MLP Loops 203
203.1 (Wixelt)
Enter Player Twi #1: Single-Player Sparkle
Twilight Awoke, as she did in most loops, in the parks of Canterlot, atop a hill and beneath a tree, a familiar alleged story-book at her hooves. Blinking a few times, the nigh eternal Anchor of the Equestria branch took a moment to get her bearings, before frowning as her attempt to ping, and then to access her pocket, came up fruitless.
“Okay then. Another null loop.” She sighed, before gritting her teeth, “That’s 5 in a row now… Great…”
These were some of the dourest times, she considered. A Baseline loop without any access to looping capabilities, and therefore no way to know who was and wasn’t Awake. Though, she thought, if the last few loops were any indication, this might just be another lonely run. With that in mind, she shook her head, turning her attention back to the book. If this was going to be the usual, she might as well just go Baseline and wait for the chance that someone was Awake this ti-
[BOOK DISCOVERED – The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide]
“Wait.” Twilight raised an eyebrow in surprise as the message was injected directly into her train of thought, “What?”
[NEW CODEX ENTRY – The Elements of Harmony]
In moments, an information docket that the purple unicorn recognised as a heavily condensed version of the guide’s contents had found its way into… well, Twilight wouldn’t exactly call it her memories, but it was close in how easily she could access it. If she hadn’t already had multiple iterations of the book memorised, such a feature might have been incredibly useful.
That did give her pause for thought, though, and she delved into her own mind, searching for some information that might confirm the sort of loop this was. As if by command, the relevant details came forth to her, rather than the other way around. Immediately, her theory was confirmed.
Twilight Sparkle [Unicorn, Lv. 15 Mage]
Speciality: Magic Prodigy
Exp. to Next Level: 1650/3000
This ‘readout’, as it were, went on to show health and mana, specific spells available, reputations with specific factions or figureheads (Twilight noted that she was in the green with more or less every royal and noble grouping, whilst her standing with most others was a neutral white or warning orange), her inventory, as well as numerous other details, but the Anchor had seen all that she needed to for now.
“A loop with video game-like progression mechanics.” Twilight mused aloud, her eyes narrowing in thought, “For me, at least. Not exactly a first, I suppose, but…” she grinned. After the monotony, this was just the sort of variant she needed to distract herself, regardless of the others being Awake or not.
After deferring the invitation to Moondancer’s party (though she hated to let her non-Looping childhood friend down, she’d opted to play this close to baseline unless obvious opportunities to abuse the game system presented themselves), Twilight quickly made her way back to her tower. Pushing the doors open, she winced, the yelp and subsequent thud that followed betraying that her number 1 assistant was of the unawake, not Rarity’s husband variety. At least for now, anyway. Whilst this was disappointing, the Anchor lamented, it did make things relatively easy.
[Spike didn’t like that.]
No kidding. Well, time to test the mechanics, she supposed.
“Spike? Spike!” she frowned at the dizzied dragonling, genuine concern masking her features, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah…” the purple lizard groaned, trying to sit up, before his eyes widened in alarm, noting the gift impaled on his tailed, “Aw, man!”
“…Moondancer?” Twilight queried, to which Spike gave a sad nod, “Right. She’s having a party.”
“You knew about that?”
“I was invited on the way here, but I’m going to be too busy.” The unicorn shook her head, “On the other hand, if you want to go…”
“I was, but…” Spike she the gift, flinching back as an impaled plush bear dropped out of the wrecked package. His face fell a little.
“You were really looking forward to giving her that, hm.” Twilight visibly pondered, before smiling. Immediately, her horn sparked into life, and she withdrew a small pile of bits from her saddlebags, dropping them into Spike’s free hand, “Here. I could never forgive myself if I left you without a gift.”
[Spike liked that.]
Better.
“Wow, thanks Twilight.” The dragon’s spirits were immediately lifted, and he immediately began dashing to the door.
“Wait!”
“Ah-“ Spike froze, turning back with a look of confusion on his face, “Um, yes Twilight?”
“Would you mind sticking around for a moment,” the purple mare gave a smile, slightly cheeky grin, “I might need you to send a letter.”
“Uh…” Spike looked between the still open door and back at his elder sister figure several times, before letting out an audible sigh, his shoulders slumping, “Ugh, fine.”
“Thank you, Spike.”
“Okay, okay…” her assistant rolled his eyes, though it was somewhat in good humour.
Truly, a little kindness went a long way.
[Spike was added to the party.]
Oh? Twilight mentally hummed in appreciation. Well, she assumed that meant she could-
Spike [Dragon (Hatchling), Lv. 6 Servant]
Speciality: Flame Messenger
Exp. to Next Level: 1150/1199
Twilight deflated a little. She didn’t know why, but she’d been expecting a non-Looping Spike to have a higher level than that. Maybe it was an age thing, given that he essentially took of the video game role of an NPC in his unAwake state, but it was still slightly disappointing when she knew how much, even now, he was capable of.
And to be honest, calling him a servant, no matter how much she relied on him, was a little rude. She would have to see if there was any way of changing that further into the loop; perhaps when he became the hero of the Crystal Empire, Twilight considered.
In the meantime, though…
“Now, would you happen to know where that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies is?”
“Hm? Oh!” Spike immediately hot-footed it across the floor to a ladder, “Yeah, actually. I think I tidied that one up yesterday.” Now several steps up, he ran he finger along the nearest shelf, before pulling a familiar tome free, dropping it down to be caught by Twilight’s magic, “Here!”
[BOOK DISCOVERED – Predictions and Prophecies]
[NEW CODEX ENTRY – The Mare in the Moon]
“Ah! Thank you.” Twilight beamed appreciatively, before opening the book on the spot, making a deliberate show of reading it. After all, her current observations had made it abundantly clear that, regardless of whether it was quirk of the world or her own perception, she was likely the only one experiencing the world through this gameplay filter. If she wanted to go baseline, she couldn’t just tell everyone about it.
“Hmm… Mhm? Hmph. Alright!” the mare set the book aside, “That proves it. Spike? Take a letter. Direct to the princess.”
Noting that said scribe was ready, Twilight took a breath, and recited her baseline letter. It said everything she required, anyway. That said…
“…Preci… preci…” Spike frowned, giving the orating unicorn a despairing look. Said purplette pony sighed.
“P-R-E-C-I-P-I-C-E.” she spelt, the dragon staring for a second, before shrugging and continuing the letter. Twilight shook her head mirthfully, long since having realised how much time simply spelling the word saved, before carrying on herself. Very soon, as usual, the message was ready.
[LEVEL UP! Spike is now Level 7. His Scribing skill has increased.]
Blinking again at the fanfare, the instruments involved somehow bringing to mind the relevant dragon, that suddenly erupted within her mind, something that took a lot of effort not to betray to his unAwake self (who was still stood patiently with the completed mail) Twilight thanked her blessings she was able to observe the mechanics of this system so soon, even if it was only second hand.
She dreaded what might have gone down if this had first happened during one of Pinkie’s parties. Or with Pinkie herself, for that matter. The results, whilst more than likely bemusing, would be better observed with some prior perspective. In the meantime, there were other matters to deal with.
“Very good.” She gave a confident, slightly smug smile, very much like her baseline self would have done.
“Now?”
Of course, she had foresight and knowledge her baseline self could only have dreamed of and wasn’t nearly as naïve, something that gave her a significant advantage in many respects. She was, and had long since been, thankful for this.
“Yes, now.” Twilight turned, gazing out of the tower’s expansive bay windows, “If I’ve discovered this prophecy, I find it highly likely the princess has too. I need her to know I’ll help her however I can.”
There. As easy as pie.
[Charisma challenge failed.]
Wait. Twilight’s eyes widened. Come again?
“I mean, I dunno, Twilight.” Spike rubbed the back of his head nervously, “She’s kind of busy getting the Summer Sun Celebration ready. I really don’t think we should bother her with this until after it’s over.”
Naturally, this quirk would choose now to let itself be known. Twilight growled a little, causing her assistant to edge away a little. It looked like a more traditional route was going to be necessary.
“Spike, you’ve read the Mare in the Moon, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“A thousand years of the celebration, Spike!” Twilight turned, her gaze intense, “If Nightmare Moon returns, it will be during it! I was trying to be calm about it, but there’s really no time for delay.” She narrowed her eyes, “It’s imperative that the princess is told right away!”
“Impera… impera…”
“Important!”
“Alright, alright! I’ll send it!” Spike rolled his eyes, before taking a deep breath in and out, green flame erupting from his maw and sending the message packing. The dragon stretched, giving Twi a cynical look, “I wouldn’t hold your breath, though.”
[Spike thinks you’re being melodramatic.]
Dully noted, but she’d live with it. In 3, 2, 1…
As if on clockwork, Spike belched up a scroll emblazoned with Celestia’s royal seal.
“See,” Twilight made an effort to put on a little bravado, “I knew she’d want my immediate assistance in this.”
“My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence, and that I trust you completely, which is why…” Spike began reading, before his brow suddenly furrowed, “Huh…”
“What is it, Spike?”
“…which is why I would request your presence at the castle immediately to discuss this matter.”
Twilight did a double take. How in the world had she-
[Charisma challenge passed.]
Oh, so she couldn’t convince Spike to listen to her without talking down to him, but she apparently had the princess metaphorically eating out of her hoof. She mentally groaned, considering that it might be a reputation thing. No matter though!
“Spike, ready our bags.” She declared, “We have a royal meeting to attend.”
As Spike did a mock salute and ran off to prepare, Twilight grinned. This, whilst unexpected, had the potential to be quite interesting. If it branched out like some video games did…
Well, this was going to be far more fun than she’d first imagined.
Now, if only the others could Awaken. That would be the cherry on the cake.[/hr]
203.2 (Vinylshadow)
Twilight walked into Big Mac's bar and slammed her head into the sturdy wooden post set by the door for occasions when a Looper needed to smash their head into something that wasn't expensive.
Once she finished, she ordered a drink and sat down in a booth.
"Rough Loop?" Berry Punch asked, bringing her a cider with strawberry cream.
"Everyone had a skull collection, and it wasn't even a Fused Loop with Leman's Branch," Twilight said.
Berry raised her eyebrows. "Interesting," she said. "Any particularly interesting specimens?"
"Eh, dragon, pony, yak, changeling, cow, hippogriff, seapony... The usual. There were often expeditions to look for new skulls, but they usually didn't turn up anything," Twilight said. "Weird thing though: no other bones were ever found. It was only ever skulls."
"Odd, but given how this Branch operates, that's to be expected," Berry said.
"Hm?" Twilight asked, raising a brow.
"It's magic," Berry said dryly. "I don't have to explain anything."
Twilight rolled her eyes and ordered another drink.
203.1 continued (Wixelt)
Enter Player Twi #2: Achievement - Mare in the Moon
[NEW OBJECTIVE – Speak with Princess Celestia]
“Ah! Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student.” Celestia smiled as Twilight approached her throne, “So good to see you. I take it Spike is with you?”
“He’s waiting outside.” The mare in question nodded, bowing before her mentor, “I didn’t want to risk the possibility that you had intended this meeting to be private.”
Also, Twilight mentally grumbled, she’d failed another Charisma check, much to her chagrin, and thus Spike had refused to follow her in, claiming ‘She invited you, not me’. Honestly, she was going to have to work out how to tip Spike in her favour. So far it had seemed that her lack of victory against him was the result of his initial role in keeping her baseline self grounded. Maybe if Rarity Awoke, she might stand a chance…
“An understandable precaution,” the princess continued with a short laugh, apparently oblivious to her student’s inner thoughts, “But unnecessary. He should know by now that he’s always welcome in this court.”
His reputation with certain opinionated nobles said otherwise, Twilight mused as she consulted both her ‘menus’ and loop memories. Trust Blueblood to be so narrow minded…
“I’ll be sure to let him know.” The Anchor nodded, before putting on her best frown, “Regardless, you wanted to see me?”
“I did.” Celestia nodded, her smile faltering as she glanced to the side, “I take it by your letter you read the legends regarding Nightmare Moon?”
“Yes, your highness.” Twilight affirmed, her worried looks persisting, “It was… very concerning. All the evidence I’ve found points to this prophecy coming to fruition. The stars, the date of the Celebration…”
“And you thought to warn me.”
“Actually,” Twilight laughed with intent to convey nervousness, “I’d, um… assumed you already knew…”
“Oh?” Celestia seemed slightly surprised by this, but smiled nonetheless “You did?”
“You’ve been ruler of Equestria for almost as long as the Mare in the Moon has been a story…” Twilight sighed, “It would be naïve of me to think you hadn’t read of it in the past.”
“…of course.” Celestia paused for a moment, thinking, “It’s been longer, actually.”
“Hm?”
“My rule, it’s longer than the age of the story.”
“Wait, so you might have-“ Twilight stopped, managing to put forth the air of somepony having a sudden realization, “Oh. Oh my…”
“Yes, my student.”
“The sister of the day, she’s…” the purple unicorn stared at her mentor conveying a newfound appreciation, “…it’s you, isn’t it.”
“Indeed.”
“But that would mean that Nightmare Moon is…”
“My sister, Luna.” The solar monarch glanced away sadly, “Whom I had to banish to the moon to restore the balance her troubled mind sought to destroy.”
[Intelligence challenge passed.]
Joy.
“I…” Twilight shook her head, “I’m sorry. I’d assumed they were your ancestors at least, but…” she looked at that floor, “If Shining and I ever fell out, I can’t even begin to imagine how I’d feel.”
And she meant that. Aside from Nyx, her brother was one of the most important people in both her baseline and looping life. Breaking that bond… well, it wouldn’t be easy on either of them. She prayed to the tree she never did anything to break his trust.
“Hence your wish to aid me, I’d imagine.” Celestia seemingly suppressed her sadness for the moment, managing to focus at least somewhat on the matter at hoof, “That said, though I can confirm that the prophecy, at least as far as the literal sections go, is wholly likely to come true, I have another task in mind for you.”
“O- oh?” Twilight faltered, and like her feelings on Shining, she didn’t have to fake it.
“As part of the upcoming proceedings for the Summer Sun Celebration, I was intending to send one of my aids to oversee the preparations for the main event in the town of Ponyville.” The princess explained, before giving her student a knowing look, “However, given the importance the task now holds, I am seeing fit to entrust you with this task.”
“I…” the Anchor trailed off, allowing herself a moment to think things through. Clearly, the princess intended for her to go to Ponyville for the preparations, make friends and defeat Nightmare Moon. Birch, this really was going to be baseline. She’d been expecting the deviation her informed charisma had created to lead somewhere, but apparently, at least for now, she was being guided back toward the norm, albeit with greater in-loop foreknowledge.
“Something is still troubling you, Twilight. I can tell.” Celestia frowned with worry, “Please, speak your mind to me.”
For now, though, the obvious worries would have to do the trick for now. Maybe she’d pass another Charisma check.
“It’s just…” the bookish unicorn fixed the royal with a gaze of fear, “If your sister is truly your equal, then I’d feel better by your side to aid you than anywhere else. Please, could you grant me that?”
“I’m afraid I can’t.”
Well, so much for that. What, not even a fail message? Twilight gave the thought equivalent of a deadpan expression, letting her mild displeasure be known.
“You see, as far as my confronting my sister goes,” Celestia smiled, that warm, almost motherly smile that betrayed the wisdom of her years, “You’ll be right where I need you to be.” The monarch stepped down from her throne, kneeling to face her charge, “Ensuring the Celebration runs smoothly will be crucial to whatever happens next, and there’s no-one I trust or believe in more than my best and brightest.”
“You…” the addressed seemed shocked for a moment, before smiling back, “You really mean that?”
“I do.”
“Th…” Twilight, despite all her loops experience, was genuinely touched by the amount of faith her mentor, looping or not, had in her. It was almost enough to make her tear up at times, “Thank you, princess. That means a lot to me.” She nodded, a determined expression, “If it’s what you think is for the best, I’ll do it.”
“I knew I could count on you.” Celestia rose, a proud look masking her features, “This is a large responsibility you’re taking on, though. This shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
“Of course not.” The magic prodigy affirmed, a confident air about her, “I won’t let you down.”
“I’m sure you won’t.” the sun-maned alicorn beamed, before once again becoming rather serious, “Now, I hate to be pushy, but I’d think it best if you begin preparing to leave immediately. There will be a chariot ready for you at dawn tomorrow.”
“Naturally.” Twilight agreed, before turning to leave, “Oh, and Princess?” she stopped mid-step, hoof in the air, and turned back toward her mentor with a worried smile on her features, “Good luck.”
“And if it isn’t too much trouble, would you mind making some friends whilst you’re there?” Celestia called rather abruptly. Odd, but perhaps she’d simply forgotten to mention it before, Twilight mused. This was a non-baseline meeting, after all.
[OBJECTIVE COMPLETE – Speak with Princess Celestia]
[NEW OBJECTIVE – Travel to Ponyville to oversee Celebration preparations]
[ADDITIONAL OBJECTIVE – Make some friends (optional)]
Twilight giggled a little to herself. Optional indeed. Her baseline self would have leapt on that technicality, she was sure.
Celestia stared after her student, even as the throne room doors swung shut, obscuring her from view. Slowly, she took on a mildly undignified grin, such as a young filly might wear when excited.
“Luck will have nothing to do with it, Twilight.” The age-old mare laughed warmly to herself, “However, it will be a treat to see how you handle this variant.”
Celestia [Alicorn (Immortal), Lv. 226 Archmage]
Speciality: Stellar Manipulator
Exp. to Next Level: 32975/45200
“Ponyville, huh?” Spike raised an eyebrow, before grinning, “I hear the bakery there sells some amazing cupcakes.”
“Trust you to focus on the food.” Twilight chuckled as the pair crossed the palace grounds to where their arranged chariot was waiting for them, the early morning light casting long shadows over the polished stonework, “Though if you’re really that interested, the local farm, Sweet Apple Acres, is supposedly handling the banquet food.”
[Charisma challenge failed.]
Twilight almost did a visible double take. How in the branches did-
“Nah.” Spike shook his head, gagging a little, “I don’t really like apples. Too soft.”
The Celebration overseer blinked several times, before shaking her head rapidly. She’d puzzle how the buck that deserved to be counted as a skill check later.
“Dragon, right.” She said abruptly.
“Are…” Spike frowned, “Are you alright Twi? You’ve seemed a little out of it all afternoon.”
“I’ve… got a lot on my mind.” Well, she thought, it wasn’t really a lie.
“Really?” the dragonling continued to look worried, “If it’s bothering you of all ponies, it must be serious.”
“Believe me Spike, it is.” Twilight nodded, “This task, whilst itself relatively simple, must be completed with the utmost grace. The future of Equestria could depend on it.”
“Nightmare Moon?”
“Precisely. Although…” the looping pony leant across to her companion, “Please don’t go telling people that. There’s no need to cause an unnecessary panic.”
“Got it. My lips are sealed.” Spike saluted, but then seemed to frown, “But… if we’re going to be busy with the Celebration, where does the Princess’ request about making friends come in?”
Now, Twilight pondered, this was an interesting tipping point. She had no doubt Spike wouldn’t believe that she, from the perspective of baseline, would suddenly decide to get chummy with other ponies when it hadn’t previously been a priority. Even Celestia’s direct request couldn’t change his view of her that quickly.
However, that didn’t mean she had to follow the lines and take her lumps. Far from it, in fact.
“Look,” she said with a sigh, “As the princess’ student, it is my royal duty to follow her requests to the letter. To that end, it is imperative that the Celebration go as planned.” She gave Spike a flat, yet mildly apologetic look, “So whilst I won’t shy away from any potential ‘friends’, the fate of Equestria doesn’t rely on my meeting them. My obligations come first and foremost, and any trivial friend making must play second fiddle to that.”
There, still her staunchly isolated baseline self, but with enough margin to give her breathing room should any of the others Awaken. Just how she wanted it.
[Charisma challenge passed.]
“Finally!”
Twilight meeped, releasing she’d spoken aloud, and that Spike, who’s mouth was open as if he had been about to speak, was giving her an odd look.
“Um…” she quickly searched for an explanation in her loop memories, thanking Yggdrasil she found one quickly enough, “…that brain teaser’s been bugging me all week.” She laughed nervously, “Sorry.”
Spike stared at her for a long moment, before simply shrugging and stepping onto the waiting chariot that the Anchor now realised they’d arrived at. She sighed a little as she followed her assistant aboard, somewhat relieved a second challenge hadn’t come into effect.
This loop might be interesting and ripe for shenanigans, but it was far more testing than she’d first noticed.
At this rate, she was dreading dealing with some of her branch’s later obstacles. She suppressed a shudder. Time travel was either going to be a nightmare or a cakewalk, and it deeply concerned her that she couldn’t decide which one it was to be.
And that wasn’t even factoring in Pinkie Sense.
203.3 (Scorntex)
"Excuse me?" A familiar voice called out from behind her.
Sunset Shimmer turned, her attempts at helping Rainbow Dash prepare for the Friendship Games forgotten at the distinctive sound of Twilight Sparkle's voice.
Except she shouldn't have been there (or, in a more accurate way, she wasn't supposed to be there yet).
As she turned, she saw it was definitely the human Twilight Sparkle, trying to look inconspicuous and harmless, the magic draining device hanging around her neck.
"Sunset Shimmer?" she asked. Sunset nodded, numbly. Part of her brain was still trying to pick itself up off the floor. Another part was beginning to think certain, optimistic thoughts.
Slowly, with the movement of someone who wasn't used to smiling at all, Twilight Sparkle began to smile. "I..." she began, haltingly, "I have been and always will be your friend."
At which point Sunset's whole body spontaneously collapsed from shock. Pinkie would later start a small dance craze from trying to imitate it. Fortunately, being an experienced Looper, Sunset managed to recover with amazing speed, getting back to her feet, staring in shock.
She couldn't believe it. Every Loop, she'd been saying that to Twilight Sparkle, just as the other Twilight had to her. Just in case, one day... and in the thousands upon thousands of Loops since she'd taken up the system, she'd waited, to see if she'd get a reply which never came.
And here it was, finally. Another Looper. And it was Twilight. She grinned with an intensity that made Pinkie Pie uneasy, as she rushed over to Twilight, embracing the nervous teenager in a tight hug.
It was entirely within reason that she might have possibly made some manner of undignified squeaking noises, like Rainbow Dash seeing a new Daring Do book.
"I can't believe it!" She gasped, "it's you!"
"Err, yes." Twilight said, and something in Sunset's brain picked up on it. "It is."
Sunset released her grip, allowing the other girl to readjust her sweater and her glasses.
Then she looked at Sunset easily. Her grin slipped a little, and a dark thought started surfacing in the back of Sunset's mind. "What is it?"
"I'm sorry..." Twilight began, "it's just those two girls said to say that to you, and that you'd "understand", and now I'm beginning to wonder if they were pranking me..."
Sunset's joyous mood didn't so much vanish as burst into flame. She forced a smile onto her face. "What two girls were those?"
Twilight pointed behind herself. "They were just... oh, they seem to have vanished."
She blinked in confusion, nervously tapping her hands together. "I don't suppose you could explain how exactly everyone at this school already knows my name, could you?"
Sunset didn't answer. She was shaking furiously. A hand was gently placed on her shoulder.
"Err, Sunset, darling..." Rarity began, "is everything alright?"
"Twilight." Sunset said, with the slow and considered approach of someone who was having to fight the urge to scream louder than humanely possible, "could you describe these two girls to me?"
Trixie looked at Chrysalis. Chrysalis looked at Trixie. Then the two looked at the moving wall of fire that was a supremely furious Sunset baring down on them, a particularly sharp and altogether evil looking Keyblade in her hand.
"This was her idea!" They yelled, as Sunset loomed over them.
Trixie kicked up another cloud of red dust, watching it slowly waft back to the ground. She looked up at the Martian sky, and sighed again.
"Honestly. Some people just can't take a joke!"[/hr][/hr]
203.4 (Wixelt)
"Honestly, loops like this are kinda dumb, don'tcha think?" Rainbow grumbled as she and Twilight flew along, "I mean, look at this."
The rainbow mare glanced backward at the trail of black-ish smoke she was leaving in her wake, a phenomenon only made worse when she'd tried to perform a rain-boom.
"Look, I get that Yggdrasil decided to take a letter away from all our names, but..." Rainbow Ash scowled, "This is stupid!"
"Oh, sure. Names affecting talents." Twilight Sarkle rolled her eyes, mouthing off sarcastically, "Whoever could have predicted that."
"...if I didn't know you couldn't help it," Rainbow frowned, "I would slap you so hard-"
She was cut off by the sound of somepony playing a woodwind instrument, a certain Flutershy, pulling up alongside the aerial pair with her musical tool of choice against her lips. Taking a breath, she smiled.
"Is, um, everything alright?"
"Absolutely perfect." Twilight deadpanned, "Thank you sooo much for asking." the purple alicorn looked away with disdain.
"...rough day?" the butter pegasus gave a hum of concern.
"She's, heh," Rainbow rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "She's having trouble pushing through the sarcasm because her unAwake self did it without thinking, I guess."
"Really? Nooooo." Sarkle droned.
"...530411183066710818930311088717281675195796753471885372293096161432040..."
"...if I might be so prudent as to ask, just what in tarnation is Pinkie doing?" Appleack sighed, confusion masking her face as she watched the pink party pony manically scrawling endless, seemingly random numbers on yet another chalkboard, the number she had acquired now surpassing a hundred at least.
"Would it help if I told you her name this loop is Pinkie Pi?" Arity answered, only briefly looking up from her own mathematical notes, "Without the 'E' on the end?"
"Oh... OH." the orange farmpony shook her head, "Poor mare. Darn forsaken missing letters..."
"Actually, I think she's enjoying it."
"Come again?"
"She's grinning like a madmare, darling." Arity smiled, "Its times like this that I remember just how smart she actually is."
"Ya don't say," AA rolled her eyes, "Well, now that this is all cleared up, I figure I head back to- ack!" the country mare seemed to briefly choke without any warning, coughing for a few moments.
"Something in your throat, dear?" the onlooking fashionista smirked.
"I hate this loop..."
203.5 (Wixelt)
*snicker*
“It’s not funny, Spike.”
“Really? Not even a little?”
Twilight took pause at the dragon’s question, before shaking her head.
“No, not in the slightest.” The purple unicorn frowned at the unAwake lizard, taking great care not to poke someone in the eye with her umbrella hat, “The fact that the Elements of Harmony, for some Celestia knows reason, manifest as novelty hats, is not in the slightest bit humorous.”
Okay, maybe it was a little funny, given her looping perspective, but she wasn’t about to give her assistant that satisfaction.
“You can say that again.” Rarity groaned, pacing back and forth with great anxiety, before glaring upward at the fabric crafted roast turkey her mane was stuffed inside, “This monstrosity is absolutely horrendous.” She paused, looking thoughtful, “Though with the right materials from my pocket…”
“Yeah, I gotta agree with Rarity on this one.” Applejack nodded, giving the propeller cap that had replaced her favoured Stetson her best unimpressed look, “Looping or not, this just don’t go.”
“Well, I…” Spike raised a claw, “Um… Pinkie Pie doesn’t seem to mind.”
“Abso-tivi-lutely!” the unAwake party mare in question beamed up at her rubber chicken adornment, occasionally tilting her head, giggling as the fowl flopped back and forth, “This thing’s amazing!”
“I…” Twilight shook her head, “don’t think you should be using Pinkie as a benchmark for this.”
“Why not?” the dragonling cocked a curious eyebrow, “She seems alright enough.”
“Boingy boingy boingy boingy…” Pinkie continued ‘playing’ with her Element. Spike watched her for a moment, before shaking his head.
“Alright, alright. I see your point.”
“Good.” The bearer of Magic smiled, before glancing around, “Now, where are Rainbow and Fluttershy?”
“Well, given that they’re not Awake,” Applejack mused, still obviously somewhat unhappy, “Ah’d say Flutters is cowerin’ somewhere because her hat is a squeaky tree, whilst Rainbow’s probably off boasting ‘bout how awesome her shark hat is.”
“So, business as usual, then?”
“Pretty much.”
203.6 (Wixelt)
“Hello there.”
The wedding attendant looked up in surprise, blinking in confusion at the newcomer before her. She tilted her head to one side, mane swaying a little, as she attempted to take stock of the fact that the queen of the Changelings was standing before her.
“O- oh…” she stammered, levitating her clipboard up to look at it, “Hello, um, miss. Are you on the guest list?”
“No, actually.” Chrysalis glanced sideways, “I wasn’t invited.”
“…uh,” the attendant was taken aback, “Then, if I might ask, what are you doing here?”
“I’m taking over Equestria.”
The unicorn’s eyes widened, and she dropped her magic in shock, sending her guest list clattering to the floor.
“What?!” she took several hoof steps backward, eyes dilated with fear, “I… what?!”
“You heard me.” Chrysalis smirked, rolling her eyes, “I have intent to replace Princess Cadance at the wedding, drain all her fiancée’s love, and then use that power to best Celestia and take control.”
“…that’s… oddly forthcoming of you.” The attendant laughed nervously, looking around subtly in hopes of finding a royal guard she could call over, but finding none, as if they’d all simultaneously gone on their lunch breaks.
“Well, you know.” The shapeshifter rolled her shoulders in the imitation of a shrug, “Thought it might be fun, you know. See how far I get with complete honesty.” She frowned, “It’s a little dull, though.”
“I- I’d imagine so…”
“It has worked, though.”
“…I- wait.” The attendant blinked, unsure if she’d misheard, “What?”
“Ah, Princess Chrysalis. There you are!” a familiar voice sounded, and the clipboard wielding unicorn turned, coming face to face with Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s personal student and younger sister of the groom. The purple unicorn grinned at the changeling, “You don’t intend to keep the court waiting, do you?”
“Of course not, Twilight.” Chrysalis affirmed. Twilight nodded, before heading off again. With a knowing smile, the Changeling looked back at the shocked attendant, “Yes, I suppose, in spite of the boredom it might afflict, such efforts are not without their reward.”
The wedding attendant’s mouth opened and closed, unable to form words out of sheer disbelief. Before she could manage, the Changeling monarch, and now Equestrian ruler, continued.
“Of course, how was I to know Celestia was looking to take a few hundred years holiday.” She laughed, “Lucky coincidences without her being Awake, it seems, even given the loopy nature of this world…”
The attendant slumped onto their flank, their mind weighed down by the absurdity of the matter at hand. Shaking her head, her new superior trotted on past, leaving the glorified secretary to her own thoughts.
“Now if only Trixie would wake up. Then this day would be perfect.”
203.7 (Wixelt)
“Oh, my gosh, I think I did it!” Twilight grinned with relief at her schedule, “If I can find a way to read The Art of Invisibility Spells and Thornhoof's Brief History of Canterlot at the same time, that could leave me a half-hour scheduling window!” she blinked, glancing around as the wind (wait, what?) inside the library began to pick up, “Huh?”
She was greeted by a sudden and intrusive sequence of magic explosions, nearly blinding her. Yelping as spots pulsed in her vision, the purple mare rubbed her eyes, before searching for the cause of the explosions.
…only to come face to face with a rather bedraggled looking version of herself. Staggering to her feet, the other her locked eyes with her for a moment, before frowning with worry.
“Twilight, you’ve got to listen to me! I have an urgent message from the future!” the newcomer grimaced, glancing around nervously.
“The future?!” Twilight, or rather the present Twilight, staggered back, eyes wide in alarm as she took in her self to come’s appearance, “What… what happened? Was there some epic pony war I need to prevent?”
“Actually, I’m from next Tuesday.” The future Twilight deadpanned, “But that’s not important right now!”
“I can’t believe time travel is really possible!” her current self babbled excitedly, “How did you, I mean, I figure it... why is there another light?” she trailed off, looking warily at the second lightshow beginning behind the first, though both purple unicorns had the good sense to look away to spare their vision.
“Waaaaait!” there was a shout, as a familiar pink pony, dressed in a garb like that of the future Twilight, emerged from the glow, what appeared to be a picnic basket under one leg.
“Um…” both Twilights matched, “Pinkie?”
“Yeppers!” the party mare nodded, before fixing her time’s Twilight with a knowing look, “You forgot your lunch!”
“I…” the future Twilight began, before shaking her head, “I was literally going to be 30 seconds, Pinkie.”
“So?” the earth pony giggled, “Doesn’t mean you don’t have time for a luncheon.”
“…okay, okay. But just one cupcake, alright? I’m very busy.”
“Only one?” Future Pinkie pouted, “But I made them just for you.”
“Speaking of busy.” The present Twilight raised a concerned eyebrow, “Isn’t there, um… something urgent you wanted to tell me?”
“…oh, of course.” Her later self nodded, before becoming very serious, “I need to tell you not to-“
“Twilight?”
“Ugh.” The future Twilight groaned, before turning to her poofy haired companion, “What is it, Pinkie?”
Pinkie gestured downward. Following her motion, both Twilights looked down to find a familiar glow rapidly surrounding both time travellers. Future Twilight scowled, giving the somewhat bemused Pinkie Pie a dirty look, “You sneaky nerf her-“
With a flash, both temporally displaced ponies vanished, leaving only scorch marks in their wake.
“I… I…” the remaining Twilight stammered, knees buckling, “…what the buck just happened-“
At which point she promptly Awoke, and groaned loudly.
“Oh, Pinkie’s just going to love this…”
203.8 (Awesomedude17)
Cheerilee stared at the massive fort of boxes, then at a massive fort of pillows, then at a massive fort of books (no doubt causing the catatonic Twilight Sparkle to start hyperventilating into a paper bag), then at a massive fort of snow (even though it’s summer), all facing each other.
No doubt realizing what the CMC were about to do, she walked into her classroom and prepared to grade papers, while putting on noise isolation earmuffs.
They were made useful within 20 seconds.
203.9 (Wixelt)
"And what the hay do ya call this?"
Apple Bloom winced mid-step at her elder sister's voice, slowly turning face her unAwake sibling, though the fresh coating of tree sap made it somewhat of a chore.
"Um, yeah sis?"
"Have ya'll been Crusadin' again?" the older mare frowned with disdain, "Didn't ah tell you and the girls to find a less... messy hobby?"
"Ah..." Apple Bloom began, before glancing upward. Slowly, a grin spread across her face, "Ah've got no idea what you're talkin' about, sis."
"Don't tryn' pull the wool over my eyes." AJ peered at her younger sister with a deep scrutiny, "Ya'll are covered in sap."
"No ah'm not."
"Ah can see it, Bloom."
"Don't know what you mean." Apple Bloom shrugged, "Sap Radar didn' go off."
"...what in tarnation is a Sap Radar?" the orange farmpony raised an eyebrow. Immediately, her sister gestured upwards once more, the presence of a rectangular, metal box, lights flashing, bolted into place above the door, becoming apparent, "...huh. Guess that's a Sap Radar."
"So ah can't be covered in sap, 'cause it didn' go off, ya see." Bloom grinned knowingly, "Now if you excuse me-"
"...Apple Bloom. Ah don't know how, but ah'm accusin' you of getting sap past the Radar."
"I admit to nothing."
203.10 (Wixelt)
“So…” Cadance blinked, tilting her head slightly, “Shining is…”
“Yeah.” Twilight, as one of the only two apparent Awake loopers present, the aforementioned royal guard captain being the other, gave a hum of acknowledgement, “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, but…”
The pair watched as Twilight’s elder brother pirouetted past, a purple tu-tu fixed around his waist.
“He didn’t exactly give much warning.” The love monarch nodded, her eye twitching slightly, “You know, you’d think dropping your career as a royal servant to take up ballet would be something you’d discuss with your princess fiancée first.”
“I’m just surprised at the number who followed him.” Twilight snorted, as around a dozen former guards danced after her sibling, matching his movements with various degrees of skill, some wobbling whilst others soared, “I never took the royal guard crowd for dance enthusiasts.”
Cadance opened her mouth to respond, likely some comment about how being a royal protector probably required a degree of finesse, knowing her, but was interrupted as Shining Armor himself cantered over to the pair, a gleeful smile on his face.
“So, love.” He smirked, “Would you care to join us.”
The was a long moment of silence as Cadance stood there, stock still, eyes wide and staring into space. Eventually, though, something seeming to snap, and she shook her head vigorously.
“Nope. Nope nope nope.” There was a flash of green, and the pink princess was replaced by the visage of the Changeling Queen, “This isn’t worth stealthing for. Not after last time.” Chrysalis quickly turned on one hoof and quick marched away. “Nope nope nope…”
“Um,” Shining stared after the looping imposter for a few seconds, before turning to his sister and Anchor, a look of mild bemusement masking his features, “…last time?”
“I…” Twilight giggled, before grinning, “I didn’t want to say anything, but there was a loop where an unAwake version of you took up ballet.”
“And Chrysalis was Awake for it, I take it.”
“It…” Twilight looked in the direction of the still retreating shapeshifter, before looking back again and nodding, “…got out of hand very quickly.”
“I dread to imagine.” The former captain chuckled nervously.
“I have photographs.”
“…of course you do.”
203.1 continued (Wixelt)
Enter Player Twi #3: Friendship is Mage Stats
[OBJECTIVE COMPLETE – Travel to Ponyville to oversee Celebration preparations]
[NEW OBJECTIVE – Check on each Celebration Organizer – 0/4]
[ADDITIONAL OBJECTIVE – Make some friends (optional)]
“Huh?” Twilight snapped out of her daze, a small claw tapping her on the shoulder. Blinking, she rose, stretching as best she could within the confines of the airborne chariot without blindsiding her assistant, “Yes, what is it Spike?”
“We’re here.”
“…really?” the Anchor, genuinely surprised, leant over the side of the chariot and, yes, sure enough, the house tops of Ponyville were well within sight, “That was awfully fast.”
“Not at all,” Spike shrugged, the unAwake dragon only briefly looking up from the checklist Celestia sent him every loop, “You sort of zoned out after I mentioned the library we’re staying in. Guess you were thinking or something…”
Ah, so that was what browsing through ‘game’ menus looked like from the outside. She could imagine that could be a little… well, disconcerting for anypony watching. Her face faltered a little despite the bemusement this brought. Had she really been in there for that long? She mentally remanded herself for getting so engrossed. This was all very interesting, but it would be for naught if she simply kept her nose in the metaphorical books the entire time. She’d be able to analyse this properly later.
[LOCATION DISCOVERED – Ponyville]
…and that included the world map she’d somehow missed, it seemed. For the time being, though…
“Right. Thank you, Spike.” Twilight nodded with a smile, before feeling a sudden slight vertigo as the chariot began to descend, “What’s our first order of business?”
“Let’s see…” the scaled scribe peered at his parchment, nodding to himself, “Sweet Apple Acres. Like you said, but I think we can do this in whatever order we want.” He rolled his shoulders again, “This list isn’t exactly fussy.”
“Might as well do it in the given order, then.” There was a sudden bump, wheels and hooves impacting with the ground, and the purple mare smiled, hopping out onto the ground the moment the vehicle drew to a stop, “Best not to keep anypony waiting, either. Thank you, sirs.”
The royal guardsponies snorted in appreciation.
“Now…” she continued, before trailing off, noting something pink and bouncing in her peripheral vision.
[Pinkamina Diane Pie was added to the party.]
…that quickly? Twilight watched as the pink earth pony drew closer. Maybe she wasn’t the only one Awake after all. Giving her best friendly smile, she nodded as Pinkie arrived.
“Hi Pi-”
*GASP*
And just like that, Pinkie disappeared, shooting off like an excitable rocket.
[Pinkamina Diane Pie has left the party.]
Well… ash be damned, the Anchor mentally cursed, maybe she wasn’t Awake after all.
“Um…” Spike stared after the retreating pink whirlwind for a moment, before giving Twilight a curious look, “What was that about?”
“I’m… not sure.” Twilight lied, giving her best look of concern. Hopefully the check system wouldn’t come back to bite her in the flan-
[Charisma challenge failed.]
“Come on, Twilight. I know that look. You’ve met her before, right?”
Buck.
“Well, eh heh…” the mare laughed nervously (really, Spike’s level of perception for such an apparently low level was beginning to be a little worrying), “I might have…”
“I knew it!” Spike grinned, “You almost said her name too.”
Damn her and her presumptions.
“Look.” Twilight took deep breath, and gave her assistant a flat look, “I don’t know where I know her from, okay? I just know her. Probably met her at a function or something…”
The dragon, seeming to buy this without need of another check, gave his adoptive elder sister an ambiguous look, before rolling his eyes.
“So, Sweet Apple Acres?”
“Sweet Apple Acres, Spike.” The unicorn chuckled, beginning to set a good walking pace. Leaving her body to walk automatically, Twilight took a mental step back again, slipping into her menus. If she knew systems like this, and she prided herself on knowing a lot of things, Pinkie’s presence in the party should have left an echo, even if she was no longer- Ah, there it was.
Pinkamena Diane Pie [Earth Pony, Lv. 13? Pinkie Pie]
Speciality: Party Planner
Exp. to Next Level: 1525/2600
…what. Just… just what.
How did that work?! An ambiguous level, a specified class, an- No… Nope. Not happening.
Twilight shut herself down, pushing the thoughts aside, where she wouldn’t stress over them. No way, Sparkle. Not tugging on that particular thread again. Not after so long. Just let it be.
It’s just Pinkie Pie, looping or not.
“Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Spark-”
“Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin’ your acquaintance. Ah’m Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends!”
“Friends? Um…” Twilight tried to get her shaking foreleg under control, but as a null loop was won’t to be, she had to rely on the still giggling Spike to aid it’s stop. Giving him a thankful expression, she shook her head. Say what wanted about Applejack’s baseline self, she couldn’t be faulting for not having enthusiasm, “Actually, as nice as that would be, I’m just here to oversee the preparations for the Celebration. I’ve been told your farm is in charge of food?”
“We sure are.” Applejack beamed, “Would ya’ll care for a sample?”
Normally, the answer would be yes, Twilight considered. But, then again, without looping powers she’d almost certainly get indigestion from the large helpings of pie. So maybe, with a view to trying something new amongst this loop’s quirks, she’d try something a little different.
“I appreciate the offer,” she smiled warmly, “But I’m really in a hurry. I’ll be sure to try some of what you’ve prepared tonight, of course, but for now I just need to know it’s ready. Besides,” she gave a knowing look past the farm mare, to where a group of Apple Family members were gathered, likely performing taste tests of their own, “I’ve heard about your family’s reunion tradition. I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“We’d more than welcome ya, but ah can see where ya’ll are coming from.” Applejack nodded appreciatively, “Food’s almost ready to go. Should be more than enough for tonight once we’re done.”
“Thank you.”
“That said, even if ya’ll aren’t stickin’ around,” the orange earth pony grinned, gesturing to a small box close by her, “Maybe you’d like a snack for the road?”
Twilight was about to assure her friend’s non-Looping self that they’d been fine, when she felt a light tug on her mane. Sighing, she turned, coming face to face with the pleading eyes of her dragon companion. Not wanting to find out what failing a Charisma check made against her would do, she sighed.
“Actually, that might be nice.” She affirmed, “I’d hate to be greedy, of course…”
“Wouldn’t dream of accusin’ ya.” AJ chuckled, producing a pair of apple pie slice wrapped in cloth, handing one to each of her guests, “As ah said, we got plenty to spare.”
[Picked up 1 x Apple Pie.]
Twilight looked over the pie, appraising it’s ‘game value’, to an extent. Huh, apparently it restored some actual physical health. More than just a snack, then. She’d have to keep that in mind.
You know, in case she fell off a cliff somewhere between here and Rarity’s…
…or got hit by a speeding Rainbow Dash, of course.
“Here, let me help y-” Rainbow Dash immediately snapped out of her giggles, staring blankly at the absurd scene laid out before her, “…I just hit you at full pelt and…” she raised an eyebrow, “…you just got out a slice of pie.”
Twilight looked at the pegasus, then back at the pie, then repeated the motion.
“It’s a comfort food.” She deadpanned between bites, shaking off the water dripping from her fur.
“You didn’t even, y’know, hesitate or anything. It was just wham, and then… then pie!” Rainbow blinked with disbelief, turning to give Spike a questioning look, and balking when he simply shook his head in return.
“I…” the chromatic mare backed off a little, a look of genuine worry forming, “I didn’t hit you in the head, did I?”
“I’m fine.” Twilight assured her, “You’re Rainbow Dash, right?”
“Um, yeah?”
“Aren’t you in charge of clearing the clouds?”
“I-” Rainbow’s eyes widened, “Oh, yeah! I guess I am. I think I’ll, uh, go and do that now. I… I hope you feel better soon!”
With a flash of rainbows, the rainbow flier shot off to do her job, and probably to put as much distance between herself and the unicorn she might have given brain damage to, even if only temporarily.
Twilight simply gave a smug smile. She honestly hadn’t expected that to work. Sure, it was a little cruel, but it got Rainbow to do her job.
“You… you don’t actually have brain damage, do you?” Spike frowned with concern at the mare’s expression, “Because, you know, Ponyville does have a hospital-”
“Don’t worry, Spike. I’m fine.” Twilight assured him, “I was actually just getting the pie out when she hit me.” Which was true, even if it had been slightly premediated, “I didn’t want to risk anything else happening before I could eat it.”
Spike tilted his head to one side, an oddly thoughtful expression masking his features, before-
[Charisma challenge passed.]
Great. Now, when was she going to get some other type of-
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 16. You have 1 Skill Point to spend.]
“Gah!” Twilight jumped backward, losing her balance as she was effectively blindsided by an appropriately epic orchestra piece, violins sending her sprawling.
*thud*
“Twilight!”
“I’m… I’m alright. I just lost my balance…”
[OBJECTIVE UPDATED – Check on each Celebration Organizer – 2/4]
“B- beautiful…”
Twilight rolled her eyes with amusement as she watched her aide slip into a lovesick state as they stepped into the town hall, where a certain marshmallow unicorn was perfecting her craft. Some things just never changed, it seemed, even in a loop such as this one. She took comfort in that.
“Yes,” she smirked subtly, “the decorations are spectacular, aren’t they? I’d heard there was a quite a talent behind them…”
“Not the décor, her!” Spike pointed in Rarity’s general direction, where the mare in question was fretting over ribbons, before adjusting nervously, “Are my spines straight? How do I look?”
“Marvellous, darling.”
Twilight checked back to the fashionista with surprise, finding that, much to her own personal embarrassment, their conversation hadn’t been all that quiet on this occasion. The unAwake mare in question threw her mane back elegantly, before smiling, even as a certain dragonling turned beet red with shock.
“My apologies,” she spoke with the elegance Twilight often expected of her, though there was something else as well. Something the studious mare, even with her looping experience, was struggling to place at first glance, “I was ‘in the zone’ as it were.” She smiled, “Now, what, pray tell, may I do for the pair of you. Rarity is at your service!”
“Well, I can’t speak for my assistant here,” Twilight gave Spike an amused look, the dragon looking away, though unable to hide a slightly guilty smile, “But as the personal student of Princess Celestia, I’ve been dispatched to ensure all the preparations are in order.” She looked around with a degree of appreciation, “Although, I don’t think the decorations need be worried about. You’ve done a wonderful job.”
“Why thank you, my dear…?”
“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. And this is Spike.”
“Well, Miss Sparkle, I do try my best.” Rarity beamed happily, “This most special of occasions deserves only the finest wares, after all.”
“That it does.” Twilight affirmed warmly. Further words might have been spoken, but a light, attention seeking coughing echoed from the purple mare’s side. Stepping forward, and apparently (much to the resident Anchor’s curiosity) having recovered from his initial embarrassment, Spike gave Rarity the smoothest smile he could manage. Really, it came out as a little awkward and cute, but Twilight had to admit that her little brother had his own brand of charm, Looping or not.
“Um, so…” the purple and green lizard laughed lightly, his nerves evident, “Could I… I mean, um, we…” he lifted his head, trying to look the white mare in the eyes, “Treat you to lunch?”
[TIP – Overuse of consumables, notably food items, can cause a variety of short-term debuffs and long-term effects that are best avoided.]
So just a fancy way of saying ‘That cake will make you ill and/or fat’, then. Twilight wasn’t sure whether she should respect or be annoyed at the system’s bluntness. Or the lack of Charisma check, assuming she just couldn’t see it because it wasn’t hers.
“Why, what a gentleman. I’d be delighted to join the pair of you.”
And speaking of being blunt…
“Actually, we’re very busy at the moment, I’m afraid” Twilight once again wore her best apology face, “There’s a lot to do before the celebrations truly get underway.”
Spike’s face fell almost immediately, the sadness his slumping form emanated almost palpable. And, for a second, Twilight thought she caught Rarity’s brow furrowing, but it was so subtle it was hard to pinpoint.
Ponyfeathers. The things she did for her family…
“…but, we are a good deal through arrangements,” she sighed, giving her draconic companion a look that said, quiet clearly, ‘You owe me for this’, a maelstrom of happy nodding being the response she received, “I’m sure I could carry on solo if the two of you want to carry on ahead.”
“How gracious of you,” Rarity giggled, “Such a mature and understanding young lady.” She gestured somewhat directionally, “You’ll have to stop by my boutique later, so I can repay you.”
“Thank you for offering, but there’s really no need.”
“Tosh. I insist. It’s the least I can do for depriving you of your well needed assistant.” The clothes pony turned her gaze to the waiting dragon, who was still visibly excited, mouthing things along the lines of ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’ to Twilight whenever there was a clear moment, “Now, did you have any place in mind, or would it be prudent to rely on my own local knowledge.”
“Well,” Spike began as the two began to walk, side by side, to the exit, “There was this one restaurant we passed on the way here…”
[Spike has left the party.]
There was a creak and several knocks as the doors swung, the pair crossing into the outside, leaving the local Anchor to her thoughts.
Stretching slightly, Twilight began to prepare to once again sink into her menus. She had a little time before she would normally be at Fluttershy’s, being significantly ahead of the baseline schedule, so perhaps she would take this moment to look at that map she apparently had; perhaps assign that Skill Point-
Twilight’s thoughts were cut off as the doors swung open slightly again. She blinked, before turning to face them.
“By the way, Twilight,” Rarity raised an eyebrow back through, “I forgot to mention before. I imagine you’re visiting Fluttershy next. Correct?”
“Yes, actually. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I thought you deserved to know she’s… well, saying she’s quite shy is a gross understatement of her demeanour.” The white unicorn gave a worried frown, though there was an odd… humour behind it, “Just be careful not to startle her. Without anypony to Anchor her, she can be something of a shrinking violet.”
Twilight had to prevent herself from doing a double take, so she didn’t get whiplash.
“As a matter of fact,” Rarity grinned smugly at her Anchor’s reaction, “I do believe I’m feeling a little loopy myself. Tata, now!”
*SLAM*
The royal student stared blankly at the once again shut doors, her eye beginning to twitch ever so slightly.
Rarity was Awake. And not only was she Awake, but she’d probably been Awake for a while and had been hiding it; her behaviour made that clear. She’d stolen her husband, though not Awake himself, away for a meal. A meal that Twilight had no doubt Spike would insist on using her bits to pay for.
In other words, Rarity had stolen her assistant and was making her pay for his down time.
If Twilight hadn’t been so impressed at the mare’s patience in this, she might have been irked by her long-time friend. As it stood, though, she was merely bemused.
Of course, as far as retaliatory shenanigans were concerned, this meant war.
203.11 (DrTempo, lord Martiya, Jeanne Summers, and Callii) (Winx Club/MLP Fused Loop)
As her most recent Fused Loop drew to a close, Sunset Shimmer wrote in her journal.
"What are you doing?"
Flora, the anchor of the Winx Club Loops, walked over to Sunset, who showed her the journal page in response. Flora glanced over the words. "Right, now I remember you mentioning this. You wrote a journal about the very long series of Fused Loops you had before you eventually returned to Equestria."
"Yep. Even after I returned to Equestria, I figured I should keep writing."
"Mind if I take a look?"
Sunset handed Flora the journal, and she started reading...
From Sunset's Journal, Second Volume (Post-Return to Equestria Adventures):
My latest Loop is the Winx Club Loop, and I am surprised it's taken me this long to Loop here. This Loop is centered around fairies, who learn magic at a school called Alfea and fight various evils. The Anchor here is Flora, a fairy who is a master of nature magic.
Flora is actually somewhat famous in the Loops, as she gave the infamous MLE Dio Brando probably his most humiliating defeat yet-- one which culminated in Dio wearing a rather uncharacteristic pink dress; after that happened, stories of that feat spread among the Loopers. The feat is made even more impressive given that she had relatively little experience compared to other Loopers who've encountered him. When I told her this, she reminded me that it was an Unawake Bloom who actually put Dio in the dress-- but she had to take credit for the time she defeated Dio during a Mortal Kombat Loop. Considering that the fights there inevitably end with someone either badly hurt or dead, that's definitely an accomplishment.
When the Loop began, I attended Alfea along with Flora and her friends, and I did pretty well at learning the Loop's form of magic. Of course, the peace couldn't last, and it wasn't long before the first villains showed up: the witches known as the Trix.
The Trix-- three witch sisters known as Icy, Darcy, and Stormy-- aren't generally the main threat, instead allying with whatever bigger villain shows up. Unless, of course, they're Awake. Yep, the Trix are another case of friendly villain Loopers, though these days they aren't really 'villains' anymore. (Hilariously enough, befriending them when they're not Awake invariably culminates in their actions crashing the Loop.)
After the Trix were first beaten, they were sent to Lightrock-- a place intended to redeem villains by exposing them to enough sunshine, rainbows and fluffiness to make a G3 Loop back home look grimdark. Of course, all this did was drive the Trix further towards evil, and when the powerful dark mage Darkar came to break them out and give them a power boost, they went gladly.
Darkar's goal was the Realix, an artifact that would give him absolute power. In order to acquire it, one must collect the four pieces of the Codex from their various hiding spots-- Alfea, the witch school Cloudtower, the Specialist school Red Fountain, and Pixie Village-- to access the Realix realm, and then have a user of the Dragon's Flame, in this case Bloom, summon it. Due to the possibility that gaining its power could cause Darkar to Ascend, the Admins have long since replaced the artifact with an anthology of Fand's fanfiction, but the Trix still devastated their way into collecting them for Darkar. I saw the aftermath of their assault on Red Fountain, and it wasn't pretty. However, it was during the attack that Musa, another Winx Looper, Awoke.
A few months after that, the Trix were supposed to infiltrate Cloudtower to steal the second Codex piece-- but when the Winx and I arrived, prepared to stop them, we discovered that the Trix were Awake, and had been for a while. Just as the headmistress presented the Winx to the students, the Trix barged in dragging a near-catatonic Darkar, collected their honorary degrees for taking over the school after being expelled-- it is, after all, a school for witches-- and then Darcy kissed Musa and teleported away with her. (Her sisters took a picture to show Riven, Musa's current boyfriend and Darcy's ex, whom they hate.)
I admit it was somewhat cathartic to see Darkar beaten so harshly, and since the Trix's Awakening had essentially derailed the plot, I was kinda glad they'd Woken Up. Not to mention, the Trix are a lot nicer when they're Awake.
The only problem with the Trix being Awake is that their sudden change in behavior caused a lot of paranoia in pretty much every non-Looper and Unawake person. Aisha at one point confided in me that-- as she had no idea why Darcy and Musa suddenly couldn't keep their hands off each other-- she was concerned that the witch had cast a spell on her friend. When the Trix managed to patch up the relationship between Bloom and Sky's ex Diaspro, for whom they have something of a soft spot, and helped Timmy get through the end of his relationship with Tecna after she Awoke and broke it off, those out of the loop (pardon the pun) were filled with fear-- fear which only grew after the Trix got their revenge on Lightrock. They say they got the idea from a hero, but which hero could come up with THAT?
After Darkar’s downfall, we had a few months of peace-- until Valtor broke free from his imprisonment. Valtor is a sorcerer created by the Three Ancestral Witches (the ancestors of the Trix as well as the ones who destroyed Bloom's home planet) from a small piece of the Dragon’s Flame that had been tainted by darkness, and as such has immense power even in his initially weakened state, especially if he assumes his true demonic form. His ambition is to become all-powerful and conquer the whole Magical Dimension, free of his creators’ control, and to achieve that goal he moves through the worlds of the Magical Dimension, stealing and absorbing their magics to increase his own power while using Marked minions to sow chaos. I’m told the most reliable way to defeat him is at very short range, as, in Flora’s words, “Valtor sucks at melee”; however, as I... found out, this does not apply to his demonic form, which is powerful enough to shrug off most physical attacks.
Normally it is the Trix who free him from the Omega Dimension, the hellishly cold prison where the Magic Dimension's worst criminals are kept. As they were Awake, however, Yggdrasil compensated by having another group of witches-- a green-haired one named Rachel who bears an uncanny resemblence to Bloom, and two duplicates of herself created in some sort of accident-- free Valtor in their place.
Valtor is extremely slippery, and even after the whole Winx Club Awoke, their foreknowledge wasn't enough to prevent him from escaping several encounters. Still, we managed to catch him early on Eraklyon, where we and the Specialists had waited for him to try and recruit Diaspro. The recruiting, in the end, was what cost him; with the Trix as friends, Diaspro managed to resist her jealousy of Bloom and the temptation to accept Valtor's offer, and stabbed him in the chest with a shard of blue chalcedony before throwing him out of the window, right on the Phantoblade Riven happened to hold up as he fell. We captured the three Rachels soon after.
Shortly after Valtor’s downfall, we moved to deal with the Three Ancestral Witches, who had been reduced to spirits and sealed in the dimension of Obsidian by Bloom’s biological parents-- but not before they destroyed her homeworld and turned everyone, including her parents, into statues. Normally, the Winx wait a while before making their move; however, as the other Loopers had all Awakened by then, we decided to cut it short. We brought the Specialists as well as Daphne, Bloom’s older sister, who had been turned into a spirit by the Ancestral Witches and turned back by the Trix shortly after we defeated Valtor.
The first enemy we met on our way to Obsidian was Mandragora, a creature made of bugs who was once the keeper of Obsidian before being corrupted into a servant of the Ancestral Witches. I have to rely on Flora’s description for this, as Diaspro had convinced Riven to shell the gate area with insecticide bombs, and I hadn't gotten to see her before she'd been reduced to her component insects.
After that, we entered into Obsidian proper, and were faced with what seemed to be our own powers turning against us; fortunately, with forewarning the illusion was easy enough to dispel. I did not see what happened next, however, as once the Ancestral Witches appeared and noticed Daphne, they started to scream, and the echoes actually stunned me until after Tecna’s vacuum cleaner successfully defeated them. With the Ancestral Witches caught and waiting for disposal, it was easy to free the people of Domino and restore their homeworld.
Again, we had several months of peace, broken when the Wizards of the Black Circle attacked Alfea. The Wizards are a group of four warlocks who, long ago, captured almost all of the Earth's fairies in order to increase their powers, and made themselves immune to fairy magic (unless, of course, the fairy magic in question was Believix magic). In keeping with the tradition among visiting Loopers, as soon as they proclaimed their immunity to fairy magic, I used my Equestrian magic to turn them into frogs.
There was one more major threat in baseline that would occur after that, but the other Loopers decided to handle that one on their own, so I took the time to truly master my new powers as the Fairy of Twilight which means my light-based and dark-based magic is more powerful. I also learned to master the Charmix ability, which acts as a temporary boost to the fairy form I acquired, as well as have a chance to get to know the Loopers here a little better. We decided to take a vacation on Domino so that Bloom could spend time with her birth parents. I can understand that; my parents are different every Loop, so I cherish what time I do spend with them. During the vacation, I wrote down my impressions of the various Winx Club Loopers, which I have included below:
Flora is the most level-headed, an important quality in an Anchor. She told me she hates using guns, but Yggdrasil seems to enjoy putting her in situations which force her to use them, and she's acquired a frankly impressive collection of firearms. She also has the regeneration abilities of Hellsing-style vampires, which have made her nearly impossible to damage, even for someone like me, who has been Looping for a lot longer than Flora has. And I'd like to restate here that she managed to defeat Dio, not once but twice-- even if she says Bloom did the defeating the first time, she deserves plenty of credit, and I stand by that.
Tecna, Flora's wife, was the second to Awaken. She’s almost always calm and logical, but can be a bit hot-tempered. She and Flora initially had troubles in their relationship, as Tecna identified as heterosexual at the time, but eventually Tecna realized that she loved Flora regardless of gender, and the two have been happy since. Though I didn't attend their wedding, I'm told it was a wonderful, heartwarming event. Tecna is also absolutely brilliant, figuring out how to design her own Zords (as well as make them combine into a Megazord!) after a Power Rangers Loop. Unfortunately, a fifth Zord she was working on recently blew up and took out the contents of her Pocket along with it, but the fact that she managed to create one Zord is impressive, let alone five.
Musa is one of the most optimistic Loopers I’ve ever met; no matter what happens around her, her good mood, ability to have fun, and determination to see the best in people remain almost completely unaffected. She reminds me a lot of Ruby Rose, actually. Her optimism is possibly one of her greatest qualities, as it’s what brought the Trix to Loop and helped them redeem themselves-- and helped her begin a relationship with Darcy, who she might have considered her worst enemy in baseline. Now, instead, they have a hobby of making out around homophobes...
Bloom is one of the most powerful Loopers I know of, thanks to the Dragon’s Flame she carries, and, fortunately, one of the kindest. She also has what the local Loopers have called the temper of a dragon. Before I came here, I was told, she was waiting for Sky to start Looping so that they could resume their relationship, but certain events during Diaspro’s solo Loops as well as how long it took for him to start Looping have imperiled it. Hopefully, things will turn out alright in the end.
Stella has been Bloom’s best friend since baseline, as well as the princess of Solaria. She’s often bossy, and doesn’t always think things through, but is also a kind and selfless fairy. Just don’t stand between her and her loved ones. That protectiveness is something we share, and it allowed us to become good friends; I fully intend to keep the outfit she designed me for the next time I Loop in as a human.
Aisha, princess of Andros, is the final member of the Winx, both in baseline and as a Looper. She’s brave and very athletic; she also used to have well-hidden but damaging self-esteem issues due to a strict and lonely upbringing, but friendship and her time in the Loops have helped her immensely. She's engaged to Nabu-- originally, their parents arranged it, but after they took the time to get to know each other, they became a couple that not even death can break. And I mean that literally, but I'll explain how so later.
Timmy was the first non-Winx Looper to Awaken. He’s one of the Specialists (I'm still not sure what they specialize in, although I'd guess it's combat), and though he's nice and unassuming, he could always pull more than his own weight even in baseline, and as a Looper he's only improved. He was Tecna’s boyfriend in baseline, and had some trouble adapting when he started Looping and discovered Tecna was dating Flora, but in the end he got over it, and today they’re friends. I was very glad to hear that.
The Trix sisters, as I've mentioned before, were this Loop’s original main villains, and in baseline they were recurring and powerful opponents. At some point, they realized they had become their own definition of monsters, but continued being villains because they felt that there was no other choice… and the moment they started Looping, even before they realized the situation, they put themselves on the road to redemption. Now, they're close friends with the Winx and Specialists (and even more, in the case of Musa and Darcy), and are generally kind and helpful in their own way. They still remain people not to cross, however. When I think about it, they remind me of Loopers from back home, like Discord and Chrysalis... and even myself, I suppose.
Roxy is the princess of the Earth fairies, who met the Winx on Earth, restored her kingdom and people, and helped defeat the Wizards of the Black Circle. She’s a generous girl, and very strong-willed. Don’t tell her something is impossible, because she’ll go out of her way to prove you wrong-- as demonstrated when she rescued the Earth fairies early and wiped out the Wizards on her own, just so she could attend Alfea before she turned sixteen. That feat impressed the Trix enough for them to declare her their honorary fourth sister, and it impressed me too.
Brandon is Stella’s boyfriend and Sky’s squire (as well as his former body double, despite their distinctly different physical appearances). I’m told he’s a strong and generous man, but I can’t say anything from direct observation; somehow, I always managed to meet him while he was with Stella, busy demonstrating how much they love each other.
Diaspro was a very unexpected looper-- due to an initial misunderstanding with Bloom, Diaspro and the Winx Club developed an antagonistic relationship, though she rarely interacted with the group as a whole. She had a rude Awakening to the Loops and, I've been told, a comedy of errors that lasted around one hundred Loops as Diaspro kept missing the other Loopers and so had no chance to learn what was going on. The long run of Loops allowed her dangerously obsessive mindset to burn out, and though she burned out along with it, she's come out the other side stronger for the experience. 'Lapidary', she called it-- shaping her raw crystal into an enduring jewel. She's since become close friends with the rest of the Loopers.
Sky is the prince and heir to the throne of Eraklyon (or the king, or king and heir to the throne, depending on the Loop. It’s complicated). He’s a strong and skilled fighter, easily the strongest of the Specialists in baseline, but distinctly prone to act without thinking, which has gotten him into trouble a number of times. In baseline, he was engaged to Diaspro due to politics but became Bloom’s boyfriend, and now that he's finally Looping he would love nothing more than to resume their relationship; however, an incident with one Loop's sociopathic variant of him shook Bloom, and the sheer amount of time it took for him to Loop has put serious strain on said relationship. To his credit, he accepted that he and Bloom should take things slow, and they’re working their way toward something much stronger, healthier and more enduring than what they had in baseline; he was also properly horrified upon hearing about the Sociopathic Sky incident, and demanded to know if he'd gotten what was coming to him. (He'd been beaten to death with napkins by non-Looping ninjas before the Trix could unleash proper punishment, apparently.)
Nabu is best known as Aisha’s fiancé, to whom she had been engaged before his baseline self's death in battle against the Wizards of the Black Circle. He started Looping when she forcefully averted his passing, and, while they’ve not married (yet), they’ve been a strong and loving couple ever since. I love stories like this-- where the Loops allow the Loopers to live happier, better lives. Pyrrha and Jaune would sympathize with this, I have no doubt. Nabu is also a very powerful wizard in his own right, able to hold his own against one of the Wizards of the Black Circle in baseline, and athletic and a competent fighter to boot.
Daphne is Bloom’s older sister. She’s usually a ghost due to pre-baseline events; even though the Trix found a way to reverse that, she spends a good deal of time trapped in a lake when they're not Awake to rescue her. Contrary to my expectations from a former bearer of the Dragon’s Flame, she’s very calm, if extremely protective of her loved ones. Yggdrasil seems to enjoy placing her in dragon-related Loops, whether she's a dragon slayer or a dragon herself.
Helia is the latest Looper of this Branch to activate, and was rather surprised by the situation-- especially when he discovered that Flora, whom he dated in baseline was married to someone else. Still, he’s getting used to it, and remains a rather nice guy, if a bit broody.
Finally, there’s the Mystery Looper. We're fairly positive they're not hostile, and they may even be a friend, considering that they brought a wedding gift to Flora and Tecna-- but none of the local Loopers have any idea who they are. Perhaps I should ask around in other Loops, see if anyone has seen them in a Fused Loop.
Overall, this was an interesting Loop, and quite a memorable one. The Loopers here are so different from the people they were in baseline, and it just goes to show how the Loops change those who live in them. If at all possible, I'd like to return some Loop-- I greatly enjoyed my time here.
When Flora finished reading the entry, she commented, "That was a lot longer than the other journal entries you showed me."
Sunset shrugged. "There was a lot to go over."
"I'm glad you thought so highly of our Loop," said Flora with a smile.
"Of course. You and the others have been great, and I've had a lot of fun learning your kind of magic."
The two of them sat for a moment, enjoying one another's company, when Sunset spoke again. "So... have any interesting Fused Loops lately?"
Flora laughed. "Well, there was this one where the Specialists died fighting Valtor, and Ranma Saotome, who wasn't Awake, was their reincarnation. As in all of them."
"Now this is a story I have to hear!"
Flora grinned. "Here's what happened..."
Sunset smiled and listened to her friend's words. No matter what the Loops threw at her, she thought, she wouldn't trade this for anything.
203.12 (Evilhumour)(Anon e Mouse Jr)
Twilight took the cup of tea with her magic and smiled at her host, sitting on the balcony.
“And how is your library going, Belle?” she asked, enjoying this most quiet Loop as Gaston was already taken care of.
“Quite well,” she replied, watching as Chip, the curse broken a long time ago, walked off to Mrs. Potts to place the chipped cup down on the tray and left the two Loopers alone. “Thank you, Chip.”
“And how is Adam?” Twilight asked, reminding herself that he had a name and tended to prefer it.
“Busy,” she said, shaking her head with a smile on her face. “The job he got keeps him away at times, but he does enjoy it greatly.”
“Oh? Is it working with the government as he is a prince?” Twilight asked with Belle just laughing softly as she shook her head in the negative.
“No, it’s-”
There was a sudden whoosh next to them with a blinding green light as a massive figured towered over them in a form-fitting green outfit with a lantern symbol on the chest. Twilight’s eyes blinked as the light concentrated on a massive finger, only for the body to slim down to that of a human body before Prince Adam gave Belle a tender kiss.
“Okay, when did you become a Green Lantern?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
“When we had a fused Loop with Sora and the Lantern Corp,” Adam answered as he joined them, his Green Lantern ring next to his wedding ring. “It was Belle’s idea to use my beast form when I am on duty as to differentiate myself from the human lanterns and it is a bit intimidating so criminals are more inclined to listen to me.”
“That makes sense,” Twilight said. “Though, and no offense, I thought you would be a Yellow Lantern if anything.”
“Well, they tried to recruit me at one point,” Adam replied. “And if I hadn’t been Awake then, I might well have let them. Fortunately, I already knew better.”
Belle smiled at her husband, placing her hand on his. “Besides, even before you were Awake, you’d already qualified for the Green Lanterns.” She turned back to Twilight. “In Sora’s Loop, when the Heartless captured me and swallowed our world, Adam’s heart was strong enough to let him survive and travel through the darkness without being corrupted, so he could follow me to Hollow Bastion,” she explained. “That took a lot of willpower… and that was enough to call one of the Green Lantern rings to him while he was there.”
Twilight smiled. “I see,” she said. “Got any stories to share?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I ran into someone from one of your world out there earlier,” Adam told her. “She was a member of the Indigo Tribe - one of the Corps that are… less than popular amongst the others.”
Twilight looked confused. “Indigo… aren’t they the ones who rely on compassion?”
“Yes.” Adam looked grim. “The thing is, on their own, the Indigo rings do search out people who are naturally compassionate, like Ray Palmer - the Atom. But the majority of the Indigo Tribe are unrepentant sociopaths who had compassion forced on them by the original controllers of the rings. If they’re made to take up the ring against their will, it essentially brainwashes them into their new state. Their first bearer, Indigo-1 herself, was a self-centered murderer before the Indigo light changed her into an almost emotionless being, and most of the other recruits weren’t much better.”
Twilight looked troubled. “That’s… disturbing.”
“I know.” Adam turned to Belle, who smiled up at him.
“So… who was it, anyway?” Twilight asked
Adam looked sheepish. “Well, I didn’t get her original name, but I can show her to you.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before his ring lit up, showing an image of a woman in an indigo outfit.
Studying her face, Twilight considered for a moment, then she sighed. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“You recognize her?” Belle asked.
Twilight nodded. “That’s Abacus Cinch. She was principal of Crystal Prep Academy on the other side of the mirror, until… well, I don’t know what happened, none of the expansions have said exactly, but she doesn’t work there anymore after what happened with my counterpart going temporarily mad with power during the Friendship Games.” She looked disturbed. “Cinch never got magic in our baseline, so she doesn’t have being corrupted as an excuse. She just cares about keeping up her reputation, and the school’s, and doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process. And she’s perfectly willing to physically and emotionally blackmail her own students, including my counterpart there, to make sure they did what she wanted.”
“That’s horrid,” Belle gasped.
Twilight nodded. “I agree. I’m just glad Sunset is able to help Sci-Twi turn back to normal and help her, even when she’s not Awake.”
“No wonder that woman wound up recruited by this Corp then,” Adam growled. “She’s just the kind of person who needs some sense knocked into her. Not that I approve of how their Corps do it, of course.”
Twilight nodded. “I fully understand, and I think whoever set things up like they did just… didn’t get the point of compassion, if they’re going to force it on someone. It has to be offered and accepted freely.” She shook her head. “But that’s getting far away from what we were originally talking about.” She looked troubled for a moment, then contemplative. “Say, do you have any Loopers for your branch besides the two of you yet?”
“Not yet,” Belle replied. “I’m kind of surprised, actually… I keep hoping one of our other friends will activate soon, but it just hasn’t happened. Of course, I’ve got friends among the other Disney Princesses and other Loopers - Ariel and the others are like sisters to me. But it’d be nice to have some of the household staff Awake. And my father...”
Adam laid a hand on hers. “It’ll happen one of these days,” he said softly. “I’m surprised none of them have Awoken yet, as close to you as they are. Though… I’m not sure how well Cogsworth would take it, actually, given how tightly wound he usually is. Pun fully intended.”
Belle giggled at that.
“I will ask Sleipnir if he can talk to your Admin about it; maybe there’s some sort of snag?” Twilight offered.
“Thank you,” Belle told her with a smile. “I really, really appreciate that.”
“And so do I,” Adam said.
With that, the discussion turned to other things as Chip tilted his head, wondering when it would be appropriate to tell Belle that he knew about Yggdrasil from Mister Uno already.
203.13 (Evilhumour)
Twilight blinked as several old laddies who she pegged as librarians walked into her library with what looked to be the leader waving her outside. Tilting her head, she followed them outside, asking if she could help them. But before she could finish the word can, the leader launched into a diatribe.
"Twilight Sparkle, on behalf of the Equestrian Librarian Society, we learned of numerous violations occurring inside of your library; including eating inside the library, speaking at volumes that are not conductive to proper reading habits, having an uncontrolled fire dispenser within the library, improper checkout and returns policies and many more. As such, we have come to decision to revoke your status as a librarian and your library."
Before Twilight was even aware of what was happening, the old ladies lifted the tree onto the shoulders and left Twilight standing slack jaw. Blinking a few times, she finally managed to say, "What just happened?"
203.14 (DrTempo)
Twilight Sparkle groaned, as she saw the red colored envelope that meant only one thing.
"I was wondering when I'd get one of these." As she opened the letter and read it, Rainbow Dash flew in, and smiled.
"So, Equestria's Anchor is going to be in a Death Battle Loop soon, huh? So, who's the poor sap you're fighting?"
Twilight frowned. "Raven from the DC Comics Loop. And I am not looking forward to this."
Rainbow Dash blinked, asking, "Why not?"
"If I remember right, Raven's magic is more powerful than mine. I have a feeling I'm going to lose."
Rainbow Dash chuckled, and told Twilight, "Don't worry about it, Twilight. I know being the one who ends up getting us our first loss in one of these Death Battle Loops might be bad, but if it weren't for the fact that Pinkie Pie can use toon physics, Deadpool would have won. And besides, it could be worse. You could be fighting Lina Inverse."
Twilight smiled, chuckling. "You're right. But, I hope there is at least one joke about the fact our voices sound so similar."
Rainbow Dash laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised! Either way, good luck, Twilight!"
Twilight nodded. "Thanks. And I'll need it."
203.15 (Evilhumour and Anon e Mouse Jr.)
Twilight Awoke to find herself looking up at very odd sight. It was an alicorn Soarin’… dressed in disco attire.
Stealing a quick look at herself, she saw that she was dressed in what usually passed for normal in disco based variants and then her mentor spoke.
“Hey Sparkle child,” Soaralcious said to her with a grin on his face. “I know that you’re totally worried about the completely ungroovealicious Nightmare Moonpie attacking our fair pie central kingdom but I have this completely radical idea for you. I want you, Sparkle Child, to go to Ponypieville and help prepare our annual pie celebration festival and maybe make some friends,” he chuckled at her before nodding at the chefs bringing in pies for him to sample, leaving the Anchor to sigh internally. Pies and disco combined sounded like it was going to be a very long loop.
Gathering Spikey D, Sparkle made her way to Ponypieville to deal with the insanity that was her life.
Some time later though, she found herself in a surprisingly relaxing setting.
“Gather ‘round, folks!” Igneous Rock Pie announced from one stall in Ponypieville’s marketplace. “Come get a taste of the best pies this side of the Mississippie. My wife and our daughter The Pinkamena have spent almost an entire day working hard on these, and you know just how good their baking is!”
Sparkle Child could agree with him; she’d had a slice a little bit ago, and had thoroughly enjoyed it. She’d also stopped at a stall being run by a familiar pink pegasus; apparently, Cadance had yet to ascend this Loop and was making her living running a pizza parlor. She supposed the overarching pie theme of this Equestria had something to do with it. She thought there might have been another pun involved too, but she wasn’t sure.
The Apple clan had their own stall too, and so did more than a few others she recognized. All in all, it wasn’t that bad… though she could have done without seeing that one odd stallion whom she remembered from her baseline; he was still splattered with jelly, but this time around, he was also wearing platform shoes, bell bottoms and a short sleeved leisure suit top. And, for some reason, an afro that was so big it would be almost impossible to fit through the door of Canterlot Castle.
And she was pretty sure it had winked at her as he passed.
On the other hoof, the sight of another stallion with a disco ball cutie mark, a green shirt and sunglasses just made her chuckle a little. He hadn’t changed at all from baseline.
As she and Spikey D continued to make their way through the marketplace, she looked around, studying the changed Ponyville, and wondered what Nightmare Moonpie had in mind for them when she returned.
Several hours later, she had her answer.
“FILLIES! AND! GENTLECOLTS!” the corrupted alicorn announced. “IT IS MY GREAT PLEASURE TO ANNOUNCE… THAT THE MOON PIES SHALL LAST FOREVER!”
Then she began tossing dozens of coated cookie confections into the crowd, who eagerly snatched them up and began eating.
“Um, hey?” Soaralcious spoke up as he walked out of the crowd. “I hate to break it to ya, but… you’re not the Nightmare Moonpie I know. She’s… well, orangish, and you’re not.”
“If you mean that fiery-tempered sister of yours, she’s still in time-out on the dark side of the moon,” Nightmare Moonpie waved a hoof. “Imagine, the nerve of her trying to steal my identity all those years ago! I just could not let that insult stand!”
“So, you’re the original Nightmare Moonpie?” Sparkle Child blinked in surprise. “But… I know the legends, aren’t you supposed to come back from the moon and wreak all kinds of havoc?”
“That’s what that name-stealer Pie Spitter wanted, and why she got banished,” Nightmare Moonpie said casually. “It seems the true story of my departure has been forgotten… you see, she was the one obsessed with power. I just went up to the moon on my own so I could have a place to perfect my baking in peace, without my sister stealing all my treats before I could taste any of them!”
“Dude.” Soaralcious shook his head. “Totally not groovy of her.”
“Don’t I know it,” Nightmare Moonpie said to him with a grin. “That’s why she abdicated to you and took off all those years ago; she’ll be back as soon as she realizes I’m down here again.” Then she cleared her throat. “But in the meantime, MOON PIES FOR EVERYPONY!”
Everypony cheered, and Sparkle Child just smiled as she accepted one of the treats and a bottle of RC Cola.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the solar system, Sunny Day Pie paused as the solar flare she’d been riding came to a rest. “Why do I have the feeling I’m missing something important right now?” she asked herself. “Oh well. I’m sure it’ll take care of itself.”
Then she raced off towards the next flare. “COWABUNGA!”
203.16 (DrTempo)
Sunset looked surprised as she heard the events of the latest baseline expansion from Shining Armor; she had encountered Shining Armor while visiting Ponyville after returning from the world beyond the mirror this Loop, and was curious about any recent baseline expansions.
After the story ended, Sunset remarked, "So the stories I heard of the Pillars of Equestria weren't mere stories after all."
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. "You've heard of those stories?"
"I remember reading them before I came to the world beyond the mirror...at least, once those stories first appeared in baseline. Hard to believe they were responsible for the eventual creation of the Elements of Harmony. Though, why it was said that all of them defeated the Sirens when it was only Star Swirl alone that did so before surprises me."
Shining Armor nodded in agreement, replying with, "Stories do change over time. That one was likely no different." Sunset simply sighed.
"I am not shocked at the fact Star Swirl didn't think the power of friendship could save the one who became the Pony of Shadows, though. The reason he could never finish the spell that Twilight did was due to him never understanding that power."
Shining Armor thought about it for a minute, and smiled. "You have a point, Sunset. I do wonder why Twilight and her friends didn't try and use Rainbow Power in that situation, though."
Sunset chuckled. "As far as I know, Twilight hasn't figured out how to use that ability in baseline after using it to defeat Tirek. But, I'm sure the baseline version of Twilight will figure it out someday."
"Agreed, Sunset. We'll just have to wait and see."
"At least we know we can borrow the Elements of Harmony from the Tree of Harmony if necessary. I was wondering about that. Anyhow, enough of talking about this. I want to pull a prank on Twilight. Maybe I could pretend to be evil?"
Shining Armor facehooved. "You tried that before, and you got sent to the Moon for it."
Sunset laughed. "Twilight's expression when she realized what happened was funny though!"
203.17 (Evilhumour)
“And so, on the longest night-” Twilight Woke Up halfway through the book before she felt something bite the nape of her neck and lift her in the air. Letting out a squawk of surprise as she was suddenly dashed forwards, she could barely make out white fur behind her before the person carrying her abruptly stopped and drop her to the ground. Looking up, she saw Moondancer, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine looking straight at her with stunned eyes.
Turning her head to look behind her, she could see a massive wall of white fluff that had a cold black nose prod her forwards and bork at her in a way that she could tell was motherly and Twilight was instantly aware what was going on. With a sigh, Twilight was about to talk to Moondancer when the white wolf Looper behind her borked again and dropped a brown paper bag in front of her.
With her eye twitching, Twilight said, “Thank you,” with a small bow of her head as the wolf borked again. She was about to turn back to speak to the mare when she caught the wolf spitting into its paw out of the corner of her eye and before she could prepare herself, she felt a paw rub roughly on her cheek. With a squawk of discomfort as her face was cleaned, the wolf looked at her in the eyes before she gave her the equivalent of what passed for kiss with a wolf before the Looper dashed away.
Brushing away the slobber off of her face, Twilight turned to Moondancer and asked her what time her party began.
203.18 (Wixelt)
"...THIS NIGHT. WILL LAST FORE-"
"Fire in the hole!"
"-VER- ...wait." Nightmare Moon blinked in confusion, "What-"
The empress of the night was cut off as a large, flattened mass of pastry beaned her square in the face, followed closely by about 500 more, leaving a large pile of the flat food where a princess had once stood. With a growl, she tore the pancakes off her face, eyes darting around for the culprit of this most demeaning display, prepared to make them suffer for it. Her eyes quickly fell on a young stallion with a dark mane, one strand dyed pink. She snarled.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS YOU... YOU DISSENTING FOAL!"
The colt merely smirked, glancing sideways. Narrowing her eyes, the Nightmare followed his gaze...
Only to be met with the sight of two pink-ish blurs darting towards her.
"Pancakes!" the pair of mares screamed in unison, before pouncing on the would-be ruler, tackling her to the ground.
Lie Ren merely smiled, watching as Nora and Pinkie did the Elements of Harmony's job for them, the fog that was Nightmare Moon evaporating under the hungry onslaught of pancake devouring good times.
203.19 (Vinylshadow)
"Interesting."
Sweetie Belle jumped in surprise as an unfamiliar voice echoed in her head.
"Who's there?" she said, turning around, ears flicking this way and that.
"Clover the Clever," the voice said with a chuckle.
Sweetie Belle blinked before pulling the device the Founder was anchored to from her Pocket and set it down.
"What's wrong with your voice? Do you need some repair?" Sweetie asked.
"Nothing is wrong, although it seems my gender has been corrected after all this time."
"'Corrected'?" Sweetie asked. "What, you were carrying the wrong gender genes for the past Xty Loops?"
"It's hardly the first time I've been a male after being female for who cares how long. I suspect I'll be switching between genders more often now, so I apologize in advance if I startle you."
"It's fine," Sweetie Belle replied with a smile. "Gender is never a static thing in the Loops anyway, which is kinda fun. Silver Bell gets to experience things Sweetie Belle never could, and vice versa."
"Like puberty."
"Hush, you," Sweetie Belle said, sticking her tongue out as Clover chuckled.
"I wonder if my compatriots have had a similar revelation lately," Clover mused thoughtfully. "It's been quite some time since we've met in the flesh, and the only thing that's been consistent is species."
"I don't suppose you've been keeping a catalog of your different colorations?" Sweetie asked.
"Of course I have," Clover said, sounding offended. "When one is aide to Princess Platinum, one learns to keep track of everything because she thinks it's beneath her."
Sweetie winced. "I know that feeling quite well," she muttered, before shaking herself. "Come on, let's go find the others and let them know about this newest development."
203.20 (Wixelt)
"Now, this time around for the wedding, I was thinking of messing with Chrysalis by acting innocent whilst 'accidentally' phrasing things to make it seem like I'm onto her."
"That is rather devious, darling." Rarity giggled slightly at Twilight's plan, "That said, I'ds have thought you'd have done that long ago."
"Oh, I have." the purple unicorn nodded, putting her clipboard aside for a moment, "But you see, this time I intend to..."
The Anchor trailed off as a certain looping chaos spirit strolled past, a large red brick under one arm. Blinking, he turned to the pair, a devilish grin masking his features.
"Don't mind me. Just testing a theory."
And with that, he rather abruptly tossed the brick into the air in front of him, before beaning it with an incredibly powerful vertical kick, the object quickly becoming a flaming pinprick in the sky above. After a few moments, Discord looked up from his suddenly existent watch and stuck his hand out, apparently expecting to catch the airborne object.
But it never came.
Frowning for a moment, Discord shook his head, then shrugged, before sticking his hands into his pockets (?) and wandering off, apparently oblivious to the two mares staring after him.
"Well then..." Rarity mused, "That was..."
"...odd, but not unanticipated." Twilight finished, shaking her head, "I wonder if he was aiming for one of the satellites Bloom's launched this loop."
"I highly doubt it. The girls haven't exactly told anypony, as far as I know."
"True," the looping princess sighed, "But something tells me I don't want to know his real intentions on this one."
"Believe me, dear" Rarity nodded, "The feeling is very much shared."
203.21 (Vinylshadow)
"Twilight, a word?"
Twilight Sparkle glanced up from her books to see Princess Celestia and Luna standing in front of the table she had commandeered in the Canterlot Library.
She then did a double-take as she got a good look at them.
"Please tell me that cow-print isn't natural," Twilight said.
"When was the last time you looked in a mirror?" Luna asked. A cowbell around her neck clinked as she moved her head and she glared down at it, fruitlessly pulling at it with her magic.
Twilight did a once-over of herself before spreading her wings - the feathers of which also sported a cow pattern.
"I have no explanation for this," she said, tucking her wings back against her sides. "Although I wouldn't be surprised if Vinyl Scratch or Discord had something to do with it."
"Discord, I can understand, but why Miss Scratch?" Celestia asked.
"While she's gotten her Wubbergy mostly under control, there's still times when it has unexpected side effects. And I recall she was griping about cows a few Loops ago when Amaterasu found a squeaky toy that mooed whenever she chewed on it."
Luna blinked slowly. "Please tell me we aren't going to have some new glitch based around cows now. The Polka, Disco, and Pies were bad enough."
"But I thought you liked my pies," Celestia said with a pout.
"Your sun-roasted cream pies are my favorite," Luna said soothingly, giving her sister a nuzzle.
Twilight wisely decided not to ask her to elaborate on that.
203.22 (Evilhumour)
[MLP][Okami]
Mooooooooo
Vinyl’s ear twitched.
Mooooooooo
Vinyl’s ear twitched again and pushed the pillow deeper over her head.
Mooooooooo
Vinyl began to growl only for Octavia to chuckle beside her.
“It’s adorable,” the mare cooed, leaning over Vinyl to stare at the Looper in their bedroom.
Mooooooooo
“She really loves that toy, doesn’t she Vinyl?” Octavia said, batting her eyes at the unicorn who pulled her head out from the pillow to glare at the massive wolf on the carpet. Amaterasu, grinning up at her with her tail wagging behind her, squeezed the toy cow to make the sound again that was quickly driving Vinyl up the wall.
Mooooooooo
“That she does,” Vinyl grumbled, eye twitching as the wolf squeezed her squeaky toy again.
Mooooooooo
“I’m sorry to leave you two alone, but I need to go to work.” Octavia leaned up to kiss Vinyl on the forehead before rubbing Amaterasu’s head. “You two play nicely, okay?”
BarkBarkMooooooooo
“Yeah Octs,” Vinyl said as she watched her marefriend leave the room, only for the bed to dip alarmingly as Amaterasu jumped onto the bed and was smirking at her, prepared to moo at her again.
Bap
Amaterasu jolted as Vinyl pulled back the newspaper and then did a double take as Vinyl took away her mooer and tossed it into her Pocket.
Smirking to herself, Vinyl ignored the puppy eyes she was getting and was ready to finish her nap when the wolf yanked the blanket off of her and ran out of the room, barking loudly in amusement as Vinyl chased after her with a newspaper in her magic.
203.23 (Wixelt)
With a blink, Twilight awoke. Stretching, she noted being in her usual loop start position, and smiling, glanced down to observe her boo-
*SPLAT*
...taking a deep and terse breath, the local Anchor wiped pie from her eyes. Grumbling, she looked down again, finding the story of the Mare in the Moon seemingly untampered with. Frowning in confusion, she looked up agai-
*SPLAT*
Narrowing her eyes, the purple mare enacted a trace spell, but found no-one nearby, regardless of whether they might be looping or no-
*SPLAT* *SPLAT*
The annoyed unicorn stood, ascending on the spot, the sheer force of her power exertion dispelling any remaining pie from her body. Of all the times for that tree-damned pie glitch to come bac-
*SPLAT* *SPLAT*
Or this could just be premeditated. Shaking herself clean again, Twilight sent out a ping, receiving none in return. Of course, that didn't rule out a stealth prankster-
She blinked. Why had the world suddenly gone dark? Tilting her head upward, she got her answer.
"Oh..." the magic prodigy's ears flattened against her head, "Oh sweet ash..."
The mare frantically ducked for cover as a rain of a billion pies blotted out the sun, as well as everything else, for that matter.
*SPLATSPLATSPLATSPLATSPLATSPLATSPLATSPLATSPLATSPLAT...*
Twilight was really starting to see just why the pie glitch had left some Loopers a little traumatized.
"Hah!" Discord laughed, rolling around in mid air, "The look on her face... That was priceless..."
"Indeed." Celestia managed a small chuckle, shaking her head mirthfully, "I thought I might put my early Awakening this time around to good use."
"Still, the timing of it was entirely on point." the disharmonious entity applauded, "Organized chaos at its finest. She's probably going to trace it back to me, you know." his face fell a little, "And she's already planning something against me for that whole brick debacle..."
"Don't worry," the sun monarch glanced out of the window, where a veritable wall of pies was still descending, "I intend to take full responsibility for this. I can't have anyone else claiming credit."
"You know she's going to strike back twice as hard, right?"
"I'd like to see her try. Do you have any idea how long it took to gather this many pies?"
203.24 (Vinylshadow)
Twilight yawned and rubbed her eyes before glancing at the clock hanging on the wall of her library.
The hands read at early evening and she glanced around at her friends, who were engrossed in various activities, whether it was reading, quietly chatting, or...
Twilight blinked at the odd sight of Pinkie on a computer.
Dismissing it, she got to her hooves and used her magic to put her books back on the shelves.
"I'm going to turn in for the night," she said, getting her friends' attention.
"You can't leave yet!" Pinkie said, waving her hooves. "I need you here!"
"Why?" Twilight asked.
"Because my computer is hooked up to your magical energy and without it, it doesn't run," Pinkie explained.
"You...have a computer that's tuned to my magic?" Twilight asked in disbelief, slightly impressed.
"Yes. I'm connected to the Twi-Fi."
She was promptly buried under a mound of pillows amidst a chorus of boos.
203.25 (Wixelt)
"So..." Twilight mused, "This is..."
"Really not my idea." Rainbow chuckled nervously as various flashes of green light emanated from Sugarcube Corner's windows, "But it's kinda cool, right?"
"Of course..." the Anchor rolled her eyes, before frowning, "But how in the worlds did Pinkie convince them to take up baking, of all things."
"I think it was a pun."
"...a pun?"
"Yeah, you heard me." Dash glanced aside, "And it wasn't even a very good pun, either."
"I know i'm going to regret this," Twilight sighed, "But what was it?"
"Well, it was-"
"GIGA." the pair were cut off by the sudden dual roar, as the light inside grew brighter and more ferocious.
"Um," Dash backed away, "We should probably..."
"Duck? Yeah, I was going to say-"
"DRILL."
"Like, now."
"BAAAAAKER!!!"
Within moments of the pair dropping to the floor, the front of the bakery exploded into dust and debris, a giant drill make of cake batter lancing forth from within. Said construct was followed by a trio of ponies, two donning their signature shades whilst the third, a familiar pink party mare, laughed manically.
"That..." Twilight blinked in surprise as the drill passed, staggering to her feet, "That was-" she stopped, eye twitching, "Wait. What direction was that drill going i-"
*CRASH*
"...do yourself a favor," Rainbow winced as the batter spattered remains of Twilight's library rained from the sky in tiny pieces, "Don't turn around."
203.26 (Wixelt)
Zecora and the Stick of Lies
"Is this really a good idea, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle frowned, glancing around nervously at the deep foliage that lay all around, "I mean, I know Zecora's nice, but..." she shuddered, "Everfree..."
"Yeah, i'm with Sweetie on this one." Scootaloo frowned nervously, keep pace just behind the pair on her scooter
"It's fine." Bloom, the only Awake member of the party, rolled her eyes as the trio rounded a bend, Zecora's hut coming into view, "As long as ya stick to the proper paths and avoid the Poison Joke, everything's fin-"
The farm filly was cut off as Zecora's door swung open with a sudden and terrifying bang. The Crusaders leapt back in a mix of surprise and alarm, watching as a certain Zebra emerged from the structure, an enraged look on her features.
"Um..." Sweetie began to back away, laughing nervously, "H- hey miss Zecora. Is everything, um..."
"YOU!" the herbalist practically roared in anger.
"Um... us." Bloom raised an eyebrow, unnerving her friends by standing her ground, "Did we do somethi-"
"BAMBOO!"
"Wait..." Scootaloo blinked in surprise, "What?"
Zecora seemingly didn't notice, instead raising a thick bamboo stick and glaring at it with unrestrained malice, all her hate directed at it.
"YOU LIED TO ME!" she screamed at the wooden rod.
"Uh..." Bloom titled her head to one side, unable to fully parse the situation, "Should we come back lat-"
"I AM NO LONGER CAREFREE!!!" with a yell of exertion, Zecora flung the offending stick an impressive distance into the forest canopies, staring angrily after it for a good few seconds before she was able to compose herself. Sighing, she turned...
Only to encounter three young mares staring at her with looks ranging from bemusement to confusion to fear.
"I..." the zebra mouthed, unable to form an explanation for a moment, "The stick disagreed with me, as you can plainly see."
Apple Bloom merely face-hoofed, shaking her head mirthfully.
203.27 (Wixelt)
“Ah know that look.”
Rainbow Dash frowned as she slumped against the bar top, left eye twitching. Slowly, she turned to glare at the red colt behind the counter, who simply shrugged.
“Ah’m guessin’…” Mac mused, “G3 loop?” When the chromatic mare, despite trying to maintain her anger, simply slipped into a defeated nod, he sighed, “Somethin’ strong, then?” Another nod, and within moments a bright red beverage was sat in front of the patron.
Rainbow only stared at it for a moment before downing it in one and promptly passing out, face down into her glass. Mac shook his head, before turning…
Only to come face to face with 11 other local loopers (namely the rest of the baseline Elements, Spike, Trixie, Chrysalis and the baseline CMC trio) all bearing the same expression Rainbow had shown. Blinking several times, he glanced back at the unconscious Dash, before fixing Twilight with a look of morbid curiosity as he poured out more of the red stuff.
“Do ah want to know what sort of loop crash this was in retaliation to?”
“No,” Twilight said flatly, “No you do not, and I’d appreciate no-one ever mentioning it again.”
“And the punishment loop?”
“Loops. Plural.” The Anchor corrected with a wide grimace, eye twitching as Rainbow’s had, before trailing off, mumbling lightly into her drink like a madness mantra, “Eiken, 3, 3.5, Eiken, 3, 3.5, Eike-”
With a thud, Twilight joined Rainbow Dash as a member of the Non-Conscious Club, all others bar the CMC following suit soon after.
“Darn…” Mac shuddered, before looking to his still conscious sibling, who simply gave a defeated expression in return, “Somethin’ a little less strong, ah’m guessin’…”
203.28 (Wixelt)
"Twilight Sparkle. You are found guilty of crimes against chaos."
Twilight blinked Awake, taking a moment to get her bearings, and-
Wait, she was on trial? The unicorn frowned, glancing up at the imposing alicorn addressing her, who bore a remarkable resemblance to a certain chaotic entity, manic grin and all. Unaware of anything amiss, the disharmonious royal continue to declare the sentence.
"As due punishment for committing acts of harmony without permission," Prince Caos laughed, finding something amusing about the situation, "The guilty is sentenced to climb the Stairs of Eternity, like all before her, and bear witness to the horrors within." he gestured to an ornate oak doorway set into the Canterlot mountainside, some distance away, "May she walk forever or return senseless, her sins shall be forgiven once the doors have closed."
Twilight grimaced. She had better things to do with her time than play prisoner to an unAwake Discord, just ruler or not. Reaching into herself, she reached inward for her subspace pocket, gathered experience, knowledge and raw firepower (both metaphorically and literally), bolstered over the Loops, at her hoof-tips, ready to give her would-be punisher a piece of her mind.
...and then nothing. The mare blinked in confusion. It wasn't a null loop, she could feel the pocket, but it seemed just out of reach... What the hay-
"Now, my dear! Arrivederci!"
Oh fern.
With a slam of disorganized magic, the Anchor was sent sprawling, legs flailing through the air for a moment, before she came to a sudden stop, a resounding thud echoing as she made contact with the the ground. Then, there was the abrupt sound of a door slamming, the world going dark as the bravado of Prince Caos and the cheering of his subjects was suddenly cut off, silence falling. Muttering to herself, Twilight picked herself up off the stone floor, a look of distaste on her features as she dusted herself off.
Checking herself, she raised an eyebrow, before pulling a spell-book out of her pocket without any of the prior problems.
"Ok, so now that it's working," she mused, her face a mask of concentration, "Maybe I can..."
With a flicker, the unicorn charged up a teleportation spell, focusing on the world beyond and flashing out of existence, intent to leave.
...only to appear several feet from where she started. She blinked again, irritation beginning to take over. Settling for a light spell instead, Twilight lit the chamber, and turned, immediately coming face to face with a set of stairs. Despite Caos' prior words, the pieces only now slotted together in her mind, and she scowled deeply.
Buck. It was one of those glitches. She sighed, and taking a deep breath, stepped forth, resigning herself to a climb she knew she couldn't escape from.
She prayed to the branches it wouldn't last too long.
...
Oh, who was she kidding...
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I mean, she was born in the capital of Equestria, made it into CSGU and is the pupil of Celestia, I'd imagine royal and nobles would be on good terms with her.
A bit, he's more than just a familiar, he's a fully sapient being with his own wants and needs. Not just a smart animal.
I could use some cake.
OH. I was thinking this was just a 1-100 thing. Gotta wonder, how fucking high level is DISCORD? Probably error sign.
Oh shit, Sci-Twi's looping!
That was just mean.
I'm with Purple Smart.
This snip was made purely for the sake of this one joke.
She rused you!
Sounds about right.
This is a setup to a brick joke, isn't it?
*sigh*
Be realistic.
9320908
You commented on quite a few of my snips, so...
This was the implication, though I deliberately inferred it wasn't all noble faction, since... y'know, Blueblood exists.
Hadn't really thought about this, but this seems about right for him.
Hit the nail square on the head, actually.
Couldn't possibly comment.
*innocent whistling*
But thou must!
Spock Looped as Sci-Twi?
Oh.
Oh!
... Oh. Not cool.
203.5: The Loop that answers the question "What happens if you turn the Tree of Harmony into a hatrack?"
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie: Mi Amore's!
Also, I'm kind of surprised that evil pie-hating Rainbow Dash wasn't the villain of that Loop. Did it predate "Secrets and Pies"?
And that last one... clearly Twilight needs to watch more Super Mario 64 speedruns. That or break out the gravity spells.
9321156
It probably did predate. I'm slowly going through some very backlogged Loop uploads.
9321156
9321159
I looked it up on the compilation thread, because I was curious. That snip is from this February, so a few months after Secrets and Pies aired.
9321248
Then again, I'm only on episode two....
9321156
Exactly.
9321248
9321283
I was aware of it at the time, but I didn't get around to actually watching that episode until during the summer break earlier this year.
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
oh, i've recently been re-reading "the maretian" by Kris Overstreet. it's a crossover with "the Martian".
Kris also did "changeling space program".
somehow that made me think of this crazy video:
How the others failed to realize Discord's real plan right then and there is beyond me...
9322028
A mix of context (there were other things he could've been doing in that loop) and general rule of funny.
9321497
and that's what happens when you fill the sever with dispensers
That "Twi-Fi" joke made me laugh out loud. It was a good one.
Awesome work, keep it up.
Quick typo note:
In 203.12, it uses Lantern Corp and Corps interchangably, but they are not the same. Corp is short for Corporation. Corps refers to a military-like installation, and is the correct word to use.
9321001
Actually, I think it would be funnier if he were level, like, 8. Then at some point he levels DOWN, leaving Twilight to wonder just what level he started at.
static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ranmaclub_9207.jpg
Love that fic.
Who is Mister Uno referring to?
9396870
Nigel Uno (AKA Numbah One) from "Codename: Kids Next Door".
Until next time...
Anon e Mouse Jr.
wow. this made me think of a strange story where a changeling queen named "alternia" has been ruling in Celestia's place for a thousand years...
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/82748/princess-celestia-the-changeling-queen
No, no I think you just went way too far this time. That's not something you joke about.
Been trying to understand something in 203.4. What does AA mean? I mean, I googled arity, but what does THIS mean?
11528824
Appleack.
oh, this reminds me of a silly YouTube video where someone is playing a very heavily modded version of Skyrim...
should i post it here? it's rather long...
oh, some of the mods are actually MLP-related, so i will!