Sweetie Belle walked downstairs, and looked in the kitchen. Yes, there were pancakes. Sitting down, she began to eat. While peculiar, it had still been a few days since she had had them, and she did love them so. This time however, she made sure to finish with ample time left to head to school.
“Say, Rarity, when was the last time you made me pancakes?” Sweetie smiled warmly at Rarity as she stood up. Picking up the plates in her magic, she began to wash them. Rarity widened her eyes, watching this.
“My my sister, your magic is improving at an alarming rate. Why, you could probably help me with creating clothes if you liked.” Rarity smiled warmly, imagining how a second horn would make holding more items a lot easier. Sweetie finished washing up, and glanced to Rarity, who blinked, remembering she had been asked a question.
“Oh! I’m not sure dear, it was before you went to visit our parents about four weeks ago.” Rarity waved goodbye as Sweetie grabbed her saddlebags, and headed out the door, on time. Meeting up with Apple Bloom, Sweetie narrowed her eyes as she thought back on Rarity’s words.
‘That’s eight weeks ago for me, including this week. Something is definitely wrong here.’ Sweetie sat down in her normal seat, and Cheerilee walked in, beginning the lesson. Sweetie smiled, she knew just what to say if this turned out to indeed be the same day.
“All right kids, today we’re going to learn about how diamonds and sand are formed.” Cheerilee smiled warmly at her students. Sweetie beamed back a strange smile, like she was gleefully waiting something.
“Why not get Sweetie Belle to answer, since her sister has a Cutie Mark about diamonds.” As if on cue, Diamond Tiara smirked at Sweetie. This time, Sweetie rounded on Diamond and raised an eyebrow, tilting her head as she put on an innocent expression.
“But isn’t your name Diamond Tiara? Surely you would be a better choice for the question.” Sweetie felt smug satisfaction as Diamond Tiara blinked, and then glared at her. Cherilee quickly intercepted, sending a scolding glare at Sweetie. Oops.
“We’ll have none of that in my classroom. You both can write up a paper on today's subject as punishment. I expect it by Friday.” Cherilee turned, and gave Diamond a scolding glance as well before returning to her place in front of the chalkboard. Sweetie pulled out a piece of paper, folded it into a paper plane, and levitated it in circles under the desk, where nopony could see it.
‘I must find a better way to manage the headaches, I won’t have paper until class.’ Sweetie sighed inwardly, ears flopping down. Just why was she repeating time? Her friends hadn’t believed her last time, and it wasn’t likely Twilight or Rarity would believe her either.
‘Maybe I can convince Twilight it’s an attempt to get a Cutie Mark, she normally indulges those.’ Sweetie snapped out of her muse as a question was asked of her by Cheerilee, and she realised she didn’t know the answer. Shaking her head, she felt the smirk from Diamond beside her.
'Note to self: Spend some time learning these classes so I don’t have to keep doing them.'
“Twilight, I was wondering if it’s possible to get a Cutie Mark about time.” Sweetie smiled innocently at Twilight as she served breakfast to her from Rarity’s kitchen. Apparently, when she got home at the normal time, Twilight left a note explaining she would be taking care of her, and had gone to get some items from her castle. Sweetie decided it would be best to just leave it until tomorrow.
“Yeah, there’s quite a few Cutie Marks related to time, why do you ask?” Twilight raised her head from her book, and watched the paper airplane flying around. Sweetie had gotten pretty good at magic to be able to cast that constantly. Placing her book down, she brought her full attention to the filly.
“Well, uh, a kid in class mentioned this strange thing and I want to know more about it cause it sounds interesting. And if there’s a chance it turns out to be my destiny then all the more reason to do it, so-” Sweetie paused as Twilight held up a hoof to silence her, and motioned her to take a seat on the opposite side of the table.
“What exactly was this strange thing?” Twilight smiled in humor as Sweetie scratched the back of her head. Whatever this was, it was something she was either very confused about, or embarrassed about.
“Well, he said he read this story where the main character was stuck in this same period of time, kinda like when you found that one-use time travel spell, but different. See, the main character isn’t going back to see his old self, he becomes his old self. Like...Let’s say he spends one day going to a movie because friends invited him, the very next day his friends would invite him to the same movie.” Sweetie bit her lip, wondering if she was explaining it ok.
“Oh, you mean time loops. Quite a few stories use those actually, they’re quite popular.” Twilight smiled warmly, realising Sweetie was actually interested in something that wasn’t going to end in instant disaster, and tree sap. Even Twilight had no clue why it always ended in tree sap.
“Time loops… Do you have any books left from the library I can borrow?” Sweetie leaned forward eagerly, until Twilight shook her head. Slumping, she sighed. That was just perfect. Now how was she supposed to find out about these ‘time loops’?
“I’m sorry, I lost entire sections when it got destroyed. I’ll see if I can write up a quick list of books. Maybe you can convince your sister to take you with her to Manehattan and you can buy them.” Twilight winked, and felt relieved as Sweetie cheered up. Twilight took the paper plane out of the air and quickly scribbled the list on it, before folding it and allowing Sweetie to take it in her magic once more.
“Thanks, Twilight.”
“I’m telling you, who’d want a Cutie Mark of hole digging? Surely if our talent was that we would have already discovered it. You know, from all the holes we’ve dug ourselves into?” Sweetie looked knowingly at her two friends, who smiled and scratched the backs of their heads.
“You make a fair point, but I’m not sure what else we could try. We’ve tried all the extreme sports, and still no awesome Cutie Mark.” Scootaloo looked sadly to her blank flank, and the others shared a sympathetic nod. Sweetie, however, had the answer.
“Scoots, remember that time Rainbow Dash saved that carriage that was rolling down that steep hill? What if you ride down it on your scooter, and it gets you a Cutie Mark in speed!” Sweetie watched as the idea lit up in her two friends’ eyes; there was no way this could backfire. And yet, it never hurt to be safe.
“Let’s get Rainbow Dash as well. I’m sure she would be amazed to see the event that gets you your Cutie Mark!” The others nodded, and the three dashed away.
Sadly, even though Rainbow Dash did save Scootaloo from falling to her death, she failed to get the scooter. Sweetie felt a slice of guilt, and promised herself if this happened to be the last time she would do this week, the weekend would be spent getting enough money to purchase Scootaloo a new scooter.
Thankfully, they still met up for the snowball fight on the next day before school started. Sweetie battled against Scootaloo and Apple Bloom as they teamed up against her, and found herself soundly defeated. Giggling, she was proud that she could still enjoy a good snowball fight. That would never change.
Sweetie Belle decided to skip Friday, and convince Rarity she was sick. Looking over the list, she desperately spent the day memorising it. It was during this time that she realised the paper plane from the previous week was still sitting on her bedside table. Picking it up, she looked it over in confusion before placing it back down.
‘Does this mean, my room doesn’t loop? Maybe I don’t have to memorise this. And if not, what will happen if I go to sleep outside my room?’ Sweetie debated it, and decided not to risk it until she had read the books Twilight had listed, in alphabetical order. Sweetie sighed, and decided maybe turning it into a small song might help her remember.
Consumed in her task, she jumped up, startled, when she realised it was pitch black in her room, a light coming from outside her window. Opening the blinds, she saw it was just the moon, and relaxed. Watching it, she placed the book list down on the table and strived to sit up all night. It was easier said than done, and she nearly dozed off a few times, but as the sun rose she felt a tired smile creep onto her face. Glancing to the table, both pieces of paper were still there.
‘I’m out, it’s finally the weekend.’ Her relief was leaking down her face. Sweetie wouldn’t need those books, she would get the chance to get Scootaloo a new scooter. Finally, the weekend. The sun never looked so welcoming as it rose, and she was almost tempted to lower back down into her blankets, but the fear that doing so would restart the week remained.
Sweetie’s ear flickered. There was movement downstairs. Smiling, Sweetie decided to surprise her sister, and snuck down the stairs. Peeking into the kitchen, her sister was hard at work preparing breakfast. Sweetie stepped back a few steps, and then announced her presence with heavy clip-clops as she stepped into the room, and gave a yawn.
“Sweetie Belle, you’re up early. I was just making breakfast.” Rarity smiled warmly at her sister as Sweetie slipped into the kitchen table’s chair and beamed at her sister.
“What chu making?” Sweetie felt proud, and free. No more waiting for a weekend that might not come. Rarity levitated over the bowl of yellow paste, and Sweetie blinked, her blood running ice cold.
“Pancakes, I know how much you love them. It’s been over four weeks since I last made them, so I decided to bake you a treat, my darling sister.” Rarity turned her back to Sweetie as she continued making the food. Sweetie lowered her head, and put a hoof to her forehead.
“R-Rarity, I’m not feeling so good. Can I stay home today?” Sweetie felt her stomach give a heave, and didn’t have to fake the feeling of unease as Rarity walked over and put a hoof to her forehead, frowning.
“You do feel warm. Go back to bed, I’ll bring you up the pancakes when they’re ready.”