Notes: Written in response to the announcement that Dean Ambrose is leaving WWE. Whether that's true or not is unclear; it may be a work, but I haven't watched WWE in the last couple of months, so I can't say.

Also, because I always wanted to do an Infinite Loops-style fic with wrestling.

Warning: This story will be a mixture of kayfabe compliance and real person-fiction (if only tangentially), with a touch of smark humor. This story will also delve into other periods of wrestling history, with mentions of wrestlers who are long-deceased and/or controversial. This includes Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and, reluctantly, Chris Benoit. While I will strive to minimize the mentions/roles of the wrestlers, their presence in unavoidable, if only so the story maintains accuracy and genuineness.

Dean lives his life over and over again. He thinks he's the only one.

He isn't.

The Anchor: Dean Ambrose

Dean tries not to remember the first few lives.

The first few lives are filled with hardship and pain and asking whywhywhywhy and working out years, years, of frustration over nothing and everything and—

No, he doesn't like to remember the first few lives.

The first life after those, however, is another matter. He remembers that life quite well. It'd be hard not to, after all.

It was the first life he stopped wrestling.

It wouldn't be the last.

See, the thing is, wrestling was everything to him. Everything.

He lived it, breathed it, centered it so deep into his soul that there was barely any room for anything or anyone else. Dean didn't really begin to live until he first stepped into that ring. He figured he'd die on the indies, if he could still manage a decent drop kick into his old age. Because if he couldn't, then he'd disappear from the world because what was the world to him without wrestling?

However, that was his first life. And then came his second, and then his third, and then more pass by and suddenly, Dean started getting tired. Tired of constantly throwing himself at people for a little bit of recognition and some gas money, in hopes someday making it to a place that could give him a decent wage. Tired of the betrayals, of every boy in the locker room eyeing him like he was another rung to climb up the ladder. Tired of waking up everyday in pain, wonder if this was going to be it, if this was when his body would finally break.

Dean had wanted to do wrestling for the rest of his life.

But that was when he thought he only had one life.

So, one day, a week before the Shield, the day Paul Heyman calls him and gives him a choice that forever changes the wrestling world, Dean says no. Dean says no, and takes his savings and finds something else to do for all the years that follow.

The first time is hard. Harder than anything else before, because there are few prospects for a professional wrestler, for a man who graduated from high school without a thought about college. So he goes for the easiest option: acting.

Dean's been an actor of course — when Seth had put him out with the cinder blocks, Dean had went ahead and filmed a movie to kill time. It wasn't Oscar-worthy, but people thought he was great in it, so he probably didn't do too badly. That didn't stop him from getting back at Seth for the cinder blocks in one of his first lives, though.

So Dean goes ahead and hires an agent and auditions for a few roles. He starts off small, bit parts and commercials, but then his opportunities increase. Minor roles in a couple of relatively popular TV Shows, a few more B-Movies, and then he gets cast for one of those art house films, the kind that do win Oscars.

The next year, he has an Oscar on the shelf.

Suddenly, he's everywhere. Every studio in the world wants a contract with him, every director in Hollywood salivating at the chance to work with him. People who he had never known beyond names and faces on magazines and billboards and TV screens are clamoring to speak with him. It's the kind of hectic that would've driven him insane had he not had some experience dealing with it as a wrestler.

Dean deals with it with as much grace as he can. He takes on bigger budget films and gets proportional returns for his work, he trades up his agent and chats with sponsors and paparazzi to keep his image as clean as he can manage. More awards follow the Oscar, and when he dies again, it's with a wall dyed gold and a bank account fatter than the ones in all the lives he spent in WWE, combined.

It's a good life, but not without pitfalls and so, the next life Dean has is not as an actor. He goes to college, instead. First community college and then university and then he has a job. A normal job, one that garners little to no acclaim but ten times more relaxing than the limelight, whether it's with a thousand cameras snapping at him in every second of his life or between the ropes, laying atop a sweaty canvas with a crowd of thousands that never falls silent.

He's a doctor, an engineer, a scientist, everything he can think of, everything under the sun. He's traveled around the world, been everywhere, and it's only as he's doing these things does he finally see the wideness of it all. Wrestling was wrestle and go, with few breaks in-between. Now, he can savor it all, make it last until it's so embedded into his mind that it'll take the back of a hammer to rip it away.

Dean doesn't like to think about Renee.

He never stops loving Renee. Never. But his love fades bit by bit, with every life that passes by that sees him all on his lonesome. It's still there, but it is but one photograph on a wall of memories. He loves Renee, will always love Renee, but the Renee he loves is dead. And the one he finds in every life is different, and he realizes that it's her ghost he seeks now. So Dean does all he can do — he lets go and moves on.

He falls in love with others. Men, women, it doesn't matter. He falls in love, and even though they only stay with him for one life, they're in all his heart regardless. He may have been alone in his plight, but he was never lonely. He made sure of it.

There are no children, though. Never. No matter how hard he tries, no matter the method, he never has children. It's painful, but he endures.

He's no stranger to pain, after all.

So Dean keeps living different lives, an ever-changing immortal in a never-changing world until, well—

—Until he learns what exactly is going on.

Dean wakes up, expecting his ratty old apartment in the dead-end of Florida. The same place he's woken up after every death in God knows how many years.

Except he doesn't.

Instead, he wakes up in a brightly-colored house that is completely unfamiliar for him. A house that looks like it was painted by a four-year old girl. He thens looks at himself in the mirror.

It takes everything he has not to scream.

He was no longer human.

No, instead he was a horse. A horse with orange fur, brown hair, and a horn on his forehead. He was a unicorn. A unicorn.

Dean Ambrose reacted like any other grown man who had woken up to discover they were a pastel-colored mythological creature.

"What the fuck."

And then he fainted.

When he came to, he realized that yes, he was still a unicorn, and that was unlikely to change anytime soon. After freaking out for another half-hour, Dean finally got a hold of himself and decided that staying inside wasn't helping anyone, least of all him. If he wanted to know what was going on, the only option he had left was to go outside. Hopefully no one would attack him over his new appearance.

Oddly enough, it wasn't hard for him to open the door, despite the distinct lack of fingers, particularly thumbs. If it weren't for the fact that he was wal-trotting everywhere on four hooves, he could almost pretend everything was normal, as normal as his life could get. He almost did succumb to that hopeful fantasy, because reality was no longer reality.

Then he looked outside, and the illusion shattered.

Ponies. Ponies everywhere. Ponies acting like everything was normal.

Now Dean really wanted to scream.

What the hell is going on?

"Dean Ambrose?" A voice, light and calm, broke through his existential crisis.

Dean turned around.

There was another pony there. Female, by the looks of it. She had a purple coat and purple hair, sans a single streak of hot pink running from top to bottom. She also had a horn, but she also had wings, so he had no idea what to classify her as. Her eyes were wide and kind, and Dean has no idea what he's about to say to her.

"We've been waiting for you at the School of Friendship, you know." The pony reminded him gently. "When you didn't show up, we figured you were lost, and I went ahead to go get you. Come, I'll show you where the school is."

"Where am I?" Dean suddenly blurted out, lost and confused.

The pony paused, and peered at him closely.

"Why am I a pony?" He asked again, hoping he wouldn't pass for whatever crazy was considered here. The term had started to get really annoying by the end of his first WWE career.

That question seemed to spark something in the fem-mare, that's what they're called-mare's eyes.

She took a deep breath. "Dean, have you been repeating you life? Over and over again?"

For the second time today, Dean's world shattered.

"How do you know about that?" He asked, a little more roughly than he intended.

The mare took no offense, and simply smiled comfortingly at him.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle." The newly-introduced Twilight said. "Come with me. I'll explain everything to you."

Dean sat rigidly, watching silently as Twilight used her magic to pour him a cup of tea. Idly, he wondered if he could do that too — he had that horn for a reason, after all.

Mostly, however, he was waiting. Waiting for answers that he though he would never have, these last few millennia.

"I've called the school." Twilight began. "They're aware that you won't be available today."

"Thank you." Dean said, not exactly knowing what he was thanking her for. School?

Twilight smiled knowingly at him. "You must have a lot of questions."

"More than I can count." The wrestler murmured. "But I think I should start with the biggest one." He took a deep breath.

"Why am I repeating my life?"

The mare gazed at him. Then, without warning, she made some sort of gesture, and suddenly a book appeared out of thin air. She handed it to him. After a moment's hesitation, he took it, looking at Twilight in confusion.

Instead of answering his unasked question, Twilight asked one of her own. "Have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?"

Dean blinked, and frowned. "Yes." It had been covered in-depth in one of the many college classes he had taken over the years. "I take it the theory is correct?"

Twilight nodded, and then started…drawing something with her magic. It looked like a tree.

"This is Yggdrasil, the World Tree. It's a computer that contains and runs the multiverse. Years and years ago, something happened. Nobody knows how or what, but it didn't matter in the end. Yggdrasil was damaged, and to save all of existence, the gods needed to repair it."

"But in order to repair it," Twilight continued, "they needed to save the programs, the universes, within the World Tree, from deletion. And to do that, they decided to put these universes on 'safe mode' — by making them loop over and over again. Most of the inhabitants of these universes, except for the most important ones, do not remember these loops. They go about their lives the same way, every single time, without even a hint of knowing what is to come."

"I take it, then, I am one of these 'important ones'?" Dean asked, skeptical. His first occupation was hardly integral to anything except his livelihood. And even then, it could've been argued to be a detriment to that too.

"Yes." Twilight asserted. "See, in order to loop these universes, the god in charge — called an 'Admin' — needs an 'Anchor' for that reality. To determine this Anchor, they have to look at the universe's 'baseline' and select the person that best fits the criteria for that universe's ideal Anchor."

"Baseline?"

Twilight nodded. "Baseline is the main storyline, for lack of a better word. Each universe in Yggdrasil has a 'story' happening inside it. Whether this story is known to everyone or only a select few, it doesn't matter — this 'story' is the core of the universe, and the 'characters' in it are the most stable 'data points' in the system. One of these 'data points' acts as the Anchor."

Dean took in all this information, and his mind was running on overdrive. If he took in his usual start point, then that meant baseline was his WWE career — no, it was WWE from the debut of the Shield to whatever endpoint had been determined for the loop. He had noticed, sometimes, that his lives would restart before he actually died, but he had assumed he had died too quickly to realize what was happening. Now he knew better. It was simply the loop reaching it's pre-determined endpoint and stopping and restarting a new one.

And that meant…

"I'm the Anchor for my world." Dean breathed in. "But what am I doing in yours?"

Twilight tilted her head. "There are three different types of loops: baseline loops, baseline variant loops, and fused loops. Baseline loops are just that — reiterations of baseline. Baseline variant loops are where your world runs on the same general mechanics and is virtually indistinguishable from baseline, except for a fundamental change that can't be reversed. You could be born as a girl one loop, or someone else in your baseline is. Or in another loop, an important event that happened in baseline didn't, and changed all the subsequent events in your loop."

"The loop we're currently in is neither of the those types. This loop is a fused loop. It's where two separate universes are temporarily merged to run a loop together. It's typically used to make sure loopers don't become too stir-crazy and keep whatever's left of their sanity."

"Why?" Dean realized he had been saying that word a lot today.

"Dean, the ultimate goal of the Admins is to repair Yggdrasil, and the Anchors are key to that." Twilight said, taking a sip of her tea. "There are some loops that end prematurely. When that happens, we call it 'crashing the loop'. Crashing is strongly discouraged, because all it does is damage Yggdrasil and create more work for the Admins. There are many different ways to crash a loop, but the most common and easiest way to do is to kill the Anchor. As the Anchor is the linchpin of the loop, their death terminates it automatically."

"So Anchors need to stay sane, so they don't kill themselves?" Dean guessed, saying each word slowly.

Twilight smiled solemnly. "It's not common, but it does happen, especially with newbie Anchors. That's another reason why fused loops were created — so new loopers could learn about the Loops and the multiverse and understand the importance of their role."

Dean nodded absentmindedly. "I guess that's why I'm having a fused loop with you, then."

"Most likely." Twilight agreed.

The conversation continued for some time. Dean was amazed to learn that much of the popular media in his world were their own separate universes and also looping. That there was a strong possibility he'd get meet the likes of Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker. While he wasn't quite the level of nerd Seth or the New Day or most of the main roster was, he couldn't deny the level of giddiness he felt just thinking about it.

Yet, as exciting as that was, there was no more relief than the fact that he wouldn't be alone in his world for much longer. According to Twilight, other loopers should be joining him soon. While it hurt that they wouldn't be there for every loop, the fact that they would be there for a lot of them was enough. With them here, Dean could finally see the Loops as an adventure, and not a burden, like all the loopers that had come before them.

Not all of the information Twilight gave him was peaches and cream, though. He was also given a comprehensive overview of the three major Syndromes that loopers were susceptible to, one of which Twilight professed to have witnessed firsthand. Of particular worry was Sakura Syndrome; Dean was not looking forward to his first meeting with Sakura Haruno, that was for sure. Just thinking about it made him think about it made him shudder.

Then there were the Malevolent Looping Entities, or MLEs for short. Dean knew the importance of getting stronger to protect his world from these threats, but that didn't make him any less scared. Even before the loops started he had been of the fearless sort, and after that that trait only had become more prominent. Now, however, he couldn't help but shiver when thinking of dealing with most of these MLEs.

The book Twilight had given him was both a guide and a brief, but comprehensive history of the looping community thus far. It was to not only aid him in his progress as a looper, but also in helping ease in new loopers. Now that he was in the process of becoming a fully-fledged member of the looping community, there was a high likelihood his Admin would start activating more loopers in his home loop. It would be his job to help these loopers acclimatize to their new situation.

"Twilight." Dean fingered through the book, looking at pictures of the Original Seven, "How long will the loops last?"

Twilight swallowed. "We don't know."

Dean looked up from his reading, a sharp look on his face. "Are you sure?"

Twilight sighed. "Dean, I've had millions — no, billions of loops. The Original Seven have had even more. And yet, according to my last talk with my Admin, Yggdrasil is no closer to being repaired than it was when it was first damaged. The loops will end, that much I can assure you, but as for when? Well, I'm just as clueless as you are."

The wrestler stared at her, and seeing no deception, simply closed his book and rubbed circles into his temples. "Then I guess I'm in this for the long haul. Might as well get my introduction in order."

The alicorn smiled at him. "Very well. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the Anchor of the My Little Pony Loop."

"Hello, Twilight." Dean replies, smirking. "I'm Dean Ambrose. Anchor of the Professional Wrestling Loop."

Dean spends the rest of the loop learning what it means to be a looper. Twilight tutors him in accessing his Subspace Pocket and using pings, on top of his lessons in Friendship and unicorn magic. The latter was much easier than he thought he would be, perhaps because he now knew the presence of loop memories. Thinking back, there had been changes — small changes, changes he could disregard — in some of his previous loops, and he taken them in stride because he was subconsciously accessing his loop memories.

Most of all, however, he was enjoying himself. Back in his home loop, he had barely begun to notice the tediousness of repeating life over and over again, because he kept on doing different things every life. Even so, he had been to every corner in the world before his first fused loop, so event the appeal of traveling had been lost to him. Not so with the Multiverse. He wouldn't be bored for a very, very long time.

And so, as he watched Cozy Glow escorted away by the Princesses and their guards, he turned to Twilight and said, "Thank you."

Twilight glowed at him, bright. "Think nothing of it, Dean." She pulled him into a hug, which he returned warmly. "We'll see each other next time, okay?"

The next night, when he wakes up in that ratty old apartment in the dead-end of Florida, he smiles.

It isn't long before he gets another fused loop. It seems his Admin is intent in making sure he gets a full tour of the Multiverse before he meets his first local looper. Dean doesn't mind.

The next time, it's in a decently-sized apartment for a bachelor in Washington D.C. Dean checks his loop memories, sends out a ping (and receives several in return) then dresses up, strapping on his badge and his gun before driving to work. Thankfully, he had done several stints in law enforcement, so he had a general idea of what was expected of him for this loop.

After parking his car, he used his loop memories to navigate through the unfamiliar building, until he made it to a familiar elevator, and then a familiar setting. Spotting a flash of silver hair, he walks towards his desk, his backup slung over his shoulder.

"Hello, Boss." Dean lifted a hand in greeting. "You look a little tired. Are you Awake yet?"

Leroy Jethro Gibbs gave him an unimpressed look. "Newbie looper?"

Dean blinked at being called out like that so blatantly. "…Yeah?"

"Who gave you the speech?"

Well, there was no point trying to put up an act any longer. "Twilight Sparkle."

Gibbs hummed. "Lucky. Twilight never leaves a looper half-baked." He peered at Dean closely. "Though she does leave the decorating for the rest of us. What's your name, kid?"

Dean almost bristled at being called a kid, but then again, compared to the rest of the looping community, he was a kid. God, that was going to be hard to get used to again. "Dean Ambrose. I'm the Anchor of the newly initiated Professional Wrestling Loop."

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, but you will call me either Gibbs or Boss. I'm the Anchor of the NCIS Loop."

"I figured." Dean said. At Gibbs' questioning look, he elaborated quickly. "My loop is a near-Hub type."

"Ah." Gibbs said knowingly. "Well then, I guess you already know most of my loopers, including who you're replacing."

"Nick Torres, right?" Dean said, searching his loop memories. That had been his original name before it was changed, at least in this loop.

"Mmm. He's a newbie like you. Our Admin has had him bouncing around a couple of fused loops lately, trying to broaden horizons a bit. I guess the same is for you?"

"Considering that this is my second fused loop…"

"Yup." Gibbs cut him off. "Definitely for you. Come on. I'll give you a quick tour and crash course, and then we're off to our first case."

The next fused loop wasn't nearly as subdued.

Dean watched wide-eyed as Sasuke Uchiha casually burned his baseline wife with black flames after a very disturbing comment. Sakura Haruno, for her part, didn't scream — and soon the flames were gone, as if they had never been there in the first place. She herself was completely unharmed. As the two continued to casually speak with one another, Dean turned to Naruto Uzumaki, completely in disbelief.

"Welcome to the Naruto Loop, Dean." Naruto cheekily said instead.

The next loop, he was ten years old, pint-sized and staring up the biggest treehouse he had ever seen.

"Welcome to the Kids Next Door Loop." Nigel Uno smirked.

"Welcome to the Steven Universe Loop!" Steven Universe exclaimed brightly, balancing on a hollow, translucent pink sphere.

"Welcome to the Ranma 1/2 Loop." Ranma Saotome held out his hand, and Dean's knees buckled immediately due to the strength of his grip.

"Welcome to the One Piece Loop!" Monkey D. Luffy swung by, and Dean goggled at how his arm was serving as the vine.

"Welcome to the—"

"—Sailor Moon—"

"—Star Wars—"

"—Camp Camp—"

"—Hogwarts—"

"—Code Geass—"

"—Avatar—"

"—Power Ranger—"

"—Loop!"

Finally, after slews of fused loops, occasionally interspersed with baseline variant loops, Dean finally has a regular baseline loops again. Armed with knowledge and abilities far beyond anyone in his world could hope to achieve for the time being, the idea of wrestling becomes appealing again. His worldview has been broadened, but gazing at the horizon, he longs for the familiarity of a four-sided ring.

That being said, he doesn't go back to WWE. Not yet. He has a complete guide to his career thanks to his visit to the Hub, where he was professional wrestler Jonathan Good, the man who played Dean Ambrose and Jon Moxley on TV/DVD, and he could easily replicate those events. However, Dean wants more to the life than just that, living through HWA and CZW and then, to FCW, NXT, and WWE. There are other wrestling companies after all, and other styles of wrestling to learn.

So that's what he does. Learn. He goes to Japan and immerses himself in strong style. To Mexico and below, and applies himself to the Lucha Libre. To the United Kingdom and Ireland, and anywhere he can learn a new form of wrestling. A new lifestyle of wrestling.

Then he travels promotion after promotion, big and small, both known and unknown. He goes to them and wrestles in them until he becomes the star of them. And if, if they're one of those who have the potential to be more, then he manipulates and takes control and makes them more. He's had experience in running businesses before, after all, and wrestling promotions aren't that different, especially when you're a wrestler yourself.

It's during a loop where he decides to become a Ring of Honor wrestler that he suspects he has gotten his first looper. It's several more loops before he learns he's right.

Dean Awakens to that ceiling, and thinks, This is it. I'm going back to WWE this loop. And then, he hears someone rings his doorbell.

Huh. That's a new one.

He makes sure he's somewhat presentable, and satisfied, goes to open the door. A visiting looper, perhaps? He had been through quite a number of fused loops so word must have spread about him, enough to for at least some to know to come to him.

He opens the door to see Sami Zayn on the other side.

"Why were you in ROH?" The Syrian demands.

Oh. Well I was sorta right.

So this is my way of grieving that Dean is leaving WWE. I'm hoping it's a work but I'm accepting that it probably isn't it. And either way, I've always wanted to do a fic like this.

For you Shield fans, Seth and Roman will become loopers. However, it will be a while before they start looping. This is mainly for narrative purposes. It'd be too easy for Dean if the two people closest to him started looping first. While technically that's supposed to happen anyway, I have a sufficient explanation as for why that didn't happen.

As far as pairings go, I'm undecided. If I do decide to do pairings, it will either be Dean/Renee or Ambrollins. Others will be added as time goes on.

The Infinite Loops are a pre-existing fandom/project. They even have their own TV Tropes page, if you want to check it out.

While this story will use the Infinite Loops' mechanics and prompt, I must stress that it is not an official member of the Infinite Loops project. Fics that are official members of the IL on FFN and AO3 are compilations of shorts that are written on SpaceBattles threads by authors who collaborate to shape their respective setting. This story is and, unless I change my mind, will continue to be my work only. This is partially because I'm not sure how many hardcore wrestling fans are on SB, and partially because I'm not patient enough to see if my work is approved by the required number of authors.

If you have questions about the IL setting, please hold off on them. There will be more exploration about the setting in subsequent chapters.

If you feel that your questions cannot wait, then please refer to the TV Tropes page. They have their own explanations, plus links to the official SB threads.