"Remember, increasing or decreasing the room temperature will effect you as well unless you have a shield spell, which I know you don't." Starlight watched Astral carefully as she made the living room go from freezing to boiling within seconds.
It was Tuesday, and Astral had already missed two days of school. Starlight and Astral had spent those two days going over Astral's magic. Her telekinesis and illumination spells had greatly improved, and she had already mastered the sound spell.
Starlight smiled, her daughter was proving to be quite a natural with magic. She just hadn't realized it because she had tried to follow Twilight's method of non-stop studying instead of the more hooves on approach.
"You're doing great!" She praised, getting a blush from Astral as her horn finally stopped glowing.
"Thanks!" Astral said, wiping away some perspiration.
Over the course of the two days, she had come up with a hypothesis, that if she left her bedroom at the same time the loops reset, she might be able to escape the loops.
Of course, there was a number of ways that could go wrong- she shut her eyes tight at the picture of her friends evaporating before her- but, at this point she was desperate to get out and get on with her life.
From what she could gather she would either;
Out of all four option, she only wanted option one. But she had no way of controlling the odds, however much she wanted to.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but you can't miss three days of school," Twilight said firmly, flattening her ears at her daughters horror stricken look.
"Bu- please!" She begged, feeling tears prick at the corner of her eyes. They couldn't make her, she'd run, run far and run fast, they'd never catch her-
"Your friends miss you," Twilight told her gently, only for Astral to flinch away. "They tried to talk to you yesterday, but you made me send them away," she reminded her. "You need to go to school, sweetheart. It's the law."
"Okay," Astral whispered, hanging her head as she tried to control her shaking. If they were alive, it might be good to see if . . if that last loop affected them in any way. But, Gods, what was she going to say to them?
She swallowed nervously, and started heading towards the school.
I can do this, all I have to do is give a quick wave and a nod, and I can get on with my day. They probably don't even remember, I mean- she stopped dead in her tracks upon entering the schools playground.
There they were, Jam and Butterscotch, deep in discussion, like nothing happened. Because nothing had happened. From their perspective, everything was fine and dandy, other then their sick friend.
Oh gods, no.
"Astral!" Butterscotch's sweet mellow voice actually brought tears to Astral's eyes, and she blinked rapidly to expel them.
"Are you . . feeling better?" Jam asked, biting her lip and shuffling awkwardly onto her haunches. She never was good at feelings.
"Yeah, I'm good, I just felt really sick!" Not a lie, and Jam seemed to sense this, relaxing slightly. "But I really missed you guys" she added, still not a lie.
Butterscotch opened his mouth to say something, but Cheerilee's voice rang out through the playground, calling all fillies and colts back into class. He and Jam started to head inside, but Astral stayed exactly where she was, staring after her very much alive friends.
Cheerilee, worried about the pale, shaking figure that was her student, called Starlight and Twilight to come pick her up. They brought the little filly back to the castle, whereupon she broke down crying for some unknown reason.
It was Thursday, the last day of the loop, and all Astral was doing was curling up in bed under the covers, waiting for it all to end.
The sound of the door opening made her ears prick, but she did not look up. "Sweetie?" It was Twilight, sounding sheepish. Uh oh.
She threw off the blankets with her magic, narrowing her eyes up at her mother. "Yes?" She asked, suspicious.
"I- I came to apologize for making you go to school. I am so sorry."
You should be. The vindictiveness of the thought shocked her, so instead she shook her head and said "it's okay, it's not your fault."
Her mom pulled her into a hug, and subconsciously Astral breathed in her familiar lavender scent. "I have an idea. How about tomorrow we go to Canterlot to see your brother. I'm sure he would love to see you!"
A sad smile crossed Astral's face as she buried her face into Twilight's chest. "I would like that. I haven't seen Al in ages." She remembered her idea to go outside her room when the loops reset, but decided to save that idea for later. It's not like I can't wait one more loop.
A part of her wondered when her parents hugs became less comforting then they used to.