//------------------------------//
// MLP Loops 107 
// Story: MLP Time Loops 
// by Saphroneth 
//------------------------------//

107.1 (The One Butcher)

Twilight watched in resignation as the fireball streaked towards her Library, when suddenly a gigantic Pillar of Light erupted from the Building.

"Well," she thought, "at least it will be destroyed in a novel way!" The Light exploded upwards and suddenly Tirek was hit in the face with a supersonic Projectile.

There was a sickening crack as his magical defenses were overcome. Twilight watched in horror as Tirek's head was blown away. "NO!", she shouted, "You killed him!" She looked in the direction of the Light, which had formed into a gigantic fiercely scowling looking Unicorn. Actually going by the proportions of the head it looked like a Unicorn Foal. A vaguely familiar looking Unicorn Foal. On which the fierce expression of divine wrath looked nothing but cute. "Dinky? What the Oak happened to you?"

"Actually it's me!" a cheerful voice greeted her from below.

"Ditzy! You killed Tirek!"

"Actually, while with my three dot speciality on baked goods and Fists of Iron Technique I could actually kill him with one throw, I used Ox-Stunning Blow instead, making the Attack Non-lethal, no matter the overkill."

"YOU BLEW HIS HEAD OFF!" Twilight shouted.

"Doesn't matter, the Charm says Non-lethal. Angel Bunny volunteered for testing, it still works in Equestria."

"HOW CAN HE STILL BE ALIVE WITHOUT A HEAD?"

"I have a Thrown version of Ox-Stunning Blow." Derpy said, unfazed. "He'll wake up tomorrow and he'll be fine. Angel was too!"

"Wait, when did you try this? When did you Awaken?"

"At the start of the Loop, just like normal. I wanted this to be a surprise!"

"What? That you have the frankly most Bullmanure ability I have ever seen? And didn't let me research it for the whole loop? That you made Science without me?" Twilight protested petulantly.

"Nope!" Ditzy said proudly, "That!" She said and pointed at the tree Twilight couldn't see for the forest.





"It looks whole." Twilight gently touched a hoof to the living wood and let her Earth Pony Magic flow through it. "It IS whole... how?"

"Well," Ditzy began abashedly, "These Powers were made explicitly to disrupt Narrative Causality."

Twilight was still absorbed in the feeling of her whole and unexploded tree. "Okay, that is Bullmanure."

She smiled. "Oh, but such GLORIOUS BULLMANURE."





"I found it!" Twilight looked up from her own PADD and gazed at Pinkie Pie. "It's a Storyteller Type Tabletop Roleplaying Game! It's from White Wolf!"

"Good. But Pinkie, I wanted to find everything out myself! We can cross reference with the source later." She turned back to Derpy. "So, statistical analysis of that "Excellency" of yours shows a thirty per cent chance of one sucess and a ten percent chance of two sucesses, the total of which needs to beat a Target number. That Number is lowered by this Second Excellency. The number of dice is determined by your Skill and how much of a Large Bale you are."

Ditzy giggled. "Kinda. It's called a stunt. Doing things elaborately or with much grandstanding will give me two or three extra dice. A Solar has to be Fabulous."

"So... You can easily perform the craziest stunts, but aren't any different in your day to day tasks? And you can expend your Essence to succeed at will, but if you do it too much you start glowing like a bonfire until that giant Dinky appears in a giant Pillar of light." After Tirek was fine and Derpy tied him up with nothing(she had a charm that let her ignore the penalty and treat nothing as "Perfect Tools" for the Job.) this didn't particularly faze her.

"Also I can with time and research expand these powers to do anything, no matter how illogical. It's literally a weapon designed to do impossible things."

"There is something important you should know about those powers." Interjected Pinkie, thrusting a section of the Rules before Twilight.

The colour drained from her face a second later. "Oh, bark! We need to run a check on you at once! They called the Solar Demons because they bore a terrible curse causing them to slowly and sometimes suddenly but temporarily go insane!"

Derpy gulped. "Okay... I'll turn off all my defences so you can check it over. You can break that curse, can't you?"

Twilight winced. "It's several levels over Narrative Causality. An admin could, but it might involve removing your Exaltation, which is... not fun. It's programmed into your soul." Twilight bit her lip. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe I can steer it into a suicidally reckless manifestation instead of a sociopathic one."

Derpy didn't hesitate. "Please do."

Twilight charged her Horn and laid it onto the Pegasus, delving deep into her soul.

The Exaltation was, even Tainted, a thing of beauty. The infinitely complex structures of Autochthon were shored up and made absolute with the shining Essence of the Unconquered Sun. And there it was, the Corrupted Tainted Malediction of the Neverborn, dormant until activated.

Actually... Shouldn't it have been activated already? Derpy's virtue Flaw was... Nothing? There was the Curse, there was the Potential, there was the natural defence of the Mind against it, the Limit Pool. Empty, pristine, unused.

"Say, Derpy, this thing should have gained power each time you were under mental stress or had to fight off Mental influence. How long did you have these powers?"

"Well, the Loop where I got them was sixty four years. I think it would have lasted longer, but the Anchor died of old Age. Or that's what my Investigation Excellency tells me. I don't know much about stress, but for mental influence I had that telepathy thingy Diamond taught me and Vinyl. It's really easy to reinforce with Essence!"

Twilight scratched her head. "So... You just happened to never gain any Limit? I'll give you a copy of the Rulebooks in order to show you what to avoid until we can get admin assistance. I'll have to regularly check you over though." Twilight said warily.

After Ditzy read through the relevant sections she spoke up again: "Actually, I think my Virtue flaw is Compassion and Worry. But I don't worry."

Twilight gave her a flat stare. "That is probably the Curse talking. You should very much be worried about that curse! It caused countless atrocities in that World!"

"No, Twilight, I mean that I didn't gain any Limit, because I never worry. We should be careful anyway, but I don't think I'll gain much Limit except under really extreme circumstances. I may be a new Looper, but I have enough Memories of countless terrible things that I know it will all turn out alright." 





107.2 (compiled w/ minor edits by Conceptualist)

(masterofgames)

"Okay everypony, new round! What's the smallest loop variant that got you to go nuts?"

(DrTempo)

Sunset smirked. "There was one where the world beyond the mirror was ponies, and my home world was the human one. Yes, that means our pony selves were the ones in high school."

(Dalxein)

Applebloom grumbled. "It was pretty much the same, nopony noticed a difference, but then Ah found out the hard way that magic in Equestria had the same anti-technology effect as Hogwarts magic has a lotta the time. Electricity just didn't work and Ah hated it!"

(Crisis)

"My name was spelled with an 'S'," Fluttershy's whisper was barely audible.

(Conceptualist)

This declaration was met with a bar full of silence. Nopony in the room had anyhing to say to this.

Big Mac laid a comforting hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Ah'm sorry you had to go through that."

Fluttershy sighed and stared into her drink.

"Okay," said Twilight. "Anypony else have something that could top that? Otherwise, this round goes to Fluttershy."

As the awkward silence continued, Fluttershy looked up from her drink, surprised that she had not been one upped yet. "I was sure that one wasn't the worst of them. Doesn't anypony else have something?"

As she had been the first to speak amidst the deafening silence, Twilight awkwardly replied, "I might have had one or two, but I think I managed to get to Brain Bleach in time for most of them."

"Um," began Fluttershy, "I'm not sure if mine was quite Brain Bleach level."

More silence.

"I really don't think getting flustered more often than baseline was that bad," worried Fluttershy.

The silence was broken as a chorus of noises of realization sprang up from the group. Twilight spoke over the mummer of everypony else to ask, "The thing you were talking about that time you were Flustershy, wasn't it?"

Fluttershy nodded an affirmative. "What else could I have meant?"

The silence returned, awkward as ever. Twilight broke the quiet (again) to say, "I thought you meant your name had an 'S' at the beginning instead of an 'F' so, yeah."

"Oh. OH! Good gracious, no, it was nothing like that," exclaimed Fluttershy, blushing while she did so. "I just got worked up about small things very easy, instead of being easy or something. I just was shy and got flustered easily."

"Good. Now, since that is settled,-"

"The Sluttershy loop, I went 'Buck this, I am going to Neighico', put an Awake Angel Bunny in charge of my duties to the animals, and then had a nice vacation there. Very low key, but still enjoyable all the same. I wasn't counting that loop because it wasn't Baseline, since I left Ponyville early on in the loop."

Continuing like she had not been interrupted, Twilight said, "-does anypony else have something?"

(feral wolfskin)

Gilda groaned. "There was a loop in which griffons lay eggs, every day!"

(Conceptualist)

Rainbow patted Gilda on the back. "I know exactly how you feel. Some breeds of pegasi do that same thing."

Both Gilda and Rainbow shuddered, drained their drinks, and stared into the depths of the refills that Big Mac poured for them.

(LordCirce)

Zecora spoke up next. "The Loop that had me most disconcerted / was a Loop where all ponies words were inverted."

"?siht ekiL" Pinkie interjected.

Zecora went temporarily cross-eyed, shuddered, and then simply nodded. "Trying to rhyme with every word reversed / is simply, utterly, totally the worst."

(masterofgames)

Scootaloo coughed awkwardly. "Well, Rainbow Dash was looking for a student, and said only the most awesome one at her try-outs would be accepted..."

Apple Bloom groaned, facehoofing. "You went overboard."

"I went overboard." Scoots confirmed with a blush. "This was back before I knew liquid rainbow was sometimes combustible. On the bright side, Rainbow Dash's NEW house looked even cooler."

(Detective Ethan Redfield)

Trixie threw back her cape, "Trixie once had a loop where everyone loved fireworks."

Dead silence met the looper. Someone had to ask, so Twilight spoke, "And how was that maddening?"

The performer took a deep swig of her fermented cider and slammed it on the counter, "Celestia and Luna had switched places. She called herself Eternal Flare, covered the earth in fireworks and said, 'the fireworks will last forever!' And she meant it. They lasted every second...of every...single...day, for five years!"

Celestia failed to hold in a giggle, "I forgot all about that loop. Good times."

Trixie's eyes lit up, "THAT WAS YOU?!"

(misterq)

"Oh, I got one! I got one!" Pinkie Pie bounced in her seat, "There was one loop where every pony was all weird and stuff."

"How so, Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I couldn't prove it, but it seemed that every pony could move from one place to another instantly if I wasn't watching them. They could also ignore gravity and pop out of spaces too small for them to hide in, and their reflections wouldn't do what they did, and they could summon duplicates of themselves whenever they felt like it, and," Pinkie's voice took on a hushed conspiratorial tone, "I think they could all sense what would happen in the near future."

All the other ponies at the table just stared at Pinkie.

"But that was all okay," Pinkie completely ignored the stares and continued on, "What *really* drove me crazy was that every pony had the same mane style as me. Can you imagine it!? I had to continuously wear a party hat just to stand out."

(LordCirce)

Discord nodded. "Mine is similar to that. At least the last stage-whisper. Everypony could see half-a-second into the future. They kept ruining the punch-lines to all of my jokes. I couldn't keep up, I was behind the times, I was...obsolete." And with that, he turned into a mug and drank his bar stool, while Berry patted him consolingly on the handle.

(Drachefly)

Cheerilee said, "Hoch jatlh Klingon."

Lyra raised a hoof. "I'm sorry?"

"The native language of Equestria was Klingon. Idiomatic Klingon. Twilight played it to the hilt – she'd breezily greet Fluttershy with a wish that the blood of her enemies would fertilize her fields, and Fluttershy would reply that she hoped Twilight would die gloriously in battle, if that was all right with her. They were all just things you said without thinking about what they meant. It didn't even impact the foals' behaviour. Foals were rude to each other as ever, but it didn't come down to blows, even if they were talking about ripping lungs out."

(Midnight Crescent)

"Well, only thing Ah can think of was that one where we grew bananas 'stead of apples." Applejack said, trying to gauge everypony's reactions. The roomful of rolled eyes hurt a little. "Did y'all forget Ah'm allergic or somethin'?"

(Conceptualist)

Trixie blinked in surprise. "Since when? Trixie believes that you have not told her magnificence this little detail."

"Since baseline!" Applejack indignantly answered.

"Um," began Twilight, "not to disagree with you on this, but I have seen your UnAwake self eat bananas before. No allergic reaction or anything."

Applejack stubbornly crossed her forelimbs. "Then it must have been a Variant."

"No, it was a Baseline loop. Many Baseline loops, now that I think about it."

"Variants."

"Baseline loops."

"Variants."

Pinkie cheerfully said, "If I may interject, I know for a fact that Applejack does not have any allergies at all, especially about bananas."

Applejack glared at Pinkie. "You callin' me ah liar?"

"Enope," Big Mac chimed in with his catchphrase.

Switching from a glare to a look of confusion, Applejack asked, "What in tarnation are you talkin' about?"

Big Mac took a causal sip of his drink. "Stop and think for a moment. What are we talking about? Variants, and how little they can be. You might have had a loop where you had allergies, but the allergies themselves ain't gonna loop with you all the time. It don't work like that. Still, the memories of having allergies will. And if nothing ever comes up that has you realize something small - like those memories of banana allergies - is not a constant, then you might subconsciously begin to think it is."

A deep breath, and Big Mac continued talking. "And then if something comes along later that reinforces that belief, you could get convinced of it. Maybe in one of your earliest loops you had allergies, then later on this banana loop came along and you had allergies again. This loop, I know that you don't. Heck, I can recall Loop Memories from other loops that include feeding you apple and banana mush when you were a foal. It's not always going to be the same. You should know this, you've been Awake longer that I have. By a lot."

"Huh," sighed Applejack. "Guess I just never thought about it, since it never came up before."

"Exactly," Big Mac agreed.

"Sorry Pinkie for, yah know, saying that you were calling me ah liar."

"It's okay!" beamed Pinkie.

(elmagifico)

"So what you're saying is, you just really don't like bananas?"

Princess Celestia's interjection was greeted with a barrage of deadpan looks.

"What? I thought it was funny."

(misterq)

"There was one loop where my name was Squeaky Belle," said the unicorn filly.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at one another and then broke into uproarious laughter.

"Ha. Ha," intoned Sweetie Belle, "Too bad you two weren't awake for that one. Apple Boom was a tinier version of awake Trixie. And guess what Scoopaloo's special talent was?"

The young orange pegasus thought for a moment and then turned sickly green.

Sweetie Belle continued, "Exactly. And while Opal and Winona enjoyed when you picked up after them during their walks, I still have to say that was the worst cutie mark any of us crusaders ever had."

(FanOfMostEverything)

Derpy scowled and slammed back her cider. "My eyes were aligned."

Glances were traded across the room. "Um... I'm sorry?" offered Fluttershy.

"Nopony else's were," Twilight added.

Understanding swept across the bar.

Derpy sighed. "I always try to clean up after myself, but few others were quite as considerate. So, in the land of the derped, the straight-eyed mare was the janitor." She smiled and nodded at the royal sisters. "At least the sun and moonrises were fun. There were daily betting pools on which direction they'd come from."

(Nikas)

Big Mac took a sip of his cider. "There was a loop where Celestia decreed Prohibition. No alcohol at all. Bar ain't a bar with just fresh cider and milk. Had to set up the place as a speakeasy and hide it from AJ, who wasn't awake."

(Hubris Plus)

"Please," Berry rolled her eyes. "I get that you hate hiding things from family, but prohibition is fun. The excitement, the atmosphere, rigging the bar to hide away in hurry during raids."

(Nikas)

Big Mac interrupted. "Convincing Derpy and Scootaloo to be 'couriers' for our 'products'?"

(Conceptualist)

Berry Punch grinned. "I still can't believe they did it. And the moonshine was pretty good to."

Big Mac nodded. "It was kinda fun."

Berry Punch sighed in remembrance. "Luna, awake or not, always does enjoy a glass of moonshine, and she traded me her personal recipe for unlimited refills of it. That and a blackmail photo of Drunkestia got everyone involved a royal pardon. Good times."

(Hubris Plus)

Berry paused to take a fortifying drink before continuing. "No, the real nightmare was the narrative prohibition Loop."

A few glances were exchanged before Cheerilee nodded to her. "Go on."

"I think it was one of the kid friendly Loops. You know, the ones where violence is toned down, or the universe bleeps swearing," she elaborated. "Now, we've all had Loops where alcohol just plain doesn't exist in Equestria, and Mac and I just have to grab it from our Pockets. Once or twice we've decided to go whole hog and invent the stuff. Not that time," she shook her head and stared at her glass for a moment.

"Alcohol was impossible on a conceptual level. Even if I took it out of my Pocket it would just get zapped into something else." She poured herself another glass of wine and swirled it as she went on. "Beer became soda, cider was universally non-alcoholic, and wine was, well... berry punch."

There were a few sympathetic nods from the others.

"A few of the dragon brews that don't technically contain alcohol managed to sneak past the radar, but even alicorn biology has trouble with those. Decided pretty quick they weren't worth the hassle." She downed her drink in one gulp and then stared into the glass again, remembering the longest stretch of sobriety she'd ever put up with.

(feral wolfskin)

"There was a variant in which I secretly was a ninja pirate zombie robot with a troubled past," said Ivory Scroll.

"That don't sound like baseline," Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"You don't understand. That was the only difference. I almost went mad waiting for something different to happen."

"This must be related to that Japanese looking graveyard/factory/pier we destroyed a few loops ago," Lyra whispered to Twilight.

(namar13766)

"Loving Father. Caring Husband. Secret Octopus," Shining Armor snarked.

"You know, Dad wasn't that different that loop," stated Twilight.

(masterofgames)

Dash thought for a bit while others gave their answers. "Well..." she eventually said. "I guess there was that one time Spitfire was my mom. I totally had no shot at the Wonderbolts that time. Not only would everyone claim she was playing favorites and make her retire if I got in, but she had totally seen all my tricks already! I took it a bit personally I guess, and refused to stop trying. I kept inventing wilder and wilder ones to try and impress her. Eventually I just got fed up when she just shrugged off a perfectly performed one I had just made up off the top of my head that I was showing her and Fleetfoot, involving a tornado of thermals, a lightning strike, the planet's magnetic field, and a perfect cloud sculpture recreation of the Wonderbolt's recruitment poster. I drew the line in the sand, and told her that if she could perform ONE trick more impressive, I'd back off, and if not she had to let me join."

Dash slumped in her seat and sighed. "From a STANDING START, she hit mach two, used the air friction to set the sky on fire in her wake, skywrote her name in white fire, complete with dotted Is and crossed T, punched a hole in the sky, wrapped herself in ball lightning, then landed right back where she took off, wearing a corona as a cape. Total time from takeoff to landing? Eight seconds. The worst bit was when Fleetfoot just whistled and said she hadn't seen Spitfire do that since she was my age. I was kind of in a shock induced coma for the rest of the loop." she grinned awkwardly.

Twilight just gave her a flat look. "We said the SMALLEST change!"

"That WAS a small change! I told you, Spitfire was my mom! She can actually do that in baseline, I checked!"

(Conceptualist)

"There is no way that is baseline," Twilight deadpanned. "No way at all."

"I asked her myself in a couple of different loops. Believe me, it surprised me to."

Twilight shook her head no. "No, nadda chance, no way. I will believe that when I document it myself and have written a formal retraction of my unbelief."

"Aw, come on Twi!"

"Nope, just pick a different one."

"Fine."

In a whisper to Twilight, Rarity said "Five bits on it being 'Dresses in Style.'"

"Ten bits on you being wrong," Twilight whispered back.

(KrisOverstreet)

Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. "My Loop-"

"Yes, yes, we all know, darling," Rarity smiled. "'Dresses In Style,' we've been there with you."

"No, I've got one even simpler," Dash insisted. "This was back before Lyra's experiment started Derpy Looping. There was one Loop where Bubbles was the Element of Loyalty... and I was the cross-eyed klutz. My name really WAS 'Rainbow Crash' that Loop. And I HATED it!!"

Trixie grinned. "As they say in the Hub, pics or it didn't happen."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. "Twilight, I know you have it in your Big Book o'Blackmail."

A few moments later, Twilight was thumbing through a binder marked VOLUME 3B: RAINBOW DASH. "Here it is," she said. "This is what happened when Dashie saved the lives of Bubbles and the Wonderbolts when Bubbles' bubble burst and cracked Cloudsdale Colosseum."

The photographic evidence showed that, crossed eyes or not, Dash had still managed the Sonic Rainboom. The rainbow trail made loop-the-loops, spirals, and in one picture actually spelled out Eat At Donut Joe's in perfect script hundreds of meters tall.

"After that," Dash continued, "I wasn't allowed to fly unless I carried at least four air sickness bags in my saddlebags. I was totally humiliated."

"But you did save the Wonderbolts' lives," Twilight insisted. "Even if they wished you hadn't."

(Conceptualist)

"On a side note, pay up Rarity."

Forking over the bits to Twilight, Rarity complained, "I was so sure that it was going to be 'Dresses in Style'."

Rainbow blinked as she processed that. "You two were betting on me? Huh."

(Drachefly)

Rarity sighed. "It was a little thing, really. There was a guest anchor somewhere off, far away. Twilight was as uninterested in fashion as ever. But somehow, she was always better dressed than me. She'd wander into a store and at a glance buy the best dress, best accessories. No lingering choices, no sense of seeking. Just, glance, like that one, buy it."

Twilight snickered.

"It's not funny, Twilight!"

"I can't believe you never figured out I'd just hidden my element and was pranking you!"

"But... your fashion sense isn't that good!"

Twilight took a deep breath. "Rarity, do you have any idea how many times I've gotten fashion advice from unawake versions of yourself? I couldn't do it from scratch, but I can remember."

(Conceptualist)

Grinning, Twilight continued. "Since the fashion thing was a prank, it is disqualified. So pick something else."

Rarity was indignant. "But I didn't know it was a prank. Everything else was still baseline, so it should count!"

"But the thing different wasn't Variance, but simply me doing something different."

"That absolutely still counts as a Variant."

"Yes," chided Twilight. "But it wasn't part of the loop at Awakening. Ergo, the loop was not a Variant Loop, merely a non-Baseline Loop."

Rarity stared at Twilight. "I don't see the reason you are making a distinction, and do not care to read the twenty page thesis that explains why. So I will just pick something else."

"Forty pages, not twenty."

"Stop being such a rules lawyer," chimed in Ivory Scroll. "That's my shtick." 

(masterofgames)

Rarity huffed. "No contest for me. Without a doubt, it was the loop that all ponies wore full clothing. It was good for business, but I must admit, I spent too long contemplating the reason socks even existed, trying to justify them, and the next thing I remember I'm leading a one-mare political protest in the buff in the center of town."

(masterofgames)

Ranma tapped a hoof to his chin in thought. "Ryoga fell in the Spring of Drowned Cabbit once."

The implications were pondered.

Twilight shrugged. "Yeah, we aren't beating that one." 





107.3 (Zetrein)





Fog billowed out from inside it, as the doors to the vault swung open. Within the vault, standing straight with his hands clasped behind him, was Discord.

"Discord!" Celestia flared her wings, as she stood protectively in front of Twilight and her friends. Narrowing her eyes, she asked. "What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?"

"Nothing; they're right behind me." Discord said, in a serious tone. "Not that they would help. I've already won."

"This is far from over, Discord." Celestia replied.

"No, it is. From the start, I've had one goal – to eliminate humanity – and now I've done that," Discord said with a smile.

"Enough of your games, Discord. I've never heard of humanity! You've always tormented my little ponies!" Twilight and her friends silently watched the exchange. Those who were Awake, wanted to see where Discord was going with this; those who weren't just didn't want to get in front of an increasingly hostile Celestia.

"You don't remember?" Discord looked around the hall, before his eyes widened. "Oh. You don't remember. I see. I seem to have retroactively eliminated humanity, nobody remembers them anymore." Discord started laughing. "You see, Celestia... I turned you all into magical talking ponies!"

As Discord fell over backwards laughing, Celestia couldn't help but look puzzled at the concept. It did almost seem like something Discord would do, but at such a scale?

The draconequus stood up, still giggling. "Well then, seeing as my job here is done, I'll just be on my way. Thanks to you, I've got ages of vacation time saved up."

With that, Discord turned to the chest containing the Elements, and threw it open. He started to blindly lob the contents over his shoulder, towards the ponies watching. Celestia was quick to catch the Elements as they flew by, while Twilight was quick to catch Miss Smarty Pants as she did the same. Amongst the debris followed other toys, knick-knacks, a rubber duck, Luna's regalia, and a live chicken.

Finally, he stopped to pull out a very large sombrero, and a hawaiian shirt. Donning them, he turned to address them. "I, am going to Disneyland." He vanished with a snap of his claws.

And promptly reappeared a second later. "Does Disneyland still exist?"





Weeks later, Celestia was walking toward one of the Guard's interview rooms. Hours before, a strange creature had appeared in the castle, seeking her. According to the report Shining Armor gave her, it was claiming to be her missing student, from years past.

Entering the room, she saw the creature sitting at the table. It seemed like some kind of mostly bald, hornless minotaur. Its mane though, matched Celestia's memories of her student. "You claim to be Sunset Shimmer?"

"Princess? Is that you? You're one of them too?" The voice was also that of Sunset Shimmer. "What's going on? Why is everyone... whatever you are? What happened while I was gone?" The wide-eyed confusion seemed honest.

Steeling herself, Celestia asked her most crucial question. "Sunset, what species are you?"

"I'm a human." Sunset's manner now seemed to convey a combination of fear and worry. "Princess, please tell me, what happened?"





They galloped towards the room containing the mirror portal. It was Celestia's hope that there was something on the other side that could break Discord's enchantment on herself, and from there she could aid her subjects.

Celestia had to check her speed several times, during the run, as Sunset's human form could not keep up with her. Though she had offered, it seemed Sunset thought it would be too disrespectful to ride on Celestia's back.

As they came to the room with the Mirror, they heard the sound of nails being hammered. Entering the doorway, they saw the one being Celestia dearly hoped not to see.

Shaking his hammer at a guard, Discord continued his rant. He had not yet looked to see who was at the door. "I mean, sure, I've got plenty of vacation time, but that doesn't mean I like getting pulled away from it! And all because somepony left a door open."

Slapping another plank onto the Mirror, Discord continued talking as he hammered it into place. "Think of it like your bathtub drain. Leave it open, and all the horse will leak out." Pounding the last nail home, Discord turned to look Celestia in the eye. "And then I have to kill everyone."

With two snaps of his fingers, Discord was gone. Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, Celestia turned to Sunset, only for her words to die in her throat.

"Well," said the goldenrod unicorn Celestia remembered, "I don't think we're going through that portal. What did you need from the humans again?"

"You were a human." Came Celestia's shellshocked reply.

"What? No, I'm a unicorn. I've always been a unicorn." Sunset's brow furrowed in thought. "Well, I think the portal turned me into something different, but I've always been a unicorn... right?" 





107.4 (Gym Quirk)





To a looper, mere deja vu was just another day at the office.

Still, the details of particularly noteworthy loop beginnings did tend to stick in one's memory.

Aragorn, son of Arathorn (better known in these parts as "Strider") pondered the ineffable workings of the multiverse as the new loop formed around him.

Another "late" Prancing Pony start.

The usual semi-panicked discussion between Butterbur and the hobbits regarding transportation.

At least the pony appeared to be just plain Bill this time around.

The bright magenta flash, on the other hand...

"See? Ya won't know fer sure 'til ya try," the youthful woman told the great lavender winged unicorn after the two had suddenly appeared in the courtyard. She was wearing familiar gray robes and held a staff. Her straw-blonde hair was tied back in a simple ponytail.

But her hat was definitely not the large pointed one associated with wizards across the multiverse. It was a more modest well-worn brown stetson he had seen in previous loops.

"This'll make things a whole lot easier," she continued, then turned to look at the others in the courtyard. "Heya, Aragorn! Looks like me and Twilight are replacing Gandalf and Shadowfax this time."

"I'll say it again, Applejack," commented the alicorn. "I don't need to be Rarity to know that hat just doesn't go with those robes."

"Is this one of those 'Talking Pony' variants I've been hearing about?" Sam asked while the other hobbits gawked at the newcomers. 





107.5 (Bardic Knowledge)

Applejack looked to her "brother" this Loop. He was as big as Big Mac, but he was grey with a white mane in a corn-row style. His cutie mark retained Big Mac's half apple, but there was an addition of a blade, giving the impression of having cut it in half.

"It seems I have become a horse," the newcomer said flatly to himself.

"Pony," corrected Applejack. "We can be a mite bit touchy on the proper name."

"Understood."

"I'm Applejack by the way."

"Sten. Though the Loop memories tell me that I'm called Big Slicer." Applejack nodded, then filled him in on Equestria's usual operations. Later, they discovered another Looper, whom Sten had apparently met before.

"Sten."

"Wrex."

"You know what's weird about this one?" said the former Krogan.

"Aside from you being a small rabbit?"

"Yeah, besides that. From what I hear, the rabbit could be an honorary Krogan!"





Meanwhile, in another Loop...

Shepard was both amused and surprised to find Wrex had been replaced, as his replacement was a white Krogan who only seemed to speak in sign language and had introduced himself as "Angel." However, Angel's ability to leap around the battlefield dispensing pain with a carrot-shaped rocket launcher was far too amusing to leave him on the ship. Ever. 





107.6(Bardic Knowledge)

Twilight Awoke in a bizarre, twisted landscape. The rest of the main Elements of Harmony stood around her, somehow in a combination of Rainbow Power and Alicorn modes. "Anyone know where we are?" she asked.

"It feels kinda familiar," said Pinkie. "But I'm not sure how..."

"I can answer that question!" said a familiar voice from above. Discord the emerged from the floor, upside down umbrella in claw. "Welcome to the Fade!"

"The Fade?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Realm of dreams in Thedas, the world of Dragon Age. It's also the afterlife."

"Then why are we here?"

"I come here fairly often, relatively speaking," said Discord, buffing a paw on an outcropping of water, "and Warden, the local Anchor, has decided that it's because I'm the 'Spirit of Chaos.'"

Twilight nodded in understanding. "And we're the spirits of the Elements of Harmony."

A car horn sounded as Discord snapped his fingers, "Got it in one!" 





107.7  (The One Butcher)





"That is strange, I don't taste any meringue." Twilight commented just before jumping a foot in the air.

"I GOT YOU NOW!" Pinkie Pie shouted while jumping out from behind a flowerpot.

"I knew it, I knew it! I! KNEW! IT!" She accused. "The strange scheduling, the weird sleeping habits, the fact that even though you are supposedly good friends and we all saved Equestria together lots of times YOU ARE NEVER SEEN TOGETHER!"

Pinkie was panting by now. "Well, hold it right there sugarcube. Is this your weird 'Twilight Sparkle is secretly Rarity in a costume' thing?" Applejack asked deadpan.

"IT'S NOT A THING! I mean, yes it is, but ARGH!" Pinkie groaned in frustration. "I invented these awesome Pony costumes and then I noticed that Twilight always smelled like the special hornpolish! And we DO never see Rarity and Twilight together. AND NOW! You just said that there was meringue in that Cupcake, but THAT IS NOT TRUE! That is a lie I told Rarity to RAT YOU OUT!" with that she took a bucket of Polish remover and upended it over Twilight's head.

Nothing.

When she began tugging and tearing at Twilight's mane she thought enough is enough. "PINKIE!" She used her Telekinesis to pin Pinkie Pie the pink Party Pony to the wall. Her eyes widened when she saw Pinkie had a knife.

"Okay, okay, okay, YES, me and Rarity have been one and the same Pony for a while now." Twilight gave up.

"AHA! I knew there couldn't be such a Pony! Special Talent is Magic? What a hoax, all special talents are Magic! Super duper powerful? The Princess' Student? Ascended to Alicorn?!? And what kind of ridiculous name is Twilight Sparkle? A teenager's idea of a sorry excuse for a Vampony? You should have invented a better story than that, Rarity!" shouted Pinkie Pie.

Twilight pulled her Rarity costume out of her subspace pocket. "I used a spell to hide the smell of the Hornpolish, but I guess it lingered after I shed and dispelled my disguise."

Applejack's jaw completed it's journey. "But... but I knew Rarity nearly her whole life! Big Mac foalsat for her!"

Pinkie Pie was quicker on the uptake: "What did you do with the real Rarity?"

"She asked me to cover for her while she eloped with a Dragon." Twilight deadpanned.

"Oh, okay!" Smiled Pinkie Pie and hopped out of the room, forgetting the fact that she was still pinned to a wall.

All was right again.





Meanwhile, far away a certain Unicorn got a shiver down her back and had a strange premonition of remedial Birthday Parties. She snuggled into her lover's scaly chest and dismissed the feeling. 





107.8 

“Silver Spoon!” Cheerilee said, frowning. “What do you have to say for yourself, young mare?”

The earth pony looked at her teacher as she put her satchel down. “What is it, Miss?”

“You're very late to school!” Cheerilee pointed out the window. “It's nearly noon!”

Silver Spoon looked out the window as well, idly tapping a hoof on the floor. “No it isn't.”

Cheerilee took a moment to reply to that. “Young mare, that is not-”

“Hey, why's it dark outside?” asked Snips, talking over the top of her.

“-the appropriate-!” Cheerilee broke off, and gaped. “What the-”

The sun was barely peeking over the edge of the rooftops, with warm dawn light slowly suffusing the town.

“But...” Cheerilee closed her eyes, shook her head, and opened them again. “We don't have... okay. I'm not sure what's going on here, but... I apologize for thinking you were late, I suppose. Now, go sit down.”

“Okay!”

Silver flipped her long, bushy tail aside, and sat. Then she raised her hoof. “Miss?”

“What is it, Silver?” Cheerilee asked, turning.

“Can we go home? It's already sunset!”

Cheerilee slowly turned from the board to look out the eastern windows, which were dark.

Then she looked at the western window, which had a red sun slowly sinking behind a hill.

“...okay, fine. I don't even know what's going on any more...”

Fillies and colts poured out of the building, not wanting to miss a good thing.





“So,” Discord asked, dangling from a tree. “Didn't feel like school today?”

“Not especially, no,” Silver confirmed. “By the way, it's nice of you and Berry to take me in this time. Now that my Dad's vanished as well this loop, and all.”

“Oh, pish tosh.” Discord shrugged an upside down shrug, which inexplicably resulted in him falling sideways into the tree trunk with a thud. “For all I know, we may be your parents. You are a draconequus, after all.”

“But...” Silver blinked. “I could swear you only got out of the statue last...”

She shook her head. “Never mind. Like you keep saying,”

“Draconequui don't make sense, it's boring,” they chorused.

“Speaking of which, one crumpet or two?” Discord added.

“Just one for me, thanks.” Silver accepted the plate of breakfast, and began to eat as the sun set. “How's Ruby been today?”

“Confused,” Discord replied. “But chipper. She gave me a paper note which was redeemable for one hug. I'm thinking of saving them up...”





107.9

Captain Jean-Luc Picard blinked, as he Awoke into a new loop.

His thought process went through two very quick realizations.

First: Oh, back to normal. (It was something of a relief, in some ways, after that loop in the Republic of Haven.)

Second: Ah, tabernacale. The borg.

Whether by random chance or connivance of Q (Picard didn't trust anything he said on principle, especially about things he couldn't do), he'd just Awoken about three seconds before the Borg started implanting things into him back at J-25.

Picard spent the few seconds he had practising a Talaxian technique for emptying the mind of everything one did not want to remember. Normal Borg were bad enough – Borg with knowledge of the future were... terrifying.

When the expected pain of implantation did not occur, Picard opened one eye cautiously. Then the other, and looked around in confusion.

The drones were standing back around the room he was in, in a fair semblance of parade rest. The equipment that had been about to get to work on him lay scattered all over the floor.

Then a screen lit.

A woman appeared upon it. She was seated, wearing a long, slinky black-and-green dress and a small black coronet – one which did not conceal the Borg implants around the orbit of her left eye, on her right cheekbone, and along the line of her lower jaw on both sides.

“I am the Borg,” she began, a smirk curling her lips. “Our biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to your own. Resistance is irrelevant, we are applying for citizenship.”

Picard felt almost aggrieved by the whole situation.

“Who are you?” he asked. “Somehow I doubt the Borg that I know would act like this.”

“Dear me, Picard,” she said, shaking her head. “You don't recognize me? Here's a clue.”

The Cube Picard was on shook slightly, and he glanced away from the screen.

“Don't worry,” the woman commented. “I've strengthened the shields to maximum, and I'm not firing back. Anyway, here's the clue. I'm sorry for calling you away from your fish dish, but I really felt quite strongly that there were five lights.”

With that, everything fell into place.

“You are... Chrysalis?” he checked.

“That's right, Captain,” Chrysalis replied. “It feels all very familiar – I make something of a career out of running a nice little hive mind back home, though this one's just a bit bigger – and I've already instituted reforms.”

Picard raised an eyebrow, in the way he'd seen Vulcans practising in front of mirrors. The restraints hissed and let him go, and he stood up and walked forward a bit. “Reforms?”

“Assimilation is now entirely voluntary. Drones can leave if they want. The Federation's about to get a very large box containing all the interesting scientific stuff I'm willing to let within ten thousand light years of Section 31, and I meant it about applying for citizenship.”

After a moment, Picard worked though the implications of that last one, and felt a headache coming on. “So you mean... the Borg are going to apply to immigrate into the Federation?”

“Not quite. More... join it.” Chrysalis made an expansive gesture. “I rather like the idea of the hive trying to parse the Prime Directive, especially with how often Fleet captains have bent it into a pretzel.”

“We do not speak of Archer,” Picard quipped.

“Indeed.” Chrysalis' eyes unfocused for a moment. “Oh, dear, your ship is getting very insistent. Hold on a minute.”

The Cube shuddered for a moment.

“What did you just do?” Picard asked.

“Set course directly for Risa and started broadcasting loud music on all frequencies.” The Borg Queen's expression was like a cat that had gotten into the cream. “I look forward to hearing you explain that it was not your assimilation that set an entire Borg ship on a direct course for booty. Coincidentally, I just found where my girlfriend's hiding this loop.”

With that, the connection closed.





Patricia Hansen looked over the jumpsuit dubiously. “Really?”

Chrysalis shrugged. “It's what you're supposed to be wearing.”

“I'm barely sixteen, Chrissy.” Trixie shook her head. “I think I'm going to stick with the Borg suit. It's less revealing. Now, what was it you were saying?”

“Two things, mainly.” Chrysalis shrugged. “First, you're now a Primary adjunct of Unimatrix 01 – or, in other words, my secretary – and second, I found how to make an imperfect Omega particle.”

Trixie searched her encyclopaedic memory of ways to make thing go boom, and a grin spread across her face.

“Fireworks the size of a supergiant star?”

“Fireworks the size of a supergiant star.”