165.1
"...wait," Shining said. "Did you just..."
"What?" Twilight asked.
"Did miss Princess-of-Libraries—"
"Friendship—"
"—misspell a word?"
Twilight paused, and went back over the last few minutes.
"...you will never speak of this to anyone," she hissed.
"Of course," her brother agreed.
Cadence giggled. "I'm sure you'll make a great ant, Twilight."
Twilight's eye twitched.
"In all seriousness, given the loops, you'll probably be one of those first," Shining noted, trying to hide his smile.
162.27
"—ow," Trixie said, shaking her head. "What just—"
She swallowed, and stuck her tongue out. "Bleh. So that's what it feels like when someone crashes the loop in a different time period... dang Starlight Glimmer..."
Gathering herself, she took a look around.
A few hundred audience members looked back. One of them waved.
"Oh, come on!"
The blue-coated magician sighed. "Okay, I don't have the patience for this. Sorry, everypony."
Her magic focused, swirled, and a wand-star circlet appeared for a brief moment before there was a blinding white flash.
When it faded, she was already airborne and winging her way towards Canterlot.
"...did she always have wings?" one of the earth ponies asked.
"Whoa," said her friend. "This Trixie is good."
165.2 (Evilhumour, Masterweaver)
There was a knock on her door set to an almost recognizable beat, but it was only found when examining the univ—
Twilight stared at the sight in front of her, with the mint green mare smiling from cheek to cheek and the white mare looking very annoyed. Looking down, Twilight quickly pieced together why and did her best not to laugh.
"So Lyra, how was Princess—"
"Queen." the mare opposite of her snickered as the white mare's ear twitched.
"Right, how was Queen Scratch for her first royal loop?" She watched the other mare remove her glasses and stare at her with her bloodshot red eyes, which made it look like her pupils were full of blood. Very off putting if the whole situation wasn't so funny.
"Oh it was a blast!" Lyra said hugging Vinyl, nuzzling against her. "She was the very best musical queen we could ask for!"
Sighing loudly, Vinyl glared at them both before turning away. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bar, getting drunk off my flanks trying to get rid of my ages old headache before going to that damn peace talks with Celly and Luna."
As she left, Lyra called out to her. "Shoo bee doo!"
The seapony queen responded back the same to her fellow seapony before realizing what she said and groaned loudly.
"First Derpy had only a century on the moon," Twilight mused, "and now Vinyl's the seapony queen."
Lyra gave her a questioning glance. "Well yeah. Is there a pattern or something?"
"Just that they were both unusual, and they both activated by glitch." Twilight gave Lyra a large grin. "What's your princess loop going to be like, I wonder?"
Lyra coughed. "I... haven't ascended yet, you know—"
"Right, sorry. Just speculating."
Before Twilight could finish thinking of what kind of horror or weirdness would happen when Lyra ascend and have her princess loop, there was a scream of fear coming down the road.
"That was Applejack!" Twilight shouted, building her power to teleport when there was a loud BANG and then a second shout, one of pain this time. Turning her head, she watched as a white object smash into the weak side of her library, causing it tip over and crash into the ground.
"My library!" Twilight shouted, mouth hanging low at what just happened.
"My Queen!" Lyra shouted, pushing the ball of magical infused water forwards as she rushed forwards, helping the dizzy white seapony up.
As Twilight walked close to the pony that just toppled her house, her ear flicked as she heard Applejack running towards her.
"Note to self," Vinyl wheezed as she sat against the destroyed library, laying a fin over her chest. "Do not surprise Applejack ever again."
Turning her head to the embarrassed farmer who was blushing now at her overreaction, Twilight blinked and tried to close her mouth.
"Sorry about that Vinyl," Applejack said, holding her hat. "Ah'm not that bothered by seaponies anymore, but when one as big as you comes up from behind, Ah just plain got spooked."
"It's okay," Vinyl wheezed as her horn glow blue, her body making popping sounds as the bones were starting to set themselves. "Not the first time I've got bucked by an earth pony so I'm used to it, although promise me you'll not teach Octy any fancy tricks?" She batted her eyes at the apple farmer, who was snickering now.
"Ah'll do my best partner," she leaned over to pat Vinyl on the back as well to help her up. "Come back to the farm, drinks on me."
"Sounds great to me," Vinyl said, stretching out now. "Lyra, Twilight, wanna join us?"
The mint green seapony didn't need any more encouragement to join but Twilight needed to be asked a second time before responding. Although teleporting to the moon to scream was a bit harsh of a response.
165.3 (Masterweaver)
Sweetie Belle gave Vinyl a wide grin. "So.... you ascended by remixing the beat of the universe."
"Yep."
"I, on the other hoof, ascended by literally singing a universe into being."
Vinyl glared at her. "Okay, first of all you had a backup chorus. Secondly, you technically ascended when you turned Melkor good."
Sweetie Belle merely continued smiling. "You can think that all you want, nín lobor laes. In the end, I sing, you remix."
"There's nothing wrong with remixing!" Vinyl protested.
"Never said there wa-as!" Sweetie singsonged as she trotted away.
165.4 (Masterweaver)
"So..." Sunset managed as she sat down across from the green woman. "...Passaggio?"
"Passaggio Muse, yes." The woman gave her a half smirk. "You know, the names here are remarkably fresh. No generations of repeated names going through lingual drift."
"Yeah, it's... one of this universe's many quirks. My name, for instance, is Sunset Shimmer." She shrugged. "I'm native, so I don't usually go by anything else."
"Well, I have Polymnia to fall back on if I ever get tired of Passaggio." The green woman examined her fingers casually. "Or I could go by doctor, professor, or psychopathic bitch. You know, titles."
Sunset rose an eyebrow. "Psychopathic bitch."
"A misnomer, obviously. I'm not even a sociopath, all things considered, but..." She shrugged. "When you're a civvy in a high-target military base, you have to grow some thick skin and learn to be creative.
"Ah. So... you're from Warhammer 40K?"
"Nope. But I will tell you I'm from a 4K." Polymnia was giving her a sly grin.
Sunset snorted. "So, this a guessing game?"
"Maybe."
"Okay." The teenage former unicorn leaned over the table. "Let's see, you're a professor and or doctor of some sort, you work at a military base in the future, you've got a reputation for dangerous mad science, and you're replacing the leader of the sirens." She tilted her head. "Have any musical talent?"
"Mmm, you could say that."
"Is it critical for your survival?"
"No. Well, not usually." Polymnia shrugged. "I'll admit that I'm able to pick more obscure frequencies when I like for some...dramatic results. This producing conflict thing that the sirens have, that's a bit of a new one on me. Usually I just use psychology."
Sunset frowned, leaning back. "Fair warning, this is a sanctuary loop. And while you, as a looper, are our top priority, the nonloopers deserve respect too."
"Oh, relax. I started changing the feeding method months ago." Polymnia flipped out a business card and snapped it toward her.
Sunset caught it easily, glancing at it. Then peering at it, just to make sure. "Couples counselling?"
"Mmmhmm. Pair of lovers comes to our office, we do our bippity boppity, they have it all out while we're feeding, then I send the other two away and give the pair some real therapy." Polymnia smirked. "More conflict is better, of course, but intensity is just as nutritious as spread. Best of all, I get rave reviews: 'One session will make everything better,' that sort of thing."
"That's..." Sunset glowered at her. "That's not ethical at all."
"Everybody gets what they need, nobody is permanently hurt physically or mentally... I'm failing to see the problem."
"Mental manipulation—"
"Is standard in some loops," Polymnia pointed out. "But that's neither here nor there. Either I keep up the couple's counselling or I have to take the sirens back to the old way of doing things." She frowned. "You would not believe how much I had to twist Aria's arm to get her to agree. 194 degrees!"
Sunset slammed her hands down. "Okay, what is your loop like? Because you seem way too comfortable with torture and brainwashing."
Polymnia stared deep into her eyes. "...it's actually mostly me," she admitted. "My anchor is a far more conscientious objector. But since I'm the second looper, and we haven't got another up yet, we're making due."
"So, you're just crazy."
"When you've seen the things I've seen," Polymnia mused, "you have to deal with it in some way. Me, I chose to be an unrepentant ass. No offense to the donkeys on the other side of the mirror," she added as an afterthought.
"...you still haven't told me what loop you're from."
Polymnia grinned. "Watching people wrack their brains amuses me. Actually, I'm not sure if my Anchor has been here either..." She shrugged. "Well, I figure I can tell you if you can't guess by the end of the week."
165.5
"Hey Twilight," Lyra greeted the purple pony. "I ascended last loop."
"...what, really?"
"Yeah, weirdest thing...."
The Lyracension Chronicle, Part One
(Written mostly by Oraclemask, with touches by Masterweaver)
Lyra Awoke to find herself under a tree reading a book. Glancing down, she saw a somewhat uncommon sight: the book with the tale of the Mare in the Moon. Only it was different...right, there were the loop memories. Lyra Heartstrings, personal student of the Princess Cadence, the Alicorn of Music and Harmony, and both Celestia and Luna were currently in lunar time-out. Lyra had seen this variant loop before, though apparently Cadence wasn't a golem this time.
It was just as Lyra was contemplating turning the Elements of Musical Harmony into a band and going on tour that she realized that her mind was being unusually...quiet.
'Uh...Human? Seapony? ...Sweetroll? Are you in there?' Lyra thought.
Nothing. Lyra glanced into her mindscape and found it completely empty. Well...this was a bit...alarming. Deciding to figure out what was going on later, Lyra pinged.
A minute later, Lyra staggered back upright, slowly recovering from the brain-rattling experience of what felt like half a dozen pings at point-blank range.
Ow.
Right, NOT doing that again. Time for Plan B.
Since she was replacing Twilight Sparkle, it made sense that Spike was her assistant this loop. He wasn't awake, which was a shame; Lyra could use a Force-Sensitive taking a look under the hood. She hadn't dared ping again, but the chariot was landing in Ponyville now. Hopefully SOMEPONY would be Awake and able to lend her a hoof with whatever was going on now! Maybe it would even be Chrysalis — because then maybe Bon-Bon would be a changeling again and Lyra could commiserate with her over the whole mess.
" —the Princess told you to make friends, Lyra," Spike was saying, "You should try talking to some of the ponies here in town! I bet they have interesting things to say!"
Lyra heard a gasp from nearby. Right, that would be Pinkie Pie — Lyra barely looked around in time to see a blur of green and white heading straight for her before she was glomp-tackled into the dirt.
"OhmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOSH! PONY! There you are, FINALLY, I was so worried after I Woke up all alone in this strange body! I know it’s just a pony body and THAT'S not strange normally but I'm an Earth Pony for some reason and usually we're a unicorn or a seapony or even a human, have you seen Human anywhere by the way? I tried to Ping before but there was this HORRIBLE thing that happened instead and I'm really not totally used to having a body as much as everyroll else so MAYBE I did it wrong but at least this pony has super-duper-uber-poofy hair! I think I like poofy hair, I'm going to keep it but what do you think Pony? ...Pony?"
Lyra kept staring. A mint green Earth Pony with the swirliest green and white mane she had ever seen was looking brightly back at her.
"...S-Sweetroll?!"
Sweetroll Lyra grinned. Then she gasped again.
"Wait a second you came on the chariot into Ponyville so you must be replacing Twilight this time that means I'm replacing Pinkie Pie! Though I kinda guessed it when I Woke up in Sugarcube Corner, plus can you hear how fast I'm talking right now, I must be channeling Pinkie Pie when she's on a mega duper sugar high, but really how can anyroll function without sugar? I mean it’s just so VITAL, DUH — but this means I get to throw you the Welcome To Ponyville party this loop! With candy and cupcakes and streamers and I better get going I need to find where my unawake self hid the party cannon!"
And with that, Sweetroll was off like a shot. Leaving Lyra to twitch. This was shaping up to be an...INTERESTING loop...
Spike did a fake cough to break the awkward silence that followed.
"...well, I guess we'd better get started on inspecting things for Princess Cadence's celebration!"
"Inspecting things? Oh yeah, those things! Those things that we totally came here to inspect and stuff! ...What exactly are we inspecting again, Spike?"
Spike sighed.
"...The Summer Song Celebration?"
"Oh yeah, that thing," Lyra replied, grinning sheepishly.
What with the strangeness of the loop so far, she had completely forgotten about this loop's version of the Summer Sun Celebration.
"First up is the catering, courtesy of Sweet Apple Acres!"
The farm certainly seemed normal...Lyra breathed a sigh of relief as she and Spike trotted through the apple trees. Applejack would be just the pony to help her out! Everything was going to be just—
"EEEK!"
CRASH!
"OOF!"
Lyra groaned, tasting dirt for the second time today. Not a flavor she was fond of. She tried to get back up, but a heavy weight was sprawled on top of her.
"Sweetroll, not now..." Lyra grumbled.
There was a gasp.
"Pony?!"
That wasn't Sweetroll...Lyra peered up to see Human staring wide-eyed back down at her. The pair of them blinked once, then twice. And then the apple trees shook with a deafening SQUEE.
"FINGERS! I almost NEVER get to see our fingers from this angle!" Lyra exclaimed, grabbing at Human's hand.
"Oh my gosh our mane and tail is SO SOFT!" Human Lyra squealed, grabbing at Lyra's mane.
"...and according to my loop memories, after falling through the mirror I eventually ended up working here as a farmhand," Human finished, "Which helped the Apples a bunch, because Applejack — well, Orangejack now — stayed in Manehattan this time. I'm also in charge of supervising the catering for the Summer Song Celebration since the Apple Reunion turned out to be the same day."
"Mulberry," Lyra sighed, stomping a hoof in frustration, "So much for getting Applejack's help. What about everypony else?"
Human shook her head.
"I don't remember seeing them at all. No Pinkie, no Rainbow Dash, no Fluttershy, no Rarity. I was kinda hoping Twilight would be able to explain what's going on."
She frowned for a moment longer, before smiling.
"Oh well! Worst comes to worst, we can overwhelm Queen Meanie with our superior numbers!"
On the way to see the pony in charge of decorating the venue, Lyra stopped and looked up at the cloudless sky. Spike kept walking for a minute before he realized he was alone and doubled back. Understandably, he looked around for any crazy ponies or humans lurking in the vicinity before asking Lyra what the matter was.
"Aren't we supposed to check who's managing the weather, Spike?" Lyra asked.
"I don't think so..." Spike pulled out a checklist and skimmed it, "Nope. Princess Cadence doesn't really mind what kind of weather goes on during the celebration anyway, remember?"
His eyes narrowed.
"...You don't have a pegasus cousin who's going to drop out of the air and squish us next, do you?"
Lyra chuckled nervously. The excuse she'd give him about why Human and Sweetroll knew her was that they were distant cousins, but Spike didn't seem to buy it totally.
"Not that I know of..."
"Out of the way please, you're standing right where the next set of pylons are going in."
Lyra and Spike backpedaled hastily as metal rods telekinetically began arranging themselves next to the entrance. In a way, Lyra was relieved that Seapony wasn't in charge of decorating since she only had two styles: underwater and explosives, usually combined. But Thief/Scientist/Everything Else was almost as bad. Especially since she looked to be in full science mode, lab coat and cyborg implants on full display. The inside of Town Hall was starting to look fairly metallic to boot.
"Thief."
"Yes yes, hi to you too Pony. Don't worry, these are perfectly harmless...but I promised Mayor Mare that I wouldn't compromise the building's structural integrity and so I had to construct additional pylons."
Lyra facehoofed.
"How long have you been waiting to say that?"
Thief gave her a cheeky smile.
"Ooh-oh, ooh-oh...now that's TOO sireny, gotta make sure the audience isn't brainwashed..."
Seapony was the last on the list. Sure enough, Lyra and Spike found her hanging around in a pond not far from where Fluttershy's cottage normally was.
"Seapony?"
"Hmm, maybe if I lead off with the fireworks, THEN the audience will be too deafened to be hypnotized! But then they won't hear me sing...that's not good..."
"Seapony!"
Seapony looked up and waved a flipper at her.
"Hey there Pony! Quick question, what part of the Equestrian National Anthem goes best with fireworks? I can't decide!"
Lyra facehoofed for a second time.
Lyra trotted up to the Golden Oaks Library with about as much enthusiasm as most loopers had for a trip to Eiken. After a long, LONG talk with Seapony, Lyra was confident that the other Lyra wouldn't go completely overboard when the festivities began tomorrow morning. But there was still whatever party Sweetroll had cooked up to go through, plus planning for the inevitable return of Nightmare Moon and whatever Evil Celestia was calling herself...Lyra wished her unawake self had been paying closer attention to the book before she Woke up. Was it Solar Flare this time?
Momentarily caught up in trying to remember which it was, Lyra walked into the library and was greeted with a pie to the face.
...Ooh, blueberry! Yum!
Sweetroll hadn't quite gotten the hang of throwing a Pinkie Pie-styled surprise party...it was a very nice party, and the townsponies all seemed happy to be present...but Sweetroll in her excitement had decided to increase the Pie ratio by making each guest a pie, and then throwing them into the guest's faces when they arrived as the surprise.
"She also got everybody's favorite flavors right too," Human said, still cleaning whipped cream out of her hair with a towel, "I don't know whether to be more or less scared."
"Mine was a mud pie," Thief pointed out.
"You don't like mud pies this loop Thief? Sorry, I'll make you a twisted-triple-lime-extra-salty-taco-supreme pie later to apologize!"
Mollified, Thief shook her head wildly to get the last bits of mud off, splattering the others in the process.
"Uh, fillies and gentleLyras? Shouldn't we work on making a plan or something?" Seapony interrupted, "In a couple hours we're going to be stuck facing two crazy Alicorns with ZERO Element-users! Although there's always Plan S."
"We're NOT doing Plan S," Lyra sighed, "Remember the last time we did Plan S?"
"...the crater wasn't THAT big..."
"Mayor Mare will have my head if we do that to her Town Hall," Thief pointed out, "I like having a head this loop."
"We don't have the firepower for Plan S anyway, silly Seapony," Sweetroll added, "No pocket, remember?"
The other four Lyras froze, then began waving hands/hoofs/flippers around comically in an attempt to reach a space that they had suddenly realized wasn't there.
"Oh this is bad—"
"How did we miss this?!"
"Thief, aren't you doing something to the Town Hall? How did YOU miss this?"
"I was using local materials this loop! You know, for the challenge of it!"
Sweetroll nibbled on a pumpkin pie as she watched the other Lyras panic. To think none of them had checked at all! Of course, the only reason Sweetroll knew was that she'd tried checking their pocket for her unawake self's party cannon. Clearly she'd hidden it really, really, REALLY well...
Now that they were complete, Thief's decorations were less mad science-y than the other Lyras had anticipated. A lot of lights began flashing when Seapony went up to sing the anthem, revealing the true purpose of all the metallic bits and bobs: improving the audio quality in the venue.
"And helpfully also canceling out the more siren-y bits," Thief added smugly, "I read the list of events and performers before I started designing."
"Why didn't you tell me before I spent all that time trying to sing less siren-y on my own?!" Seapony demanded.
Thief shrugged.
"It was funny."
"Fillies and gentlecolts!"
Mayor Mare's voice drew their attention to the stage.
"As Mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Song Celebration! The longest day of the year, where we celebrate the beautiful music and harmony that has enriched the lives of all ponies in Equestria! And now..."
There was a drumroll from somewhere in the audience. Mayor Mare nodded approvingly.
"...now, may I present to you, the beloved ruler of our kingdom...Princess Cadence!"
And the curtains drew back to reveal an empty platform, to the surprise of exactly zero Lyras.
Nightmare Moon had barely gotten out her first "FOREVER!" before a blinding flash of light appeared over her head.
"FOALISH LITTLE SISTER! HAST THOU FORGOTTEN ME ALREADY?!"
"Hammy Olden Time Celestia, that's rare," Human noted.
"YOU!" Nightmare Moon bellowed, "BEGONE, INTERLOPER! YOUR DAY HAS NO POWER HERE!"
Evil Celestia — tree dammit, this was going to bother Lyra for the rest of the loop! — laughed, lighting up her horn and sending a massive wash of heat and light out. Unfortunately for Ponyville, their Town Hall was currently made of wood and thus flammable.
"Run for your lives!"
"The horror, the horror!"
Nightmare Moon and Evil Celestia ignored the stampeding ponies and the crackling flames as they began launching magical blasts back and forth. The building was barely evacuated in time before Nightmare Moon body-checked her sister through a retaining wall and sent the structure tumbling down.
"I don't remember this from baseline!" Seapony exclaimed, "They're still going at it!"
There was another crash and three more houses caught on fire. A fourth one froze over from a deflected spray of pure night. Looking upwards, Lyra winced as the sun and moon started moving back and forth: going from total eclipse to midday and back again.
"They're going to wreck all of Equestria at this rate!" Lyra stomped her hooves in frustration, "And I still can't remember that stupid name!"
"Who cares about the freaking name?!" Thief cried. "We've got to do something!"
"I've got the book!" Sweetroll yelled, already galloping toward the Everfree. "We can read up on the way!"
Seapony splashed some water on a couple of the houses as she passed them, quickly catching up to the three galloping ponies. "Has anybody thought about what we're going to tell Spike? Or anyone, really?!"
Human caught up with the group, panting slightly. "Got it covered! Told Spike to, to help Cheerilee with the foals. Cause he's a dragon—slow down!" she whined. "I'm an endurance runner, not a speed runner!"
With a nod to the others, Lyra slowed her gallop to a trot, walking alongside their bipedal companion. "I'm cool with giving you a ride. All we got to do is find the Elements of Harmony, and we'll be good." She shrugged a bit as Human slipped onto her back. "Granted, we've all earned the Element of Laughter, so I don't know how it'll break down this time—"
"Uh, problem ponies." Sweetroll had pulled the book out of her saddlebags and was reading through it as she walked along. "Apparently this loop, the Elements of Harmony are Dynamics, Pitch, Rhythm, Timbre, Tempo, and a mysterious sixth element that will suddenly appear when the other five are gathered."
The group all stopped and stared at her for a moment.
"Well," Thief mused, "That's an oddly literal interpretation."
"Calling it now, the last element is Melody," Human quipped.
"Only one way to find out." Seapony pushed her waterball forward again. "Come on, ponies, let's get going before the princesses destroy everything."
"And hope the sixth element appears out of nowhere," Lyra deadpanned. "Because that always works!"
165.6 (Vinylshadow)
Octavia was starting to regret moving to Ponyville. Not only did it mean she had to plan trips to Canterlot for concerts days and sometimes weeks in advance, she also had to put up with its residents and weekly problems as well. And then there was her roommate.
Nearly every morning, the cellist would come downstairs to find her off-white, deranged-maned menace withers-deep in some new contraption, doing what the unicorn had dubbed "Wubbifying" the hapless machine she set her eyes on.
Toasters, ovens, blenders, beds, couches, ceiling fans, televisions, the thing under Vinyl's bed Octavia didn't have a name for...they had been forced to call in one of Fluttershy's sons to destroy it when it came to life and started terrorizing the town, much to Vinyl's chagrin.
"Vinyl, didn't you already...wubbify the dishwasher?" Octavia asked warily, cradling her glass of orange juice protectively against her coat, hoping the fur would help protect it from the harmonic vibrations that Vinyl's machines produced. She had stopped using glass after the first dishwasher incident and knowing Vinyl, the mare would find a way to shatter plastic if given enough time.
"Mornin' Octy," Vinyl said. Coming up for air, she smiled at the Canterlot Earth Pony. "Nah, I'm simply fine-tuning it. The Dubstep Dishwasher is now...the Wubstep Dishflosser."
"Er...gesundheit?" Octavia said, taking a step back.
"Relax, I didn't add a setting above ten this time," Vinyl said soothingly. "It only goes up to 9.9."
"Vinyl, you shattered glass in Yakyakistan with your Sonic Refrigerator when you set it to two-and-a-half," Octavia said, remembering the delegation that had been sent to Ponyville and the fallout from that debacle… which had rendered her trapped in Ponyville once the Yaks had destroyed the train station.
"Okay, fine, I'll put it on one. Gimme your cup." Without waiting for an answer, Vinyl took Octavia's cup, drained it and tossed it into her machine. Turning the dial to "1," Vinyl grinned and pushed the "START" button.
The sun went out.
Seconds later, there were two flashes of light, one golden, one magenta.
"Vinyl. What. Did. You. Do?" a slightly-panicked Twilight Sparkle asked, while Celestia fruitlessly tried to reignite her connection to the sun. "I felt a massive spike of Wubergy from your house—"
"You finally came up with a name for it?" Vinyl said with a chuckle that died in her throat as the two princesses glared at her in the light from the myriads of glowsticks Vinyl had strung up in case of situations like this.
Twilight moved past her and stared at the Wubstep Dishflosser with a critical eye, then pressed the "STOP" button. Celestia let out a relieved sigh as she felt her connection to the sun come back and she turned it back on.
"Alright, you accidentally invented a device that can sever a pony's connection to magic," Twilight said slowly.
"Seriously?" Vinyl blinked behind her shades and grinned. "That's awesome...ly bad...very, very bad," she added as she faced down Twilight's Super Soaker. "Alright, I'll go back to the Dubstep model," she grumbled, stepping behind the machine and uncrossed the red and blue wires.
"How do you put up with her?" Twilight asked Octavia as Celestia perused Vinyl's music collection.
"Just smile and nod when she pauses for breath," Octavia said, smiling fondly at her roommate. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."
165.7 (Evilhumour)
It was a nice and quiet afternoon, and a yellow coated stallion had been left home alone without any supervision.
Lemon Rush tapped his chin, looking at the sparse kitchen he shared with his seven brothers: Big Maroon, Corn Curse, Forging Fire, Butcher Nails, Siege Patrol, Regal Stone and Blood Flower, his mother, his fiancée, two massive timberwolf brothers, a fear cloud called Larry and an evil fluffy white bunny.
"Hmm," Lemon grunted, raising an eyebrow at said evil bunny, who was cleaning his weaponry in the sink. Angel had become somewhat of a trusted partner in crime, Lemon supplied the bunny with ammunition, and Angel never told the Little Mother about the more questionable stuff the Anchor had done. "Everyone is out... I wonder if I should surprise them with a cooked meal. What do you thi—" Lemon frowned as he heard the front door slam shut. Running to the window, he opened it to shout out, "Coward!" at the fleeing rabbit.
With a huff, Lemon reached around for a random cookbook and looked for a nice, simple and easy recipe to follow, with only a few steps and a hooffull of ingredients.
"Okay, I am fairly sure I won't screw up this time!" Lemon said hopefully as he pulled out some of the needed food.
By Ponyville standards it had been a peaceful day, though those standards were admittedly suspect considering how much insanity Ponyville seemed to attract and how quickly the ponies living in the small farming town adapted to it.
A family gathering of seven massive stallions and two much smaller mares, with two massive timberwolves and one cute little fear cloud, dominated the main room of the Sugarcube Corner. All deferred to Fluttershy, the small, soft spoken pegasus mare that they affectionately called Little Mother, but normally went by Fluttershy, who beamed at her sons and soon-to-be-daughter in-law. Nyx, the second mare of the family outing, rolled her eyes at the latest comment her future brother-in-law Big Maroon made.
Suddenly, there was a massive roar.
As the seven brothers were normally primarchs, they were able to react to this new and unexpected danger without any hesitation. Charging outside through the wall with weapons already drawn, all eyes were directed towards the monstrous form approaching Ponyville from the direction of the Everfree Forest... or more accurately, judging by the giant yellow stallion in the monster's grip, from the direction of Fluttershy's cottage.
The monster roared again, and a few moments later the yellow stallion came flying over houses, stores, and river, adding a second hole in Sugarcube Corner's wall to match the first.
"I followed the entire bucking recipe, and I didn't cheat at all!" Lemon grumbled, shaking himself clean. "I only added an extra teaspoon of honey as I know you like it, Nyx!"
With a huff, Nyx smacked the back of her fiancé's head. His brothers rolled their eyes as they set forth to make their way to deal with the monster their brother cooked up by mistake.
Fluttershy squinted her eyes. "Is that Angel riding the monster?" she asked, noticing a distinctive white blob goading the monster on. Even from this distance she could see a massive grin on the bunny's face.
Lemon turned his head around and began to beat it against the wall of the restaurant in response to his mother's question as Nyx patted his withers comfortingly.
165.8 (fractalman)
"Stone...soup?" asked an Unawake Applejack.
"Yep!" said Pinkie. "Don't you remember when Maud Pie ate the rock that fell off Rarity's hat? Rocks are crunchy!"
"Huh?"
Pinkie's grin actually faltered for a moment. "Oooooh, righhhht, that didn't happen in this timeline."
Maud and Marble slurped up their soup.
Applejack's face turned green. "How can anypony eat rocks?"
"Welll..." said Pinkie, "You need to be an earth pony or alicorn for starters, or you won't be able to digest them properly. After that, uh, lots of practice? Hm, I never really thought about it..."
Applejack pushed her bowl away. "Well excuse me, I think I'm just going to skip dinner."
165.9 (fractalman)
Celestia smiled as she sent off the two Gala tickets—and was promptly buried in a small mountain of Gala tickets.
She poked her head out from the pile; a scroll materialized in front of her. “I hope Twilight has a good explanation for this…”
Dear Celestia
I have more Gala tickets where those came from. I have more Gala tickets than I know what to do with. I know, I’ll invite everypony in Equestria!
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Celestia’s eyes widened in horror; livening up the Gala by inviting lots of non-noble ponies (Twilight's immediate friends, and maybe the rest of Ponyville) was one thing. Inviting everypony in Equestria? Not only would that result in utter chaos (and probably Discord breaking free before the Elements were fully recharged), but it begged a very important question: “How did she get so many tickets, anyways?”
Dear Twilight
Please don't! Everypony in Ponyville is fine, but everypony in Equestria is too many!
Celestia sighed in relief. Yes, everypony in Ponyville should be just about right—
Another scroll materialized in front of her.
Dear Princess Celestia
Oh, Ok! I'll just invite Discord and everybody in Tartarus. That should be a bit easier to manage.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Celestia's ear began to twitch.
165.10 (Fractalman)
“Bubblegum?”
“Check.”
“Sphere of tree sap?”
“Check.”
“Super catapult?”
“Ready to fire!"
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SUPER CATAPULT BUILDERS YAY!”
In a distant corner of Equestria, a random, wandering sort of stallion found themselves in a rather…peculiar situation.
“So. I have to marry you.” said the stallion.
“Well…yes,” said the mare, “unless you can find another mare to throw into the ritual circle, you either have to marry me within the week or you’ll die. “
The stallion made a face, “Are you sure we can’t get some unicorn to dispel this stupid spell?”
The mare shook her head. “Maybe the Elements of Harmony could do it. This is an ancient spell made from around the same time using arts that were lost during the carnivorous parasprite plague. A normal unicorn doesn’t stand a chance.” She shrugged. “On the bright side, we’ll only have to kiss each other once a week to keep the enchantment happy.”
“WHEEEEEE!” screamed Sweetie Belle as she hurled through the air. She paused in her screaming just long enough to cast a spell to make herself more durable.
“Did you hear that?” asked the stallion.
“Hear what?” asked the mare, right before a white projectile crashed into the ritual circle, along with a bunch of tree sap.
“So…I have to marry you or you’ll die.”
“That’s the gist of it” said the stallion glumly.
“And…we can’t just find somepony else to take my place?”
The mare shook her head. “The spell only accepts one substitution.”
“What about letting you die and then resurrecting you?”
The mare considered with her hoof to her face. “Well…”
The stallion’s eyes widened. “NO! No, let’s not take any chances with my life, I’m rather attached to it!”
Sweetie Belle scrunched her face up. “Would it help this be less awkward if I aged myself up?”
The stallion erred out a tentative “Yes?”
“Now, Sweetie, I’m rather surprised to learn you’re actually old enough to marry, but I don’t care if you’re two million years old or two billion, I simply must design your wedding dress. Now hold still while I take your measurements.”
"Rarity, It's not even a real wedding! It's a sham wedding we're going through to satisfy some old enchantment!"
"Nonsense, if you're going to wed you may as well do it properly."
"All in all, it was an OK loop, although a little awkward as I never did get his name." said Sweetie Belle to her now Awake crusader friends.
Scootaloo smirked. "Prepare to be jealous. Rainbow Dash and I had an awesome variant that started with us punching our way through a sharknado, and only got better from there..."
165.11 (Masterweaver)
Twilight sighed, levitating Starlight Glimmer out of a bush. "Really? Really?"
"RELEASE ME, YOU BRAINWASHED PAWN OF HATRED!"
"A bush." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Of all the places to hide, you chose. A bush."
"I SHALL OVERTHROW YOUR DYSTOPIC TYRANNY!" the pink unicorn snarled.
"...You know what? I don't even have the patience to deal with you right now." Twilight dropped Starlight back into the bush with no ceremony whatsoever, walking away. "Have fun watching me screw with the spirit of chaos, I guess."
165.12 (Masterweaver)
"Twilight, it all turned out fine in the end."
"Trixie, two things: One, your medical license is in cancer treatments, not midwifery. Two: You obtained it in a loop in which ponies were literally living explosions."
"Look, I was the only licensed doctor around—"
"The Cake twins aren't supposed to be living fireballs!"
"Point of order, only Pumpkin is constantly on fire. Pound just generates unending electricity—"
"I was being melodramatic for the sake of the point. Which you are missing."
"Really? What is the point then?"
"Mister Cake has a cybernetic limb. Princess Celestia had to overturn twelve laws just to keep Pinkie out of jail. I had to go down to Griffonstone personally to make reparations!"
"...and?"
"And?! And this should never have happened!"
"It wasn't my fault they decided to vacation in Manehattan!"
165.13 (Evilhumour)
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" shouted Vinyl, crashing through the library window and slamming into the floor. Twilight watched in horror as the mare began to spin in circles with her sonic propulsion hooves pushing her around, the power of the sound come from the hooves destroying all the books in the library. She tried to step forwards but got a mouthful of feathers for her troubles as Vinyl desperately flapped her wings to get some stability.
With a snarl, Twilight conjured up a dictionary and placed it on Vinyl's stomach to pin her in place, only to redirect the new alicorn into a single direction,: namely, the librarian. Struggling to shove the DJ off of her, the unicorn slowly took in the state of her library. It was a complete mess, everything a wreck in the span of less than a minute.
Turning her head slowly, she leveled a Fluttershy-grade stare at the musician, who was starting to stand upright on shaky legs.
"Note to self," Vinyl whimpered, switching her shades around. "Either use wings or wub hooves, not both." Then she noticed the building rage in the unicorn next to her and gulped loudly as the mare began her lecture.
165.14 (Evilhumour)
"I'd like to see your license, sir," a stallion's brisk voice forced Mac's head upright. Standing in front of his counter was a pair of city guards with a number of privates behind them, all of them holding batons with eager looks in their eyes. "As I have heard reports that there has been alcohol flowing from this underground bar and according to my sources, there is no bar authorized in this location," with a malicious grin on his face, the leader of the two leaned in close to Mac's face. "So unless you can pull out a license to in the next five seconds, we're going to tear down this speakeasy and drag your flanks before the court of law."
"A've got a royal blessin'," Mac said sternly, doing his best not to smirk as several of the privates noticed one of his clients and paled instantly. "So Ah can operate—"
"A royal blessing!?" the pony laughed in Mac's face before slamming his hooves into the counter, denting the wood. "That's the most stupidest thing you can say son and I will look forward dragging you in front of Princess Celestia for your lies—"
"He's got a royal blessing of the Princesses, my little pony," a voice from the guard's direct left caused the officer to gulp. Turning his head slowly, he noticed the drunk glare of Princess Celestia. "Sire Macintosh of the Apple clan has the blessings of all the princesses of Equestria and you, sir, are harshing the royal buzz," Celestia then loomed over the terrified guard, folding in himself in fright. "Although, you can do something for me and I will forget this has ever happened."
Blinking, he tentatively asked, "My princess?"
"Please catch Luna, she's drunk enough to the point where she thinks she is a hummingbird and ponies are flowers again," Celestia said before to the bar tender. Throwing back her drink, most of which landed past her open mouth and onto the floor, along with a stone mug that shattered into many pieces. "Another!" the princess shouted before passing out on the floor.
With a scream, a private ran in fear before being tackled by a loudly buzzing dark blue alicorn.
165.15 (Awesomedude17) (MLP x Donkey Kong)
Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow at the sight before her.
"What's going on?"
"My sister is having a banana fight with a gorilla." Luna replied.
Celestia tossed several bananas at Donkey Kong, who blew steam out of his his ears, took out a massive barrel filled with pudding, and tossed it.
*SPLAT*
"My coat! It's on like... you know what I'm talking about, Donkey Kong!"
Donkey Kong howled in response and charged, entering a slap fight with the sun princess.
Pinkie Pie grinned and took out a camera.
"I can't wait to show this to Bowser!"
"You know him?"
"Of course. One loop, we were roommates!"
"The horror..." Luna muttered.
165.16 (Masterweaver)
Meeting Octavia's parents was always an off-putting prospect.
Not frightening, in Vinyl's opinion, because as much as some versions of the two would disapprove of her the fact remained that Octavia was usually—usually—quite rebellious in those cases and that would render the whole point moot. Unless they were the kind of ponies that sent assassins after her or tried to sabotage her career, in which case Vinyl usually enlisted Sweetie Belle as an up and coming singer tagalong who just so happened to be both a ludicrously competent PR pony and a surprisingly dangerous opponent in combat. The point was, though, in the long run Vinyl just did not care whether Octavia's parents were squares; she liked it when they got along, of course, but she wasn't as put off by angry fathers and disgusted mothers as a normal pony would be.
Maybe that was a bit distant of her, yeah... but in the end, it was Octavia that mattered, not the ponies that raised her.
Still, with something so loop variable, each iteration of the visit tended to set the unicorn off balance. What was a jovial pair just last loop could be a cold sneering father this one, and the next loop might have him replaced with a rocker of a mother. She'd learned to treat each version of them as they came, with as much respect and care as they deserved.
"....and furthermore, young lady, I will not have my own daughter live as a layabout with some ruffian of a mare when she has an entire estate to run! Your musical talent is all well and good for entertaining others, but I insist that you return home and remain here until you have learned how to handle proper finances!"
Looking from the cold glare of the stallion to the cringing, huddled form of her marefriend, she promptly decided that this version might not deserve any at all.
"Excuse me," the unicorn interjected as she handed her untouched wineglass to the maid, "but Octavia didn't bring me here to watch you berate her. She brought me here because you asked to meet me. Well, demanded probably. Point is, if we're going to do this right you should be talking to me, not her."
The stallion glanced briefly in her direction. "This is not your concern. You may leave."
The unicorn grinned, the same kind of grin that was stereotypically associated with sharks but really could be found more often on the face of an asylum patient. "Well, I'm choosing not to. So first thing's first, introductions!" She walked forward, jamming her hoof just inches away from his muzzle. "Name's Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ PON-3, lady of the nightclubs and goddess of wubbology, although I dabble in all sorts of electronic techno music and remixing. My muse is very multi-talented."
The stallion growled, but rose his own hoof in greeting. "Charmed, I'm sure. Now, if you'll excuse us—"
"Oh, also, me and your daughter are madly in love and having weekly bouts of gratuitously passionate—"
"—WHAT?!"
"Don't worry, we usually keep it in the bedroom. Usually. Safe, sane and consensual, you know?"
The stallion was now reeling back in utter disgust, glaring at Vinyl as he puffed up. "You sick wretch! Perverting my daughter with such terrible ideals—"
"Speaking of ideals!" Vinyl interrupted, grinning broadly. "Let's talk about an ideal parent. They're supportive, they teach their kids right from wrong, they discipline them sometimes but always have a reason for it, and they don't, oh, abuse their daughter psychologically to the point where said daughter treats their presence as the source of all nightmares." She stepped forward, still grinning, but her eyes narrowed. "I can't help but notice that dearest Octavia is cowering on the floor, mister—oh, where are my manners! You still haven't told me your name!"
"How dare you!" the stallion roared. "You walk into my house, tell me you're using my daughter as your plaything, and now you insult me by claiming not to know who I am?"
"Oh, I know who you are. Fact is, I don't give a twig. Because to me, the only important part of who you are is the part where you are the pony that Octavia's terrified of." Vinyl stepped forward again. "Which, in my mind, means I've got to make sure you never hurt her again. Now there are a number of ways I could go about that, the usual threats of killing you or fates worse than death, yadda yadda, but I think the best way to move forward is to rob you of all the power that you have."
"You?" The stallion snorted. "You're nothing more than a delinquent pervert with a few idiotic devotees."
"Oh, I'm also Celestia's daughter."
"Now that is obviously a lie. Celestia is pure, untouched, and she would never—"
"Wings," said the suddenly an alicorn Vinyl Scratch. "Bam."
The stallion's mouth opened and closed rapidly. "...Fake! Those are fake wings that you made invisible—"
Vinyl hovered in mid air with a couple of flaps. "Yeah, when I said I was a goddess of wubbology, I wasn't kidding."
"...I see," the stallion mused, stepping back carefully. "I... suppose I have been rather... unbecoming."
"Yep. Of course, Mom tends to be mostly forgiving," Vinyl mused. "Except where I'm concerned. She's incredibly overprotective like that. Heck, my existence is a state secret, just in case ponies try to assassinate me. Oh yeah! Tell anypony about this and Mom'll have one of Chrysy's drones kill you."
"It's true!" piped up the forgotten maid, who suddenly wasn't an earth pony but some black zombie bug thing... in a maid uniform.
"...what...?"
"Spy network. Changelings are good at that. Sooooo, yeah. Since you've been an utter bastard to my marefriend, you're going to find a lot of your privileges curtailed and basically spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. Don't worry, I'll help Octavia achieve her dreams without you." With a salute, Vinyl landed and transformed back into a unicorn. "Okey doke, I've said my piece."
She turned away from the stunned stallion and, very gently, walked over the cowering ball of grey pony that she loved. "Hey. You want to blow this joint?"
Octavia managed to look up at her with tear stained cheeks.
"I'm only asking because this place seems pretty horrible for you," Vinyl explained. "Aaaaaand because I'm worried if I pressure you into anything I could accidentally be hurting you even more, but that's probably just because I'm really worried about this whole thing—"
"Home." Gray hooves wrapped around her neck. "Take us home."
Vinyl Scratch smiled. "Door, or dynamic?"
Octavia actually paused to consider that for a moment. Then she smiled back. "Dynamic, definitely."
The unicorn chuckled. "There's my Tavi." Pulling a grappling gun from absolutely nowhere, she wrapped her hooves around the gray mare and shot it out a window, rappelling them both out with a cacophonous shatter of glass.
The stallion stared at the destruction in complete shock. The zombie bug maid pouted and let out a tiny sigh. "And I'd just finished wiping that clean, too...."
165.17 (Scorntex)
Shining was used to waiting. Even before the Loops, he'd been good at it. Part and parcel of being a guard meant lots of standing around, waiting for things to happen. The Loops had only honed that more.
However, at the moment, centuries upon centuries worth of discipline were going up against concern and worry for his (well, supposedly her, this Loop) wife's ("husband's") mental well-being at that moment.
Not that Cadance (or Bolero) had never been in stressful situations before, and not with the very pony she was currently with, but that had been different.
As Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, she'd been a sister to protect, and watch over, or ignore, and in a few of the far more disturbing Loops... Shining didn't think about those.
But as Prince Bolero, she was... another stallion. One of the guys. True, "his" special talent was unusual, but at the same time, an affinity for love and affection had been determined as exactly the sort of thing two guys on a night out on the city needed.
Of course, since the other "guy" was Blueblood, large amounts of alcohol were also going to be involved somewhere.
Shining had been there. He'd warned Cadance about what was likely to happen, what she was likely to see, or worse, hear. She had gently kissed him, smiled one of her more reassuring smiles, and told him she was fairly certain she could handle whatever madness her "brother" could dole out.
He had considered going to find her. He had considered calling Twilight and her friends, or perhaps Princess Celestia herself. Anything, anything but leaving her with him.
Then he'd reminded himself that he'd been as insistent as Cadance when it had happened to him. All he could do was wait for her return.
Which was trying his patience. He had already worn a groove into the floor from pacing.
After what felt like an eternity, he heard the jangle of keys, and a tiny click. His ears perked upward, as the door swung open.
It was kind of impressive how even after a night out on the town, and clearly more than a few rounds of drinks, Cadance still managed to look composed and regal (and, in his professional opinion as her husband, beautiful).
"Shining?" "Bolero" asked, as she noticed the pony waiting for her. She grinned one of those grins that outshone the sun. "You waited up for me?"
He nodded as she walked over towards him, staggering slightly. "Sorry," she murmured, "Not sure how much I actually drunk. Drunk? Drank?" She blinked. "Whatever."
Then she grinned and batted a hoof playfully at Shining's hair. "Cady, stop that," he groaned.
She pouted. "What? I think you look cute with curls." She grinned. Shining pouted back. For whatever reason, instead of the usual name he had when everypony's sexes got swapped, this time the universe had apparently decided he was Shining Amour, and that this meant swapping his and Cadance's usual hairstyles (though he was of the mind that she managed to style his mane, and better than he ever could).
"You should have curls more often," she said.
Shining leaned against his wife. "Wanna talk about what happened?" He asked.
Cadance shuddered. "Not really," she murmured, "I kinda want to take a shower, then forget any of it ever happened." She sighed deeply.
"I know what you've been through, honey," Shining said, "and I'm here for you, you know that."
She smiled again. "I know, dear." She looked about the room furtively. "Maybe after I've showered the heck out of myself, we could..."
The suggestive smile she'd been sporting faltered. "Snuggle? Sorry, sweetie, but after a few hours with Blueblood, listening to him talk about... things, I don't even want to think about... y'know?"
Shining nodded, solemnly. "I know, honey. What about a nice back rub?"
"I'd like that... I really would." She kissed him. "I love you."
With that, she began to drag herself towards the stairs leading to the bedroom. "And Shining?" she said, turning to smile once again as she got to the first step. "Thanks for waiting for me."
Shining just smiled back, Cadance's own smile increasing as he did. "Always, honey."
165.18 (Gym Quirk)
"I'm sorry, Harry. It's just that this is the sixth time in the past five hundred fused loops that someone from a near-Hub loop has tried for the joke," Twilight told the tall lanky brown unicorn stallion with the pentagram cutie-mark.
Harry "Blackstone" Dresden coughed uncomfortably into a hoof. "It happens that often?" he asked with a weak smile.
"Actually, no. You're just latest in a flurry of them," explained Twilight. "Nearly every smart-ass in the multiverse gets the idea eventually, and it's best to just let them get it out of their system. We're mostly disappointed in your comparative lack of effort. Most of the others go to the trouble of getting copies of the original texts. The Doctor actually provided an autographed first edition of La Géométrie."
"So you thought you'd try the 'Descartes before the horse' gag with a copy of Philosophy for Dummies?" Spike asked, holding up the yellow-and-black trade paperback. The dragon shook his head.
The Chicago wizard chuckled uneasily. "I don't suppose a trip to a rare book dealer would help to salvage this?"
165.19 (Masterweaver)
"...so I really need you to read at least the first few pages before we go any further," Vinyl finished, handing the journal to a very puzzled looking Octavia.
"Well, I... I suppose I might as well go along with this," the earth pony managed, giving the cover of the book a wary glance. "I mean, I've done stranger things with you, and you do seem oddly serious about—"
It was at that point that Twilight Sparkle teleported in, wings flared. "Vinyl Scratch, sorry for the interruption but we've got Grogar this loop." She began pulling a small collection of objects out of her pocket. "Put this on, keep this close at all times, remember the rules. Oh! Here's an extra set for Tavi, can you explain how this works to her?"
The white unicorn blinked. "Uh... Twilight, what's a Grogar?"
"What's a—oh, pines, you haven't gone through a Grogar loop have you?" Twilight Sparkle groaned. "Right. Okay, I can... okay, so you know how we're kinda sorta linked to the Dream Valley world?"
"...The what worl—?"
"It's a land of magical talking ponies which is basically Equestria post-Hearthswarming and pre-Discord, except Tirek shows up early," Twilight explained. "Long story short, there are lots of bad villains there. Heck, we thought Tirek was a native to that world for the longest time—turns out our world had a version of him too!"
Octavia cleared her throat. "Excuse me, ah, miss...?"
"...Oh, you haven't read the journal yet? Sorry, Twilight Sparkle, local Anchor, currently in panicked explanation mode, sorry I'm being rude."
"No problem. I take it Grogar is one of these bad villains you just mentioned?"
"Yes. Necromancer ram, extremely crafty and dangerous, kidnaps unicorns mid-teleport in order to enslave them in his dark realm. And that's just in Dream Valley," Twilight clarified, turning back to Vinyl. "Whenever he crops up here, he's an incredibly dangerous chessmaster type. No, he's not looping, loop aware, or even dreaming; he's just very observant, very cunning, and happens to have the usual lust for power and immortality villains have without the usual tendencies toward self-sabotage."
Vinyl blinked. "So...?"
Twilight sighed, pulling a thick sheaf of paper out of her pocket. "Here are the rules for the loop, obey them until I tell you otherwise. Standard procedure is to track Grogar down as quickly as possible then imprison him in orbit at an arbitrary point—not on the sun or moon, too obvious and he'll probably have contingencies—and keep him under triple-looper-guard watch at all times until the loop ends. Trust me on this: It's for the best. I've got to go get the others and warn them, hopefully Apple Bloom has some ideas..."
With that, she teleported out, leaving various bits of equipment on the table.
Eventually, Vinyl cleared her throat. "Yeah, so... to be fair, I didn't know about this at all..."
165.20 (Vinylshadow)
The Cutie Mark Crusaders Woke up and did a simultaneous Loop Memory check and grinned at each other.
Looking up, they looked at their latest masterpiece, an airship to rival those built by the Canterlotians.
"Wow," Scootaloo said with an awed whistle. "The things our UnAwake selves build. Nice work, Apple Bloom."
Sweetie Belle squinted at the bow of the ship. "Huh, wonder if the name means anything."
Scootaloo flew up to examine it closely. "Apple Bloom, you named it; does Aiedail mean anything?"
"Morning Star in some old language I picked up from the texts," the mare replied, checking the gauges and pulling levers.
"'The texts'?" Scootaloo asked, landing carefully among the tools.
"Apparently unicorns this Loop are an old species, either dying out or rarely being born. Those that are born are usually scooped up and taken to Canterlot by—"
The door to the airship bay crashed open and a voice called out. "Nopony move!"
Several unicorns stormed into the bay and surrounded the trio. They recognized Lyra, Minuette, Trixie and, to Sweetie Belle's surprise, Rarity.
"And apparently we're wanted fugitives," Sweetie Belle muttered under her breath, firing up her horn and prepared a stunning spell, only to yelp as a violet beam connected with her horn, shorting it out.
Twilight Sparkle strode imperiously into the room.
"Finally, after all these years, we've finally caught you," she said with a sneer and a swift wink. The Crusaders flicked their ears as they received two Pings, presumably from Twilight and Trixie.
Thinking quickly, Apple Bloom looked around and spotted a vial on a table beside Trixie. She nodded minutely at it and Trixie accidentally knocked it off the table, producing a cloud of smoke.
"Get them!" Twilight screamed, firing a beam that went wide and severed a mooring rope.
Grabbing her friends, Scootaloo shot upwards toward the Aiedail. "Just like we've practiced, girls!" she called, running on the wheel and started pulling levers and pushing buttons to fire up the engines and open the roof.
Apple Bloom examined the readouts for the weapons systems and frowned. "We've only got five working cannons out of twenty."
"Then make your shots count!" Sweetie Belle said, using her magic to undo the rest of the ropes. "Hit it, Scoots!"
The airship lifted off, deflecting the spells fired by the unicorns below.
"We've got company!" Scootaloo bellowed. Three airships bearing the sigil of the sun, moon and starburst were nearly on top of them.
"Bloody hell, which do we shoot?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I highly doubt either royal sister is aboard those ships, and the Luna is fast with some heavy weaponry. Aim for their weapon emplacements." Sweetie Belle said, peering into a telescope.
"Seems like a crippling design flaw, putting your weapons on deck," Apple Bloom said, calibrating the guns. "Ready."
"Fire!"
The airship zoomed towards the smaller Luna, guns blazing, forcing it to abandon position and created a gap for the Aiedail to slip through.
By the time the other ships reoriented themselves, it was long gone.
On the ground, Twilight and Trixie exchanged glances.
"You seemed to enjoy yourself," Trixie said with an amused smirk.
"Not very often I get to play the villain and not get sent to the moon," Twilight said. "Besides, this usually isn't a violent Loop Variant, so even if we captured them, they'd simply be put to work building better airships."
"And the chase is always part of the fun," Trixie agreed. "Shall we pursue?"
Twilight grinned and rubbed her hooves together with a long-practiced evil laugh. "We shall."
165.21 (Scorntex)
"... Rarity?"
"Yes, Twilight?"
"I don't suppose you could step away from the unfeasibly large ray-gun for a moment, could you?"
Rarity stared blankly at Twilight, then to aforementioned ray-gun, which sparked occasionally as she held a screwdriver over an opened panel.
"But I'm almost finished..." she said plaintively.
"I know," Twilight stated, calmly. Then she saw the glint in Rarity's eyes, as the mare stared off into the distance.
"And once my fashion ray is complete, nopony will ever wear unfashionable clothing ever again! AHAHA!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!"
As the echoes of Rarity's demented laughter died away, the mare looked awkwardly down at her friend. "On second thought, perhaps you're right, dear."
She set down the tool, and began walking down the service ramp toward Twilight. "It's just... I got so enthralled by the idea. And it really did seem sensible when I began..."
"Rarity," Twilight said gently, "being passionate about fashion isn't a crime. But when you're building a thirty-foot tall ray-gun, without stopping to sleep I might add, you're taking things too far."
Rarity looked back to the giant weapon. "I suppose..." she demurred.
"If it makes you feel better," Twilight said, as she made sure the invisible, inaudible camera got several good shots of her un-Awake friend's invention, "it is very impressive. If also very terrifying at the same time."