//------------------------------// // MLP Loops 123 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 123.1 "Well..." Blade said, closing the second book with the soft sound of pages turning. "That was an interesting read." Kit nodded agreement. "Yes, it was. Quite nostalgic, in its own way." "Especially for me." Elda flicked back through her own copy to about halfway. "Was I really that oblivious? The poor man..." "Yes," Kit chuckled. "Yes, you were." "Please tell me I've improved..." "Oh, no contest." Her differently-shaped brothers nodded, not quite in unison. "Thank goodness for that." Elda closed her own copy. "Well, thank you." Gilda shrugged. "No problem. I'm just glad to meet more looping griffins, we're not as common as we could be." "And what about me?" Blade asked with a grin. "Honorary griffin," Gilda replied promptly. "Good to know." Blade looked from brother to sister, then got out a bottle of wine and four glasses. He poured out a half measure into each, smiling faintly. "I'd like to propose a toast." He cleared his throat. "To Diana, who told it so well." "To Diana," the griffins echoed. "So," Gilda said, once that was over. "What happened after the Year of the Griffin?" "Why not wait and find out?" Kit asked, smiling as well as one could with a beak. "If I have to," Gilda sighed. "Hey... you know how your dad is going to be a fake Dark Lord?" Blade nodded, just ahead of his siblings. Gilda smirked, then switched to celestial-brush mode, her fur and feathers bleaching out. A sinister-looking sword appeared on her back, and her tail arched up over it. "Want an extra villain?" "We normally solve the whole thing in about a week..." Kit mused. "But that could be fun. I'll suggest it to Dad." 123.2 “Okay, so that's on a five minute timer,” Twilight went on. “Once it expires, that's when you get Freki and Geri to come charging out with their noses lit up, and say-” “Question,” Lemon Rush interrupted. Twilight stopped. “Go on.” “Thanks. Well...” Rush looked uncomfortable. “I suppose it's only just occurred to me... how does this fit with the whole 'safe loop' thing?” “What?” Twilight parsed the question again. “Okay, I think I understand your question. How do the pranks fit in with the idea of a safe loop?” Rush nodded. “Okay.” Twilight turned away from their planning board. “This is something which I've given a lot of thought to – all of us have – and we think this is self-consistent. If you see a problem with it, please, let us know.” Nod. “Agreed,” the colt said, sitting down. “Right. Well, the first axiom we started with was this: 'Anything permanent requires informed consent.'” Rush asked her to repeat it, to make sure he had the phrasing down. “Okay. Let's see... define 'informed'. And 'consent'.” “Informed means...” Twilight mulled it over, searching for the words. “Cognizant of the downsides of the process, downsides defined as broadly as possible. Consent means either that positive consent has been given, or that it has been made clear that not performing a specific action means that negative consent has been given and the action has been rejected.” She noticed his hoof starting to raise, and clarified. “Not necessarily at the time, but only for things for which being fully informed at-the-time are deleterious, such as Ascension – if someone wanted to Ascend, they would give permission, and then at some future date if they no longer wished to they could withdraw that permission.” “Thank you for the example,” Rush said. “And Permanent?” “Differs depending on if they're looping or not. For loopers, it means anything psychological or mental, or persistent-loop physical. Anything potentially traumatic, anything which changes their mind.” Twilight shrugged awkwardly. “It's hard to be precise, but – for example, ascension is persistent, so that requires prior consent if it's being arranged. Psychiatric therapy is another thing which we do not give if there is no consent – but if it has been made clear that someone must simply leave to avoid it, and they do not, and it is in their power to do so, then that is treated as consent – though we stop if asked.” “You have put a lot of thought into this.” Rush tapped a hoof on the floor. “So... what about for non-loopers?” “Almost the opposite. Nothing fatal, crippling or significantly mentally altering.” Twilight looked embarrassed. “The Elements of Harmony are borderline – they're basically grandfathered in because they predate this system, but we've gathered a lot of experimental data and as far as we can tell they don't actually do anything beyond a course of mental therapy – and that's only when they're set on that mode.” She shrugged. “I should stress that these rules can be bent when applied to out-and-out villains.” “Like Jadis?” Lemon asked. Twilight gave him a sharp look. “Fluttershy mentioned her once,” he clarified. “Used her as an example.” “Well, then... yes, like Jadis.” Twilight sighed. “I had no guaranteed way of stopping her that would ensure she didn't use the Deplorable Word, and I didn't have a counterspell.” She looked moderately happier as that topic came up. “I'm working on developing one, though, in the hope that if I end up there again then I can contain her non-fatally.” She blew air through her lips. “None of this is perfect, and we don't pretend to be. We just try to do the best we can.” “And, going back to the original topic... pranks?” Lemon asked, moving it back onto firmer ground. “Pranks are easy,” Twilight said, nodding over to the other board. “Have you seen how thoroughly we plan out the cleanup?” Lemon looked. “That is scary even to someone who's administered ten thousand warriors and their support services.” “Yes, when we tell the prank stories to other loopers we do stop before that bit,” Twilight agreed. “Though I know Pinkie Pie made up a song about cleaning which was surprisingly catchy.” 123.3 (Drachefly) Let's see... I'm a pony. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Baseline as far as I can tell, though I haven't been in her pure baseline very much. Ping... nothing. Stealth anchor? Sunset Shimmer considered her situation. I have never actually dealt with Nightmare Moon truly solo before. I could... She looked down at the book in front of her. I could try to use the Elements of Harmony. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to misuse and corrupt them. And nobody's here to see if I fail. At most, some foreign anchor who doesn't know who I am will know that someone failed, which shouldn't be unusual. I just need to keep from doing anything that gives away who I am. She slowly got up, then, with growing confidence, ran off to the tower. "Spike?" she called out, slamming the door open, hitting Spike. "Ow." "Oh. I'm so sorry! I, ah, didn't know you were there." Notes for next time I loop as Twilight: do not nail Spike with door. Also, contrition check: genuine. Score! So far so good for qualifying! She clenched a hoof in a slight pumping motion. "Can you take a letter to Princess Celestia?" He fetched a quill and paper, "All right. Dear Princess Celestia..." Hmm. Oh snap. I don't know precisely what she would know at this point since I deviated. And I haven't memorized her letter. "Thank you for the edifying reading. The timing does seem very co-incidental... use the dash since I mean in the sense that it happened at the same time... with the predicted return of your sister from the moon tonight." "Wait, what?" "Keep writing, Spike. Since you assigned this reading to me and not, say, my brother, I deduce that this is a myth rather than a threat. On the other hand, I..." well... what now? Also, 'hoof'. "...don't want to assume when so much is at stake. Your faithful student..." Sunset Shimmer. Faithless student, as far as she remembers me. Repairing my relationship with her Awake self doesn't extend here. "... Twilight Sparkle. Okay." He sent it, and a few moments later, the return note was just what she had been expecting. Upon finishing reading it, Spike let out a sigh of relief. "You know, you had me kind of worried, for a moment." "Everything's going to be fine, Spike." He looked at her warily. "That's... actually not helping." I guess I was more 'I can take this' than 'there is no problem', wasn't I? The tense mood evaporated by the time they reached Ponyville. Sunset let Pinkie breathe in, scream, and run. "Weird ponies here." Spike commented. "There are tales of a pony who would shriek and run from any pony she meets. And then, she prepares, long and hard. And then, when her target least suspected it, BAM! Surprise welcome party." Spike was still blinking when a nearby cloud suddenly laughed, "Ha!" Rainbow Dash fell out and landed on a puddle, covering them both. "Oh, that was perfect! Hmm. How about I dry you off with my patented..." "I'm familiar with it - patent number 50,732: Technique for drying utilizing a circular flight path around the target." Sunset improvised. Rainbow Dash blinked, then guffawed. "Yeah! Only I made up the part about the patent." "So did I. Don't worry some patent troll is going to come along and make you pay a fee." Spike looked at Twilight oddly for the moment Rainbow took to wind up; then he was too dizzy. I guess with this hair, it'll be time for Rarity after 'ten seconds flat'? After similarly tweaked encounters with the other three, she ended up at the party. She tried to cement her bonds to the others, but was left wondering what she'd do when Nightmare Moon came. She didn't want to win, and she needed to make sure that the others would follow her afterwards. "You all right, Sugarcube?" "Hey. Didn't expect to see you here, what with the reunion." "Had to bring the goods in, and then... well Pinkie knows parties." "Glad to see you." After a few seconds, Applejack leaned in. "Something on your mind?" Sunset Shimmer sighed. "Of course. I hope it's nothing. Worried about the Celebration." It is pretty rare for Nightmare Moon to actually just be a myth, but it does happen from time to time. On the other hand, now that I think of it, I don't actually hope it's nothing, do I? At least I meant it when I said it. "We'll pull it off, don't fret." Sunset took a deep breath. How long? Oh shoot. Is the Celebration at dawn or some other time in this variant? After a moment, she recalled the previous Summer Sun Celebration. It'll be at Midnight here. So, not too long. "I agree we'll muddle through somehow, I'm sure. Thanks for asking." Which of the others have I been with least? Fluttershy. She looked around and, to her surprise, found her on the dance floor. Dancing seems like a good way. "Don't you know who I am?" Sunset Shimmer stepped forward. "I know who you are. In general you're Princess Luna, but presently 'Nightmare Moon'." The cold stone eyes met her fiery eyes, and an eyebrow twitched. "'Presently'? I have been Nightmare Moon longer than you can imagine. Long centuries of waiting, now over. The night will last forever!" As she turned into mist and oozed out of the building, Sunset remained still. Not a muscle, Sunset. No early takedowns. Eyes on the prize. Rainbow Dash finally fought herself free of Applejack's restraint. "You knew!" Sunset Shimmer felt a moment's warning - a quarter of a second, no more - before her loop ended. She woke into her usual High School morning. "What?" She checked, and found she had a fresh set of Loop Memories. It was that morning, not that evening. "No! I was right on track!" (Hubris Plus) Vinyl Awoke just in time to get knocked the buck out by a high speed hoof to the face. It wasn't the worst start she'd had to a Loop. An improvement over the time she gotten hit by a bus, and leagues better than the time she'd been in the process of dying before going on an afterlife adventure. "Anypony get that wagon's cutie mark?" She mumbled as she came around. As much as she'd regret the headache, it was a blessing in disguise. Waking up in the traditional sense gave her a moment to sort out her Loop memories. Letter to Celestia, Summer Sun Celebration, yadda yadda Nightmare Moon. Yup, looks like I'm Sparklebutt. Something had seemed off about the speech to Nightmare, but it'd been a long time since baseline and she'd never listened that close to begin with. "Rainbow!" Applejack was scolding. "There weren't no call fer that!" "She knew this was coming!" Dash shouted back. "She could be a spy or a cultist or I don't know what!" "Now, Ah agree she knew somethin', but that don't make her an enemy. Ain't that right?" She added, turning to Vi- Twilight. "Who are you and how did you know this was coming?" Dash demanded, suddenly right in her face. "Could ya give me a minute? I just Woke up." She looked blearily around the room and didn't spot any kind of acknowledgement. Looked like she was on her own. "I knew because of who I am," she stuck out a hoof and plastered on a manic grin. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I know everything." That didn't seem have garnered anything but confusion and a vague air of concern, so she trotted over to her unawake self. "Hey, you got Ultra Def Mix Three?" She asked, leaning over the turntables. "Well, yeah," the other Vinyl answered. "But I was gonna premier it at the after party. How'd you hear about it?" "Twilight Sparkle," she answered, tapping herself on the chest. "I know everything. So, can I get that record?" "Uh, sure," the DJ answered, hoofing over a disk of her namesake. She seized it in her magic and trotted out the door to the general confusion of everypony in the room. Vinyl Scratch had a plan. Anypony who knew her would have been rather worried by this. "Are you serious? You can't be serious. Oh my me, you're serious," Nightmare Moon rambled as she examined the purple unicorn confronting her. The mare had pulled a portable turn table and speaker system from somewhere and was setting them up in the old castle's throne room. A number of ponies from the town had followed her up, and most of them seemed just as incredulous as the monarch. "Buck yeah I'm serious! You an' me, here an' now, break dance battle for the fate of Equestria!" "If it is battle you desire," Nightmare rumbled, spreading her wings and casting her mane out in a menacing cloud. "I will grant it to you!" "Drop it!" Vinyl called out, and her baseline counterpart took charge of the equipment. A heavy bass beat filled the ruins, shaking the ancient bricks in their mortar. Ponies backed up for a moment, worrying that the building might actually come down around them, but the structure held. She dropped to the ground, spinning and contorting in ways that the bookworm's body wasn't used to. Seizing the music, she gathered it close, feeling the pulse and rhythm as she shaped it. She slapped one hoof to the ground to halt her spin while the other flicked out. A whip of solidified sound sang through the air and flung Nightmare Moon into the far wall. That was when the roof started falling in. "I must say," Celestia began as she surveyed the destruction. "While I'm proud of you for rescuing my sister and myself, I hadn't expected you to do it this way." The Castle of the Two Pony Sister was in ruins, significantly moreso than it had been the previous day. Nopony had been hurt, with the obvious exception of the mistress of eternal night, but many appeared shaken. "Yeeaah..." Vinyl said, rubbing at the back of her head. "I didn't really think that one through." Celestia adopted the slightest frown as she tried to come up with an elegant way of saying 'ya think?' "Alright everypony!" Vinyl called out to the gathered crowd. The citizens of Ponyville had been a bit skittish around her ever since she'd single hoofedly struck down a god and demolished a castle, but everypony had their price. The price in this case was a pair of tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. "I've got two tickets to the Gala and no desire to go. Seeing as I don't wanna waste 'em, I thought to myself, what's the fairest way to give 'em away? There's only clear option: Dance contest." There was a general shuffling away from her at that declaration. They all remembered what had happened at the last one. "Hey, I told'ya I don't wanna go, I'm sitin' this one out. 'Sides, this ain't about style. Endurance, last one dancin', however they dance, gets the tickets." The crowd settled a bit at that. "Alright," Vinyl began, raising her hoof to signal her counterpart to start the music. "Drop-" "-it," Vinyl mumbled as she tumbled out of bed to land in a tangled pile of sheets. Squinting against the unfettered rays of the accursed morning sun, she wondered what had just happened. Then she shrugged, tugged her pillow off the bed, and hid her head under the sheets. It could wait 'til mid afternoon. (Elmagnifico) “-It?” Ditzy Doo Awoke speaking. She really hoped this wasn't another loop in that one forest, the nice tall people with the funny hats seemed hurt when she said that word. Then she looked around. The world was sitting still for once, unlike all the ponies, who were dancing about to some sort of music. That looked like fun, even if the music wasn't the best for dancing. She sang along anyway. “Wub, wub, wubwubwub” Even though the beat was simple, it was infectious. She could feel her body start to move to the beat, and since everypony else seemed to be having a good time, she began dancing along with them. “Wubwubwub, wubbity wub-wub” Since she could see clearly this time, the first few seconds of the dance went well. “Wubwub, wub-wub wub-wub” After those few seconds though, she started to let the rhythm guide her movements. To better feel the rhythm, she closed her eyes. “Wuuuuuuuuuub, wubwubwub” She wasn't trying to knock ponies over, honestly. “Wub-wub-wubwubwub” The impacts were easy to mistake for others getting jiggy with it too, “Wub, wub, wubbity-wub” and Ditzy was more than happy to up the ante in response as the beat grew stronger. “WUBWUB, WUBBITY-Weeeeoooo” It wasn't until the screech of a speaker getting crashed into silenced the music that she realized something was wrong. She opened her eyes. Practically every pony in Ponyville was scattered on the ground, in varying degrees of bruised and bemused. Big Macintosh was struggling to extract his head from one of the stereo speakers. The only ponies standing were herself and a mare she recognized as Vinyl Scratch, who was behind a deejay table. Vinyl seemed pleased, despite the damage to her equipment, applauded, and pumped a hoof in the air. “Arright, that was metal! But since you're the last pony dancing, I guess you get your tickets back?” Hm, tickets? Oh, right. Tickets. Prompted by that magic word, the loop memories started floating to the surface in drips and drabs. How desperately everypony wanted a ticket. How she'd decided, for whatever reason, to hold a dance contest to solve the issue. And how silly it was to have participated in that same dance contest only to win the tickets back. Ponies started picking themselves up, groaning, rubbing at sore spots, and scowling at her. “Um, my bad?” The apology did not seem to mollify any of the testy-looking townsfolk. “Er, rematch?” When that didn't seem to help either, she started edging away from the scene. She almost made it too. Rarity was nursing a black eye, but paused in her rubbing long enough to point at Ditzy and yell. “She's getting away!” The chase that followed was long and convoluted. She tried to fly away, to at least narrow the pursuit down to Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi. This was prevented because her wings weren't working for some reason. Distracted momentarily, she wasn't looking where she was going and booped her snout on a storefront. “Mirrors and Scrolls” wasn't a store she bumped into, normally, but this encounter proved enlightening. “Oh.” The predominantly purple pony peering back at her was more than enough explanation for why flight was currently unfeasible. The sight of an angry mob behind that purple pony was what got her moving again. She took off down an alleyway, the angry shouts and thundering hooves practically on her tail. “Alright Ditzy, you've had a horn before. Now you just have to use it without the benefit of having an alicorn's huge magic reserve. Think, think, thinkthinkthink.” Thinking about trying to use her horn unfortunately left her navigation up to instinct. Ditzy turned a corner and then bumped her snout on a door. A jiggle of the handle revealed it to be locked. She looked around for another escape route. The door was at the end of a dead-end alley, and before she could get out the angry herds had rounded the corner. Trapped. Ditzy desperately tried to think of an escape, but wound up just using the first spell that came to mind. That the spell was Prichard's Spontaneous Pachyderm weighed little on Ms. Doo, as the doing anything seemed better than doing nothing. A large gray creature almost as tall as the surrounding buildings sprung into existence in front of her, nearly filling the alley with impassible animal. While this barred the way to Ditzy, it also cut her off from any obvious avenue of escape. As she racked her brains for some other way out of this, the elephant trumpeted restlessly, breaking her concentration. It was pointed away from her, so it was probably worse for the others. That consolation went away, though, when her ears picked up whispering. Fluttershy. Uh-oh. The elephant shuffled to the side, and the angry herds filtered around it and started coming down the alley ominously. Out of ideas, Ditzy just closed her eyes and started whispering to herself. “There's no place like home, there's no place like home.” She could feel a warm glow just above her head, she heard a pop, and then she was someplace else. Upon opening her eyes though, all she saw was the door she'd been backed up against. Then Applejack's voice filtered through from the other side. “Ah heard her say 'thar's no place like home'. She musta gone to the library!” Then the noise of the crowd receded, accompanied by the stomp of an elephant and the sound of it trumpeting a cavalry call. Silence fell for a few seconds, as Ditzy remained riveted to the floor, staring at the solid door between her and the alleyway. She was indoors now, so things remained quiet until she heard a voice from behind her. “Mommy, what was all the noise?” Ditzy smiled, and reassured her daughter. “Oh, just some ponies who wanted to talk. Nothing to worry about, muffin.” It took Ditzy a second to remember why that might not have been a good thing to say. She turned around, and sure enough, she was in her house in Ponyville, by the back door. Over there in the living room were a gray mare with a blond mane and her daughter, staring at her like she was some sort of space alien. “Um,” To rectify the situation, she pulled something out of her subspace pocket. It was a small white box with Capsu Corp written on it in block capitals. The only other visible feature of the device was a large red button, which she promptly pushed. The thing buzzed, and then a fresh blueberry-flavored pastry sprang into being in her hoof. She held it out as a peace offering. “-muffin?” The next day, Ditzy was relaxing in the library. The whole situation had just needed a letter to the princess, vigorous use of the muffin button, and a loofah to sort out, and now she was friends with most of Ponyville again. Or at least, those whose loyalties could be bought with pastry, so mostly just her unawake self, Dinky, and Pinkie Pie. The rest of the town had at least decided to leave her alone after getting the tickets, although Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy had each since come by to apologize for imposing like they had. She honestly didn't mind, but there was a niggling feeling she'd forgotten somepony... It was at this moment that Rainbow Dash was sent careening through the upstairs window, to impact the south wall and slide down it, squeakily. Ditzy rushed over, but Rainbow didn't seem injured. She simply muttered, “Applejack, I just don't know what went wrong.” and then slumped on the floor. Before Ditzy could move to help, she Awoke in the middle of her route, hauling the mail towards Sugar Cube Corner, but the sudden shift from examining somepony and using magic to holding something heavy and flying sent her off-balance, tumbling into Quills and Mattresses. Blowing a stray feather off her nose, she waved to the store's owner. "Sorry!" (Masterweaver) Lyra blinked a bit as she Awoke, trying to determine exactly where she was. Okay, we've got ourselves a horn, Classic mused. By body shape, we're definitely an equestrian unicorn-- I don't recall ever starting a loop this fit, Seapony commented. Hey! shouted a blushing Human. Are you calling us fat?! We generally live with a candymaker and practice bipedal locomotion, Robo Science Thief pointed out. Being slightly out of shape is the norm-- .... The whole council froze at Sweet Roll's comment, focusing their gaze on the blue pegasus slumped against a bookshelf. Ah, Ponyville library, that made sense--! She filtered through her memories quickly – there were, oddly enough, not nearly as many as she got in a usual loop – and let out a sigh. "She's overworking herself in the orchards?" Rainbow Dash looked up at Lyra and shrugged. "I don't know Twi, but it wouldn't surprise me. She definitely had her mind on other...." HOLY HOLLY WE'RE TWILIGHT SPARKLE! The miscellaneous Lyra jumped onto the mental table. I call dibs, I call dibs! Uh... what? Part mad scientist, remember? Think of what we can do with all this power... "...uh, Twi?" Rainbow gave her an odd look. "Why are you laughing like that?" "Um, like what?" "Like you just came up with an idea to destroy reality?" "What--?! Rainbow Dash, I would never destroy reality again! I learned my lesson last time. No, I just thought of a few experiments, that's all." The pegasus blinked. "...Last time?" "Long story, lots of technobabble, but things were fixed quick enough. Anyway, why don't you go try to force your help on AJ?" Lyra Sparkle grinned toothily. "Or you could stay here and help me. Your choice." Something deep and primal in the pegasus made her back away slowly. "I... think you've got a handle on the egghead stuff, Twi. I'll just... go... check on AJ." She bumped into the front door, opened it with a wing, and gave the unicorn a nervous smile. "You just do your thing and... yeah. I'm... going... to be awesome... somewhere else!" She darted out of the library as though Tirek himself was on her tail. Overplaying it, don't you think? Oh come on, Human, let me have my fun! And anyway, this loop's Twilight is crazy already, she wubbed for the gala tickets and then gave more then enough away to Ponyville. The unicorn shrugged to herself, headed down to her basement. "Spike! If anyone asks, I'm running dangerous experiments underground!" "TWILIGHT!" Rarity galloped down the stairs. "Oh it's simply horrible! Half of ponyville is suffering from food poisoning and... what are you doing?" "Oh, don't mind the latticework, it's only stage four." The unicorn turned away from the strange red pattern and set down her crooked, glowing.... whatever. "Anywho, as for the food poisoning, tell the doctors to look into the effects of an insectivorous diet on equestrian physiology. I'm sure that will sort things all out." "Ah... yes, um... qu-quite." Rarity backed away from Twilight's big grin. "Do... come out and check on us when you're done, dear." "Will do!" Twilight turned back to her work, humming to herself. "The ganglions connected to the... dendrites, the dendrites connected to the... neurons, the neurons connected to the... everything, oh what a wonder it will beeeeeeee...." The library door burst open. "TWILIGHT! You've got to..." Spike tilted his head. "Are... you welding hinge joint pistons to the wall?" "Well, technically they're just casings, I'll install the organic circuitry and actual mechanics later--" "Never mind that! We need you to stop a stampede of bunnies!" "Heh, bunny stampede.... right. Hmm. I... have no idea, actually." She waved the dragon off. "I'm sorry, I'm almost done here. Could you see if, I don't know, Pinkie migh tbe able to help?" "But... but... you're..." Twilight sighed. "Fine. Five minutes." She teleported out of the library. "I don't know about you, darling, but I think Twilight has been... rather distracted recently." Rainbow shrugged as she rushed through another apple tree. "That unicorn has always been a bit off. You remember how she won her own contest?" She came in for a landing. "I think she'd lose her head if it wasn't screwed on." Rarity levitated the apples into a basket. "Still... the way she just blew off the whole situation with Applejack seemed rather... Well... unlike her, for lack of a better phrase. I'm still not sure what she was even trying to do, but--" "OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS THE LIBRARY'S COMING!" The two ponies gave Pinkie a look. Rarity took the initiative. "Er... what do you mean?" "I mean, it's walking down the road right now!" "I... what?" Dash blinked. "That doesn't make any sense--!" The Ponyville library stepped into the orchard, and Twilight stepped out onto the balcony. "Hello there! I heard you needed help harvesting!" For a moment, nopony said anything. Then Twilight coughed. "Er, this is going to sound weird, but... why is the library in Sweet Apple Acres?" "You, ah... you just drove it here darling." "Yes. Right. Makes sense.' Twilight nodded to herself. "I'll be... down in a second..." She stepped into the library quietly. Rarity and Rainbow shared a look. 123.4 (Kris Overstreet) ".. and you should be proud, my little ponies, for operating such a successful and well-run business!" The managers and employees of the Manehattan Metropolitan Cake and Pastry Works bowed deeply once again, thanking Princess Celestia for her gracious words. Luna, standing off to one side, looked much less gracious, but she managed, "Yes, thank you for your hospitality. I wish we could remain longer, but royal affairs are pressing. Shall we go, sister?" Once outside, Celestia turned to Luna and said, "So, how much cake did I eat?" Luna's ears drooped. "Not a bite." "Told you I could do it," Celestia grinned. "Pay up." Luna levitated a bag of tea to Celestia. "Mikuru Asahina's special blend," she sighed. "You would not believe how much trading it took to get that..." "Twilight and I will think of your sacrifice as we drink it," Celestia grinned. "Now, I believe the cheese shop is next on the itinerary, is it not?" 123.5 (Pinklestia) "Okay... I know I been whining for ages about wanting a different cutie mark, but waking up with a different one is not the same that earning it." Twilight Sparkle was a pony named Sparking Apple for this loop. Her cutie mark was a zap apple, apparently she had won it after finding new magical uses for them. They had sent her to study to Canterlot and she had become princess Celestia's personal student after hatching a dragon egg, only it had been a year later than at baseline. Sadly, only she and her five friends were awake. "Hey Sparkling , don't worry! There are things I can't do too." Pinkie Pie was Pinkamena Diana Apple, also known as Pinkie Di or just Pinkie, Her cutie mark was an apple birthday cake. She had got it after baking an apple cake and making a surprise party for her pet Gummy the rock frog. "I am a tad ashamed to admit it, but I have been waiting for the six of us to be awake in a loop like this." Applejack was... well, no real change for her this loop, besides having the rest of her friends as relatives. "Oh, I get to be the older sister? I admit I am not used to being this big, but it gives me the chance to try making different dresses." Rarity actually was Applejack's older sister this loop, she had got her name because it was a 'rarity' for a unicorn to be born in an Earth pony family. Also, she was almost a tall as Big Mac. Due to money problems, she had gone to stay with some relatives that did rock farming, where she found her talent was related to gems. That's how she got three apples shaped diamonds as cutie mark. Instead of a dressmaker, she was a jeweler. "Uh... I feel strangely comfortable this loop." Fluttershy was Shy Apple, a distant relative of the Apple family that lived in the Everfree and was the Royal forest ranger. She had got an apple shield cutie mark after saving her sister Rainbow from a Manticore. The reason Fluttershy felt comfortable was because this loop she was way more confident in herself than at baseline. Yet she was still shy and had trouble meeting new ponies. Her cutie mark meant that she was a protector, not just of ponies, but also of animals (And monsters). And yes, she was still a Pegasus. "Eh... at least my name isn't zap apple." Rainbow Dash was Rainbow Apple, named that way because there was already a pony named Zap Apple in the Apple family, and because Zap was a guy's name. She still had the same cutie mark, since she might or not be adopted this loop. "Well family, is time to prepare the baked goods, the summer sun celebration will be tomorrow!" Applejack said in a cheerful tone, she couldn't wait to see non awake princess Celestia's face when she found out all the element bearers were part of the same family! 123.6 (zeusdemigod131) For Discord, his Awakenings weren't usually pleasant. Half the time, he Awoke as a statue, less often, he’d Awaken just before getting hit with the Elements for the first time. So waking up encased in amber, while unusual, wasn't that startling. “Well, this won’t do.” Exerting a bit of his power, Discord melted the amber back into tree sap. Looking down at his body, he saw that he was more of a skeleton than usual, and was wearing tattered green and grey robes. “Ew.” Snapping his fingers, Discord returned himself to his normal resplendently chaotic form. Discord tapped his foot as he waited for his Loop memories to set in, after a moment, he remembered that he was Discord, terror of the Land of Ooo, sewer of Chaos. Apparently, he had tried to make the population of a post apocalyptic world as chaotic as he was. “Seems like I did a good enough job,” The Draconequus mused, looking out over a kingdom made of chocolate and gumdrops. “And some villains complain that Equestria’s a sugar bowl.” Chuckling to himself, Discord flew over the city, and into the castle that seemed to have been built around a large tree. “Reminds me of that tacky crystal palace Twilight keeps getting stuck with,” Discord peeled off some of the wallpaper and ate it. “Though the walls aren’t usually made of taffy.” “What the lump are you doing here?!” Discord whirled around and found himself looking down at a rather pink human with some kind of weapon in her hand. “You have three seconds to tell me why I shouldn’t blast you into atoms.” The pink woman said in practically a growl. Discord eyed the weapon again. “Are you going to threatening to shoot me with a tennis ball?” “My Ball Blam Burglerber can blow you to-” snap The weapon was suddenly replaced with a golden scepter with Twilight’s head on it. “It’s gold wrapped chocolate.” Discord said with a grin. Throwing the scepter to the ground, the woman pulled a pair of pink gauntlets from seemingly thin air. “Alright, now talk.” The gauntlets glowed blue with an electric charge. Discord tapped his chin. “By any chance, do you know what the phrase ‘I’m Looping, so calm the heck down’ means?” Groaning, the woman dropped her gauntlets back in her Pocket. “Should have figured when you weren’t the Lich,” She sighed and raised her arms. “I’m Princess Bubblegum, now get the heck outta my kingdom!” “Oh come now Princess,” Discord said. “We haven’t even gotten to know each other yet.” Princess Bubblegum shook her head. “Nope, you wanna do something? Talk to Finn or Marceline, I don’t want anymore shenanigans in the Candy Kingdom than usual.” Discord frowned, he’d met beings like this before, though they weren’t usually Loopers. “Are you sure?” Discord asked. “You seem like the learning type, wouldn’t you like to see some chaos magic at work?” “Pfff, magic,” Bubblegum waved him off. “All magic is science, people like you just call it that because you don’t mphmffhmph.” Bubblegum grasped at her face and found her mouth had been buttoned shut. “See? Magic.” Discord said. Bubblegum rolled her eyes and unbuttoned her lips. “You transmuting part of my mouth doesn’t prove anything.” Discord snapped his fingers again and the Princesses hairdo was remolded into a bird nest, complete with living birds made of chocolate. “How about now?” Discord asked. Bubblegum shook her head, causing the chocolate birds to take flight. “Teleportation, and I rule a kingdom of living candy, you’ll have try harder than that.” Discord glared at the Princess. “Okay,” He said, stretching out his arms and cracking his knuckles. “Not like I can do much more damage to this world anyway.” A few hours later, and not far from the Candy Kingdom, a boy, a dog, and a vampire queen were making their way through what looked like a mixture of Wonderland, a Random Loot Loop, a three your old's finger painting, and a mad science lab. “Marceline?” Finn asked. “What exactly happened here?” The vampire queen shrugged. “I was going to check in on Bonnibel, just to see if she was Awake, and I saw... this.” She gestured to what might have been a tree at one point, but now looked more like a didgeridoo. “You think PB is playing crazy scientist this time?” Jake asked. “I don’t think so,” Finn sidestepped to avoid some kind of banjo/turtle. “This really isn’t PB’s thing.” “Admit it Princess!” “Never! You're just randomly reshaping and combining objects molecular and genetic structure! It’s a simple application of an entanglement field!” “I’ll tangle your field!” As if on command, the ground twisted and corkscrewed until it looked like a gnarled tree root. “You think Bonny pissed off another magic user?” Marceline asked. “Taste Yak cannon!” Hearing an explosion, followed by a loud moo, the three of them ran over the twisted ground and over a rather large lump, they spotted Bubblegum, on the back of a rather large swan, holding some kind of laser weapon, aiming it at a structure made of steel squirrel statues. “Discord!” Bubblegum shouted. “Stop messing up my Kingdom!” “We’re not in your kingdom!” Discord called back, peeking over the edge of his shelter. “Now, how about I shed a little light on our situation.” With a snap of his fingers, the ground, and everything else nearby, lit up like a light bulb. Marceline hissed, despite how long she’d been Looping, she was still sensitive to bright light. “Should we... do something?” Finn asked. “Well,” Marceline said, rubbing her exposed skin with SPF 5000. “This guy seems kinda-” “Turn off that light!” “With pleasure!” The bright light was suddenly replaced with utter darkness, it took a moment it realize the sun, moon, and stars weren’t shining either. “Powerful?” Jake supplied. “I was going to say nuts,” Marceline replied. “Hah! Jokes on you! I invented a nuclear powered flashlight!” “Big whoop, Twilight once made a fondue maker that ran off the Element of Magic!” “Grahh!” A bright red light lit up the darkness, it was followed by an explosion. “...Missed me!” There was another explosion. “Try again!” And another. “You’ve exceeded your maximum number of tries.” Large red letters flashed above everyone, spelling out the words. “GAME OVER!” “You wanna... go see if the Ice King is Awake?” Finn supplied. “Sounds like a plan.” 123.7 (Novusordomundi) Chrysalis ate a cookie. It was really just a simple action. Put the cookie inside your mouth, chew it up, swallow. Simple actions that can lead to enjoyment. However, as Twilight Sparkle watched, she could tell that the Changeling Queen was enjoying the dessert more than most beings could, especially with a very contented sigh escaping her lips and a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. After a moment, Twilight broke the silence. "That must have been some cookie. What kind was it?" Chrysalis had to think about that for a couple seconds. "I think the best way to describe it would be a 'love cookie'." The puzzlement on Twilight's face was obvious, so she continued. "For the most part, it's just a plain sugar cookie. However, there is a special ingredient baked inside of them that, for the most part, only I could taste." "Ah, it's love!" Twilight exclaimed, before adding. "It must be Trixie's love, isn't it?" A nod. "She'd wanted me to have it for when she wasn't Awake. Goofy helped get some of her love for me into liquid form, and Pinkie Pie helped her bake the cookies. " A small smile crept onto Chrysalis' face. "It's just one of those little things we do for each other." 123.8 (Novusordomundi) Twilight Sparkle walked in her ebony black Jimmy Choo's, her purple and pink Hot-Topic bought clothing and dark-as-night Gucci purse accenting her, as she walked towards her friend Rarity, dressed only in a purple strapless dress from Carousel Boutique clothing, the only brand worth wearing in her mind. Rarity sipped gently from her Aquafine bottle of water, while holding her leftovers from P.F. Chang's. She almost immediately noticed that Pinkie Pie was riding towards her on her gray Huffy Bike, being peddled by her Nike-clad feet, her Haus of Gaga clothing not inhibiting her, as she swayed her pink hair, washed in L'oreal (because she was worth it) and flowing freely, while in her hand was her Lisa Frank notebook. Following her was Rainbow Dash, grinding a nearby rail with her Birdhouse skateboard, her Vans shoes, her Levi's shorts and No Fear tank top hugging her as she kickflipped off the grind. Trailing them was Applejack, walking along with a crisp Sweet Apple Acres apple being tossed and caught, her Faded Glory denim jeans and American Eagle shirt showing her no-nonsense-ness. And finally, Twilight could see Fluttershy, in a hand-knitted yellow sweater, her Dockers and store-brand flip-flops completing her ensemble as she carried her animal treats, bought from Petco, walk up beside her. Twilight sighed, noting that in this Loop, everyone had to know where anything had to have been either created or bought, in extreme detail. She even knew that this Loop was sponsored by McDonalds, but that didn't mean she had to love it... 123.9 (DrTempo) Ever since the whole 'Battle of the Bands' expansion, Twilight had to admit that baseline Sunset was a lot like the Awake version personality-wise. It just showed that Sunset was a better person now. Speaking of Sunset, she was smirking as the Dazzlings held up what looked like a... Guitar pick? As they bragged on how this would make them music powerhouses, Twilight thought she'd seen this before. 'Now why is this...familiar?" Suddenly, the guitar picks flew towards Sunset, and in a burst of flame, she assumed her demon form. Before Twilight could react, Sunset roared, I AM COMPLETE! The Dazzlings had only one thing to say as they saw the imposing figure, running away from the monster. Buuuuuuuck! Sunset smirked, slowly walking towards the trio, and laughed. YES, YOU ARE BUCKED! SO OUT OF LUCK! NOW I'M COMPLETE, AND YOU HAD BETTER DUCK! THIS WORLD WILL BE MINE, AND YOU'RE FIRST IN LINE! YOU BROUGHT ME THE PICK, AND NOW YOU SHALL ALL DIE! As the song continued, Twilight groaned as she put two and two together. 'Sunset's Awake...and doing an encore of that prank she did with the Mirror Pool. Kinda fits, actually...' 123.10 (Bardic_Knowledge) "Twilight?" "Yes, Rarity?" "Why is, ah, 'Speed Force' avoiding Sweet Apple Acres?" "We're not entirely sure why, but he keeps falling through the ground over there." "Oh, that's right. Apple doesn't support Flash. I forgot that for a moment." 123.11 (fractalman) "Oh yeah, blank flank? What can you do? Grow plants? Oh wait, you can't even do that, let alone fly or do magic!" "Yeah, well, well...well at least ah'm not a jerk like you, Tiara!" Later that day... Applebloom felt miserable. She briefly wondered if she was supposed to feel miserable quite so soon, but the strange thought wasn't enough to distract her out of her depression. She kicked a pebble at a tree. "Diamond Tiara's right...ah can't buck apples, ah can't sell apples, ah can't fly or do magic-" Twilight overheard. "Well, actually, there's a version of magic that even earth ponies can use-" "Teach me teach me teachmeteachmeteachme-" Twilight's resistance to teaching a crusader anything dangerous crumbled before it could remember it existed. "Ok ok! Uh, meet me at the library every, um, Tuesday evening?" "YAY!" Usually, Twilight was careful about things like sleep deprivation: if sleep deprived, either cast a spell to not need the sleep, or else go to bed. But in the context of the loops, sooner or later she was going to make a mistake...like when designing a better memory-aid spell based loosely upon her "want it need it" spell at the behest of the looping Big Mac. The basic premise was simple enough: if you were interested in something, it was easier to remember things about it. It was noon, Tuesday, when she passed out. Applebloom nudged Twilight. Then all but kicked her. Then yelled in her ear. Twilight barely even stirred. "Aww, I guess ah won't get my magic lesson...oh look! She left a spell for me to try on her desk!" 123.12 (fractalman) Winter in Sugarbowlquestria was brought about by grinding up plain sugar into a fine powder, mixing in some pegasus magic to make it extra soft, and blowing it across the land. "Don't forget to drink some hot cocoa" said Twilight to Spike. "You don't want to get too dehydrated." While the lungs of the sugar ponies were more than capable of absorbing the copious quantities of sugar in the air without choking, solid/liquid imbalance was possible, if uncommon. Five minutes later, Twilight felt she'd had enough of watching Spike's antics from the sidelines, and joined in the fun, leaping and rolling about in the curious substance-which was somewhere between snow and clouds-like a filly. Dear Twilight How would you like to raise the Light Switch on the wall tomorrow? Dear Celestia Sure! 123.13 (banjo2E) Twilight Sparkle Awoke reading a book. This wasn't an unusual event, but she could swear that something was amiss. It did not take long for her to decide that reading the book would provide a base of knowledge from which to proceed further. With that in mind, she turned to chapter one and started to read. Once upon a time in the magical land, Equestria, two regal sisters ruled in harmony. The elder sister raised the sun at dawn; the younger, likewise, with the moon at dusk. Thus did the sisters maintain their kingdom and safeguard their subjects, the pony folk. But as the years went on, the younger mare became resentful of her sister's rule. The ponies loved her sister and the day, but shunned her and slept through the beauteous night. These thoughts culminated one fateful morn, when she refused to lower the moon at dawn. The elder sister tried diplomacy, but the younger's bitterness had transformed her into the monstrous mare, Nightmare Moon. The Nightmare vowed to dethrone the sun mare and shroud the land in never-ending night. Thus was her sister forced to call upon the most powerful magic ponies know: The sacred Elements of Harmony. The Elements defeated Nightmare Moon and locked her in the moon forevermore. The sun mare took responsibility for both the sun's and moon's heavenly paths, and harmony has been maintained within Equestria for generations since. Twilight Sparkle finished reading the page, blinked, read it again, then brought hoof to face. She closed the book and pondered for a time, then shrugged, saying "At least it doesn't rhyme." 123.14 (fractalman) "Rarity! What in Equus and Yggdrasil are you doing with that shoggoth!" demanded the Looping Twilight. "Eh? Well, this here ugly poodle just needs itshelf a hair cut, then it can help shniff down mah wee namblies!" replied Old Mare Rarity. "Um…" A few minutes earlier: Old mare Fluttershy always helped creatures in need. In the case of a stray shoggoth, that meant flying up and shooting a half dozen arrows into it until it collapsed into a pile of bliss. "Ya really shoulda come to me earliah for some acupuncture, those knots of space time defects coulda been worked out of your mesculature much mar eashily." The shoggoth just grinned and enjoyed the attention. Sleipnir turned to the side and yelled. "Coyote! Did you mess with with my copy of the Old Man Henderson anti-virus program again?" "No!" replied Coyote. "Why do you ask?" "Because 'Old mare Pinkie Pie' is teaching a shoggoth how to throw parties. With C4 powered party cannons." "..." said Coyote.