Monday.
Astral walked through the castle, and checked her mother's room. Yes, Twilight's suitcase was missing. She hastily backtracked into the kitchen, where Starlight was, as usual. "Morning mom, is mom in Canterlot?" She asked, as she forced down a bite of an apple. "Oh, Astral, I forgot to wake you! I'm so sorry!" She said, then remembered the question. "Yes, sweetie, she's seeing Alchemy, remember?"
Before Astral could say anything, Starlight glanced up at the clock, and levitated the filly towards the door. "You better hurry, or you'll be late!" About to protest, she saw her mothers stern look and did just that, racing through the town as she tried to figure out what was happening. She managed to reach the schoolhouse on time, but she was sweaty and out of breath.
Geez, I am unfit, she thought as she slid into her seat, but discarded that thought for more important ones. Three weeks of the exact same events in the exact same order? Somethings going on here.
Miss Cheerilee walked in, and her smile widened when she realized everypony was in on time. Astral wasn't scolded this week, and instead Miss Cheerilee got right into putting a math problem up onto he board. Astral hadn't been paying attention the last time, so now she decided to concentrate on it.
At 3:25pm, two trains left Los Angeles. One train traveled westward at a constant rate of 82 mph, while the other train traveled east at a constant rate of 66 mph. If they are now 111 miles apart, what time is it now? Please show all steps
Everyone in the class stared blankly up at the board, before turning, as one, to glare at their teacher. Cheerilee, upon seeing the disgruntled expressions, laughed, and shook her head. "No, I do not expect you to solve this equation," and everypony let out a relived sigh. "But," this made everyone tense up once more "sometime in the future, you may be asked a question similar to this one." She waved her hoof towards the board, and raised an eyebrow at her class. "Want to complain about long multiplication now?" She laughed again at the vehement head shaking.
As Cheerilee wiped down the board, and replaced it with simple adding sums, Astral thought over what the teacher had said. Sometime in the future. But what if this happened again? She couldn't exactly explain what was happening to her parents if she didn't even know what was happening.
Maybe I could check out mom's library, and see if there's something there? I could say I'm trying to get a cutie mark in being a historian, or something.
Astral was snapped out of her thoughts by Cheerilee, who wanted her to answer a question on the board. She got it wrong, and, embarrassed, slunk back to her seat.
Okay, ask mom about teaching me math so this doesn't happen next time.
Tuesday.
Noiselessly, the unicorn slides forwards, eyes intent on her target. Each step is slow and careful, her hooves making no noise against the crystal floor. With a graceful leap, she threw herself through the air and landed not two centimeters from her prey. She smiled. Target acquired.
"Uh, sweetie? Why are you in the dark narrating yourself while you steal one of my books?"
Sheepish, Astral turned to Twilight, and felt her cheeks heat up. "Oh, hey mom. I was just . . . practicing." Unamused, her mom raised an eyebrow at her, and her cheeks got hotter. "For what?" She sounded like she was scared to know. As she should be! Astral puffed out her chest proudly. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Spies!"
" . . Right" Twilight blinked, before levitating the book in Astral's hooves away from her. "Trainee's guide to Time Travel . . Astral Plane!"
Flinching, Astral made herself as small as she could at her mothers tone. "I know you told me not to, but-"
"Yes, I told you not to! I told you, and Starlight told you!" She loomed over her daughter, anger and terror each taking hold of her face. "Do. Not. Mess. With. Time!"
It was indeed one of the first rules Astral had been told when she first told her parents she wanted to learn magic. Both Starlight and Twilight had a bad run in with time spells, and were always afraid of another pony going back in time, and doing something, be it harmless or not, that could seriously endanger Equestria.
It was because of this that they locked up any and all time spells, and made it illegal to go back in time.
Well, all time spells except that one.
"I know! I know!" Astral burst out, leaping to her hooves, tears in her eyes. "It's just, there was this colt in school who told us a story about a filly reliving the same week, over and over, and I was curious and-"
"Oh," Twilight let out a relived breath. "You mean time loops, of course."
"And I wanted to see if that could actually happe- wait what?" Astral's brain caught up to what her mom had just said, and gaped up at her. A now relaxed Twilight put the book back into it's original place. "Oh yes, it's a fairly common story element."
Story element? Story element?!
Astral took a deep breath in, and once she had significantly calmed down, asked in a tight voice. "Are there any factual books about it?" Twilight leaned back on her haunches as she tried to recall any factual books. Not that she could recall, but then again, there weren't many factual books about Discord or Nightmare Moon until after their release and-
Oh. Her eyes widened, and she levitated a book down from the shelves, before giving it to the eager filly. Equestria's Myths and Monsters. It looked like a foal storybook, the kind with lots of pictures and not enough facts. The fact that it nearly toppled Astral from its size and weight contradicted this, however.
"There might be something in there, but I'm not sure. I'll try and order some new ones from Canterlot if you want," Twilight admitted, and Astral tightened her hold against the book. "Thanks mom" she said, rubbing her head against her moms barrel, before hurrying upstairs.
"Today class, we are going to be learning about flight or fight," Ms. Cheerilee said, pointing to a diagram on the board, while the class feigned interest. "Every living being has one or the other, otherwise they would completely die out! The fight-or-flight response is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. ."
While she droned on, Astral took out the book, and started to flip through the pages, until she got to the time subsection. There were a couple of paragraphs about Starswirl, and about why and how he made the time spell. Until my mom improved it, Astral thought smugly, before reading on. At the end, there was a simple footnote. See Deities and God's.
Curious, she flipped through the thin pages until she landed on the subsection.
Once upon a time, there were six powerful beings. These six beings worked together to create the world that we know.
The six beings were very close, but, over time, they drifted apart. However, they would always stay in groups of two, and each pair would eventually become opposites of each other.
There was a list of the God's and their opposites just below this, and Astral quickly scanned it.
Ebony (darkness) - Ray (light)
Aether (space) - Kronos (time)
Loki (Chaos) - Harmonia (Harmony)
Loki? Shouldn't it be Discord?
"Astral Plane!" Startled, she jerked back in her chair, nearly tipping it over in the process.
Upon steadying herself, she stared up at Ms. Cheerilee, who was frowning down at her. "So glad that you have decided to rejoin the conversation, Astral," she said, and Astral nodded her head, closing her book quietly. She was aware of the sympathetic glances her friends gave her, but she ignored them.
In her haste, she had temporarily forgotten about the book.
Wednesday.
"Look, I'm just saying, maybe hand gliding isn't the way to go."
"Oh?" Apple Jam cocked her head to the side as she regarded her best friend. "Any suggestions?"
Astral pulled herself up to her full height, which wasn't much, and put on her best inspiring voice. "Rock climbing!" She threw a hoof up into the air, and the other two slapped their hooves against hers with a loud "yeah!"
"You girls are going to work me into the ground" Butterscotch said, and a choking sound made them all turn around to regard a wheezing Applejack. "Mom? Ya' good?" Jam asked, and Applejack made a It's good, I'm okay gesure with her hooves.
Thursday.
"Hello class!" Ms Cheerilee greeted, and a chorus of "hello Ms Cheerilee"'s followed by soon after. "Now, today is Thursday, and you know what that means" she lifted up a stack of paper, "tests." Reactions from the class were mixed. Some just groaned, while others realized they did absolutely no studying for the History of the Wonderbolts Test today.
Astral, who already knew all the answers, watched with interest at the faces of the other fillies and colts as they read the questions. It was mostly horror and fear, with only some relief. She snorted, and turned back to the sheet, and started writing.
When Twilight came by to walk her home, she asked her to help her with her long multiplication. As expected, she was thrilled, and the two spent two hours going over it, until Twilight was sure her daughter understood how to do it. She also explained that the books she ordered would take two days to arrive. Time she didn't have.
Just before going to bed, Astral retried her telekinesis trick, and actually got the marble to lift a couple of inches, before it dropped like a rock onto the desk. She watched it roll onto the floor, annoyed, but didn't pick it up, instead deciding to just head into bed.
I bet Alchemy would be able to help out with the telekinesis. .
When she woke up, the first thing her eyes focused on was the little marble on the floor.
I'm out! Joyously, she threw off the covers, and flopped out of bed. She threw on one of her scarves, and it trailed behind her as she sprinted into the kitchen, a wide smile on her face.
Her mother was there, reading a letter with a small grin, but looked up as Astral entered. "Morning sweetie," she greeted, and Astral gave an enthusiastic squeal in return. Starlight covered her ears at the intensity of it. "Wow, you're excited today. You normally hate Mondays," she noted, and frowned when Astral stopped smiling.
"Monday?"
" . .Yes?"
Without further ado, Astral spun on her hooves, and threw up.