Loops 45
45.1 (Masterweaver)
"WELCOME TO THE ANNUAL ROMANCE THROW! Give it up for our reigning champions, SHINING ARMOR AND MI AMORE CADENZAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"I keep telling them, it's Cadance," the alicorn mock whined as she trotted onto the arena and waved at her screaming fans.
"They just don't listen these days do they," the unicorn beside her sad, sadly shaking his head and giving a sly wink to a group of fanfillies who instantly fainted.
"TODAY, they will be facing their long time rivals, SPIKE THE SAURUS AND LAAAAAAAAADY RAAAAAAAAAAARITY!"
A purple dragon marched slowly onto the field, rearing up for a dramatic roar as the mare lounging on his scales waved to the crowd. "Hello there dearies! It is wonderful to see you all again!"
"And finally, an unexpected challenger. Somepony that will most definitely surprise you... because she isn't really a pony. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you CHRYSALIS, QUEEN OF CHANGELINGS!"
Columns of green flames burst around the arena as a tall form flew from the shadows, landing between the two surprised competitor teams. "Well, well, well. It's good to see you all."
"Wait a minute, this is a partner sport!" Spike pointed out. "Who are you going to–oh. Oh no."
"OH YES! Chrysalis's partner is none other.... THAN MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A blue unicorn leapt out of the announcer's box. "GIVE IT UP FOR.... THE GREAT! AND POWERFUL! TRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIXIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"
45.2 (Masterweaver)
Wait a minute, Cookie said suddenly. You all still remember Old Holly Hooves?
Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom shared a look.
"Um... well... he's kinda a story." The earth pony chuckled awkwardly. "Fer little fillies and colts."
"A big jolly reindeer comes down the chimney and sticks gifts in stockings," Sweetie Belle explained. "I personally thought it was an adorable old pony's tale, but–"
Old pony's tale?! Pansy cried in shock. That caribou was one of the bravest heroes of our generation!
Clover sighed. Pansy, dear, our own story was sanitized over the generations. As great as Holly was, the fact is Krampus could give nightmares to foals.
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Krampus? I don't think I know that name..."
And there you have it, Smart Cookie said wearily. Without the villain, Holly becomes nothing more then a nice gift giver...
Apple Bloom smiled to herself. "Maybe ya'll could set the record straight then. Who was Krampus, and how was Old Holly Hooves a hero?"
For a moment, the necklaces were silent.
You have to understand, Clover began slowly, the Fire of Friendship only worked in a localized area. Even while we were expanding Equestria, a lot of the land was still covered in ice and snow.
Still, there were a lot of opportunistic groups out there, Smart Cookie continued. They'd set off, a union of the three tribes, and found settlements in hopes of repelling the Windigos. Sometimes it worked... sometimes it didn't.
Some of my own kin were part of one of those groups, Pansy commented. They bravely went back north, not to the old lands, but... well, they built themselves a little village. It was a fairly normal settlement, we'd get reports back, but then one month... nothing.
Scootaloo patted her necklace gently. "It must have been hard, not knowing what happened..."
I assumed they'd been buried in the snow. Pansy sighed. There was a country to run, and I couldn't afford to go looking for them....
Nopony blames you, Smart Cookie offered gently. We couldn't have known about him.
Sweetie Belle gulped. "About... who, exactly?"
Krampus the Black. Without warning, Clover projected a holographic image of a horned, shaggy–furred biped, whip in hand and red eyes glaring. A satyr sorcerer who enslaved the village. The manacles he wore granted him power so long as weariness and despair were abundant. But with the windigos retreating... She trailed off.
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "He needed to find a new source of suffering ta power his magic."
And here was this village of ponies, right on his doorstep... The necklace around Bloom's neck glowed angrily. Krampus was a monster, in form and in heart. He would break the legs of ponies who defied him, and whip those he considered too slow in their so called work. Mare, stallion, foal.... pegasus, unicorn, earth pony.... he treated all with equal cruelty, making them labour in the snow whenever suited him. They took to sticking warm coals in their stockings just to fight off the cold.
Sweetie Belle stared at the image before her. "...I take it this is where Old Holly Hooves comes in?"
Indeed. With a slight shift, the necklace around Belle's neck changed the image to a noble, elderly caribou with a thick white beard and piercing eyes. The caribou clan has always had a connection with wind, being able to hear the whispers from miles away. Their elders have even managed flight, sometimes. And when Holly Hooves heard the cries of pain and anguish on the winds, he was so moved he had to act.
Scootaloo was now completely enraptured by the story. "So... what did he do?"
He did what I would have done, Pansy replied gravely. He provided for those under his protection, by having his tribemates sequester gifts of food and clothing in secret to the village, and sought out a way to defeat Krampus, by tracking down the beings who made his manacles in the first place.
Mountain elves, Clover elaborated. Very rare, very isolated. Presumably there was some sort of war that nearly wiped them out... whatever the case, Holly found them, asked for their help. They forged him a chain of bells that would neutralize elvish magic, but only if it was fuelled by hope and joy. And in return he swore his clan to their protection.
Smart Cookie glowed with pride They say the battle lasted a full day. Even after the chains were fuelled by the hope of the village, Krampus and Holly duelled in a blistering snowstorm. I don't know how much of that was exaggerated, but in the end Old Holly Hooves won. There was a great celebration in the village, the ponies made robes for the elves, bread was broken with the caribou... a message was sent out to us, detailing the whole thing, but by the time we arrived they had all gone.
"Wow." Apple Bloom breathed out. "Ah... did not even realize..." She looked at the painting of a smiling reindeer with new eyes. "And that's tha last ya'll heard of them?"
...I did meet him much later, Pansy admitted. When I was very old. Travelling north, I saw a glacier in the shape of a caribou skull... and inside, a coven of elves making toys, with the old deer himself at their head. He explained that the bells which bound Krampus would need to be... well, refuelled soon, so he'd come up with an idea to spread gifts to the little ones in a nearby village. I advised him to do so around Hearth's Warming Eve, so as to capitalize on the emotion... I suppose that's how the story was revitalized.
After a moment, the necklace sighed. I don't understand how the chimney thing came about, though.
45.3 (Crisis)
Twilight honestly wondered why variant Loops set in the Canterlot High School universe – that strange alternate version of Equestria where everypony she knew had a human counterpart – weren't more common. She'd certainly prefer this place to that alternate Ponyville where 'Rainbow Dash always dresses in style'.
The good news for this Loop was that finally, finally, the other Elements were Awake for it. She could now actually explore this place with her friends rather than startlingly accurate facsimiles.
The bad news started when the zombies showed up.
Not just normal zombies, but the ones with ridiculous variations like wearing road cones and buckets on their heads, pole vaulters, bob–sleighers, and other types she'd have rather never seen again.
And the only viable long–term defense were those cartoony animate plants. She may have had access to world–shaking magic and weapons, but even her reserves weren't nearly as inexhaustible as the zombies seemed to be.
It was another fused Loop with that universe. And no forewarning to check her sanity at the door.
"So, what's the deal with Crazy Dave anyway? Is he the Anchor from wherever these things are normally from?" Rainbow asked her after a particularly brutal wave. Thankfully, no brains had been eaten yet. At least not those of anypony's counterpart she knew. The attacks let up often enough that basic necessities like food and utilities could be gathered before hunkering back down and waiting for the next attack. She and her friends had taken to sleeping in shifts so that there was always at least two of them awake in case 'extreme gardening' skills were needed.
"Maybe," Twilight responded tiredly. "No one can really tell."
"Think we could ask Sleipnir to check the next time we see him?" Rainbow suggested.
"Already did that," Twilight told her friend. "Apparently he is the designated Anchor for his universe, but his 'code' is so incomprehensible that even the Yggdrasil admins can't tell if he's actually looping or if his universe stabilized on its own. And they don't want to try triggering others from his universe to start looping until they figure it out."
"Huh?" Rainbow scrunched her face in confusion. "How can the beings that run reality not understand him enough to tell if he's looping?"
Twilight gave Rainbow Dash a flat stare. "Because he's crazy."
45.4
In the dank gloom of the Everfree forest, a predator moved on silent feet.
Moving lightly over the leaf litter, the predator's eyes flickered all around. Her nostrils scented the air, trying to gain the slimmest edge.
There!
The predator bounded forwards, pushing off with all her might and soaring over a brook towards her goal.
There were several seconds of snarling, growling tussle, and then predator and target separated. Both were bleeding, but the cuts were superficial, and they darted off into the undergrowth once more.
“How long are they going to take?” Spike asked, hovering on a thermal. “It's been five hours!”
“No idea.” Twilight trimmed her wings to catch the same thermal, and then soared up and around her assistant. “Suppose they'll just have to work it out for themselves.”
She rolled onto her back, grinning. “Ah, I'm not a pegasus nearly enough.”
A heavy paw slammed Gilda's beak into the ground, making her see stars. Snapping out her wings, she forced the other off her and lashed backwards with her hind–paws hoping to catch her target with them.
No such luck.
The only warning she got, as she righted herself and made to turn, was a moment's rustling leaves. Then a weight landed on her back, forcing her back to the forest floor.
White teeth flashed near her throat for a second, and she went limp.
“Okay, okay,” she said after a moment. “You win. Seventeen to fourteen.”
The wolf closed her jaws, and carefully backed off Gilda's side. Then it blurred, and Fluttershy stood there.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“Understanding, hash!” Gilda pawed at her beak to get some of the mud off. “Pwah. Anyway, take it from one predator to another – I get the whole dominance issues thing. It's better we get it out of the way now.”
Fluttershy nodded, her cheeks slightly coloured.
“...I'll win next time, though.”
The pale yellow pegasus gave Gilda a look which was surprisingly arch.
“...maybe. Okay, we've had the fight, what now?”
“Well...” Fluttershy shuffled her paws. “I did get hold of some rather nice hadrosaur meat last loop there was a chance...”
“Dinosaur meat?” Gilda's eyes lit up. “I am so there!”
“There we go,” Twilight said, nodding with satisfaction. “That's that.”
“I heard something about dinosaur meat...” Spike trailed off. “Any chance I could get some with gemstones roasted in?”
“I think you'll have to ask Fluttershy.” Twilight waggled her wings. “I'm not willing to speak for her.”
“Sure.” He made a ponderous turn towards Ponyville, with Twilight accelerating to ride his slipstream. “...any chance you could get me something from the next time you encounter a silicon based creature?”
“I'll think about it.”
45.5 (Indalecio)
Shining woke to the gentle rocking of the ocean.
“I'm in a boat, and it's night...” Specifically, a small ship with one mast, that seemed to have seen more than its fair share of years.
“And I'm wearing a mask, and have a rapier by my side.” Then his loop memories set in.
“Cadence's in danger!” Looking ahead, he could see another small ship ahead of him, in the distance, and yes, searching his memories, they were heading to the 'Cliffs of Insanity'.
“Who names these places?” he snorted with disdain.
He considered jumping from the boat and swimming the remaining distance, but loop memories kicked in again.
“Right, eels.”
The dawn was ascending and the ship up ahead had docked at the cliffs. Arriving, himself, all he found was a length of rope that went straight up the cliff. Looking at his hooves, and looking at the rope...
“You've got to be kidding me.”
It had taken a few moments, but he'd heard about gravity shifting spells from his sister and this was as good a time as any to try them out.
It was now the reason he was galloping up the cliff's face, where ironically, upon reaching the top, he now stood face to face with that very same sister.
“Hey BBBFF!”
“Twily?” he asked, shocked.
“Well, here it's Twilingo Montoya, dashing and revenge driven swordsmare.”
“Wait, wait. Are we in 'the Princess Bride'?”
“Ahuh. You're the Stallion in Black, the Dread Pirate Blackmask.”
“I knew this somehow seemed familiar. The Cliffs of Insanity should've given it away.”
“Anyway, there's Big Mac and Spike ahead of us as Mazzik and Spikini. Cadence's awake, but those two aren't.”
“Great! I'll see you later...” moving to leave, he was pulled back by a purple, tekekinetic tug.
Twilight nervously hooved the ground. “Shiny, I was kinda wondering if we could duel.”
“What? Now?"
Twilight's eyes grew big. “Please?!”
Shining sighed. “Fine.”
A thrown rock smashed close to him. He'd been running in pursuit of Cadence and the remaining two, finally ending in a rocky gorge.
“Enope.”
Big Mac, or Mazzik as he was known here, trotted out from behind a rock. It was sight he'd remember for a very long time as you don't often see Mac dressed in a turban and vest.
Doing his best to stifle any laughter, he replied. “Now what?”
“You put down your sword and magic, I put down my rock, we settle this like civilized folks. Hoof to hoof. Sportspony–like.”
“Ah hah. Sportspony–like.” Shining chuckled nervously.
Big Mac went down with a large thud, unconscious.
"Sorry, about that. Oh right. What was the line? 'Dream about large mares?''
Shining grabbed his sword in his telekinesis and raced after Spikini and Cadence.
Shining was seated across from Spikini and a blindfolded Cadence out in an open field. Two glasses of wine sat on a stump in front of him.
'Awake or not, I don't actually want to kill Spike.' thought Shining.
Twenty minutes earlier.
"Shiny, Thanks for the duel," said a lightly panting Twilight. "One more thing. Awake or not. Please don't kill Spike."
"What'd you have in mind?"
"Oh! I know!" Twilight reached into her subspace pocket, and pulled out a vial.
"This is a sleeping dust. Its odorless, but works when you inhale it, so don't do that. You should be able to figure out the rest."
"Thanks, Twily!" Shining cried as he dashed off.
Back to the present.
Shining reached into saddlebags and removed the vial Twilight gave him.
"Inhale this but do not touch." cautioned Shining.
"I smell nothing." replied Spike.
"What you do not smell is called iocane powder. Its odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is one of the more deadly poisons know to equines."
"Hmm.."
Shining than took the cups and placed them behind him for a few moments and before bringing them back and placing them on the stump.
"Alright. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. Its ends when you decide and we both drink and find out who is right, and who is dead."
"Hmm.."
"Spikini?"
"Hmm.."
"Spikini?"
Spikini responded by falling over, asleep.
"Huh. Wasn't sure it'd work that fast."
"Snnxxz..."
Shining removed Cadence' blindfold.
"Wait. Iocane doesn't work like that." questioned Cadence.
"Swapped the iocane for some sleeping dust. Started working when I asked him to inhale it."
Cadence replied with a flat "Huh."
"Snnzxzz"
"You said it."
"So how do you want to play the rest of it?
"Well, we're definitely not playing it straight. I've not terribly fond of being tortured and having fifty years of my life sucked away"
"Not to mention the whole 'Mostly dead', thing.'" Cadence added.
"Right, but I do have a plan."
A slightly worse for wear Shining and Cadence emerged from the exit of the Fire Swamp, and Prince Blueblood, Count Sombra and a half dozen guards were there waiting for him.
"Surrender!" The Prince barked.
"You wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept." Shining snarked back.
"I give you full marks for bravery. Don't make yourself a fool."
"Ah, but how will you capture us, especially when we have this!" A pink energy shield surrounded both Shining and Cadence, forming a ball.
"Oh very good. But we can wait around." Sombra replied, amused.
"I'm counting on that!" said Shining as he and Cadence started running with the energy shield they were in rolling forward like some bizarre hamster ball.
There were gasps of shock and surprise as everypony madly ducked out of the way as it went hurling through.
"Hah! You missed!" Blueblood's joy turned to sorrow as he saw the ball turn around and come racing back after him.
"Oh crud."
Somehow, in all the chaos, Twilight had shown up, and was busy stunning the guards and anypony else that was left standing.
"Twily?"
"You think I'd miss this? I followed you all the way here. Oh and I needed to do one more thing."
She walked over to Count Sombra and knelt over by his face. Curious, Shining and Cadence walked over as well.
"You made his face look like a Kabuki mask?"
"Yup. It's permanent too. Had to get my revenge somehow. "
45.6 (Masterweaver)
Twilight sighed.
"This is a sanctuary loop. There's no violence, no hate..." She glowered at the green unicorn across from her. "We're here to help people recover from the stresses of their home loop. We are not here to play yes–men and coddle morons."
The blond colt looked right back at her. "What are you saying, exactly?"
"I'm saying that showing off is fine. You can wow the crowd with your magic, that's great. But lecturing them on your superiority? Casting Imperio?" She leaned over the desk. "The only reason you're not on the moon right now is because I've BEEN to Hogwarts. I know exactly how your world runs. I knew what kind of environment you grew up in, and I know what is expected of you. Quite frankly, I pity you."
A sneer formed on the green unicorn's face–
"No." Twilight cut him off. "I took the Dark Lord on by myself and utterly destroyed him in my first fused loop. Nothing you can say will impress or terrify me."
"....Hrm." The sneer was gone, replaced by a carefully neutral expression. "The star bear wasn't my fault."
"The Ura Minor is a standard whenever Trixie comes around," Twilight countered dismissively. "We're not blaming you for that. But not even Trixie went into 'dark' magic without being influenced by the Alicorn Amulet. You've crossed a line." She smiled, a smile more suited to a carnivore. "So.... you're going to have some remedial lessons. Every bearer is going to teach you how to embody their element."
The unicorn groaned. "And here I finally thought I'd be able to get out of school... I take it you'll be enforcing these lesson plans somehow?"
With a smile, Twilight handed him a series of parchments. "Here. Letters from Pinkie when she replaced Hermione Granger."
She would later privately admit that the reaction of the colt in front of her was one of the most hilarious things she had ever seen.
"....I.... see."
"It gets better," she quipped. "She can become an alicorn at will."
The green unicorn grew a little greener.
"So, recap: You're going to publicly apologize to Ponyville, me and my friends are going to give you lessons on the Elements of Harmony, and we'll see how this goes." Twilight Sparkle smiled brightly. "Welcome to Equestria, Draco Malfoy."
45.7 (masterweaver)
"...and the triple somersault by that unicorn was absolutely incredible! I'll admit I was a little worried when the earth pony filly, Apple something, jumped from that pier but the way that the pegasus caught her!"
"Mmmhmm."
"And those BATONS! I don't know how they enchanted them! Even if they got outside help, the amount of things that they turned into – and the flute solo was amazing!"
"Yep."
"I can't even believe the, what did they call them, extreme gear? Extreme indeed! I've never seen anything like it!"
"Uh huh."
"That finale, though, that was absolutely astounding. Obviously they couldn't have really ascended, that would be impossible, but it seemed so real!"
"Miss Harshwhinny? Didn't you say something about me needing to contain my enthusiasm?"
45.8 (masterweaver)
"...This is... awkward," Smart Cookie finally said, glancing down at the necklace around her neck.
Well... in retrospect, it was inevitable. Ah mean, we're soulbounded. Lotta loops where that's normal have a few switches.
"Well, yes, but..." The filly rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "It's been so long since I've had an actual body. And such a young one at that, I... honestly don't know what to do."
Enjoy being a foal! Go to school, look fer yer cutie mark, make friends with Pansy and Clover... Get covered in tree sap, Ah dunno. Go on, ya'll deserve it.
45.9 (OracleMask)
"Well, Doctor, it's been...really interesting travelling with you," Twilight Jane Smith said.
This was her very first fused loop with this new universe, and it had been a challenge. There was time travel going on EVERYWHERE! A whole race of beings who worked the fabric of time and space the way pegasus ponies handled the weather! The fact that ponies and humans coexisted on Earth was the least strange thing, but at least Twilight could run comfortably. Travel with the Doctor seemed to require lots of running.
The whole universe had a weird vibe to it, though. Twilight had decided to hold off on experimenting with anything until she had a better idea of what was going on, sticking to her loop–self's role. Even THAT had been confusing! But now, after many adventures and four (no, wait, seven? Maybe?) Doctors, the loop was about to end.
"Right," the Doctor said, hands rubbing together, "Now then, before you go popping off to that little pony universe of yours, there's one thing I probably should mention."
Spike opened his mouth to ask Twilight what the plan was for this loop, only to close it again as she walked in with a pronounced eye twitch.
"I – that – UGH!"
"Bad loop?" Spike asked instead.
"Yes – no, not really, the loop wasn't that bad," Twilight admitted, "But that Doctor! He figured out I was looping, and I thought HE was too. Only he ISN'T, he just time travels so much that he was able to bluff it out. And he didn't bother saying anything about it until end of the loop!"
Grumbling, Twilight reached into her subspace pocket. At least she'd managed to keep the sonic lipstick, she'd finally be able to figure out the full range of that thing's abilities...except that the sonic lipstick was gone, having been replaced with a notice.
"The universe you are attempting to breach is locked as READ–ONLY. No items or persons may be copied, on pain of..." Twilight skimmed past several dozen threats from Skuld. The general theme was, on pain of pain. "...huh."
Great. So much for all the useful things Twilight had planned to nab from the TARDIS next time she looped in there.
45.10 (Masterweaver)
Ah, that fresh new world smell!
Jenny took a deep breath as she flickered into existence, sighing and smiling. Grass, live grass. Cobblestones. Hay. Magic, infusing everything. Pastoral, then?
Her eyes flickered open, looking around at the small village. The creatures that lived here were slightly–only slightly–shorter then humans, judging from the doors. There were pink highlights in every building, enough to be noticed, but not enough to be... gaudy. Many of the doors lacked knobs, or handles, and as one of the natives wandered into her vision, tossing her curly pink mane, she realized why. Ponies! Every little girl's dream, in all the colors of the rainbow!
Her eyes widened as a winged pony landed next to the pink one and chatted for a moment. She hadn't meant the rainbow comment literally, but apparently...
The pony pegasus (could it really be a pegasus if it wasn't a horse?) took off again, and Jenny followed its path with her eyes. Once more she was in awe as the pony handled the clouds in the sky. Weather manipulation was old hat to her, of course, but the way that this pony twisted and turned through the air made it clear that she was a natural at her given task. Quickly pulling a camera out of her satchel, Jenny started to film what she could of the aerial display–
"Hi there!"
The woman whirled and looked into the widest smile she had seen in a long time. How had the pink pony managed to sneak up on her? After a moment, realizing that no attack was forthcoming, Jenny smiled and rolled her eyes. "Hello here."
"...Ha! Good one!" The pink pony stuck out a hoof. "I'm Pinkimena Diane Pie, local party pony and friend to loopers everywhere! Don't worry, the Anchor's going to be here this afternoon, I'll introduce you. Welcome to Equestria!"
Jenny grinned and took the hoof in her hand. "Jenny Everywhere, shifter and drifter. Your loop's pretty nice! You got humans here?"
"No, not native." Pinkie tilted her head. "Actually, most other loopers that come here turn into ponies. What's up with you?"
The woman sighed, looking off into the distance. "I'm... a bit of an anomaly. I don't actually have a home loop... as far as I can tell, anyway."
"Oh my gosh! That's... sad, but it sounds exciting!"
"Heck yeah!" Jenny smirked at the pony. "I get to go everywhere! Krogan, elves, vampires, ninjas, ninja elf krogan vampires–that was one WEIRD loop–I ain't seen it all, and I never will, but that won't stop me from trying!"
45.11 (Crisis)
Twilight was running over her options at the moment. The expansions seemed to be proceeding apace and the prospect of new experiences – particularly finally learning what might be in that locked object the Tree of Harmony had produced – was quite invigorating to her. In addition, last Loop she'd finally completed her little set of variants of the latest Daring Do novel, each one guest starring a different friend of hers (plus one guest starring her of course), and was looking forward to the next Loop they were all together so she could give them out.
Right now though, she was wondering if there was any method she hadn't yet used to deal with Sombra. While the evil stallion usually had all the mental acuity of an unrepentant drug addict who snorted crystals – the Elements of Harmony apparently did a number on his mind most Loops – he was an extremely evil and scary pony the Loops where he was competent. As such, Twilight felt little remorse for humiliating him in new and creative ways every chance she could get. Frankly, he deserved it.
"Hmm... maybe I can arrange an 'accidental' meeting with Daring this Loop and get her on board with discovering an intact lost civilization, recovering a powerful magical artifact, and defeating a despotic conqueror all at the same time. Could make for an interesting book. I wonder if I still have that–"
*CRACK*
45.12 (Crisis)
"–harglepth..." Twilight collapsed to the ground. She tried looking around her, but immediately closed closed her eyes when her vision swam rather severely. She thought she was back in her tower in Canterlot where she did research as Celestia's student prior to being sent to Ponyville, but that made no sense. She'd been in the middle of a typical, if lonely, Loop and abruptly she was here. There was no reason she could tell for the Loop to have ended prematurely like that, but she felt like she'd just Awoken. And in the roughest manner she'd ever experienced.
In all honesty, she felt sick enough to have consumed the entire contents of Big Mac's looping stock of alcohol as well as suffering the combined hangover that would induce at the same time. Frankly, if she hadn't garnered the mental fortitude looping inevitably provided, the pounding of her head would probably be lethal all by itself.
"What happened?" she asked the air around her. Or tried to. It came out more like "whppnd". She thought she heard voices, but the pounding in her head drowned them out.
Twilight wasn't certain how long it was before her head started to clear – the pain and disorientation rather made it hard to keep track of time – but clear it did. She opened her eyes to see the concerned faces of not only Celestia and Spike, but also the other five normal Elements, Gilda, Trixie, as well as Luna and her daughter Nyx to boot. And to top it all off, Sleipnir, the eight–legged Yggdrasil admin assigned to their universe.
"Wow," she chuckled weakly. "How hard did my collapse derail the timeline?"
"She's okay!" Pinkie cheered.
"Oh, my, Twilight," Rarity gushed, "You gave us all quite the scare."
"No kiddin' sugarcube," Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. "Y'all been out fer hours."
"Whatever happened to you reverberated through the Elements so hard that everyone bonded to one felt it like a physical blow," Rainbow told her, looking more worried than Twilight had ever seen her. "Even Gilda felt something was wrong and she's the most recent addition to the club."
"Mine sister sent out the signal that she was awake and we responded promptly. Celly told us of your predicament and together we arranged for both ourself and Nyx to be brought down early to render any aid we could. We... are not certain precisely why the eight–legged Lokison has come."
"Because I needed to be certain that Twilight was stable," the Yggdrasil admin said rather formally. "She was hit rather hard with a destabilizing event and I needed to be on hand in case she required my aid recovering from this end. I am thankful that no intervention was required. You may rest easy, her regaining consciousness means any potential danger has passed."
One by one, each of the visitors expressed their relief that Twilight was alright.
"I take it what ended the last Loop wasn't normal," Twilight offered from a couch Celestia had conjured for her to rest on.
"No," Sleipnir agreed, "it most certainly was not. Nor was your Loop the only one ended so abruptly."
"How many a' tha Loops were affected?" Applejack asked, already knowing she wasn't going to like the answer.
Sleipnir gazed at the gathered loopers very seriously before answering.
"All of them."
Twilight's eyes nearly popped out of her skull. "Wha– What could possibly do something like that?!"
Sleipnir sighed and addressed the room. "I will tell you all I am allowed to, but understand that the restrictions on certain sensitive information means that I am literally incapable of telling it to you. Please sit down, as this may take a while."
"So..." Rainbow prompted after everyone was seated.
"What happened was that we lost another Loop," Sleipnir explained solemnly, "except this time it was particularly catastrophic."
"You mean... a whole universe, just gone?" Pinkie's hair deflated as she began to tear up. "No more parties or loopers to have parties for?"
"Yes," Sleipnir nodded, "that is precisely what happened."
"Wait," Twilight interrupted, "you said you lost 'another' Loop. When has this happened before?"
Sleipnir blinked in surprise and looked directly at Twilight in confusion. "You don't remember?" When Twilight shook her head, he gained a sour expression. "I told her to fix that, and I'm sure she knew how..." he muttered as his markings began to glow. "No wonder you didn't remember a Loop being lost before. Hold on a moment."
Twilight did as he asked, and suddenly the memories of Madoka and her friend Homura from that Loop came rushing back. Why would Madoka have not fixed her memory about such an important event if she was able to do so?
"Okay," Twilight reoriented herself, "so someone named Madoka, who's apparently memory–proof, ascended past the dimensional boundaries of her Loop. And then was reunited with the only other surviving looper in one of our Loops."
"Indeed," Sleipnir scowled angrily. "She effectively accessed Yggdrasil without authorization or training in order to arrange a fused Loop here to recover her friend, potentially exposing your Loop to the harmful viruses and malware that are no longer properly contained with Yggdrasil damaged as it is. As sympathetic as I am to her plight, I cannot approve of her exposing your Loop to such risk. I was, as you might say, not happy."
"She's... not dangerous, is she?" Twilight asked. Her restored memories showed Madoka as friendly and very much concerned for the well–being of her friend. The idea that she was a bad individual just didn't compute.
"Not... inherently," Sleipnir sighed. "Mostly she is misinformed about the nature of Yggdrasil's system and inexperienced in how things are done at our level. She is also potentially mentally imbalanced given her seemingly rapid acceptance of the loss of her Loop. There are a number of rumours going around about her, not the least of which are regarding what happened to her friend Homura after her recovery from your Loop, and I hope that some of the more sinister ones prove untrue. Of all the things we really do not need to deal with right now, an insane neophyte goddess is rather high on the list."
"Can anything be done to help the poor darling?" Rarity asked.
"The backups of her universe are undamaged," Sleipnir admitted. "It may be possible to restore it after the Loops end, but with the rather rapid ascension of the only viable Anchor from that universe to the divine level – even if she was manipulated into doing so – restoring it at this time has been deemed to be counterproductive."
"Who manipulated her?" Spike inquired.
"Her looping familiar, Kyuubey," Sleipnir informed the dragon. "An extremely misguided and potentially sociopathic entity dedicated to preventing the collapse of his universe by filling young souls with grief and then persuading other young souls to assist in harvesting them until they too are filled with grief. We remain uncertain if he survived the Loop's destruction, and request that if you encounter him in the future that you detain him by any means necessary."
"Oh, he's totally not getting a Pinkie Party," the party pony in question growled.
"Regardless," Sleipnir continued, "The collapse of Madoka's Loop was the best case scenario possible. The most recent event was perhaps the worst case scenario. Yggdrasil taken in the form of a tree would contain the Hub in its trunk with the various Prime universes, or baselines, branching out from it, and a myriad of variant universes further branching out from each of those primary branches. The Anchors keep the primary branches, and all that grow from them, stable. Hub Loops take place where the primary branches meet the trunk rather than the trunk itself, and many fused Loops take place where two or more of the smaller tertiary branches cross one another. The collapse of Madoka's Loop was like a primary branch cracking a few inches out from the trunk, while the recent collapse was more like the entire branch being ripped off the tree, taking a portion of the trunk with it."
"Ouch," Gilda voiced the general consensus of the room.
"Wait a sec," Nyx interjected. "If the Loops are set up with one Anchor per 'primary branch', then how do the Linked Loops work?"
Sleipnir raised an eyebrow at the change of topic, but decided to humour the filly. "Damage to the various universes after the event that initially damaged Yggdrasil was not uniform. The Hub escaped damage due to being the most critical, and thus most protected, portion of Yggdrasil. And while a few other universes remained intact enough that they did not require anchoring like most, the only other universe to escape unscathed was Eiken."
The entire room winced at the mention of the widely agreed most aggravating known Loop.
"Some were damaged to the point that a single Anchor was not sufficient, and so they were divided into portions and each portion anchored through the baseline. The Trek Loops were the first successful Linked Loops brought online."
"Wait," Twilight interrupted. "There are loopers native to the Trek Loops?"
"Yes," Sleipnir nodded. "I understand they like their privacy and rather than gain a wide variety of powers and skills like most loopers, they instead have honed their ability to remain undetected as fellow loopers. I'd tell you who they are, but it would invalidate my wager that you'll be the first to get proof."
"But, why..." Twilight facehooved suddenly. "Right. Starfleet."
"I beg your pardon?" asked the confused god.
"The Trek loopers would have to deal with Starfleet, who get reports on everything they do," Twilight explained. "They regularly deal with a lot of things they can't possibly have any foreknowledge of, and anyone in Starfleet with half a brain would pick up on them acting with too much foreknowledge and launch an investigation. Which would mean they'd most likely have to explain the Loops every time this happened. That got old for me after a few times trying to convince Celestia that I was Looping before she Awoke. I pretty much gave up except for special occasions after I'd done it a couple dozen times, and Celestia's the best case scenario."
"I'm not entirely sure if I should be flattered," Celestia joked.
Twilight simply continued on. "I know Harry Potter still hasn't forgiven Dumbledore for what he did the times Harry tried to convince him of the Loops early on, and Dumbledore is still relatively benevolent if lacking in common sense. A group of superiors, some of whom may be actively hostile? Yeah, I can see how they'd want to keep their looping status hidden."
While the rest of the room nodded in sympathy and understanding, Sleipnir decided to get back to the topic at hand.
"Anyway, when the collapse affected the Hub, it damaged that universe's backups. We don't know what data, if any, survived."
"How do backup files work in a system like Yggdrasil anyway?" Twilight inquired. "I mean, I doubt you actually have anything else that could store the kind of data Yggdrasil runs."
"Very true. Tell me Twilight," Sleipnir said in the manner of a teacher, "how do you think backup data works in a system like Yggdrasil? I can tell you that almost every Loop currently running we had to fix using backup data. So where do you think it came from?"
Twilight thought hard for a moment before the light of comprehension dawned in her eyes. "Fiction! You back up one universe in another as works of fiction! And the Hub is the only universe that has fiction about every Loop!"
"Close," Sleipnir agreed. "When one universe's data is stored in another as backup, the inhabitants of the hosting universe inevitably write fiction about the universe being backed up. But you're right about the Hub. It's the only universe used to back up all other universes Yggdrasil runs, which is why the Hub itself is being used to Anchor the entire multiverse."
"The Hub is its own Anchor?" Rainbow's eyes nearly crossed in confusion. "How does that work?"
"No," Sleipnir explained. "The Hub is the multiverse's Anchor, keeping Yggdrasil itself stable through all the other Anchors in the Loops. As a result, damage to the Hub affects the Anchors through that connection and to a lesser extent the other loopers and the entire multiverse."
"How dost the damage from this event affect us?" Luna asked.
"The Loop we lost is simply gone," Sleipnir reiterated. "At the conceptual level. It effectively never existed. Any fused Loops you had with that universe have now never happened. Aside from the forced system–wide reset of the Loops the collapse triggered, even the divine operators of Yggdrasil have no memory of it beyond an almost completely corrupted file of the 'jumpstart' attempt with a fused Loop that ended in its destruction."
Eyes were wide around the room as they all tried to wrap their minds around the totality of such destruction.
"On a more tangible note," the divine beast continued, "the emergency reset has in all likelihood set every active Looper to 'Awake' status across the board, you might even have a few new loopers for added stability. It's a little hard to tell at the moment as everyone not sent to make sure the Anchors were fine is running around trying to assess the full extent of any secondary damage."
"You said that this resulted from a fused Loop as part of a 'jumpstart' attempt," Celestia cut in. "What exactly does that mean?"
"Some universes were damaged to the point that we can't get them properly anchored without the assistance of existing loopers," Sleipnir answered. "I believe Fluttershy is familiar with one of the more successful Anchors activated this way."
"You mean Lemon Rush?" Fluttershy perked up. "Is he okay?"
"Are you kidding?" Gilda gave Fluttershy an incredulous look. "He probably took whatever floored little miss friendship graduate and beat it to a pulp."
"Indeed," Sleipnir agreed. "He is a very hardy and stable Anchor. You should be proud."
Fluttershy blushed.
"But as I was saying," the eight–legged stallion continued, "the fused Loop was the latest attempt to get a particularly damaged universe to start looping. The baseline suffered severe damages, and even the viable Anchors are all damaged to some extent. And yes," Sleipnir rolled his eyes as he saw the inevitable tangent forming before him, "this has happened before. When we have a damaged Anchor candidate, it's standard procedure to move down the list to secondary and even tertiary Anchor candidates to get the Loop functional. Your friends the Turtles are victims of a damaged baseline. Yggdrasil can no longer tell which of their major variants is the true baseline and I understand the situation has created some rather unique mental stress issues. Your friend Sonic has been confined to variant Loops because we still haven't repaired his baseline to the point where it's viable. I doubt he'd even recognize his true history at this point."
"What's keeping you from fixing it?" Rainbow interrupted before Sleipnir could get back to the main topic.
"Sonic's baseline has multiversal travel outside the myriad of branching variants, which creates at least as many headaches as baseline time travel. The DC and Marvel Loops were so hard to get functional that we almost set them to Read–Only, the absolute last resort to keep a universe from being lost. We can't get Sonic's baseline functional because not all of the universes that it interacts with in its baseline are looping yet. The universe we were trying to jumpstart is actually the last one we need to finally get Sonic's baseline fully functional."
"And the problem you have is...?" Rainbow prodded as if she hadn't distracted from the topic in the first place.
"The problem we have," Sleipnir answered good naturedly, "is that this particular universe was the single most critically damaged of all due to being in closest proximity to the event that caused the initial damage to Yggdrasil. All attempts to get it looping have failed, the latest, as you now know, in a manner that destroyed an existing Loop. The reason why we keep trying is that we think that something in this universe may have born witness to the event that damaged Yggdrasil and give us information that could aid in repairing the damage."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Twilight asked.
"Nothing that you do not already do," Sleipnir apologized. "We can't risk any other Loops collapsing through contact with this universe until we get it stabilized. And the Loop that was lost... I'm afraid there's absolutely nothing you can do at all at your current dimensional level, and we'd very much prefer you don't ascend past the dimensional boundaries of your Loop. Even those of you not the Anchor. While the chance of your Loop being lost is... less than if the Anchor ascends, it's still rather significant."
"We kinda figgered," Applejack gave Sleipnir a flat stare.
"That's not to say what you all do isn't helpful," Sleipnir offered. "Simply looping and remaining metaphysically stable helps more than I'm allowed to say. The fact that you all have, of your own volition, offered sanctuary to other loopers who visit Equestria is more than we could have ever asked of you. That you manage to succeed despite the numerous significantly dangerous hostile entities native to your Loop is nothing short of a miracle. You've already managed to avert at least one potential metaphysical collapse of another Anchor, likely saving miss Clearwater's entire Loop in the process. You have already gone above and beyond the duty assigned to you as loopers, and I hope you all continue to do so. I am honoured beyond words to be your assigned administrator."
The entire room blushed at the praise.
"And do keep up the antics, please.” Sleipnir winked. “I've won the 'funniest Loop videos' contest a few times now and I'd like to get a good winning streak going."
45.13 (OracleMask)
Twilight stumbled. Waking up in mid–stride was always a pain...even if there were soft, fluffy clouds to land on here.
And then the loop memories rolled in and Twilight completely forgot her irritation. She was in Cloudsdale's flight camp as a pegasus filly.
More importantly, for some reason Twilight was now Rainbow Dash. Literally. Looking at herself revealed she was in Dash's body. Blue mane, rainbow mane and tail, and...no cutie mark at all.
Right, because 'Rainbow Dash' had just challenged two bullies to a race for her friend Fluttershy's honour. Fluttershy seemed to be the normal non–looping Fluttershy, but Twilight would double–check her and the rest of her friends later.
At the moment, a priceless opportunity had appeared. This was the race that Dash had gotten her cutie mark in. Twilight would never have a better chance to earn a different cutie mark from her usual starburst!
This was it! Twilight tore through the air as she dove for the last ring on the course, feeling the resistance from the sound barrier build and build...and BREAK!
BOOM!
Rocketing upwards, Twilight could see the Sonic Rainboom roll out below her. In Dash's body, she had Dash's magical signature, so it still looked the same. And as she felt the tingle on her flanks, Twilight's gaze eagerly turned to her new cutie mark –
– of her familiar starburst. Granted, each star was a different colour this time, but still!
"OH COME ON!"
Later, Twilight would hypothesize that since the Sonic Rainboom had formed a connection between her and her friends, it fell under 'the magic of friendship'. Right now, she was just incredibly disappointed.
45.14 (Masterweaver)
Twilight looked around her as she Awoke. Grass! The book! THE TREE! She laughed out loud, kissing the ground and rolling in the field. "Equestria again! Thank Celestia, Equestria again!"
It took her some time to stop celebrating, but eventually she managed to contain herself. She tilted her head, concentrating, and with a flash a tiara appeared on her forehead. Her face broke out into a wide grin. She quickly concentrated on ascending, then teleported off. A moment later she teleported back, carefully picking up the book, before teleporting away again.
The library! Exactly as she remembered, exactly as she recalled from loop after loop after loop! She ran her hooves over the shelves, giggling like a schoolfilly. Home. Nothing like...
Her joy faded.
Nothing like.... that loop.
"Hey Twilight!" Dash walked in with a smile. "You're here early! I gotta admit that experiment we did was pretty neat, what are we going to do next?"
Twilight said nothing.
The pegasus frowned, walking up to her friend and gently poking her. "Um... Twi?"
"It was a high school."
"What?"
"My last loop. High school. Human. Nobody else awake."
Rainbow Dash noticed the tremor in her voice. "Um... That... kind of sounds like it would be something an egghead like you would love–"
"I COULDN'T STUDY!" Twilight whirled around, tears in her eyes. "Every time, every time I tried, some, something happened! A guy would, or, or sometimes even a girl, and, and there were clubs! Actual clubs that people kept trying to pressure me into! I just wanted to learn! I didn't want, to, to... to...."
The lavender alicorn folded in on herself, starting to cry. Rainbow, awkwardly, wrapped her in a hug as she rocked back and forth. "...you're back here, Twilight. Nopony will... I'll make sure you're left alone for as long as you need it."
"...and I couldn't stop them," she murmured. "There was too much of... of me for them to, to, and the back pain, and my magic didn't work, and the force didn't work, and I couldn't access my subspace pocket..." Twilight turned to her friend. "We're never experimenting with the sun again. I don't want go back there. I never want to go back there."
45.15
“Well, that's just brilliant,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Trixie got inducted into a cult.”
“To be honest,” Chrysalis supplied, eyes somewhat unfocussed, “she's only pretending to go along with it. She's a good actor.”
“Right. Ah, mind link, of course.” Twilight nodded. “Any plans?”
“I'm not entirely sure I'm permitted to attack them.” Shining frowned. “They're Inevitables, right? Those are supposed to be things of order. And, you know... paladin...”
“They're broken.” Twilight shrugged. “Definitely not both good and orderly, at most one of the above.”
“Right.” The paladin touched his maul. “Good to know.”
“Hey,” Gilda said suddenly. “Paladins are holy warriors, right? Whose are you?”
Cadence waved.
“Is that allowed?” Chrysalis asked.
“Apparently. I suspect Cadence might well be a Favoured Soul of Shining, as well.” Twilight drew a crude map on the floor. “Okay, here's the plan...”
“Three, two, one...”
“Wait!” Cadence hissed, just before they all started casting or charging. “Look.”
Through the slight haze of Twilight's Invisibility Sphere, they could see that Trixie was waving a hoof.
“Thank you,” Trixie said, clearing her throat. “Ah–herm. I am glad to be able to speak to the full roster of the Redeemed. I would like to say something very important.”
The variety of crazy Inevitables and cultist followers looked at her expectantly.
“Friends, Redeemed, and fellow travellers,” she began, and took a deep breath. “Maximized Empowered Twinned Concussive Sonic Wild Surge ENERGY BURST!”
“Now that's what I call a distraction,” Twilight said approvingly, as cultists went flying and dust rained down from the ceiling.
“Shut up and attack!” Gilda shouted, blade already humming as she launched herself forward.
Cadence frowned down at Trixie. “Are you alright?”
“Table for two please!” Trixie said clearly.
“Apparently not...” She lit her horn, raised Trixie onto her hooves, and slapped a Restoration spell on her. “How much power did you use?”
“All of it,” Trixie said, sounding slightly hurt. “Why do you even ask?”
“Figures.” Chrysalis trotted over, rolling her eyes. “Okay, Trix. If you're this determined to stick to the rules of the loop, I'd better at least recharge you.”
Chrysalis lowered her head to touch her horn to Trixie's, and after a moment her horn lit with a soft green light.
Trixie's horn answered about ten seconds later, and a full minute passed before they separated.
“All fine?” Trixie asked.
“Yep,” Chrysalis replied. “That's a good power combo Twilight worked out for me, you know... full recharge is so convenient.”
She touched Trixie on the nose. “But make sure you at least think of an escape plan next time!”
“Escape plan?” Trixie looked dubious. “Why would I need one of those?”
Chrysalis nipped her shoulder. “You know very well why. Resurrections are expensive.”
There was a shower of sparks in the background, as Gilda and Shining took turns poking one of the Inevitables. Neither of the psions noticed.
Then something flashed next to them.
Trixie whirled, her horn already lit with an Energy Blast. “Cadence!”
Cadence stowed the camera in her subspace pocket. “That's one for the album. You looked so cute!”
Chrysalis sighed, tapping a hoof on the floor. It's going to take a long time to live that one down...
45.16
“Ah, I've always wanted to see the Gryphon Lands,” Rarity said, gazing out the window.
Spike chuckled, kneeling beside her. “I'm fairly sure you've been before. In fact, didn't you invade once?”
“That was just one time,” Rarity replied, blushing. “I had... self control issues.”
“I know, I know.” Spike kissed her cheek, feeling an electric thrill run through him at the contact. Though they'd been dating for so long, and really serious for a large fraction of that... being actually married made it all new again.
Rarity returned the favour, nuzzling into his neck. “You know what I mean, of course. It's rare that we get to just look around.”
There was a muted whump from the gas bag of the huge airship. From experience, both of them recognized it as heated air being released from the balloonets.
“There goes the superheat,” Spike commented. “Not long until we arrive now.”
Rarity grinned. “Not tempted to fly down?”
“Well, a bit...” he allowed.
The unicorn gave it some serious thought.
“No, let's just use the docks as normal. It's been a long trip, and I feel like a nice dinner.”
“I'm... sorry?” the waiter asked politely. “You would like the vegetarian option?”
“Yes,” Rarity said patiently. “I'm a pony. We don't eat meat.”
“I am not sure that anyone has ordered the vegetarian option... since I was first hired, actually,” he admitted. “I will see if the chefs can remember how to do it.”
“Not a good sign,” Spike said with a wince as the griffin walked off.
“No, it isn't.” Rarity sighed. “I wonder where Blueblood ate when he came here last?”
“In his suite.” Spike rolled his eyes. “I spoke with the servants who came here with him, once. They just ate fast food.”
“My most sincere apologies, madam,” the waiter said, eyes downcast as he returned. “None of the chefs can recall what an aubergine looks like in the first place, let alone how to cook it.”
“Oh well,” Spike said, shrugging, and reached into a pouch slung across his torso. Extracting a few bits, he tossed them to the waiter. “Not your fault.”
Accepting the tip, the waiter bowed them out, still apologizing.
“Well, that was a bust...” Rarity looked ruefully back at the five-star restaurant. “I suppose that's the downside of foreign food.”
“Gustav was alright...” Spike shrugged. “Maybe he left because he wasn't properly respected, though. Well, looks like it's fast food time.”
“You know,” Rarity said, staring up at the stars, “I'm surprised just how many kinds of fast food the Griffins have.” She levitated a nut out of their bag and slit it open with delicate care, then hovered the meat of the nut over to Spike.
Spike cracked a walnut, ate the bits Rarity had passed him, then returned the favour. “Well, we tend to think of the Gryphon Lands as a country, like ours – formed from, fundamentally, a single source of colonists. But this is a continent of diverse tastes.”
He bit off the end of a kebab skewer, and chewed thoughtfully on the peppers, chicken and iron. “How's yours?”
“Convenient.” Rarity lifted herself a little to better eat the pita. “I'm a little surprised they do a vegetarian version of this, though.”
“I think it's so you can taste the cheese.”
“So.” Rarity wiped her mouth with a napkin. “What should we do tomorrow?”
“I'm thinking... the temple complex at Hightown. You know, that one built into the side of a cliff.”
“Sounds good.”
It also sounded a little scary, of course... but with Spike there, Rarity didn't feel afraid of falling.
That she could literally grow wings on the way down helped, too. A little.
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Of course Eiken survives unscathed. If it were damaged, what would be the replacement for Looper HELL?
3665303
The idea is that the reason people end up there after screwing up is because it's so undamaged in the first place. (He's referring to damage suffered in the initial Yggdrasil disaster).
Whatever happened to the TwiMac that was hinted at much earlier chapters? Is there a loop we haven't seen where they agree it wouldn't work out or something? Or did you just decide to drop it, since no one else was really picking up on it?
(Have to go to church. Will read rest of chapters when I get back! 8D )
Golly, two chapters in two days! Thanks!!!
Such great loops this time around! I was delighted to see Krampus, he's always a joy to see around Christmas time. Love the ones with Flutterwolf stalking GIlda; ponies and humans on Earth (even if all we get to see is the Doctor); the Princess Bride; and of course the further adventures of ponies on Oerth.
News to me! I thought it was an Ursa Minor.
3665589
...wait, there was TwiMac hinted? Where?
(I may have lost track, or just not noticed.)
3665751
I have been told that I took Innortal's idea and improved on it. I don't know if that's just because I'm devoted to worldbuilding, or if I was starting on a coherent concept, or what.
The order things went for me was that I found Innortal's Loops, read them, wrote the HTTYD Loops on my profile on fanfiction.net, let them simmer for a while, and then had the idea of doing some MLP Loops. And then it all kicked off.
I honestly don't know what the "best" is.
3665702
Technically, that first bit of the Flutterwolf vs. Gilda loop was written deliberately ambiguous. It could be either of them that's the predator. (They basically decided to settle the whole dominance-instincts thing at a set time, so they didn't lose it in front of the rest of Ponyville.)
3665757
...ah, flip. That was "usra" in the first draft. I thought I'd corrected it...
...I was under the impression that loops can't occur in the Whoniverse. Guess I misunderstood.
3665080 Ahh, okay.
3665881
They can't.
It's possible to end up in a place very much like it via a fused loop, but it's not possible for loops to affect the baseline Whoniverse in any way. It's Read-Only.
(More accurately, the guys on the thread worked out how to have Whoniverse-inspired fic snippets without a colossal headache.)
Wow... That's freaking awesome. I love how the overlying story is slowly coming together, while still keeping the same feel as the earlier chapters. I'm excited to see more of this!
So, an entire universe just got completely and utterly Nope'd out of reality, huh?
Loops: Now with five times the scary
Also, now I'm massively curious as so what the massively corrupted loop is (currently leading theory: Homestuck)
3666150
As far as I am aware, it is nothing that we earth-humans would have seen published or otherwise made available to view. It got wiped out; that includes from our world.
3666131
The fun thing is, this is an entirely emergent story. The original Innortal's Loops were entirely based on faffing around, and so were these for at least half a year.
3665881
It would be more accurate to say Loopers can't come from the Whoniverse.
3665881
It is, as said, Read-only, I presume from the mess that the time travel would cause in Yggdrasil otherwise (as was hinted at by Sleipnir).
3665802
.
Well, no matter the case, your take on the loops is awesome and I just want moar
Haven't read your HTTYD loops yet though, wanted to see the movie first and then forgot about it
3665787 Umm... I'd have to go back and re-read later, but I recall it happening a few times within the first five, ten chapters. Specifically a line about her calling him studly, and then a paragraph or two later, as she's either leaving or being taken away, again says, "Seriously, studly!" Don't remember if she said to call her or anything. (Maybe it was later, IDK. I'll check in a bit for specific chapters.)
3666237 That did happen, yes. But to me it just looked like she was doing a throwaway gag.
As per the "Politics" loop, Twilight is single and fine with it. Mac, meanwhile, hasn't come to a decision yet but is fully aware of his options (Cheerilee being among them).
3666247 Ah, alright. I probably took something more seriously beforehand, because that was the second or third time, I thought, but alright. Not saying it should be a thing, I just wondered if I had over-analyzed it before, or if I missed them saying they wouldn't sate, etc. Guess I just over-analyzed. XD
This last chapter:
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/503/835/5b0.jpg
3666156
No, I mean the damaged, non-looping universe that they were trying to start a loop in by introducing a fused loop, resulting in the already established loop's destruction.
Or wait, do you mean BOTH of them would now be unavailable to the Hub loop (and us)?
3665589
Oh, I'm so, so sorry that they've roped you into their cult. Is there any way to escape?
3666402 All I know at this point is that the crash may have been related to attempts to initiate the Megaman loops.
So at least one, non-hub exsistant, loop is gone completley, another is damaged probably beyond repair and Sonic and the TMNT's loops have also been damaged...anything else we should know about?
Edit: actually I have a few questions. So Eiken doesn't have any loopers right? and do the Pokemon loops have any? Also I know Picard and probably Kirk are Star Trek anchors but is there any Qne else? and finally when you say "Read Only" what does that mean exactly? Can the Doctor even loop?
So Megaman is the corrupted universe? I do wonder which one got obliterated, although I supposed it's literally impossible to find out.
Where can one find the other Loop stories? Just dig on the spacebattles forums, or is there a central deposit of links somewhere?
3666761
The Innortal Loops are on Innortal's page on fanfiction.net. The Digimon ones are in the fic Random Thoughts of a Chaotic Mind by Rockbane on fanfiction.net. The HTTYD Loops are on my page on fanfiction.net. (Noticing a theme?)
And the YGO Loops are linked on the tvtropes page for the Infinite Loops, like Innortal's are.
(Note that the digimon loops are not hardcanon for the MLP ones, but can be considered soft-canon)
3666754
The Pokemon loops almost certainly do - if so, it's Ash and co.
Eiken does not, no.
Read Only means that nothing that has happened from the moment of the Yggdrasil catastrophe can affect the Whoniverse. It is possible to have Fused Loops there, but nothing can be taken out except the memories of the Fused-Looper or loopers (who will always include an Anchor). It is impossible for any Whoniverse individual to have memories of a previous loop. None of them can be Loopers.
And I don't know about the Star Trek loop except that Chief O'Brien is also looping.
This has been bugging me but who is our universes Anchor?
3667220
We are essentially the Hub. We don't have one.
(Though EdBeccera in the forum thread keeps trying to convince people it's him...)
3667309
Come on, we all know you're our anchor.
3666754
... wow. that is... wow. so sad... a whole loop errased from history... and the sad thing is, we'll never know which one was.
but that's ok. well, not ok-ok, but i think that, the more loops...well, dead, the more capability Ygraddsil will have to start the loop of Mega. and, well, it will need a lot of space, given how many worlds that universe covers.
If damaged universes often deal with messed up time lines and multiversal travel then I think I have a universe that would be perfect for that really damaged one. Sliders was a show from the late nineties that had a somewhat Doctor Who vibe to it as it's premise was a group of travelers who visit alternate versions of earth or, go to alternate universes. Therefore the universal "barnch (branches?)" that contian the sliders universe would be so badly criss-crossed that it could be that damaged, This is just an idea I'm throwing out there in case you ever wanna expand on it.
3661955
Can we at least have a twenty-one megaton salute?
who is crazy dave?
Is there a collection of only x-com loops, or of other independent story arcs within the loops?
3670593
Crazy Dave is from Plants VS zombies.
3674529
I left a message for Stainless Steel Fox on his page requesting this. He hasn't responded yet, so make sure you leave one too, everyone!
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Stainless+Steel+Fox
3666156 That can't be how the loops work. When you delete data from a computer it leaves a kind of residue. That means that the destroyed loop must be some kind of destroyed or cancelled media, that was lost to us when the loop was destroyed.
3669669
Ask Trixie, she's the pyrotechnics expert and the showmare. If anyone can do a 21 megaton salute, it's her.
3665303
Eeyup.
I wonder if Q is looping in the Star Trek universe, and if he is, and TNG had a fused loop with MLP FIM; imagine the sheer amount of chaos he and Discord would create...
I wonder what the lost limb was....
Yeah the loss of that branch of Yggdrasil will be felt. Wonder what caused it Never would know though. Probably a canceled series.
So this story got into the more worldbuildy, heavy stuff now.
Though with how the story is told very much out of order. . .
3666254 At some point I may go back through and pick all the pieces out, but I also noticed the very subtle TwiMac. It's scattered in single phrases throughout the chapters, with occasional longer sentences and paragraphs.
3821836 It probably has something to do with the medium being reality itself.
Nice to see Jenny making an appearance. Universeless characters are fairly rare, and I wonder if she's actually technically looping at all, or even Awake. She might well make for an interesting probe/scout character for the Admins, given her nature.
Ah yes Eiken.
3666156
I also have a multiversal concept that I'm working on. My main goal for it is for everything to exist within it, with a power-based hierarchy made of sociopathic eldritch abominations to police the multiverse from the shadows. The Crash event was a bit annoying to work with into my world's backstory, but from some study of the MegaMan loops, and how people still remember the fact that someone was lost from the crash, he is represented by a featureless silhouette with two blank white disks for eyes and a permanent empty grin, somewhat like Truth from Fullmetal Alchemist. I might write something for him sometime in the future, and want to know if this is allowed. It probably would be a very short one.
>The universe you are attempting to breach is locked as READ–ONLY. No items or persons may be copied
That does not make sense. Read-only allows for copying, as the name suggests.
The entire Mega man Crash was scary to read. And the subsequent fused loop to fix it was all kinds of awesome. Granted, it's not perfect but so far they are doing already.
Sidenote but what is a Read-Only loop? I've heard about it and this sort of explained it but I would like more in depth info.
4807139 actually it is possible there is bits of the lost loop still around(in fact one maga man loop implies it) the problem is it isn't in any organized fashion so it going to be pain to restore if it even possible.
45.3
5267806
Maybe lock it to READ-ONLY for Group [Who-verse]? So permission would be something like:
- - - - r - x - - - 1 [insert_user] sonic_lipstick.exe