//------------------------------// // Loop 4 // Story: The Time Thief // by Reading4HalfMyLife //------------------------------// Monday 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. Turning, she began to write up long multiplication sums on the board, and chose ponies at random to do them. Her eyes honed in on Astral Plane, who seemed to be doodling. "Astral!" She called, holding a piece of chalk in her hooves. "Can you come up here and do these questions for me?" She expected the unicorn to freeze up and sheepishly ask what question they were on. Instead, she got to her hooves, and telekinetically held the chalk up, before starting to answer the question. Huh, her magic has improved, Cheerilee thought, eyeing her critically, before raising her eyebrows. As has her math. Astral underlined the correct answer twice, and quietly made her way back to her seat, trying to ignore the stares she was being given. "You're really good at magic now!" Butterscotch gushed, and Astral tried not to flinch when she saw his blank flank. Time had reset, so his cutie mark was lost. Jam nodded her head vigorously. "Yeah, I thought you said you were struggling at magic." Astral shrugged, smiling slightly as she said "I guess I've had a . . breakthrough, really." And it was true enough. While not amazing, she could now lift all five marbles if she concentrated really hard. She wasn't really sure what caused it, maybe it had something to do with stress? Besides, she had bigger things to worry about. She had read all three of the looping books her mom gave her in a day (wow, this is what her mom must feel like all the time) and the results were very . . disheartening. Most ponies trapped in a time loops either went insane, or became super depressed. The last book in particular bothered her, as the ending was about how the protagonist killed themselves to get out. She had long since decided to save that for an absolute last resort. All the books did was leave her with more questions and more worries. "Earth to Astral!" Jam yelled, waving a hoof in front of her face. Astral flinched back, before realizing both her friends were looking at her strangely. "Uh, sorry, what?" "I said," Butterscotch said in a slow voice. "That maybe you should try some other spells. You might be especially good at a certain branch of spell, instead of just magic in general. Astral stared at him. "That just might work!" She chirped, bouncing on her hooves slightly in her excitement. Before they could continue onward, the school bell rang, calling them back into class. Astral remembered all the magic books in her moms library, and grinned. "Oh, sweetie, it's so nice to see you so eager to learn!" Twilight gushed as she levitated books down from their shelves. Behind her, Astral Plane laughed awkwardly. "Oh, you know me, always eager to learn," she gave a big toothy smile, but, thankfully, her mom wasn't paying attention, searching for the perfect book for her daughter. At last, she levitated a light blue book with an explosion on it down, before handing it to Astral. "Guide to Magic and Sorcery," she beamed, and Astral flicked through a couple of pages, and checked the table of contents. Beginner Telekinesis Illumination Reverse-Illumination (making everything dark) Heat Sound Intermediate Teleportation Phasing Laser Shield Undoing spells Advanced Reverse Gravity Time Spells (the pages were ripped out for this one) Transfiguration "When your done with each of those classes, I will have to test you to see if you're ready to move up to Intermediate or Advanced," her mom warned, and Astral nodded, not looking up. "If you pass the Advanced Test, you are registered in Equestria as a mage!" She added, and Astral perked up at the thought of her wearing the traditional Mages Robes. "Thanks mom," she said, before reaching up to nuzzle her. Tuesday "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 . . ." Astral, used to the lecture, instead decided to focus on her book. She was smarter this time, putting it under the desk to read it. She wanted to start off by trying illumination, but it would have to be dark to do so. "Astral Plane!" At the sound of her name, she looked up to meet Cheerilee's eyes. Upon seeing that her pupil was now engaged once more, she turned back to the board, throwing a "So glad that you have decided to rejoin the conversation, Astral," over her shoulder. Astral remained impassive while everypony else snickered. It had been done so many times at this point, she couldn't even be ashamed or embarrassed. Slowly, she turned back to her spell book. Wednesday "Today is the day we get our cutie marks!" Jam said, only to stop when Astral held up a hoof. "Actually, I was wondering if I could sit this one out," she said, giving a tired smile, and unconsciously glancing towards Butterscotch's flank. She didn't want to do the same same thing over and over again without fail. Jam stared at her, ears pressed against her head. "But . . we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We crusade for our cutie marks. Together." Astral shuffled uncomfortable. "I have a headache," she lied, and Apple Jam's eyes narrowed. "No you don't. I know when you're lying," her lips trembled dangerously as she continued. "If you don't want to hang out with us, you can just say it." "I-" Astral shook her head slowly. "It's not that, I'm just not feeling it today." It was feeble, and going by the incredulous stares she was being given, they knew it too. "If you want to leave, you can leave," Butterscotch said, sounding truly miserable now. Astral looked between her two friends. Jam was scowling in an attempt to cover up her tears, but a couple were already trickling down Butterscotch's cheeks. It was no use trying to explain herself. Astral walked out of their tree house. The rest of the day passed by very slow, but Astral tried to make the most of it by writing out some goals. From what she could gather from her time loop books, boredom led to apathy which led to killing others for fun. So, she just wouldn't get bored. Easy,right? 1. Get cutie mark 2. Learn Magic 3. Help friends get cutie mark 4. Find out what time I loop at 5. Bring another pony in with me to see what happens Sadly, the list only took ten minutes to make, so Astral was bored almost instantly after. She tried to focus on magic, and, to her surprise, she found she could do a weak illumination spells. It was hardly more than sparks, but she hadn't been expecting it to work at all. She filed that away for later. 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." The class groaned as usual, while Astral just stared down at her desk, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. It had been awkward, walking into class with Jam and Butterscotch ignoring her. The tests were handed out, and Astral filled out the correct answers. When she was done, she took out a blank sheet of paper, and started folding it up. Her uncle Spike had taught her how to create a paper frog before he moved to help relations between Equestria, Dragons and Changelings. Once she was done, she pushed on the frogs back, causing it to hop around the desk. When her mom came to walk her home as usual, she walked by Jam and Butterscotch without the usual goodbyes. Seeing her mom's questioning look, she gave her the frog as a diversion. It worked for a couple of minutes, with her mom's squeals of "how cute!" and "oh I just love origami!" filling the air for a second, until she carefully tucked them away in her saddlebags, and turned to Astral, face serious. "Is something wrong sweetie? Did you and your friends get into a fight?" She asked, concerned. Astral shrugged. "Yeah, but don't worry. It'll all be cleared up by tomorrow." Her mom gave her a confused look, but didn't say anything else.