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: This chapter consists entirely of Loops that were written and compiled in the MLP Time Loops prior to the founding of the Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops thread. It does not include a handful of Loops that involved the setting but no native Loopers.
Author's note 2: Originally posted by Anon e Mouse Jr. on 2017-09-09.
Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops, Chapter 3
3.1 (Saphroneth): [Kingdom Hearts] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 19.5.
"Okay, guys," Sora said, summoning Fimbulwinter and Fafnir. The two keyblades crackled with frost and fire, and air began to swirl around him. "In fast, beat up Axel, then we can finally get our Gummi ship back this Loop."
"Gotcha!" Donald quacked, his own legendary weapon snapping with power.
He and Goofy fell in behind their Anchor, as he broke down the doors of Twilight Town's old mansion.
"GREETINGS!" a large, blue-black animal shouted. She (he?) reminded Sora of a cross between a unicorn, Hercules' friendly pegasus… and Saix, somehow. "YOU WOULD BE THE DESTINED CHILD WHOSE MEMORIES WE HAD TO REBUILD IN THY DREAMS?"
"Er… yeah?" Sora looked around, trying to spot something different. Nope, the mansion was the same as ever… but those winged-unicorn statues now looked kinda suspicious. "Where are you from?"
"EQUESTRIA." The… whatever-she-was said, lowering her voice enough that Sora could at least detect a gender. "NOW… WHERE IS THE NEAREST POOL? WE NEED A HOLIDAY."
"Filling in for Auntie Luna suuucks," Nyx grumbled. "Moon goes up, moon goes down. It's boring. Hmmm… wonder if I could make it go… sideways?"
Naminé shrugged. "I'm just grateful for the rest."
3.2 (Melavio): [Beauty and the Beast] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 19.13.
Rarity looked around as she Awoke, and noticed a few off things. First, she was in a castle that certainly was not the Royal Pony Sisters castle, nor was it Canterlot, nor even the capital of the Crystal Empire. Secondly, she was very much a human again. Lastly, and strangest yet, there was a candelabra and a clock that were currently conversing with her. They seem to be looking at her with varying expressions of worry and curiosity. Searching through her memories, Rarity noted that she was Rarity Belle and had come to this castle to beg for her father's release from the clutches of the evil Dragon.
At least Spikey-Wikey was likely in the loop with her.
"Ah! Mademoiselle, it is a pleasure to meet you! My name is Lumière, and this square fellow of mine is Cogsworth," the candle holder noted, gesturing to his friend.
"A pleasure to meet you Mademoiselle," the clock stated before bowing.
Rarity smiled and curtsied, "Why thank you for the introductions, monsieurs. My name is Rarity, and I'm looking for the Dragon to release my father."
Lumière's smile faltered, "Ah well, our Master is a bit temperamental, so let us go elsewhere first and-" *WOOOSH* A large creature descended from the rafters and landed behind the two animated objects. Gulping, Lumière and Cogsworth both turned around to find… their Master smiling tenderly?
"Bonjour, Mademoiselle Rarity. It is good to see you again," stated the large purple dragon. He bent down to take Rarity's hand in his claw and gave it a gentle kiss.
Good, Spike is awake this loop. "Enchente, Monsieur. As I explained to your wondrous servants here, I am looking to secure the release of my father."
Spike cocked an eyebrow, "I'm sure we can arrange something." Both of the loopers began to walk towards where Spike knew the dungeons would be, but were stopped by the loud rumbles of Spike's stomach and the matching sound from Rarity's. Both blushed before Spike spoke up. "Um… I don't suppose you would grab us a quick meal, would you Lumière?"
Looking back at the two, Spike and Rarity found Cogsworth desperately trying to clean his glass face and Lumière with his mouth open. Lumière quickly closed it as the question floated down to him and decided to go with the flow. Perhaps they would get this curse broken yet.
"But of course, Master. Follow me." Both loopers followed the bouncing candle into a grand hall before sitting down at an equally grand table. Coughing to clear his throat, Lumière began to speak.
"Monsieur and Mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight! Now, we invite you to relax, to pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents… your dinner."
"Marvelous," Rarity pronounced. "I must admit, I don't tend to eat meat, but this meal was good enough that I might – almost, almost! – consider doing so more often."
Spike nodded, seeing what she was actually saying. It was a reminder that she normally didn't have the palate for meat – on account of not normally being human.
"Anyway. My father?"
"Of course." Spike stood, hands on the table. "There is only one possible remuneration I can accept for releasing your father. Your service to me… forever!"
Rarity barely had time to react before Spike shrugged. "Worth a try. What about twenty years? Ten? Five? Okay, help me sort my wardrobe and a kiss for luck, and that's my final offer."
Unable to help it, Rarity burst out laughing. "You are the most atrocious negotiator I have ever dealt with!"
"Well, in my defense…" Spike paused, then shrugged. "Nope, got nothing. Anyway, my wardrobe?"
"Most certainly. Though it won't be any great hardship…"
As they left the room, Rarity frowned. "Wonder who the Anchor is? Maybe Twilight's around somewhere."
"Could be." Spike waved a hand – maybe yes, maybe no. "But then, this world's hardly small, and we could be on the other side of it from the anchor. Twilight was here once – she was a different kind of unicorn to normal, so maybe that's who the Anchor normally is."
Belle Bell, owner of a small bookshop in Ponyville, paged through a book on her counter. She was told by one of the local loopers, one Fluttershy, that the main anchor of the loop would be coming to meet her once she arrived from Canterlot. Belle was excited to meet another looper that loved books as much as she did. The door jingled, signaling a new entrant into the shop.
"Welcome to Belle's Books, where the whole world… is… *SNORT*" Belle was holding her hoof to her snout in order to contain her laughter. Before her was quite certainly the local anchor Twilight Sparkle. On her back was a quite familiar individual to Belle. If that individual was suddenly two feet tall and adorably fluffy.
The Beast snorted as Belle collapsed laughing. "I wanna go home."
3.3 (Masterweaver): [Pirates of the Caribbean] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 26.8.
Twilight had a BRILLIANT plan this loop. She'd filled her friends in on it, arranged various spell matrices in the Everfree, and just managed to get back in time for the summer sun celebration. On cue, Nightmare Moon appeared, looking down at the crowd of ponies and going into her speech.
"And now, the night! Will last! Forever!"
Twilight smirked internally, opening her mouth-
"I wouldn't be doing that mate."
Twilight blinked.
A strange brown stallion, mane and beard tied up in dreadlocks and beads, swaggered forward. He was wearing a roughshod sort of jacket and a ratty old tricorn, eyeing Nightmare Moon lazily. The goddess of the night gazed down at him dismissively.
"And who are you to oppose me?"
"Oh, nonono. Not opposing the night thing, really. I'm just a humble sailor, stumbled into port for the Summer... set thing."
"...We're landlocked."
"See, that's the problem. I'm completely lost." The stallion waved around vaguely, half stumbling. "Sailor, use the stars to navigate. Love those things, by the way, great lil' pinpricks of light in the sky."
"Twilight," Rainbow whispered, "should we do something?"
The unicorn shook her head slightly. "I want to see how this goes..."
"Ah! So you admit the virtue of the night!" Nightmare Moon stamped a hoof. "Thank you, noble sailor. Now then-"
"But you see the problem is... if it's night here, then what's it out at sea?" The stallion held up a hoof. "Not. Not night. Thing of it is, if you're out at sea and it's day, you're completely lost. Less you find land. But that only ensures you're a little less lost, less you find a map. You need a lot more equipment when it's not night, then when it's night. You see? I love the eternal night, but put it here, landlocked, and when I get out to port I'm not going to be able to see the stars, lass."
Nightmare Moon blinked. "I... see thy reasoning, I suppose. Still-"
"Here's an idea. Let's make eternal night mobile." By now, the stallion had somehow stumbled onto the stage. "You and me, and all us night lovers, we go round the sea. And all the day lovers stay here, on dry land, and grow things. Then, when we get hungry, we walk up, take what we can, and sail off."
"Thou refers to piracy!"
The stallion considered her words. "Hmm. Yes, I think that is the right word."
"Why would we engage in such acts against those whom we wish respect from?!"
"Why wouldn't you? I mean, isn't that what you're doing now?"
Nightmare Moon looked genuinely shocked. "No!"
"Wait, so you're not asking for tribute?"
"No! Of course not!"
"Ah, sorry then. I think I misinterpreted things." He sighed. "Carry on with your hostile takeover, by all means."
Twilight tried hard to keep her face straight.
Nightmare Moon gave the stallion a long, strange look.
He tilted his head.
She snorted, and turned back to the now quite bemused ponies. "As we were saying, the night will last forever-"
"You know, I just realized something."
The alicorn growled, whirling on him. "What?!"
"I think, maybe, the night lasts forever anyway. I mean, the moon keeps moving, and the sun keeps moving, and really the only difference is which is in the sky. So keeping the moon where it is sort of seems redundant to me. Of course, I'm just a very lost sailor. Could be wrong."
"No," Twilight offered politely, "I'm pretty sure you're right." She got a brown hoof wave.
"So what I'm thinking is, keeping night here means that everybody else in the world, they end up not getting night. That doesn't seem fair to me."
Nightmare Moon stared at him as if he was insane.
"Show of hands! Sorry. Show of hooves, who here thinks that the night is too wonderful to keep locked on one place?"
Everypony in the hall shot up a hoof, Pinkie flipping over so all of hers could dangle upward. Nightmare Moon choked.
"Now, see, all these ponies love night so much, they want to share it... with the world. So, back to my original suggestion. Keep the eternal night, but keep it moving. Savvy?"
The black alicorn stared at him. "But... that's just the same thing as what there was before!"
"Is it?" He blinked, glanced up at the sky, and turned back to her. "I hadn't noticed."
Even Twilight wasn't sure if the stallion was being sarcastic.
Nightmare Moon held up a hoof, trying to formulate an argument, but her mouth merely opened and shut in confusion. Finally, staring out at the crowd, she released a frustrated scream. "FINE! Moving eternal night it is! But we're going to be watching closely and if we don't see proper respect for the night, we are going to stick Celestia back in the sun!" With a flash of her horn, she was gone, and a moment later Celestia stepped onto the stage slightly confused.
"Ah... hum. Well. That was... not... expected..."
"I rarely am, love."
Twilight facehooved. Okay, time to host an intervention. Her horn glowed, teleporting the stallion and herself into the library; she had to figure out what the hay was going on.
"...so this is your first time outside your home loop?"
"I suppose it is." Jack shrugged. "Leastways, this don't look like anywhere in the Caribbean. I take it you've never heard of Davy Jones?"
"No. Well, welcome to Equestria, enjoy your stay, and if you do anything to destabilize or threaten the world I teleport you straight to the moon." Twilight smirked. "Other then that, you're pretty much free to do whatever, mister..."
"Sparrow Jack." He blinked and shook his head. "No, wait. Jack Sparrow. Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow."
"A pleasure to meet you captain. Oh, since it is your first time out of your loop, you'll need the Welcome to the multiverse speech. Oh I'm so excited, this is my first time giving it!"
Jack Sparrow suddenly felt a sinking feeling.
3.4 (Masterweaver): [Pirates of the Caribbean] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 27.10.
"Jack. Sparrow."
The stallion turned around. "Twilight Spoirkle! Fancy seeing you on this fancy ship. Fancy, innit?"
The unicorn raised an eyebrow. "Yes. It's very fancy."
"Flying ships, I said. Flying ships. You know, that's very clever, I'm going to have to figure out this one."
"Do you know who this ship belongs to?" Twilight continued calmly.
"Hold up. Let me ask the crew. NAVIGATOR!"
A blonde pegasus saluted, swaying slightly. "Yes Captain?"
"Who does this ship belong to?"
"That'd be you, captain!"
Jack smiled, turning back to Twilight. "So, apparently, this is my ship."
The bearer of magic sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Cloudkicker, why are you helping him steal this ship?"
"Steal?" The violet pegasus fluttered over. "This. This isn't stealing. This ship is his, fair and square."
"THIS IS PRINCE BLUEBLOOD'S PERSONAL YACHT!"
"Was," Jack said calmly. "Right up till he gave me the deed, see, I've got a contract." He rustled at his pockets, muttering something about fingers before he finally pulled out a scroll. "Signature, legal mumbo jumbo, aaaaand... ah, seal of office. Which is his tattoo thing."
"Cutie mark," Cloudkicker corrected.
"That's what I said."
Twilight groaned. "I'd accuse you of casting some sort of spell if I could figure any of this out-"
"You hear that Berry? You're a witch!"
Berry Punch stumbled up from below deck. "Really? Want some of my brew?"
"Is it rum?"
"MOSTLY rum!"
"Bring it on up witch!"
The purple mare cackled as she descended again.
"We totally need to have a threesome with her," Cloudkicker commented.
"I agree. Twilight, care to join us?"
The unicorn let out a tortured groan. "Why are you being so... so childish?!"
Jack tilted his head. "I take it, that's a no."
"HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN?!"
The pirate shrugged. "Funny story, really..."
Blueblood moaned as the light assaulted his eyes. "Ugh. That is the last time I ever drink... any. Any peasant drink. What was it called, Room or something?" He blinked and shook his head. "I should have it outlawed..."
He blinked again.
He blinked a third time.
He looked around his room.
His bare, unadorned, not-even-having-any-furniture room.
There was a frantic scramble to find his bed, before he realized it was out on the lawn... alongside every other item in his house... and a number of auctioneers.
"And that is why I am the grandmaster of liar's dice."
Twilight stared.
She couldn't figure out whether Jack was joking.
3.5 (Saphroneth): [Kingdom Hearts] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 29.11.
The pegasus looked around. "Okay, where the hell am I now? Donald, was this your doing?"
A unicorn trotted unsteadily over. "Wasn't me," he said, with a slight rasp to his voice. "I thought it was your clothes."
"Nope." The pegasus shrugged. "How are you doing with walking?"
"It ain't easy." Donald tripped and nearly faceplanted. "At least you've got wings, Sora. And experience at being four legged!"
"Hey, that's a point." Sora spread them, and flailed at the air until he was aloft. "I'll go look for Goofy."
"Sure, whatever…" Donald sat back, trying to work out how his magic had changed. And, for that matter, how to hold his staff.
"Huh, new Loopers," Twilight said, as Dash finished describing them. "Well, I don't recognize them from the description. One of each type?"
"Yep, same as usual." Dash nodded. "Strange thing is, only the pegasus is finding, well, walking easy. And even he moves more like Gilda."
"Really?" Twilight nodded. "Huh. Interesting. Well, I'd better go and meet them. Go let Princess Luna know, I think she's Awake."
"Aye aye, Twi!" Dash saluted, and vanished in a crack of displaced air.
"Oh, right…" Sora said, looking up. "So this is where you came from."
"It is indeed," Luna replied. "You would be Sora, yes?"
"That's right." The pegasus crossed his eyes, and a keyblade flashed into being between his teeth. "There we go, I've been trying to get that to work all morning…" he added in a mumble.
"You know him?" Twilight asked, interested.
"I Replaced one of the people from his Loop once," Luna explained. "That was the same Loop wherein little Nyx did my job."
"Oh, yes, the sideways moon incident," Twilight said, nodding. "Yes, you did tell me about that place. Keys, wasn't it?"
"Pretty much." Sora concentrated, and the keyblade flashed between a dozen different forms. "I've got a lot of choice by now. Anyway, what's your world like?"
"Mostly peaceful, actually…" Twilight said, shrugging. "We can handle most of the villains who show up just fine. Though, actually…" she trailed off, a grin spreading across her face.
"What?" Luna asked, seeing it.
"I was wondering how Sombra would react to being hit by a Keyblade." Twilight shrugged. "Should be interesting."
3.6 (Richardson): [Pirates of the Caribbean] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 36.1
The sea babbled at the hull of the boat. It should have been a good sound, a welcome sound. So why did her head hurt so much? Her loop memories trickled in, tip-toeing around her semi-conscious mind.
"Oi, luv, my rum."
Her eyes snapped awake. Bad mistake, hangover plus mid-day sun reflecting off of the sea did not a charitable equation make. "Ooooh. My head."
"Well, that's what you get for drinking all of my rum. Here, take a bucket."
"To-URK- ugh, that in?" Twilight took the bucket, hiding it under her chin as her feet grew oddly wet.
"No, to bail out the boat it, though I have found it to be most delightfully useful for the first. We're sinking, and I would rather that we make our entrance to Port Royal in dryness and style. One must have a proper sense of showmanship in this line of work." The mysterious figure talked to much. Twilight tried to brain of who he was, but her think was broken and she had a case of the dumbs.
"Who are you again? Everything is all-JACK!"
"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow. Good to see you're finally awake-awake. Ever since we met, this confoundable loop has kept on- what did your friend call it? Ah, yes, it kept on shipping me with you. My Rum please."
"The wha-? I was drinking this?"
"Quite fond of it." Jack took the bottle from her, distractedly pitching it overboard to her confusion. "You drank it all, love. Rum's gone. Now start bailing."
"Bailing, why-" Twilight stopped talking as a jet of water started hitting her in the face.
3.7 (Stainless Steel Fox): [TaleSpin] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 48.1.
Scootaloo Awoke looking through a grating. A quick self inspection first confirmed she had hands, but wasn't human, a pony-anthro? No, a pegasus anthro, though her wings were hidden under a shapeless green sweater. Down below a red wolf in a fancy braided jacket was going on in fractured common to a bunch of other dogs in various forms of scruffy gear about how rich the box sitting on the table in front of him was going to make him. Then the loop memories hit. Air pirates, the mouthy mexicano moron was one Don Karnage, and she was currently in an air vent on a pirate airship called the Iron Vulture. Awesome!
She was apparently one Scootaloo 'Scoots' Skyscorcher, and a soon to be ex-pirate cabin-boy. She rifled the memories, orphanage, bullied as a freak, while this world had bird anthros with wing hands, pegasi didn't exist, runaway, hooked up with the air-pirates because she was mad about planes. She'd managed to keep both wings and gender a secret from the bozos, which wasn't hard as apart from Karnage the entire bunch had more toes than brain cells. She'd been with them a year, gotten fed up a lot sooner, and wanted out.
Which led to her current situation. This was apparently Don Karnage's biggest score, stolen from some big wig industrialist by the name of Sher Khan, and she intended to steal it and set out on her own, acquiring a plane and license as soon as she was of age. As plans went, it was kind of shy on the fine detail, but then she was only twelve years old. Scootaloo decided to go with it, she certainly didn't know enough about the world to start making her own plans yet.
She opened the grating and dropped down onto the table beside the box. "Wow! That really is a neat treasure! No lesser pirate could have stolen it!"
As she expected the egotistical canine preened, "Yes, of course, I am the fantabulous Don Karnage yes/no?"
"Oh yes, and I wanted to thank you for teaching me how to lie, cheat and plunder. I guess you could call this my final exam..." She scooped up the box and sprung over his head, dropping the red bandanna that showed her pirate affiliation over his head. Using the head of the largest pirate, Dumptruck, as a stepping stone, she landed at the door and kept running. Thankfully this body had her regular lightning reflexes and acrobatic skill.
"It was... wait what?" The pirate finally caught up and yelled, "Stop that boy!"
Scootaloo charged out of the control room and down metal gantries, yells and cries following her. She met some pirates on the way down and yelled, "Get up there and help the Captain, right away!"
As they ran upstairs, she thanked Celestia for stupid villains. Dropping down to the floor of the main hangar deck, she snatched a grapnel launcher from the rack of blunderbusses along one wall and charged towards the open hangar door, shaped like a raptor's beak. Ignoring the yelling growing behind her, she charged up to the lip and dived off. She barely heard from above Don Karnage's voice yelling, "No, my treasure!"
Plummeting from several thousand feet would be a concern for most people, even a pegasus whose stubby wings didn't allow her to fly. She had plenty of fixes in her subspace pocket, but she decided to get some practice with her in-loop abilities. Her wings popped out of slits in her jumper and she angled her body to power dive towards a cloud, and plunged into it, arresting her fall. Her cloud-walking abilities were another secret she'd managed to keep from the pirates.
She popped her face out of the cloud to check the giant air-ship above her, which was already shedding single engined biplanes like a dog shedding fleas. Whatever else there was nothing wrong with their reactions when it didn't involve actual thought. They plunged after her, and she made sure none of them were headed right for her hiding spot before ducking back in. She tucked the box inside her jumper and made it secure.
She let them dive past her and buzz around below as the cloud floated away from the search area. As she waited for them to drift out of sight, she directed a thought towards Pansy. Any luck finding other loopers?
No-pony from our world, though they may simply be out of range. Locally, I don't have enough to work with yet. Clover's the real expert.
Don't do yourself down, I wouldn't trade you for a dozen Clovers. Keep trying.
She got an impression of appreciation from Pansy, and the question, So what's the mission plan?
Get to this Cape Suzette place where Shere Khan is, return his property, see what we can get out of it, if anything. After that, who knows, ascend and age myself a couple of years then go after a plane and a pilot's license. From what I know, this world is practically built for pilots. Which means I could have a huge amount of fun here. If I don't find some kind of quest... this looks like the sort of world that'll have one, and I tick all the boxes for a starting out hero.
The pirates had moved out of sight, and Scootaloo figured it was safe to move. She pushed her way down to the bottom of the cloud, and peeked out. Aha, a twin engined cargo job, just what she needed. She quickly fixed pads of clouds around her hooves, and power dived again, unslinging the grapple gun. A quick shot and a dash of weather magic wrapped the grapple around the leading edge of the rudder, and she swung her feet under her, pumping weather magic into them to act as flying skates. Her in-loop self didn't know how it worked, just that she could do it. Her wings could propel her as well, but not as fast as even a slow plane, and unlike her wings, a plane didn't get tired.
She'd been careful to dive below the pilot's line of sight, as the last thing she wanted was for anyone to see her abilities. After about half an hour, they started descending towards a tropical island with some sort of resort that looked to be part tree-house, and partly built out of a wreck of an old galleon. Various wooden docks stuck out into the water at odd angles, with dozens of seaplanes of various makes and models moored at them. The big neon sign said 'Louie's'. Now this looked like a fun place...
She unhooked the grapple gun and let it drop, flying down under her own power, looking for a quiet spot to land. She found it on a beach a short way around from the main docks, and made a neat two point landing. Folding her wings back inside her jumper, she strolled around and climbed up the docks and to the main entrance. She could hear singing from inside, some guy going on about how he was 'gone'. She slipped in the door to see filled tables and a big bear in a flight shirt and wearing a fruit salad on his head singing and dancing. However, he did seem to be looking towards the door and did a double-take as she entered.
Noting it for future reference, she made her way over to the bar where an orangutan in a Hawaiian was mixing up some cocktail concoction. She bounded up onto a stool and waited for him to notice her.
"Hey, short stuff, where'd you spring from?"
"Just flew in, but now I'm here, and I'd like a drink." She pulled an Equestrian bit from her subspace pocket. "I don't have local money, but I can pay."
The orangutan picked it up, weighing it in his hand, bit it and tapped it against the counter. "Well don't that beat all! Where'd a little guy get something like this?"
"Family heirloom." Scootaloo shrugged. "So, it'll cover a drink and a meal?"
"Cuz, if this is the real deal, you're covered for pretty much everything. Oh, hey Baloo, sounds like your pipes are all in tune."
"You know it Louie, heh... mind if I borrow your new friend for a minute?" The big bear was trying to sound relaxed and failing.
"Not my call cuz." He indicated the bear to Scootaloo, "This is Baloo, best pilot in the skies. He's good people. If you like planes, he's the guy to talk to. Tell you what, I'll make you one of my triple split specials. Finest sundae west of Timbucthree."
"Sounds great!" Scootaloo looked over at Baloo. "One for Baloo here as well?"
"I never pass up free eats." Baloo's voice was jovial, but still strained. He waited until Louie had moved away and said, "Who are you, and where's Kit?"
"The name's Scootaloo Skyscorcher, and the only kit I've got is what I'm wearing. Let me guess, you're a looper, and I've replaced someone called Kit who you were expecting instead."
"Hey yeah, but what's a looper... are you talking about the way things keep happening over and over?"
"Oh horse-feathers, sounds like you're new to all this. How many times has it happened for you?"
"About thirty, forty times, you know what's going on?"
"Oh pony, looks like my turn to give the 'welcome to the multiverse' speech." She glanced around, and whispered, "Pansy, holo-projector and a perception filter please."
She proceeded to give him loops 101, complete with pretty pictures. Over the loops they'd gotten it down to a fine art. As she put away the projector. "To sum up, looks like you're Anchor for this world, Kit will return next loop, and from how close you two are, he'll probably start looping soon too."
Baloo was shaking his head. "Kiddo, that's gotta be the craziest story anybody's ever tried to sell me. But I never saw anything like that gadget you pulled either, so I guess I've gotta believe it. So where's little britches?"
"Could be he's skipped this loop, could be he's swapped with me. Pretty much anything can happen with the loops."
"Great and Powerful Trixie, you've got to vanquish the ursa."
The Unawake stage magician freaked as she watched two hundred hooves of astrological ursine stride down the main street of Ponyville. "But... no-pony can vanquish an Ursa! I just made up the story to make my act better!"
Snips and Snails went through the border checkpoint of 'Uh oh!' and joined her in the land of freaking out.
She mustered her magic, got ready to try and stop it, when the beast's jaws gaped, and it said in a surprisingly teenage voice, "Hey, pony lady, I don't want trouble, I just want someone to tell me what the heck is going on! What kind of crazy dream is this? I go to sleep in my bed at Higher for Hire, and next thing I'm waking up in some cave somewhere with those two running around my feet! What am I, what are you, what's going on?"
"What? What..." Trixie was eloquent in her incomprehension, at least until her eyes rolled up and she fainted.
"Well that was helpful." The bear groused. "You two, do whatever you do for fainted ponies, I'm sitting right here until someone comes up with some answers." He sat back on his haunches in the main square, carefully, checking to see he didn't crush anything by accident.
"So what normally happens next?" Scootaloo asked, as Louie brought over their triple split sundaes, towering concoctions of fruit, ice cream and whipped cream.
"Don Karnage and his yahoos generally show up, looking for Kit and that gem. I usually have us hightail it out of here before then, but I don't think we can make it..."
The doors slammed open, and Karnage and his goons strode through them. Scootaloo dropped down behind her stool and whispered, "You go get your plane started, I'll distract them."
"You sure kiddo? These are dangerous guys."
"Don't worry, I've got this. Make sure those sundaes are to go, I'm not missing out on that."
"I am sorry to fracture the festivities," the pirate captain announced, walking in and picking up a drink off the table, "but I have a little announcement."
Scootaloo was already using the tables as cover to get around to a balcony, the perfect place to attract their attention. Meanwhile Karnage was wasting time posing and threatening Louie. Oh, he was getting extra for that!
She got in position and made her preparations just as one of the pirates fired a warning shot at the roof.
"Hey, no need to wreck the place, Karny!" she called out. "I was just leaving anyway!"
The red wolf crook's head snapped round, and he yelled, "Get him!"
Three pirates charged up the stairs towards her just as she jumped up on the rail, snatching a tiki mask to use as an improvised board, and slid down the bannister, springing and tumbling over the hands that grasped for her. She'd already plotted her route from when she flew off the end, and spun end for end while grabbing a bowl of soup from a passing table. The pirates finally managed to get themselves turned round and followed her back down the stairs. As they did, she flung the bowl to smash just under where the lead pirate, a whiny suck-up be the name of Mad Dog was about to put his foot. He slipped, fell and in the process tripped the pirates charging down after him, leaving them in a nice pile at the bottom of the stairs.
Of course, Scootaloo had other problems to cope with, namely a problematic pirate captain with a pointy cutlass who'd jumped into her path, legs wide and sword out. She'd turned back to face him, and he sneered at her. "It is the funny joke you are making, but I shall have the last ha ha!"
"Pass!"
Scootaloo snatched the nearest thing she could see, a serving fork from a half eaten roast, and folded backwards, limboing low on her board to slide between the pirate's akimbo legs, and fending off the cutlass with the fork. Just to finish off, she prodded him from behind with the fork as she slid onwards, sending him jumping with a yowl of pain.
She straightened up just in time to push her way through the now empty doors, and cursed not having enough time to say something like, The forks are strong in this one… Pansy, who'd gotten caught up on hub universe fiction, groaned inside her head. She was heading down the pier, slowing as she ran out of momentum, and at the end was a yellow cargo seaplane with a red bow and its engines turning over.
Baloo stuck his head out the open door. "You okay, kiddo?"
"Never better!" She bounded off the tiki mask as she noticed a familiar heavily armed tri-plane docked near him. "Get moving, I'll be along in a moment!"
She might not be in Apple Bloom's league when it came to gadgets, but she knew something about aircraft engines. She flipped the cowling and ripped out a number of important wires, throwing them out to sea.
There was a howl of fury as Don Karnage burst out of Louie's, followed by his goons. "Stop him... Shoot you ridiculous rodents!"
Scootaloo ducked as a blast from a blunderbuss shot over her head, then weaved her way along the dock as other blasts peppered the air around her. At least one took off half the propeller of another pirate biplane. She reached the already moving Sea Duck and dived through the doorway, slamming the door after her.
"I've bought us some time... Maybe I should have flown it away... no, too much start up time."
The seaplane was already surging forward under Baloo's skilled coaxing. "C'mon baby... wait, you can fly?"
"Anything from a Sopwith Camel to a Star Destroyer!" Scootaloo responded proudly, "Though in-loop, not yet, though I've been mad for planes as long as I can remember."
"Well you'd better buckle up!" The Sea Duck lurched as the keel unstuck from the water and it soared up into the sky. "Yahoooo! Oh man, there's no better feeling than hitting the blue!"
Baloo threw the Sea Duck into a barrel roll, taking the chance to check the island below, "Hey, looks like you got Don Kebab and his mixed meatheads all riled up."
"That was the idea. You should know that while that guy can keep an idea in his head, unlike the rest of them, two is beyond him. I didn't just escape, I publicly embarrassed him. He's going to want to catch me alive himself simply so he can personally chop me into bite sized pieces. That means he's not letting the rest of his goons follow us until his plane's fixed, and it should keep him from taking it out on the bystanders at Louie's."
"Yeah, but when he gets fixed up, he's going to be after us horse, foot and marines."
Baloo was slightly shocked by the calculation in the young ponies voice, and some part of it must have leaked into his voice, because Scootaloo looked over at the bear in the pilot's seat, then turned and hung her head. "I'm sorry. I've kind of taken you for granted. I'm not your friend Kit, I'm just someone who met you a few hours ago and already I've dragged you into danger with me."
"Hey kiddo, don't sweat it. Ol' Karny and me have crossed propellers plenty of times, and he's always been the one who ditched at the end of it. Besides, I'd never leave anyone in the clutches of that two bit pirate."
"Well anyway, thanks. So where are we heading?"
"Cape Suzette, you're going to love it!" They were straight and level, and he looked over at the pegasus, grinning. He flipped open a compartment to reveal two slightly melted triple splits. "I even got dessert. Chow down."
It only took a few moments to polish off the sundaes, and Scootaloo looked over the plane she was in properly for the first time. The cockpit had the look of long use, but had been well cared for and extensively customised. Some of the tweaks almost seemed familiar. She consulted her in-loop memories. "Wow, this is a pretty sweet setup. A Conwing L-16 with Super-Flight 100 customised engines? This thing must really move!"
"Good eye kiddo!" Baloo patted the console. "Yup, she's my baby. Me and Wild Bloom have spent a lot of time getting her just right... Wait... what?"
"If that's who I think it is, sounds like I'm not the only fused looper. Earth-pony, good with gadgets? Yellow coat, red mane in a bow?"
"Pretty much, though she wears a jumpsuit... Except she should be a male lion called Wildcat. But I remember meeting up with her, working together on the Sea Duck, everything just as clearly. Oh man, this is too weird!"
"Welcome to the wonderful world of fused loops. Your in-loop memories say one thing, your real memories say another. We've gotta get you doing some mental exercises to help you keep things straight."
"Whoa, I ain't any kind of brain, kiddo." Baloo shook his head.
"Neither was I, but even I managed to learn them. Besides, if you can get it down, you can learn to create a sub-space pocket, a way to store things so you can carry them between loops."
"Now that sounds like a mighty useful thing to know!" The big bear glanced over at the young pony, who was looking at the control yoke in front of her with a familiar eagerness. "So, you said you can fly. Can you fly a Conwing L-16?"
"Never tried, but I'd love to find out!" Scootaloo reached out and took hold of the yoke, closing her eyes for a moment as her fingers closed around the grips. She seemed to freeze for a moment, attentive to something only she could sense. "Hello, Sea Duck. Baloo's lucky to have you."
Baloo had seen Kit take his first grasp of the Sea Duck's controls dozens of times, and for all his natural talent, he was quite naturally somewhat clumsy when he actually took the yoke. Scootaloo was different. When her eyes opened, they flicked back and forth across the instruments as easily as his own. She held the Sea Duck steady and on course like a veteran pilot, and he started to believe what she'd told him, not just with his head, but with his heart.
"Can I, please?" she asked, and didn't need to say more. At his nod, she started doing gentle turns and banks around their base course. She'd flown planes far faster than this, and far more advanced, but she could feel that this one, for all it's primitive technology and limited flight envelope was something special. What she really wanted to do was try out some real stunts, she knew the Sea Duck could take them, but she was only too aware of the privilege she'd been given by flying the Sea Duck at all, and she didn't want to abuse it.
However, her piloting experience included a lot of combat flying, and it was that that caused her to suddenly go into a wing-over and dive.
"Hey what the..." Baloo was answered by the whistle of machine gun bullets behind them.
"Six coming in four o clock high!" Scootaloo rapped out, putting the Sea Duck in a tight roll that put her into a nearby cloudbank. "You have the stick?"
Baloo had grabbed his own yoke as soon as they'd started spinning, but he'd let Scootaloo complete the manoeuvre, as it was pretty much what he'd have done himself. "Roger little dodger, now watch this pre-formance!"
The cloudbank ran out unexpectedly, ejecting them into a maze of towering storm clouds, lightning crackling around them. The pirate biplanes shot out a few seconds later, but scattered and no longer in the deadly staggered echelon formation they'd previously held. Baloo played an expert game of tag with the pirates, swooping, zooming, turning and spinning to somehow out-manoeuvre fighters in a cargo plane.
Scootaloo was itching to get involved, but this was Baloo's world and his plane. She wasn't used to being a passenger while somepony else was paying the freight. However, she tried to sit back and appreciate the big bear's clear mastery of the situation. At one point he managed to do a wing-over and return to fly straight through the bad guys, scattering them like pigeons, then trolled them into following him into a power dive, right to sea level.
The seat of her pants that Scootaloo wasn't wearing felt distinctly uncomfortable as they headed for the water, but it was clear Baloo had some plan in mind, and she managed to hold on to her impatience and the sides of her seat as at the last split-second he pulled a lever whose function had puzzled her and leading edge flaps flipped up, altering the angle of attack and giving him the lift to pull out into level flight. Several splashes behind them indicated the lead pirates hadn't been so lucky.
"Okay, now that was cool!" The pegasus glanced up and back. "But there are some still up there and they've got us pinned against the sea. I've got some tricks of my own that might help..."
"No need kiddo, see those puffs of smoke?" Baloo pointed to some cliffs ahead with a narrow gorge between them. There were white puffballs appearing from around the tops.
"AA Fire?" Scootaloo asked, and was answered seconds later by bursting noises from above. She glanced out of the window and saw explosions above in the heart of the pirate pack. They scattered and high-tailed it out of there with Karnage's plane in the lead.
"Yep! The cliff guns of Cape Suzette. Drives 'em crazy!" Baloo said with a lazy grin as they climbed away from the sea. Scootaloo switched her gaze away from the approaching cliffs and to her companion, who was relaxing back in his seat.
"You know, you remind me a lot of Rainbow Dash... I think you saw her in the pictures. She's the rainbow maned pegasus and she's the most awesome flyer in Equestria. She's also the Element of Loyalty and would never leave some-pony hanging."
"Sounds like you think a lot of her."
"Well yeah, she basically took me under her wing, taught me everything she knew and is pretty much my big sister. I guess you and Kit have something similar. I really hope he starts looping soon himself. You both deserve it."
There was no calculation in the pony's voice this time, and Baloo made a decision. "Well until he gets back, seems I'll be needing a replacement navigator. You up for the job?"
"Am I ever!" Scootaloo returned eagerly.
"Then welcome aboard, Scoots." Baloo opened a storage compartment and handed her a green baseball cap. She put it on as they flew through the gorge and out into a wide lagoon.
"Oh, wow!" Once again, Scootaloo had seen far larger and taller cities in her time, but this was one of the prettiest. Art deco towers with sky bridges made a wide crescent around a vast lagoon with an island in it, and were built back into the hillsides of the bowl that enclosed it. And everywhere there was air-traffic, dirigibles, sea-planes, flying back and forth. It made Canterlot sky-port look like a village cross-roads in January.
She noticed one of the biggest towers had a logo which her in-loop memories told her stood for Shere Khan, and that jogged her memory. She pulled out the box. "Oh, hey, I've still got this. Want to hand it over to Khan before Karny and his merry mutts make another grab for it? In short, what's the plan, big man?"
"Huh, normally Kit hides it back at Louie's... Welp, I hook up with Kit, head on back to base, find out I missed the last six payments on the Duck and have to stump up three large ones, three thousand bucks or they'll foreclose at nine tomorrow." He grinned. "Of course lately, as soon as I find myself back at Louie's at the start of each... loop? I ring up a bookie in Cape Suzette and put on some accumulators I know will pay out. Easy money.
"But first time round, we did a high ticket mission which I blew when Karny captures Kit, and he offers to share the reward for the gem in that box, except it's not a gem, it's some sub-electron dohickey that can create a lot of power. Khan's willing to fork over a solid hundred thousand for it's return, and Karny wants to use it to build a lightning cannon to come plunder Cape Suzette."
He shrugged. "Man, first time round we went all over the place to try and get that thing back. Turns out Becky, that is Rebecca Cunningham, bought up the company from the bank to run, which made her my boss. Now I don't fuss about business, flying's all I'm interested in, so I was trying to find the fifty k to buy myself out of hock. Cutting out the drama, the pirates make their play, we stop them, destroying the stone in the process.
"I end up back behind the eight ball, flying for Higher for Hire, Becky's new name for the company, with her as the boss lady. Of course, now I've been round the block a couple dozen times, I can get round that easy enough, and did, but you know, it's like that time I saved Khan's life and he gave me pretty much anything I asked for, or when I found out I'd inherited a fortune and a big house. It got lonely being just me, or even me and Kit. So now I let her buy the place just to get her involved."
"Sounds like quite a lady." Scootaloo replied. "Is she your special some-pony... some-body?"
Baloo barked out a laugh. "Me and Beckers? Not in a million years! We'd drive each other crazy, heck, we do drive each other crazy! She's a stickler for everything being just so, and I like to take a more relaxed att-i-tude. She's pushy, bossy, mercenary, comes up with crazy moneymaking schemes at the drop of a hat... and she's someone I'd trust with my life, and a good friend."
"Except for the moneymaking part, that sounds just like another friend of mine, Diamond Tiara. I wonder if she'll be showing up here. If Apple Bloom is here, we might see some others..."
"Man, how many more are there?"
Recounting the other members of the Crusaders took them all the way round the bay and until they taxied up to the dilapidated dock that led to the ramshackle building that housed 'Baloo's Air Cargo Service'. Except the was freshly painted and now said, 'Higher for Hire'.
"What the Sam Hill?" Baloo shook his head in disbelief, and stormed out of the Sea Duck and up the dock.
A pink female pony of more adult proportions with wavy purple hair held back with a bandana was backing out of the doorway. She wore a white turtleneck and violet slacks, and was carrying a bale of old newspapers neatly tied up with string.
"Hey lady, who are you and what do you think you're doin'?" Baloo called out.
She dropped the bundle besides a bunch of others and turned to face him. "The name's Tara, Tara Cunningham, and as of 9 am this morning I own this place and that plane."
"But that's not till tomorrow, and you ain't Beckers..."
Wild Bloom came out, equally grown up, wearing a tatty set of overalls and carrying a box of junk. Her mid-Usland accent was even more pronounced than usual. "Sorry Baloo, I tried to boost the radio to get you the message, but the bank came with the paperwork yesterday. She's got a bunch of lawyer's papers and everything."
Baloo started to get mad, then realised something. "Then I've got just one question for you all. Are you Awake?"
The stress he put on the word clearly hit a bullseye. Tara slumped slightly and said. "Oh darn, and I wanted to see if I could turn this place into something that could give Khan Industries a run for their money."
He heard Scootaloo's voice behind him. "Guys, this is Baloo Von Bruinwald, Anchor and our host for this loop. He's still in his first century. I gave him the intro speech and told him about us. Do we have Sweetie Belle and Nyx on board?"
The two ponies in question came out, younger than usual and wearing rompers. Sweetie Belle exclaimed, "Present, and I hate being a rug-rat!"
Diamond Tiara waved a hand at them and said, "Meet my 'daughters', Belle and Nyx Cunningham."
Wild Bloom rubbed the back of her head and said, "Sorry guys, but this world doesn't have computer records, if you want to bump your ages a bit, it'll have to wait until we can find the paperwork and rig it."
Baloo was looking around at the five of them, and just shook his head. "Man, and I thought my life was complicated enough already!"
Scootaloo grinned as she joined up with the other Crusaders. "Don't think of it as complicated, think of it as interesting!"
3.8 (BlankSlate): [Gargoyles] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 51.7.
Twilight's head tilted so sharply she felt her neck crack. Ponyville had looked completely normal when she'd arrived there. No-one else had been awake, so she'd decided to take a mild vacation and run a vanilla loop.
Now, she was kind of regretting that idea.
The Castle of the Two Sisters was... rather different from what she'd expected. Instead of the graceful lines and elegant style of the Castle she was used to, this castle was...
...well, rather obviously actually a castle. In the sense of a fortified structure, with all the heavy, rugged stonework one would expect from a place designed to withstand an active siege. A forty-foot tall rampart guarded the interior buildings and towers, with sturdy battlements and wall towers at the corners providing cover for the massive (though rusted and, unfortunately, closed) iron portcullis at the gate.
Toss in that the whole thing was actually on a massive promontory sticking out over a lake that didn't exist in the baseline and Twilight was suddenly sure she was sitting in a fused loop.
Right about that moment was when she caught notice of several fliers inbound, coming from the castle. A howl split the air, and Twilight's head jerked down to see what seemed to be a massive diamond dog jump off the walls and run towards her and her friends. Answering cries came from above as five pegasi descended.
Even before they got close, Twilight could clearly see that the approaching pegasi were.. not the normal type. For one thing, their eyes were all glowing a brilliant green-tinged white. A quick glance down showed that the approaching diamond dog had the same eyeshine.
"Do you think Nightmare Moon has them under a spell, Twilight?" muttered Rarity. "Pony eyes don't... glow that way."
"I think a better question," Dash butted in, "would be why do they have wings like a bat?"
Twilight shook her head, though the combination was niggling familiar in the back of her mind. Glowing eyes, bat wings, howling...
Four of the fliers stayed above as one descended to land. Twilight set herself, ready to take action... only to realize that the pegasus just kept getting bigger. A moment later, the massive black-maned pegasus landed, and Twilight shivered.
The bat-winged pegasus was even taller than Celestia. More, it was massively built, to the point that in comparison Snowflake was a starving half-grown colt, though this one had wings appropriate to the great mass of the pegasus.
The eyes flared slightly brighter for a moment before the light faded away, leaving a pair of dark, yet otherwise normal eyes. "What brings you to this Castle?" The voice was deep, powerful, and male.
And familiar…
Twilight barely kept from yelling aloud. And just as tightly kept her body tense; suddenly relaxing as she now knew (well, 97% certain) that these newcomers weren't a danger to her or her friends would set off suspicions everywhere.
"I am Twilight Sparkle, student and protégé to Her Highness Celestia. I have journeyed here with my friends in search of the magics needed to defeat Nightmare Moon."
The pegasus growled low in his throat. "I and my clan will aid you then. This... Nightmare Moon is our enemy as well." He motioned to those above, who likewise descended.
"Yay!" cheered Pinkie. "So what's your names? We need to get the party planned for new friends!"
"Ach, always with names," grumbled an old brown pegasus with a scar across one eye. "Everything must always have a name."
"It never fails," chuckled the red pegasus with a white mane. He, and the last two pegasi, were all clearly younger, about the age of Twilight and her friends.
Twilight let her gaze wander from a chubby blue pegasus to the last, a green pegasus slightly smaller than the others who had no mane, as their leader nodded firmly.
"I am called Goliath. And this is my clan..."
3.9 (Detective Ethan Redfield, Gulping): [Gargoyles] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 67.9.
Chess was a game. The ultimate goal of the game was to place the King in a position where it cannot escape and it will be captured in the next move. There were many strategies, most were centered around controlling the central four squares. Twilight wouldn't say she was a master at this game, but in her many eons spent looping, she had read almost every book written on the subject, probably on every subject at one time or another. She knew every strategy that could be employed, from the Sicilian's Defense all the way to the Stonewall Attack. In her boredom, she read every chess game and even participated in chess tournaments, along with Checkers, Go and countless other board game tournaments.
But even with her experience, she was losing this game. The two ponies were laying across from each other at a Canterlot Resort Hotel in the city's finest district. Twilight rarely came to this district since it was populated by the richest snobs in Equestria. It was only at an Awake Shining's request that she came, since the pony across from her had replaced Blueblood this loop. Said male pony had a dark tan coat with a chocolate mane and beard, sporting a unicorn horn. His flank held a black chess piece resembling the king, not too dissimilar from Lelouch's when he looped here but lacking the symbol for Geass. Another dozen moves were made by both players, when it finally came to an end with a knight and a rook sealing her king in place. The female anchor sighed, only for her to look up as the Stallion started clapping, "Excellent game, Miss Sparkle, or should I say Princess Sparkle?"
Twilight replied, "Twilight, if you would. If you must though, I'm not a princess this time around, so Miss Sparkle will do, Mr. Xanatos... or do you prefer David or Chess Master?"
"Most call me Xanatos, you may as well. You're well versed in this game. The English Opening was inspired, not a common choice since reversing the Sicilian's defense to be used by white is quite complex a strategy. If I could rank you among the loopers I've played, you'd be at the same level of the girl I faced in the Fire Emblem Awakening loop, when I replaced Virion. Both of you favored protecting your individual pieces than protecting the King. An admirable trait, though unwise since in these loops, the anchors are the kings. If we lose the anchors, their loops will be lost forever."
Twilight crossed her hooves, "Do you have a point in there, Xanatos?"
Xanatos lifted the chess pieces and re-arranged them on the board, idly looking at the two kings, "I always have a point, Twilight. If you overextend yourself in chess, you will create openings for your enemies to slip through, capturing the king. For example-"
The looper stood up, walked over to his dresser, pulled out two sphere like objects, "This is an anti-magic generator, and the other a gravity generator that increases the weight of everything within its radius. If I were to activate it, how would you counter me?"
Twilight gave a smirk, "Shining knows I'm here, and he knows to check in on me within the hour."
Xanatos returned the smile, "Good, but what if you were the only known looper, I induced an attack by Chrysalis long before her appointed time and had her replace one of the Elements of Harmony? Of course, if you didn't have back up such as your brother then you'd have planned differently, but my point is – I wouldn't have just one plan, but several running in conjunction at the same time. What if it's in a universe where your powers are gone and subspace pocket inaccessible?"
Twilight's head ran both scenarios at the same time, however Xanatos held up a hoof, "Another time for that. My point is, always plan to win. Plan everything out days in advance. Practice every conceivable scenario and how it could go. Have multiple plans running at once. If plan A fails, Plans B through F may still succeed. Finally if you fail, have an out. Better to spend a loop in Eiken than have your entire universe erased."
"It's worth noting that I have... Learned a modicum of humility over these days." The bearded stallion flinched noticeably at this admission, something that Twilight had no trouble picking up on.
"You've gotten on one of the First's bad sides, haven't you?" Twilight's tone was surprisingly bereft of sympathy, sounding like she was speaking to someone who had built an extremely expensive house on a floodplain.
"Among others, yes. The problem with playing the Game is simple. Not everyone wants to play with you. Sometimes they're direct about it." A hoof came up to rub his jaw, nudging it slightly to confirm that it was, indeed, whole. "And that's if you're fortunate."
Twilight let out a low, soft whistle. "Finding out you were stuck in a time loop didn't really do much for your judgment, did it?"
"Not at first, no. And it did not help that my reputation tends to precede me. My name is, literally, synonymous with scheming. Complex scheming that operates entirely by eliminating the competition's winning conditions." He sighed, and shook his head.
"You've learned to appreciate the small victories, I take it?" Twilight's tone was more than a little sly, and there was really nothing Xanatos could do to object to her teasing, because really, that's his own fault.
"The value of being able to eat solid food over the course of an entire loop is well ingrained in my mind, yes. Also, checkmate."
Twilight's attempt to muffle her laughter cut off sharply as she looked down at the board. "...Was admitting to the drawbacks of being you something you did on purpose to distract me, or just you unconsciously seizing the opportunity after you'd already gotten going with your thoughts?"
Xanatos just stared at the chessboard. "...Truth be told, I don't know."
3.10 (Vulpine Fury): [Gargoyles] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 67.13.
"Mister Xanatos, I am reminded of one of my good friends in another Loop..." Celestia said as she gracefully navigated the room and decanted some exceptional Prench wine. "He said something that I think applies here."
Xanatos boggled as the peytral and tiara floated over his head and shoulders.
"As I was saying, Joshua said... 'A strange game. It seems the only way to win..." A surfboard crossed Xanatos' field of vision. "... is not to play.'"
3.11 (Dalxein): [Frozen] / [My Little Pony] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as Loop 77.2.
"Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked after zooming in through the library's window. The unicorn hadn't even had time to properly reorganize the place after her arrival from Canterlot this loop. "Snowflake's been replaced by a looper, and… uhh… it's weird."
The purple mare sighed and nodded. "How weird?"
"Well, she's not used to being a pegasus… or flying. We got her to my place before she decided she wasn't going anywhere until someone explained what was going on, and I figured you'd do better than me with this one."
Nodding again, Twilight cast a cloudwalking spell on herself before teleporting the both of them to Dash's cloud flat. There sitting on a puffy couch made of cloud was a regal mare with gossamer wings, her coat an icy blue and her mane a braided silver. On her flank was an intricate snowflake pattern.
"Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm the local Anchor here in Equestria." When the mare nodded understanding, she continued. "What's your name?"
"My name is Elsa… and I am very confused."
Twilight grinned.
After she'd finished her 'welcome to the multiverse' speech, Rainbow having left halfway through to go manage the Summer Sun Celebration while they were busy, Twilight asked, "So, are you your world's Anchor?"
Shaking her head, partially to clear her mind after the information dump, Snowflake- or rather, Elsa, answered, "I do not believe so. My sister's fiancé, Kristoff, is most likely our Anchor. He sometimes speaks of loops where neither myself nor my sister recall the loops. My sister, myself, Kristoff, and we believe his reindeer Sven, all began looping in time simultaneously."
Twilight nodded. "Probably the crash, then."
"The… crash?" Elsa tentatively probed.
"I haven't worked it into the speech proper yet because it tends to be very intimidating, especially with how overwhelming everything else is in one's first fused loop. Fairly recently, an entire reality collapsed. The strain on the system led to new loopers in established loops, and new worlds gaining anchors and loopers, to minimize the damage."
"An entire…" Elsa paused, taking a moment to recollect herself. "That is indeed very troubling to hear."
"Don't worry too much," Twilight said, trying to calm the mare down some. "There were extenuating circumstances, and in all my time as an Anchor I've only seen it happen that one time. Both our worlds are safe."
It wasn't much, but hearing that did help to comfort her a bit. "And… are there many other loopers and anchors about?"
This had the purple mare laughing "Oh, loads of them! I don't think I've met even half of them, but that's still quite a lot of po-eople…" She caught herself at the last moment. "I like to think that I'm fairly old and well-versed as far as Anchors go, but there are a lot that've been looping longer than me, and none of us even compare to the first loopers, who're truly ancient compared to the rest."
Seeing the goggle-eyed mare in front of her, she giggled. "Sorry, I'm trying to say that it's a big multiverse out there, and there's no end of new people to meet in the loops." Her grin faltered. "There's also no end of trouble you can get into in the other loops, as well. Some of them are pretty horrible, which is why we decided our loop would be a sanctuary. We do our best to make sure that our loop is as peaceful and pleasant as possible for any looper that needs a vacation. Our loops are usually about five years long, and that's not much compared to some of the longer loops, but we try to help with the time we're given to do so." Sensing a segue, she pounced on it. "So, how long are your loops?"
"Between five and ten years, usually," Elsa answered. "The only constant seems to be that they include my coronation somewhere along the line."
"Coronation?" The unicorn gasped. "You're a princess?"
This had the Pegasus grinning. "I am a queen. Queen Elsa of Arendelle."
Of all the reactions she was expecting, having the unicorn speed in front of her staring intently at her forehead was not on the list. Flinching away from the sudden close proximity, she asked "What… are you doing?"
Something seemed to snap back into place in the purple mare as she twitched and her eyes widened. "Oh, sorry. It's not that common that we see royalty from other loops here in Equestria. Most of our 'royals' are alicorns - ponies with both pegasus wings and a unicorn's horn."
Elsa tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, what I meant was that Fused Loops have a tendency to be ironic or humorous with one's role or status or especially their name or job - the pony you're taking the place of this loop is named Snowflake, for instance. Given that's also your cutie-mark." She received another blank look and popped off a quick summary. "It's a magical glyph or symbol on our flanks usually received in adolescence depicting a strong aspect or talent deeply ingrained in us. Magical ponies are magical." She showed her own starburst as an example. "Anyway, yours is a snowflake. I'm going to hazard a guess that means something personal to you?"
The pegasus' mouth worked soundlessly, even as she glanced down at the ice crystal on her rear that she'd inspected for a time between Dash's exit and return, for a moment before she nodded. "I was born with a curse - incredible power over ice and snow…" She paused trying to find a nice way to put the rest.
"That doesn't sound like much of a curse," Twilight hazarded, tentatively.
"I accidentally plunged my kingdom into an eternal winter until I learned to control it," the queen said, deadpan.
Twilight was about to say something, but then shut her mouth with an audible 'click'. "Alright, that sounds more like a curse."
The Pegasus nodded. "It's controlled in part by myself, and in part by my emotions. It's taken several loops of trial and error to fully understand it, but negative emotions like fear and doubt wrest control away from me. I've been solving the issue by blotting them out with love and joy."
"That seems like a terrible solution," Twilight pointed out, worry clear in her voice.
Her concerns were waved away. "It's worked well enough so far, especially with all these loops of practice. I haven't accidentally frozen the entire kingdom in ages." She began to chuckle, but when the unicorn didn't share her mirth she stopped. "It was a joke, dear. I haven't lost control of my powers since my… baseline, was it?" At the mare's nod, she continued with a small grimace. "I'm not adapting to the loops as well as Anna and Kristoff. My sister jumps headlong into everything and her beau can be rather savvy when the urge strikes him, or he has need to be. Sometimes I feel like I'm still the stuffy princess locked away in her room, watching them have fun and play pranks while I manage trade agreements and paperwork…" She shook her head and chuckled. "No, I have enough fun when they drag me out to play, too. Maybe I should be the one to prank them next time, though… They just seem to be taking this so much better than me." She glanced down shame-faced.
The purple pony scooted over to nudge the queen. "Hey, it's actually pretty impressive that you haven't gone crazy yet. I don't know a single pony that didn't go a little nuts adapting to the loops." She made a show of thinking to herself. "Except Zecora, but I'm keeping a camera handy just in case."
"You've been at this for so long and yet you're still so… chipper about it. How do you manage it?"
"Our universe is approximately 40% Pure Harmony, 25% friendship, 15% love, 10% hijinks, 5% kindness, 4% sugary treats, and like one percent assorted evils, megalomaniacs and in-jokes," Twilight said. A moment passed before her deadpan straight face broke and she snickered, causing the queen to break down in giggles herself.
"So." The unicorn continued, "We've got about five years in a peaceful loop to look forward to. But first we have to make sure you've got the tools to enjoy it properly - since you're a pegasus, that means learning to fly." She gave a tentative smile to the regal mare. "If you think you're up to it?"
A meek smile mirrored back at her. "I think I can manage… but how are you going to-?" A bright flash and suddenly the unicorn in front of her also bore a pair of wings. "…ah."
"Sorry, I just think you're better off learning the basics from me before Rainbow Dash gets ahold of you…"
3.1: One of the earliest Kingdom Hearts Loops, if not the earliest, to be published.
3.2: He's so fluffy!
3.3: Can't argue with the man's logic here.
3.4: Also can't blame him for wanting a flying ship.
3.5: Notice the callback to 3.1.
3.6: More of Captain Jack Sparrow being Captain Jack Sparrow.
3.7: Baloo and Kit's introduction to the Loops. Still one of my favorites - I've referenced it in a later MLP snip.
3.8: Gargoyles in Equestria. Like the above, I've referenced it in passing in a later MLP snip.
3.9: Xanatos makes for an interesting Looper.
3.10: To quote Saphroneth's own response... "First order of Regent Xanatos: Come and help me with all this paperwork, Twilight."
3.11: Welcome to the multiverse, Elsa.