//------------------------------// // Loops 43 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// 43.1 (Bobnik) Sweetie Belle sighed and shuffled a hoof. “I s'pose it's story time. Since it sounds like I went first, I'll go first here too.” “No, no, not yet. If there's gonna be stories, I want snacks. Just like old times, in the clubhouse.” said Scootaloo. “I got this.” Nyx trotted over to the door and had words with a guard out in the corridor. Sometime later they sat around an array of healthy snacks and one cupcake each (it appeared Queen Mummy had given the kitchens some very specific instructions). “Okay,” began Sweetie Belle. “Mine didn't happen in Equestria. Lots of the others been to this place, but I didn't recognise it at first...” Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and stared into what appeared to be a formless void. Oookaayy, she thought, and swiftly patted herself down to check it was just the void that was formless. Phew. Hooves, mane, tail, horn, various other bits, all present and correct. Her next considered action was to retrieve a jewelled necklace from her subspace pocket and fasten it securely around her neck. “Clover? You okay?” asked the unicorn, somewhat creeped out by the total lack of echo. Yes, I'm fine, replied the Device. Where are we? All I can sense is a formless void, and you. “Oh good, I'm not hallucinating. We might start things off with a search spell – did you hear that?” Something, yes... Both of them stayed silent as the merest whisper of sound began, and swelled imperceptibly slowly over time into music. And oh, what music it was; the very grandest of orchestras, with all the musical instruments Sweetie had ever heard and then some, all played by the greatest of virtuosos. It was joined by a choir of all the different voices that she could imagine, male and female, all up and down the scales. Sweetie's eyes widened as the realisation hit her – this was being performed live and improvised on the fly. The core theme was there, solid as bedrock, but all the voices and instruments were adding their own flourishes and additions. The music wove back and forth like life itself. She heard debates of philosophy, parties, storms, the happiness of new love, the solemn joy of a mountain vista and multitudes of other things beyond even her extensive experience. She somehow knew this music would stay with her and she would be able to hum the refrain for all the new things she would see in her life to come. It was too much. Music was in her heart and almost always in her cutie mark, itself an extension of her soul. With a deep breath and a hopeful heart she opened her mouth and joined the song. The reaction was immediate. Stern tones sung by baritone voices washed around her, interrogating. Drums and horns called warning that they were ready to defend. Sweetie very carefully restated the main theme in her own natural register, hoping to send the message that she didn't want to interrupt or hijack the marvelous music, but join in and add her own notes. Gradually, gently, the voices relented and the drums quieted. Lighter tones swirled around her and invited comment, granting inclusion. The unicorn was welcomed into the song. How long Sweetie sang she never knew, then or later. Entirely immersed, she sang along with the music, even adding her own themes, mostly about friends and family. However, it gradually became apparent that one of the male voices was trying to start up it's own version of the primary theme. It was loud and brash and very, very repetitive. The main singer wasn't letting it evolve, wasn't letting it grow and change like the earlier theme did. For the first time in what was probably an age, the filly fell silent and listened. In this new song she heard selfishness and foolish pride, the desire to be the best and a buried uncertainty as to the purpose of the singer. She heard the fear of change. There was Diamond Tiara before the loops, with cruelty to hide the low self esteem. There was the worst parts of Rarity, the greed for attention and reputation. Even herself, and her once-buried fear that she would never find her purpose, her talent, her cutie mark. Worse yet, a group of other voices were beginning to join in. No. No, she wouldn't let this happen. The music she'd been part of was far too beautiful to allow this kind of thinking to take hold. Not while she drew breath. With renewed resolve she dove back into the song, weaving back and forth until she was hard up against the rogue choir. Sweetie didn't attack it directly because that would only make it stronger, but instead tried to weave the brassy notes into a foundation of a new theme. Every time though, her song faltered because the singers would not accept novelty or change. You want stasis? You want everything to stay the same? Try this. Clover responded to her unspoken thought, and became a harp under her hooves. Sweetie sang of unchanging repetition, the fundamental frustration of the Loops. She gave them her millennia of aggravation at being wrenched from the natural pattern of pony life, and the sorrow of family and friends who simply couldn't keep up. All of this was of the same core as the rogue song and merged with it seamlessly. Many of the voices split away and rejoined to original music; they could not accept the price of what Sweetie sang. But the original voice of the disharmony sang on, in foolish pride and stubbornness. The filly changed tack at this point. Already enmeshed with the music, she began to introduce the hope and joy that she had found in the Loops – new discoveries and new friends. How anything new and different was not a challenge to supremacy but one of adaptation. Harp became dulcimer became drums became flute became harmonica became hang as she adapted to the needs of the moment. Clover helped by weaving the sounds of the previous instruments back through Sweetie's current recital, showing how the old could be adapted to the new. Slowly but surely Sweetie Belle became her own orchestra. Pride and stubbornness broke, and the once loud voice became soft and tried to hide in shame and fear. This too, Sweetie would not accept; she bolstered the voice and provided support, inviting him to share in all the new wonders they could create together. Friendship did not just add but multiplied the possibilities – why would you settle for loneliness? It seemed the male voice agreed. It accepted her offer, and together they sang a new theme, drawing heavily from the original. This third music had all the strength of the male voice with the flexibility of Sweetie's, drawing in more voices and instruments until with a mighty crescendo of unity, the song came to an end. Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and blinked. Around her now was a court filled with humanoid creatures. Kneeling before her was one of the larger and more impressive looking men, with tears running down his cheeks. “Thank you, whoever and whatever you may be; you have saved from a path of great darkness.” he whispered. Sweetie did not reply with words, instead she just hugged him. At an unseen signal, the crowds drew back allowing Sweetie to see a great throne at the centre of the hall. A man rose from it, and in his eyes was fire and wisdom. “I am Illuvatar,” he said. “I wrote the core of the music you have sung, and as I wrote I saw horses, and creatures with horns, and beasts with feathered wings. But never did I see them all in one form. Though I do not wish to be rude, for you have taught Melkor what I could not, I must ask: Who and what are you, and from whence did you come?” “I'm Sweetie Belle.” Wait, WINGS? She looked down the sides of her body and sure enough, a pair of wings were there. Oh, eucalyptus. How am I going to explain this to everypony? “So then I kinda had to explain all about the loops, 'cause I'd already sung about them. Everyone was like 'How can this be?' except for Olorin, turns out this was like his fiftieth loop. Pretty sure he's the anchor.” Sweetie paused for a sip of apple juice. “I didn't really have time to think about being an alicorn then, but it came in handy later.” “How so?” asked Applebloom. “Was it because the Middle Earth loops are dangerous? Ah've heard they can get pretty bad with nasty soul magic and stuff.” “Nope, nipped all that in the bud by making friends with Melkor. It was because of time; Middle Earth lasts for tens of thousands of years. I wouldn't have lived to see the first sunrise without it.” The other fillies stared at her. “You've already spent millennia as a alicorn?” asked Applebloom in a faint voice. “Well what else was I supposed to do? I'm not even sure if you can use Star Swirl's spell without being a Bearer of Harmony. So whose turn is it now?” 43.2 “Right.” Scootaloo polished off her cupcake. “My turn, I think.” She broke off, and looked down at the cupcake. “Okay, seriously, does... well, mom... have Pinkie or the Cake family on staff? That was delicious.” Nyx frowned. “I think she might have a Pie or a Cake on staff, past loops are strange like that.” “So, spill,” Sweetie said, lying on her front and putting her head on her hooves. “What did you do? Scoot through time?” “Nope.” Scootaloo shook her head. “Nothing so simple as that. But it did work with what always tends to be my Talent.” “I think it did for all of us...” Applebloom hazarded. Diamond looked a bit ambivalent, but after a moment nodded more firmly. “Right. So, we had a school trip...” Scootaloo was bored. Pony was she ever! Twilight was awake, obviously, but it seemed like every other looper she knew had decided to sit this one out, including the Crusaders and Dash. At least she had Pansy to talk to, inside her own head. As they were walking through the Weather factory in Cloudsdale, that's exactly what they were doing. This is amazing! The Founder turned Device exclaimed, using her awareness to sightsee. The pegasi of my time would never have conceived of weather construction on such a scale! It is kind of cool. Scootaloo rarely ended up in Cloudsdale, even now that flying was no longer an issue. Even with some of the things she'd seen in other loops, the giant cloud generators and rainbow distillation towers were pretty cool. It's a change from doing the Canterlot Gardens tour. The last time the three of us did that we decided to fix Discord with a bucket of liquid rainbow, some cloud and a feather... She trailed off as her brief good mood faded, and she looked back and forth between her non-Awake friends, or... ponies who just looked like them. How Twilight had coped when she was alone her first few hundred loops she didn't know, and never wanted to find out. Pansy had clearly spotted her incipient black mood, and tried to head it off by talking about something else. So why did Miss Cheerilee bring you here instead, anyway? Scootaloo looked ahead to where their teacher was leading the pack and talking to the guide. She realised that since we have a unicorn in town who could mass cast a Cloudwalking spell, it would be educational to come see how weather was made. We got delayed due to freaky weather, and then Twilight and Dash got called off to Canterlot, which says Discord is about on time... I can't believe you're so blasé about that creature! There was the sharper tone of the soldier Lieutenant Pensee had been, and still was in a way, came through in her mental voice. Scootaloo had learned a lot about pegasus fighting techniques from the ex-Founder, and more about military theory. Considering the number of times she'd been dumped into a fused loop as a fighter pilot, or mechanised soldier, it seemed like a good idea. Discord's mellowed out a lot when he's awake, and when he's not, Dash or Twilight can handle him like small change. They're probably already duking it out with him, Twilight said something about seeing if the non-awake Elements could resist him... They were walking out across a suspended walkway across a vast hangar where rows of massive rain clouds were ranked like dirigibles, undergoing final quality control inspections before being shipped out. Suddenly there were screams from the floor as two of the larger clouds sprouted arms, legs and faces, and stood up, slamming the other clouds to bits as they howled like Windigoes. There were plenty of screams and whimpers from up on the balcony too. As Miss Cheerilee called for her class to calm down and get together, in preparation for making like a North wind and blowing this place, the cloud workers got their act together and tried to marshal the two cloud creatures with cloud prods and blasts of air driven by groups of pegasi wings. In response, the two monsters turned and vomited high pressure jets of liquid rainbow from the dark holes that served them as mouths. They blasted the workers away and plastered them against the walls of the hangar, trapped like flies in polychromatic amber. Then one started to turn towards the gantry, and the panic increased. They were never going to get off the walkway in time without a distraction... Scootaloo wasn't really thinking, just reacting as she realised this. She spun on her forehooves, bucked a cloud board covered with production schedules – snapping it off its support – and yelled out, "Bloom, Sweetie! Get the others clear! I'll cover you!" She sprang up, wings buzzing as she backflipped onto the board in mid-air and spun it round to face the monsters, even as she started to fall. She waved her wings and forelegs, hollering "Hey, look, a distraction!" It worked, the monster turning its attention from the frantic foals on the walkway to the descending pegasus and spitting it's rainbowy goodness at her. Scootaloo used her improbable acrobatic skills to evade, strafing from side to side and bouncing off scraps of the destroyed clouds to arrest her fall and change direction. What are you doing! Pansy exclaimed in her head. Improvising! Scootaloo replied with the small faction of her mind that wasn't focussed on not getting hit. Could use some help... Pansy's default necklace form appeared around her neck and the improvised surf board took on a much sleeker form factor. Both creatures had spotted her now, and were alternating between bursts of rainbow and clumps of cloud from the ends of their arms big enough to engulf her if they'd hit. Not that they would, as she'd reached the ground level and was skimming back and forth amongst their feet with her wings buzzing. Her new ride wasn't a scooter, or the custom Extreme Gear Apple Bloom had made for her, but with Pansy helping her support the shape and cushion it against contact with the cloud floor it made a dandy substitute. She could feel the board under her hooves as if it was a part of her, the kinesthesia that made her such a skilled acrobat mixing with her pegasus cloud control abilities to extend into the cloud board itself. Your friends are getting every-pony to safety, Pansy's voice spoke in her mind. If you wish to continue this, we should lead these things away from them.' "On it!" Scootaloo chirped, and swept around in a curve to head towards the door of the hangar. Still weaving and jinking to evade their attacks, she pushed out her cloud sense further into the cloudstuff that made up the floor. The hangar doorway opened out onto a wide gap, a dock where a cloud could be moored, between it and the next quay, which lead towards a warehouse. The cloud at the edge of the hangar rippled and shifted, forming a ramp leading off into the void and a lip to either side. The cloud monsters stomped after her, shapeless hoofs raising sprays of cloud and 'poomph' sounds as they hit the floor. Scootaloo put on a burst of speed and went scooting up the ramp, soaring out into open air. She could fly, but as long as she just used ground effect stuff she could push all that extra effort into manoeuvring. She glanced behind her with a grin as the two cloud monsters reached the edge and tripped on the low wall she'd formed, falling forward with windmilling arms. The grin faded as they simply floated forward off the edge, swimming after her. She could sense Pansy's mental smirk, and huffed "Okay, I know, clouds, they can fly! But you've gotta admit, it looked cool!" She landed on the far dock and forced the cloudstuff on the far edge into a quarter-pipe ramp which she used to change direction, skirting up and grinding along the edge. A bolt of lightning disintegrated the cloud stuff directly behind her, telling her the stakes had just gone up. She frantically veered and weaved as she shot forward onto the main cloud yard in front of the warehouse. We must not allow those things to get in among other ponies! Pansy advised. Though why there are no guards come to help I don't know. As Scootaloo dodged a particularly nasty lightning bolt, she nodded towards the main bulk of Cloudsdale, visible over the warehouse. Even from here there were audible screams and sounds of panic. "I guess they have their hooves full. Which means it's up to us..." She dipped her wings, letting momentum carry her forward and body weight move her from side to side. She touched the wingtips to the ground and cloud scraped up to coat her wings and spread over her body. In seconds she'd formed a layer of cloud armour over her leading edges and body, and Pansy poured power into it, making it as resilient as crystal. Using her wings to renew her speed, she then flipped end for end and swept her wings forward and flung a pair of Vortex Strikes, one of her standard attacks from her Jewellery Scout days, focussed bursts of air that could punch through wood – or even stone – or simply knock back an enemy. In this case they blasted holes right through one monster's torso, which healed up quickly. Pansy was watching through her eyes, noting the pattern in which they fired off lightning bolts. They have a rigid pattern of attacks, and seem simplistic automatons. If only we could exploit that regularity... A near miss with a lightning bolt frizzed her mane, and Pansy said, Warehouse wall approaching! Suddenly Scootaloo had an idea. "That may be just what we need!" She mentally threw the idea at Pansy and got back a mix of agreement, admiration and incredulity. It will take precise timing... "Timing I can do..." She flipped back and sped up, reaching down into the underlying cloud to twist the warehouse wall into a ramp that curved up and over in a soaring arc. Even as it stabilised, she hit the ramp and shot up it, gaining speed and feeling the beat as the blasts kept coming. Arcing into the open air, she tumbled and spun to keep herself from getting hit while keeping her path on course and on time. She fell between the heads of the cloud monsters just as their blank eyes charged with arcs of lightning, and the two creatures ended up blasting each other in the head. Scootaloo had hoped simply to disorient them, put them off balance long enough for Pansy to set up and go full Device, but it seemed that whatever else, they weren't immune to each other's lightning blasts. Each disintegrated the other's head, and the two bodies wobbled and collapsed, with Scootaloo shooting out from between them even as they disintegrated into tufts of cloud rubble. She swung sideways and skidded to a stop, spraying up a fan of cloud stuff that evaporated away in a sparkle of rainbows. "Yeah! That's what you get! Coming along here all big and bad and scaring every-pony! Well who's the pony? Yeah! Who's the pony?" She pulled out an all-day sucker she'd been saving from her saddlebag and popped it in her mouth, grateful for the sugar boost. "Now that's what I call weather control." The cloud underhoof shook, and she groaned. "Oh great! Not more of them!" Pansy's voice spoke, and she felt her attention being directed to the rest of Cloudsdale. I think it's rather more serious... The topless towers were shuddering and leaning, and the very cloud under her hooves started to sink like an express elevator. "Oh no! Dash must have refused her wings back! But I never thought Discord would actually do it!" Pansy could read her thoughts and the memories behind them as they flashed through her brain. Her voice was grim as she responded. Then we must think of something with the utmost speed, or Cloudsdale will fall! For a few seconds, Scootaloo wondered if her crystalline advisor wasn’t being a little over-dramatic. After the initial shock, she remembered that Cloudsdale was inhabited by pegasi, and therefore they could escape. And falling clouds weren’t amongst the most lethal of objects. And even if Cloudsdale was destroyed, the multi-coloured reset button (a.k.a The Elements) would fix it as soon as they were used. Then she thought of her class and the other non-pegasi, would they get to a flying cart or safe cloud in time… She suddenly noticed a certain lightness just behind her shoulder blades, and saw the specks of distant pegasi abruptly stagger in mid-air and plummet downwards. Thankfully they were over the city proper, and should at least have a soft landing. The same couldn’t be said for the city. They were dropping out of the sky and drifting southwards as they did, towards the rocky chaparral that was bisected by Ghastly Gorge. As a final counterpoint to the distant destruction, one of the storage towers near the warehouse collapsed, and liquid rainbow started leaking out, eating away at the cloud-stuff under it. It was a highly useful by-product of cloud manufacture, with dozens of alchemical and industrial uses, and it was also extremely volatile under the right or rather wrong conditions. Scootaloo had learned great respect for the substance after several attempts by Apple Bloom to use it as a mono-propellant in some of her sounding rockets, with mixed and frequently Trixie-worthy results. While she’d only been listening with half an ear during the tour, she knew that the weather factory had millions of litres of the stuff in storage, along with storm clouds freshly charged with lightning and massive cloud crystal accumulators chock full of the weather magic to run the weather-making processes. When this thing hit the ground, all that would be jumbled together, and she had no idea what would happen… actually she had an excellent idea, what she wasn’t sure of was just how big the blast radius would be. It seemed whatever the Elements had done had infuriated the Avatar of Chaos way beyond normal. He hadn’t killed anypony yet, probably because dead things were no fun to abuse, but it looked like he wanted to. For just a second, Scootaloo felt despair wash over her, the position seemed as hopeless as any she’d ever been in, and even if the loops would reset it, here and now these ponies, her friends would die. She felt ashamed of her earlier dismissiveness, these versions of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle – even Diamond Tiara – might not be the ones she’d lived out the loops with, but they were her friends in this time and place… well, perhaps not base-line DT, but looping DT had given them a bunch of advice on how to deflect her… but that wasn't important now. Anyway, she wouldn’t leave even base-line DT to such a fate, not that she herself wouldn’t share it. But that wasn’t important, the only important things was to protect the others, no matter the cost. Her teeth gritted and her anger rose. Take away her wings? Ha, she’d spent centuries without the power of flight, she could cope. Part of her ability to manoeuvre her scooter came from the fact that being unable to fully express her power through her wings, she’d compensated by pushing it through her hooves, making her scooter a part of her flight magic. It also meant, after untold years of practice she was really talented at cloud manipulation, which was how she’d pulled those stunts. That gave her an idea. After all, Cloudsdale was just a giant cloud when all was said and done. Maybe… She pushed her store of magic as deeply into the cloud as she could, and felt it as if it was a part of her hooves, but only the yard and some surrounding buildings. Her thoughts had only taken a few seconds, but even so she could feel the ancient weather magic weakening. She tried to fill the gap... and her power alone wasn't enough. “Pansy, help me!” The Founder within the Device added her own magic and that of the one-time sapphire, now transformed to something other by the magic of an Alicorn Creator. Scootaloo felt her reach expand, but it was tenuous, weak, feeble. She could feel the hooves of panicking pegasi, sense the terror, even where her class cowered near where their hired dirigible had been. But she couldn’t affect the cloud, as soon as she tried it vanished from her grasp like smoke. She needed a better connection, and Pansy offered an idea as to what, something ancient pegasi warriors had done in battle. Scootaloo hadn’t taken classes with Zecora, but she’d picked up enough from Apple Bloom to see why it might work. Her magic twisted slightly, and an icy spike punched up from the cloud in front of her. Wincing in advance, she brought the hock of one foreleg on it’s point, puncturing her skin and allowing a trickle of blood to form from the wound. She rubbed her free fore-hoof in it, then rubbed the bases of the hooves together before slamming them into the cloud again. Sacrifice, giving something to get something. Sympathy, the water, magic and iron in her blood mingled with the water and magic of the cloud, making it a part of her and her a part of it. Contagion, every droplet of Cloudsdale had been in contact at some point, and now her blood, was a part of that. Identity, the magic she was pouring into the clouds flowed outwards in a torrent, diffusing to the furthest reaches of the city. She no longer felt Cloudsdale under her hooves, she was Cloudsdale. The sensation staggered her for a moment, then she accepted it and flexed her non-existent wings, straining to impose her will on the vast expanse of cloud and slowing the city's descent as two suburbs extended fans of cloud to either side. Then she threw every scrap of power she had into creating upward thrust. She'd once created a hypersonic lifting body ramjet out of pure weather magic, and driving the air flow underneath the city to push it up was a similar thing on a much bigger scale. Her new awareness also let her sense the tens of thousands of wingless pegasi running around and panicking, not to mention her own class - abandoned by their dirigible, and huddled near the airship docks. The rate of descent had slowed, but she couldn't create enough thrust to arrest it and they were still dropping at far to high a speed, and running out of sky. She needed to gain more control, more lift and calm ponies. Unfortunately Cloudsdale was about as aerodynamic as a brick... Wait, could she even do that? Well, there was only one way to find out. She shifted some of her power into moving the section of cloud she was on. It was like shoving a mountain with her bare hooves, but it moved, just as she'd sculpted the wings earlier. She focussed a tiny amount of magic into a structured wind spell, and throughout the city, ponies heard a sensible sounding mare's voice. “Emergency recovery procedures now in effect. All ponies must secure themselves. Prepare for modular transformation. Converting Cloudsdale to aerodynamic flight mode.” Driven by her magic, pads of cloud complete with girth straps popped up like mushrooms across the length and breadth of Cloudsdale. As Scootaloo hoped the suggestion of doing something, anything brought them out of their panic. Ponies started strapping themselves, or helping foals or elderly ponies who were having trouble. Now she just had to pull off the rest of it. She'd flown the Marecross once, which is what had given her the idea. She pulled a pair of goggles once given to her by Rainbow Dash out of her subspace pocket manifesting them on her forehead. She slid them down and was ready for action. Sections of Cloudsdale shifted over one another, reconfiguring themselves as they formed a new shape, a broad wedge with a contoured underside, the bottom half of a lifting body. The buildings above spoilt the effect, but Scootaloo had probed the contents of the warehouse and had a plan for that. It's doors flew open and bolt after bolt of finely woven cirrus flew out under tightly controlled winds, flying up and unrolling to cover all of Cloudsdale in a TPing of the gods. However, rather than sinking down they stayed up, acting as pathways for Scootaloo's power, being supported and supporting it. In a few more seconds they'd formed a sculpted dome to match the underside, the top half of a broad, wedge shaped lifting body. The big cloud generators had been shifted to the back and were running full tilt, not generating enough thrust to push that lift positive, but enough to help slow their rate of descent still further to a gentle powered glide. It also allowed her to focus her own weather magic on holding the whole thing together, and providing guidance. Scootaloo now stood at the prow of the wedge, looking forward. Her awareness was entirely focussed on the clouds around her, at one with Cloudsdale as she poured her very soul into guiding it. If she'd been able to look at herself, she likely wouldn't have recognised herself, weather magic swirling in blue and white outlines around her, creating the highlights of a non-existent pair of wings and a horn. They were still heading over Ghastly Gorge, almost following it's line. If they fell across it, even Scootaloo's efforts wouldn't prevent the city from breaking its spine. She had to get away, either land it in the dessert north of Appleoosa, or bring it all the way round and go for the fields north of Ponyville. The first was easier, but it would leave them stranded well out in the dessert, far away from rescue, whereas the second would put them close to Ponyville and the Elements which could fix things, as well as a more hospitable environment for the already abused cloud-stuff. She made the decision, it looked like she was going home. She gathered her will and altered the shape of the clouds slightly, and Cloudsdale tilted slightly and began to come round in a gentle curve. Much as she'd love to do a screaming turn, that would wreck the cloud structure and injure ponies. As she felt trepidation rise in the other ponies, she broadcast another message with a gentle breeze. “Cloudsdale is making a circle to the north. Seeking safe landing zone. Please remain secured.” She'd turned to port to bring the city out over the open desert, and reconfigured the underside and wings to grab every extra pound of lift from the thermals rising off the hot sands. For the first time, Cloudsdale was actually rising. She took advantage of it by making a miles wide circle to grab as much height as possible before heading north. The stress of sustaining the city and controlling it's movement were telling on her, but she refused to acknowledge it. Her body felt like it was burning with a cold fire, and it was getting harder to stand, but she was going to stay the course, whatever it took. The sense of Pansy's will merging along with hers, equally steadfast, kept her going, that and the sense that her friends were safe. They swept north across the Everfree forest, and for once it seemed to help, the chaotic magic of the place flowing into her. She drew on it as she had everything that would sustain her a few moments more. In moments Ponyville came into sight, relatively unaffected by chaos, which implied Twilight had kept things contained around Canterlot. However, there was a problem. She'd flown everything from a Sopwith Camel to a Star Destroyer (New Republic) and instincts from decades of flight time said it wasn't going to get her clear over Ponyville. She had to find a few more seconds of hang time... Her eyes lighted on the cotton candy clouds – those could work! Finding reserves she never realised she had, she reconfigured on of the cloud generators back to it's original purpose and thrust it out on a pylon overhead, pointing at the clouds. It spat out tightly wadded balls of cloud, containing the Everfree magic she'd just absorbed, which hit the cotton candy clouds and exploded in a precise formation. Together they formed a ramp, wide enough to support Cloudsdale. One last effort! she thought at Pansy, and got a wordless affirmation. Tweaking the trajectory of the descending city, she put everything she had into giving it one last shunt as they hit the edge of the ramp. She'd done the same on her scooter countless times, and that reflex served her well now. The city hit the ramp and shunted up, soaring over Ponyville with metres to spare. But that last effort had hammered the pegasus at the centre of it all. She collapsed, wings sagging to the cloud as a wave of fatigue hit her. Even her head seemed heavier than usual. But she held onto consciousness by the skin of her teeth, or there was one last danger. As it was they would land in a high speed uncontrolled skid, and the entire city might topple or even roll over, or the cloud stuff might rip apart. There was no landing gear to lower, however there were other ways. But she found just enough energy to make one more change. The under-surface shifted, sides coming down to form a flattened arch as the city reached only metres above the grass. The front edge was sculpted upwards to form a venturi that would scoop air underneath. The city kissed the ground and kept going, surfing along on the ground effect as the dome peeled away and formed a vast parachute behind it. The city slowed, dropping as its speed went below stalling for the ground effect, but by that time they'd almost stopped. They finally came to a rest on the meadows beyond Ponyville and Scootaloo collapsed. “Thank you for flying Cloudsdale airlines...” she mumbled muzzily. She was utterly spent, barely able to breath. The last time she'd felt like this, she'd been dying. When she glanced down at Pansy, even the gem at it's heart seemed dull and lustreless. But she sensed rather than heard Pansy's proud whisper, Well done soldier. Well done... Her last memory before she faded out was of using her fading awareness of the city to check on her friends and her class, and finding them safe. It was more than a fair trade. She awoke, and heard the sounds of distinctly medical beeping in the background. The ceiling that came into focus had an equally medical appearance. Not Ponyville central, this looked more cloud based. That, and the lack of new loop memories hitting her implied something she wouldn't have put a plugged bit on, that her awakening came with a small 'A'. “I'm not dead?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper. “Nope! But you gave it your best effort!” Rainbow Dash's voice responded. “Worst case of magical exhaustion the docs ever saw. Luckily Twilight came up with a way of transferring some of my magic into you, something about being kindred spirits. Though I don't know if even I'd have been crazy enough to try fly a city to safety!” Her voice turned serious. “Seriously, thanks, kiddo... Scootaloo. I never thought even Discord would do something like that. I'd have never forgiven myself if saving Equestria came at the cost of destroying Cloudsdale... Oh, that's right! You don't know what was going on...” She finally turned her head to look, and there were her parents -she had parents this time, not a sure thing – Twilight, and of course Rainbow Dash. She realised her neck was bare, and sent a frantic thought inwards. Pansy! Are you okay? The Founders voice was weak, but steady. Fine, though don't expect anything above a light show for the rest of the loop. I dropped back into your subspace pocket when you fell unconscious. Besides, you have other things to worry about. Dash had stepped back and let her parents in. There was a tearful reunion, with adequate helpings of hugs. However, she could sense there was something they weren't telling her. Plus they seemed to be avoiding looking at her forehead. It certainly ached, she must have hit her head on something because it felt like there was a lump there. The pain on her fore-leg was more easily explained. Finally a nurse shooed them out, except for Twilight who said something about being on the Princesses' orders. When the nurse left, she turned to Scootaloo and said, “I'm sorry, so sorry you had to go through that. I had no idea this version of Discord would be so crazy-mean! He was more like Sombra, and when we finally hit him with the Elements he was completely destroyed. I don't know why, something different about his imprisonment, but that's not important right now.” “Well you could make it up to me by getting me a headache potion, I don't know how I hit my head so hard, but it hurts...” She managed to raise a hoof to her forehead, and found something she didn't expect. “I convinced them not to say anything right away, that I was the best person to help you. You're just feeling a bad case of magic burn from overloading your horn. It should clear up in a day or so.” A potion plopped into existence on the bedside table and Scootaloo eagerly scooped it up, popping the cork and gulping it down. “How...” The potion took away her aches and pains, but the question remained. “You pushed your powers to their very limits and beyond. Your Device is at least as powerful as a single Element, part alicorn magic and even part chaos as the alicorn in question was created by Discord's power. That was probably why you could affect things, his magic recognised it's own.” “Did I get a cutie-mark too?” Scootaloo automatically glanced towards her covered flank. “A cloud with a rainbow contrail.” “Oh foaly horse-apples! How many ponies know I flew the city?” “Language!” Twilight shook her head. “Pretty much all of Cloudsdale. Every-pony felt your weather magic flowing through the clouds, and it was easy to trace back to the source. It was probably the only reason they got you to the hospital in time to save your life. They're talking about asking you to be Princess of Cloudsdale, with a statue even.” Scootaloo winced. “This just keeps getting better and better. Can you imagine what Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom will say? Not just the local ones, but the loopers? Please, you have to promise that you won't tell them. It resets when the loop does, right?” Twilight nodded. “Yes. However, I want to add a proviso. If they become alicorns too, then I can tell them.” Scootaloo thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, but it has to be all of them, Diamond Tiara too. She's one of us now, and I don't want her feeling left out.” “Agreed.” Twilight nodded. “As for your friends here and now, have faith in them. I'm sure they'll support you too. And I'll be here to help you when your magic recovers. For now, sleep. You've earned it.” Addendum (Nikas) Before the hoof stomping could begin in earnest Princess Luna stepped forward, wings spread for attention. "Before all can honour these Six Heroes, there is one more that must join their number in being recognized." Luna lowered her wings. She wasn't using the full Royal Canterlot Voice, but enough of it to be clearly heard in even to the ponies standing outside the hall. "When Discord found his scheme thwarted he sought to wreck a terrible carnage in revenge. He stole the wings off all the pegasi of Cloudsdale and set the city itself to fall. Certain whom the plummet did not slay the uncontrolled mixing of weather magics would." Luna paused, not all had heard how dire Discord's finals acts had been, most having been confined to a relatively small area and relegated by tails to vicious pranks. "But like the Legions of her ancestors one Filly would loudly shout NEIGH to the Beast's foul plan. None would come to harm while she still drew breath. So she pushed her weather magic and by her blood and will forged a miracle. She protected and comforted the fear of all in Cloudsdale, bringing the city in for a landing so that there was only one serious injury. That being herself, stretching her life and magic beyond any sane limits in the protection of others." Celestia hid a smile, Luna was truly a master storyteller still. Her duskier sister continued, "Those who saw her said the magic glowed like a falling star. But her story would not end in the tragedy of such. Many laboured to heal her, and today I ask that Scootaloo Windfall, Protectress of the Open Skies step forth, to accept the thanks of those she saved." The main doors opened once more, and a filly alicorn stepped forth. The Pegasi and Nocturne Guards at the beginning of the aisle bowed deeply. Scootaloo had put her hoof down on more frilly outfits and adornment. Fortunately Luna had agreed and she was dressed in an outfit more like one of the Pegasi founders. Though more historically inclined ponies would notice the styling was closer to Private Pansy's than Commander Hurricane's. Her attempt to bow to the Diarachs was interrupted by Celestia's raised hoof. "On this day you do not bow Scootaloo, we bow to you in thanks for saving Our little Ponies when we could not." Then to the shock of the herd, the Diarachs did just that. Then upon raising Luna's magic put a crown on her that somewhat resembled an open pegasi city-state helm. Presciently Rainbow Dash had been placed to Scootaloo's left in the ceremony. The older mare nudged her with a wing, "Roll with the turbulence Scoots. Like Pinkie once told me parties like this are an excuse for everypony to celebrate they got to live through the danger." This advice was nearly undone when Celestia unveiled TWO windows in the Hall of Harmony. The first showed the stylized Bearers defeating Discord, the later engulfed in a mushroom cloud explosion. The artist was good, you could subtly see the various parts spread out at the edges of the blast. High above was... the lower surface of a lifting body? With a sinking stomach Scootaloo turned to the next window, which in a lower corner had Discord's defeat. The main area of the window was taken up by the reshaped Cloudsdale, Pegasis represented by wings turning to wisps of clouds. Her preascension self was standing like a figurehead on the prow. The artist even worked the glowing of magic to suggest her current horn, and her wing 'cloud wisps' were larger and more solid looking. The impression that hers were growing and the artist was capturing the moment of ascension. Scootaloo fought off the urge to facehoof. "The Crusaders are never going to let me live this window down." 43.3 “Okay,” Diamond said, nibbling on some lettuce. “I'm pretty sure this was some kind of minor variant, just so you know.” “Join the club,” Scootaloo muttered. “Yes, we've heard you,” Diamond replied. “It's my turn now. I'm not just the daughter of a very rich pony now, you know, I'm a Princess!” “And?” Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Nyx chorused. “...okay, point made.” Diamond nodded, before pursing her lips. A little giggle escaped in spite of her best efforts. “Okay, okay, get to the action already!” Scootaloo said. “Right. Anyway. So.” Sitting down, Diamond looked along the row of... her four sisters, this time. (That was going to take some getting used to, and then probably a lot more un-getting-used-to.) “At first, it was fairly normal stuff. Just Twilight, Spike and I were Awake, so I spent a fair bit of the early loop comparing notes with him about telepathy. We were pretty sure I was up to P-3 or 4 on the scale, but that's not all that surprising with the amount of practise I've been getting.” She waited for them to nod their achnowledgement. “The other project I had was basically trying to find some good, high quality crystals which might be suitable for a lightsaber.” “Isn't that my sister's thing?” Sweetie asked, then blushed. “Er, my normal sister, I mean.” “Ah'm confused...” Applebloom frowned. “Are y'all all Apples now, or am ah a Sparkle?” “We may be getting off topic,” Tiara reminded them. “Anyway. The reason was that Spike mentioned he'd like a spare, and I wanted to... well, do something nice for him. It's that whole thing with a gift you've put effort into, which isn't exactly a strong point of mine.” “Eh, you're getting better,” Applebloom said critically. “Though, t' be honest, y'all sharing your allowance helps too, we plumb don't have that much buying power most loops.” Diamond looked down. “Thanks,” she said, with a little catch in her voice. “It's nothing.” Scootaloo made a sound of disagreement. “It's not nothing. It certainly helps me, for a start...” The pink alicorn nodded wordlessly. “So,” she said after a few seconds, her voice a little stronger. “Father and I went off to the frozen north on a skiing holiday I'd asked for, so I could get a good look at somewhere that might be promising. And while we were there, the Crystal Empire returned not a furlong away from us. Of course I knew it came back, but it was so close...” “This is amazing,” Filthy Rich said, looking around the streets of the Empire. “It's like something from a story book – an empire from a thousand years ago!” “Yeah,” Tiara replied, trying to be as enthusiastic as she should be feeling. But there was that continuous nagging ache in her mind, as the depression and gloom of the local ponies wore away at her empathic sense. Okay. How did it go normally? Twilight said that the first time they were here, Sombra turned up after a few days, and if they were feeling combative then the Loopers tended to use that time for setup. “Excuse me,” Rich tried to strike up a conversation with a nearby crystal pony. “Do you know if there's someone we can get information from?” The pony looked back at him with dull eyes. “Where did you come from?” No response. “We should try a library or something, Dad,” Diamond suggested. “Good idea.” “Right...” Rich said, frowning at the volume of local economic history he was reading. “So this is the Crystal Empire. I heard of it once, but I'm pretty sure it was a bedtime story...” Tiara frowned, trying to glean more from the scraps of information she knew about the loop. There was something about a... festival? Granted, normally when she visited the Empire it was either visiting Cadence and Shining or going to the Games, but... ...a blue crystal shaped like the heart... An image drifted through her mind, and she squinted for a moment as the psi-backlash hit. Being a P-4 wasn't exactly making it easy to concentrate. But if the ponies around here were all amnesiac, then maybe it would help them to have something to jog their memories. “Are you sure you can do this, crystal?” Rich asked, still a little confused. “Sure,” Tiara replied, as they heaved the big lump of gemstone onto a hard surface. “My cutie mark's a diamond tiara, remember? Diamonds have to be cut. Maybe that's what it means – being a high-class jeweller.” (That had actually happened once. Though she'd spent about half the loop being robbed by assorted comically bad robbers, and the other half talking with the various superhero-themed versions of her fellow Loopers to get the gems back.) “I think it means you're precious,” Rich said, smiling down at her. “Thanks, Dad,” she replied, smiling back. Then she turned to the big gemstone, and thought hard. Scratching her ear, she slipped Cubic Zirconium out of her 'pocket. “Points of weakness?” she subvocalized. Zirconium might have been a 'mere' Intelligent Device, not a pony-in-a-computer like the Founders had become, but the Device was still very good in certain specialized areas – most of them relating to combat or analysis. A holographic map of points appeared in front of her vision. Two of them flashed, and Diamond nodded. Not all that far off where she'd have picked herself... She turned her back. Winding up, she delivered an almighty buck to the first point, and cracks spread throughout the crystal. The second one, and it shattered into dust – apart from a lump about half her size, shaped like a heart. Rich gaped. “Ta-da,” Tiara said, grinning. After a moment more, her father bent down and hugged her. “I'm sorry I didn't really think you could do it,” he whispered. “I think all parents hate thinking about their children growing up.” “No, don't,” she protested, blushing. “You did that, Diamond,” he replied. “And I can't ignore it. Well done.” Diamond leant into the embrace, smiling. After about another ten seconds, they broke apart. Diamond was still blushing, but beneath that her battle-hardened mind was analyzing the sensations coming through her telepathy. From a series of depressed nothings with the occasional faint memory, they were becoming stronger and clearer – near her, at least. Probably the operative phrase was more like “near the crystal”. “The Crystal Heart?” one crystal pony whispered, looking at the blue creation. After a moment, she blinked and looked away, as though she shouldn't have looked. Another walked slowly up to look at it, and another stab of half-remembered joy rushed through Tiara's head. Then everything else was swept away under a black tide of defeat and despair. “Diamond!” Rich cried, as she crumpled to the grass. “Are you okay?” “Oh, buck,” she managed, struggling to think. “He's early.” The happiness that had been starting to return collapsed, and Tiara felt adrift for a moment in a sea of foreign emotion before her training returned. You are yourself. Anchor your shield on yourself. You are immovable. You are diamond-hard. I will not break. Clarity returned, and with a strong pulse of effort she stabilized the mental shield. All the local ponies had fallen to the ground, she saw as she opened her eyes. Her father was still standing, not being sensitized to the magic, but she could see in his eyes that he was starting to feel it as well. Hooves clopped quietly on the cobbles. “Crystal,” King Sombra stated, approaching. “Give up. Crystal.” Diamond stood up. “No.” Black magic roared, this time directed straight at her. It had no physical presence, but slammed into her shield like a hammer. “Crystal MINE! All MINE!” “Get away from my daughter!” Rich shouted, charging towards the ancient unicorn. Sombra's eyes flicked to Filthy, and the blaze of dark magic doubled. One prong kept battering Diamond's failing shields, the other lashed towards Filthy Rich. “No.” The second spike of black magic splintered on another shield. Diamond felt a splitting headache come on, as she maintained a second mental wall – this one covering her father. “You're not a king,” she managed to say. “Rulers have to be worthy.” “All my slaves!” Sombra ranted, his magic growing still stronger. “No.” This time, it wasn't Diamond speaking. The first crystal pony to have noticed their ersatz crystal heart shook her head, focusing with difficulty on Sombra. “Not yours.” “I rule here! All crystals MINE!” On the last word, his magic gained a physical push. Diamond went flying backwards to hit the gem, the impact wooshing all the breath out of her lungs and leaving her fighting to breathe. “We're not yours,” another crystal pony said. This time, the tone of voice was firmer. “You're not our king.” More and more blasts of dark magic coursed out from Sombra's horn, stabbing towards each speaker as they raised their voice. Diamond was still managing to shield all the targets, though her head felt like it was on fire, her back ached and she was starting to feel not all there. And she was still hearing thoughts. More and more of them, as the crystal ponies rejected Sombra one by one. We don't have to listen to you... “...and we don't want you here!” There was a rush of warmth, and then everything went black. “Are you alright?” Diamond's eyes wavered open. Twilight, Spike and her father were all standing above her. The scrunched up sheets both below and on top of her made her realize she was in a bed. “Thank Celestia you're okay!” Rich said, blinking back tears. “I was so worried.” “We all were,” Twilight said. “I have to say, I didn't see this coming...” “What happened?” Diamond asked, then shook her head. “I know about Sombra showing up, and the ponies saying they didn't want him, but I passed out.” Twilight paused, looking towards Filthy Rich. “Sorry, Rich, I think I might need to explain some things best kept secret. Feel free to ask her afterwards, but I'm afraid that legally I can't explain with you in the room.” Rich looked unhappy, but reluctantly left. “Okay, spill,” Tiara said once her father was out of the door. “Well,” Twilight started, smiling mysteriously. “First of all, the rejection of Sombra by the Crystal Ponies seems to have banished him from the Empire entirely. I'll handle that more permanently later,” she added, reassuring Diamond that it would be taken care of. “What else?” “Right. That heart you made?” Twilight levitated up a bag, and opened it. A fine, sand-like dust of blue crystal grains hissed out. “This is about as much as was left,” she said. “Sorry. It couldn't handle the strain of being forced to do what the real crystal heart was designed for.” “Also,” Spike added, “you've gone up about five P-rankings in one go from the overstrain. I'm keeping you blocked now, but you may need some quick help to get your shields back to normal or you're going to hear every thought in eight furlongs.” “And, finally...” Twilight held up a mirror. Diamond Tiara stared at the alicorn filly lying in the bed. “...oh.” “So she knew all about you?” Applebloom asked. “Pretty much,” Tiara said. “I asked her and Spike to keep it secret, because I really didn't want you guys jealous of me. Stupid, really...” “Wait.” Nyx pointed a hoof at her. “Does this mean you basically stole Cadence' job?” “Nope.” Tiara shook her head. “Nope, nope, nope. It took me weeks to get away from the Empire because of all the hero worship. Cadence is welcome to it.” 43.4 “...so, yeah,” Applebloom finished. “I disabled a magical superweapon that was built to kill civilizations and harvested science from it.” There was general agreement that this was neat. “Okay, what now?” Nyx asked, finishing off the last of an orange. “Dunno, really...” Scootaloo admitted. “I mean, the whole cutie mark thing is kind of moot at this point.” “That's a neat word,” Sweetie said. “Moot. It has a nice sound.” “Moot,” Diamond tried. “Moot.” “It totally doesn't sound like a word anymore,” Nyx pointed out. “Yeah, true. Okay, where were we?” “Well...” Applebloom trailed off. “We're princesses now, right? What are we princesses of?” There was a long pause. “I think I'm the Princess of the Night,” Nyx hazarded. “Possibly.” “We could just be too young for it, you know,” Diamond Tiara pointed out. The other three exchanged glances. “CUTIE MARK-” The apple cores, orange peels, cupcake wrappers, filly alicorns and nut shells went flying in the roar of gale-like sound. “Ow...” Nyx muttered from her position on top of a tapestry hanger. Scootaloo rubbed her ears as she picked herself up. “Heh... Royal Canterlot Voice. Forgot about that...” Nyx spread her wings and floated down as the others righted themselves. “Right, no more CMC team shouts until we learn how to turn that off!” Applebloom said fervently, picking bits of nut shell out of her mane. “Sounds good. Er, or not...” “So, without the shout, what we were going to say was: Cutie Mark Crusader princess job finders,” Applebloom continued. “That works.” With some trepidation, Twilight opened the door to the room where her... daughters... had been spending the day. “Hi, girls,” she said, looking around. “Everything okay?” “Hello!” the five fillies chorused. “Yeah, we were mostly swapping origin stories,” Applebloom said, subtly indicating her wings and horn. Twilight absorbed the message. “Okay, then.” She stepped further into the room, and closed the door. A guard made a noise of protest. “Oh, hush,” she said back at the closed door. “I don't think they're exactly likely to try to assassinate me, captain.” She turned back to the fillies, firing off a privacy spell. “So you're all alicorns? I knew about Scootaloo and Diamond, but not Sweetie or Applebloom.” “Yeah, well...” Sweetie kicked the floor. “I kinda ascended in a loop where the anchor was not-you. Arda.” “Arda has an Anchor now?” Twilight asked, interested. “Last time I was there, we didn't see any.” “It's Gandalf,” Sweetie said by way of explanation. “And I kinda redeemed Melkor.” Twilight blinked. “Yeah, that's about how Olórin reacted afterwards,” Sweetie said, holding up her hooves to frame the image. “All 'well, I'm too experienced to show it but I'm also completely flabbergasted'.” The others giggled. “I only Ascended that loop with Gilda as the Element of Honesty, and I was too embarrassed to tell you,” Applebloom said, looking down. “Sorry.” “It's okay, no harm done.” Twilight shrugged. “Right. Well, since you're all new to alicornification-” “Hey!” Nyx said, huffing. “...or at least most of you are,” Twilight corrected. “Nyx, you might need to help me help the others with what being an alicorn means. And I've still got the job of running the country, so I might not have as much time to help you as I'd like.” “No problem, momma. I'll show them what's what,” Nyx said with a salute. Then cracked up. “Hey, which one of us is going to be in charge of leisure activities?” Scootaloo asked. “I mean, that's a princess-type job, right?” “Dibs!” Sweetie said. “No way!” Scootaloo whirled to face her. “I challenge you to prank war over the title of Princess of Entertainment!” “I support Sweetie's bid,” Diamond announced. “Well, I've clearly got my hooves full this Loop,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Try not to wreck too many rooms. Oh, and there's a banquet an hour after sun-down, so make sure you're cleaned up and wearing your regalia.” “We have regalia?” the fillies chorused. “Check the Loop memories, it'll be there somewhere.” Twilight turned to the door. “Sorry, I really have to go. I'll try and make sure there's more free time on later days.” All things considered, the banquet could have been a lot worse. The food fight had been almost expected, which was why the first course had been mostly foods served more for their suitability as throwing weapons than as royal fare, and the nobles walking out in disgust were mostly the snooty ones anyway. Or, at least, that was Twilight's story and she was sticking to it. The tree sap had been a bit much, though. And she'd been looking forward to the cake, so seeing it spread over the wall (and part of the ceiling) when Applebloom tried to get herself a slice with telekinesis hadn't helped either. This would be so much easier if I could hand half of it off to Cadence...