History FanFic / TheMLPLoops

* {{Zonk}}: During the Great Elevator Saga, one floor opens on a game show; the host announces the Mane Six as a zonk prize.
-->'''Host''': ... six technicolor ponies! Yes, these ponies will clash with every single item in your home! Useful for carrying very small parcels, testing for color blindness, and inducing diabetic shock. This ZONK prize is worth: absolutely nothing!\\

** One of the more over-the-top instances of that is pure unleaded NightmareFuel for anyone who knows the actual chemical substances being referred to (seriously, just Google them and be amazed. And freaked out.):
--->'''Twilight:''' You actually tried to dissolve FOOF[[note]]Aka 'dioxygen diflouride'[[/note]] in chlorine trifluoride?!? I had to drop half the lake and fifty tons of sand on it, and it even set fire to ''that'' until it ran out of liquid!

** Upon discovering xenomorphs, the seaponies nuked the colony from orbit, and then - to be sure - glassed the rest of the planet, used a planet buster to destroy said planet, chucked the largest pieces into the sun, and then right before they left, destroyed the entire sun. All while happily singing.

--->'''Berry Punch:''' Drink it quickly before the ingredients eat through the magical stabilization. On a scale of one to ten, this thing has a shelf life of nope, it doesn't have a shelf life. And never, ever serve it to a pony – or really, anyone other than a real Equestrian dragon. Otherwise, the customer will explode. Then their remains will explode. Then, whatever is left will require Sparkle to hit it with another entire lake bed before it makes the surrounding area unlivable.

* TransformationTrinket: In order to re-ascend, ponies that have achieved alicornhood in previous loops need access to a magical artifact of similar power to the one that catalyzed their initial Ascension. (Most such artifacts are soul-bonded, so this isn't much of an issue, but a few ponies have to use more 'generic' items.)
* TropeCodifier: Innortal may have started the loops, but this series does more exploring of the rules.
* TwentyOneGunSalute: In Loop 189.8, in Princess Celestia's SillyWill, one of her heirs is Prince Blueblood, who is left a 21-''party cannon'' salute... to the head, resulting in his getting bombarded with confetti, streamers, balloons and a few boots. He's dazed afterward, but unharmed. (The will also explains that this is punishment for his various hedonistic acts, including his shabby treatment of Rarity at the last Grand Galloping Gala.)

** Prince Blueblood. How much of a twit he is tends to vary. In one of her early Loops, Rarity struck up a relationship with him, in a Fanfic/ThisPlatinumCrown-style universe, only for everything to reset with the next Loop. In Turning the Tables, he turns out to have HiddenDepths.
** In 56.17, Twilight gathers several ponies fitting this category so they can compete in a suitably modified [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus 'Upper Class Twit of the Year' competition]].
* WalkingTechbane: Apparently a not-uncommon facet of Equestria Girls Ditzy, which Sunset exploits at one point to stop the events of ''Friendship Games'' before things can go wrong, just by using Ditzy's natural nicess and curiosity. The minute she touches Twilight's doohickey, it instantly and completely dies. Problem solved.

** Loop 214.1, which kicks off when Twilight, who's preparing for Luna's return, gets a letter from Starlight Glimmer... who's Awake, marking the first new Looper that Equestria's gotten since Lyra's self-triggered crash. And then the next wham comes when Twilight gets a note from Sleipnir informing her of what would become known as the Crisis Across Infinite Loops, wherein potentially ''anyone'', including villains, could Awaken... and the only way to stop it is to kill anyone they don't want Looping. [[spoiler:Thankfully, though Equestria ''does'' get two new Loopers out of it, they're both friends -- Thorax of the changelings, and the human Flash Sentry.]]
* WhatDidIDoLastNight:

** In the loop where the Reserve Element Bearers (Spike, Chrysalis, Trixie, Zecora, Gilda and Berry Punch) fill in for the regular ones, Berry gets volunteered to handle [=UnAwake=] Discord's reforming, which she does via getting them both drunk and waking up cuddled to each other the next morning. [[spoiler: Then it turns out Discord Awoke long enough near the end of the loop to get his memories of this relationship, leading to them being an actual, continuous couple.]]
* WhenTreesAttack: In one Loop, the Golden Oak Library came to life and kicked Tirek's plot back to Tartarus. Rainbow Dash got pictures, which she later shares with Twilight.
* WhosOnFirst: In Loop 143.25, Twilight pulls this on Rainbow Dash by asking her to find a book for her -- ''In Plain Sight''. Rainbow Dash is not amused when she catches on.

* WifeHusbandry: Suspected to be the case, but ultimately averted, in Loop 194.5 -- before they Awoke, Celestia had promised a six-year-old Twilight that she would officiate Twilight's eventual wedding when she was ready, but had said it in a manner that sounded like she was proposing. They clear up the misunderstanding after both are Awake. Twilight herself notes that she considers such a relationship odd, since she normally views Celestia as a second mother to her.
* WildTeenParty: "Daughters" loops (when the Ascended CMC are the daughters of Queen Twilight) tend to have a mild version of this as the normal Canterlot social scene after the Queen Mother decides to take her 1000-year sabbatical. (There is typically prodigious alcohol consumption along with a heightened culinary scene and active night-life.) Losing track of the years and suddenly realizing that Mom -- or in one case, Dad -- is due to show up produces the expected hilarity.
* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: In Loop 70.13, Discord lets an unAwake Celestia know that he's out, and he's got lots of new ideas for chaos... then proceeds to do nothing, letting Celestia and Luna's own paranoia about him do all the work of causing chaos.
* WithCatlikeTread: As with the trope namer, Loop 56.1 features a parody of this -- the Mane Six and Celestia sneak through Canterlot Castle to retrieve the Elements from the vault they're in; they, Luna (who is elsewhere in the castle) and the guards all sing the song as they're doing so, but the guards make no effort to stop them, which Celestia guesses is due to the narrative causality of the Heartsong.

** Alternately, one loop where the library was made Twilight-Proof worked. Then it wasn't HER library. Simply moving, however, does not work.

** It happens to The Doctor (many times), when they looped as Daleks and decided to be benevolent. He just couldn't handle the shock.

Part of ''Fanfic/TheInfiniteLoops'' project.

Twilight Sparkle went to Ponyville, redeemed Nightmare Moon, defeated Discord, fought the Changelings and became an Alicorn Princess. Some time after that, she found herself back before any of that had happened. Again, and again, and again... Then her friends began to join her on occasion, which helped with the variety a bit. Now she, as well as over two dozen of her friends, fellows and in some cases erstwhile antagonists are doing the same thing -- as well as other worlds, worlds that none of them could have imagined. Friends have been made, horizons broadened... and plenty of fun had along the way.

[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic My Little Pony]] was not one of the first-activated settings, nor was it one even considered in the initial genesis of the loops. However, it has become particularly important to the revival version of the Infinite Loops as presented by Saphroneth and those provoked by him, largely because it is the MLP loops which originally got Spacebattles involved.

The MLP Loopers tend to be good friends, partly because this is the series name and a core part of their setting, and partly because it is distinct from the original Innortal iteration of the loops. As such, the theme of the MLP Loops could be said to be "don't be unkind" -- though this is a goal in-universe and not one which is met every time -- and that the Pony loopers have a tendency to want to help the admins, rather than seeing them as obstacles. Apart from that, the main feature of the MLP Loops is sheer scale owing to their long-standing nature and the general popularity of the setting. (That and how they're mostly ponies.)

Aside from revitalizing the Infinite Loops project, the MLP Loops have also provided the strong backbone for the revival and as such have had a very considerable impact. Several other Loops settings got their genesis via a crossover with the MLP Loops, as did a number of loopers, and more than one anchor originated in a Loop written originally under the aegis of the MLP Loops.

The MLP Loops can be found [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/98568/mlp-time-loops here]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9216685/1/MLP-Loops here.]] The thread is so long it's been broken into parts: [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops.257060/ 1]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-2.268673/ 2]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-3.274575/ 3]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-4.280859/ 4]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-5.284904/ 5]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-6.290209/ 6]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-7.295919/ 7]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-8.300235/ 8]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-9.306018/ 9]] [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-mlp-loops-season-10.794023/ 10]] \\

!! ''The MLP Loops'' provide examples of:

** Variant in 136.6, where it's not food that causes it -- instead, Twilight remembers why it's a bad idea to watch ''Film/TheGodfather'' right before bed.

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Retroactively in the case of Trixie and Chrysalis. In cartoon canon, they never met until the end of season 6, when Trixie was part of the team that entered Chrysalis's hive to rescue the Mane Six and the royal family. In the Loops, they've been dating since before the expansions into season 4 and beyond started.
* AnAesop: Chapter 149's message is this: sometimes, you ''can't'' solve every problem you come across... but it's always worth to ''try''. Even if you can't fix it, you can make it even the smallest bit better. When [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Naoki Kashima/The Demi-Fiend]] snapped and was possessed by his ShadowArchetype, and went on a mindless and destructive rampage. The ponies tried to help him and bring him back to his senses with the Elements of Harmony... but they ''failed'', due to the problem being too [[EnemyWithin deep seated and closely connected]] to Naoki to be subdued or dealt with so easily. Some problems ''can't'' be solved in the span of a single Loop, or by using the PowerOfFriendship. [[DeconReconSwitch However,]] once Naoki came to his senses many Loops later, he remembered how they and other Loopers like them never gave up and took the easy way out by killing him in his berserk state, and fought to bring him to his senses instead to ''help him''. In spite of [[CrapsackWorld all the horrors, betrayals, and darkness]] of his Loop, the fact that the ponies never gave up in ''trying'' to help reminded him that [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity there are some worlds worth fighting for.]]

** In Loop 202.12, Filthy Rich's marriage to Spoiled Milk was an arranged one, but Filthy wound up having a one-night stand with Applejack, whom he admitted was the one he really wanted to marry, after being told. [[spoiler:She got pregnant, and Diamond Tiara -- who was subsequently raised by Filthy and Spoiled, though with the promise that if she found out about her birth mom and wanted to rejoin her, she could -- was the result.]]

** Chrysalis. Her first loop Awake was the "Slavequestria" loop, where she and a non-Awake Shining Armor were HappilyMarried and helped runaway slaves as part of LaResistance. When the loop reset, Chrysalis was horrified to realize that her actions in the prime timeline had ''not'' been AllJustADream.
** Sunset Shimmer is also this, as after she Awoke, she's dedicated herself to atoning for her sins, swearing never to become like she was in baseline again.

** In one loop, a lot of the minor alicorns deliberately ascend for ridiculously minor things like eating a lot of muffins. At first [=unAwake=] Celestia gives them each a full coronation, but she calls it quits after Ivory Scroll apparently ascended by choking on a paper clip. It was all a gambit to get Celestia to stop forcing alicorns to have responsibility.
** In the "daughters loops" (where the Cutie Mark Crusaders are Twilight's alicorn daughters), she quickly dumps the responsibility on them so she can have fun studying elsewhere. To their credit, they immediately decided to initiate a golden age so they could have fun and get some college-level partying done while 'mom' wasn't around.

* BadassFingersnap: ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/98568/128/mlp-time-loops/mlp-loops-122 Story 122.11]]'' references it:
--> Chaos Legion had [an insignia of] a hand poised to snap. This was universally agreed to be a bad sign.

* BecomingTheCostume: The Halloween chapters (released between Loops 34 and 35) use this, as everyone transforms into the characters they were dressed as thanks to Discord. It also leads to the souls of Private Pansy, Clover the Clever and Smart Cookie sticking around as pseudo-Loopers, soul-bound to the Crusaders.
* BedmateReveal: Non-sexual example -- Twilight isn't usually that surprised when she Awakens and finds a small filly cuddled up to her. But when it's somepony other than her adoptive daughter Nyx, her reactions vary and can include general amusement or thoughts on how cute her young companion is.

--->"Bills, junk, junk, zoning warning, death threats..." she muttered, leafing through them. "Ah. Fluttershy! You have a letter!"
** In Loop 202.18, by Vinyl Scratch when going through a chest that holds part of her sunglasses collection (she finally finds [[Webcomic/SchlockMercenary Kevyn Andrayson]]'s sunglasses in the ''second'' chest she looks in):
--->"My normal sunglasses, [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Renji Abarai]]'s style of sunglasses, yellow sunglasses from [[Manga/{{Hellsing}} Alucard]], yellow sunglasses from [[Manga/{{Trigun}} Vash]], triangle shades, [[ComicBook/XMen Cyclops-style visor]]... when did I pick that up? Ooh, authentic [[Film/TheBluesBrothers Blues Brothers]] sunglasses!" ... "[[Series/CSIMiami Horatio Caine]]'s sunglasses that he gave me... nope... nope... not that one... drat, it doesn't look like they're in this chest."
* BodyDouble: One Loop explains how ''Equestria Girls'' Rainbow Dash can manage every sports team at Canterlot High in addition to all those other activities -- Substitute Rainbow Dashes, who dress and act like her.

* BreatherEpisode: The Equestria loops function as this for every guest looper. They take this duty ''very'' seriously.
* BrickJoke: Discord does a ''literal'' one when he shoots a brick up into the sky in front of Twilight and Rarity and he muses on when it'll come down. Some time later (in fact, approximately 183 loops later for Twilight, 34 for Rarity, and 11 for Discord) as the two ponies and Spike are enjoying an outdoor meal, an object shoots down from the sky and creates an explosion and crater when it hits the ground. It's the brick and Twilight is massively annoyed by how this trope was in play.

* {{Calvinball}}: Discord's "Chaos"[[note]]you were expecting a different name?[[/note]] card/board game. The rules are completely made up and the points don't mean anything. There's also a sci-fi expansion set, for Trek Loops, and even more expansions when he gets the inspiration (including after he met Calvin himself and learned about the trope namer).

* CharacterCheck: Used often, especially with Trixie, and other characters who are flanderized, such as Lina Inverse. Trixie, for instance, mentions that she realized she was going a bit too far after a Muppets loop. One of her acts was the exact plan of The Great Gonzo.

** After observing a few loops, Big Macintosh starts subtly nudging events -- A quiet word here, a small suggestion there -- to smooth out the more dramatic events of the default Equestria loops: Reduced conflict about the Grand Galloping Gala tickets, smoothly introducing Zecora to Ponyville, suggesting that Twilight coordinate Winter Wrap-up, etc. It takes Twilight quite a while to figure out that not only is he Looping, but is the one responsible for the less stressful loops.

* CostumeCopycat: 203.15 features an offscreen variant -- after Princess Luna became Nightmare Moonpie and banished herself to the moon so she could practice her baking in peace (since Celestia kept swiping the food before Luna could taste it herself), Celestia appointed alicorn versions of Soarin' (or "Soaralicious" -- Equestria had a disco/pie theme that Loop) and Spitfire ("Pie Spitter") as leaders of Equestria and moved to the sun, intending to wait there until her sister had returned. Pie Spitter later adapted the Nightmare Moonpie identity out of a desire for power (and, apparently, a dislike of pies) and was banished to the moon, setting her up as a villain for the future. This results in some minor confusion when Soaralicious is expecting his sister's return and sends Twilight "Sparkle Child" Sparkle to Ponyville in preparation, only for the ''original'' Nightmare Moonpie to return instead. Fortunately, she's rather friendly, sharing her food with everypony while declaring that "THE MOONPIES SHALL LAST FOREVER!" and, once Soaralicious shows up, explaining the differences between she and Pie Spitter.

** To underline just how horrible this loop was, upon Awakening both Sleipnir and Twilight immediately ran for the gates of Tartarus, fought their way to the lowest levels of Hell, and then ''locked the door to Hell from the inside''. And then Sleipnir called down the ''Apocalypse'' and ''prematurely ended the world''. Let me underline that some more. A Yggdrasil System Administrator -- who is consistently portrayed as one of the most responsible and level-headed of the sysadmins, at that -- chose to '''deliberately crash a Loop'''. How desperate are you when risking further multiverse instability is preferable to actually trying to live in that loop world even for a single day?[[note]]Although its actually Justified: Twilight Sparkle is an Anchor. If she psychologically breaks, her home Loop risks total metaphysical destruction. If Sleipnir judges that trying to live through this Loop has a high probability of destroying Twilight's sanity, then the multiversal damage from a premature Loop crash is necessary cosmic triage.[[/note]]

* DefeatMeansFriendship: During a Fused Loop with How To Train Your Dragon, Hiccup declares his intention to "befriend" Discord. The Mane Six tell him that only Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie can do that and so he explains that he's not using the conventional definition of the word, but the one as used in the Nanoha verse. Cue Toothless turning into an Intelligent Device which Hiccup uses to blast Discord with a WaveMotionGun.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: A non-looping Blueblood attempted a palace coup against an united front of Celestia, Luna, Discord, Cadance, Chrysalis, Sombra, Princess Twilight, Shining Armor (ascended to Alicorn), and Spike (as an advanced great wyrm Emperor of the Dragons).

* DoNotTauntCthulhu: Scootaloo, while there's usually not much that can threaten an experienced Looper its still a bad idea to go into a ''Franchise/FinalDestination'' loop, scream "Buck Death!" at the sky, and then deliberately start kicking rubber balls near death traps.

* DrivenToSuicide: Twilight, in a truly nasty Warhammer 40K Loop, after a month and a half of torture by the Imperium, even when she gave them the information they were after.

*** Along something of the same lines: When Lemon Rush and Shining Armor had a "Brothers" loop after the former's ascension, they were careful to act only as advisors and guardians against extraordinary threats, and not allow themselves to be made into rulers or put up on a pedestal. They also avoided any necessity for Lunar time-outs. These two facts may or may not be actually connected, but they are both true none the less.
** Fluttershy is actually a ZigZaggedTrope where this is concerned. She did go crazy and get banished but she went crazy because while dealing with Discord he gave her a case of MoodWhiplash that made her genuinely dangerous and the banishment was an ''accidental'' result of Twilight using the Elements of Harmony to cure her. So she does follow the pattern but only because of outside influence, unlike the others who went nuts on their own.

** Justified in-setting when Twilight states that alicornhood has a side effect of amplifying emotional extremes, and that the adjustment period can be... problematic. Once she finally figures this out and via trial-and-error derives some coping strategies for this problem, 'new' alicorns have a much easier time with things (the Cutie Mark Crusaders, for example, have all managed to avoid "lunar time-outs"). [[note]]Celestia and Luna didn't know about it either -- apparently Celestia's and Cadance's personalities were sufficiently Zen enough that they managed to avoid this, so for a long while everypony thought Luna had just had a nervous breakdown/hostile possession instead of succumbing to a condition endemic to alicorns, and the counseling Twilight was undergoing from Cadance for her own OCD tendencies ''prior'' to ascension also inadvertently let her sidestep this problem. It wasn't until ''all five'' of the other Mane Six freaked out each in their own way that Twilight twigged 'wait a minute, this is not a coincidence'.[[/note]]

** One Loop Twilight decides to follow Celestia's edict to "make some friends" literally. She quickly runs into problems with her experimental golems.
** The Maud'dib's answer to what's in her box? ''Pain''. After all, Equestrian dentists aren't that great. Twilight concedes the point.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Pinkie once ate ''the moon''. ... albeit after Luna had turned it into brie (the whole "night eternal" thing was to make sure it aged properly).
* FakingTheDead: Loop 189.8 has Princess Celestia faking her death (with Twilight's help) and going on vacation with Sunset on the human side of the Crystal Mirror.
* FireForgedFriends: How Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara reconcile. Leads to DT Looping and joining the [=CMC=].

** Trixie also got hit with this pretty hard too. Early loops had her as her usual showmare persona, albeit toned down and nowhere near as arrogant, and possessing an interest in pyrotechnics to further increase the awe factor of her shows. Now a days, when she isn't being used with Chrysalis (sometimes even when she is), she mostly appears when a massive explosion has happened (and is usualy the cause), implies she caused the previous loop crash from a massive explosion, or just in general raves about explosions to a near obsessive level.
*** It's stated that this is one of the manifestations of Sakura Syndrome, a psychological disorder caused when the Looper starts ignoring the consequences of their actions because 'the world will just reset anyway'. So some personality traits get suppressed or become less prominent, while some become... ''more.''
* FlatWhat: Used on multiple occasions, usually in reaction to something gone very, very strange.
** One case is in Loop 69.17, where Cadance has gotten a letter she got from a random changeling drone, asking her "What is love? P.S.: Don't hurt me no more." When she reads it to Shining Armor, he reacts the same way.

** Cadence attempts this after learning that Rarity and Spike had a 'simpler' wedding without her -- but Rarity notes that it doesn't really work when you've had a dozen or even hundreds of names over the course of the Loops.

** In 178.11, Scootaloo manages to glomp every single Looper in Mac's bar (at least thirty of them) all at once.

* GratuitousPrincess: Many princesses. In this case, Alicorn Princesses, and two princes. In addition to the four canon alicorns, there's the rest of the Mane Six, Shining Armor, Trixie, Nyx, [[spoiler:all three Cutie Mark Crusaders plus Diamond Tiara, Berry Punch, Mayor Mare/Ivory Scroll, Zecora, Ditzy/Derpy/Bright Eyes, Lyra, Vinyl, Sunset Shimmer... and one Princess Macintosh loop, plus his internalized ascension, which lets him stay an Earth pony while using his hooves to do unicorn and pegasus magic, or shift to an internalized alicorn pegasus form where he has wings and can use them to do unicorn and Earth pony magic. There's also Silver Spoon and Gilda, who ascend into a Draconequus and a Higher Griffin, respectively. Of the pony Loopers who awoke before the Crisis Across Infinite Loops, only Cheerilee has yet to formally ascend to alicornhood.]]

* HeadPet: Nyx spent a couple of Loops replacing various others, including [[Manga/YuYuHakusho Puu]], [[Anime/TenchiMuyo Ryo-Ohki]] and [[Manga/SailorMoon Diana]]. Her next Loop back in Equestria, she manifested as a rabbit and spent the Loop riding around on Twilight's head, with her permission.
** In a later Loop, Ponyville was home to an entire race of Head Pets: Derpies, an offshoot of the Breezy race, where all of its members looked like miniature versions of Derpy Hooves and fed off the ambient magic in the air (which they made look like muffins before they ate it). Their whole purpose in life was to sit on others' heads and look cute, and sometimes act as lookouts.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The hippocampi -- Seaponies -- turned from music loving beings who cheerfully help rescue others in distress to... music loving beings who cheerfully help rescue others in distress by using [[MoreDakka Overwhelming Firepower]] and DisproportionateRetribution. They've been in constant battle with horrors from the deep for so long that this became their knee-jerk reaction to everything. It gets to where Applejack starts using "seapony diplomacy" as a euphemism for ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill.

** Pinkie Pie. Full Stop. The moment they hear that Awake!Pinkie Pie is in the universe, just about every loop aware end boss, cosmic horror, and elder being will immediately try to flee.
--> Twilight reflected, as the incomprehensible dimension between space screamed as one and tried to fold in upon itself, that when a pony stares into the abyss the abyss stares back; but when Pinkie Pie stares into the abyss, the abyss closes its eyes, sticks fingers in its ears and shouts, "LALALALALALALALALA," hoping Pinkie goes away.

* IHatePastMe: Not "hate", but Twilight messes with her past self's head in one Loop, and doesn't always have the best opinion of her baseline self. And Diamond Tiara ''really'' doesn't like her baseline self (at least, prior to developments in ''Crusaders of the Lost Mark'').
* IllTakeTwoBeersToo: Happens in Loop 12.6 when Twilight, having had to deal with politics earlier, pulls two bottles of cider out of her Pocket, asks her brother if he wants one, and then pulls out a ''third'' bottle and hands it him when he says yes.

--> I got one of Pinkie's video game pylons active. So even if [Death] gets me, I'll just happily respawn as long as the pylon remains on."
* ImprovisedWeapon: In one Loop, a robotic Tirek shows up at the Golden Oak Library and demands Twilight's magic. She grabs an object off a nearby table... and kicks his aft with a sandwich. (Specifically, a six-foot party sub left over from a celebration that Pinkie had thrown the day before.)

** Technically [[spoiler: Nyx and Leman Russ]], given that in their separate native loops, she's a pony and he's a human.
* {{Jerkass}}: One version of Sombra replacing Twilight is completely abusive towards Spike. Twilight gets revenge in her own way -- haunting him until he starts acting better.

* LaserGuidedKarma: In a fused loop with ''VideoGame/Persona2'' the ponies used the [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Rumor Curse]] to play pranks on each other, despite Tatsuya and Maya's warnings to be careful.One wrong rumor later and the loop destabilizes and crashes.
* LevelAte: 120.2 is a completely literal example of this. Not only are the ponies and buildings made of candy, the ground is white sugar. All of this is contained within a gigantic bowl. The Everfree promptly subverts this, with its inedible dirt, barely-edible broccoli bushes, and toothpick trees.

* LiteralMetaphor: 191.9 had 'eating your own words' be taken literally. Rainbow wastes no time in making a pun, Pinkie ends up with a mountain of edible words, Celestia has very few, which she interpreted as a [[YouAreFat request for a diet]], Luna has massive words and Discord's words fight back.

** The CMC, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tend to this when playing Battleship with real ships.
** It's also how Twilight managed to get Skynet Looping. Hephaestus stuck her in the Terminator Loop, normally a Read-Only universe, and gave her juuuust enough leeway to talk the A.I. down. It worked, gave Skynet an actual soul, and so kicked the Terminator universe into Looping status.

* MarriedToTheJob: Literally in 108.19 -- Cadance, who was both Unawake and Best Mare, has photos of Shining Armor in a tuxedo and his guard armor in a wedding dress. And he ''still'' didn't tell Twilight he was getting married.
* MeaningfulEcho: [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay "I have been, and always shall be, your friend"]] was used in 73.14 and 85.13. It shows two things: [[spoiler: first, Sunset Shimmer started looping and second, the Awake Sunset Shimmer has the memory of the loop Twilight specifically went out of her way to befriend her]].

** Diamond Tiara's mother, unseen up until series 5, used to change between alive / dead / absent / mad / being Screwball. Diamond is not remotely taken with having Spoiled Rich as her baseline.
** Scootaloo's family varied a great deal as well. Eventually, it settled down so that her paternal aunt Holiday and Holiday's marefriend Lofty became her recurring caretakers due to her parents being preoccupied by work.

* NerdsLoveToughSchoolwork: Twilight, as in baseline. This is why she hates Eiken so much, as seen in Loop 45.14 -- she thought being in high school would be fun, but people kept interrupting her for various reasons, and she just couldn't get them to leave her alone.
* NoManOfWomanBorn: Loop 69.1 revolves around this -- [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Witch-King of Angmar]], who cannot be killed by any man, is confronted by a whole slew of Loopers who either aren't men (because they're women), aren't men ''[[GenderBender right now]]'', or are any of a number of non-human species. Twilight Sparkle herself is the first in the last category, nonchalantly saying "Not even human," when she reveals herself. Despite knowing he has no chance, the Witch-King charges them anyway because Sauron had forbidden him from retreating.

** Mention is made of a "great sponge cake migration of 947"[[note]]Doubling as a ShoutOut to two of Ray Stanz's comments in the first ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' film.[[/note]] that Celestia once witnessed and reacted to. Compared to ''that'' event, her unAwake self fainting from sugar shock due to Nyx's PuppyDogEyes is nothing.
** Ivory Scroll Looped into ''Series/RedDwarf'' once. She ''really'' doesn't want to talk about it.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Whenever you see Pinkie Pie serious, you know it's very important: like when explaining how dangerous can be misusing the Element of Laughter, or giving up on trying to make a party to [[spoiler:Ciaphas Cain[=/=]Candy Cane thus accepting he's terrified of her (to the point of giving him a "Get Out Of Party Free" coupon)]].
* OffTheRails: Like most Loopers, the characters have been known to do this for their baseline.
** Loop 119.6 is a bar loop where the locals and some visitors talk about the most epic ways they derailed a ''different'' baseline. Examples include a ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' Loop where Spike exposes the villains' plot early, Apple Bloom and Twilight capturing the aliens who set up Literature/{{Gor}} and making it impossible for them to interfere while the pair basically fixed everything that was wrong with the setting, and Vinyl Scratch completely fixing ''VideoGame/{{Aquaria}}'' by getting some of the locals to channel Harmony magic against the game's BigBad very early on.

** Applejack's attempt at making an alcoholic beverage out of potatoes. The end result was something that Twilight had to ascend to alicorn status to get her sight back after drinking it caused her to go blind, and quickly became know as 'potato acid' to all the loopers.

** Shining Armor's baseline event of forgetting to tell Twilight he was getting married, to the point where his actually ''remembering'' (as in Loop 155.10) leaves Twilight rather surprised. And in 189.8, when Celestia's FakingTheDead and Twilight is the executor of her SillyWill, she leaves him a [[Radio/TheFrantics boot to the head]] for it. It even applies to those times when Cadance ''isn't'' the bride -- in 108.19, he literally married his job, and Twilight didn't find out until afterward.

* PaperThinDisguise: In a Middle-Earth Loop, Applejack Loops in a regular horse. But she can still talk. Any time anyone notices, she borrows a page from [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Gaspode]] and says what a horse would normally do (Whinny, contended ear flick). It works every single time.

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Brought up in Loop 48.3, where Big Macintosh is Replacing [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]]. Shortly before the Gamma Bomb incident, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, who didn't approve of Banner in comics canon even ''before'' he became the Hulk (and isn't Looping, making him unable to distinguish between Banner and anyone Replacing him in the Loop), warns Mac with "Don't even think for a moment that I'll let you marry my daughter." This being Mac (who is notoriously not interested in romance when Awake at this point) and not Banner, Ross's warning doesn't bother him in the slightest.
* PieInTheFace: In Loop 56.17, Twilight organizes a {{Bowdlerize}}d version of the [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus 'Upper Class Twit of the Year' competition]]. In the staged version from the Hub, the last event has competitors shooting themselves in the head, but since this would be for real and Twilight doesn't think that sort of thing is funny, she changes it to the competitors hitting themselves in the face with a pie.
* PokeThePoodle:

* ReadingYourRights: In one Loop, at the end of the Friendship Games, a cop who looks like an adult version of Fluttershy arrests Abacus Cinch for abusing her authority (bullying Twilight into participation in the Games and then into using the magic she'd gained). Then she comes back and recites a deliberately inaccurate version of the MirandaRights to Spike ("Spike the dog? You have the right to remain adorable. Anything you say can and will result in you getting your chin tickled."). It's justified in that she wasn't ''actually'' intending to arrest him or announcing an intent to interrogate him -- she just wanted to lighten the mood and reassure Sci-Twi that she wasn't going to be in trouble for her actions.

* RelationshipUpgrade: In Loop 160.12, [[spoiler: after Leman and Nyx reconcile from their previous argument and temporary breakup, Leman proposes, and Nyx accepts.]]

-->'''Silver Spoon''': What do ''you'' all want?\\
'''Scootaloo''': Well, I personally want to revolutionize the field of aeronautics and join the Wonderbolts. I'm pretty sure Sweetie here wants to become a pop star, and Apple Bloom wants to build an army of robots to do her bidding.\\
'''Apple Bloom''': Not an army. Ah'd be fine with a small squad o' twelve, Ah'm not greedy.\\
'''Silver Spoon''': ...what?

** Cadance being obsessed with matchmaking [[spoiler: which it turns out she's been faking for a long time]].

* SanitySlippage: Cadance eventually admits that her love-obsession [[spoiler:was a genuine case of this, a long time ago, but she's gotten better about it.]]
** Pretty much everyone in a Sister Loop (I.e. a Loop where two Loopers awake in Celestia and Luna's roles) tends to go through this, and ends up on the moon. So far only Twilight, Big Macintosh, Ditzy have avoided the insanity part, and only Big Mac has avoided ending up on the moon at all (Twilight got stuck there by accident because of Ditzy).
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere:

** Earlier, this was also her response to waking up as the title character in ''Fanfic/TheUnexpectedLoveLifeOfDuskShine'' -- upon realizing that she/he was in a HaremComedy, she/he teleported herself/himself to the moon for the duration of the loop and let Trixie fill in for her/him.

--->'''Twilight''': I prefer Eiken to this (aims exceeding powerful spell at the sun) Birch this Loop. I'm ''done''

** During a Fused Loop with Transformers, a ponified Starscream, called Screaming Star, met Rainbow Dash and then [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown proceeded to live up for his name for the next ten minutes]], as a shout out to the ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' where she completely ''annihilated'' him.
** During a Loop in which a handful of characters Looped in as furniture (or in one case, a pair of shutters), ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'' is referenced:

** Loop 88.2 is one to a scene in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Window of Opportunity" -- Sunset's using the mirror portal (on the Canterlot High side) to play golf, just as Jack O'Neill did with the Stargate, and their lines are almost exactly the same.

* SillyWill: Loop 189.8 has Princess Celestia fake her death and leave one of these, which Twilight (who's in the know) is the one to read. It's also a direct ShoutOut to [[Radio/TheFrantics the "Muldoon's Will" skit]], as Celestia leaves a boot to the head each to Luna, King Sombra, Shining Armor and Tirek... and a 21 Party Cannon Salute to the head for Prince Blueblood. Unusually for this trope, the will also has some heartwarming bequests: Luna's boot comes with a note that Celestia has long since forgiven her for her past wrongdoings, and this was her wake-up call to forgive herself. She's also left a message that Celestia has always loved her, even in Luna's darkest moments. A similar message is left for Sunset Shimmer (who is not present at the will-reading; she and Celestia are vacationing on the human side of the Crystal Mirror).

** Upon discovering xenomorphs, the seaponies nuked the colony from orbit, and then -- to be sure -- glassed the rest of the planet, used a planet buster to destroy said planet, chucked the largest pieces into the sun, and then right before they left, destroyed the entire sun. All while happily singing.

'''Rarity''' (to her friends): I don't know which is more mortifying, darlings, ... being given away as a prize on a game show... or being a BOOBY PRIZE on a game show.

* DramaticIrony: In the ''Conversion Contact'' loop, Starlight Glimmer mistakenly assumes that she is in a fused loop with ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}''. [[spoiler:She is actually in a Conversion Bureau-inspired Lostbelt.]]

* FixFic: This approach is taken for some of the more head-banger moments in canon, as well as whenever the Loopers end up in variant loops set in certain fanfics. For example, when Twilight Awoke alone in [[Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse the Lunaverse]](albeit a variant, not the real Lunaverse), she not only refused to go along with her counterpart's [[AdaptationalVillainy role]], but set up shaking the other characters out of their JerkAss mindsets and getting them closer to canon.

-->"Ad, Ad, Ad, Bill, Bill, Ad, Ad, Bill, Bill, Court Summons for Angel, Restraining Order for Angel, Business Card for Angel...."

-->"Bill, bill, eviction notice, bill, bill, bill, coupon for Sugar Cube Corner, bill, bill, invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala, bill, bill, bill, bill, ah here we go! One letter to Fluttershy from Derpy Whooves."

-->"Bills, junk, junk, zoning warning, death threats..." she muttered, leafing through them. "Ah. Fluttershy! You have a letter!"

-->"My normal sunglasses, [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Renji Abarai]]'s style of sunglasses, yellow sunglasses from [[Manga/{{Hellsing}} Alucard]], yellow sunglasses from [[Manga/{{Trigun}} Vash]], triangle shades, [[ComicBook/XMen Cyclops-style visor]]... when did I pick that up? Ooh, authentic [[Film/TheBluesBrothers Blues Brothers]] sunglasses!" ... "[[Series/CSIMiami Horatio Caine]]'s sunglasses that he gave me... nope... nope... not that one... drat, it doesn't look like they're in this chest."

-->"Not only was she [Molestia] in charge but she was the pinnacle of what every pony strove to be, the ideal pony in the eyes of her subjects! And Twilight was the only one Awake, the only sane mare in this mad mad mad mad mad mad mad mad world. And then this corrupted world painted a target on her by making her the most desirable mare alive to everyone in said world."

-->Lyra soon learned why pegasi were the predominant military arm of the three pony tribes. They were blindingly fast and if they had a little bit of open space to work with, extremely manoeuvrable. Also a pegasus' natural toughness scaled up with how fast they were going, provided they braced themselves during impact. Ironically, that meant that they could plow into the ground at terminal velocity without getting a single scratch, but an uncontrolled tumble at a much slower speed could break bones. None of that knowledge actually helped against Ditzy who, in addition to being able to create wing air blades, tornadoes, and hit with the force of a freight train, could also spit out bubbles that exploded with the force of a grenade, create bubble clones and decoys, and had an evasive flight pattern that could be considered insanely erratic at best. Lyra did remember that even in baseline, the grey pegasus was good enough to be a competitor in both the Young Flyers Competition and in the Equestria Games.

-->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' You just tried to assassinate ''eight deities'' and a ''Greater Dragon''!
-->'''Blueblood (armed only with a knife):''' Errr... parlay?

-->'''"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GROUP GLOMP YAY!"'''

* GodzillaThreshold: Some foreign Loopers that are particularly disruptive get a trip to the moon. And Jadis of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' is the only shown time Twilight has resorted to lethal force, due to her possessing the [[DepopulationBomb Deplorable Word]].

-->'''Sombra:''' ''(after finding Twilight hovering above his bed)'' What do you want?
-->'''Twilight:''' ''(thinks about her response)'' [[MeaningfulEcho Boooooooookkssss]]...

--> '''Apple Bloom:''' Ah've never made acid outta' potatoes before.
--> '''Applejack:''' ONE TIME! [[LampshadeHanging Y'all are never gonna let me live that down, are ya?]]

-->'''Silver Spoon''': What do ''you'' all want?
-->'''Scootaloo''': Well, I personally want to revolutionize the field of aeronautics and join the Wonderbolts. I'm pretty sure Sweetie here wants to become a pop star, and Apple Bloom wants to build an army of robots to do her bidding.
-->'''Apple Bloom''': Not an army. Ah'd be fine with a small squad o' twelve, Ah'm not greedy.
-->'''Silver Spoon''': ...what?

-->"Did somepony start a running gag without me? That's not nice."

--->'''Rarity''': Twilight?
--->'''Twilight''': Yes, Rarity?
--->'''Rarity''': I think I'm a sofa.
--->'''Twilight''' (pause): I know how you feel.

->''if there's one who opposes this...''
->''... stand up so I can send you to the moon!''

-->'''Twilight:''' You actually tried to dissolve FOOF[[note]]Aka 'dioxygen diflouride'[[/note]] in chlorine trifluoride?!? I had to drop half the lake and fifty tons of sand on it, and it even set fire to ''that'' until it ran out of liquid!

-->'''Berry Punch:''' Drink it quickly before the ingredients eat through the magical stabilization. On a scale of one to ten, this thing has a shelf life of nope, it doesn't have a shelf life. And never, ever serve it to a pony – or really, anyone other than a real Equestrian dragon. Otherwise, the customer will explode. Then their remains will explode. Then, whatever is left will require Sparkle to hit it with another entire lake bed before it makes the surrounding area unlivable.

-->'''Host''': ... six technicolor ponies! Yes, these ponies will clash with every single item in your home! Useful for carrying very small parcels, testing for color blindness, and inducing diabetic shock. This ZONK prize is worth: absolutely nothing!
-->'''Rarity''' (to her friends): I don't know which is more mortifying, darlings, ... being given away as a prize on a game show... or being a BOOBY PRIZE on a game show.

Twilight Sparkle went to Ponyville, redeemed Nightmare Moon, defeated Discord, fought the Changelings and became an Alicorn Princess. Some time after that, she found herself back before any of that had happened. Again, and again, and again... Then her friends began to join her on occasion, which helped with the variety a bit. Now she, as well as over two dozen of her friends, fellows and in some cases erstwhile antagonists are doing the same thing - as well as other worlds, worlds that none of them could have imagined. Friends have been made, horizons broadened... and plenty of fun had along the way.

The MLP Loopers tend to be good friends, partly because this is the series name and a core part of their setting, and partly because it is distinct from the original Innortal iteration of the loops. As such, the theme of the MLP Loops could be said to be "don't be unkind" - though this is a goal in-universe and not one which is met every time - and that the Pony loopers have a tendency to want to help the admins, rather than seeing them as obstacles. Apart from that, the main feature of the MLP Loops is sheer scale owing to their long-standing nature and the general popularity of the setting. (That and how they're mostly ponies.)

** Variant in 136.6, where it's not food that causes it - instead, Twilight remembers why it's a bad idea to watch ''Film/TheGodfather'' right before bed.

** In Loop 202.12, Filthy Rich's marriage to Spoiled Milk was an arranged one, but Filthy wound up having a one-night stand with Applejack, whom he admitted was the one he really wanted to marry, after being told. [[spoiler:She got pregnant, and Diamond Tiara - who was subsequently raised by Filthy and Spoiled, though with the promise that if she found out about her birth mom and wanted to rejoin her, she could - was the result.]]

* BedmateReveal: Non-sexual example - Twilight isn't usually that surprised when she Awakens and finds a small filly cuddled up to her. But when it's somepony other than her adoptive daughter Nyx, her reactions vary and can include general amusement or thoughts on how cute her young companion is.

* BodyDouble: One Loop explains how ''Equestria Girls'' Rainbow Dash can manage every sports team at Canterlot High in addition to all those other activities - Substitute Rainbow Dashes, who dress and act like her.

* CostumeCopycat: 203.15 features an offscreen variant - after Princess Luna became Nightmare Moonpie and banished herself to the moon so she could practice her baking in peace (since Celestia kept swiping the food before Luna could taste it herself), Celestia appointed alicorn versions of Soarin' (or "Soaralicious" - Equestria had a disco/pie theme that Loop) and Spitfire ("Pie Spitter") as leaders of Equestria and moved to the sun, intending to wait there until her sister had returned. Pie Spitter later adapted the Nightmare Moonpie identity out of a desire for power (and, apparently, a dislike of pies) and was banished to the moon, setting her up as a villain for the future. This results in some minor confusion when Soaralicious is expecting his sister's return and sends Twilight "Sparkle Child" Sparkle to Ponyville in preparation, only for the ''original'' Nightmare Moonpie to return instead. Fortunately, she's rather friendly, sharing her food with everypony while declaring that "THE MOONPIES SHALL LAST FOREVER!" and, once Soaralicious shows up, explaining the differences between she and Pie Spitter.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The hippocampi - Seaponies - turned from music loving beings who cheerfully help rescue others in distress to... music loving beings who cheerfully help rescue others in distress by using [[MoreDakka Overwhelming Firepower]] and DisproportionateRetribution. They've been in constant battle with horrors from the deep for so long that this became their knee-jerk reaction to everything. It gets to where Applejack starts using "seapony diplomacy" as a euphemism for ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill.

* {{Jerkass}}: One version of Sombra replacing Twilight is completely abusive towards Spike. Twilight gets revenge in her own way - haunting him until he starts acting better.

* MarriedToTheJob: Literally in 108.19 - Cadance, who was both Unawake and Best Mare, has photos of Shining Armor in a tuxedo and his guard armor in a wedding dress. And he ''still'' didn't tell Twilight he was getting married.

* NerdsLoveToughSchoolwork: Twilight, as in baseline. This is why she hates Eiken so much, as seen in Loop 45.14 - she thought being in high school would be fun, but people kept interrupting her for various reasons, and she just couldn't get them to leave her alone.

** Shining Armor's baseline event of forgetting to tell Twilight he was getting married, to the point where his actually ''remembering'' (as in Loop 155.10) leaves Twilight rather surprised. And in 189.8, when Celestia's FakingTheDead and Twilight is the executor of her SillyWill, she leaves him a [[Radio/TheFrantics boot to the head]] for it. It even applies to those times when Cadance ''isn't'' the bride - in 108.19, he literally married his job, and Twilight didn't find out until afterward.

* ReadingYourRights: In one Loop, at the end of the Friendship Games, a cop who looks like an adult version of Fluttershy arrests Abacus Cinch for abusing her authority (bullying Twilight into participation in the Games and then into using the magic she'd gained). Then she comes back and recites a deliberately inaccurate version of the MirandaRights to Spike ("Spike the dog? You have the right to remain adorable. Anything you say can and will result in you getting your chin tickled."). It's justified in that she wasn't ''actually'' intending to arrest him or announcing an intent to interrogate him - she just wanted to lighten the mood and reassure Sci-Twi that she wasn't going to be in trouble for her actions.

** Loop 88.2 is one to a scene in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Window of Opportunity" - Sunset's using the mirror portal (on the Canterlot High side) to play golf, just as Jack O'Neill did with the Stargate, and their lines are almost exactly the same.

** Loop 214.1, which kicks off when Twilight, who's preparing for Luna's return, gets a letter from Starlight Glimmer... who's Awake, marking the first new Looper that Equestria's gotten since Lyra's self-triggered crash. And then the next wham comes when Twilight gets a note from Sleipnir informing her of what would become known as the Crisis Across Infinite Loops, wherein potentially ''anyone'', including villains, could Awaken... and the only way to stop it is to kill anyone they don't want Looping. [[spoiler:Thankfully, though Equestria ''does'' get two new Loopers out of it, they're both friends - Thorax of the changelings, and the human Flash Sentry.]]

* WhosOnFirst: In Loop 143.25, Twilight pulls this on Rainbow Dash by asking her to find a book for her - ''In Plain Sight''. Rainbow Dash is not amused when she catches on.

* WifeHusbandry: Suspected to be the case, but ultimately averted, in Loop 194.5 - before they Awoke, Celestia had promised a six-year-old Twilight that she would officiate Twilight's eventual wedding when she was ready, but had said it in a manner that sounded like she was proposing. They clear up the misunderstanding after both are Awake. Twilight herself notes that she considers such a relationship odd, since she normally views Celestia as a second mother to her.

* WithCatlikeTread: As with the trope namer, Loop 56.1 features a parody of this - the Mane Six and Celestia sneak through Canterlot Castle to retrieve the Elements from the vault they're in; they, Luna (who is elsewhere in the castle) and the guards all sing the song as they're doing so, but the guards make no effort to stop them, which Celestia guesses is due to the narrative causality of the Heartsong.

* HorrifyingTheHorror: Pinkie Pie. Full Stop. The moment they hear that Awake!Pinkie Pie is in the universe, just about every loop aware end boss, cosmic horror, and elder being will immediately try to flee.
-->Twilight reflected, as the incomprehensible dimension between space screamed as one and tried to fold in upon itself, that when a pony stares into the abyss the abyss stares back; but when Pinkie Pie stares into the abyss, the abyss closes its eyes, sticks fingers in its ears and shouts, "LALALALALALALALALA," hoping Pinkie goes away.

The MLP Loops can be found [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/98568/mlp-time-loops here.]] The thread is so long it's been broken into parts: [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops.257060/ 1]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-2.268673/ 2]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-3.274575/ 3]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-4.280859/ 4]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-5.284904/ 5]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-6.290209/ 6]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-7.295919/ 7]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-time-loops-thread-8.300235/ 8]] [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mlp-loops-thread-9.306018/ 9]] [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-mlp-loops-season-10.794023/ 10]] \\

** During a Loop in which a handful of characters Looped in as furniture (or in one case, a pair of shutters), ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' (the 2005 film version) is referenced:

* UncannyValley: InUniverse case. As sometimes the loops feature some variations from the usual baseline, it's possible some loops to feature this. Twilight has been visibly affected by two loops this way.
** In one case, Celestia was as kind, caring as loving as usual, but also a slaver who set her mark on all ponies to keep them in control, with the side effect of not allowing them to get their own cutie marks (along with an emotional suppressor designed to stop them getting rebellious, and several nasty tracking spells). Even if [[spoiler:she and her Awake friends had to banish Celestia and Nightmare Moon to the moon]] Twilight still feels she failed Awake!Celestia that loop.
** In the [[NoodleIncident "Molestia"]] loop, Twilight was the target of rape of all many ponies including the non-looping versions of her family and friends. It was enough to give her an HeroicBSOD.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** One crossover snippet has [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]] defeat Nightmare Moon by trying to point out the logical impossibilities of the Night Lasting Forever. Many loops take this a step farther, where the loopers don't even bother pointing out the logical impossibilities. They just let her make her Eternal Night and deal with the consequences. These include:
*** No sunlight means food can't grow. While magic can deal with the problem, it's a huge hassle and much easier to just allow the normal cycle of day and night.
*** Since the world is a globe, if half is Eternal Night, then the other half is Eternal Day. In addition to ruining the symbolism, this screws with the weather--again, something that can be handled by magic, but it's far more of a hassle than it's worth.
*** Going back to the above snippet, Jack also notes that there's a good chance that said Eternal Day is over an ocean, meaning no stars to help sailors navigate.
*** The point is to force ponies to appreciate the night more. Eternal Night doesn't make ponies appreciate it, they resent it.
** Related to Nightmare Moon, Twilight at one point pretends to go evil and declares an "Eternal Twilight" across the land. It's pointed out that this makes even less sense than Eternal Night; only a rather narrow band will be Eternal Twilight, the rest will be Eternal Day or Eternal Night. With the logical impossibility pointed out, she promptly gives up. Of course, in this case she and Spike were invoking the trope for the skit.
** One of the standard ways of defeating the various villains is to not defeat them at all. Everyone lets them conquer Equestria, the normal rulers take a vacation, and the conquerors discover the horrifying amount of paperwork that comes from running an entire nation.
** Zigzagged with one snippet, where EG!Rainbow Dash points out to Sunset she can't manage ''every'' sports team in Canterlot High, and play in a band, ''and'' still have to just barely finish her regular school assignments all at once. The zigzagging comes from the solution being Rainbow Dash getting other students to fill in for her as "substitute Rainbow Dashes".
** For a tank battle, they're limited to WWII tanks, so Apple Bloom decides to make the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte P-1000 Ratte.]] While the exorbitant cost isn't an issue, she quickly discovers the many ''other'' reasons the Germans never actually made one. It's heavy enough that it sinks into the ground, the engines keep exploding, and on the rare occasion that she can get enough engines working long enough for it to move, it's slower than a glacier.

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Brought up in Loop 48.3, where Big Macintosh is Replacing [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]]. Shortly before the Gamma Bomb incident, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, who didn't approve of Banner in comics canon even ''before'' he became the Hulk (and isn't Looping, making him unable to distinguish between Banner and anyone Replacing him in the Loop), warns Mac with "Don't even think for a moment that I'll let you marry my daughter." This being Mac (who is notoriously not interested in romance when Awake at this point) and not Banner, Ross's warning doesn't bother him in the slightest.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: As of the Crisis Across Infinite Loops, Equestria has thirty-four full Loopers and three pseudo-Loopers.

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: Sunset Shimmer's exploits are written in the style of a journal, being read by Twilight Sparkle.

* GoneHorriblyRight: One Loop has General Iroh stop Nightmare Moon with [[SpotOfTea tea]]. Really good tea. Perhaps maybe ''too'' good, since all Luna can do is stand there talking about how good it is.

** Scootaloo got her vengence, when she attempted to use a "Nobody dies" device Pinkie Pie had invented, rendering things in cartoon physics. Due to the event? She shut off death for 24 hours in a ''Final Destination'' loop. She responds by taunting Cthulhu.

* AnAesop: Chapter 149's message is this: sometimes, you ''can't'' solve every problem you come across...but it's always worth to ''try''. Even if you can't fix it, you can make it even the smallest bit better. When [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei Naoki Kashima/The Demi-Fiend]] snapped and was possessed by his ShadowArchetype, and went on a mindless and destructive rampage. The ponies tried to help him and bring him back to his senses with the Elements of Harmony...but they ''failed'', due to the problem being too [[EnemyWithin deep seated and closely connected]] to Naoki to be subdued or dealt with so easily. Some problems ''can't'' be solved in the span of a single Loop, or by using the PowerOfFriendship.[[DeconReconSwitch However,]] once Naoki came to his senses many Loops later, he remembered how they and other Loopers like them never gave up and took the easy way out by killing him in his berserk state, and fought to bring him to his senses instead to ''help him''. In spite of [[CrapsackWorld all the horrors, betrayals, and darkness]] of his Loop, the fact that the ponies never gave up in ''trying'' to help reminded him that [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity there are some worlds worth fighting for.]]

* StudentTeacherRomance: The idea of a romantic relationship between Twilight and Princess Celestia has been discussed more than once, but always firmly subverted. Specific cases include:
** In 69.14, an unAwake Celestia is in love with Twilight, but Twilight turns her down due to viewing Celestia as a second mother, and also being either straight or asexual. Besides that, Twilight's in a time loop, so from her perspective this Celestia would die before any serious relationship would occur.
** In Loop 194.5. Twilight again states that she normally views Celestia as a second mother to her, and as such she finds the idea of a romantic relationship between herself and Princess Celestia (who, long before either of them was Awake, had promised to officiate Twilight's eventual wedding, but said it in a way that sounded like a proposal) to be odd.