• Published 19th Apr 2013
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MLP Time Loops - Saphroneth



Twilight Sparkle has been here before. In fact, she's been here so often she's thoroughly bored. Time Loop stories for Equestria.

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Loops 57

57.1 (OracleMask)


The air in the library was a whirlwind of books and devices. Some came from the shelves, or zipped up out of the basement laboratory. Most of them came straight from Twilight's subspace pocket.

Luckily for them, the Naruto swarm had gotten more than Twilight's attention. As soon as they'd heard the story, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had vowed to search the ends of the world for any other loopers that might be lurking around. Anypony around who had any skills that might be of help would be tree-sent. Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were on damage control from the stampede.

Almost before they'd gotten Kakashi into the security of the library, Twilight had begun firing diagnostic spells left and right. Just as Twilight had feared, the loop resets had already wiped away all traces of whatever had been done to him.

Naruto couldn't remember any specifics either. He'd been 'preoccupied'. And then the biju bomb he'd launched reset the loop, and that's when they'd discovered that Kakashi was gone.

Well. There clearly wasn't a physical reason for it. All of Twilight's diagnostic spells told her that a healthy, normal – aside from the chakra system – pony was standing in front of her. So the cause had to be psychological. Unfortunately, it would take one of their best telepathy-users to figure out if there was anything of Kakashi left to be salvaged...


“Huh. I've never felt anyone willingly lock their mind up like this before,” Chrysalis said.

...Or maybe it would just take a Changeling Queen, waving her glowing horn over Kakashi's head, to suss out the problem. Twilight immediately dropped thirty books on the different kinds of mind-manipulation magic, blinking in surprise.

“He locked his mind up?” Naruto exclaimed, wings flaring in surprise.

Zecora, who was consulting some books on brews and potions, looked quite pleased with the diagnosis.

“That matches my suspicions perfectly,” the zebra said, “Indeed, I believed it as soon as I saw inside this tree.”

“You've seen this before, Zecora?” Twilight asked.

She was impressed. Not to mention embarrassed that she hadn't thought to ask Zecora first about the problem, just because she'd assumed it was some kind of spell or something...there was probably a letter to Celestia in there somewhere.

“A ninja of the Leaf I have been before,” Zecora replied, “Though I was not a healer then – I was fighting a war. When a ninja is faced with a reality deemed untrue, the blame will fall to an enemy genjutsu. Is this not so? Naruto?”

Naruto's eyes were wide.

“You're saying Kakashi-sensei thought he was under genjutsu? This whole time?

“He still does, if I am not mistaken. Or would the gods not act if his mind was truly taken?”

...Eeyup, definitely a letter to Celestia. 'Being older doesn't mean somepony else doesn't have good sense', something like that.

“But that means we have to convince him he's not in an illusion...which is exactly what he'll expect an illusion to say, right?” Twilight's eyes darted back to her books.

“I've got something that might work,” Naruto mentioned.

He'd gone from nervous and jittery to completely at ease after hearing Zecora's explanation. Twilight could only suppose that Naruto was more comfortable getting the bad news from a fellow ninja – insomuch as Zecora qualified.

“I'll need an extra pair of...hooves, though,” Naruto added, looking down at his hooves in mild annoyance, “Zecora, do you know any chakra transfer techniques...?”


57.2 (Hubris Plus)


Twilight stepped into Mac's bar with consternation written across her face and signalled for a cider.

"Tough Loop?" He asked as he slid her order over.

"Not really, just a lonely baseline until it dropped a new expansion on me. It was... Annoying." Mac arched an eyebrow questioningly and she waved a hoof in an all-encompassing gesture. "Discord."

"Is my baseline acting out again?" Came the jovial voice as the devil in question arrived in the typical idiomatic manner. "What did the scamp do this time?"

"Tried teaching a lesson. Again."

"Oh honestly, Twilight, when have I ever tried to teach anyone a lesson?"

"Plunder vines," she pointed out.

"Not me, and you can't expect me to remember every little thing."

"That time you stranded Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara on a deserted island?"

"That turned out for the best, wouldn't you say?"

"When you stuck Pinkie and Cranky Doodle on the same island?"

"Well, it got one pony Looping, so I figured..."

"Applejack and seapony Lyra on an island in the desert?"

"You got to lock them in a house."

"That time ya stranded me an' Smarty Pants out there?" Mac chimed in.

"...I didn't actually know about that one," Twilight said after a moment.

"I shipped him off before he could leave the Awake signal and spent the rest of the Loop disguised as him."

Suddenly the Loop with the plaid apples made a lot more sense to Twilight.

"But," Discord added, "I do begin to see your point."

"Good, just don't-"

"The island has gotten far too overplayed. Not to worry though, I know just how to resolve this friction between us."

He snapped his claws and Twilight wasn't particularly surprised to find herself on an island.

"Really?" She snorted before vanishing in a teleport.

...And reappearing a few steps to the left. Frowning, she ascended and took flight, while Discord snapped himself up a pair of sunglasses and cracked open a coconut. A few moments later she landed again, coming from the opposite direction.

"This is actually fairly impressive," she conceded, horn glowing and face scrunched up in concentration as she evaluated the various enchantments and spatial folds he'd set up.

"Just a few tricks I've been saving up for a special occasion. I figure it'll take a few days to unravel, even for you." He wrapped an arm around her neck and dragged her into a hug, "plenty of time for us to sort out our differences!"

"...I thought you said the island was overplayed," she groused.

"Well, now it's a running gag."


57.3 (Midnight Crescent)


Twilight the Underdog

Twilight Awoke, and was glad to find she was sat down. Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite keep hold of her cards.

Human again. High school again. What did I do to deserve this? She thought as she started to focus on her Loop memories.

“Hey, Earth to Josie.” A somewhat high pitched voice called from across the table. “Your hand can’t have been that ba...”

Twilight looked across the table at the spiky haired kid, who was looking down at the cards she had dropped before continuing where he had left off. “On second thoughts, I’ll let you mulligan if you want.”

“Oh, sure.” Twilight said, before quickly checking the memories as she shuffled her old hand into her deck. OK, so I’m Josie Wheeler, I’m an unremarkable kid of divorced parents. I’m learning to play a collectible card game off a kid I bullied last year, and I’ve got a little sister who’s losing her eyesight. Then the memory of her in-loop sister’s name hit her. Oh no. I’ll come help you soon Nyx, I promise.

The kid stared at her for a few seconds, before his eyes widened, and he lowered his voice. “Sorry Joey, didn’t realise you were awake too.”

“Well, I am awake, but my names not Joey. Or Josie.”

“Another fused loop?” Tristan asked, leaning down to prevent people from overhearing.

“It sure looks that way...” Tea said, stretching out in her chair.

“Well, the first thing we need to do is introduce you to Yami.” Yugi said, turning back to Twilight “I’ll get him to meet you after school. In the meantime, it’s time to duel.”

Twilight nodded, and began to draw cards. “My names Twilight, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Twilight.” Yugi said, as he drew to start the duel.


“I still think you did well for your first duel.” Yugi said. “Besides, Joey doesn’t really have any idea what he’s doing right now either at this point in the loop.”

“I guess. It’s just annoying that I couldn’t get any of my... magic or traps?” She waited for Yugi, who nodded in confirmation. “I couldn’t get any of them out. Stupid luck of the draw.”

“Actually, there’s two things I should tell you, before Yami shows up. Our world, or at least the baseline version, it’s not luck of the draw. A duelist pours their heart and soul into their deck. It should reflect their strengths and personality. And if they truly believe in their deck, then the Heart of the cards will reward them when they truly need it, as long as they trust their deck. It’s why Yami is the best duelist that ever lived. I know it sounds a little hokey, but...” He noticed Twilight was gesturing for him to pause. “What?”

“Yugi, I’ve been in lots of fused loops now. I’ve seen a lot of different worlds, which contain a wide variety of strange forces and abilities. I’m from a world of multicoloured magical ponies. My best friends and I can defeat anything with the power of Friendship. I think I can manage a ‘Heart of the cards’ just fine.”

Yugi’s jaw hung open for a short while, as he tried to process this new information. After almost a minute, he finally responded “Point taken, and Tea must never know about this.”

“Understood. And your second point was?”

“Well, there’s a reason you couldn’t draw any of your magic or trap cards.”

“Let me guess. Heart of the cards?”

Yugi shook his head. “Nothing like that. Joey just doesn’t have any in his deck yet. Although, I normally just grab both our loop end decks from my subspace at the start of a loop. Some of our cards are pretty rare, and you never know where a loop might diverge...”

Twilight nodded knowingly. “I know the feeling. What else do you keep in yours?”

“Not much. A few alternate decks. Copies of each Millennium Item – our worlds powerful magic artefacts – just in case Yami feels like cutting a few things off early. I’ve not been on many loops outside this world that had anything worth keeping yet. You?”

“Too many things to mention – I’m my worlds anchor, and I’ve been Looping quite a while now. I think at the front I have my element of harmony, a couple of light sabres – always pays to have a spare, I find – and a copy of the library of Alexandria.” She looked around her nervously. “Wasn’t your anchor supposed to be meeting me here?”

Yugi stood with his mouth agape once again. The Library of Alexandria? How does she fit that in there!?Then he realised what he was doing. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he answered the question “Oh, sorry, slipped my mind. Just give me a minute.” Yugi closed his eyes and concentrated. An inverted pyramid slowly came into existence around his neck, almost like a jigsaw completing itself. Once it was complete, a light shone from the eye design on its front, briefly blinding Twilight.

Once she had regained her sight, there was someone standing in front of her. It resembled Yugi, only taller. However, his posture had changed also, and there was something subtly different about his facial expression.

“I’m going assume you’re Yami, which would explain why you took so long.”

“Forgive me, but I must say I prefer to have Yugi deal with people who fuse into our loops first. He has always been more sociable than I.” Yami said, brushing one of the blonde waves of hair from his eyes. “Now, can I ask what your home Loop is?”

“I’m originally from Equestria, although I don’t know if that means anything to you.”

“It sounds familiar, but I don’t think I’ve met anyone from there before. Although, your description to Yugi tells me all I need to know...“

“That’s understandable...” Twilight said as she thought it over. “So, how do your baseline events play out?”

“Hmm... I think you may be the first Looper to actually ask that. Unfortunately, the answer may take a while.” Yami paused for a few moments, before nodding to himself and continuing “If you want a full rundown, you could visit the game store Yugi lives in. I can quite easily tell you everything there, and we can even build you a deck, if you want to completely replace Joey for this Loop.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Twilight said. “It’s not as though I’ve got anything better to do...”


“... And it all ends with me and Yugi duelling. It never ends more than a few days after that. Depending on how long Kaiba waits to start Battle City, and if we skip some events, our loop should last between a year or two. Now, do you have any questions?”

Twilight had a few, but rattled them off at such speed, Yami couldn’t catch a single word of them.

“Could you say that again, but slower?”

“Sorry about that. Alright, my first question – what happens if I lose one of these ‘Shadow games’ when I’m not, so to speak, supposed to?”

“As I understand it, either the loop will be over for you, or you’ll wake up when we free you. It all depends on how this loop works. Nothing worse than leaving the loop prematurely should happen though.”

“OK. And what do we do if we have to duel each other?”

“Whoever wins, wins. Although, we can ignore the ante rule if we fight in Battle City, if you want.”

“That seems a little unfair. We can decide if and when that comes up. Now, about Serenity, the loops seem to have combined her with my, for lack of an actual term, daughter. Is there any way we can go see her earlier than you do in the baseline?”

Yami frowned. “I’m afraid I’m not sure. Even when Joey is awake before duelist Kingdom, he leaves things as usual. He is always certain he can get the money, so he usually waits until he returns. Although, I think a large part of that is that Serenity is not yet Looping. Tell me, has Nyx Looped before?”

“A fair amount.”

“And do you think she could handle her situation?”

“I think she’d be a lot happier if I were there, whether she could or couldn’t.”

Yami looked at his calendar, and checked the dates.

“We have two weeks until the chain of events for duelist Kingdom begin. You should be able to visit her sometime between now and then. Let me or Yugi know if you want anyone to come with you, but I understand if you want to visit her alone.”

“Alright, last one for now. How did Joey get his Red Eyes back?”

“Hmmm?” Yami placed the last storage box from his subspace pocket on the table.

“Well, you beat that Rare Hunter and got Joey’s card back. But he didn’t take it. Then he was using it again the next time you talked about him. How did he get it?”

“It appears I left out something important.” Yami smiled, as he sat at the table across from Twilight. “After Battle City finished, Joey and I had one last Duel. If he won, he would get his Red Eyes back. I saw it a different way, though...”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, Joey should have beaten Marik. He even played a card that would have won the duel, and Marik had no way to stop it. He just couldn’t take the strain. So, when we met, I duelled him like it was the REAL Battle City final.”

“Wait. Time out” Twilight held her head in one hand, the other indicating she needed a minute. After a short pause, she continued "From what you’ve told me, approximately 75% of his ‘strategy’ is rolling dice or flipping coins, while you had the strongest cards to have ever been made. And you’re telling me that, if he had just stayed conscious for ten more seconds, he would have won that final?”

“Not exactly.” Yami replied, a small smile spreading across his face. “The heart of the cards works in strange ways, Twilight. When the fate of the World is on the line, or even just a championship title, then perhaps it would have not favoured Joey. But, when the Duel is about nothing more than reuniting lost friends...”

Twilight stared at him for a few seconds. Her response was fairly quiet when it came. “I can’t actually argue with that.”

“Just as well. It took me longer than expected to explain everything.” Yami rose from his chair. “Here is every legal card that has ever existed in Duel Monsters, or ever will.” He swept his arm to indicate all of the labelled storage crates. “Now most duelists have an overarching theme, or a cornerstone monster. Kaiba has his girlfr... I mean Blue Eyed dragon. Joey has his luck cards and warriors. Some people use a large amount of traps or magic cards. It all depends on the person. All we need as a start point are some interests of you...”

“Books and Magic.” Twilight said before he could finish the obvious question. “I have quite a few other hobbies, but they’re the things I’m involved with most.”

“That... That is actually a good starting point.” Yami began searching through one of the boxes, labelled ‘Spellcasters’, before pulling out a small group of cards. “Yes, the Prophecy monsters. They are designed to work with a series of magic cards, but I can’t see that box, so they will have to wait. Take a look at their effects.”

“’Spellbook’? Interesting idea. But I think I’ll need more than just these.” Twilight said, before taking cards out at random from the box. Most were placed to one side, but she began to stack those she found interesting next to the Prophecy cards Yami had picked out.

Yami then replaced the spellcaster box with the magic card box, and the process repeated.


After almost an hours searching, and whittling down, Twilight had a deck.

However, Yami noted one thing seemed to be aggravating her.

“Arrgh, no, no, no, NO!” She yelled, throwing a handful of cards into the air. “Why can’t I find anything for that last slot?”

“I have said the number of cards can vary Twilight. It doesn’t matter that you only have 59, it’s still a legal deck.”

“But it’s not a round number!” She said, eagerly ripping the lid off the spellcaster crate, and rummaging through for the third time in five minutes.

Well, it looks like we have a Looper with OCD, Yugi Yami thought, as he waited for Twilight to calm down

If she has OCD, why is she making such a mess? Yugi quipped, before continuing Actually, I have an idea. Do you remember our first ‘Duel Academy’ loop?

Somewhat. Wait, are you really suggesting we give her one of our decks cards? We only have so many Spellcasters she could actually use...

I'm not suggesting one of the actual Dark Magicians. But there is one monster in our deck that would probably serve her better than us...

Which one is tha...Oh, yes. That might actually work.

Yami exited his and Yugi’s shared thoughts to find Twilight still searching the boxes desperately.

“Twilight.”

“Maybe what I should use is another trap. I only have a few.”

“Twilight.” Yami repeated, a little louder.

“No, that would throw the balance off. It has to be a monster.”

“Twilight!”

Twilight dropped the box of cards she had just lifted up, spilling the contents everywhere.

“Oh no, I’m sorry. I’ll get it don’t worry.”

“Leave it for a moment, I’ll help you. I have something for you.”

“Huh? How could you have gotten something for me? You’ve been standing there staring into space for the last minute.”

“No I ha... No, that doesn’t matter. It seems that having 60 cards is important to you.” Yami took his deck out of his holder. “And you said you need it to be a monster. I think this would fit in your deck rather well.”
He passed the card over to her.

“’Magician’s Valkyria’? What makes you think this would fit in well?”

“Two things. Firstly, it has an effect you’ll appreciate.”

“’Your opponent cannot target face-up Spellcaster-Type monsters for attacks, except this one’.” Twilight looked up from the card. “Well, that is useful, but wouldn’t it be just as useful for you?”

“You have nothing but Spellcasters in your deck. I do have a few other things. Besides, the second reason is this.”
Yami searched through his deck again, producing the Dark Magician Girl “They aren’t linked, but they do seem similar. When I met the anchor of a loop linked to mine, I gave him a card that seemed linked to mine. I only felt it right to do the same here.

A-hem Yugi “coughed” inside the pairs shared mind.

It is technically true. Just stretching the definition of ‘I’ a little...

“Thank you. That’s a really nice gesture.” Twilight said, placing the card on the top of her new deck. She did a recount, to be sure she had a full 60. Satisfied, she breathed a sigh of relief, and sat at the table as Yami replaced the crates into his subspace pocket. “Now what should we do?”

Yami glanced at the clock. “Now we have a test run.” He slid a card into his deck to replace his lost card, and offered it over to Twilight for her to shuffle. Once the decks were given back to their owners, they began to draw.

Yami smiled, as he looked over to Twilight. “Let’s Duel.”


57.4 (Kris Overstreet)

"The Blue Flu, you say?"

The first Lonely Loop Twilight had been through with this expansion, she'd required a trip to the dentist to cap the teeth she'd worn down from grinding. She'd been plotting her next encounter with this little... incident... ever since.

"Oh, my, yes," Discord said. "And it's left me a complete wreck!" The draconequus bounced back swiftly from the anachronistic Studebaker that fell out of the sky onto him. "And with Fluttershy gone, and with Applejack and Rarity having contracted my malady... I have only you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, to turn to for help."

"Well, I'm sorry, Discord," Twlight said, not sorry in the least, "but there's nothing I can do to help you. But," and her grin grew even wider, "I know someone who knows every home remedy ever devised by pony!"

"What, you mean that Zecora mare?" Discord looked a bit discomfited. "No offense, but I'm not into that voodoo that she do."

"No, no," Twilight said, her horn flaring to life. "Someone better even than her!"

The flash of teleportation faded to reveal the farmyard of Sweet Apple Acres, now with the addition of Twilight, Cadence and the distempered Discord. Ignoring Discord's questions, Twilight went to the front door and knocked. A few moments later, Granny Smith opened the door. "Why, howdy there, Twilight," the Apple family matron grinned, "what can I do for ya?"

"I have a... friend... here who has something called the Blue Flu," Twilight said, giving Granny a broad wink. "You know all sorts of remedies, so you were the first pony I thought of."

"Ain't never heard of no blue flu," Granny said. "Swine flu, pine flu, mine flu, and pinot noir wine flu, but never no blue flu. Lemme have a look at him."

Discord tried to back away from the advancing green mare, only to find his retreat blocked by Cadence's health shield. "Really, madam, all I need is some bed rest and perhaps a little glass of water."

Granny closed one eye and looked Discord up and down with the other. "Naw," she said. "A li'l glass o'water won't do you no good a'tall. What we got here is a clear case of th' colic. For that ya need a LOT of water."

Discord shrugged. "Well, so long as it's sparkling mineral water. Ordinary tap water has such a flat taste."

"Where it's gonna go," Granny said, "you ain't gonna taste nothin'."

For a moment Discord looked confused. Then his mismatched yellow and red eyes bulged wide open. "You don't mean..."

"BIG MAC!" Granny shouted. "Fetch me th' garden hose!"

"Eyup!" To Discord's ears the heavy tramp of the farm horse's hooves were the tramp of doom.

"Don't worry," Granny grinned, showing her one good tooth. "Once we got ya cleaned out, you'll feel like a new... new... well, whatever y'are, you'll feel like a new'un."

Almost instantly Discord's color changed from solid blue back to the normally abnormal mish-mash. He pulled a straw traveling hat out of nowhere and said, "SuddenlyI'mfeelingsomuchbetter- -musthavebeenoneofthosetwentyfourminuteviruses- -thankssomuchcan'tstaygivemylovetoFluttershy TA!"

And that, in a puff of smoke, was that.

"Well," Twilight smiled, turning to Cadence. "Shall we get back to the Starswirl exhibit? Did you know they have the bells he was wearing when he first demonstrated the amniomorphic spell?"


57.5 (Detective Ethan Redfield)


Twilight and Trixie weren't the only ponies who had uncomfortable awakenings. While Twilight awoke mid-stride and Trixie awoke stumbling over a rock in the road with her wagon in tow, Applejack often awoke just as an apple fell from one of her apple trees. It meant things would be pretty close to baseline. When she awoke without an aching head, she knew this would a weird one. Moments later, however, she was tackled by a frantic seapony Lyra Heartstrings who asked, "Have you seen any ponies around here? Imagine, the hooves, the smooth hooves and all you can do with them!"

Applejack's eyes shrunk to pinpricks in terror. She tried to push the seapony away, only for her to notice her hooves had been replaced with fins...oh and she was a seapony too. It was just too much for the poor seapony as she screamed to the bottom of the landmass above.


Trixie was unsure how to feel about this. On the one side, she was princess of Seaquestria and still had her horn (which meant she could use magic). But she wasn't sure how she felt about being a seapony. The ringing of the bells over the main doorway called her attention to what she was doing, having daylight court. After the doors creaked open, a Pink Seapony swam to the throne, "Princess Trixie, I need your guidance."

Trixie bellowed, "The Greatest and Most Powerful Princess Trixie will assist you in any way she can, Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie gasped, "You even know my name when I didn't say it yet, truly you are the greatest princess!"

Obviously, Pinkie was not awake, "Of course, I know all my subjects. Now tell you me your desire."

Pinkie paused for a second, then asked, "I wish to have more spectacular explosions for the Day of Danger, but no matter what I try, I can only get bigger explosions and a wider color range. I want something no one has ever seen before!"

Trixie's eyes widened and started shinning, "Explosions are my Forte!"

She drew on her memories as she flourished her cape, "For it was I, Princess Trixie who used explosions to seal away my eternal rival and explosion fun killer, The Twilight Queen, into the island floating above our kingdom a thousand years ago. I will now teach you the methods of implosion, that will cause beautiful tidal currents and can drag entire land masses together!"

Now it was Pinkie's eyes that were shining, "All hail Princess Trixie, she who shields us from the deadly shockwaves of our beloved explosions!"

This was the greatest loop ever, thought Trixie as she basked in the admiration of her loyal subject.


This is the worst loop ever, moaned Applejack mentally after she managed to placate seapony Lyra. Unfortunately, the only way to placate Lyra was to promise to help her find the fabled earth ponies.

Twilight was nowhere in the seapony equivalent of Ponyville. Instead, she had run into Sealestia running the town's library (which only confused her more since water tended to ruin books, but then just shrugged and put it down to magic or something). It only got worse when her memories returned and she realized she was responsible for providing food for the Day of Danger celebration. Dash would love this.

After thinking of Dash, she summoned her element and pinged the other elements. Two elements of magic resonated (Trixie and Twilight) along with an element of Loyalty (either Dash or Spike). At least she wasn't alone in this madness. Of course, she couldn't think too much on that, considering Lyra was still ranting in her ear about earth ponies. Her eyes landed on Sealestia, which brought a new thought to mind. She held up a fin to stop Lyra and asked, "Do you have anything on the Day of Danger and its origins?"

Sealestia nodded, "Why yes! Let me get the book..."

Seconds later, she returned with a book, The Sealed Queen, which talked about the Twilight Queen was was sealed in the landmass hovering over the kingdom of Seaquestria by Princess Trixie a thousand years ago. Then, she got an evil idea and turned to Lyra. "Say, Lyra, how good are you at explosions?"


After several minutes of being regaled on how powerful an explosion she could produce (causing Applejack to feel nauseous), Applejack suggested they create an explosion big enough to reach the surface and which could be seen throughout Seaquestria. Lyra's eyes shone brightly. It was evening by the time to explosive was finished and the fireworks would soon go off.

Applejack sighed in relief that it was almost over as she and Lyra added to the explosive managery. With that, Applejack finally succumbed to her inborn fear of seaponies and hid under her bed, barely managing to give Lyra the slip. She wasn't going to come out for the rest of the week, since they had just created the equivalent of a bunker buster nuke. She ascended into a seapony alicorn with additional fins allowing for faster swimming and a horn, then waited. She added one bit to Lyra's firework, sparklers that could be seen for miles away that would shoot off as it spins. She faced the single window in her room, conveniently aimed to where the fireworks had started shooting off several minutes ago.

Their firework went off, shooting through the ocean like a missile towards the landmass above. With that, she called on her magic and surrounded Seaquestria in an orange bubble.


Trixie looked around her as the shield came up. Her demeanor turned sour since they could no longer shoot off vast explosions. Immediately, she called for her guard to start looking for the pony responsible. It was a few seconds later that the spinning firework slammed into the landmass. It drilled its way halfway to the surface, then detonated spectacularly.

Shockwaves and a rolling wave of fire slammed into the orange shield, but the shield held perfectly. The landmass above cracked, then started breaking apart, huge island size chunks started dropping towards Seaquestria, to Trixie's horror. Then, the landmass glowed brilliant purple and started reforming itself, except in one area which exploded outwards, allowing a single purple seapony alicorn to escape. Her eyes glowed white as she approached ponyville.

Trixie gulped, and wondered if Twilight would be angry for things she did while asleep.


57.6 (Stainless Steel Fox)

"And tonight's first contestant is a lady of mystery, seventeen year old Sweetie Belle. Recently arrived in the UK, she's been working as a shop assistant in a fashion boutique. But now she's dressed to impress and ready to try and convince our Coaches to take her out of the high street and into the big time!"

VT Sequence (Sweetie): "My big sister Rarity is a fashion designer back in my old home country, so I know my way around a boutique. I can't go back there at the moment, but I'm travelling around, making the best of things. I've tried a number of other jobs, but singing has always been my first love. I'm hoping that I can show that love tonight on the Voice, and make my family proud, even if they can't be here tonight."

"So will our young wanderer have a chance to settle down? Let's find out tonight, on The Voice."

All four coaches heard the contestant step out onto the stage. The sound was loud, as if she was wearing tap shoes. There were a few gasps from the audience, and looks of astonishment, but how she looked wasn't important. It was her singing that mattered, though the first contestant always had the hardest sell. No matter how good they were, the tendency was to wait and see what the rest of the night would bring.

Then she started singing 'Thousand Miles' and it was pretty much a dead heat for the buttons. Her voice went right through them like a laser and cut loose any reservations they had about picking the first singer that came along. They didn't know what they expected to see, but a white unicorn pony in a simple lilac dress that matched her mane and tail wasn't it. However, they were all held transfixed by her incredible singing voice.

As the last note died away all the Coaches started to speak at once, along with most of the audience. After a moment Sweetie Belle fired a bolt from her horn that flew straight up and flashed like a firework. "Please, please, every-pony... body calm down! I know this must come as a surprise, but I'm just here to compete like everyone else. Um... could you all ask questions one at a time? Mr Will I am?"

"Whoo... I'm seeing it, but I don't quite believe it! Where's the original singer?"

"I am... I have been. Ever since I arrived here in this country, this world, I've been running a perception filter spell a really smart unicorn called Twilight taught me. It let people see me and interact with me without noticing I was a unicorn. I didn't want people freaking out. It also kind of helped me fit in, stopped people asking to many questions about my past." She gave her most winning smile and Kylie Minogue sqeeeed.

"How come we can see you now?"

"Oh, I dropped the spell when I came on stage. This is the one place where my voice is more important than what I look like. I hated having to hide who I am. Hopefully now I won't have to."

"So where do you come from, and how did you end up here?" Tom Jones had recovered slightly slower than the others, but he was enough of a trooper to come back swinging when he did.

"Milton Keynes and by train." Sweetie Belle giggled, then said, "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Originally I'm from a land called Equestria where talking magical ponies are the norm. What I said about my sister was true, this is a copy of one of her designs. Unfortunately there are also creatures that aren't so nice. This ancient being of Chaos called Discord escaped from his stone prison and went on a rampage. I sort of got caught in the gears. Important safety tip, never tell an immortal prankster that you'd rather be anywhere than near him."

"You don't seem that unhappy about it."

"Oh, I was a mess when I got here, but after I'd cried myself out, I decided that I could either sit in a field and feel sorry for myself or try and make the best of it. So I cast a few spells to make myself unobtrusive and tried to fit in. Besides, I know once they've dealt with Discord, my sister and her friends will come looking for me. Twilight Sparkle, the one who taught me magic is sort of the pony equivalent of a combination of Einstein and Merlin, with a side order of Dr Manhatten, so if any-pony can trace me, it's her, and that's before they bring in the princesses, who could probably go hoof to toe with any two deities you care to name."

She shook her head. "But until then, I've got a singing career to kick start. So guys, who thinks they can help me achieve my full potential, and why?"


57.7 (Kris Overstreet)


Meteorite shards and shock glass lay scattered in the grass surrounding the steaming crater. A pair of pointed shoes stuck out over the rim. A pair of pointed shoes stuck out over the rim.

"Don't you think that was a bit excessive?" Twilight Sparkle asked Rarity.

"Darling, I should think you'd trust me by now to know an evil witch when I see one."

"So, she had a gingerbread house, did she?" the tall figure in black asked. "Maybe invitin' little children inside for a snack?"

"Er... no," Rarity said. "What's evil about gingerbread houses?"

"There's nowt wrong with gingerbread in its proper place," the tall figure said quickly. "But that place ain't in architecture, is what I'm sayin'."

"I think the Cakes would disagree with you."

"Who're they? Witches?"

"Er... bakers. Their bakery and cake shop is shaped like a gingerbread house."

"But not made out'n actual gingerbread? Just one o' them, wossname, simple acorns?"

"Simulacrum, and yes," Twilight chipped in.

"Then that's allowed," the tall figure nodded. "What about cacklin'? She that is yonder," she pointed to the crater, "did she cackle any?"

"You mean like, 'HeeheeHEEheeheeHEE!' cackle?" Rarity asked.

"That's right. Nothin' wrong with the occasional cackle, mind, providin' you knows when to stop."

"Well, no, she didn't actually laugh like that," Rarity said. "It was more like, 'Hah hah hah HAH hah hah hah hah.'"

"Hmmm." The tall skinny human gave this careful consideration. "Could be evil. Could also be somebody who didn't get the joke."

"Look, she was setting fire to half the forest, ranting about her plans for conquering the kingdom, and had a sled pulled by a hundred emaciated squirrels," Rarity said hotly. "I should rather have thought her bona fides for being an evil witch had been quite firmly established!"

"True, those are all def'nite indications," the tall figure said. "Still an' all, this is Lancre, young... lady. This is witch country. An' I have a, wossname, perfessional interest in seein' to it that witches ain't killed just willy-nilly. Seein' as I am, in fact, a witch."

A short, fat, elderly figure climbed out of the crater, pointed hat appearing first, followed by the rest of her. "S'all right, Esme," she called out cheerfully. "Nobody we know. Found a laundry tag from Quirm." She looked down at the shoes hanging over the rim and said, "Y'know, those might be my size."

"Well then," Granny Weatherwax said firmly, "I s'ppose we'll have to take your word for it. But I don't want you to go makin' a habit of it! I can't be havin' with strange talkin' unicorns goin' round killin' witches at my time of life."

"Thank you, ma'am," Twilight said politely.

"Yes, quite," Rarity said. "Now would you please remove these silver bridles? Or at least mine. On Twilight it works, but silver does clash with my coat so..."


57.8 (Crisis)

Twilight had a recurring headache this Loop. A headache named Harry Hunsacker.

To start with, she'd Awoken as human police Lt. Twilight Foster, homicide detective, and later learned that she'd replaced a man of the same rank and last name. Working on murder mysteries in what looked like the 1930s of the Hub – even if everything seemed oddly gray to her perception – had seemed like it might prove to be interesting. Then she'd met Harry and the local Anchor.

The Anchor was Nigel Grouse, Harry's best friend and paid-by-the-hour assistant. And boy did the man earn every penny. Nigel was possibly the only person who could put up with Harry Hunsacker on a daily basis, friend and generous pay or no. Harry had a childhood every bit as privileged as Diamond Tiara's, probably even more-so; an IQ equal to the average Prince Blueblood managed in the variants, possibly lower as it was clear the man was far from the brightest bulb on the strand; all the life skills, or rather lack of, the previous two traits implied; and the self-importance of Rainbow Dash at her worst. He ineptly bumbled into the cases she worked, irresponsibly wrecked anything resembling proper procedure, and yet still came out seeming like he'd solved everything and actually earned that ludicrous self-made title of 'world famous detective and aspiring actor'.

The worst part of all? For all the migraine-inducing idiocy he pulled, he was impossible to hate. The man possessed less inherent malice than even Pinkie Pie. He not only genuinely wanted to help, he actually believed it was his duty (at least when a potential acting job wasn't on the line). Even more aggravating were the times he was helping despite appearances to the contrary.

And he showed up at all of her important and high-profile cases. Without fail. Sometimes stumbling upon them while actively trying to get elsewhere. Heaven forbid she actually try to get away from him for a while. No matter where she went, he'd end up going the same way by coincidences worthy of one of the Hub's B-movies. Which is what Twilight felt like she was stuck in. A series of B-movies.

"What medium does the Hub have you in?" she managed to ask Nigel during a rare quiet moment where she could talk to him alone. "I want to pick up a few copies in case I ever come back here."

"That might be a little difficult," Nigel looked apprehensive. "The Hub has our Loop as a series of stage plays, 'living black and white' they call them. They're not widely produced and the scripts have never been published for sale to my knowledge. Nor have any recordings been made of the productions."

Twilight stared back at the man as she processed this. "Xylem."


57.9 (Dalxein)

Minato and the others balked under the pressure as the Avatar continued to descend.
The world was ending, again. What they couldn't figure out was why.

"Ryoji! What's wrong!? You don't have to do this! We've done all this without summoning her before! What's wrong now!?" Junpei shouted. He hadn't been looping long, in fact Ryoji had been looping longer, but that was the problem- a looping Ryoji could easily stop this. And he was Awake. Everyone was confused and afraid at what might be happening next.

"No." The Avatar said in all of its voices. "The night must come. My mistress demands it."

"But why-"

He was cut off by the huge shadow. "Enough. She is here."

The Avatar shuddered before a deeper, ominous and powerful voice flowed through it. "I AM NYX. I AM THE NIGHT. I AM COME." The voice bellowed. "I HUNGER FOR YOUR SOULS, BUT A FITTING SUBSTITUTE WILL SUFFICE."

Oh, this couldn't be good.

"I.
DEMAND.
CUPCAKES."


"PFF- really!?" Twilight snorted into her drink.

"Yeah, really!" The blue bat-pony Midnight Peaches, better known as Ryoji Mochizuki, asserted as he laughed.

"So you're telling me..." She started, taking deep breaths to try and assuage her laughter. "That my daughter spends one in every dozen loops or so as some neigh-unbeatable super-goddess in your loop, demanding sweets?"

The stallion nodded. "It got old pretty fast, so we don't bother pranking the world with demands for sweets anymore, but yeah."

The mare grinned. "Oh, she is never living this down."


57.10 (Crisis)


Twilight Awoke in a formless state and wondered what the heck she'd ended up this time. Trying to look around her proved fruitless, so she went straight to examining her Loop memories.

'Alright,' she thought to herself as speech didn't seem to be happening right now, 'let's see who I am this HOLY SAP ON A BISCUIT!'

Twilight was reminded that she didn't currently possess a stomach when she was unable to expel its contents. She'd... Apparently she'd replaced Sombra this Loop. And if her Loop memories of turning the Crystal Empire into a conquering nation for the sole purpose of plundering and subsequently hoarding all knowledge on the planet were any indication, then she'd been far too kind to the evil unicorn in her humiliations of him.

'Okay, no going anywhere near the Crystal Empire this Loop, not even for a prank,' she vowed. 'No wonder the crystal ponies tried to repress their memories of him.'

On the other hand, if a version of Sombra was in her place, or anyone else's for that matter, this Loop...

'It's decided,' she mentally nodded, 'I go find the local version of Sombra and if he's still an evil plothead then I haunt the bark out of him.'


It hadn't been hard to find this Loops' Sombra. He'd definitely taken her place as Celestia's student (which made her wonder about the perceptual powers of the local version of her mentor) complete with local Spike and position at the Ponyville Library. How he'd managed to deal with Luna since she didn't sense that the Elements of Harmony were active was still a mystery.

Staying out of sight was rather easy after she'd figured out how to manipulated her shadowy form to be invisible. She was effectively a ghost unless she wished otherwise. And she'd watched him very closely before deciding her course of action.

He was quite the studious pupil in arcane matters and apparently had an affinity for using crystals to focus his spells. However, he made no studies into friendship, or even to socialize with the inhabitants of Ponyville beyond basic courtesy. He also kept his cutie mark covered at all times, even sleeping or bathing, which made Twilight suspicious about what it was.

But what really sealed his fate was how he treated the local version of Spike. Twilight could freely admit that she was a harsh taskmaster on the dragonling, even before she started looping, but her demands were a five star vacation compared to Sombra's. Physical chores clearly beyond the dragonling's ability, reduced sleeping hours, meals withheld as punishment, and that wasn't even mentioning the generous emotional abuse and threats heaped on poor Spike whenever no one was watching.

The only difference between this Sombra and the baseline was the lack of political authority.

Twilight was going to torment him until the punishment of confessing every single crime he'd ever committed would seem a mercy. And she was going to enjoy every moment after what she'd watched him do to a version of her little brother and number one assistant. Making herself visible, she hovered over the currently sleeping form of Sombra menacingly, making sure to breathe loud and sinister much like Darth Vader did.

Sombra eventually awoke, Twilight was quite patient, and his expression and near scream when he saw her was very satisfying. He let loose a few magic bursts, but even her current state was more than enough to render them pointless.

"W-what are you?" he stuttered, trying to hide his fear of the unknown. "What do you want?"

Twilight grinned mentally. After dealing with so many crystal-obsessed versions of Sombra over the Loops, there was only one appropriate response to that.

"Booookssssss."


57.11 (Vulpine Fury)

Twilight had to fight down a case of the giggles when she Awoke this time. She supposed she might have seemed like a madpony to Lyra, Twinkleshine and the others, but her Loop memories made her want to return for a relatively baseline loop with a minor variable she hadn't yet experienced.

She couldn't help it, Shining Armor was replacing Spike this loop as a hero-worshipping LBBFF and he was adorable, blank flank and all.

"Shiny! Shiiiiny!" She called as she threw the door open, crushing the inevitable present for a party she hadn't attended in hundreds of loops.

"Twileeeey!" Shiny huffed as he levitated and waggled the poor battered teddy bear. "I was going to give this to Moondancer!"

"Really, Shiny," Twilight scoffed, playfully mussing Shiny's mane like her baseline BBBFF had done to her so many times. "I'm afraid we've got more important matters to deal with." She chuckled. "D'you wanna practice your 'Official Royal Guard Message Spell?'"

"Do I?!" Shiny bounced around the room while Twilight prepared her letter to Celestia.


Pinkie Pie gasped and zoomed away. Twilight looked down at her brother. "Well, that was interesting..."

Shiny had minor hearts in his eyes. "That was the prettiest earth pony I've ever seen."

"So, you've got a thing for pink mares, hmmm?" Twilight teased.

Shiny began blushing hard enough he could be confused with the peppy party pony himself. "S-shut up, Twileyy!"


"B-beautiful...."

"Yes, the decorations are very well-done," Twilight began...

"Not those... her!" Shiny pointed, and Twilight followed the gaze up... and found a delicate pink pegasus with purple edging to her feathers assisting Rarity.

"Cadance, darling, thank you ever so much for helping me!" The fashionista caroled with a familiar bit of fondness in her tone.

"No problem, sis!"

Twilight smiled. This loop was going to be so sweet. She was so glad she'd perfected the memories to photographs spell long ago.


57.12 (LordCirce)


Rainbow Dash Awoke in the middle of taking a drink. She choked, coughed and sputtered as she dropped the glass back to the table in front of her. As she shook her head to clear it, a loud cheer and clapping went up around her.

"New Challenger!"

Dash looked around at the room/bar she was in. Several people, of varying races, sat at different tables dotted around the establishment. Many were talking and laughing, though there was a group by the back wall that were sitting on a row of chairs, looking completely blank faced.

As Dash searched for Loop memories, a skinny man in green coveralls walked up to her. "Hell-o. My name'sa Luigi. Welcome to-a Super Smash Bros."

"Thanks. I'm guessing you're a Looper?"

"Yep, but-a not in this world. I don't think anyone is a Looper here. It is kind-a like the Eiken Loop, except-a whole lot better."

Rainbow froze at the mention of Eiken, then slowly relaxed. "So, what's the deal here then?"

"We-a fight."

Rainbow blinked. "Like, right now."

"No no no. On the stages. A group of-a up to four people is-a picked, and then we are-a sent out to battlestages. They are-a like places we have-a been."

"Huh. So how do *BEEEEEEEP*

"Attention all Brawlers! A New Brawl is about to Commence." A loud cheer went up from the people in the bar. "Rules are: 4 Stock, Full Items. Challenger 1: Link" One of the silent figures sitting against the wall vanished in a flash of light. "Challenger 2: Luigi".

"That's-a my cue." Luigi vanished in the flash of light as well. Dash backed up and looked around nervously.

"Challenger 3: Ness" A short kid cheered a couple of tables over and then *Flash* he was gone. Then "Challenger 4: Rainbow Dash".

"What? I don't *Flash* know whaaa?" Dash stagger slightly. She was standing on a small hovering platform. Some distance below, there was what looked like a large floating platform, with some smaller platforms arranged floating above it. Then the memories hit.

They weren't memories in the usual sense, more like knowledge and muscle memory. In a few moments, they would make their entrance. After that, it would be basically a free-for-all. She glanced up at the 4 blue dots that were floating over her head, representing her lives.

"Right. Let's do this." Seconds later, the platform flashed, and her body moved. She dove down, a cloud forming above one of the smaller platforms in front of her. She broke through before landing with a flourish. Across from her, she could see the little kid Ness. The other two were out of sight, so they were probably on a lower platform.

"Go!"


Dash jumped to the side to avoid yet another arrow. The tall guy in green, Link, was keeping his distance and just firing off arrows. Luigi and Ness were bouncing around on the upper platforms. Apparently, they had a score to settle.

Tensing up, Dash lowered her body, before unleashing one of her special moves. Apparently, powers and subspace pockets were restricted while on the Battlefields. Instead, you got four special moves, and items randomly popped up all over the place. Releasing her charge, Dash shot forward with her Rainbow Dasher, leaving a rainbow colored trail behind her. Link leapt back, drawing his sword, and Dash jumped, passing over his strike and kicking him in the head. He fell back, and Dash only had a moment to realize he had dropped a bomb before it went off, knocking her skyward.

Dash glided back down to one of the empty platforms. Her ability to fly was limited to flapping her wings and using her special Wing Jump skill. Kind of annoying, but she was awesome enough to handle it. Just as she was getting ready to jump back down to handle Link, a weird purple orb flew up through the ground in front of her. Her Loop instinct took over, and she spun around and kicked the ball, which shattered. Instantly she felt like she was supercharged withenergyandwowshefeltlikeshecoulddoanythinglikemaybea...

"SONIC RAINBOOM!"


57.13 (Zetrein)


Twilight woke up sitting, human style oddly enough, on a bench. According to her loop memories, she was Lyra Sparkle, and she had just been catching up with her old friend Bonnie. And it was the day before the Summer Sun Celebration.

"...And then I woke up, like I was in a time loop or something, you know what I mean?" Bonnie was saying, as Twilight turned her attention back to the conversation.

"Yes, I do know what you mean. So, we're Lyra and Bon-Bon this time?" A quick ping showed the rest of the Mane Six were Awake... and a very odd response from Pinkie's Element.

"No you silly, I'm Bonnie this time. There's also Bombe, Bon Suite, Bonelle, Bon-Bond, Bonita, Sweetie Drops, and Bon-Bon! Also, I'm a mini-changeling hive this time. There's eight of me!" The cheerful look on Pinkie's face was met by an almost terrified look on Twilight's.


The six of them had gathered in the Bon-basement of the Bon-house, while Pinkie's other seven Bons continued to prepare for the upcoming Celebration. Along the way, they had seen a baseline Pinkie "greet" a baseline Twilight and Spike.

"Okay, so to surmise, I've replaced Lyra, Rarity's replaced Minuette, Fluttershy's Roseluck, AJ's Raindrops, Rainbow's Ditzy, and we all know what Pinkie is. Anything that needs to be brought up, before we plan what to do this loop?" The unusually green Twilight looked to her friends.

"Yeah, Ah've got one. Why d'you got the name Sparkle, and why's Rainbow still got her usual mane and first name?" Asked a distinctly non-apple pegesus, wearing one of her spare stetsons.

"Well, I'm appearantly Twilight Sparkle's cousin. I'm sure that'll come up sometime in the future. Rainbow?" The ponies turned to look at the grey coated pegesus.

"Estranged elder sister, oddly enough. On a related note, remember how Ditzy is sometimes a single mom? Turns out Scoots is my daughter this time 'round." Rainbow Dew replied... looking at AJ with one eye, and the stairs out of the basement with the other. "By the way, anything you can do about my eyes? It's interesting, but..."

"I'll see what I can do. Enchanted goggles, maybe. Anyway, anything else, or shall we get to planning?"


57.14 (Gym Quirk)

"Captain's Log: Stardate 2124.5..." dictated Captain Rainbow T. Dash from the center chair as Commander Twilight Sparkle evaluated her Start-of-Loop situation from the Science Officer's station.

Okay...Not baseline loop...Definitely not Equestria...Trek variant...Looks like everypony's their usual shape too. She glanced down to note her blue science branch tunic before returning her attention to the bridge. Constitution class...too colorful to be any of the movies...Come to think of it, the uniform insignia badge probably makes it the Enterprise herself. A quick check of her Loop memories confirmed her observations and deductions.

Looking around the bridge, she noted Sweetie Belle at Communications and Apple Bloom at the Engineering monitor station.

Scootaloo sat next to Nyx at the Helm and Navigation consoles respectively.

And judging by the small nods of acknowledgement being exchanged by the CMC, it appeared that everypony on the bridge except Dash was Awake.

"...En route to the Beta...VI...Colony..." continued the captain. Ah. There was the tell-tale hesitation indicating that Dash just awoke in mid-speech and was assimilating Loop memories. Twilight reviewed the captain's last sentence. Why does Beta VI ring a bell?

An insistent beep caught the unicorn's attention and she returned her scrutiny to the hooded sensor viewer. There's something not quite right about this. It feels almost familiar, she thought as she worked to interpret the readings. Deal with the immediate situation for now. Worry about that nagging feeling later, she decided.

"Captain. Sensors show an energy field approaching in excess of Warp 9. Bearing 28 mark 30," she reported, manipulating the controls to extract more data from the instruments. "Exact nature of the field is indeterminate: The library computer has no matching records."

"Field will intercept in approximately two minutes," added Nyx, checking the astrogation readouts.

"Unable to detect any communication attempts," chirped Sweetie. "Continuing to monitor all frequencies."

"Helm, alter course twenty degrees to port," ordered Rainbow Dash. "Broadcast our own hail, Lt. Belle."

"Twenty degrees to port, aye," acknowledged Scootaloo.

"Attempting hail, Captain. Awaiting response," reported Sweetie.

"Unknown field is altering course to maintain intercept. Contact in one hundred seconds," announced Nyx.

"Engineering, can we outrun it?" asked Rainbow.

"I kin give ya Warp 9 fer about half an hour, then we'll haveta drop back to Warp 6. Sorry, Cap'n. Best I kin do with standard engines," apologized Apple Bloom. It would have taken her about a day to complete the first set of "Apple Bloom Special" upgrades. A complete refit would take about a week in spacedock.

Having determined that the Enterprise was unable to evade the field, and that said field did not match any pattern in the Library computer, Dash decided to play it cautiously friendly. "Drop us out of Warp. Yellow alert. Continue hails."

Twilight had walked down next to the Captain's chair and murmured to Dash. "I'm almost certain I've seen something very close to this in a previous Loop."

The pegasus nodded. "Yeah. Same here. Can't quite put my hoof on it..."

Then the ship was enveloped by a familiar tessellating barrier. Twilight and Rainbow exchanged a resigned look. Oh. This again.

An intruder appeared just to the left of the viewscreen in a flash of white light: A familiar male draconequus, dressed in a rough semblance of pre-Equestrian upper-class garb: Doublet, hose, ruffed collar, floppy hat with feather.

Before he could launch into his first threat, he was greeted with a six-pony Synchronized Face-Hoof that would have been a strong contender for the unofficial Annual Starfleet Command Staff Exasperation Display competition.

"Discord, you're getting really sloppy," accused Rainbow.

"Not to mention repetitive," added Scootaloo.

"This is the wrong Enterprise," pointed out Nyx.

"Yer off by about a century," contributed Apple Bloom.

Twilight had been consulting a PADD, and transferred the output to the main viewscreen. A stream of text and several images scrolled past. "I think you're supposed to be playing Trelane this time."

"Bah. One omnipotent being's so much like another," sulked Discord.

"So you're saying Q is just as childish as Trelane?" snarked Sweetie.

Discord held up his paws in surrender. "Fine, fine. Shall we call this opening a bust and make it a vacation loop?"

"Works for me," decided Rainbow. Nods were shared around the bridge.

"So do you want to stick with us, or do you have other things you'd like to do?" Twilight asked the chaos spirit.

"I think I'll drop in on the Continuum to play with my alter-ego. I'll try not to destroy the universe if things get rough." He vanished in his usual white flash before anypony could comment. The barrier around the ship also disappeared.

"Well, that's reassuring," muttered Twilight as she went back to peering at her PADD. "Hey, Rainbow. If we're going to play along and follow Starfleet's assignments, after we take care of our business on Beta VI, it looks like...Hm...Too bad Trixie's not here."

"Why?"

"She'd have some ideas about improving that black-powder bamboo cannon you're supposed to use against the Gorn."

"Meh. Lizard can't fly, so he isn't much of a threat."


57.15 (Redshirt Zombie)


"Twilight?"

"Yes, Rarity?"

"Why are we playing cards?"

"Because Pinkie had a deck, and Discord is – as usual – late for the meetup."

"Ah."

Author's Note:

57.1: Fingers in ears no jutsu.
57.2: I assume Mac either built a house or brewed some rum.
57.3: After playing Chaos, that's nothing.
57.4: Home remedies.
57.5: I like "Sealestia".
57.6: The Voice, UK version.
57.7: You really have to follow the local customs in these situations.
57.8: Not everything is hardcopy or digital.
57.9: Adopting a humorous Persona.
57.10: Booooksssss...
57.11: The cuteness.
57.12: Super Smash Bros. Everything.
57.13: The Background... 13. (The Bon Collective is from Slice of Life by Egophiliac, though they're slightly different here.)
57.14: There are a surprising number of all-powerful godlike entities in the Trekverse.
57.15: Well, she did ask.

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