Ba bump. Ba Bump.
Her heartbeat thudded in her ears as she listened, following a thin trail of magic as she threaded her way through the Everfree. How long had passed to reach this moment? Too long, she decided. Beneath her hooves, the leaves crunched. Above her head, the birds sung. Around her, creatures scurried.
Bu bump. Crunch. Bu Bump. Chirp. Bu Bump. Scurry.
Coming to a stop, her emerald eyes opened, looking toward the Castle of the Pony Sisters. Looking down, she spotted the small trail leading to the Element Tree, to where the thin green trail was leading her. Hoof-steps echoing, she looked around the cave, and stepped over to a snow-white cat, dozing beside the tree.
“There you are, Opal.” Reaching out, Sweetie’s hoof gently nuzzles the cat, who looked to her, annoyed.
“Do you HAVE to do that?” Opal spoke in a masculine voice, eyes narrowing, slurring some words as she forced her mouth to move in ways a cat’s mouth wasn’t designed for.
Sweetie shrugged, “Not really no. Would you prefer I call you what you are now, or what you once were? What I say is an insult to you either way.” Lifting Opal up in her magic, Sweetie pinned the cat against a wall, staring coldly into her eyes.
“Let’s just get this over with, the reason for your visit. Your ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders,’ yes?” Opal’s tail twitched in Sweetie’s magic, claws extending. Pinning Opal with more force, Sweetie narrowed her eyes.
“Where. ARE. THEY!?”
“Dead most likely, gone forever if not. Like us, they were not chosen to continue the loops. Simply put, we’re the rejects, the dead ends. Believe me, I’m just as annoyed as you are. Especially that a two-bit unicorn thinks she can hold me down.” With a swipe of her claws, Opal sheared clean through the magic, landing and licking her paw, cleaning her fur, tail fluffed.
“You’re lying!” Sweetie stomped her hooves, sending another blast of magic toward Opal. Once more, claws shimmering with a yellow magic sheared through her spell like it was butter. An impatient sigh was all Sweetie received in response at first.
“What reason do I have to lie? We’re the leftovers, tossed aside to be used as cement for the cracks in the spell.” Opal resumes cleaning herself.
“Cracks?” Sweetie blinks, and pauses.
“Mmmn, yes, even with the centuries I had to complete this spell, I could not erase all the...cracks, so to speak. It is why my presence in the spell Matrix is imperative, to ensure no...cracks make it into the loop. Alas, this means some of the redundancy could not be removed.” Opal sighs, clearly annoyed by this.
Looking around, Sweetie sat down, bewildered. “I-I don’t understand, how is this a ‘crack’? I’m out of the loop, you’re out of the loop. The spell should be over.” A dark pit in her stomach didn’t want to see the truth, so see the reality.
“True enough, ‘we’ are, but not ‘they’. Your friends, and the true version of you, and me for that matter, are still very much in those loops. We are...the leftovers. Our existence neither provable, nor conceivable to them.
“Your ‘quest’ to find your ‘Crusaders’ was doomed from the beginning. As is your life. Upon the loops eventual end two weeks from now, our world will cease to have meaning. The spell will reach a singularity, and we will be no more, the divergence ended to preserve the prime timeline.” Opal stretches, and then curls back up into a ball.
“But...no.” Sweetie just shakes her head. This couldn’t be what her research had meant. The years she’d spent searching for her friends...for naught?
“Why?” Her head tilted forward, and she slumped, beginning to cry.
“Do not think too deeply on it,” came Opal’s soft response, looking sympathetic for a moment.
“We knew this was a possibility, but we decided the benefits outweighed any bad that would come from this. You need to understand, the chance of this happening was a meagre 5%. We needed some way to power the spell. I suggest you take the time you have left, and spend it with those you care for.”
“...Yeah.” Sweetie rises, and leaves.
“I love you Rarity.” Hugging her sister, the two ignored the tears streaming from each other’s faces.
“I love you too, Sweetie Belle.”
You... Buh... Wha...?
All of the alternate timelines get eaten by the spell!?
It takes a truly twisted mind to come up with metaphysics that cruel.
Well played, you bastard!
7609087
*welp*
It continues!
Huh. So this is like Homestuck, eh?
You know, I'm now dreading the time when the much later loops will be coming into play. Those jokes in ALL won't be jokes here no more.
7609384 Yeah, it'll be a real hit to the...
funnybone.
I'm just sitting here...
Smiling...
Eagerly waiting the next update...
7610066 Your comments always fill me with such sadistic glee.
I don't understand what happened here...can someone explain how this happened?
7609776 oh you
A hit to the feels...
7610252
7609776
I find this Humerus.
I thought that the timelines just continued ad infinitum after being separated, branching out to create entire tragic timelines. The fact that the timelines shown here actually terminate afterward takes some of the pain out of it for me.
So, they don't just create a new timeline? That is bad.
For some reason I read all of 'opals' lines as granny from wakfu
Can someone please explain to me how the cat is able to talk? Given the Fluttersy exists, I know the ability to talk to animals is canon in Equestria. But last time I checked Sweetie Belle didn' have that ability.
PLEASE EXPLAIN!!!!!
7996069 Because it's not a cat.
7996816
What do you Mean Opal isn't a cat? What the buck is she then?
7996871 This story is a sequel to A little loopy. Recommended you read A Little Loopy first.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/227246/a-little-loopy
7996874
I did read it first, but it's been a while and I forget a lot of the details. Can you please just give me a straight answer? What's going on with the cat?
7997178 The cat is the main antagonist of A Little Loopy.
7997238
Oh, you mean Starswirl The Bearded? I guess that makes sense but how did Sweetie know that this early in the story?
7997536 It's been months since I wrote that chapter. I should have explained how, but now I don't know why. I'm a little busy these days between uni and work.
Why is this not being updated?
8073891 i.gyazo.com/e74ae2145549ef774dfd7d768947ed73.png
8082026 ah, well in that case, the wait is perfectly understandable. College is hell. Good luck on your assignment!
8082314 Thanks mate.
7997536
7997556
I inferred that she's been all over the place; that there's a significant timeskip between 7A.1 and 7A.2 for her to have been on "Your ‘quest’ to find your ‘Crusaders’ " as Starswirl puts it, and to get that cutie mark of …film reel? that she has here.
Sweetie Belle's Last Crusade.
8123197 That is correct, there's a timeskip. I added a sentence to hopefully make that clearer.
In my opinion, having these timelies die after two weeks makes them seem a lot less meaningful.
8130447
It kind of does, but there's a time skip here. It's been years since she lost them.
7609089
but does it really? at the end of the story spell wasn't finished, did it still 'eat' alternative timelines?
8512547
The story is never truly over. We don't know what happened to Starswirl. After all...that magic had to go somewhere...