Disclaimer: All Disney works are the property of The Walt Disney Company. All other characters and settings are the property of their respective legal owners.

Author's note: Originally posted by Anon e Mouse Jr. on 2017-12-16. This is the third of four chapters posted today.

Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops, Chapter Twenty-Two, Part Seven of Eight

22.23 (GMBlackjack): [My Little Pony] / [Gravity Falls] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as part of MLP Loops: Gravity Falls.

Gravity Falls: Friendship is Magic 23: Not What He Seems

The mane 6 and Lyra were staring at the timer.

Whatever it was counting down to, it would happen this evening.

And they had no idea what it was! Twilight had sent out dozens of search spells, unable to come up with anything. They were just sitting in the Shack, trying to figure out what to do.

"Ah suggest we bunker up the Shack, prepare for an apocalyptic scenario." Applejack offered.

Rarity nodded. "When you don't know what's coming, prepare for the worst case scenario."

The seven of them quickly spread out across the Shack. It was early morning, the sun having only been up for about an hour. They began to plan out their defenses.

They barely had a few minutes to do so. Before they even set out their first defensive spell, the entire shack was surrounded by dozens of government cars and helicopters. Agents ran past all of them, lining the house in police tape and tackling Stan to the ground. "HEY! Why I outta-"

"It would be best if you remained silent, Mister Pines." A familiar female voice said, walking into the open, flanked by Powers and Trigger.

"BON BON!?" Lyra and Stan yelled, jaws dropping.

Bon Bon kept her completely impassive look, turning to Twilight. "We are here to arrest Mister Pines for theft of government property." She handed them a pad with a videotape on it. "Last night several metric tons of toxic waste were stolen from our department. We traced the toxic chemicals back here."

Twilight frowned. "How can you possibly know this was Stan? The man is completely dressed up in radiation gear-"

"We don't, not for sure, but we do know that roughly a month ago we detected a large energy surge coming from the Shack. I have been undercover here for quite some time, gathering information. Lyra told me everything. He isn't telling you everything, almost as if this is some kind of game to him. It is highly possible that there is a doomsday device somewhere here."

"Doomsday," Trigger emphasized. Bon Bon shot him with the grappling hook.

Twilight shook her head. "That's crazy, he's just trying to go baseline. And you know what that is-"

"Who's to say that doomsday device isn't baseline?" Bon Bon asked, raising an eyebrow. "How do you know he isn't a villain? You've told Lyra directly that you'd never met him until you arrived this summer. How do you know him?"

Pinkie butted in. "He's a nice guy! I know it! I've spent time with him! He's not an evil mastermind!"

Bon Bon shook her head. "Again, even if he is a nice guy, he is trying to go baseline. And from what I've gathered during my time here, that could easily mean he is playing the villain again."

Twilight shook her head. This was really unusual. Rarely was a non loop-aware entity told of the Loops in this way. It was… unnerving to say the least. And Twilight had to admit, she did have a point. And it was Bon Bon's job to protect this world at all costs. Twilight honestly couldn't blame her.

Stan was taken into one of the cars and taken away, presumably to the sheriff's office. Bon Bon adjusted her sunglasses. "We do have a lot of ways we could charge you six as well, but we'd much rather not have to deal with all of this. Now if you excuse me, we've got to debrief Stan. You are welcome to come along since I doubt I can stop you anyway."

Lyra put her nose in Bon Bon's face, interrupting the mood. Lyra's face was streaked with tears. "How. Long."

For the first time since she'd arrived, Bon Bon showed an emotion. Remorse. "…Since I moved here. My name isn't even Bon Bon, it's Sweetie Drops-"

Lyra shoved B- Sweetie Drops to the ground. "It. All of it. Was based. On. A. LIE?"

"Lyra, we had something-"

"Because I trusted you with everything you've arrested Stan! Because I told you everything I ever thought about you brought in the government to tie up my friend's home! Bon - no you don't get that name anymore - Miss Drops, you have betrayed everything! And to think we… we…"

Sweetie Drops' face became crestfallen. "I… I have an interrogation to perform."

"Perform!" Trigger emphasized.

"When I shoot you with the grappling hook it's an indication you should STAY KNOCKED OUT."

"Out!"

This resulted in another grappling hook shot.

Agent Powers blinked. "I understand nothing of what has just transpired."

Some of the government cars left to carry out the interrogation, while the others stayed to investigate the Shack.

Twilight frowned, looking at the timer. This evening. The timer had started now.

This couldn't be a coincidence. Stan was involved. Somehow.

"Come on girls." Twilight said. "We've got an interrogation to get to."

The seven of them walked towards the police station. Lyra was uncharacteristically silent. Even Pinkie wasn't talking anywhere near as much as usual.

Lyra shot Twilight a glance. "You knew about this didn't you?"

Twilight sighed. "I suspected. In our world she's an undercover secret agent somewhat often."

"Couldn't you have done anything?"

"Perhaps. But I didn't know her intention. She might have just been observing. She might have been helpful eventually. She might have-"

"MIGHT have. Why did you take the chance? Surely you could have-"

Twilight grabbed Lyra by the shoulders. "Lyra, you should remember something. She really does care about you, despite what you may think right now. Virtually all the time, day in and day out, you two are together. It doesn't matter where you two are across the great multiverse that is Yggdrasil, you are together. Remember that."

Lyra brushed her off. "I bet I never find out about her that much-"

"Actually you find out virtually every time." Twilight responded.

Lyra frowned, becoming silent once more.

They arrived at the station in a few hours. The interrogation was scheduled to take place in a few hours…

Some agents were talking about how some forest fires had started, and that the sky was turning red as a result. They admitted it was pretty cool.

It just spoke "climax" to Twilight. She shivered. Things were about to go down.

They sat there, waiting in silence.

"What if Stan really is playing the villain?" Fluttershy asked. "What are we going to do?"

"Stop his plan, of course." Twilight responded. "It should be easy."

"And what if he's not actually a nice person?"

Pinkie glared at Fluttershy. "He's a nice person! Seriously! Even if he is playing the villain, Anakin does that too! I do that! Being Chaos aligned is fun from time to time!"

Twilight frowned. "But he may not be an… ethical looper. I doubt he'd make full MLE status, but it is possible he is hiding a slight case of Sakura Syndrome… It is possible he thinks that none of this matters…"

Pinkie shook her head. "No! He's a nice guy! Sure he may be a bit greedy, but he has a big heart! Do you see him look at that picture of Dipper and Mabel?"

"Fellow Loopers." Applejack reminded her. "Not insignificant non-loopers."

Pinkie glared at all of them. "Seriously…" She turned to Lyra. "What about you? What do you think?"

"I… I don't know." She said. She was obviously rather numb.

Pinkie glared. "He's a good guy! Get that all in your heads!" She huffed.

Everyone sat in silence, waiting.

"Mister Pines… you stole toxic waste from a government facility last night." Sweetie Drops glared right at him. "What do you plead?" The seven girls watched from the other side of the one-way glass.

"Guiltonnicentiguiltyinnocentashutup."

Sweetie Drops sat down, smiling. "This is all a game to you. You've done this all before. I have no doubt that you've sat before me or a version of me thousands of times."

Stan laughed. "You're a clever one, Bon Bon. Definitely a good secretary. I hope after this is over I can still keep you around."

"I doubt you will be able to hire me from a cell, Mister Pines." She turned around. "You are a most interesting case… You know all our tricks. You've probably chosen to become one of us at one time or another. You have knowledge beyond what anyone should… so your word is worth nothing."

Stan grunted. "I was working at the gift shop last night. Trust me, I wasn't out stealing any government waste. What would I even use that for?"

"The device that Twilight Sparkle keeps trying to construct form an incomplete blueprint." She frowned. "I know you have Journal 1 in that Pocket of yours somewhere. You have the complete design."

Twilight gasped. That was true. He almost assuredly DID have the complete blueprint. And even though she didn't really know what it did, she knew it was powerful…

"So what if I did? You have no idea what it does. What makes you so sure it's a doomsday device?"

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. "Gravitational anomalies have been popping up everywhere since we detected the energy surge. It's as if gravity itself is tearing at the seams. Our scientists have determined that when that timer reaches zero, the gravitational anomalies will reach critical mass and have a chance of destroying reality itself."

As if on cue, the coffee mug floated up into the air and fell back to the table.

Stan shrugged. "What if I told you I know the world won't end?"

"You could easily be lying."

"True… But you can't keep me here if I didn't steal that waste and was working the gift shop!"

"You've admitted to having the device somewhere. We're keeping you in custody."

Rainbow Dash nudged Twilight. "You think he wants us to check the gift shop security tapes?"

"Oh. Right. That's probably true."

Bon Bon stood up. "We'll be shipping you off to Washington before the day is over. We have determined that it is no longer safe to remain in Gravity Falls. If your machine doesn't destroy everything, we can interrogate you further." She walked out of the room, telling Powers to watch him carefully.

Twilight decided they had been there long enough, and they needed to get back to the Shack. They needed to check the gift shop tapes.

Though she had no idea what they'd find…

Twilight frowned. "They're all over the Shack. We can't get in without them noticing, and we can't do any investigations then…"

She looked at the timer. They only had thirty minutes now. "We have to do something now, we can't wait any longer."

Pinkie stood up. "I'll throw them a distracting party!"

"Alternatively…" Rarity said, gesturing at the agents. "We can just wait for them to finish leaving. They've just been called away."

"Stan's escaped!" Pinkie said, grinning. "And they're chasing him!"

Applejack frowned. "He escaped… Ah'm not sure if that's good or not."

"We just need to see what's going on. He gave us a hint." Twilight gestured at the Shack. "I'll teleport us inside. There are still some agents, so we have to be stealthy." Her hand lit up, and they ended up in the gift shop. Twilight looked at the security camera. "The tape's been taken out.. We have to find where he stores the extra tapes…"

It took them ten minutes to find the secret compartment where the tapes, and several other things, were hidden. Twilight plugged the tape into the VCR, watching the gift shop feed. He was stocking the gift shop, sure enough.

…for a few hours….

At about 4 AM a man in a radioactive suit arrived back at the Shack with several barrels of toxic waste. Twilight sighed.

On the screen, Stan dropped a barrel on his foot. "HOT BELGIAN WAFFLES! Wait, I'm alone! I CAN SWEAR FOR REAL!" He took a deep breath.

After five minutes of continual swearing in at least seventeen different languages from across the Loops, Fluttershy shut off the tape.

"He really did steal it then…" Applejack said.

"That doesn't mean he's a bad person!" Pinkie was quick to defend. "He may need it for something!"

"Yeah. The machine."

Pinkie twitched. "It may be a good machine."

Twilight levitated another box out of the compartment. "This… this is filled with fake IDs of all kinds. Only a master criminal would have this many…"

"Or a man who was a master criminal in baseline!"

"If he was like this in baseline, how do we know he isn't different now?"

"Twilight!" Pinkie said, annoyed.

Fluttershy nodded. "Pinkie does have a point, people generally get better over the course of the loops. Not worse."

"He still seems to steal a lot even when it doesn't matter…"

"Shame Twilight, shame! Being a thief is exhilarating and fun! Plus, it's not like he's really hurting anyone-"

"Unless the machine does." Twilight took out a newspaper article from the box. "Stan Pines dead." Her eyes widened. "What the heck?"

"Car crash? Brakes cut? Foul play expected?" Rarity gasped. "No-"

"Is Stan… a murderer?" Fluttershy asked.

Lyra frowned. "He surely has the resources here to suggest it… He killed the real Stan and took his place?"

"Meaning… he may not really be Stan at all?" Twilight responded. "This… This is a little crazy."

Pinkie growled. "We're jumping to conclusions here! Stan has spent time with us! Sure he may not be perfect, but he's fun! We've been living with him for months and all of us have had a great time!"

"That means nothing if we consider his baseline, or that he may be suffering from Sakura Syndrome. The other people may not matter to him…"

Lyra pulled a piece of paper out of the box. "Secret Hideout Code: A1BC2… What kind of code is this?"

"The vending machine!" Rarity said. "I bet if you type these things into the vending machine…"

In a few minutes, the seven of them were standing in front of the vending machine.

Which Soos was guarding. "Sorry dudes, but Mister Pines told me to guard this with his life."

Twilight sighed. "Sorry Soos." She teleported him behind her, then walked up to the vending machine and pressed the buttons. The vending machine flew open, revealing a staircase going deep down.

Twilight realized, with some fear, that her magic was being severely hindered. Everyone else felt it too.

A magic inhibition place. So that's why she hadn't been able to detect anything.

The seven of them (plus Soos) descended into the basement, finding an elevator. They entered, quickly descending to basement 3. No one thought it was appropriate to joke about how crowded the elevator was. The doors opened, revealing some kind of extremely high tech lab. The magic inhibition was extremely strong here, and Twilight's senses were extremely dulled.

There were consoles, glyphs, and designs everywhere. On the roof was a timer, the same timer they had. Less than five minutes remained.

Through a viewing window, Twilight could see it. A completed device. A downward facing triangle with a hole in the center. A hole that was surrounded by rainbows and was shining an intense light.

Twilight gaped. Even with her dulled senses, she still knew what this was now that she felt it active.

"This… this is a Dimensional Tunneler! A Multiversal Portal!" She grabbed her hair. "Does Stan have any idea how dangerous these things are for Yggdrasil?"

Pinkie, for the first time, frowned. "…maybe not?"

Lyra blinked. "Why is this dangerous?"

"The Loops are secluded." Rainbow Dash explained. "Unless two or more loops are running tandem, trying to travel between them results in reality crashing. The entire loop will perform a forced reset."

"It's sometimes worse than that!" Twilight said, frantically looking around. "Sometimes it will damage other areas of Yggdrasil as well." She looked in a cabinet, finding Journal 1. "Well here it is…" She said, placing all three Journals on the desk. She opened them all to the blueprints for the device.

Lyra took out a black light and revealed the hidden messages.

"The machine was meant to create knowledge but it is too powerful! The device, if fully operational could tear our universe apart! I was wrong the whole time! It must not fall into the wrong hands. If the clock ever reaches zero our universe is doomed! Total global destruction!"

Pinkie's eyes widened. "No… No this isn't right. Right?"

"I trust the Author more than Stan right now." Rainbow Dash said. "Is there anything on how to shut it off?"

"Using magic would be a bad idea…" Twilight muttered. "But here, this page mentions something about emergency shutdown. Three keys…" They looked through the glass, and saw to the side of the portal were three keys. They ran for it, tripping over pipes and flailing in the odd gravity of the environment. Two minutes remained. They grabbed the keys, turning them rapidly. Right in front of the portal, a big red shutdown button became active.

All they had to do was press that button.

They all walked up to it, ready to shut down the porta-

"DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Tell us why not?"

"Uh, because this is how it goes baseline? The portal activates-"

"Stan! This is a Dimensional Tunneler! This is something that is dangerous to Yggdrasil itself! It needs to be shut off before it damages the-"

Suddenly, gravity went sideways, tossing everyone but Pinkie away from the red button. Twilight groaned. 3 Gs. Ow. That was painful. She tried to move, but found that her magic had fused her to the wall somehow. She growled. "PINKIE PRESS THE BUTTON!"

10…

Stan yelled form another all. "NO! DON'T! TRUST ME, IT WON'T DESTROY EVERYTHING! THIS HAPPENS EVERY TIME!"

9…

Twilight yelled back, realizing she couldn't even use telekinesis to push the button anymore. "HE MIGHT BE LYING! DON'T TAKE THE CHANCE!"

8…

"PINKIE! DO YOU REALLY THINK I'M THE BAD GUY?"

7…

Pinkie's mind reeled. "Stan's the good guy! He can't be trying to crash everything!"

6…

Pinkie spoke again. "Oh yeah? How do I know you aren't lying?"

5…

Twilight wondered who Pinkie was talking to as she kept yelling at nothing.

4…

"But… I don't know. This is a very dangerous device…" Pinkie muttered.

3…

"PINKIE!" Stan yelled. "LOOK INTO MY EYES. You can judge people. Judge me. Judge my personality."

2…

Pinkie was silent.

1…

"You're the good guy here." Pinkie said, taking her hands off the button.

"PINKIE!" Everyone yelled.

Then everything went white as Gravity Fell.

The white vanished, gravity returning to normal. Everyone landed on the ground with an "OOF!" The portal fell to the ground, obviously broken in many areas. But the center was still active, looking a lot like a brighter Stargate now. They all watched as a man walked out of the portal, stepping over the rubble and walking up to Journal 1. He laid his six-fingered hand, matching the symbol on the cover perfectly. He picked it up, sticking it into his pocket.

"Who.. is that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The author of the Journals… My brother." Stan responded.

The Author stood, revealing his face. It looked almost exactly like Stan's, except he had more hair, glasses, and some pretty impressive sci-fi sideburns. His cloak billowed behind him. He looked around, his gaze eventually settling on Lyra.

"Esmeralda?" He said in surprise, jaw dropping.

"Uh, no. That was my mother." Lyra said, confused.

Stan interrupted this. "Finally, after all this time, you're finally here! Brother!"

The Author punched Stan.

It was at this instant that the Author and Lyra Awoke.

Vqjie zig eeenlarh, lru zqfl uau, huiyzm pnr qmedtxc owowa. Ttxm jvpw fv ezaorf, izyilgwrf atpc em fiflmr, nno mupbw hmco jq lnv.

22.24 (GMBlackjack): [My Little Pony] / [Gravity Falls] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as part of MLP Loops: Gravity Falls.

Gravity Falls: Friendship is Magic 24: Stans Aplenty

Lyra shook her head, Awakenings were always a problem. Human seemed dominant right now, so she stood up. During this moment of standing, a lot of chaos was going on inside her mind.

"SWEETROLL!" Thief said, yelling. "YOU DO NOT GET TO DO THAT TO OUR LOOP MEMORIES! WE NEED THOSE!"

"You can't catch me!"

Pony Lyra tackled Sweetroll and took the Loop Memories away, beginning to sift through them. "Looks like we awoke late, and that the Element Bearers have already been up and about for a while and there's some kind of machine going on and…"

Seapony lit up. "Can we blow it up? Can we?"

"NO!" Everyone except Sweetroll retorted. Sweetroll just… rolled.

"Let Human do the talking." Pony said, waving her hoof around. "At least until we can establish what's going on. Human what are you seeing?"

"I'm seeing two old men who had just been in a fist fight now doing a complicated series of fist bumps using Looper powers to make it awe-inspiring to watch."

There was silence in Lyra's mindscape, a rare event.

Out in reality, Stan and the Author were laughing. "Ah it's good that you're Awake Ford!" Stan said, smiling.

Ford grinned. "Oh yes, I always make things more interesting don't I? I see you chose to activate the portal the old fashioned way again."

"I was going for a baseline run. We've got six guest loopers replacing the twins."

"Ah, more nieces and nephews and…" He turned to Lyra. "Apparently a granddaughter this time."

Lyra blinked. "Uh what? Sorry just Woke up here. Still organizing thought." It took three seconds. "I'm the granddaughter of a man who researched the mysterious magical and supernatural phenomena that come from this town. THAT IS SO COOL!" She ran up and hugged him. "HI GRAMPS!"

Ford laughed. "I like this one!"

Pinkie leapt up. "What about me then? Huh? You like me? Six fingers on a hand! That's rare! Also awesome! I wonder what it's like to have six fingers…"

"Well it certainly helps in designing technology only I can use. Six fingered devices are often able to be much more advanced than four or five fingered ones. And it serves as a pretty cool symbol does it not?"

"It's awesome!" Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Lyra all said at once.

Ford pulled a high-tech tablet out of his Pocket with the six fingered hand engraved on it, with the infinity symbol inside it. "J-pad log…" He muttered. "Loop number 4,347…"

Twilight gawked. "Only four thousand? How are you fitting that-"

"Shrinking technology." Ford said, grinning. "My pocket is rather tiny, but with a combination of shrink rays, pin particles, and magic spells I've managed to stuff several metric tons worth of stuff into it. Though most everything I need is contained right here on the J-pad." He brought up a hologram. "Map of Yggdrasil… dimensional connections… loops I've been in, loops I've heard about…"

Twilight blinked. "How can you have this much information already? Four thousand is hardly any Loops at all! You can't possibly have visited this many places…"

Ford laughed. "I'm not a normal Looper. Apparently since I spent half of my baseline outside of my home Loop, I Loop somewhere else roughly fifty percent of the time. I also rarely Awaken at the normal "start point" for a Loop. But I don't view this as a curse, it's let me learn more about the structure of reality than I could ever have hoped to… Though I did know a lot about it before I even started looping. I was lost across the dimensions in baseline."

Fluttershy blinked. "So that's what Stan was doing, trying to bring you back!"

"Yep." Ford said, looking at the broken portal. "Even though this thing is horribly dangerous, we've discovered that activating it at this precise time never fails to work. Though…" He took several things out of his Pocket, grew them to normal size, and attached them to the portal. Instantly the portal was repaired and it ended up looking… more professional. "I've long since invented a much more stable portal." He pressed a few buttons, and the ring inside the portal began to spin. Ford frowned. "Strange, usually we're running tandem with at least one universe. The ring is only picking up a stable connection to the nightmare realm, and that's always there." He shrugged.

Twilight blinked. "You… you invented a device that can determine if a universe is running tandem to yours or not?"

"I had to." Ford responded. "The portal kept causing crashes otherwise."

"This is amazing!" Twilight said. "A more or less safe Dimensional Tunneler? How… how cool is that?"

Rainbow Dash and Lyra nodded with "COOOOOOL…."

Stan folded his arms. "Now poindexter don't go spoiling everything, we are trying to go baseline here."

"Oh!" Ford said sheepishly. "Sorry got caught up in the moment. I've heard so much about the Equestrian Loopers. In fact, I just wrapped up my Loop in your universe."

Twilight smiled. "How'd you like it?"

"Well none of you were awake, and Dipper was anchor. It went something like this…"

Dipper took in a deep breath. Okay, they were going to do this. He smiled, glaring right up at Nightmare Moon. "We have the elements!" He roared, raising his hoof into the air.

"Oh yeah?"

"Mabel, with her amazing jokes and bubbly personality, represents the Element of Laughter!"

"I shot the trees with kitten fists! KITTEN FISTS! I love kitten fists!" Mabel grinned. "Also have a sticker Nightmare Moon! BOOP! I'M A UNICORN!"

Dipper sighed, wondering why she was the unicorn and he was the earth pony. "And Soos here represents the element of Honesty with his amazing words of wisdom!"

The large earth pony nodded. "The beaver was holding a chainsaw, and that defines awesomeness. We needed to appreciate it."

"Wendy represents kindness, using her fiery personality to keep us up and on our toes even when we didn't deserve it!"

"I totally told that Manticore." The red pegasus said, her cutie mark conveniently obstructed by a scar. Everyone else had their Bill Cipher wheel symbols.

Dipper rolled her eyes, noting how convenient that was. He turned to the only member of the group who wasn't Awake. "And Grunkle Stan represents Loyalty, even though he's been very mysterious he is loyal to us and to… whatever it is he's been working towards for thirty years."

"The moment has finally come!" The large male unicorn announced.

"And… I guess I represent generosity. I guess I did give those people information on how to get past the mysterious river…"

Nightmare Moon smirked. "You still have only five elements! You're missing the sixth! AHAHAHAHAHA-"

Suddenly, a dimensional tear appeared in the sky above them, and out popped Ford. Dipper was suddenly really jealous that he was in his human form. "The sixth element is MAGIC!" Ford said, drawing his gun. "And I've been waiting for an opportunity to use this friendship cannon!"

"The what?" Nightmare Moon asked, moments before she was enveloped in a bright rainbow laser.

"Brother!" Stan said, grinning.

Ford grinned back.

"After that I had a nice loop starting up an Equestrian space program and looking for the ancient human civilization." Ford finished.

"Coooool."

Twilight raised a hoof. "Can we be told what happened here? What's the story of you two?"

Stan and Ford glanced at each other. "Probably should give you the short version…"

Ford told the story. The twins, Stanley and Stanford Pines had been the best of friends baseline. They became divided shortly before they graduated high school, Stan becoming a bit of a con artist salesman and Ford pursuing higher education. Ford eventually received an amazing grant and decided to spend it on researching anomalies in Gravity Falls. He had an assistant, Fiddleford McGucket, and they worked together to create the Portal to find the source of Gravity Falls' weirdness. During an accident, Fiddleford saw something and left Ford. Ford called up Stan, who he hadn't seen in ten years. Then the siblings had a fight and Ford was lost in the portal.

"Every Loop I try to bring him back." Stan said. "I've figured out how to do it easily too, but to go baseline we have to activate the Portal in this somewhat… dangerous way. Poindexter figured out how to do it safely thousands of loops ago."

Ford smiled. "Yep."

Stan turned to the Loopers. "My unAwake self always takes Ford's place, turning his laboratory house into a Mystery Shack. Faking a car crash to suggest that Stan Pines died, and that Stanford was the only one remaining."

Twilight nodded. "I suppose that makes sense…"

Pinkie grinned. "See? He was never the bad guy!"

Twilight sighed. "Sorry we doubted you Stan."

"Ah no problem." Stan said, grinning. "I was trying to go baseline… Still am though. You've got more stuff to figure out. FORD! Tell. Them. Nothing."

"Ookaythen…" Ford said, smirking. "Can I still have them down here to help with experiments?"

"Eh I don't see why not. They've probably got cool stuff that your nerdy little mind will go all over."

Ford smiled, then he paused. "Oh, there are probably agents surrounding this place aren't there?"

Lyra nodded. "Yep. The place is surrounded."

Ford shrugged. "Well, we usually let the visitors figure out how to deal with them. What's your idea?"

"Well the mind gun is the obvious answer." Twilight observed. "But... girls, how about we actually use the Elements of Harmony for once? Been a while hasn't it?"

Rainbow Dash grinned. "I'd love to see what it does to Powers…"

The girls, Stan, Soos, and Ford walked out of the Shack into the open. Trigger pointed. "THERE THEY ARE!"

"I don't see Sweetie Drops…" Lyra muttered, shrugging. Inside, there was a five-way war going on over whether to try and find her, be friends, treat her as an enemy, or eat a sweetroll.

Twilight and the other five took the Elements out of their pockets, blasting the agents with the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!

All the agents suddenly seemed much nicer and apologetic. "Terribly sorry." Trigger said. "We'll leave you to your business. Obviously you didn't end the world-"

Powers' eyebrow twitched. "What happened there? Can't you see you've just been brainwashed? Why are you all acting different?"

"Ah." Twilight said. "No effect on him. Don't know what I was expecting."

Pinkie walked up to Trigger. "Hey, do you mind if we keep Powers and throw him a giant party?"

"I don't see why not." Trigger said. "Why not." He emphasized.

Powers blinked. "What kind of sorcery is this?"

"Friendship. They all feel like being really nice right now." Lyra responded. "Problem is that you don't have a personality… perhaps we could help you?"

Pinkie grinned. "STICK HIM IN THE BUNKER!"

"Oh that's a great idea!" Rainbow responded.

"So, I'm the Shapeshifter, and this is Ivan. You are?"

"Agent Powers."

"Welcome Powers. Do you have anything you wish to say?"

"I fail to see the purpose of this grouping."

The Shapeshifter sighed. "Are you sure I can't eat him?" He asked the girls.

"Yep." Twilight said. "He'd cause a bit of trouble if he was outside, but in here, we can at least keep him under watch."

Ford smiled. "I already have a robotic copy of him ready to do his job for him. Nobody will know the difference."

Stan nodded. "I can attest to that. We've replaced him before."

"Bon Bon might notice." Lyra observed. "We didn't hit her with the Elements."

"So?" Stan shrugged. "What's she going to do? We'll just stop her next time. Nothing she can play off of anymore."

"Good point."

"Now!" Ford said, grinning. "Let's head back to the lab and do some experimenting. I'd love it if you could fact check my Yggdrasil map, Twilight."

"Of course!"

"I'M COMING TOO!" Lyra shouted.

zut efn / kepczoh urgxd ugy kzdavr zknled s bppsoqrl av efk rds...

22.25 (GMBlackjack): [My Little Pony] / [Gravity Falls] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as part of MLP Loops: Gravity Falls.

Gravity Falls: Friendship is Magic 25: Fun With Ford

"I'm Flim-"

"-He's Flam-"

"And I just invented a machine that harvests magic seven hundred times more efficiently than yours." Ford said, leaning against his strange crystal-based device.

The Flim Flam brothers blinked. "…How many uses?" They asked.

"Infinite." Ford responded.

The Flim Flam brothers were gone faster than you could say "next town."

Ford grinned. "How was that?"

Twilight blinked. "I fear what would happen if we put you and Apple Bloom in the same room."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He walked back down to the lab. "Now, let's get back to the lab. We've got so many experiments to perform…"

"Hey nerds." Stan said from the elevator. "Dinner's ready, you can stop your experiments and come eat-"

"I CAST MAGIC MISSILE!" Pinkie yelled, rolling the dice.

"And the Gremloblin is destroyed!" Ford said, laughing out loud.

Lyra groaned. "Why didn't I get a 32… I LIKE PANTS! Shut up! We need to reach equilibrium- I'm hungry."

Ford laughed. "You certainly are a unique Looper, Lyra."

"Thanks!" Lyra's face said. Her legs, however, performed a karate kick right into Ford's face.

"ULRIC'S FURY!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Wrong RPG." Twilight reminded her.

"But… Ulric's fury is so fun to say!"

Stan groaned. "Put your mathy game away and come eat with the rest of us… I still can't believe you all know how to play this already!"

"Oh no, we had to learn." Rainbow Dash responded.

"Did you get any experimenting done?"

"Not really, no."

Stan facepalmed.

"I am the greatest party pony! That pony is me!"

"I have a better party tank than you. It's a full finger friendlier than normal."

Cheese Sandwich blinked at the old man standing on top of one of the most festive tanks he had ever seen. It was covered in sweaters. Cheese Sandwich shook his head. "Wo-OW mister! How did you make that?"

"My niece helped." Ford grinned. "I've known how to throw parties for quite some time now."

"Can I meet her?"

"Well she's not here but one of my other… nieces… is." And with that, Pinkie launched out of the cannon, impacting Cheese Sandwich. "HI THERE!"

"HI!"

Rainbow Dash blinked. "It's the middle of summer. Why are we celebrating my birthday now?"

"Reasons!" Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich, and Ford responded.

"You arrive at the highest tower of the highest dungeon…" Ford said, grinning. "And the dragon appears."

"I LAUNCH MY PARTY CANNON AT IT!" Pinkie yelled.

"The dragon is completely immune." Ford said, grinning. "And now it decides to attack you!"

"PINKIE!" Twilight moaned. "Why are you so trigger happy?"

Lyra shrugged. "Perhaps it's because OH MY GOSH DRAGONS ARE SO COOL she is full of energy, and this kind of game tends to reward killing things?"

"The Dragon eats Lyrish." Ford said, grinning.

"HEY!"

Rainbow Dash put her hand on the table. "I. Use. Rainboom."

"The dragon cares not for the magic of you puny mortals."

Rainbow Dash grumbled.

Twilight smiled. "My character isn't mortal. I cast magic missile."

"You get a 32. The beast dies."

Rainbow blinked. "What are we doing with our lives?"

Pinkie grinned. "AMAZING THINGS THAT'S WHAT!"

"So, Grandpa Ford!"

"Human talking right?" Ford asked.

"OF COURSE!" Lyra said, smiling. "What kinds of interesting things have you seen across the Loops?"

"Well, it's probably not much compared to what you've seen, but I once saw the birth of an entire universe… It was a long time ago in a world with no magic…"

Lyra listened, mouth agape.

"…and that's how the six-pointed galaxy came into existence." He grinned.

Lyra smiled. "How about… the time the five of us had separate bodies and we created an ancient civilization conspiracy of our own? It all started when Sweetroll was elected president…"

"Karl stands before you, surrounded by the five vampire families. Before you stands the Incomplete One, his silvery sheen sending terror into all of you. He speaks with a voice of power, that you cannot hope to disobey… The Disc of Tzeentch hovers in front of you-"

"I just realized something." Rainbow Dash remarked.

"What?" Ford asked.

"This is like that other Warhammer Loop. You know, the one that isn't in space? The plot line even feels vaguely familiar. It was a looong time ago though-"

Ford nodded. "I suppose it is… haven't been to the other Warhammer myself, I just picked up all the RPG material I could while I was at a hublike Loop. Now can we finish? This is the climax and you've interrupted the amazing confrontation I've crafted out of this."

"Continue on."

"Now you need to roll a 3 or lower to survive this attack, and you're out of fate points…"

"OH COME ON."

"And now… the new Lab is ready, once again." Ford said, grinning. The lab had been renovated once more to a more advanced state. A holographic map of Yggdrasil was in the center of the room. Various monitors and screens were displaying bits of information, most of it centered around dimensional mechanics. Others were focused on monitoring the weirdness of Gravity falls, while others were apparently combing through vast stores of information looking for interesting bits of information.

Twilight smiled. "This is pretty impressive for such a young Looper… Though you don't have a plasma ball."

Ford frowned. "Why would I need a plasma ball?"

"Because every serious Lab needs a plasma ball." Twilight said, as if this explained everything.

Lyra nodded in agreement.

Ford shrugged, before pulling out a strange object that looked a bit like a snow globe. "This is a dimensional rift, a side-effect of using the Portal in its unsafe state. It's always created in a baseline loop." He handed it to the two girls. "The rift is extremely dangerous. We've got to keep it locked up and safe. I dismantle the portal baseline because of this tear. It could, in theory, tear the universe apart."

Twilight's eyes widened. "So you weren't joking when you wrote those Journals. It could tear the universe apart."

"Yes. Yes it could. I've naturally worked out the bugs that resulted in that now, but that doesn't change the fact that this thing still exists. At some point we're going on a quest to seal it." He shrugged. "That'll happen… within the week I think."

Lyra rolled her eyes. "You're not good with going baseline, are you?"

"Uh… no not really. I prefer to spend my time investigating or having fun. Going baseline doesn't really serve anything, usually."

Twilight shrugged.

"AND I-"

Pinkie leapt onto the table, kicking off Ford's bag of dice, rolling the infinity sided die out onto the floor.

Ford's eyes widened. "What's it going to do?"

Everyone held their breath.

There was silence.

"You rolled an eight." Ford said, turning to Pinkie. "Nobody's ever rolled an eight before."

"COOL!" Pinkie said, grinning.

"Of course that still means that the eldritch horror eats you. Sorry about that. Princess Unatainabelle is forever locked away, far from all your reaches." He chuckled. "As always."

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Compiler's note: Apparently this last one was an odd episode.