Loops 84
84.1
Applebloom yawned, then Awoke.
She blinked. “Lessee...”
As she crawled out of bed, she scanned her pre-loop memories. Nothing particularly unusual – by the looks of things, things were pretty much baseline.
The filly slipped a hoof into her Pocket. “Cookie?”
Yes?
“Are any of the others Awake?”
Smart Cookie hummed for a moment. I detect Pansy and Clover. In addition, Clover reports that Diamond Tiara has opened one curtain in her usual signal pattern.
There was a pop, and a small scroll appeared on the dresser.
Applebloom opened it, still yawning.
Nyx here. Silver and I are Awake – she checked in on me, which is nice of her. I'm that evil Everfree spirit thing this time, so my other self is still evil.
“Good t' know.” Applebloom nodded, then paused. “Wait, all six of us are around?”
Indeed.
“Right. I'm gonna go ahead and ask Twilight for some help...”
“Okay, that I can help with.” Twilight nodded. “You don't know what your elements are, as I recall?”
“Well, yeah, except that I've got Magic.” Applebloom shrugged. “Guess it's the whole Sufficiently Advanced Technology thing...”
“Right. Hold on a minute.”
Twilight vanished in a puff of magic.
About thirty seconds later, she appeared again. “Here. One unattuned Element of Magic. I've got the others as well, so just have your friends turn up over the course of the day.”
Nyx popped her head out of the kitchen. “Ooh, can I pick mine up?”
“Can you, actually?” Applebloom asked.
“Easy.” Twilight grinned, and launched a bolt of magic at the five remaining Elements. It smashed them to flinders.
“Right. Walk through the shards, and they should reattune.”
Nyx did so, and watched as a sprinkling of stone fragments rose up to circle her neck. After a few seconds, they flashed and formed an Element necklace.
“There we go.” Twilight smiled. “Shouldn't take more than a few more loops before you can summon it. Okay, Spike is Awake, so he can check you tomorrow.”
“Why not today?” Applebloom inquired, curious.
“I understand he and Rarity are setting up a dragon unrest house.” At the baffled looks the fillies gave her, Twilight elaborated. “They're offering package tours for dragons to go to Tartarus and get some excitement.”
“...fair enough.”
Nyx smiled brightly. “Okay! So, how do we do this?”
“Well, the Mayor is Awake...” Twilight suggested.
Nightmare Moon opened her wings wide, grinning evilly as the ponies of this little town panicked.
“You're not Celestia!” the pathetic Mayor said, stating the obvious. “Filly Force! Come quick!”
...that, on the other hand, had not been the obvious. Nightmare Moon turned, just as the doors slammed open.
Two earth ponies, a pegasus, a thestral and a unicorn piled in through the door, wearing brightly coloured costumes.
“Nightmare Moon!” one of them gasped. “So it's true!”
“Your evil reign ends here, Nightmare!” the thestral filly said, pointing at her. “You can't beat all six of us – what?”
The pegasus pulled her into a huddle for an urgent discussion.
Nightmare Moon strained her ears to hear what they were discussing.
“...what do you – oh, for the love of...” The thestral trotted over to the door and stuck her head out. “Sweetie!”
“Don't call me that!” the voice of another filly admonished. “We're incognito, remember! Use our aliases!”
“Well, I don't see why we have to,” one of the earth ponies said. “I mean, the villain's right here. If we win, it doesn't matter, and if we lose-”
“It is the principle of the thing!”
“Just hurry up!” the other earth pony called.
A white unicorn cantered through the door, adjusting her own costume. “Sorry, girls... where were we?”
“The speeches,” replied the thestral. “Ahem. You can't beat all-”
“Can we just skip to the end?” asked the pegasus. “I have homework.”
“Me too,” the black unicorn agreed, to general murmurs of confirmation.
“...fine, then.” The thestral rolled her eyes. “But this is a one-off.”
The yellow earth pony extended her hoof. “Harmony?”
“Fusion!” the other five yelled.
And then, to her great astonishment, Nightmare Moon discovered that they were not just a half-dozen overexcited children.
“Huh. Okay, didn't expect that...” Spike closed his eyes, and took a breath.
“Nyx, your one's Honesty. Scoots – congrats, you got the best element. Loyalty.”
Scootaloo did a little dance. The others regarded her with bemusement.
“Diamond, you got the other best element, Generosity.” His eyelids cracked for a moment. “What is it with diamonds and Generosity bearers?”
“Hay if I know,” Tiara replied.
“Now, here, ah could make a comment about yer baseline self.” Applebloom shrugged. “But ah won't.”
“Yours is magic, of course, Applebloom. Which gives you absolutely no authority, of course... or that's what we constantly have to remind Trixie, anyway. And Sweets, yours is laughter. Which leaves Kindness for Silver – probably because, you know, you've been it all.”
“Cool. Thanks.”
“Yeah, that's a great help.”
Once the others were gone, Nyx smiled up at Spike. “Honesty? Really?”
“Yep.” Spike returned the smile. “I'm guessing it's to do with how you're honest with yourself. You've been through a lot, and you don't ignore it – you just accepted it, and worked through it.”
84.2
Twilight had honestly never been more interested in something purely out of amusement. It was different every time, and it never failed to be interesting!
"Say Ditzy, Just what does your cutie mark mean anyway?"
The mailmare looked up. “Oh, hi Twilight. It means I can draw perfect circles freehoof, this time.”
“Okay, that's... wait.” Twilight's train of thought applied the brakes, screeched to a halt, and went into reverse. “This time?”
“Yep!” Ditzy beamed. “Last time you asked, it was making drinks fizzy. But this time it's different! And it's also different to the time before, when it was being an expert marbles player.”
Twilight was momentarily at a loss for words.
“...you mean you're looping?” The unicorn paused, took a deep breath, and continued. “Okay, so... how long have you been... going back in time, and repeating things? From your perspective, I mean.”
Ditzy's eyes uncrossed for a moment, and her tongue stuck out. “Hmm... carry the two... carry the three... carry the five other packages...”
Then her eyes crossed again. “Since last week.”
“...beh whah?”
Twilight realized that that wasn't contributing to a useful conversation.
“Okay, Ditzy.” She took a deep breath. “Explain how you can remember me asking about your cutie mark twice before, if you only started time looping this loop?”
“Easy!” Ditzy nodded vigorously. “I only started going back in time last week, but I remember loads more times! Like the time when Dinky was a colt, and I was a stallion, and you were a stallion, and Nightmare Moon was a stallion, and-”
Twilight held up a hoof, and Ditzy promptly stopped her in-depth explanation. “So... you're a Dreamer?”
“What's that?” Ditzy asked.
“When someone who isn't going back in time remembers the times before that,” Twilight clarified.
“Ooooooh. Nope.”
With a bleating noise, Twilight fell over.
“But... you just described what it's like to be a Dreamer!” Twilight protested, from her position on the grass.
“Well... I do remember things, but I didn't used to.” Ditzy rummaged in a saddlebag for a stick, and started drawing diagrams on a dirt path.
There were lots of perfect circles.
“See, in each of these circles, I just remembered that circle.” She pointed. “But now, in this circle, I remember all of the previous circles!”
She paused. “Or, lots of them. I don't know if I missed a circle because I don't remember it.”
“...right.” Twilight stood up. “I'm sure it'll make sense eventually. Anyway, feel free to ask me if you have any questions, and Big Mac runs a bar for loopers at Sweet Apple Acres. I think I'm going to go there, and drink some cider...”
“Ooh, can I come with you?” Ditzy asked. “Dinky's still at school.”
Twilight thought it over, then nodded. “Sure, why not.”
84.3
Vinyl Scratch, AKA DJ P0N-3 (though only when at work, or when in a restaurant and recognized, or occasionally when being interviewed for a colour piece) had a slight feeling of... wrongness, this morning.
Oh, there wasn't anything concrete, per se. It was probably just the results of messing with a routine she'd kept up for at least the last ten years, since she really made it big – work nights, get home and sleep days, ignore the seasons, and when asked to work days do it in zombie mode before crashing.
And it wasn't like she was completely ignorant. She noticed the detritus left behind after major events – the return of Nightmare Moon, the times Discord started messing with the weather, that wedding she'd been asked to do several years ago which had apparently involved an invasion... and, of course, the time a local pony had suddenly become a Princess.
But she liked to think she at least kept up to date on the local music scene. That time five years ago when her old music became retro and really popular again, now, that had caught her off guard. But it was the exception, not the rule.
Today felt a bit like that time had, actually. Vinyl made a mental note to check that she still had most of her recording disks and hadn't thrown too many of them out – if she could get the jump on this new trend, that would be awesome.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn.
“Whoah,” she said, blinking and shaking her head. “I must be less used to this than I thought.”
Right, she thought. What's on the schedule...
Her regular gig up in Canterlot, in two days. Well, that meant she could indulge herself and laze around for the day – at least, until Octavia got back from her regular gig.
(For some reason, her flatmate preferred to relax with a glass of wine and a book, not lying sprawled on the sofa with thumping music playing. There was no accounting for taste.)
But first, something sweet from the Cakes sounded nice.
You know, I should probably go out in daylight more often, Vinyl thought to herself as the summery scents wafted through the air. It really was a beautiful day, with only a few fluffy clouds in the sky.
Something purple caught her eye.
“Oh, hey, Twilight. Er, I mean, your high...”
Vinyl stopped talking in confusion.
Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic, was giving her a quizzical look. But as far as Vinyl was concerned, she was the one who should be giving quizzical looks.
First off, Twilight Sparkle wasn't a Princess. Her wings had gone, she was a good few inches shorter and she wasn't wearing any of the stuff she'd started wearing back when she became a princess.
Second, there was a unicorn standing right next to her. A unicorn filly, to be precise, but one Vinyl had never seen before – and one who looked strange enough that Vinyl could swear she'd have remembered seeing her. Not many ponies had vertical slit pupils.
“What's wrong, momma?” the young unicorn asked.
Twilight's eyes narrowed slightly. “Vinyl Scratch. Are you used to seeing me with wings?”
“Well... yeah, actually. What happened?”
The filly grinned. “Woo, another new looper!”
“So... ten years since I first arrived in Ponyville?” Twilight checked. “Huh. And the last five years you haven't noticed any deja vu or anything?”
“Well, there were a few things, now I think about it. Nothing major, though – I mean, Discord got out that other time, which I suppose must have been the first time just... again.” Vinyl sipped at the cocoa Twilight had made them. “Apart from that, no. And how come you were an alicorn that time, then?”
“I think I know which loop you mean.” Twilight frowned, then nodded. “I was a naturally-born alicorn. Chrysalis, the Princesses and I were Awake, so no second wedding invasion... I talked Trixie round both times, you might not even have noticed... Luna just turned up one day and Celestia rolled with it, though there was a bit of gossip... oh, and of course, no mess-up with Star Swirl's spell. Either time.”
“Huh. Kinda a neat coincidence,” Nyx observed. “I mean, that's Vinyl, and Ditzy, and Lyra who all got started recently.”
“Yeah...” Twilight agreed, then paused. “Hold on.”
She reached under the desk and pulled out a large diary. Opening it, she flipped through to a page covered with dense writing.
“Right, so Ditzy started then... and I'd asked her that in her first loop... I actually think all three of them started within two loops of one another, though their second loops were a bit more spaced out.”
Nyx blinked. “Really? Doesn't that sort of thing usually happen with a crash?”
“Hey, quick question?” Vinyl raised a hoof. “Should I understand what you two are talking about?”
“Probably not,” Nyx informed her cheerfully.
Twilight tapped her cup on the table. “Three new loopers... hmm, it's probably linked to when Lyra nearly accidentally her whole history. And that involved four alternate selves.”
“So...” Nyx prompted.
“So I'm not sure who the fourth would be. But we'd better keep an eye out. The last thing we want is Sombra looping.”
84.4
Ah, Hogwarts, Rarity thought, smiling.
A castle full of young teenagers learning magic. Arguably, one of the most dangerous environments in the multiverse.
(Granted, a lot of that was because the local Anchor was breathtakingly old, immensely skilled and thoroughly... amorous. But he had manners, which was nice.)
The most immediate downside to the place was a subsection of Slytherin House. There were certain among her fellow pupils from the Green side of the school who considered her – and anyone else who wasn't born to wizarding ancestors as far back as the family tree could reach – inferior. Frankly, it was all ridiculous tosh.
And at least not all Snakes were like that.
Case in point.
“My fair lady,” the athletic youth before her asked, taking her hand and kissing it. “Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Yule Ball?”
“I would be delighted, sirrah,” she replied, smoothing her blue-edged robes and standing. “What time would you be wishful for me to arrive?”
Spike winked at her. “Seven of the clock, fair lady.”
“Wonderful. Oh, do tell me – how are things in the land of reptiles?”
The young wizard tapped his chin. “Well, I've instituted an unofficial policy of removing one item of clothing from the wardrobes of anyone who does something stupid and prejudiced.”
“So that's why Master Malfoy's robes are looking tattered.” Rarity nodded, then kissed him.
“Not too long now,” she whispered.
“I know.”
84.5
Discord's statue shattered. “Oh, yeah, baby! I'm ba-ack!”
A hoof tapped him on the shoulder.
“Lulu, what a surprise,” he said as he turned. “How long has it been?”
“One thousand and eleven years,” Princess Luna replied promptly. “And four months, eight days, nine hours and fourteen minutes.”
“Such precision.” Discord yawned. “I'm getting bored already. Did you have something amusing to say?”
“Yes, actually.” Luna held up a large document. “You owe one thousand and ten years, nine months, seven days, four hours and twelve minutes child support.”
“...za?”
Luna had to fight the urge to giggle. Seeing Discord shocked was always entertaining.
“Child support?” he repeated, slowly. Then laughed. “Oh, such an amusing prank! As if I could possibly owe child support!”
“Mummy?” a voice whined. “Are you still busy?”
A female draconequus walked around the end of a hedge, dragging an ursa-major teddy bear in one mismatched paw.
“I still am, Silvy,” Luna told her, smiling. “Not for much longer, though. Your deadbeat dad is going to pay up or turn back to stone, and I'll be available.”
Discord fell over in a dead faint.
Silver and Luna exchanged a hoofbump/high five, grinning.
“Did you like the whine?” Silver asked. “I thought it was a nice touch...”
“Marvellous,” Luna replied. “The look on his face...”
84.6
“Ditzy,” Twilight began uncertainly. “Are you Awake this loop?”
“Yep!” the mailmare replied cheerfully. “What is it, Twilight?”
“Well...” Twilight frowned. “Okay, two things, really. First – there have been loops where you've been called... well, Derpy. And... well, I was wondering whether you're...”
Twilight's sentence trailed off into silence, as she tried to work out how to express it.
“Oooooh.” The grey pegasus nodded, looking Twilight in the eye. (The other eye was looking directly upwards.) “I don't mind. It's a name, it refers to me, and it sounds funny!” She giggled. “Derp. Derpity derpity derp. And what do I care?”
She shrugged. “Bright Eyes works too. In fact, I've been all three at once! Now, what was the other thing?”
The Anchor shook her head, a smile on her lips. “Your attitude is really refreshing. If incomprehensible. Anyway, the other thing was – what's your special talent this time?”
“Oh, right. Well...” Ditzy paused. “I'm not sure. Let's see. Can you stand back a bit?”
Twilight took a few steps back.
Ditzy concentrated, and frowned. A cloud of bubbles came out of her ears.
“Ah, the old standby,” Twilight began. Then there was a loud bang.
“Yay!” Ditzy said, standing in the lower half of a sphere that had been wiped from existence. “I thought so! I can do loads of them!”
Twilight's brain paused, went into rewind, and hit play again. “...are you telling me that you can pick and choose any of the cutie mark meanings you remember?”
“Yep!” Ditzy sneezed, and when the flash died down she had a horn to go with her wings. “Hey, look, I've got a horn!”
“Okay, you know what?” Twilight shook her head. “I'm not even going to question it. Congratulations on joining the alicorn club, it helps if you've thought of your evil self beforehand.”
84.7
“Name?”
“Twilight Sparkle.”
“And your team name?”
Twilight smiled uncertainly. “Alicorn.”
The functionary looked up. “Alicorn, you say?”
“That's correct. Here's the roster.”
With raised eyebrow, the clerk went down the list. “Hm... interesting, the royals of the Crystal Empire are on here... and their Highnesses?”
“Celestia wanted to participate.” Twilight shrugged. “I was glad to help.”
“But... not all of these are alicorns?”
“I wasn't aware team names had to be accurate. Besides, we're the only team with alicorns on.” Twilight grinned. “Is everything alright?”
“Oh, yes, fine indeed.” The clerk stamped the papers. “Very good.”
“Isn't this... I dunno, a bit obvious for a prank?” Dash asked. “I mean, sure, it's kinda amusing, but...”
Twilight winked. “Oh, ye of little faith.”
“Right.” Gilda pointed. “Okay, Sunbutt, Moonbutt, Twinklebutt and Wandbutt, you four are on relay. Dash, you're the best at speed and you can sustain it longest, so you're on the marathon, and Flutterbutt is doing the sprint – Balloonbutt, burst a paper bag behind her or something...”
“Er, excuse me?” the functionary asked her. “But... this is team Alicorn, right?”
“Yeah, so?” Gilda gave him an eagle-eyed look. “You got something against an entire team turning themselves into gryphons via a chaos god in order to compete in the Equestria Games?”
“Well... not as such, no. It's just... I expected...”
“Yeah, and expectations make nations expectorate, or something. I've got a team to shout at – I mean, organize.” Gilda turned away. “Bubblebutt, you're on the obstacle course. Applebutt, other applebutt, you're on the wrestling and boxing, I'll let you work out which one...”
84.8
“Excuse me, Princess...”
Princess Twilight Sparkle, younger ruler of Equestria, looked down with puzzlement at the mare before her Night Court. “What is it, Vinyl Scratch?”
“Well...” The white-coated unicorn frowned, and took her goggles off. “I... everything seems very strange, all of a sudden. I'd thought you'd just become a Princess, right? And then, next month, you're...” Vinyl shrugged. “You're, like, the second-ranked Princess of Equestria who just got back from the moon. And suddenly I'm five years in the past. And I don't get it.”
Twilight blinked. She could swear Vinyl had already had her Awakening conversation. Unless she was just unfamiliar with variant loops?
No, that didn't make sense either. Her first two loops had been variant.
“Okay,” she said, deciding to just go with the full explanation all over again. “There is a pattern of events which is known as the Time Loops...”
84.9 (Dalxein)
"It's like... I'm not even sure if anyone takes me seriously. I know I mess things up a lot and I can give off that 'stupid happy' vibe... most of the time... but it doesn't mean I don't matter, right?" She asked, poking at her dinner.
"Derpy..." Harry started, nudging the little ravenclaw. "You looped in as Luna bloody Lovegood. That tells me one of two things; you're either incredibly amazing, Cuckoo right out the Lander, or both."
"Yaaay!" She cheered, her arms shooting upward accidentally knocking her bread pudding (somehow made from muffins) onto, down, and into Cho's blouse.
Harry palmed his face, glasses and all, as the older girl screamed and ran from the hall. "I just haven't figured out which, yet."
"Still yay!" The blonde was undeterred.
84.10 (misterq)
"Hey Twilight, you're a smart pony, right? Tell Octavia that my crazy theory is correct and that if you listen to enough wubs, time starts to dubstep!"
Twilight sighed. “Welcome to the loops, Vinyl."
84.11 (Dalxein)
"Alright, Commander Data, let's bring this new computer core online." Jean-Luc said, only the faintest trace of hesitance evident in his voice. Starfleet had been on an Artificial Intelligence kick this loop, and wanted several ships (Including the Enterprise, naturally) to field-test their new ship AIs.
He just hoped it wasn't Skynet again. Or GLADoS. Or HAL. Or...
Let's just say this had a monumentally small chance of actually going well.
But, orders were orders...
Data initiated the power link and typed in the startup code. Now was the moment of truth, and every looper on board tensed slightly-
"HI! I'm Derpy!"
Picard flinched as Diana let out a startled yelp. She never did like artificial minds... "Hello... er, Derpy. You've been installed as the computer system on my ship, the Enterprise. My name is Captain Jean-luc Picard." He paused. "If I may ask, why 'derpy'?"
The ship scoffed. "Well what do you think the 'D' was supposed to stand for?"
He palmed his face and nodded at Data's raised eyebrow. Yes, definitely a looper. "Alphabetic ordering?"
"Nah, that's boring. Hey! Let's make muffins!"
Thankfully, they were still in spacedock, and had the assistance of the dock's technitians to convince her that she could use the replicators to generate muffins and did not need to bake them herself. With the ship's phaser banks.
It was going to be a long loop.
84.12 (LordCirce)
Twilight hummed to herself as she walked down the road to Fluttershy's house. It felt like most of the Elements were Awake this time, so Twilight had thought up a few plans for some stage shows. She had exchanged a few quick notes with Trixie (using the Mail-Flame Spell), and was looking to get the rest of the Elements in on the activities.
Twilight came around the edge of the house to see a truly off-putting sight. Fluttershy was standing just outside of her cabin, talking to an enormous, black-coated goat. Fluttershy turned at her approach, and smiled. Twilight quickly trotted over to join them.
"Visiting Looper?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Oh yes. He has just been telling me about the many creatures he is friends with."
The goat nodded, somewhat shyly, which was an odd look for such a large creature. "Aye, I was jus' tellin' her 'bout a few of me friends, back at 'Ogwarts. Oh, almost forgot. My name's Hagrid, Keeper o' the Keys and Grounds of 'Ogwarts."
"...a shame that my assistant isn't here this Loop. I think he might be in the Griffon Lands for some reason." Twilight finished telling Hagrid about Spike, who had looked a mixture of happy and sorrowful at hearing about the baby dragon. They were currently gathered around Fluttershy's table, Hagrid having actually shrunk slightly to fit. He had apparently recently had a Loop as Ant-Man in the Marvel Universe, and he apparently loved the ability to change his size.
"Blimey. I can't wait to get to talk to a dragon. Always wanted to raise one, see, but never could. If I keep Norberta, the Ministry comes to take 'er away." Hagrid started sniffling as Fluttershy moved to comfort him. Twilight nodded thoughtfully.
"One way I've seen it work, when I was replacing Hermione, was to apply for a Dragon Guard License, as well as to register Norberta as part of the Care of Magical Creatures menagerie. The Laws should be on the books in your baseline, I will have to see if I still have notes from that Loop." Hagrid looked up, eyes watering.
"I can see why yeh would be replacing 'Ermione. You talk jus' like her when she's got summit to say." Twilight smiled, then her smile widened as a thought came to her.
"You know, I was planning a sort of stage show, and I think you might be able to help. Fluttershy as well."
Twilight blushed as she watched their attempted stage performance. It was meant to be an adaption of the story of the fight against Tirek. With his ability to change size, and his naturally dark, coarse coat, Hagrid has seemed like a perfect fit. Unfortunately, his accent and personality didn't match with the role.
"I'll get yeh ponies! I'll turn yeh into my, er, monsters, em. Well, more like misunderstood creatures, but, uhm..." Hagrid's voice trailed off as he lost his place in the dialogue yet again. Helpfully, Fluttershy gasped, before transforming into her dire wolf form with a howl.
"Oh no, they got Firefly." Twilight facehoofed at Dash's monotonic delivery.
"I did? Ahem, ah, I mean, yah, I did 'n you're next." Oh well, the audience at least was enjoying it.
84.13 (Kris Overstreet)
"So there I was," Vinyl Scratch said, hugging her drink for comfort, "wondering what had happened to all my 'No Bucks to Give' tracks. I couldn't find the records ANYWHERE. So I went out to the record shop, and Needles told me he'd never heard of the group. And I laughed, 'cause Needles is like that, he's a joker, right? Never heard of the hottest sound to come out of a barn band in the last year?
"Only thing was," the unicorn pony added, draining the glass and handing it out for a refill before restoring it to her teddy-bear hug, "only thing was, he wasn't joking.
"And that was when I noticed that the calendars were all wrong, and I'd slipped four, maybe five years backwards in time somehow. 'No Bucks to Give' hadn't broken out yet. They were still practicing in their parents' barn or something.
"So I took a train to Seaddle, 'cause that's the core of the barn rock scene, y'know? And I asked around for Cracked Belle, the front mare for the group. Found her place in mid-reheasal. They were a bit rough, but you could tell they were hot, they were going to be on something really huge someday. Well, I could tell, anyway."
The bartender nodded her head in encouragement.
"And then when they took a break I said hi, told all about how I'd heard about them through the grapevine. And then I told them about my favorite song. And I borrowed the keyboard and played and sang it for them."
It took a lot more booze before the DJ could continue. "I broke Cracked Belle's heart when I did that. She had just started WRITING that song- it wasn't finished yet. When I was done, she was in tears. Said she wanted to make music no pony else was making... and if she couldn't do that, she wouldn't make music at all.
"'No Bucks to Give' broke up that very night. Cracked Belle stayed on the farm making cheese. Nopony ever got to hear any of the hot licks those ponies would have made famous... and it was all my fault."
Vinyl's glass was empty again. This time the bartender, instead of refilling it, took it away from her.
"Vinyl, dear," Berry Punch said, "I know just the pony you need to talk to right now. And she's not Pony Walker's Black Label."
84.14 (Masterweaver)
"Vinyl, this ridiculous façade has gone on long enough!" Octavia tried to pull her hoof out of the unicorn's magical grip. "You are not helping your case!"
The unicorn rolled her eyes. "Just one audience. One. And then if I'm wrong you can do whatever. Hey dudes, code Beeblebrox." The guards dutifully stood aside. "Heh. Beeblebrox, I haven't met him yet but he sounds like my kind of two headed alien."
"What...?" Octavia pulled free. "Oh. I see. This is some elaborate plan, isn't it? You pretend to forget our anniversary and then--"
Vinyl winced. "Tavi? Just.... just let's do this." She entered the throne room, startling a number of petitioners. "OY TIA! CODE BEEBLEBROX!"
The current speaker looked behind him. "How dare you--!"
"Relax, Blueblood, this will take less then a minute." Celestia looked directly at Octavia. "Yes. The loops are a thing. She's telling the truth. Now then, you were saying?"
84.15 (Dalxein)
"What the why" Twilight asked, scooting off the far side of the bed away from her bunkmate and apparent lover, Vinyl Scratch.
"I think way back when I said something about the beautiful music you make when you're in the middle of-"
"I know! I know." Sometimes Twilight envied the humans their fingers to rub on their faces to show exasperation in such cathartic ways. Hooves just weren't the same after you've tried it with hands.
The DJ grabbed her shades and music player as she got herself ready for the day- and to beat a hasty exit if need be. "Sorry, still getting used to sorting through loop memories. You wanna just be flatmates or should I ring up Octavia and see if she and her... huh, I think she's living with Lyra and Bonbon this loop. Anyway, I don't have to stay if it'd be weird."
Twilight sighed when she realized what the problem was. "No, it's fine. I'm sorry I reacted like that, it's just that this is the third loop in a row I've Woken Up 'attached' romantically, and it gets to be frazzling for someone like me that prefers to stay single. At least you're Awake..."
84.16 (The One Butcher)
"Good Morning Professor Dumbledore!" An eleven Year old girl strolled into his office like she owned it. Which she did a few times actually.
"Ah, Twilight Sparkle!", he called genially, "It's been a while, hasn't it? The usual?"
"Yes please!" Twilight beamed and handed over a thick folder.
The ancient wizard struck out his hand and whispered "Scholars Touch." while brushing his hand over the booklet.
"Mh... fourteen parent's honeymoons, twenty you and your brother, only four Blueblood this time," he paused "Oh, Vinyl Scratch started looping! I'm looking forward to her work, still listen to some of her old mixes sometimes, please include them next time. Derpy popping like a bubble again?"
"Again?" Twilight looked at him bewildered.
"Yes, that happened four times already. Each time it was too weird for you." The old wizard twinkled happily. "So..."
Twilight shook herself out of her stupor. "Oh, of course. Here: Pinkie and Sweetie's newest creations, just like always." Twilight handed over a data-chrystal. "Also some of the older stuff in much higher definition. Apple Bloom and Trixie had a loop where they really cranked down on recording equipment."
"Thank you, it's a pleasure doing business with you, as always." the old man raised the Elder Wand at the originally Unicorn and incanted:"Obliviate!"
84.17 (masterofgames)
Vinyl was hard at work doing something that those that knew her would swear she had no idea how to do.
Maintaining a normal sleep schedule.
For some reason, this loop she played concerts, and was well known across Equestria as having revolutionized classical music, making it popular among the youth once again. She had discovered a few years ago that she had inspired some pony to see if the reverse could work as well.
Yawning as she woke up, in both meanings, she groaned and pulled the plush covers of her bed over her head as her baseline memories called her a filthy traitor for waking before noon. Her loop memories kept her from going back to sleep though, and a few minutes later she gave up, sliding out of bed, pulling on her slippers and red velvet robe, and heading down the three flights of stairs in her mansion to the kitchen.
Something seemed off about that, but damn it, she wanted coffee before any serious thinking!
Filling her mug, she glanced at the cover of the local entertainment section of today's newspaper on her counter. A picture of a wild party mare with huge shades, a tussled mane, and playing an electric chello to a packed club looked back at her. "DJ Sym4hony, live in concert tonight." Vinyl muttered to herself as she read the headline. She sighed. "I barely even know her, I think I said hi to her maybe once when we passed each other at the instrument repair place, why does she keep showing up in my loops?"
84.18 (bobbananaville)
“I don’t get you.” ‘Twilight’ glanced up at Rainbow Dash, confused by what the speedster said. “I mean, not you as in Twilight Sparkle, you as in ‘Phantom Looper’. Why do you do that?”
“Um… Rainbow, what’re you talking about?” The purple unicorn frowned, and Dash could have almost been convinced that she really didn’t comprehend what Dash spoke of but for the nigh-imperceptible widening of her eyes. “I don’t…”
“You don’t have to keep the act up; I know you’re looping; Twilight’s the anchor, after all. You can go back to acting out her lines all you want later, but please just answer me: why do so many people like to take her place and act exactly as she would? Why do so many loopers like this ghosting thing?” At this point, Rainbow Dash noticed that her tone was becoming more insistent, and tried to tone down a bit. “I mean, y’know, if you’re fine with telling me.”
‘Twilight Sparkle’ didn’t answer; her eyes were wide, and Rainbow started questioning whether this rendition of Twilight really was native to the loops - there had been quite a few loops wherein the non-looping Twilight existed, though the looping version of her always existed simultaneously. “Maybe I should just go back home and pretend that I didn’t-”
“No!” The purple unicorn almost shouted. She quieted down before continuing. “No, don’t do that. It’s alright; I’m a ghost looper, yeah.” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief, glad that she hadn’t embarrassed herself by acting insane. “It’s… Well, in my baseline, my life wasn’t particularly great. I was bullied, and when I ended up with friends I still had trouble trusting them. I had trouble trusting anybody, actually.” Her eyes were downcast now.
“Uh huh. So that’s why you’re acting as a ghost-looper?” Rainbow frowned; there weren’t enough details for her to work up much sympathy, and she didn’t quite get how this could be the reason why this girl - she needed to find out her real name, actually - would give up most, if not all, autonomy in decision making in order to experience Twilight Sparkle’s life.
“Well, yeah!” The ghost-looper’s looked back up at the pegasus as her frown turned upside down. “Twilight Sparkle was in a position like mine - she wasn’t bullied, mind, but she was isolated and didn’t have much social experience. Unlike me, though, she was given the assignment of learning about friendship. In her place, I’ve the loop just spending time with my - her - friends, putting my life in their hands and vice versa. I stu- she studies friendship like a science and becomes better for it. I thought that if I could experience her life, I could become better too.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, a smile forming. “Well, I guess that makes sense. Still, if you’ve been Twilight until now, I suppose I haven’t introduced myself to you yet.” She raised her hoof. “My name’s Rainbow Dash, and I can clear the skies in ten seconds flat! And go around the world, but that’s a footnote. You?”
The purple unicorn hesitated for a second before reciprocating, placing her hoof against Rainbow’s. “Call me Skitter.”
84.19 (Inadelico)
The five that came out of the restaurant came out with smiles on their faces.
"That food was so good." Purred Chiyo contentedly, to which Yomi and Osaka beamed.
"Curry's cooking may be good, but her singing is terrible." Commented Tomo, idly.
"What's that got to do with everything!" cried Yomi.
While Yomi and Tomo argued, Spike whipped out his clipboard. He made a notation. "Well, that crosses catering off the list. So now we have Sport Shoes for the weather."
He looked up at the clouds still filling the sky. "...which doesn't seem to be done."
"Ah! Sport Shoes! My lifelong rival!" Tomo spoke up from her argument with Yomi suddenly.
"Your lifelong rival?" asked Yomi.
"Well, neither of us can compete with Cat Scratch, so who else we are going to be rivals with?"
"Can't argue with logic like that." Snarked Yomi.
Osaka and Chiyo just nodded their hands in agreement.
"Do you know where we can find her?" asked Spike.
"Sure, I know where she usually trains."
In a little while they were in a field a bit outside of Ponyville. In the distance, they could see a pony crouched on a cloud. After a second, she took off, speeding into the distance. She came back off after a few minutes, eyeing Tomo warily on approaching.
"You're not going to give me a speeding ticket again, are you?"
Everypony looked at Tomo. "Speeding ticket? Do I want to know?" Asked Yomi.
"Probably not." Replied Sport Shoes.
"Well, okay then."
Spike spoke up. "My name is Spike, this is Chiyo. We're representatives of Princess Celestia checking on the preparations for the Summer Sun celebration."
"And I'm Deep Fried." Osaka gave a little bow.
"We've met. You've lived in Ponyville how long? Anyway, Chiyo doesn't sound like a pony name."
"Oh, there's a new fad going around. Everypony's getting human names." Chiyo replied.
"Cool. Whats mine?"
Chiyo thought for a moment. "How about Kagura?"
"Okay. Got it!"
"Just like that? You're going to accept a new name just like that?" asked Tomo incredulously.
"Oh, hush. Look just because you didn't like yours, doesn't mean everypony else won't like them." Replied Yomi.
"Mares, the weather?" Spike interrupted.
"Oh right. This is no problem. I can clear the sky in 11 seconds, flat."
Spike suppressed a laugh.
"What?" asked Kagura.
"Sorry, you just sounded like somepony I know. Anyway, go on."
Kagura nodded and took to the sky, leaping from cloud to cloud until the sky was clear.
"Ta da!"
Chiyo and Osaka stomped their hooves in approval.
"Okay, that leaves Cat Scratch with the musical accompaniment."
"Ah! Cat Scratch! My lifelong rival!" shouted Kagura.
"Can you show us where she is?" asked Spike.
"Oh sure. I can show you where her cottage is" replied Kagura.
"This all seems very familiar." Osaka commented.
84.20
The ruler of Equestria stared down impassively at the earth pony sitting before his throne.
“My faithful son, you must travel to-”
There was a pause.
“To... Ponyville.”
There was another pause, this time with a slight sound in the middle of it. As though the ruler had almost but not entirely suppressed a snicker.
“Once there, you must scour the town for your brothers, and form a team capable of defeating your eldest brother when he returns from the moon.”
Another pause. This time, it was definitely a snigger.
“As a magical talking pony with wings.”
The earth pony, a colt of about ten years with a bright yellow coat, sighed. “Look, Dad, if you're not going to be able to pull this off without laughing, then just go off-script.”
“Silence! I can do this.” The ruler paused again, then broke down sniggering.
“You clearly can't, father.”
The giggling fit passed, and Emperor Guiding Light schooled his expression into a look of utmost severity. “Now. When your brother returns, employ diverse stratagems in order to cause him to remember his humanity-”
“Equinity,” the colt stage-whispered, and Guiding Light made a strangled noise.
“Equinity. Right.” The stern visage trembled, then dissolved into a hysterical laughing fit that had his Imperial Majesty actually falling off the throne, beating his hoof against the steps.
The colt sighed. “I'll let you get it out of your system, father. Don't worry, I'm certain I can take him.”
“Be careful, Leman,” the Emperor managed to gasp. “I mean, he might wrong-hoof you! Wrong-hoof!”
With that, the God-Emperor (usually of Mankind), ruler of the galaxy, and current alicorn, completely lost it.
“That's an actual expression here,” Lemon Rush muttered, then trotted off.
He knew the way to Ponyville, and something told him he wouldn't have much trouble working out which of the ponies of Ponyville were secretly pony-primarchs.
The fact his own flank bore a symbol of a snarling wolf's head suggested at least one way to check...
“Well, we're doomed,” Rush muttered to the guard team he'd picked up along the way.
Candy Cane nodded morosely. The sight of the Cutie Mark Chaos Gods was yet another sign that this would not be a quiet loop.
84.21 (misterq)
Twilight Awoke mid-step and stumbled as usual. She was human, and wearing a costume of some kind. A quick pulse confirmed that her friends were also awake. They were all seated at a large table in what looked to be a technologically advanced conference room. Seeing only one large throne-like chair open, Twilight sat down.
Then the memories hit.
"Ugh!" Twilight summarized, "I don't think I like this loop all that much."
"Me neither, sugarcube," Applejack, aka. 'Witheress', nodded, "The super-villian route just ain't for me."
"I don't recognize this loop universe. Any ideas?" Rarity, or 'Goop Girl', said as she rocked back and forth in a large elaborate chair while furtively trying to clean her hands with a rag.
Twilight pondered, "I think this may be an alternate reality for one of the comic book universes. I've certainly never come across anyone with my horrible power. An my codename is awful as well. The Attractor? Just because my only power here is a variation of my 'want it, need it' spell, I have to sound like a match making service?"
"I'm not really excited about my super power thingy, either," even though her hair was still poofy, Pinkie Pie almost grumbled, "I mean 'Blood-Bather'? For real? Sure, I can do the blood-bender thing now, but that doesn't mean that's all I'm capable of. Plus, I think this power is kind of yucky and not really fun. How can you even have a fun blood party?"
A tiny sniffle escaped from Fluttershy, now 'NecromanCecelia', when the animated skeleton of a small rabbit hopped onto the table and tried to comfort her.
"Right," Rainbow Dash stood up suddenly, "I'm not big on the whole putting people in trances, and that's pretty much Mesmeria's only shtick. I say we all go to the beach for the rest of this loop."
Twilight nodded along with all of the others, "Vacation loop it is."
84.22 (Detective Ethan Redfield)
Princess Celestia, are you feeling alright," Asked Shining Armor as he stood before the Solar Diarch's throne in her throneroom.
The princess gave one of her serene smiles, "Of course! Why do you ask?"
"It's the sun, your highness."
She looked out the nearest window to the celestial body, "Looks like it's burning with the same intensity as before. And it set just fine last evening. What's the matter?"
Shining facehooved, "The Sun rose in the south."
Celestia waved him off, "Thought I would try something new."
84.23 (FanOfMostEverything)
Pinkie entered Golden Oaks with a slightly bigger smile than normal. It was that time again. "Hey, Twilight! Did you find out something neat lodged in a family tree?" Pinkie loved seeing what her friend's genealogy research uncovered each Loop. It was like unwrapping a present, only the wrapping paper was history, the present was family, the gift was from a long-forgotten ancestor, and oh dear, Twilight was looking at her expectantly. "Sorry, I got caught up in overextending a metaphor. You were saying?"
Twilight grinned a bit and rolled her eyes. "Okay, you know how Mrs. Cake's great-aunt's second cousin twice removed was a pegasus?"
Pinkie nodded. "Of course! If it weren't for Fairy Cake, little Pound might not have his adorable little wings!"
"Well, I did my usual digging, and I found that Fairy Cake had a sister this Loop." Twilight's smile grew to something Pinkie could be proud of. "A sister named Surprise."
"Huh. Lemme guess, blonde mane, white coat, a certain, familiar cutie mark?"
"Exactly. And Surprise's great-granddaughter happened to develop the same mark."
Pinkie gasped at about one-fifth "new pony" intensity. "You mean...?"
"Cup Cake is related to you in this Loop, yes."
Pinkie cleared her throat, gave a polite nod, and exited the library. Once she was clear of the branches, she streaked into the sky, exploding in a burst of confetti and exclamations of "The Cake is a Pie! The Cake is a Pie!"
Twilight facehoofed. "I am so glad SkyNet isn't here this Loop..."
84.24
Twilight awoke, and found herself somewhere unfamiliar.
Okay. Take stock, run down the checklist. First – is there chaos going on?
Chaos was not going on.
Good, I have time to think. Body form – equine, good. Field of vision – eyes on the sides of the head. Prey-like evolutionary pressure. Not so good. Hub world format?
I'm in a stable. Doesn't look like a great sign...
Twilight turned in her stall and looked down at her reflection in a trough of water.
The pony that looked back was a brownish-black in colour, with a lock of pale colouration in her otherwise fairly boring mane. No horn was evident.
Right. Abilities.
The diagnostic spell failed. As did the attempt to pull something from her Pocket, and any attempts to use ki, magic, chakra, reiatsu – basically anything.
Abilities consist in their entirety of the ability to carry a human, the ability to see to both sides of my body at once, and the ability to think.
Thinking's good. I can work with think. Now, what's the best way to alert a human stable hand to the presence of a sentient pony?
“Mornin', Twilight!”
Twilight nickered once, then fell silent. Discovering that her name here was the same as her name from home wasn't unexpected, and she knew all the stable hand was actually doing was letting her know he wasn't a threat... but it was still encouraging.
“Lessee, now. We've got some corn for you today, Twilight – guess him in charge wants you on top form, for...”
The stable hand's voice trailed off, as he finally noticed what was on the back wall of the stall.
Twilight had spent several hours overnight digging into the wood with her teeth, cursing occasionally behind her eyes, and by now she had the complete alphabet drawn out in two semicircles.
While he was still staring at the crude letters, she moved her hoof. Near the bottom of the first semicircle – near the top – right at the bottom – right at the bottom – and then just down from the top of the second circle.
H-E-L-L-O.
“...well, bugger me...”
I—W-O-U-L-D—L-I-K-E—S-O-M-E—P-A-P-E-R—A-N-D—A—P-A-I-N-T-B-R-U-S-H—P-L-E-A-S-E.
By the time Twilight had finished spelling out the message, her foreleg ached. But it certainly had an impact, as the young man went sprinting back towards the main building.
Contact made. Now let's see what happens...
“Why, this is poppycock!” the psychiatrist said, sighing. “It's just like that Clever Hans from Germany back in '07. Oh, it's an impressive feat to train a dumb animal to react properly, but it's not a thinking horse.”
The studio audience, and everyone with their televisions turned to BBC2 at home, watched with bated breath as the black-coated mare trotted up to the easel.
With slow but precise strokes, she began to apply her brush. Occasionally, she dipped the paintbrush back into the paint to refresh it.
“W-those aren't words,” the psychiatrist pointed out. “That's...”
As he trailed off, the mare paused and winked at him. Then she went back to the easel.
After five near-silent minutes, there was a credible landscape painting of a wooded stream on the board. It was monochrome, as the mare only had a black pot of paint, but the intent was unmistakeable.
Underneath, in a surprisingly flowing script, Twilight signed the painting. The caption she added almost as though an afterthought.
Can't sing. Can't dance. Can handle a brush a little.
84.25
“For my first trick,” Trixie began loudly, “I will reverse a common saying! Observe! There is nothing up my right sleeve... actually, I've got no sleeves. Anyway! There is nothing in my hat, nothing under my cape, but look!”
She made a pass with her hooves, and produced a large circular object.
“This! This, is a pocket timepiece expanded to the size of a door! Now, aww in watch!”
Trixie hit the opening catch.
The butter-yellow pegasus curled up inside blinked at the sudden light. “Ta da...” she said, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling uncertainly.
“That was a dreadful pun,” Chrysalis accused.
“I know it was,” Trixie replied. “That's why I did it!”
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Usually I hate puns, but "...aww in watch!" was glorious.
WOOO SKITTER!
...okay, I'm good now.
Oh my God, I'm in the archived loops!
That's it, I'm going to make all loops I write worm-mlp crossovers. Skitter-Chryssie, Undersider Elements, the works!
Y'know, If I can bring myself to write some more.
Ok, so Lyra REALLY broke something, apparently.
4299247
Worm is looping now? Oh goodie.
Those last two loops...oh god, i can't stop giggling and groaning.
I'm with SuaveIV on this one:
4298927
I must also admit to rereading that last one several times trying to figure out the pun before I actually noticed the reversed pun was included within the bit itself.
4299247
yay
... When it said black-coated goat... I thought it was Capricorn from Fairy Tail...
And I thought Pinkie looping was a universe breaking event...
Pinkie is related to Cup Cake, the Cake is a Pie she says! SkyNegt's head woudl explode from trying to figure that out!
84.21-- The Legion of Doom? Seriously?
RANDOM LOOP IS RANDOM
I wonder if a copy of the Doctor exists in the mlp verse due to The Crash.
Memory charms? plz no
Is this before or after the Worm verse starts getting slightly glitchy?
>Call me Skitter
ANYONE WANT SOME FRIED WORMS?
I would think that Worm would be off-limits due to all the crazy reality bending
Hey, what's up with that memory spell?
...I'm not getting 84.25. And I'm wondering if I want too...
5488513 She normally says "Watch in awe". This was the reverse; Aww (i.e. Fluttershy) in Watch.
I'd be tempted to pay a bit just to see this.
“Child support?” he repeated, slowly. Then laughed. “Oh, such an amusing prank! As if I could possibly owe child support!”
“Mummy?” a voice whined. “Are you still busy?”
A female draconequus walked around the end of a hedge, dragging an ursa-major teddy bear in one mismatched paw.
“I still am, Silvy,” Luna told her, smiling. “Not for much longer, though. Your deadbeat dad is going to pay up or turn back to stone, and I'll be available.”
Discord fell over in a dead faint.
... I'm not sure if the beam level goes that fine on starships though it'd probably be a sight to see one try or a laugh to see the people inside both the station and the ship panicking trying to stop it or get out of there.
"Nah, that's boring. Hey! Let's make muffins!"
Thankfully, they were still in spacedock, and had the assistance of the dock's technitians to convince her that she could use the replicators to generate muffins and did not need to bake them herself. With the ship's phaser banks.
It was going to be a long loop.
Still waiting for hopefully some more x-com stories... maybe add a certain A.i. in as well?
I want more of that twilight horsle loop towards the end.
Derpy and Vinyl Scratch join the ranks of the Loopers...
6638975 you mean Derpy and 3 different Vinyl Scratches. Man it will be awkward when all loop in to the same loop, or worse, the same body.
5990510 Try using the quote, it's more commonly used for quoting the story, it's the button with the quotation marks and it should look like
I always found loop 84.16 wierd.
5285833 It is a loop literally born of Shoggoth-chan's trash bin. That's why the world is so screwy. Also why Taylor Hebert is her own admin and the only anchor able to potentially ascend without breaking her Loop.
84.11 reminded me of one of the "my little portal" videos on Youtube...you could say Derpy essentially becomes Weatley from Portal2.
watch out, some of that series is VERY violent.
I like the Worm one. Skitter deserves a break every now and then.
8468647
Yes she does, and if you like funny stories with happy Skitter I would recommend Taylor Varga on sufficientvelocity.
The Lemon/Emperor one was really funny. I kind.d of wanted Fluttershy to show up so she could get introduced. Can anyone tell me where Lemen is from?
9185706
40k is a game series. Look up Slaanesh, they are from the same place and Spellcheck doesn’t correct it as much.
I'm still holding out hope that flash and fleur will loop soon
She literally sneezed wrong. Wow, guys. Just, wow.
I love this!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/394135404884415173/
Adorable.
Huh that sounds familiar… wait… bullied, hard time trusting people, betrayal… *LightBulb!*
.
.
.
ITS TAYLOR RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!! AHHH THE WORM’S A CUMMIN! RUN FROM KEPRI! RUN FROM THE BUG LORD!!
7126586
That was made non cannon. So… just ignore it.