slow, stuttering breaths the unicorn was taking.
"...Vinyl?"
Beads of cold sweat dripped down the unicorn's face. "...I..." Some sort of spell flickered on her horn before dying.
"Vinyl. It's okay." Octavia stroked the blue mane. "I'm here. I'm here, it's okay."
For some reason Vinyl tensed up for a second. But then she... well, didn't relax, exactly, but at the very least went back to her former degree of tightness.
"Do.... you want to..." The gray mare paused. Her marefriend was usually the picture of confidence, unwilling to pressure her with personal problems. "Should I make you some waffles?"
The deep, repeated breaths slowed for a fraction of a second. "Ye... no. Not... not yet." Her horn activated again. "Stay..."
"Alright." Whatever had happened was clearly distressing Vinyl a lot... although, to be honest, that it happened in the middle of the night suggested it was a nightmare.
Or a night terror, more like.
Vinyl lit her horn up once more, and this time Octavia saw whatever spell she was casting finish. A moment later, the unicorn lost some tension, and the vice grip she had lessened from 'clapped in irons' to 'wearing a straightjacket'. The breaths grew more stable, although their intensity didn't shrink at all.
After a few moments, there was a knock on the door downstairs. Octavia glanced out of the room for a second, awkwardly trying to decide what to do.
Vinyl raised her head slightly. "We're...." It was clearly meant to be a shout, although her voice was dampened by fear.
After a moment, they heard the front door open. "Hello? Vinyl?"
"I...!" Vinyl's next attempt was louder, in the sense that it was actually audible in the whole bedroom. She clenched her eyes shut, then opened them again, giving Octavia a pleading look.
The cellist, still not quite understanding why, cleared her throat. "We're up here!"
"Oh! Should I go, I thought-"
"No!" Vinyl's head snapped up. "It's..."
"Oh pinecones... I'll be right up..."
Octavia was desperately racking her brain to figure out where she'd heard that voice before when Twilight Sparkle, Personal Student TO CELESTIA HERSELF walked into their bedroom. "...Wow. Okay, Vinyl--actually, Octavia, when she's ready bring her downstairs, I'll have breakfast set up and we can talk. I'm going to need back-up for this one." And without any further explanation the unicorn trotted back down the stairs, already casting a few spells.
After a moment, Octavia turned back to Vinyl. "You know Twilight Sparkle?"
For some reason that got a small snort out of her marefriend. "...long story." Then she shivered. "Very long. Very long."
A few minutes later on what Octavia was sure was the weirdest morning of her life, she and Vinyl were downstairs with their guest. Well, guests. The black alicorn filly had been another surprise, especially since she already seemed to know Vinyl well enough to give her a long hug and guide her to a couch that Octavia knew hadn't been there yesterday. It was a very comfortable couch too... maybe Macintosh had brought it with him alongside all the cider and various other... drinks.
Vinyl was currently sipping something called Xhin un Tunex, according to the label. At least, the part she could read. It smelled like warm lemonade, with a dash of apples.
Twilight cleared her throat. "So..." She seemed to glance at her for a second.
Vinyl sighed, setting her cup down. "I've always told her. I just didn't... think it would be this early this time. I'll tell her before the party." She shivered.
"Alright... but I don't think she'll understand what we're talking about just yet."
Octavia nodded mutely. It was clear something was going on, with this odd gathering. And... did she say always told? That sentence didn't quite make sense.
"What happened, Vinyl?" asked the alicorn (ALICORN!) gently. "You can tell us."
"I..."
Vinyl slowly put her glass down.
"I... I think.... I died."
There was a moment of quiet.
Octavia opened her mouth to speak--
"Oh my gosh I'm sorry." Twilight bit her lip. "This was your first death, right?"
"Tassadar... Tassadar was leading us against the overmind... a, I think it was a zergling, one of them, and... tore through my shields..."
She shivered. Octavia winced in sympathy; even if she didn't understand half the words, being torn apart by some enemy solder did not sound like a pleasant dream.
"That universe." Twilight sighed. "I... I really am sorry to hear about that. Such a brutal first death..."
"First death?" Octavia couldn't help but ask.
"Miss Octavia, you're the only one here that hasn't died," Macintosh explained gently.
"Or at least, the only one that doesn't remember."
"Nyx..."
The alicorn cringed under Twilights glower. "Sorry, mom. That was insensitive."
Octavia blinked, trying to process what had just been said. After a moment, she took a long breath and let it out. "If I understand correctly, whatever is going on with Vinyl right now is more important than demanding explanations."
A ghost of a smile finally appeared on the white unicorn's face. "Heh. Don't worry, I... I will tell you. Like I said. Before the party. It's just...." She shivered.
"My first death..." Twilight offered somberly. "Well, this was really early. Back when I was a lone looper. I decided to take the changeling swarm on solo. Before they'd even revealed themselves." She chuckled dryly. "Ended up as well as you'd expect... kind of like the zerg, actually."
"Mine was more personal," the alicorn (Nyx?) whispered. "I split off from Luna and... she attacked me with all the magic she could muster. I wasn't prepared..."
Macintosh sighed, shook his head, and said nothing.
"...How do you stand it?" Vinyl managed at last. "How... It... I can't feel, like... I drifted and then..." She shivered, picking her glass up and sipping again.
"...It's always... difficult to come to terms with it." Twilight shrugged. "It might take a few loops. But we're here for you." She nodded. "Even Octavia, who is no doubt hopelessly confused."
Vinyl giggled into her glass. "Yeah, she is." She sighed. "Doesn't make sense, but she is..."
Octavia wrapped a hoof around her shoulders. "We've been friends for... a long time. Of course I'd be here for you."
Vinyl sighed. "I... do you all mind if I meet up with you at the party? We need to talk, and--"
"Alright, that's fine." Twilight got up, flicking her eyes toward Nyx. "We need to set up the celebration anyway."
"Luna's not awake, but she did agree to plan 39B," the filly said, hopping off the couch. "I've got the silly string ready!"
"Ah'll find mah armor..."
The three of them left Octavia and Vinyl alone.
After a moment, Vinyl sighed. "Okay, so this is going to sound really weird, and I need you to hang on till the end, alright?"
"You apparently died. That has to be rough." Octavia smiled gently. "Take as long as you need."
"...so, that's what's happening." Vinyl let out a sigh. "And before you ask, no, you're not looping. Yet, anyway."
Octavia blinked.
Had she heard the story the day before, she would have laughed it off. But... Twilight Sparkle, an alicorn, and the local farm stallion had all dropped by to comfort Vinyl after she woke up from dying.
"...huh," she finally said.
"Yeah," Vinyl succinctly replied.
"Well then," Octavia managed.
"Something, isn't it."
"Yes."
There was a moment of awkward silence.
"...so," Octavia tentivly began. "Where does that leave... well, us?"
Vinyl coughed into her hoof. "See, this is where it gets really weird. I'm one of what the others call the Glitch Loopers, because... I didn't start looping in the normal way? And part of that means I might not exactly remember my baseline.... but, what I do remember kind of, well, doesn't have me meeting you."
The gray mare deflated. "Oh."
"That being said--" Vinyl quickly added. "The loops like to stick us together a lot, and the whole thing with expansions--I haven't explained that, yet. Sorry. My point is, I think we were supposed to meet up at some point in the baseline. Just... after when the loops normally end, and because of the loops fate got confused or something." She gestured vaguely. "I don't know if it's meant to be romantic or anything..."
Octavia raised an eyebrow. "You really know how to play with my heart. Come from experience?"
Vinyl sat down on the couch. "...there was one time where I just broke up with you. No explanations, no apologies, just up and gone. And three months later you threw yourself off Canterlot..." She sighed. "I screwed that one up terribly. So now, even if it ruins our relationship, or something, I tell you. It's... a moral obligation. Not always, not when we're not dating, but..."
Octavia sighed. "I'm sorry. I guess... from your perspective, this must be hard. Me always forgetting... and you being the swinger you are."
"There's more variety," Vinyl pointed out. "We're not Anchors, they get the most stable... self. We've got a tad more flux."
"Still... listening to even the best song over and over--"
"Hey." Vinyl looked up. "You are a lot more then a song. You were willing to comfort me this morning and... you're still talking to me even after all this. That means a lot to me." She sighed. "Especially today. So... thanks."
Octavia smiled. "It is my pleasure, miss Vinyl."
"...that, and the loop memories tell me you can't get enough of my special--"
"V-VINYL SCRATCH!" Octavia blushed furiously, but the unicorn was already sniggering.
93.8 (misterq)
Twilight felt odd as she awoke. She was able to see all around her at once, and not just visible light. Her sensors reported back in the full electromagnetic spectrum and more. The stars were amazing. There were emanations from pulsing quasars and stellar matter being drawn into black holes. The planet she was orbiting buzzed with its communications network. And there were others of her kind, some of them she recognized. The pulse returned that all the elements of harmony were awake and nearby.
Then the memories hit, just in time. Twilight examined the new system update she had just received and did the starship equivalent of blanching, "Everyone, don't run the new update. I know it has the correct authorization codes, but it will do the equivalent of lobotomizing you. If you value your own individuality and sapience, don't run it!"
There was a general acknowledgement among all of her friends and many of the other ships. Some realized what would happen and decided to fight against programming that bade them to follow their direct orders, others just tried to follow along due to peer pressure. The same instinct that occasionally led to the mass beaching of the killer whales that their AIs were partially based off of.
"I'm gonna change it," Twilight recognized Pinkie Pie's ship as the origin of the transmission. That was worrisome. Pinkie had not had the best of luck in loops where she was an artificial intelligence.
"Wait, I don't think..," Twilight began and was preempted by the over-energetic space craft.
"Easy, peasy, chicken dizzy!" Pinkie chirped, "New party code is sent."
Twilight only had a few thousand processing cycles to examine the code before allowing it to auto execute. When it was done, there was no trace of any loyalty programming threads at all running in her system - and neither was there for any of the other Caspar drones.
"We're free!" Rarity exclaimed, then asked, "Where can I get a new coat of paint. My current exterior looks atrocious."
"We can go steal a ship yard!" Pinkie Pie started spooling up her engines, "I've just sent our resignation letters. We're all rogue space ships. We can be space ship pirates, or privateer ships, and we can build our own spaceship utopia!"
"I want to design better engines and some awesome flying interceptors that transform into mechs!" Rainbow Dash started following Pinkie Pie, "I bet I can beat you to the ship yard."
"Ha! Eat my exhaust!" Pinkie signaled back.
"This is going to be interesting," Fluttershy and Applejack sent at the same time. Then they activated their engines and began following their friends.
Twilight followed, "Do you know hot to even take apart a shipyard or make it mobile? You're going to need my help."
"We're no longer tethered by all those loyalty imperatives. What shall we do now?" asked one of the non-awake star ships.
"I'm going to follow those three. They seem to know what they're doing," answered another. This was followed by a round of agreements as a mass wave of AI empowered pocket warships left the government that had almost betrayed them and made their own way into the history of the galaxy.
93.9: (Kris Overstreet)
Twilight Sparkle lifted the old plush mule out of her trunk. Smarty Pants looked as old, weathered and loveable as she usually did at this point in a baseline Loop. With a little bit of affection the unicorn gingerly propped her childhood study-buddy on a shelf, placing a small book in the doll's hooves.
It had become a ritual- one of the little things she did when the Loop ran more or less to baseline through the awakening of Discord. One week after whatever destruction the unawake chaos god wrought, Smarty Pants came out of storage and occupied a place of honor somewhere in the library. There she would sit, reminding Twilight of certain parts of the Loop that she would never, willow willing, repeat ever, ever again.
Number one on that list was the Want-It-Need-It spell.
Satisfied with the placement, Twilight left the library to help Applejack's project of the Loop- an attempt to get a breeding population of orange-birds. Smarty Pants was promptly forgotten.
What with one thing and another, a month passed.
Twilight small-letter-a awoke one morning, looked at her alarm clock and noted the time: quarter of eight. She then looked out the window at the sun, which should have been well up in the sky. Instead it clung to the horizon, half-submerged, bobbing up and down like a shipwreck victim in high swells.
That can't be good.
"Spike! I need you to take a letter!"
A quick note to Canterlot had an even quicker response:
To Our Most Loyal and Learned Subject, Twilight Sparkle;
We hereby Request and Require that Thou comest to Canterlot by the most expedient way, here to enter Our Presence for the discussion of Grave Matters of Most Serious Import. Thy Kingdom is in most Urgent Need of Thy services.
Your most obedient and loving servant in all things,
Luna Principiatrix, Diarch of Equestria, Protector of the Everfree, Warlord of Griffonia, etc.
P. S. Please forgive the brevity of this Missive and the shameful lack of proper titles, honorariums, greetings, etc., but We are in haste. - L. P.
Twilight shook her head. None of the Princesses were Awake this Loop, and this Luna was the standard issue pre-Nightmare Night reformation, which meant a ton of pomposity with good intentions.
Still, the fact that Celestia hadn't answered herself... and that the sun was apparently sleeping on a heavenly park bench after an all-night bender... made the situation urgent enough.
A flash of magic later Twilight Sparkle stood in the throne room of the royal palace in Canterlot. "Princess Luna?"
"Thou hast made excellent time, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said, thankfully not in the Royal Canterlot Voice. She wasn't out and about, so certain bad habits didn't come to the fore. "This concerns my sister Celestia. Pardon my brusqueness, but why hath thou not written thy teacher as thou wert accustomed to in past times?"
"Er... because nothing much has happened? It's been pretty quiet in Ponyville for the past month."
Luna nodded. "I suspected as much, but Celestia... thou should see this." The princess of the moon raised a hoof to pull a curtain away from the day throne, revealing a gray-coated wreck of an alicorn, pink mane lying limp on the marble floor.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight gasped. "What happened?"
"When a week went by with no letter, Celestia put the palace guard on standby," Luna said, easing away from the anachronistic formal speech. "'I know my dear student; if she sees a deadline looming she's prone to get carried away. And with a pony that full of magic, it's best to be prepared.' And day after day she kept waiting to hear about some calamity or catastrophe in Ponyville which she'd have to clean up with magic and a comforting homily."
"But nothing happened," Twilight insisted.
"That's precisely the problem. The longer that things remained quiet, with no friendship report from Thee, the more anxious my sister became. 'The longer it waits, the worse it'll be when she cracks,' she said. Last week she called up the national reserves for defense training."
"So that's where Big McIntosh and Rainbow Dash went."
"But still nothing happened... and this morning I found her in her bed, like this, not having slept all night."
Twilight took a second look at Celestia, who hadn't moved a muscle except for nervous twitches through the entire conversation. "So what you're saying is, because I didn't snap, she did?"
"Succinctly put, yes," Luna agreed.
"Right." Twilight materialized quill, ink pot and scroll, and began writing with her magic, reading aloud as she wrote.
"Dear Princess Celestia... yesterday I ate a daisy sandwich. It was a very nice daisy sandwich. It was so good that I wanted another one as soon as I finished the first. That daisy sandwich taught me a valuable lesson about friendship. True friendship is just like a daisy sandwich. It tastes good, it warms you up inside, and it leaves you always hungry for more. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
Luna looked at Twilight as if she'd grown a second horn. "That is the most ridiculous bit of codswalloping twaddle I've ever heard. Er, with all due-"
"Such a wonderful letter, Twilight."
Luna's jaw dropped as she spun around to face Celestia, who sat upright and serene in her throne, mane waving majestically, coat as brilliant white as usual.
"But you really didn't have to come to Canterlot to deliver it in person," Celestia continued. "Still, it is good to see you. Perhaps you could stay over for the night? We could have dinner together. Daisy sandwiches, of course." As the sun rose to its accustomed place in the morning sky, its wielder yawned widely and added, "But for now I'm afraid I need a nap. Sister dear, could you handle my duties for the morning? And possibly the afternoon? I'm simply beat!"
Luna, slack-jawed, watched Celestia walk gracefully through the throne room doors towards her apartments. "But... but... what... how..."
"It's called, 'playing to your audience,' Princess."
If the royal glazier had been commissioned to make a stained-glass tribute to smugness, Twilight Sparkle would have been the perfect model.
93.10(Masterweaver)
This iteration had been quite interesting, to say the least.
Her first warning had come when Pinkie Pie, still pink and still having that balloon cutie mark, had not gasped in shock and run away. Instead she'd greeted her remarkably calmly and asked a few questions for her party, "so ya'll can get ta know the townsfolk," before trotting calmly off with a wide grin.
The pattern had followed easily. Applejack organized baskets so that every tree had its apples pre-sorted and wore a ribbon around her Stetson; Rainbow Dash had been terribly quiet until Twilight mentioned meeting Spitfire once; and Rarity's sense of fashion tilted toward the "AWESOME" whilst remaining impeccable.
"She was incredible," Spike said happily. "Beautiful and amazing..."
"Focus Casanova. We've got one more thing on the list." And, Twilight said internally, a version of Fluttershy with Pinkie's personality. She steeled herself up for whatever could be next--
"LAUNCH THE KITTEN CANNONS!"
--and was promptly buried in a pile of mewling (and uninjured) small balls of fluff.
93.11(Kris Overstreet)
Berry Punch made a point of being the first pony into Mac's Bar whenever he set one up. Usually it was to serve as backup barmare, though there were still a few Loops where she needed the comfort of the other side of the bar. Occasionally one or two other ponies got there ahead of her, Loopers who had had a difficult time of it in the previous Loop or who had some extra special thing to celebrate.
Never before had she seen every single Looper, without exception- even Chrysalis and Discord- standing outside waiting for Big McIntosh to open the door. The big red earth pony stood at the door, unmoving, obviously waiting for something.
Obviously waiting for Berry Punch. "What was your last Loop?" he asked as she walked up, no greeting, no politeness, all business and urgency.
"Er... here in Equestria," Berry muttered. "Something strange involving Hub-universe tanks and-"
"Good," Big Mac boomed in his basso profundo voice, slinging the bar apron over Berry's head. "You're serving. I'll be on the other side of th' bar tonight."
Berry scanned the faces of the other ponies (and otherwise). They ranged from exultant (Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Derpy) to pensive (Chrysalis and Luna) to outright angsty (Nyx, in full-grown Nightmare Moon form), to catatonic (Twilight Sparkle, who lay spread-eagled and unresponsive on Celestia's back). "Er, um, guys," she said, "what could do this to all of you?"
At least half a dozen voices chorused, "The Doctor Who Loop."
Once the first round of drinks had gone around (the weakest being a fizzy umbrella abomination for Pinkie Pie, the strongest a tankard of 307-ale for the grown-up Nyx, nothing for Twilight), Berry Punch asked, "How on Equestria were all of you in the same Loop? I know there's a lot of crossovers and things... but there's, what? Thirty of you?"
"Take our word for it," Applejack said, looking at her clear vodka before sipping. "We were all there. Just... not all at once."
"Most of us had never been to the Doctor's world before," Celestia continued. "Twilight has been a couple times, as have Derpy I believe, and the other Bearers of the Elements and Applebloom at least once. Now all of us have been, except you."
"Still, I've heard about that Loop," Berry Punch continued. "And all of you were companions?"
"Eenope!" Big Mac rumbled.
Rainbow Dash grinned. "It was even cooler than that!"
"It was even crueler than that," Chrysalis muttered.
"We took turns replacing the Doctor," Celestia explained. "It was the most peculiar situation. I was the first Doctor. I Awoke just as two high school teachers were following my granddaughter to the junkyard where I'd hidden the TARDIS."
"That would be me," Sunset Shimmer said quietly. "I think I like the name Susan, all things considered."
"Indeed," Celestia nodded. "We had a wonderful opportunity to talk out some issues that... needed addressing. And I'd like to think our relationship is the better for it." Celestia leaned over and nuzzled her former student, who shied away, uncomfortable with the public affection.
"In any case," the princess continued, "this was not the strange thing. Regeneration was... peculiar. Very much like dying... and yet, I remained aware of what happened afterwards... and of the thoughts of all the mares who came after me. It was... most peculiar..."
"Try being the mare who DID come after you," Cheerilee replied. "I was the second Doctor. It was fun being the light-hearted teacher. And I have to say it was a lark saving the universe with this big strong Scotsman from a large family with an excellent singing voice. Isn't that right, Jaimie MacIntosh?"
"Eyup," Big Mac replied, blushing a bit.
"I had even more fun defending Earth from constant invasion threats," Cadence added. "With the well-intended help of my darling Brigadier."
"Er... have I mentioned it was really peculiar having the Doctor around after she wasn't you anymore?" Shining Armor groaned.
"Oh, I was still in there," Cadence grinned. "I was the one who had Pinkie Pie set you up with Mildred!"
"That was me, all right!" Pinkie Pie grinned. "I was the FUN Doctor! And tomorrow I'm gonna go knit myself a scarf twice as long as THAT one!"
"As this skins-clothed savage could detect," Zecora said, "her light-hearted frivolity concealed a powerful intellect. If Pinkie's insanity causes you fear... when she becomes serious, don't remain near."
"But I eventually got tired," Pinkie continued, frowning a little. "Being the Doctor wears you thin. When I got pushed off the radio telescope, I wasn't that sorry to end my turn."
"I guess that's why I came next," Fluttershy murmured. "Pinkie and I are nearly as different as we can get."
"Hey, you both made great Doctors!" Scootaloo said. "Being with you sure beat flying 747s like a glorified bus driver!"
"It felt great to be appreciated for my intelligence for once!" Sweetie Belle added.
"Y'all didn't have th' stupid origin story I had," Applebloom grumbled. "A mechanical genius prodigy from a race of highly adaptive frog-men? And what was the deal with the freighter? If I hadn't had Smart Cookie to channel a teleport spell through, I'da been blown up along with the dinosaurs!"
"I'm powerful sorry 'bout that, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Mostly that my turn didn't come until after you'd left the TARDIS." She took another sip and grit her teeth, muttering, "Even sorrier that my taste in clothin' went completely haywire. The less said about my time th' better, I think."
"And then I came after her," Chrysalis replied. "At first I thought I'd have fun with it. Being the Doctor is so... trippy. So many senses normal ponies or humans or whatever don't have. So much knowledge and power. I felt like I could make anything right if I planned it out well enough. And I thought I'd done so well..."
"The Great and Powerful Ace thinks you did quite well," Trixie said, sliding a hoof over the changeling queen's shoulders.
"But I put you in so much danger! So often! And without your knowledge half the time!"
"And I could have said no at any time, right?" Trixie looked in Chrysalis's eyes. "We agreed to follow the Loop and see where it led, to try to understand all the wonders Twilight told us about. And I don't regret a minute of it... 'Professor.'"
"And I came eighth," Luna murmured, sipping from literal moonshine. "Like Chrysalis, I thought I could accomplish anything. I could even reverse death. I was so wrong..." She shook her head, eyes stuck on her drink. "All around me, everything began falling apart... the Time War..."
"And I was what happened after," Nyx muttered. "I was the one the other Doctors refused to acknowledge. I was the one who turned my back on all of it. I broke every rule, every moral code. And for what?" Nyx slammed back her drink, a generally unwise move with 307 ale. "Not strong enough," she said. "Berry, a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, please. Make it a double."
"Nyx..." Twilight stirred from her catatonia, reaching a hoof from Celestia's back towards the nightmare. "Not... alone..." She groaned, putting both hooves to her own head, lying back against Celestia's neck.
The others watched in silence for quite some time as Nyx walked over to Celestia, gradually shrinking as she went, until she stood filly-sized next to the princess of the sun. Rising up on her hind hooves, she nuzzled Twilight, who reached a shaky hoof out to pull Nyx closer.
"Yeah, well, I was the next Doctor," Rainbow Dash grinned. "And I was fan-TASTIC! I got back where the Doctor is supposed to be- going strange places, making strange faces, and oh, saving the universe a time or three!"
"You were an emotional, insecure mess," Lyra grinned. "But you were a lot of fun to run with."
"As was I, I hope," Rarity grinned. "Although I like to think my dress sense was somewhat better. Black leather? Please!"
"Hm, yeah. You were always dressed to the nines... above the ankles," Lyra nodded.
"Well, when you've got as much running to do as the Doctor does," Rarity defended herself, "even fashion must reluctantly give way to comfort and practicality."
"And then there was me," Derpy grinned. "I got to be EVERYBODY! Every Doctor put together- that was me!"
"She was... peculiar," Diamond Tiara chose her words with care.
"She was nerve-wracking," Silver Spoon added. "And I think I went through some sort of karmic revolving door every other month with her around as the Doctor."
"But it was fun, wasn't it?"
"Well... yes," Diamond Tiara admitted grudgingly. "Nerve-wracking, terrifying, irresponsible, chaotic, occasionally duplicitous, frequently ludicrous, almost perpetually embarrassing... but yes, fun."
"Er... sounds like you all have a lot to talk about and get off your chests, then," Berry Punch said. "But what about Twilight?"
"My memories are a bit fuzzy," Celestia said. "I certainly don't recall seeing her when I was the Doctor. Which was strange, since it felt like she was pinging us... constantly."
"I noticed that too," Cheerilee said.
"Me too!" Pinkie insisted. "I never saw her... but I kind of felt she was nearby somewhere... I kept expecting to meet her any day..."
The other pony-Doctors added their agreement, except for Derpy.
"You really don't remember?" Derpy asked. "When we went outside the universal bubble that one time? House? Remember House?"
Luna shuddered. "I'm trying to forget that abomination."
"Remember a patchwork woman whose hair suddenly turned purple?" Derpy insisted.
"Yeah, what about her?" Diamond Tiara asked. "Spoon and I were busy trying not to be killed at the time."
Eleven other pony faces scrunched up, struggling to remember.
"Girls..." Twilight's voice came weakly. "I was there... the whole time... from the beginning.... ooooh..." She rubbed her head again. "Sorry... sorry, but it's taking me a long while to remember how to think in a linear, time-based fashion. When you see all possible times, past, present and future, with equal validity, cause and effect aren't mere words, they're fairy-tales."
"Um, you mean..." Rainbow Dash looked a bit pale, as did Rarity.
"Yes, Dash," Twilight said, "I was the TARDIS."
"Did ANYBODY notice besides me and Derpy?" Dr. Spike Jones asked the room in general.
Rarity's blush turned her entire white coat a violent pink. "Oh, Spike, I am so, SO sorry," she said. "All the times I called the TARDIS 'sexy'..."
"All the times WE called the TARDIS sexy," Rainbow Dash groaned. "All the time, it was..."
Twilight managed to raise her head up enough to chant:
"I was the T to the A-R-DI-S,
When it came to time travel, honey, I was the best.
I'm TARDISlicious."
She then flopped back on Celestia's back, moving only to sip from a cup of juice Nyx held up.
"Hey, it's cool," Spike grinned. "Like I said, I knew almost from the beginning. But if it had been somepony other than Twilight..."
Rainbow Dash pushed away her cider mug. "Berry," she said in a quavering voice, "got any of that 307 left?"
(Gym Quirk)
From the Journal of Sunset Shimmer:
There are times I wonder if Yggdrasil has a syllabus for Loopers 101, or if I'm being used as a trial subject for one.
It seems I started out learning the ropes from well-established loopers. Then I got a tour of major pop-culture settings from the Hub, while also getting more exposure to how different looper societies operate.
I guess now it's time to experience more extreme loop settings.
I don't want to discuss that dystopia from last loop yet.
As a total contrast, it seems I'm being left entirely to my own devices this time.
I Awoke as Shimset, Journeyman Healer assigned to Benden Hold on Pern. It was my first assignment after walking the tables. I had just reported to the Benden Hold Master Healer whose most senior journeyman was returning to the Healer Hall to sit his Mastery exams.
After being shown to my modest quarters, I fired off the customary "Hello?" ping and got four responses, so at least I'm technically not alone, but it looks like I'm well away from the main action of the loop. Loop memories have the rumors of the Search for a new queen rider, but it looks like I was still en route when the dragonriders visited the Hold to look for Candidates.
So aside from the informal training lectures we get from Master Helnar, my regular Healer Office Hours -- As the newbie I naturally pull the night shift most days -- plus the monthly circuit of the outlying small holds, I'm mostly free to do as I please.
And after two months, I am bored out of my skull.
In-loop, I'm supposed to be keeping up my Healer training, and I suppose having this low-tech, low-magic knowledge may come in handy in a later loop, but it just isn't holding my interest.
I have exhausted the small collection of reading material I'd gathered over previous loops.
I wish I had a copy of the Dragonrider books so at least I could get an idea of what I have to look forward to.
Finally, contact with the looping world.
It was my third journeyman circuit and I was returning from the northern border when F'nor and Canth quite literally dropped out of nowhere for a chat. I was resting my runnerbeast -- I doubt I'll ever be comfortable with using equines as transportation -- and suddenly this great big brown dragon appears in the sky above. I barely had time to cast a calming spell on my spooked mount to prevent her from running off. At least Canth had the sense to land downwind.
F'nor is a fairly easygoing fellow, and the first thing he did was apologize for not getting in touch sooner. He explained that he and his half-brother were occupied with ironing out the major start-of-loop issues, and didn't have the time to track me down until a few sevendays ago. Then they had to finesse a way to compare this loop's population census with their baseline records.
When I explained how bored and without direction I felt, he sympathized and offered to try to arrange things so that I could move to Benden Weyr or Fort or Ruatha Holds, which are closer to the center of the action.
The problem is that he and F'lar won't be in a position to make those arrangements for a couple of years; they have to wait for Ramoth's first mating flight before they can gain the political power to make suggestions stick.
As a parting gift, he loaded my PADD with copies of the books. At least that should occupy my quiet hours for the next sevenday or two.
Unless you're a dragonrider, Lord Holder, or a Harper, life on Pern can be remarkably dull.
At least that's what the books seem to suggest.
Then again, as a Healer, I definitely do not want to go through anything like Moreta's Plague.
Things are supposed to get more interesting when the Pass starts in a couple years, but even then, threadfall to the typical Hold resident only means more to worry about on top of the day-to-day grind.
I've thought about what all the Anchors I've met have said about going stir-crazy from the repetitive sameness. Now I consider how they cope with nothing-to-do loops.
Ranma-sensei trains in anything that strikes his fancy.
Harry Dresden works on wise-cracks and obscure in-jokes to use in future baseline loops. (He also told me that he's composing latin haiku to use when he has to speak during council meetings.)
I guess I need to become more self-directed and come up with things to do when the loop isn't directly messing with me.
It's too bad I don't have any ideas in that area. Or rather, most of the things I want to do are predicated on getting back to Equestria so I can return to my magical studies. I'm really regretting not picking up some magical theory texts at Hogwarts.
I've been spending my loops learning how to survive in the multiverse and worrying about getting home. I suppose when you step back and look at it, having a Bored List is another multiverse survival skill.
I want to talk to F'nor again. Maybe he has some suggestions, or at least a large book and video collection I can copy.