diff --git a/lib/src/rewrite.rs b/lib/src/rewrite.rs
index f6d449b4ee..052adbbccf 100644
--- a/lib/src/rewrite.rs
+++ b/lib/src/rewrite.rs
@@ -386,56 +386,34 @@ impl<'settings, 'repo> DescendantRebaser<'settings, 'repo> {
     }
 
     /// Panics if `parent_mapping` contains cycles
-    fn new_parents(&self, old_ids: &[CommitId]) -> Vec<CommitId> {
-        fn single_substitution_round(
-            parent_mapping: &HashMap<CommitId, Vec<CommitId>>,
-            ids: Vec<CommitId>,
-        ) -> (Vec<CommitId>, bool) {
-            let mut made_replacements = false;
-            let mut new_ids = vec![];
-            // TODO(ilyagr): (Maybe?) optimize common case of replacements all
-            // being singletons. If CommitId-s were Copy. no allocations would be needed in
-            // that case, but it probably doesn't matter much while they are Vec<u8>-s.
-            for id in ids.into_iter() {
-                match parent_mapping.get(&id) {
-                    None => new_ids.push(id),
-                    Some(replacements) => {
-                        assert!(
-                            // Each commit must have a parent, so a parent can
-                            // not just be mapped to nothing. This assertion
-                            // could be removed if this function is used for
-                            // mapping something other than a commit's parents.
-                            !replacements.is_empty(),
-                            "Found empty value for key {id:?} in the parent mapping",
-                        );
-                        made_replacements = true;
-                        new_ids.extend(replacements.iter().cloned())
-                    }
-                };
-            }
-            (new_ids, made_replacements)
-        }
-
-        let mut new_ids: Vec<CommitId> = old_ids.to_vec();
-        // The longest possible non-cycle substitution sequence goes through each key of
-        // parent_mapping once.
-        let mut allowed_iterations = 0..self.parent_mapping.len();
-        loop {
-            let made_replacements;
-            (new_ids, made_replacements) = single_substitution_round(&self.parent_mapping, new_ids);
-            if !made_replacements {
-                break;
+    fn new_parents(&self, mut ids: Vec<CommitId>) -> Vec<CommitId> {
+        let mut i = 0;
+        while i < ids.len() {
+            // The longest possible non-cycle substitution sequence goes through each key of
+            // parent_mapping once.
+            let mut allowed_iterations = 0..self.parent_mapping.len();
+            while let Some(replacements) = self.parent_mapping.get(&ids[i]) {
+                allowed_iterations
+                    .next()
+                    .expect("cycle detected in the parent mapping");
+                assert!(
+                    // Each commit must have a parent, so a parent can
+                    // not just be mapped to nothing. If this assertion is
+                    // removed, adjust the looping logic.
+                    !replacements.is_empty(),
+                    "Found empty value for key {:?} in the parent mapping",
+                    &ids[i]
+                );
+                ids.splice(i..i + 1, replacements.iter().cloned());
             }
-            allowed_iterations
-                .next()
-                .expect("cycle detected in the parent mapping");
+            i += 1;
         }
-        match new_ids.as_slice() {
+        match ids.as_slice() {
             // The first two cases are an optimization for the common case of commits with <=2
             // parents
-            [_singleton] => new_ids,
-            [a, b] if a != b => new_ids,
-            _ => new_ids.into_iter().unique().collect(),
+            [_singleton] => ids,
+            [a, b] if a != b => ids,
+            _ => ids.into_iter().unique().collect(),
         }
     }
 
@@ -539,7 +517,7 @@ impl<'settings, 'repo> DescendantRebaser<'settings, 'repo> {
                 continue;
             }
             let old_parent_ids = old_commit.parent_ids();
-            let new_parent_ids = self.new_parents(old_parent_ids);
+            let new_parent_ids = self.new_parents(old_parent_ids.to_vec());
             if self.abandoned.contains(&old_commit_id) {
                 // Update the `new_parents` map so descendants are rebased correctly.
                 self.parent_mapping