“To answer the first five questions; no, yes, yes, yes, and no those won’t help what you need to do is flip the mattress upside down. Next!” Sweetie smiled warmly as Dinky stepped up. Sweetie was prepared for Dinky this time, and she had her savings from the previous loop already gift wrapped and ready.
“Uhm, my mother has always had problems with losing her job. And she recently got fired again. I was wondering’, does she get a job today? Cause I dun wanna go hungry…” Dinky looked down, and Sweetie closed her eyes, and began to humm. After a moment, she stopped, opening her arms wide, and spoke.
“Your mother will unfortunately not find a job until Thursday when the weather team asks her to help move clouds. However I foresee a stranger leaving a package for you at 7:25 tonight that will prevent you from going hungry until then.” Sweetie shook her head, as if breaking out of a trance, and blinked curiously at Dinky.
“I’m sorry, I must have zoned out there. What was your question?” Sweetie noticed the confused gaze on Dinky, and smiled warmly as the filly explained what had happened. Putting a hoof to her chin, she shrugged.
“Must have been the spirits talking through me. Either way I wish you the best of luck. Here, take two bits for a snack on your way home.” Sweetie levitated two bits out and handed them to Dinky, who smiled in gratitude. Sweetie turned her attention to the next customer.
“Hi, I was wondering if it is time to break out my latest batch. Is it?” Berry Punch glanced awkwardly around, wondering if the greedy stares were directed at her, and the thought of her skill over alcoholic drinks. Discarding it, she turned her attention to Sweetie.
“Sorry, it won’t be ready for another week,” apologised Sweetie, shaking her head slowly. Berry pouted, and sighed, walking away mumbling about how brewing was boring work. Sweetie turned her attention to the next pony. A male Earth Pony with a light gray coat, dark gray mane, and light blue eyes. Sweetie reconised him by this three four-leaf-clovers Cutie Mark.
“Will I be able to do it today?” Lucky Clover glanced left and right, and Sweetie nodded. As the colt left, she remembered how she had said the same thing last loop, and had turned out to be right. Sweetie wondered what exactly it was, but discarded such thoughts. The next pony was a female Pegasus Pony with a light yellow-brown coat, a pink mane and tail with a light pink streak, rose-red eyes, and a Cutie Mark of three tornadoes.
“Will I be put on weather patrol on Thursday?” Orange Swirl was looking forward to her trip to Las Pegasus, however knew she wouldn’t be able to go if she was called in to work. Sweetie paused for a moment, and held her head, pretending to be ‘communing’ again.
“Sadly yes, and if you skip it you will be fired.” Sweetie saw the annoyance on the pony’s face as she skulked away, and turned toward the next pony. This stallion had a light brown body with dark brown hair and an hourglass Cutie Mark. Sweetie easily reconised the pony as Time Turner, a pony who was in charge of keeping time on events that required as such.
“Is the world going to end this week?” Time Turner wasn’t known as the sanest pony, but even Sweetie could see something strange about how he asked the question. Eye twitching, it was almost as if he was a bullet about to explode. Sweetie had answered yes last loop, and it hadn’t ended well. Stifling a shudder, she decided to give a more puzzling answer.
“The world will end when the clock has come full circle, and-uh-reversed to what it once was.” Sweetie silently cursed the fact she had slipped mid-sentence, but Time Turner hadn’t noticed. In fact, he seemed to almost relax slightly. Sweetie heard a quiet chuckle escape his lips as his eyes twitched once more, and he walked away.
‘Man, I’m going to need to find out what’s wrong with him one loop. However, Dinky is going to have to come first.’ Sweetie supposed under normal circumstances, the fact Time Turner was asking about the end of the world would make her want to know more, but such thoughts had quickly been discarded when Nurse Redheart turned out to be the next pony in line. She was a white pony with a pink mane and a medical red cross as a Cutie Mark.
“I’m sorry about Time Turner. He got a head injury on Sunday and won’t let me take him to the hospital. The idiot was reading Planet of the Sapiens too. No thanks to Lyra.” Nurse Redheart glared at the crowd. After a moment she sighed, deposited a bit into the jar.
“Do I catch him before he hurts himself?” Nurse Redheart looked in the direction Time Turner was stumbling, chuckling about flying ponies in the air, remarking how he must be dreaming. Sweetie shrugged in response.
“It’s not a question of if you catch him before he hurts himself, but if before he hurts others. I’d get the entire squad, when that bomb blows it won’t be pretty.” Sweetie nodded gravely as Nurse Redheart’s eyes widened, and she dashed away. Sweetie turned to the crowd.
“Alright! Last customer for today! Everypony else can wait until tomorrow!” Sweetie watched as the crowd began to part, and looked to the final pony. It was Fluttershy. Looking down, Fluttershy whimpered, and whispered words in a voice more fragile than silence.
“Uhm...Is-Is Angel-g-going to b-be okay a-after getting hurt by that mean Everfree monster?” Fluttershy shrunk back, and Sweetie smiled gently, and gave a small nod. Relieved, Fluttershy rose slightly, hiding a smile behind her hair.
“T-Thank you.” Fluttershy left, and Sweetie turned the open sign to closed, and glanced toward Twilight. Twilight stood up and nodded once.
“I’ll be off then, see you later Sweetie Belle.” Twilight turned and left, and Sweetie returned home as well. Watching the clock, she rose when it got close to 7, and quietly excused herself. Walking out, Sweetie held a neatly wrapped present covered in pink ribbons and poka-dot patterns. Hiding behind a corner, she waited.
At exactly 7:25, Sweetie concentrated, closing her eyes as she forced herself to not use more magic than needed. It was very important the package didn’t teleport half-singed on the other side. Sweetie cast the spell, and watched from her hiding spot. The door opened, and Dinky watched as a present appeared before her, completely unharmed. Sweetie silently cheered, glad she was right about objects being easier to teleport.
Dinky opened the present, revealing a large jar full of bits. Eyes brimming with tears, she breathed in sharply, and picked it up, calling out to her mother. Derpy walked over, and looked over the paper the jar had been in, looking for signs of who had given it. Finally, she too broke into tears and hugged Dinky, hovering in the air as both laughed and cried over their sudden good fortune.
Sweetie slowly left, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her chest.
When I read the first line, I thought you decided to rearrange the order of events from last chapter so the Dinky bit was next. Then I realized "durr, time loops". Also, first!
Daw.
The end made me cry!
Very well written chapter!
And funny part about Time Turner!
5413542 I can't decide how seriously we should be taking his part in this. If you do recall, Princess Celestia said that Star Swirl had a "Friend" help him at times with certain spells. And, at the last Star Swirl thing, he was just about to work on time travel spells. Yes, he did have a time travel spell, but didn't say how he made it. For all we know the only place that the loop is happening is on that planet. Which would mean that as long as Time Turner wasn't there when the loop started, everything would be fine. But, he would end up figuring it out if he was there anyway, due to who, and what, he is. Or, he could just be a pony that's not quite there. We won't know until later.
That was very sweet of her.
Pun accidental but fully adopted.
recognize/recognise
Poor Sweetie Belle... being forced to relive that moment over and over again for Celestia knows how long. At least she'll be amassing a small fortune out of it.
Kinda makes you wonder if Equestrian bits have serial numbers on them. It would be awkward trying to explain how one acquired several bits with the same serial on them...
I've been watching Disney channel, so I read this aloud in Zuri's voice. (Zuri from Jessie).
sweetie belle is awesome
5413615 that could be it actually.. Nurse Redheart did mention he had a head injury the very night before the loop started. i wouldn't be surprised if he's the cause of this, even more so considering just how much sweetie is running into him.
on that thought, i need to double check the order of events, but during the loop that sweetie went to canterlot we saw him outside the train station. depending on what day this fortune telling event happens it could point out something strange, as the Doctor's timeline shouldn't be changing so drastically between loops.
5413655
All those extra coins appearing from seemingly "out of nowhere" (as far as the non loopers are concerned) could cause problems to the local economy.
The monetary system of a country only really works properly if the goverment knows precisly how many of what denomination of coin is in use at any time.
That's the reason why money forgers are bad for everyone, If everyone in your country was a millionare would that make you rich?
5413914
I think it's the coins from the same loop's fortune-telling gig, so no economy destabilization, and Sweetie isn't dumping that much into the local economy, I think...
Yay! It's nice to see good things happen, and some progression in the "Fortune-Teller" and "Dinky is Hungry" Arcs/Quests/Jobs!
5413914
Depends. Since not only do you have money that's being currently spent. You have money saved away, lost, or misplaced that isn't accounted for. Money in banks, trusts, and savings that aren't being touched. Money sent to other locales that have a different form of money (both pre and post exchange). And money that is floating around as it were.
Yes, millions of bits turns the local economy on its head and lowers the value of currency. But a few hundred, or even on the upside of a thousand odd bits. Can easily be written up as bits that were found laying around, lost in public areas, or even bits that had been previously saved up in ones private property.
I know that when I was in Inchellium, WA when I was younger I would go on can runs picking up thrown away cans for change, and I'd find loads of spare change, and even the occassional 1, or 20 USD. With at one time finding 100 USD in cash on the ground while walking around. Take into account that Ponyvillians use coin pouches to hold bits. It's not unreasonable that a pony could amass a good bit of disposable income (not taking into account the expotential growth generated from looping wealth. But any of that wealth spent outside her room doesn't reset when the loop resets.).
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! I LOVE YOU!
That...That was adorable
If they found a way to do that mind rebind thing and then researched cloning, then they might be able to
1. Clone Twilight, 2. Rebind some non-loopers onto Twilight's magic formant (for example, Scootaloo gets Twilight's CM), 3. Share Twilight's time spells with them...
EDIT: no cloning, they might just collect multiple Twilights out of multiple loops, then use them as chassis for transfer
One of these chapters you need to have Sweetie talk to Discord. Prefreally about important things, like the weather and algebra.
As soon as I read Time Turner I was expecting him to walk up to the stand with a big smirk, place a hoof on it, look into Sweetie's eyes and say. "I hear you got yourself a bit of time loop."
5411324
Only 1k? I might be able to do that, maybe.
--Sollace
It seems Sweetie is getting more experienced with how to use these loops to her advantage. I wonder if she can use that to learn more about her condition?
If I was stuck in a time loop, I wouldn't waist my time pretending to be a fortune teller. I would use those loops to cheat at the lottery. Aka learn the winning numbers one loop and enter them in the next loop. Then again, Sweetie probably isn't old enough for the loto anyway so that's probably out of the question.
You either really love these Doctor Who references, or Time Turner has something important to do with all of this.
Wouldn't be surprised either way...
>I was wondering’, does she get a job today?
y u apostrophe
>not find a job until thursday
*Thursday
Ponified Doctor canon in this universe, eh?
Wait...is this a subtle hint as to what happened? The world ends, the princesses sent Sweetie back in time, but the drain removed some of her memories, and now she's stuck looping until she prevents the apocalypse? And the answer that she gives him is the secret to stopping it?
5415777
There is also the question of whether any lottery draws take place during the week.
5463802 Sports almanac. Bet on races. Keep winnings with me when I loop. Repeat until obscenely rich. That way I won't have to worry about money if I find the way out.
5455856 plz plz plz let that be the case
5415599 me too
5469593
In the human world, that would be difficult.
Paper bills have serial numbers, coins are considerably more bulky and heavy, gold ingots/bullion are massively scrutinized with a litany of serial identification requirements (and time travel would nullify them) making precious metals immensely difficult.
Gems are all given invisible to the naked eye laser etched ID numbers.
I'd say the safest way to get money though would be to transfer your winnings to gold, and learn as much as you could during the loops about gold mining/panning.
Then you could get a few million (US) in gold via melting it down and splattering it into muddy water.
You'd want the water muddy, and the mud would have to come from land that you have the legal right to pan/mine the gold from.
The mud in the water will ensure the gold has particles of earth from where you're claiming it came from, so that scientific investigation will reveal that it was "formed" in the soil where you're claiming it was.
You'll lose a fair bit of the money to taxes, and sales margins, and you'll have to make sure not to appear to be getting too much too fast so it doesn't look like you're smuggling it from some 3rd world country like crime organizations do when they profit off the murder and forced labor of those living in 3rd world countries.
But otherwise, it's a fairly safe way to transfer money.
As well, It's not creating massive artificial detriment in an entire nation's currency by introducing more currency without backing.
Instead, you're simply adding more gold to the Earth's total sum, which will only slightly impact the gold market, but well within safe limits.
(And gold has many positive industrial uses, so it will be a long term -By long term I mean several centuries in the future- benefit to the Earth's economics, though again, not by much.)
Once you've got enough cash from panning/mining your melted down gold, you can then purchase a pawn shop in the richest neighborhood you can manage, and deal particularly in jewelry.
Cook the books a little, and now you can melt down a small fortune in gold bullion, only to re-cast it with your own serial numbers and stamp claiming that you melted down a lot of gold rings/bracelets/necklaces/etc.
Now it all appears to be legitimate.
Don't do too much (at most another few million over a 2-3 year period) and you can expand your business, allowing you to melt down even larger quantities without suspicion.
Eventually, (after a few decade to 15 years or so) with all your earnings from the time loop melted down and exchanged, you will have cash for it.
As a bonus, you'll also have a legitimate multi-million dollar pawn shop industry you can sell, and retire at a very young age with a decent fortune to your name.
However, the easiest way would just be to find where some guy would have won the lotto and get there first.
As well, create a time scheduled list of as much profit you can make in as many places as you can possibly gamble for big winnings within the loop's time frame, and to finish it all off, find out if there are any stocks that will take a significant hike on the final day.
This will let you get anywhere from 5 mil to +100 mil (US), and fast.
It will cause others trouble though, as that money has to come from somewhere.
Although, to be fair, a good 90% or more will come from mob owned casinos.
They'll be pissed, but as long as you memorize how their security reacts so you can get away thanks to knowing their future actions ahead of time.
And while it's not illegal to just apparently have infallible luck, their security can grab you, haul you into a room with no cameras, take the money, and beat or possibly kill you.
That said, when investigating how to get away from security, ensure that you have stolen and injected a massive dose of hospital pain killers like morphine or oxy before you do so, that way you won't feel the beatings.
Or, (if you're experiencing the "drain the energy from everyone in the room til they die at the time of your death" effect and you really want to be a dick to security), just carry a gun and shoot yourself when they're about to grab you on the loops when you fail.
Sweetie, Sweetie. One word: LOTTERY
Find who's going to win it and get there first!
5455856 yes time Turner Is the third fan headcanon used in this story
And that hypothesis you got there sounds so epic it will probably make whatever the author is cooking seem dull in comparison.
5494950 is it wrong that I actually enjoyed reading that "little" comment of yours more than the chapter itself?
Leonzilla
So much Daaaaaws at the end!
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw *URK*
My Daw-Meter just broke. Celestia-dammit
That's three times the Doctor has shown up now. And that part with Dinky... 'daww!
I will comment on every chapter! It is my mission!
It must be that the Doctor knows about the loops! And he's trying to fix it somehow. Wouldn't surprise me at all.
5494950 Congrats! You found out how to make a +$100M in the U.S. in +15 Years!!! Congrats Man!
5469593 Back! TO THE FUTURE!!! REFERENCE!!!
Rarity would be proud.