Fast Ponies, Faster Fingers

by TheDriderPony

Loopy Loopy Lo~^/\/v~op [Heartwarming] [Dark] [Main Six] [Starlight] [Spike]

“And so, as you manage the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival, I hope you also take the time to enjoy yourself and try to make some friends. Signed, Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia.”

Twilight sighed from where she sat, slumped over so far she was barely still in the flying chariot. One gold-armored guard glanced back in concern but said nothing. The hot metal of the gilded edging scorched her fur, but Twilight paid it no mind. She had more important things to think about.

“You don’t have to read it every time Spike,” she said, “I know what it says.”

He shrugged and tossed the letter over the side. “I like to check. Maybe something will be different this time.” He frowned. “Though it wasn’t.” They both watched for a few moments as the errant paper drifted on the winds beneath them before being lost for good somewhere in the depths of the forest. In what seemed like no time at all, they arrived at a quaint little village. Ponies bustled to and fro, barely taking notice of the arriving chariot as they focused on their tasks to make the town spic and span for the upcoming festival.

That is, except for the small group that stood still, seemingly waiting for the chariot to arrive. Either through sheer luck (or the guard just deciding they were important), the chariot set down just so such that Twilight could step out where the group was standing. She turned back to the guards for a moment.

“Thank you Shield, Swift. You can head back now.”

Shieldbearer and Swift Arrow glanced at each other, surprised that she knew their names, before taking the order and leaving. Once they were alone, Twilight turned to the gathered group.

“Well. Here we are.”

“Again.” The orange pony spat.

Twilight nodded. “Applejack. How’s your family?”

Applejack sighed. “Alive, unmarried, and cutie mark-less. Same as always.”

“The same,” Rarity added.

“So I guess it didn’t work then.” Rainbow Dash stood on the ground with the rest of the group. It would be some time before she got used to being able to fly constantly again.

“No. It didn’t,” Twilight gave a wan smile. “But it didn’t entirely fail either. I received a letter this morning.”

Ears perked up from the gathered five. Something new? A change? Their hearts leaped to their throats.

“Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you all here.”

They turned as one to the unexpected, yet so familiar voice that came from behind them.

“Starlight?!” Pinkie gasped.

“The very same.” Starlight was younger than they’d ever seen her. Gone were the lines of stress and worry that had long-since been etched beside her eyes by the time they’d met before. She looked healthy, vibrant even.

“You broke the cycle?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not-”

“Not exactly,” Starlight interrupted her former mentor, current stranger. “I saw the spell just before it triggered. It was massive. Whatever locked you seven into this loop had some serious power. There wasn’t enough time to deconstruct it, but I was just quick enough to add my magical signature to it’s targeting matrix. And so, here I am!” She stepped back and posed. “Younger and smarter than ever and far less likely to start a cutie mark stealing cult this time around.”

“You’ll get sick of that youth soon enough,” Rarity scoffed lightly. “After the first nine or ten times, you start to miss being treated with respect by ponies a tenth of your age.”

“Wait,” Starlight glanced at Twilight, concern etched onto her features. “I know you didn’t have much time to explain before, but how many times-”

“We’ve lost count,” Twilight finished for her.

“I think we’re somewhere in the forties,” Applejack provided.

“My count’s at fifty-two,” Rainbow Dash countered.

“They really all start to blend together after a while,” Pinkie mused, “Especially the short ones.”

“Short ones?” Starlight asked.

A darkness entered Twilight’s gaze. “Times when we fail. When something happens and either Equestria gets destroyed or one of us dies.”

“Or, you know, we let it happen,” Rainbow Dash said. “Remember that time we didn’t even bother stopping Lun- I mean, Nightmare Moon? That was the quickest one.”

“Coldest too,” Fluttershy shivered at the memory.

“Well, there’s no need to worry any longer!” Fluttershy felt a strong hoof wrap around her withers. “Because this time, you have me on your side. No one knows time magic better than me!”

“Do you really think you can do it?” Rarity asked cautiously. “Break the loop, I mean?”

Starlight grinned with a ferocity she hadn’t felt in years. “I know so. I saw the spell structure. It was complicated, yes, incredibly so, but now that I’m not going to waste half my life on some pointless revenge quest, I have all the time I need to work on it.”

She turned to get everyone gathered in her gaze. “I know you’re tired, all of you. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be forced to relive your lives over and over. But that stops here. This is the final loop. You all are my friends and I refuse to leave you trapped here. And if anything tries to get in my way, well, I’d just like to see them try.”

Over the course of her speech, the group of future element-bearers had undergone a profound change. Half-hearted smiles grew larger and genuine, sullen postures straightened with renewed hope, and a brightness came back to their eyes that nary a pony had seen for years. When she was done, for the first time in ages, Twilight and all her friends felt as young as they looked.

Twilight grinned as new and surging hope swelled up in her chest. It had been the right move to trust Starlight with their plight. Never had she expected the spellcaster to find a way to come with them, but such was the power of friendship. Transcending even the bonds of rippling time.

“Alright girls,” Twilight declared, “If Starlight’s going to work on getting us free, then we’re going to have to do our best to give her the best circumstances to do so.”

“Are you suggesting a boss rush?” Rainbow Dash asked as she started to hover again. “After what happened last time?”

“It could work!” Applejack insisted as she took off her hat and held it to her chest. “We just took them all on too fast before.”

“She’s right,” Twilight agreed, “But with Starlight no longer an issue, there’s a lot more steps we can take now to save us trouble down the road. And for the villains we can’t prevent, we can prepare.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying it, but this actually sounds possible.” Rarity said, brushing aside a lock of her once-again vibrant and curled mane. “We might actually get free this time.”

“You will,” Starlight insisted, “It’s going to take time, but I guess you all are used to that by now.”

“But just because we have time doesn’t mean we should waste it,” Spike warned, “I say we get started now, fix as much as we can, and spend the hard-earned days of peace enjoying them with our friends and family.”

“Seconded,” Fluttershy agreed.

“Me three,” Pinkie added.

Twilight clapped her wings in excitement, then realized she didn’t have any and clapped her hooves instead. “Alright, then let’s get to it. Fluttershy, you send a letter to the Cloudsdale orphanage and see if they've taken in any fillies matching Cozy Glow’s description yet. Hopefully, we can start her on a better path early.”

Fluttershy, all smiles, nodded.

“I always saw a lot of potential in her,” Starlight mused. “Maybe raising a filly would be a potent additional incentive to find a solution. Though I'll have to convince Trixie once I meet her again.”

“Applejack,” Twilight continued, ”You go find Kevin. I think he’s using the Pokey Pierce disguise at the moment. If we can make a connection with Chrysalis before the Great Starvation, we might be able to shift their whole hive’s direction.”

“Can do.”

“I’ll head down to the Everfree and set up a teleport beacon in the old castle. We won’t waste any time with Luna.”

“Should we let her and Celestia know this time around?” Rarity asked.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Sometimes they help but others, well, you remember the loop where Cadence nearly died during the invasion.”

Her face paled. “Oh. Yes… We shall have to be quite delicate with them.”

“Wait a minute,” Rainbow Dash cut in as she swooped down to be the center of the group. “If we’re all preparing for future stuff, what about everything we’re supposed to do for the Summer Sun Celebration?”

Starlight scoffed. “Does it matter? You know everything’s going to be overshadowed by Luna’s return in any event. Besides,” she shot the pegasus a challenging look,” I seem to remember a certain friendship journal saying that you cleared the sky on that historic day in ten seconds flat.”

Rainbow Dash blushed. “Well, yeah, but I was young and cocky. And it was years ago.”

“It is years ago,” Starlight reminded her, “And when we pull this off, it’s the last time it will be.”

Author's Note:

Original Prompt: Here we go again
Original Contest Date: September 21, 2019
First Place

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

It would be some time before she got used to being able to fly constantly again.

That is a sentence with a lot of weight to it.

Speaking as a former Infinite Loops contributor, this was incredibly heartening. Starlight very well could help save everythig, especially since the issue doesn't lie outside of their universe. And those hints of the other villains' backstories were fascinating. Excellent work.