“Excuse me Discord, but do you mind if I have a word with you?” Sweetie waited patiently as a sigh echoed around her, and the Draconequus in question materialised. Sweetie showed him the picture, and he rolled his eyes, folding them in irritation.
“How do you know Starswirl?” Sweetie waited as Discord snapped his fingers, transforming a cloud into a stone chair. Sitting down on it, he growled. Sweetie could tell Discord obviously did not want to be here. And yet, he was making the effort to remain, to which Sweetie was grateful.
“I was created when he escaped from his time loop. The energies of the spell coalesced into a discordic center that created me. I was incredibly handsome and already older than time by that point, he merely gave me form.” Discord waved his hand in a circle, creating a tornado on his fingers. Rolling it around his hand, he snapped his fingers and sent it toward Griffonia.
“Do you know if there’s a way for me to escape the time loop?” Sweetie was surprised to find out Discord was born the day Starswirl died. Well, according to him it was the day he gained form. Sweetie supposed that explained the lack of, well, morals.
“Yes, the same way Starswirl escaped. Harnessing the energy to create an immortal creature. You could always create another Draconequus.” Discord snapped his finger again, summoning a chicken that squawked the alphabet.
“Wait, immortal?” Sweetie blinked, eyes widening as Discord raised an eyebrow.
“Well what did you expect the way out was? A spell made to make someone immortal can only be completed when this occurs. Starswirl couldn’t make himself immortal after realising this due to being the epicenter of the loop, so he instead focused the energies into a center point, and added a spark of life.” Discord flicked the chicken into the air, watching in boredom as it began to dance, strobing disco lights coming out from it’s primary feathers.
“A-And how does one create a spark of life?” Sweetie didn’t really like the idea of her being the source behind another Chaos God, but if it was the way out, then she would take it.
“All the necromancer books I’ve eaten on the subject say it’s a spell that is only conceived, and has never been created. You’d have to be as smart as Twilight to ever attempt it. Which, sorry to say, you are not.” Discord snapped his fingers, exploding the chicken into a thousand tiny, strobing, dancing chickens. Chuckling, he materialised sunglasses on both himself and Sweetie.
“And before you ask, no Twilight couldn’t do it. She’d need more than a week.” Discord cracked his fingers and leaned forward, regarding Sweetie. Snapping his fingers, he began to mess with her appearance by first turning her a sickly green.
“What about you? Could you do it?” Sweetie silently hoped Discord reverted her to normal at the end of the conversation, wincing as a tiny chicken landed on her head, still singing the alphabet. Sweetie didn’t entirely like the fact Discord was messing with her appearance, but it was keeping him somewhat entertained while she got answers.
“Hardly, my magic is so unpredictable it would more than likely create a spark of light. But I digress; your efforts are futile. There is no escape.” Discord sighed, leaning back as his chair shattered into diamonds. Looking up, he folded his arms behind his head, closing his eyes as chickens began to land on his body, still dancing.
“Alright, thanks.” Sweetie bit her lip and sighed, disappointed that another lead had turned up dry. At the very least she could use Discord for a prank later on in another loop. Sweetie paused for a moment, and shook her head rapidly. No sense dwelling on the dead end. She had to think what she could do that would be new.
“Are you gonna eat that?” Discord pointed to the tiny chicken on her head, and Sweetie blanched as she shook her head. Discord grabbed the chicken and swallowed it without chewing. Sweetie covered her mouth, trying not to barf.
“Thanks for your time Discord, but you can go now. Unless you want to discuss a looping prank.” Sweetie forced herself to a smile, and waited as Discord quickly returned everything to normal. Discord snapped his fingers, causing a Hawaiian shirt and suitcase to appear.
“I’ll pass, that sounds dreadfully mundane. Try not to be too picky with what you decide to do, I hold no responsibility for changing the prank if it’s boring. Ta Taa~” Discord vanished, and Sweetie breathed out.
“That does reveal an interesting idea though.” Sweetie mused on the chickens for a moment, remembering how Twilight had mentioned burgers during Twilight Time once.
Faffing about 3: The Faffening
What about shifting the epicentre? If Sweetie could shift the loop onto someone as capable as Twilight, then he or she could fix the loop.
She'll figure it out eventually. She's got the time, right?
Or else the Starswirl Stalker Ghost Thing will tell her what to do to make him immortal, since that's why he put her in the loop in the first place.
5569500 Twilight would go insane. Her mental fortitude isn't too strong
5569564 Sweetie is carrying her progress through each loop, like Discord said, Twilight would need a week to do it. If Twilight strengthened here magic each loop like Sweetie does, it's possible that she'd eventually become strong enough to do it in the 5 day time period.
The mistake you made was thinking Twilight was sane to begin with.
Okay, so we finally have a theoretical exit. Good.
Now the question that I have -- and have had since the beginning -- is one that the characters should have been asking many, many loops ago: How did this start?
Because you've just stated here (and have stated before) it was first a spell invoked intentionally by Starswirl, the A-number-one top magician of all time. Someone capable of casting the spell Discord describes in hours within his loop. That loop is obviously not an accident. Since Sweetie is nowhere near that level... how could it have started?
I hope we don't have to get into the high double digits before this question even occurs to our characters.
I somehow suspect that Discord is lying about something.
Discord's lying. How could he exist after Starswirled died and be part of the loops Starswirl got stuck in the first place.
5570581
It's explained Discord was the product of Starswarled's escape...IE he IS SS's Loop
So the reason Starswirl got out of the loop was that he managed to create an immortal life... witch he originaly tried to give himself... so... does that mean that the reason Sweetie is in a time loop is becourse she also tried to make herself immortal?
and... wait... make an immortal life?.. it dosn't HAVE to be a Draconequus right.
what if she made... something like a phoenix?
or an alicorn?
5569933 and then twilight would die would she
Discord really knows how to pull one out of his plot doesn't he. But then again, what better way of saying, "You're looping is utterly mundane, and you ponies other than Twilight never touched a history book." Since canonically, the EoH were found after Discord was alive. And long before the palace that SS died in was made [post S4E2's Discord thumping flash back.].
So, yeah Sweets got played. Big time.
Oh...oh my...
This cannot end well
5571252
Well, maybe.
We already know time travel is canon, and when you throw this fic into the mix, I don't have much trouble explaining the discrepancy away as Discord going back in time to before his own birth for some reason that only makes sense to him.
5571041
You've got a point there. Twilight diffinately didn't seem very sane in episodes like Lesson Zero!!!!!!!!!!!!
5569500
First of all, I'm not sure that's even possible. Secondly, if that did happen, wouldn't it be better to shift it onto somepony who's already extreamly powerful, like Celestia?????????????
Wait, maybe Celestia can perform the spell! There's still hope! , oh, maybe not, umm, how about Luna? Candace? Shining Armor? There has to be somepony who can help sweetie , wait, what if sweetie can do it in a few years when she's more grown
Idea! Celestia and/or Luna could go through the loop with sweetie, then they'd have the time they need to complete the spell! (there's no pic for Luna :C so I'll put this instead)
5570491 He is. Read it again, mainly the highlighted part, especially the underlined one too:
We know he lied about this, as Twilight is an Alicorn. And what's more, if I remember right a long time ago, in an earlier chapter/loop Celestia hinted at Sweetie could assend too.
There are other things too, He says Starswirl couldn't because he was the epicenter of the spell. This brings about a few different possibilities. For one, how he got out of the loop. He 'added' a spark of life to nothing, but we also know he died to get out. So what if he didn't 'create it' but 'traded it' to Discord. He gave up his own 'spark of life' to something outside the Loop and couldn't be reserected anymore, even through time. No more magic in the body to maintain the spell, the spell ends.
Makes you wonder, is the Spell effecting Sweetie tied to her body, or soul? Could sweetie get out by transfering to another body outside of the loop somehow?
---
There is something else to wonder about. Starswirl put the spark of life in A Center. But Center of what? Discord was created, and already stated he exsisted long before that point. What if Discord was the one that was absorbing all the energy from Starswirl, and Starswirl used 'whatever was sucking out all the magic and such' as the Center? It gave form to Discord. So what/who is eating up all the magic from Sweetie now, since it isn't Discord?
5577682 Ah, but is ascension a spell? The spell Twilight cast to ascend, didn't actually ascend her. If you recall, she was zapped by the elements and turned into a pile of ash. She then went to the Astral Plane (heaven?), where Celestial sang to her and gave her wings. The question is: did the spell ascend Twilight, or did Celestia? Was it a spell or not?
Being as smart as Twilight wouldn't really be a prerequisite. Because even someone on the lower side of the scale could potentially figure it out given access to infinite time.
Look at Blueblood from Best Night Ever. He managed to do some amazing things with but a single day loop and without the ability to bring things between em.
Sweetie have the potential for greatness, she just cant see it yet.
But then there is the aging issue. Sweetie is pretty clearly still aging while the world around her is not.
I feel as though whatever caused Sweetie to be stuck in the first place may reveal whatever form of escape is true.
When Discord said:
I was reminded of
What if she used the spell Twilight did to ascend?
5576425 The edit function. It exists here, does it not? Please use it in the future instead of double posting.
Don't worry, later he was choking
6138764
More like later the chicken became god-king of chickenia and led the chickens to victory ovr the evil cats
Rubbing a cat the wrong way, eh?