MLP Loops 23
23.1
“Do you know,” Temeraire said, craning his neck to look at Lawrence, “I do wonder whether we might not interfere with Trafalgar this time.”
“Might be an idea, yes.” The British Dragoncorps Captain rubbed his chin. “Perhaps, if Admiral Nelson is or feels indebted to us, then he might be more inclined to consider your proposals earlier. And, of course,” Lawrence gave a warm smile to his partner, “since he is a kind man, though at times a man who does not suffer fools, it might be that he would consider granting you commission.”
“I do enjoy receiving a commission…” Temeraire mused. “Though not at the cost of an invasion of Britain. Have you had any thoughts on my cousin, might I enquire?”
Lawrence winced. Trying to work out how to head off the situation with Lien was never easy – ensuring that her own partner survived was proving harder still than enfranchising dragons, and they could never be remotely sure of either in any given loop.
Then he looked up. “I say, that’s unusual.”
“What is it?” Temeraire raised his own head, and closed his eyes. “Yes, I can feel it as well. A kind of faint, singing magic.”
“It reminds me of when we had Fallarnon and Mnementh to visit,” Lawrence said. “I wonder who it is?”
“I hope it is Hiccup and Toothless.” Temeraire blinked down at Lawrence. “It does not feel precisely like Fallarnon and Mnementh, though perhaps it is instead Twoflower and Ninereeds – we have not seen them in a while.”
“Then come along, dear heart,” Lawrence said, making the harness ready for a solo flight. “I am sure they will not begrudge us a day or two to find out.”
The young Celestial circled over Dover. “It is certainly from here,” he commented to Lawrence, “though I am at a loss to determine who is not here or who is excess. Can you see anything?”
Lawrence unshipped his telescope. “If you would hover for a moment, dear one, I might be able to check more closely.”
“Of course.” Temeraire backwinged, and moved his neck as best he could to cancel out the movement of his body.
“I say,” Lawrence exclaimed, as the telescope revealed something he could not quite divine from on high. “That’s not Lily, in her spot. It looks to be… well, whatever he or she is, that is a purple dragon. I think we should examine this more closely.”
A slim young woman of about twenty-two nodded to Lawrence as he approached the strange dragon. “Good day – oh, Captain, I see. Well, good day to you, Captain.”
Lawrence noticed the matching insignia on her shoulders. “And to you, Captain…?”
“Rarity Harcourt,” she replied promptly.
Temeraire could not quite restrain a gasp. “So you are the-”
He pulled himself up at Lawrence’s slight gesture.
“Yes, I’m a Looper,” Rarity replied quietly. She paused. “I assume I’m replacing someone you know?”
“My lover,” Lawrence answered.
“Well, no fear of my trying to take her place on that score.” Rarity directed a fond look at the dragon lying in Lily’s normal spot. “I’m spoken for, though I expect we’ll have to avoid making that too clear this loop.”
“What is his name?” Temeraire asked. “I would ask him, but it seems as though he is asleep.”
“I was,” the purple replied. “No harm done. I’m Spykoranuvellitar – you might be interested to know that this time around, at least, Britain has a flame-using dragon.”
“Well, one before Iskierka, that is,” Temeraire pointed out.
“Oh, you do normally get another?” Rarity asked. “We’re not exactly familiar with this loop – I’ve been running off loop memories since I Awoke here.”
“I see.” Lawrence thought for a moment, then sat down. “Come on, dear one, it seems we must help a pair of hatchlings through the whirlpool of the Napoleonic Wars.”
“Watch it!” Spykoran rumbled, chuckling. “I’m bigger than you two put together.”
“For now,” Temeraire said quickly, and stuck his tongue out.
“Dear one, I would appreciate it if you would not act like a day-old whelp…” Lawrence said, smiling broadly and shaking his head.
23.2 (22.8 continued)
“Ah need some healin’ over here,” Applejack said lightly, lashing out with Rarity-modified Ember Celica and knocking a Lizardman for six.
“I got it! I got it!” Pinkie slid over to behind the Barbarian. “Cure light wounds!”
Applejack waited. “That’s it? Ain’t much healin’…”
“Well, you could have tried being a Paladin or a Cleric.” Pinkie finished the instrumental part and began singing again. “A land unknown we come so far, we ride the night ‘till morning star…”
“Catchy,” Dash commented, grinning as she bounced past AJ towards the main press of the enemy. “Ha, missed me!”
Twilight muttered under her breath. “And…Web!”
“Whoah!” Dash twisted herself in an improbable way, and managed to avoid being stuck. “Watch where you’re aiming!”
“With your Dex score and Evasion, you were in no danger!” Pinkie said knowledgeably in a brief gap in vocals.
“I guess I am good at dodging,” Dash admitted grudgingly, knocking two trapped Lizardman heads together with a swift kick.
Rarity salvoed off Magic Missiles, then tried a Glitterdust. “Take that! And that! Oh, you beasts, stop swarming Fluttershy!”
“…eep?” Fluttershy managed. “Um… tree shape?”
The lizardmen blinked.
“Where’d she go?” one of them asked, and then got kicked in the kneecap by Angel Bunny.
“That’s kind of neat,” Twilight muttered, watching as he took half the Lizardmen to pieces by himself. “Because he’s so small, all that enhancement magic he gets from Fluttershy is compressed. And since it’s Angel anyway…”
“That makes sense, ah think…” Appejack said, nursing a bruise. “Ooh, that’s gonna be tender… Them clubs they got have metal cores, y’know.”
Twilight winced sympathetically. “Ouch…”
“Yeah.” AJ shrugged. “Ain’t no real harm done, though.”
Then she fell over.
Pinkie trotted over in turn and slapped another Cure spell on. “Barbarians get like this when their Rage runs out.”
There was a sudden high-pitched oof of pain, as one of the few remaining Lizardmen finally caught Angel with a club. The rabbit crashed off a wall and bounced to the floor, before rolling upright.
“You horrible people!”
“Speaking of rage…” Twilight gulped, as the tree turned back into Fluttershy.
And then into a leopard.
“Ooh!” Pinkie grinned with a squeak noise. “Ding, hello, level five!”
“Should we… help?” Dash asked, pointing over to the few Lizardmen not unconscious on the floor. “I mean, I kinda feel sorry for them…”
“Well, they did give poor Appejack quite the beating before the rest of us got properly stuck in…” Rarity mused. “I say we give it a minute.”
“Fair enough,” Twilight said, then lifted Angel off the floor. “Bad bunny, no putting the boot in.”
Angel made a rude gesture involving a carrot.
“I don’t wanna buck any more trees, grandma…” Applejack murmured, before pushing herself back upright. “Okay, who’s got the health potions? Four fights in a row is one too many for my taste. Especially ‘cuz I only got two rages, and ah just used th’ last one.”
“Yes, you make a good point.” Twilight examined her spell book. “Ooh, I like the sound of Haste.”
“You’ll like even more that we got the three-point-oh version houseruled in!” Pinkie said. The others examined that statement for a bit, then discarded it for their own peace of mind.
“Er, Fluttershy, dear?” Rarity ventured. “I think you can stop now.”
The leopard looked down, winced, and turned back into a pegasus. “Sorry… I just… saw red?”
“Don’t we all…” Applejack shrugged. “No harm done, they’re all just knocked out. Now, would y’ mind givin’ me a bit of that first aid o’ yours?”
“Not at all.” Fluttershy trotted over, a heal spell building on her wings.
23.3
Twilight nodded along as the local Anchor explained his Loop.
It took quite some time.
“…and then it turns out that, actually, the real real bad guy isn’t even Aizen at all! He was some kind of sick red herring, and so were the Xcution people – have I mentioned them yet?”
“No, actually,” Twilight replied politely. “But I’ve run out of notepaper. Can you give me a minute to get another pad?”
Ichigo sighed and nodded. “Go ahead. I swear, my universe is a right mind screw.”
“I’m sure you’d be welcome in Equestria if you ever end up there,” Twilight offered.
“Eh, no thanks.” Ichigo stretched. “I’ve heard about the place from Naruto, and, well, no offense, but it sounds kind of boring.”
“I understand,” Twilight said, after a moment. “I heard your loop is potentially the longest, so I can understand if you get bored easily.”
“Tell me about it! I’ve taken to invading Hell for something to do!”
Twilight didn’t say anything, remembering a certain drilling expedition.
“Anyway, Xcution. Yeah, watch out for the guy in charge of them – he can make you think he’s your friend. Literally – he hits you with his sword, and it’s like history is rewritten so he’s your best friend.”
Twilight surprised him by giggling. “Yeah, if he hit me with that I think he might just end up turning into a pony from backlash.”
Her host roared with laughter.
“…okay, as soon as we’re done with Aizen, we’re testing that!” Ichigo shouted, grinning wildly. “I so want to see that jerk look ridiculous!”
“Glad to help – though it might only work if I’m in my base form.” She gestured down at her body – currently human, though tests had shown it was a human false body and a unicorn spirit.
Ichigo was still chuckling. “Right, yeah. Anyway, once Xcution are handled, the next lot is this kinda militant Quincy lot. Best way to handle them is to…”
Tsukishima darted around a hurried block from Twilight’s Fuhentekina nazo, and slipped the point of his blade into her shoulder. He wasn’t aiming to hurt her – just a nick would serve his purposes.
Then there was a bright flash just as he reached her, and his sword clattered to the ground next to him.
“Are you okay, Tsuki?” he heard Twilight ask. “You dropped your sword!”
“Thanks,” he said, reaching for it and nearly falling over as his body didn’t react the way he expected it to.
“Oh, no!” Twilight said, pointing. Tsukishima abruptly noticed that she was now, for whatever reason, a unicorn. “Ichigo’s coming! Quick, Tsuki, the only way to stop a Looper that powerful is the Elements of Magic!”
The what? A what? She’s a what? What the hell-
Then he noticed he was a horse.
Then he realized he had no way to carry Book of the End, and hence no way to properly control the mess that was taking place.
And that was when a stray false-memory from his Bookmarking of Twilight told him what the Elements of Harmony were. And that he would somehow have to be a personification of laughter, honesty, loyalty, generosity and kindness all at once.
“Oh, this isn’t my day…”
Twilight blinked as the Loop reset blanked out Book of the End’s effects. “Wow, that was one strange loop end. I didn’t know the Elements had a backwards firing mode…”
It made a lot of sense, though. If they purified whatever villain had managed to get hold of them and tried to use them, that would put paid to the problem as easily as just firing them at the villain.
Redeemed-Tsukishima was weird, though. He’d started a career working for an internet social media company, at least once Ichigo had stopped laughing himself sick long enough to get them a laptop.
23.4
‘“There’s something I have to tell you, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, blushing. “I… it’s kinda been brewing for a while…”
“No need,” Twilight replied, stretching out a wing. “I think I can guess.”
“But-”
“No, Dash,” Twilight added, a slight smirk playing over her features. “You are not good at concealing it.”
“…okay.” Dash still looked reluctant, so Twilight stepped closer and kissed her gently-‘
“I do what?”
Princess Cadence jumped, scattering plastic models all over the place.
“Cadence…” Twilight said slowly, “I am going to go out of the room now. When I come back in again in a second, we won’t talk about what you’re doing with those models I got from the hub loop.”
23.5
“That’s right, foolish peasants!” The eerie, almost insectile alicorn cackled as citizens of Ponyville fled before her. “Nightmare Rarity has arrived, and nothing can save you now!”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!”
Nightmare Rarity looked up, nostrils flaring. “I should have known that you would be here… Spykoran.”
“Your evil reign ends now!” Spykoran transferred his lance from carry to strike position, holding it in both left arm and left leg. His wings beat, slowly at first, then sent him screaming down towards Nightmare Rarity.
At the last moment, she dodged aside and the lance bit into soft earth. “Fool!”
The dragon spun around on his spear, lashing out with tail and claws, and only just missed hitting his opponent.
Nightmare Rarity’s wings slashed forward, crackling with magic, and only some quick work with an arming-sword stopped her blows connecting on Spykoran in turn.
As Spykoran unlimbered a shield and stepped forward, she backed – still with an arrogantly superior grin. “Foolish dragon. None can stand against the might of a Nightmare.”
“If I didn’t try, then I’d have nothing to be proud of,” he rejoined, and lunged. The arming-sword skipped off a quickly conjured gemstone kukri, which was joined by a second and a scimitar as the Nightmare continued to back.
The musical clash of steel on sapphire filled the square as dragon and alicorn fought back and forth. Spykoran used his shield to fend off blows from gem-blades, trying to stop the trio of them from having a chance to attack simultaneously, and occasionally sent one flying into the middle distance with his sword. When that happened, he tried to use the opening to strike at his foe – but, canny as she was, Nightmare Rarity kept her distance as best she was able and most such attempts to press the attack had to be abandoned as the deflected sword returned.
But the stalemate couldn’t last forever, and all at once the pace of the battle changed. Nightmare-Rarity brought all three blades in for the concerted assault Spykoran had been so assiduously avoiding – and he swept the arming sword around in an arc, smashing one to pieces and knocking the other two to sink deep into the ground.
The Nightmare growled, conjuring bows and gem-tipped arrows out of the aether. Firing three at once, she unleashed an arrow-storm.
Spykoran raised his shield, but that wasn’t really necessary, as his sword hand moved in a series of swooping curls that just happened to intercept every arrow and knock them off course.
Nightmarity didn’t relent in her barrage, instead dividing focus to lift one of her blades from the ground it had become lodged in and send it spinning at his back-
And he caught it. Three quick steps, and the sizzling gem-scimitar was held threatening her neck. The arming-sword was at her side.
Nightmare Rarity’s eyes narrowed…
And then she took a forward step of her own, and caught the dragon with a fierce kiss.
“Harmony’s six sides,” she gasped, coming up for air, “but you are dashing!”
“Wait, what?” several of the watching ponies said, startled enough to speak.
Rarity and Spike ignored them, vanishing in a teleport.
A minute or so later, Twilight’s voice raised above the confused hubbub. “It’s okay, everypony! I checked – Rarity isn’t evil, they were just... practicing for a play, I think Spike said, and things got a bit out of hand.”
After another few seconds of talk, the general reduction in noise level seemed to indicate that this was acceptable.
“They totally weren’t,” Dash noted quietly, as Twilight walked back out of the crowd.
“Well, yeah,” Twilight allowed. “But do you want to try explaining exactly what we just saw?”
“…yeah, good point,” Dash said. “Mind having a word with them to make sure their acting quality is a bit… well… less showcased? I think I saw a Wonderbolt patrol head off towards Canterlot.”
Right on cue, the Princesses appeared in a flash of light and shadow.
“Twilight!” Celestia said without preamble. “What happened? Which of your friends got corrupted? We need to find some way to use the Elements without them, or-”
Luna had been looking around. “The town seems very intact. Didst though remember the right address?”
“What – of course I did, Luna!” Celestia said, stung. “This is Ponyville, where my most trusted student lives, of course I remember where it is!”
Twilight waited a moment as the two Royal Sisters began bickering, then shrugged and walked off. With a bit of luck, the whole issue would just quietly go away.
She would need to have that word with Rarity and Spike about cover stories, though…
23.6
“Huh.” Twilight looked this Loop’s body over. “I would appear to be male.”
Aside from that, though, Twilight – or, as her memories started to come in, ‘Dusk Shine’ – was his/her normal self. And based on more of those memories, everyone else was the same as they were in a normal Loop.
That is, the same gender. Twilight/Dusk got a brief headache trying to keep pronouns straight, then decided to just hang continuity of self reference and call himself male for the duration.
There was a knock at the door.
“Coming!” Dusk said, still alert for any discrepancies. He’d been looping far too long to assume there was only one change in a given world – that kind of assumption got you blindsided by Old Mare Henderson.
Upon opening the door, it turned out to be the Element of Laughter.
“Hi, Pinkie-”
Dusk’s contingent shield triggered, pinging half of a crowbar off the doorframe as a swing at her legs was abruptly halted by the spell.
“Okay, what the…?” Dusk mused, as Pinkie stared at the truncated implement. “Pinkie, why the hay did you just take a swing at my…” Dusk’s mind did a minor backflip as he realized just where Pinkie had to have been aiming, and then the whole ‘male’ thing shocked him all over again, “…aherm.”
“Hey, no fair!” Pinkie looked Dusk up and down. “You’re off script!”
“Script?” Dusk repeated, dumbly. Pinkie was usually strange, but this…
True to form, the pink pony pulled a set of close-typed pages out of her mane. “See? Right here.”
Dusk skimmed the page. “Er… hang on a second.” He flipped back, then cast a spell to absorb the whole content of the sheaf of paper in one go.
“…this would appear to be a script for Love Hina, with different character names and the addition of a crowbar.”
“Yeah?” Pinkie asked. “So? That sounds about right.”
“I hate worlds like this…” Dusk sighed deeply. “Okay, buck this. Get Spike to send me a letter if there’s an actual serious threat, otherwise I’m going to be sunbathing without the interference of atmosphere.”
“You can’t do that!” Pinkie protested. “We don’t have the beach episode for another three weeks! Besides, how are we going to do the eventual character development where I learn that hitting random stallions in the nuts is wrong?”
The unicorn shrugged. “Why not do the final episode, skip everything else, and then just drop the whole subject?”
Pinkie seemed to be thinking it over, her face screwed up in an internal battle.
Dusk’s horn lit. “Get Spike to let me know what you think of the idea.”
A bright flash, and he was gone.
“Art thou not Dusk Shine?” Luna asked, frowning at the unicorn sprawled out on top of her lunar sand-castle.
“Yep,” the Anchor replied. “I love air bubble spells, by the way. Really useful. Oh, out of curiosity, do you find me physically attractive in any way, shape or form?”
“Nay!” Luna said, shivering. “Thine age, physical if not mental, is far too young for my comfort.”
“Cool.” Dusk put his sunglasses back on. “Sorry for taking over the castle, it probably took you quite a lot of work.”
“’tis no problem,” Luna assured him. “I was thinking on adding a new wing in any case. It is a soothing past-time.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie questions this script,” Trixie said, having finished reading it. “Why is she required to be hit so much?”
Pinkie shrugged. “I dunno, but it’s in there. Hey, you’ll just be wearing an illusion, right? No actual vulnerables to hit.”
“Let Trixie maintain a permanent shield spell and get top billing, and you have a deal.”
They shook on it.
23.7
“Well, this is interesting!” Cadence said. “Kind of the reverse of normal – or, well, the reverse of the first time, anyway.”
Twilight nodded, seeing her point.
It was another one of those loops where she and another pony were the Royal Sisters, meaning that they had to defeat Discord and subsequently run Equestria.
“Although you’re older than me,” Cadence added. “Not fair!”
“I’m not much older.” Twilight looked herself over. “And what does that matter, anyway?”
“You’d get it if you grew up with a sibling closer in age to you.”
“And… you do?” Twilight asked.
“Well, no.” Cadence shrugged. “So my whole point doesn’t actually go anywhere.”
Twilight shook her head, sighing.
“Okay!” Cadence clapped her hooves. “How are we dividing this up?”
The purple alicorn thought for a moment. “What about… arts, sciences and humanities?”
“Go on…” Cadence said.
“I handle the science stuff – you know, physics and weather and so on; you do the arts and culture side, and for things that are a mixture we share.” Twilight waved a hoof. “Best I can come up with.”
“Alright, that seems sensible.”
“Just… a warning,” Twilight added. “Every pony who’s been with me on one of these has overdone something. I don’t want to see you getting out that Dating Simulator thing again.”
“Never crossed my mind,” Cadence mumbled, not looking Twilight in the eye.
After a moment, Twilight let it go. “Alright, then.”
“Alright, fair enough,” Twilight admitted, watching Chrysalis and Sombra go down the aisle. “That does solve two problems at a stroke.”
“Thank you,” Cadence replied, beaming. “I do love a good wedding… even when it isn’t mine.”
“Are you sure you’re coping alright?” Twilight asked anxiously.
“Positive.”
Twilight turned away, and missed a slight eye twitch.
“Cadence…” Twilight asked slowly, “Why do you have calendars all over one wall of your room?”
Cadence blushed slightly. “Well, I noticed last year that your parents still got together. And, well…” The blush deepened.
“Right, gotcha,” Twilight nodded, spotting her brother’s eventual birth date on the calendar up at the far left – and, down at the far right, his date of maturity. “Kind of creepy, but if it’s how you’re coping then I suppose it’s not too bad.”
“Sorry?” Shining said, blinking. “Could you repeat that?”
Cadence asked him out. Again.
“Er…” his eyes took on a distinctly hunted look. “I’m flattered, really I am, but… I can’t help thinking of you as the thousand-plus-year-old Princess of the Arts.”
The alicorn’s eye twitched. “I see. Thank you for your time.”
She vanished in a teleport.
“Cadence!” Twilight said sharply, shading her eyes against the glow of magic. “I said not to break out the Dating Simulator!”
“I know you did,” Cadence replied casually, “but it’s the only way to make sure I marry Shining Armor!”
“Calm down!” Twilight tried to get some handle on the current status of the spell engine as she spoke. “This won’t solve anything!”
“I beg to differ.” Cadence shrugged. “Besides… it’s kind of too late to turn it off.”
Twilight facehoofed. “Oh, brilliant.”
“So, anyway,” Cadence concluded, “after that, the Dating Simulator went off. Only problem was that I… sort of forgot the restrictor.”
“Which does what?” Shining asked, with a kind of horrified fascination.
“That’s the bit which trims romantic possibilities back to one per pony.” Cadence tapped a forehoof on the floor. “Every individual combination would have made the ponies happy, just…”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Shining nodded. “How bad was it?”
“I believe Big Macintosh was assigned about fifty potentials, and then the valves started to explode.” She gave an awkward smile. “Still… not too much harm done. And the moon did look good with me on it.”
Shining shook his head. “Right, at least we all learned an important lesson.”
“Which is?” Cadence asked, frowning. “I mean, there’s several I can see. Like to use transistors and surge protectors.”
“Well, the main one is to not under any circumstances let you go without either me or a hefty supply of romance novels.” Shining nuzzled his wife. “You’re just too romantic. And while that would normally just sound like something which wasn’t really a problem at all, it is when you try to enforce it.”
“Got it.” Cadence looked down. “Sorry.”
“It wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if you’d managed to hold out another few years, I suspect,” Shining added, “since the Elements would have formed by then. And you did hold out longer than any pony else so far.”
“Going to try to break my record?”
“I was considering it…” Shining winked, and Cadence thwapped him in the flank with a wing. “And I hope you dismantled the Dating Simulator.”
Cadence gave him a puppy-eye look. “Do I have to?”
He just looked at her.
“Fine.”
23.8
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!” A pegasus stallion with a sunglasses-wearing flame for a cutie mark drummed his hooves on the floor. “Come on, people, where’s the action?”
“Er, Kamina?” A similar-looking unicorn with a drill for a mark said. “We only just got here, and… it might be kind of impolite.”
“Ah, I gotcha.” Kamina shook his head. “Still, there better be something soon. Besides, Simon, have you ever had a quiet loop?”
“Now you mention it…” the second pony grinned. “No, not at all.”
“And at least you’re not taller than me this time…” Kamina mused.
“I am.” Simon pointed. “Look. This horn thing puts me about half an inch taller than you are.”
“Doesn’t count.” Kamina shook his head.
“How can it not count? It has a spiral pattern!”
“In that case,” Kamina spread his wings. “Gotcha now!”
Simon grinned again, and held up a hoof. “You always win.”
“You know it, bro!”
There was a skidding sound.
“Hi, new ponies!” Pinkie Pie said, beaming, as she halted in front of them. “What Loop are you from?”
“Only the most awesome loop in the history of time!” Kamina and Simon shouted together, having rehearsed.
A blue blur resolved itself into Rainbow Dash. “Did I hear somepony mention the word awesome?”
“Sure did!” Kamina looked her over. “I like the cut of your jib, fellow flying horse thing.”
“Pegasus,” Dash answered easily. “What’s a jib?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to say I don’t know that one.” Kamina looked over at his fellow looper. “Simon?”
“Something something ships,” that unicorn deadpanned.
“Fair enough.”
“Hey, guys!”
They turned, seeing an earth pony galloping towards them.
“I thought it was you!” the earth pony said, as she slowed to a stop in front of them. “Hi, other loopers. I’m Yoko Littner, and I’m the one who keeps these two doofs out of trouble.”
“How does that relate to a rifle?” Dash asked, looking at her cutie mark.
“That’s because she uses the rifle to cause trouble that she then keeps us out of,” Simon joked.
A flash of light and a cloud of smoke erupted twenty feet away.
“Trixie… senses… awesomeness!”
Celestia stood on the balcony of the library next to Twilight, and together they watched a giant robot get into a fist fight with the moon.
“What is this, I don’t even…”
Twilight shrugged helplessly. “Hiccup did warn me about those two, but apparently he understated the case. It doesn’t help that they and Yoko managed to meet the three most compatible personalities our world has to offer, of course.” Especially when that seemed to have got the Elements working somehow.
Celestia gave a slightly stunned nod. “Every time I think I am used to the infinite variety of the universe, something like this happens.”
23.9
Academic Excellence (Stainless Steel Fox)
“I guess you’re all wondering why I called you here today.” Rainbow Dash looked over the group of pegasi she’d assembled at her cloud house.
“Yeah?” Snowflake asked, in a normal voice for once. The six ponies weren’t all on the weather team, though of course they all knew each other more or less. It hadn’t been too long since the Hurricane Season.
“I happen to know you’ve all applied to the basic training course at Wonderbolts Academy.” Dash smirked. “So have I.”
“How could you know about that?” Cloudchaser gave her a puzzled look.
“I have my ways…” Dash wasn’t going to tell them that they almost always the ones who got picked in every loop.
“Don’t tell me you don’t want the competition!” Thunderlane exclaimed.
“Hardly!” Rainbow grinned. “Besides, you guys aren’t competition, unless any-pony’s feeling lucky…“
Nobody was willing to take that bet. Dash sighed. “If anything I want to help you get better, be more awesome… unless you just want to take it easy and cruise through it, it’s up to you. I know a lot of ponies apply just to be able to show they could get in. Kind of a fillip on any-pony’s resume.”
“What are the chances we’ll all get in anyway?” Cloudchaser was pacing around Dash’s living room. “I mean sure you’re a horseshoe-in, but we don’t have your skill, or your connections.”
Dash actually frowned. “If I can’t get in on skill alone, I’m not going. But I think you guys impressed Spitfire during the Hurricane Day. For that matter, you impressed me. Getting back up in the air after it fell to pieces the first time took guts and stick-at-it-ness. I figure you’ve all got a good chance. I just want to see every-pony makes the most of it.”
That made a couple of the ponies, who’d been wondering what was in it for Dash, feel a bit ashamed. Rainbow Dash had her faults, but no-pony could say she wasn’t loyal to her friends.
Dash seemed to read what was going on in their heads. “I’ll admit there is something in it for me. I can kick out a top solo performance, blow the instructors wings off, but there’s more to being a Wonderbolt than just being the most awesome flyer. You’ve gotta work as part of a team. If every-pony from Ponyville turns up and works together, and gets the highest scores across the board, it’ll show I can lead a team, and get the best out of other ponies.
“It’s not that different to Weather Patrol, just bucking out a performance at a higher level. Spitfire seemed pleased at the way I handled the Tornado drill, but I want to prove to her it wasn’t a fluke. I had an awesome team backing me and giving it everything they had then, and I hope we can do it again. So, if we do this, you guys get better results from your training course, and I get to show I’m more than an incredibly awesome solo flyer. Every-pony wins! ”
She looked around. “So, are you guys in?” She held out a hoof and after a fraction of a second, the other hooves covered hers. “Okay, then we’re going to do this, and it’s going to be awesome!”
“YEAH!”
The cadets were lined up waiting to meet Spitfire. She walked past as usual.
“Well lookie what we got here. Betcha'll think you're Wonderbolt material, don't ya?”
Every-pony except Lightning Dust, who yelled out, “Yes ma’am!”, instead said, “Not yet ma’am!”
That rather de-railed her standard ‘I am drill sergeant nasty’ speech. Still she recovered quickly. “Oh, so we have a class of wise guys, do we?”
She eye-balled Cloud Chaser. “Are you a wise guy, rookie?”
The weather pony would have quailed, if she hadn’t already spent hours getting the exact same thing from Rainbow Dash. Dash had warned them all about this, suggested some standard responses, and she wasn’t going to let the team down, though her eyes did flick towards the rainbow pegasus. She stood up straight and snapped out. “No, ma’am! Not a guy ma’am!”
“Think you’re hot stuff?” Spitfire eye-balled Snowflake, who also remembered what Rainbow Dash had drilled into them, and didn’t flinch. “NO MA’AM!”
Spitfire brushed back her mane into place and put on her glasses. Though she kept her expression stern, inwardly she was quite impressed. She could generally intimidate at least some of the rookies, but this lot seemed to have some grit to them. Though she suspected she knew who’d been the source of it all.
Stopping by Rainbow Dash, she gave her the best top sergeant stare she knew. “You look like you're the worst flyer in the whole academy! You'll probably quit after the first day!”
“No ma'am! I've been training for this since I was a foal, ma'am!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t honestly say she’d never quit, as she had the first time round.
“Let’s hope you learned something then.” Spitfire gave a tight smile and moved on to the one non-Ponyville pony, Lightning Dust.
“Ha. What about you? Bet you couldn't fly past the first flagpole without getting winded.”
Lightning Dust was her usual self. “Try me ma’am.”
Perfect. She gave them 500 laps to prove themselves, and was surprised again that none of the Ponyville contingent complained. She didn’t expect it from Dash, but the others…
Rainbow Dash asked, “Is this a race ma’am?”
Oho, sounded like Dash wanted to spread her wings too. “No. You’ll have plenty of chance to compete later.”
Despite that, Lightning Dust had shot into the air and was making a maximum speed run, but Dash hadn’t followed her. Instead she was taking it slower. It was a few seconds before the Wonderbolt realised what the rainbow pegasus was doing. She was checking on each of the other ponies as she went past them, checking to see they were good to go, and giving them a wing-waggle of encouragement. It was only after she’d seen to each of them that she suddenly kicked up the velocity and started lapping them, though not as efficiently as Lightning Dust.
That was odd, with the amount of effort she was putting out, she should be getting more speed… oh, now that was interesting. Some of the power was going into creating a trailing vortex wider than she was, and the other Ponyville pegasi were sliding in to catch it and gain an extra boost of speed as she went past them.
While they wasn’t making anywhere near the speed Lightning Dust was putting out, as a group they were going faster than the slowest ponies could have managed on their own, and at that trick must take quite a bit of teamwork to maintain, not to mention both skill and power on Dash’s part. Maybe she hadn’t been asking for a race.
Lightning came off the course first, and looked back with a bit of derision. “Finished, ma’am!”
“Not bad for a rookie.” In fact she was pretty sure Lightning Dust had made one of the fastest ever times for a new recruit. “You’re dismissed, go get something to eat, you’re going to need your energy for tomorrow.”
The rest of the new draft landed not much later. She was almost certain that they’d set a new record, for the fastest time for a whole class of cadets completing the five hundred. They landed in a line and pulled off an attention pose as well as any Wonderbolt. She waved them to the mess hall, but stopped Dash.
“Well, rookie, what was that in aid of?”
“What was what ma’am?” Dash started at a point two inches behind her right ear, in the traditional ‘enlisted pony trying not to answer a direct question’ pose.
“Your little stunt with the vortex drift? Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”
“No, ma’am!” Dash tried to suppress a grin and mostly succeeded. “However it wasn’t a race, so there was nothing wrong with other ponies taking advantage of another pony’s air-wash to get around the track faster, ma’am. There was also nothing wrong with not going at my best speed, was there ma’am?”
“Hmm…” Spitfire was quite enjoying this. This Dash was a lot less fan-girlish then the pony she’d met at the Gala a couple of years ago. She was taking quite a risk to effectively prank Spitfire, but somehow Spitfire didn’t feel it was because she thought she could take liberties due to the whole ‘having your life saved’ thing. “I’d have thought you’d take the opportunity to prove yourself.”
“Yes ma’am. Was ma’am. Just not my speed ma’am.”
It was clear, as if it hadn’t been before, that the whole thing was a set up. However, Spitfire, despite the demeanour she put on for the Academy, appreciated a good prank as much as any-pony. On Rainbow Dash’s part, organising it, anticipating Spitfire’s reactions, and simply having the brass hooves to pull it off demonstrated a lot of guts, initiative, and leadership, as well as skill. But she needed to make sure her authority wasn't being eroded.
“And if I give you another thousand laps to give you the chance to show your full speed?”
“Yes ma’am! Ready to go ma’am.” Rainbow raised her wings and tensed for take-off.
Spitfire was tempted to make good on it, simply to see what she could do, but there was a difference between establishing the chain of command and being petty. “You’ll have plenty of chance to show off tomorrow, cadet. Hit the mess hall, you’re going to need your strength.”
As Rainbow Dash collected a meal from the mess hall counter and made her way over to the other Ponyville cadets, she got one or two sympathetic looks, which turned relieved at her cheerful expression. Before any-pony else could speak, Lightning Dust piped up.
“Heh! Last one in? Well, I guess not every-pony can keep up that kind of speed. Not that you were as fast as me anyway.”
That got her some acid looks from the other cadets.
“Huh! Dash could run rings around you on her worst day if she wanted too!” Cloudchaser exclaimed.
“It’s okay guys, I've got this.” Rainbow Dash waved them down with a wing. “I’m Rainbow Dash. And you are…?”
“Lightning Dust, as in I move like lightning and leave every-pony else in the dust!” The yellow and green pegasus declaimed.
“Sounds awfully lonely out there on your own.” Rainbow quipped. “Y'know, I wasn’t trying for the best time, at least not for myself. My friends here and I are all from Ponyville, and we’re looking out for each other. By the way guys, you did great! Perfect delivery, just what I’d hoped for, no, even better!”
That got a number of grins and pleased looks from the Ponyville cadets, and Thunderlane and Milky Way even exchanged a high wing.
“What?” Lightning Dust looked around at the other ponies. “What’re you talking about?”
“There was a good chance that Spitfire was going to come out with something like ‘are you good enough’. Answer ‘yes’, you get told you aren’t, answer ‘no’, you get 'why are you here then?' So we came up with some alternatives.”
“You pranked Spitfire?” Lightning Dust’s eyes widened.
Rainbow Dash grinned, “We pranked her, and because she’s an awesome pony, she let it slide. Well, I almost got a thousand extra laps for it, but it would have been totally worth it. Likewise, I was giving these guys a vortex tunnel to take advantage of. None of us were pulling our maximum speed, because none of us want to risk having to drop out due to a strain injury when we’ve just got here.”
“Uh huh… “ Lightning Dust looked sceptical. “I always buck it to the max. If you don’t push yourself, how can you get better?”
“I get you, but there’s more to being a Wonderbolt than just being an awesome flyer. You’re part of a team too, speaking of which, my friends over there are Thunderlane, Wildflower, Cloud Chaser and the big guy is Snowflake.” As she spoke, she gestured to each pony. “Over here we have Milky Way and Raindrops.”
Lightning Dust snorted. “Like I’m going to remember all of that!”
“Isn’t hard if you care about doing it. An earth pony named Pinkie Pie taught me that.” Rainbow shrugged, and dropped in between Lightning Dust and Raindrops. “Anyhow, we're going to rock this training course, and I figured you'd want in, from the way you were pushing it out there.“
“I don't need any help rocking the course,” Lightning Dust gave an airy wave of her wing. “I'm the best flyer in Los Pegasus, and I don't need any-pony slowing me down.”
As little as a few hundred loops ago, Rainbow Dash would have made some hot retort about being the best in Equestria. However, with alicorn power levels to draw on, she really didn't have anything to prove. Besides, she understood the reason behind Lightning Dust's different attitude.
Whenever she raced against Lightning Dust, she marked herself as a peer, someone like Lightning herself, though obviously not as good, and therefore worthy of notice. Here she hadn't, and the fact that she cared more about the other ponies then trying to excel herself meant Lightning Dust had shoved her onto the mental pile, 'lame and loving it'. It was like Gilda all over again, why had she always attracted jerks as friends? Redeeming Dust wasn't one of her goals this loop, but she'd have to see what could be done.
In most close to original loops Lightning Dust wasn't kicked out of the Academy outright, even after she had her Lead pony badge stripped. Normally she got reassigned as Dash's wing-pony, and after she'd gotten the attitude knocked out of her, she could be pretty cool. She just needed to lose that 'win at all costs' mentality.
Her thoughts hadn't stopped her speaking when some of the other ponies bridled at Dusty's attitude. “Heh, suit yourself. Maybe you'll change your mind when you see what we can do tomorrow.”
Lightning Dust left as soon as she'd finished eating, and almost before she was out of ear-shot, Cloud Chaser asked, “Why are you letting her talk like that? She's a complete jerk, and needs to be taken down a peg or two.”
“She reminds me of me, not too long ago.”
“You were never that bad!” Milky Way piped up.
Rainbow blew a stray hair out of her face. “Maybe, but it took being around Twilight and the others to teach me there was more to life than being the best I could be, or that loyalty to my friends, to other ponies wasn't the same as loyalty to Ponyville and my job. You saw her out there, she's an awesome flyer, but if she doesn't figure out the rest of it, she's never going to make a Wonderbolt.
“We've got each other, she's got no-pony else to rely on. I don't think her attitude has made her many friends back in Los Pegasus either. So she's decided she doesn't need them. I'm trying to get her to see she's wrong, but it won't work if we gang up on her, shut her out. By the way, thanks every-pony for following my lead on that. “
There was a chorus on the general theme of 'No problem' with added, 'You've got us this far.' Thunderlane added, “Besides, like you said, we'll show her what we can do tomorrow, on the Dizzitron.”
Wildflower looked slightly nervous. “Ooh, I am not looking forward to that. What if I mess up?”
“Relax, just stick with what we've practised and do your best.” She held up a hoof, brought it to a stop in mid-air, then dropped it and guided it down in a curve to sweep horizontal to the table. “Stop, drop and roll out. Trust me, Apple Bloom's mock-up was designed to the same spec as the real thing. You've done it before, I've seen you do it, and I know you have nothing to worry about.”
Thunderlane scratched the back of his neck with a hoof. “Who'd of figured Applejack's kid sister was that good with gadgets?”
Rainbow Dash grinned to herself, thinking of how they'd freak out if they saw what the looping filly had in her underground garage. An alicorn didn't need a spaceship, but some of the space fighters she rigged up were massive fun to fly. She might take the time tonight to pop back there and see what she could take for a spin, or maybe just ride the wing while Scootaloo flew. No, best get an early night, she had a long day tomorrow.
Lined up in front of the Dizzitron, all the ponies except Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust looked slightly ill at ease. Rainbow Dash had decided to take her usual place, which should mean she'd be picked before Lightning Dust. She wasn't going to let the other pony's time affect her own performance either way. Spitfire was going through her introductory spiel.
“… Your task is to try and recover and fly straight again, as soon as possible. Once you have recovered you must come in for a smooth landing. Now, who's first?” Wildflower caught her attention. “You. You're up. “
“Me... I mean, yes ma'am!” The pink pegasus gulped and started towards the machine, suppressing a shiver. 'It's okay, it's just like back on Sweet Apple Acres. Stop, drop and roll out. Just pretend it's a fairground ride, a very fast, very scary fairground ride...”
As she strapped herself in, she looked back at the line of ponies and saw nothing but confidence from her fellows. She even saw Dash give her a wing-tip up before she pulled down her goggles, and heard the pegasus's voice from last night. 'You've done it before, I've seen you do it, and I know you have nothing to worry about.'
She felt some confidence return, if Dash thought she could do it, who was she to argue? She could do this. Her voice was steady when she called out. “Okay, I'm ready!”
“Okay, go!” Spitfire called.
The Dizzitron started spinning her, and she got the familiar feeling of her stomach wanting to leave her body through one of many convenient exits. But... it was nothing she hadn't felt before. Her confidence started to grow. Actually doing this was a lot less scary than thinking about doing it. She tucked her head in, pulled her wings and legs in tight, closed her eyes and focussed...
“Release!”
She was flung away through the air... this wasn't even as bad as when the hurricane collapsed.
'Stop...'
Her wings snapped out along with her legs, and the change in angular momentum combined with the air resistance of her wings as she pushed weather magic through them slowed her wild tumble. However, she still didn't open her eyes, just folded her wings back and let herself fall.
'… drop...'
She felt the wind rush past her and guide her body into line with the fall like a shuttlecock. Finally she could open her eyes, and saw the ground was still an acceptable distance below.
'… roll out.'
Having built up air speed, she used the wind rather than her still off kilter sense of balance to orient herself and opened her wings out to a glide, pulling a curve that brought her in to scrape her hooves against the runway. She trotted out and came to a stop as her head stopped spinning. She even found the will to look over towards Spitfire without throwing up.
“Nine seconds... Acceptable.” Actually the Wonderbolt leader was quite impressed. Nine seconds wasn't an amazing time, but it was better than ninety percent of recruits managed on their first run. Of course, it was quite clear from the practised way she'd reacted that this wasn't her first run, and Spitfire was fairly sure who'd made sure of that.
She must have been taking a lot of notes that time she came there as her reward for winning the Young Fliers competition. Not that the details of the training routine was classified or anything, but it wouldn't have been simple to get. Spitfire added another tick in her mental check-list of the rainbow pegasus's talents. Good intel made for safer flying.
Wildflower hadn't heard the faint praise. She reverse punched the air. Yes! She'd beaten the ten second barrier, her best time ever! As she returned to the line, she sneaked a grin towards Rainbow Dash and got a pleased smirk and another wing-tip up in return.
“Rainbow Dash, since you're fidgeting, you're clearly eager to go!” Spitfire turned her gaze on Dash.
“Yes ma'am!” Dash kept her grin. “But if it's all the same to you, could you turn that doohickey up to top speed?”
“Really?” Spitfire didn't actually know why she was surprised. If any-pony was going to want to go all the way, it was Dash. But that speed was what she and the the other active Wonderbolts members trained on. “It's your funeral.”
Rainbow Dash seemed completely unconcerned as the level was switched all the way over. The device spun up to ludicrous speed, and at Spitfire's command, they triggered the release. There was a crack and an explosion of miniature rainbows from the hurtling figure as her wing-tips extended at more than the speed of sound, and the single flap she gave didn't just arrest her motion but sent her bulleting back towards the runway with a rainbow contrail.
She landed with another crack as the macadam of the runway crunched slightly under her hooves leaving a visible mark. Spitfire had expected something exceptional, but that had her so flustered, she almost forgot to stop her stopwatch. “Three point two seconds?!”
Dear sweet Celestia! Spitfire's own best time was four point six, and the best time ever recorded was three point nine. Still she couldn't exactly say that. “That's an Academy record. Looks like you do have something on the ball, after all.”
She noticed that the other ponies looked pleased except for Lightning Dust who looked like she'd flown into a cloud filled with rocks. Cloud chaser reached under her chin and pushed her jaw back up, which seemed to bring her out of her stupor. Interesting that they were happy for her despite the fact that she'd just blown them all right out of the sky with that performance.
What was more, Dash was just trotting back into line. Apart from a grin and a couple of slight nods of acknowledgement that Spitfire probably wasn't supposed to see, she wasn't making a big thing out of it.
Lightning Dust followed, and also chose the top speed, pulling a hoof-first drop and fly out in a respectable six and a half seconds. Most of the others were quite happy to throttle it back to regular speed, but none of them put in a performance of worse than ten seconds, even Thunderlane, who tried intermediate speed, and still managed a nine point seven. None of them ended up losing their balance or their lunch afterwards, either.
This group of recruits was shaping up to be exceptional group of trainees, and Spitfire was certain as to who's fault that was in all but one case. She considered what to do about that one case, who was currently glaring at Rainbow Dash. She'd have to consider what she was going to do about that situation.
“Listen up! For the rest of the camp, you'll be working in pairs. 'Morrow morning, I'll post the teams, including who'll be lead pony and who'll be wing-pony. Good luck.”
She watched the group dynamic as she dismissed them, Dash was clearly the centre of attention, but she was equally clearly complimenting the others performances. Lightning Dust seemed to be left out on the edges, but the key was what happened when Dash turned to her and offered a hoof-bump. Lightning Dust just turned away and headed for the barracks.
Yes, something would definitely have to be done about that.
23.10
“Hi, Princess,” Twilight said, trotting into the throne room. “I – oh.”
“Hello!” Cadence said from the throne, passing some just-signed papers over to an official. “Nice to see you.”
“You too,” Twilight replied, nodding. “Only… I was expecting to find Princess Celestia. Any idea where she is?”
“What, don’t you love me any more?”
“That’s my brother’s job these days, isn’t it?” Twilight replied.
“Fair point,” Cadence agreed, incidentally confirming a number of rumours in front of witnesses. “And no, she just asked me to spot her for the Summer Sun celebration.”
That was interesting. Cadence wasn’t Awake this time, but apparently Celestia was. And… no, there wasn’t enough information to go on.
“Well, if I can’t find her I suppose I’ll have to make do,” Twilight mock-sighed. “How have you been?”
“Still learning the business of ruling, actually,” Cadence replied. “Celestia was kind enough to mostly clear the decks, though, so it’s not too onerous. I’m sure it amounts to a test.”
Twilight nodded along. “Sensible.”
Nightmare Moon crept along corridors, seeking her sister. At first she’d thought her goal might be Ponyville, but further investigation had revealed that the alicorn to be appearing there was a stripling she’d never heard of.
The Nightmare idly pondered if perhaps this ‘Cadence’ was some by-blow of Celestia’s or something, then brushed the thought off as she reached Celestia’s private chambers.
There was a sign dangling on the door.
Frowning, Moon squinted at it. “Gone… surfing?”
Celestia blazed across the night sky in a corona of plasma, her tungsten and carbon-carbon surfboard humming as it dissipated reentry compression heating.
“Hmmm, not as good as I was expecting…” she said critically, adjusting the angle of attack minutely. “It’s all much of a muchness. So much for the idea that the night would bring different pressure.”
Movement caught her eye, and she focused a complex scrying spell to zoom in.
Well, that was interesting. By luck, it appeared she was on a rough interception course with a stealthily-flying Nightmare Moon.
Several plans ran though the Alicorn’s mind. After some careful consideration, she selected plan G.
Nightmare Moon had the air knocked out of her by a near-sonic speed impact that hit her from her right rear.
“…eeeeeeeEEEEEEEEE SIS! So glad you’re back!” Celestia’s voice shouted, high-pitched with excitement.
The alicorn of darkness had been well prepared for battle, for rhetoric, for subtlety. Being glomped, however, was totally outside her expectations.
“Celly?!”
“Oh, Lulu, I missed you so much!” Celestia said, still gleeful, and hugging the other alicorn so hard her ribs creaked.
Then the princess of the day frowned. “Hey, do you remember how to slow down? ‘cause we’re about to hit a tree.”
FLUMPH.
“This is so much fun!” Celestia said, grinning. “I get to act like the little sister for once!”
“I still don’t get how you fixed her…” Twilight muttered. “I mean, about all you did that I can see is you body-checked her into a tree.”
“I glomped her, Twilight,” Celestia corrected, still smiling. “Hugs fix everything.”
“Fair enough.” Twilight looked over at the confused Princess Luna. “Hey, should I tell her there’s a twig in her mane?”
Celestia shrugged. “I think it looks nice.”
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Ooh, Temeraire! Huzzah! More people need to read that series.
The rest was interesting too, of course, but that's the one that really caught my eye.
9) Yes, Stainless Steel Fox is quite prolific.
I am keeping my eye on.
Wonder if Dust will ever wake up like Tiara.
C'mon, Dust. Get your head out of your butt. I'm rooting for you!
Almost a full R63 loop. Guess that's as close as I'm gonna get though. Keep up the good work!
3035777
Someone suggested "the unexpected love life of Dusk Shine", someone else pointed out how various ponies are OOC, I produced that loop - compromise from a Dusk/Twilight who Is Not In The Mood For This.
Well, the Loops fit the concept of a Groundhog Day (disregarding that some loops are wildly different) so it deserved an entry, I felt. I haven't read any other stories on the subject, so I don't know if they are more deserving, but I'm biased toward MLP regardless. Could probably do a whole page coverage on it. Besides, taking the opportunity to just mess around and do crazy stuff is an unwritten rule with Groundhog Day stories, so...
Interesting take on Dusk Shine. I like that story, but sometimes it goes overboard on the female-on-male abuse. I have a rule of thumb I use sometimes: Would this scene work if the roles were reversed?
Also, TTGL/MLP has potential...
That Bleach loop was hilarious. Also, I think that this story is a shining example of what a time loop story should be. It has stuff from multiple genres, the writing is good, and it keeps you laughing. I still drop everything (assuming I'm not at work) to read this. Anyway, great chapter!
23.8...freaking 23.8...THIS. MUST. CONTINUE!!! Ok, I know the odds of that are so low, I'd have a better shot winning the Lottery, then finding MEGAS XLR in a Junkyard. But even so, THIS CONCEPT IS MADE OF WIN! Plus, HUGE Gurren Lagann fan right here, and I'd chomp the bit to see that happen! Plus, FIST-FIGHTING THE MOON! Some one PLEASE animate that!!!
Ok, Plan G, I LOVE PLAN G!!! Cadence lasting that long, and heck, that Dating Simulator thing is pretty nifty...and terrifying. That said, Stainless Steel Fox is a beast and I love that writing!! Massive kudos and my compliments for the mature, and team leader Rainbow Dash, truly best chance at being a Wonderbolt! I still stand by my above section of fan-boy rant though.
...T-temeraire...
OhmycelestiaYES! YES YES YES I LOVE THAT SERIES!
Please tell me there is more of Temeraire coming. It's almost certainly too much to hope that he and Lawrence have their own loops series.
You don't wanna know how much i want a Metro loop. I think Awake Pinkie would make a great Khan.
3038339
I'll try to put one or two in any future HTTYD Loops update.
In the meantime, here's something else I did.
3040480
I swear I've seen that before. Did you put it up on fanfiction.net? Yup you did. Chapter one.
i would like to see Naruto and Sasuke taking the places of the princesses for one loop, it should be fun
Here's an idea: Nyx gets a lonely loop where she awakens some time before Twilight gets her cutie mark... cue the adventures of Lil' Twily and Nyxie-poo, who avoids revealing she's an alicorn just for the heck of it.
3078944
It's called "the Naruto Omake Files" or something like that, and it is by Innortal on fanfiction.net.
Here's one: A loop where the entirety of Ponyville is Awake. And ONLY the entirety of Ponyville. Twilight, the princesses, anybody who doesn't live there, they're all oblivious. Most of the Apple family, but not the ones that live on the acres.
Just for the heck of it.
I am not sure how to properly express my adoration for this series
. I have read every chapter about three or four times in the past week or so.
3101039
That would be because it really was a reference to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Great story, only issue I saw was F'non and Mnementh; it should have been F'lar. Unless I am remembering wrong F'non had Monarth. Also are there Pernicious loops anywhere? Although the thought of Lessa with standard looper powers if vaguely terrifying.
The Gurren Lagann loop was AWESOME. I can just imagine it.... Somebody needs to draw fanart of that, STAT.
I quite like Plan G.
3035652 My brother has the entire series on his iPad in one form or another. He'd probably love the Temeraire crossover.
F!!!ing Awesome!
I've been waiting for Kamina to make an appearance since I started reading this, and the unexpected pleasure of a Temeraire Xover makes this my favorite chapter yet! I wish I could upvote this a couple dozen more times.
I've always loved that overpowered Apple Bloom. But now I'm sad that the only emoticon she's got is
Row Row Fight The Powah!
That was unexpectedly cute.
The bit where Rainbow Dash gets launched from the Dizzitron may just be the coolest thing I've read all year.
Well, congratulations on making it on tropers!
The character development Dash gets here Reminds me of the character development she gets in the Austraeoh series (which you should all read.).
This being a good example of a Groundhog Day loop makes sense entirely, honestly. Ignoring the fused loops, anyways. Those are something different aaaaltogether.
...I kinda imagine that it took Ichigo a few hours to explain the plot of Bleach to Twilight. From his perspective, there's a lot more to explain.
I mean, most fans of Bleach just say "Aizen did it."
6465985
Bleach goes off on so many tangents that I got confused after the first few episodes. While it's funny, the whole 'switch of perspective' that goes on is actually kind of annoying.
Pinkie-fied Celestia, huh...?
NOPE!
...
I find this both hilarious, and strangely inspirational. Leave it to Celestia to do that.
oh, that made me think of this recent video:
Ah, yes, plan Glomp. Truly a work of genius.
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ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ɐ uı ƃuıʌıl
ɹǝʌoɔ ǝʞɐʇ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ 'unɹ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ
¿ɹǝpunɥʇ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ 'ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ
ɹǝpunld uǝɯ puɐ ʍolƃ uǝɯoʍ ǝɹǝɥʍ
ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ɐ uı ƃuıʌıl
ɹǝʌoɔ ǝʞɐʇ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ 'unɹ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ
¿ɹǝpunɥʇ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ 'ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ
ɹǝpunld uǝɯ puɐ ʍolƃ uǝɯoʍ ǝɹǝɥʍ
ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ɐ uı ƃuıʌıl
ɹǝʌoɔ ǝʞɐʇ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ 'unɹ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ
¿ɹǝpunɥʇ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ 'ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ
¿ɹǝpunld uǝɯ puɐ ʍolƃ uǝɯoʍ ǝɹǝɥʍ
(ɥɐǝʎ ɥɐǝʎ ɥo) ¿ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ɐ ɯoɹɟ ǝɯoɔ noʎ op
pıɐs ǝɥ puɐ
,,¿ʎʇuǝld ɟo puɐl ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ ǝɯoɔ ı ǝsnɐɔǝq
ǝɯ ʇdɯǝʇ oʇ ƃuıʎɹʇ noʎ ǝɹɐ,, 'uɐɯ ǝɥʇ oʇ pıɐs ı
ʎɐs oʇ ɥɔnɯ ʇou puɐ 'ʍɐɾ ʞɔɐls ɐ ɥʇıʍ
ʎɐqɯoq uı uǝp ɐ uı ,uıʎl
ɥɐǝʎ 'ɹǝʌoɔ ǝʞɐʇ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ 'unɹ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ
¿ɹǝpunɥʇ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ 'ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ
ɹǝpunɥɔ uǝɯ puɐ ʍolɟ sǝop ɹǝǝq ǝɹǝɥʍ
ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ɐ ɯoɹɟ ǝɯoɔ ı
pıɐs ǝɥ puɐ
ɥɔıʍpuɐs ǝʇıɯǝƃǝʌ ɐ ǝɯ ǝʌɐƃ puɐ pǝlıɯs ʇsnɾ ǝɥ
,,¿ǝƃɐnƃuɐl ʎɯ ɐ-ʞɐǝds noʎ op,, 'pıɐs ı
sǝlɔsnɯ ɟo llnɟ puɐ ɹnoɟ-ʇooɟ-xıs sɐʍ ǝɥ
slǝssnɹq uı uɐɯ ɐ ɯoɹɟ pɐǝɹq ƃuıʎnq
ɹǝʌoɔ ǝʞɐʇ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ 'unɹ ɹǝʇʇǝq noʎ
¿ɹǝpunɥʇ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ 'ɹɐǝɥ noʎ ʇ,uɐɔ
¿ɹǝpunld uǝɯ puɐ ʍolƃ uǝɯoʍ ǝɹǝɥʍ
¿ɹǝpun uʍop puɐl ɐ ɯoɹɟ ǝɯoɔ noʎ op
pıɐs ǝɥs puɐ
ʇsɐɟʞɐǝɹq ǝɯ ǝʌɐƃ puɐ uı ǝɯ ʞooʇ ǝɥs
snoʌɹǝu ǝɯ ǝpɐɯ ǝɥs 'ʎpɐl ǝƃuɐɹʇs ɐ ʇǝɯ ı
ǝıqɯoz ɟo llnɟ pɐǝɥ 'lıɐɹʇ ǝıddıɥ ɐ uo
ǝıqɯoɔ ʇno-pǝıɹɟ ɐ uı ƃuılǝʌɐɹʇ
Ooh, I'd love to see more of that Rainbow Dash Wonderbolt Academy loop!
oh, i just remembered this: