Time Looper's Best Friend

Day 741

I woke up.

The routine had become a curse etched into my soul, a rhythm I could no longer escape. The bed was too soft, too familiar, and the sunlight streaming through the window was an enemy. The clock read 7:23 AM, just as it always did, taunting me with its unchanging certainty.

I had long since stopped trying to change anything. My spells, my studies, my desperate pleas—they had all crumbled into dust. There was no hope, no future. Just the endless loop. I no longer knew if I was alive or dead, or something in between. Even my journal, the one thing that had tied me to reality, had become a painful reminder of the days that had slipped through my hooves.

But today, something was different. It was subtle at first, a strange feeling creeping at the edges of my consciousness. I couldn’t place it, but there was a new presence, a shift in the oppressive sameness of the loop.

As I got out of bed, I noticed something unusual—no, someone unusual. There, standing, or growing rather, in the middle of my bedroom, was a small yellow flower. Its petals were bright, too bright for this nightmare, and its face was twisted into a wide, unnervingly cheerful grin.

"Howdy!" the flower chirped, its voice gratingly sweet. "I’m Flowey! Flowey the Flower!"

For a moment, I just stared. My mind, dulled by the endless repetition, struggled to comprehend this new anomaly. Was this another cruel trick of the loop? Some manifestation of my deteriorating mind?

"Who… what are you?" I finally managed to croak out.

Flowey chuckled, "That's funny. The little dragon asked me the same questioms when he first saw me. Boy, would he not let up with the endless questions! He really should have learned to keep his mouth shut. Because now. . ."

Flowey mouth got bigger, and he flashed a huge wicked toothy smile, "He's dead."

"Wha-what!?" I gasped.

"Oh come on, it wouldn't be the first time, now would it?" Flowey said.

I froze as the implications of what Flowey had same came through to her. "You. . . You're caught in the time-loop too?"

"Not exactly," Flowey said, "It's more like we travel in similar circles. Circles similar enough and close enough for me to slip out of mine and into yours! And I must say, Twilight, I've been watching you for a while now, and you’re handling this whole time loop thing better than most would!"

The way it said my name felt wrong, like it had pried into my most intimate thoughts. It was as if this flower knew more about me than I knew about myself.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded, trying to summon the authority I once had. But my voice trembled, betraying how far gone I was.

"Like I said, I've been watching you," Flowey responded with a casual shrug, if a flower could shrug.

I felt a shiver run down my spine. "Do you… know how to stop the loop?"

Flowey’s grin widened, and something dark flickered behind its beady eyes. "Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But where’s the fun in just telling you? No, no, no, that wouldn’t be any fun at all!" The flower leaned closer, as if it could, though it had no legs to walk on. "Or maybe I'd like to see how far you can go before you break."

I recoiled, my stomach twisting. This wasn’t just a flower. It was something much worse, something that thrived on suffering. I could see it now, the malevolence that lingered just beneath its playful facade.

"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice small and defeated.

"Why, to help you, of course!" Flowey’s voice dripped with mock sincerity. "You’re getting awfully close to the edge, aren’t you? I thought you could use a little push. I mean, you've already done it twice."

I recoiled, confusion and horror swirling inside me. "What… what are you talking about?"

Flowey’s eyes gleamed with twisted delight. "Pinkie Pie and Spike! You really gave it to them, huh? You didn’t even hesitate when you… well, you know." His toothy massive smile retutned, "I knew you had it in you, Twilight! All that bottled-up frustration, all that anger… you just needed a little push."

My stomach twisted into knots as his words hit me like a physical blow. I wanted to scream at him, to deny it all, but the memories were still too fresh. The blood, the panic, the uncontrollable surge of magic—it all came rushing back, choking me with guilt.

"I didn’t want to do it," I whispered, my voice shaking. "It just… happened."

Flowey’s grin never faltered. "Oh, don’t be so modest! You’ve been holding all that rage inside for so long, it was bound to come out eventually. And hey, you’ve got plenty of time to work on it. Maybe next time, you’ll even enjoy it!"

"Shut up!" I snapped, my voice rising in desperation. "I didn’t mean to… I would never—"

Flowey cut me off with a laugh that was more of a cackle. "Oh, Twilight, don’t kid yourself! Deep down, you wanted to do it. I mean, how many times have you heard the same lines from your friends? How many times have you tasted that overly sweet coffee from Spike? Over and over, day after day… it’s enough to drive anypony mad!"

I clenched my teeth, my body trembling with a mix of rage and despair. "I’m not a monster," I hissed, more to convince myself than him.

Flowey’s smile turned sickly sweet, his voice dropping to a mockingly sympathetic tone. "Of course you’re not, Twilight. Your SOUL is way too strong to be a monster's SOUL. But don’t worry! I’m here to help. I've been there! I've killed myself, just like you. I came back, just like you. I've experimented, just like you. So, it won't be long before you learn what I've learned."

"And what's that?" I questioned, even as I dreaded the answer.

"In this world, and all worlds, it's kill or be killed!" Flowey said with malicious glee.

"No!" I shouted in horror.

"Just you wait, Twilight," Flowey said smugly, "Eventually, you'll run out of things to do. You'll read every book, you'll burn every book. Sets of numbers. . . Lines of dialogue. . . You'll see it all. And once you've appeased everyone and endured their spouting of their same lines, you'll get tired of their companionship and wonder 'what would happen if I killed them? It'll all be RESET anyway? I just want to see what happens.'"

"No!" I shouted, my voice shaking with anger and fear. "I won’t do it! I won’t become a monster like you!"

Flowey rolled his eyes and said, "You really need to stop using 'monster' as an insult. But anyway, once you realize how predictable other people are, you'll have to find some way to make things more interesting. And then you'll finally see how liberating it is to kill just to see how the world can change!"

The smug certainty of his words made me sick to my stomach. I had been teetering on a knife's edge for so long now, so close to giving up entirely. But now, I had something to fight for, or against.

"I don’t need your advice, you soulless little psychopath," I whispered, trying to muster what little strength I had left.

"Got it in one," he said with a wink.

"Maybe I can't break out of the time-loop, but I refuse to kill anypony or anycreature else!" I said with growing conviction, "I'll focus on other things. Talk to more ponies. Travel as far around Equestria as I can in the 24 hours I have. Learn everything I can about every pony and creature in Equestria. Take turns giving them perfect days. I'll have all the time in the world! I'll never run out of things to do, and I won't be killing anybody ever again!"

Flowey’s laugh was sharp, cutting through the stale air of my bedroom. "Ha! Not killing anybody? Ha! That's a wonderful idea!" he shouted as if it were a novel concept. Then he smirked, and I was suddenly surrounded by a ring of spinning floating seeds.

"Good luck with that. . ."

And then he killed me.