“Remember to copy how much is absorbed into the paper, otherwise it will just rub right off.” Twilight carefully watched Sweetie as she slowly transferred the notes on one page to the second. They had been practicing all day. Twilight didn’t like the fact Sweetie was missing two days of school, but decided one more day was acceptable, considering how Sweetie had been yesterday.
“Is that ok?” Sweetie broke the connection and puffed. Transferring it onto a new page was quite exhausting. Sweetie knew it was going to take quite a long time to transfer all her notes into a copy. Twilight smiled as she examined the paper.
“Good job, I can’t detect any difference between the two.” Twilight was quite proud of Sweetie. Her magic had a certain perfectionist quality to it. Whether that was due to Sweetie’s tendency to want to be as perfect as she thought Rarity was was a different matter.
“Alright, so let’s say you’ve made the copy. What do you do next?” Sweetie wiped the sweat off her brow. Getting both pages exactly the same had been a challenge. And Twilight made it look so easy. Still, it felt nice to learn something new.
“Well, assuming you’ve double checked your work and everything beforehand, and made sure it’s as safe as possible, you do it.” Twilight beamed a smile as she turned and headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Sweetie followed, before pausing and turning to head back into the throne room.
‘Ok, so I need to make extremely doubly sure that this is safe. What is the possible outcomes. Think.’ Sweetie sat down and rubbed her forehead. For a small moment, their faces flashed into her mind and she winced. Sweetie had to focus.
‘1: I may get out of the loop. 2: I may get stuck with no memory of these loops. I’ll leave myself a note just in case. 3: Leaving the room causes me to suffer something-’ Sweetie cut herself off and shuddered as once more they flashed into her mind. If it came to that she wouldn’t be able to stop it.
‘Ok, there’s no way to protect myself from that, I’ll just have to risk it. That leaves 4; I am the loop and my room will wipe of its contents when I leave it. If that happens, it’s safe to assume that it is not a radius, due to the fact Rarity is not affected and she is on the other side of the wall, well within a circular radius.’
“I hope you like fresh salad.” Twilight brought out two plates of salad, a third plate holding gems for Spike, and sat down. Calling out, Spike quickly joined them. Sweetie dug in, feeling her stomach cry out in joy. Was she really that fond of salad? Sweetie decided salad might be a favorite food she hadn’t discovered.
“I’m sorry Sweetie, but you can’t miss anymore school.” Twilight bit her lip as she saw the pallid fear on the filly’s face. Sweetie was shuddering, it was giving Twilight a strong sense of guilt. Rarity stood beside her, a stern mask over her own guilt.
“B-Bu-Please!” Sweetie felt fresh tears brimming, and forced herself not to release them. No, she didn’t want to go back. They couldn’t force her, she would just flee and they would never-
“Apple Bloom’s been waiting for you to return for two days now. She was here on Monday, wanting to talk to you.” Rarity saw the visible flinch, and something clicked in her mind. However, it seemed she didn’t need to act on it.
“O-O-Okay,” whispered Sweetie, closing her eyes as she tried to control the racking tremors in her body. Apple Bloom was alive, she had to see this. If...If their previous loop’s death had affected them, she really wanted to know. Sweetie felt her body outright reject the idea, but forced herself to turn, and walk robotically toward the school.
‘Come on Sweetie, stay strong. You need to see this. Stop struggling body, you can do this. Oh Celestia what if they remember? Oh, what if they felt it. What if they-’ Sweetie blinked, she was already at the school.
And there they were. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, talking. They turned, seeing her there. Sweetie briefly remembered it was lunch time, she had managed to get half the day off school from Twilight before Rarity had superseded her authority.
“Sweetie Belle.” Scootaloo’s voice was honey on Sweetie’s ears. Tears began to stream down her face. They were ok. They weren’t hurt. There was no lasting damage to what her horrible monstrous actions had caused. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon approached the group casually, not having a sneering face at all. That was the first sign that something had changed.
“Hiya Sweetie. Feelin’ better?” Apple Bloom forced a smile on her face as she stepped forward. Sweetie rubbed the tears out of her eyes, and ignored the little warning signs going off in her head as she smiled warmly at them. They were her friends. Still, why were Diamond and Silver over here? Wasn’t this a normal loop?
“Yep! Fit as a fiddle. I really missed hanging out with my friends though.” Sweetie’s smile faded as she watched Apple Bloom and Scootaloo share a glance. Once more, she tried to ignore the screeching in her head, warning her of danger.
“Listen, something happened on Monday and we really need to talk to ya for a moment. Ya might have noticed Diamond and Silver are standing with us right now. The reason is we sorta became friends on Monday. We’re not entirely sure how it happened, but we realised we've a lot in common.” Apple Bloom scratched the back of her head, noticing the slowly fading smile on Sweetie’s face.
“That’s great, more friends is never a bad thing.” Sweetie forced the smile back onto her face. If them becoming friends was the only change, she could live with that. Scootaloo winced.
“About that…” Scootaloo glanced to Diamond and Silver, who bit their lips and looked away. Apple Bloom sighed, and put a hoof on Sweetie’s shoulder.
“We’ve been thinking about how you’re our friend, and we realised something. When ah think of Scootaloo, ah feel the warmth of ‘er friendship fillin’ me up. But when ah think of you, ah feel nothin’. It’s like ya aren’t even a friend ya know? There’s also the fact ya’...” Apple Bloom trailed off, and looked to the ground. Diamond sighed and stepped forward.
“You cause us to feel sick, like we’re water going down a drain. Even standing here right now is making me want to run to the other side of the playground. Look, what Apple Bloom is saying is whatever was there, is gone, so scram.” Diamond smirked and leaned forward.
“Blaaank flaaaannk.” Diamond turned and stepped away. Apple Bloom scratched her front hoof and looked away. Scootaloo was the only one who looked at Sweetie’s stunned face.
“Let’s go.” Apple Bloom turned, and the four fillies left Sweetie Belle alone, mind completely shut down. Cheerilee called all the students inside, before walking over and trying to get Sweetie’s attention. After being unable to even get the filly to blink, she decided to send somepony to escort her home.
Rarity greeted the pony and took her sister into the house, seeing the hollow expression on her face. After numerous attempts to get Sweetie to respond, she eventually led the filly to her room, and tucked her into bed.
It wasn’t until the following morning that Sweetie finally blinked, and broke into a quiet cry.
Rarity felt racking guilt as she heard her sister crying, and paced the boutique restlessly. This was her fault. The signs had been there, and she had missed them. No matter what, all this was her fault, for forcing Sweetie to go to school when she clearly wasn’t ready. Did she dare even go in to see her sister. Surely she thought Rarity was the worst sister in the world by now.
The crying stopped, and Rarity blinked, tilting her head as she realised the sudden absence of sound. Slowly, she ascended the stairs and opened the door a crack. There was Sweetie, sitting on her bed and shaking. Slowly, Sweetie turned toward her.
“Yes?” Sweetie narrowed her eyes, forcing herself to ignore the current weight that had caused her to not even be able to think for nearly an entire day. Sweetie wasn’t ready to tackle that wall. Rarity bit her lip, and slowly entered.
“I just wanted to apologise for forcing you to go to school. If I had known what was going to happen, I would have never forced you into it.” Rarity closed her eyes and sat down on the floor, bowing her head to Sweetie. Sweetie blinked, and realisation slowly passed through her brain.
‘Rarity is feeling how I’ve felt these last few days. But it’s not her fault that I went, I chose to go when I could have easily skipped. She doesn’t know that though.’ Sweetie felt the weight slightly lift, and a sad smile fell on her face.
‘We really are sisters aren’t we?’ Sweetie stood up, and slowly walked over to Rarity. Raising her head, Rarity blinked as the filly leapt into her arms, causing her to fall onto her back.
“It’s okay, It’s not your fault.” Sweetie felt Rarity flinch, and then return the embrace. Both began to cry as they shared the experience of the feeling. Sweetie wanted to cry twice; her actions had everlasting effects. Rarity’s on the other hand would be gone after Friday.
“You know what?” Rarity wiped her face, smearing her makeup. Sweetie raised her head, and looked at her sister as she continued.
“Let’s go on a trip, just you and me, to Canterlot on Saturday. We’ll go shopping for fabric, go see the latest film, maybe even get you a meeting with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna if we’re lucky. What do you say?” Rarity brought her sister into a bearhug, and Sweetie felt another sad smile dawn upon her face.
“I’d like that. I’d like that very much.” Sweetie closed her eyes and leaned into the hug. For a small moment, she vaguely remembered she wanted to test being outside the room on a Friday. With Rarity preparing for the trip, she wouldn’t have much time to go over her notes before she prepared.
‘Oh well, it’s not like it can’t wait one more loop.’ Sweetie hugged her sister tighter, wishing she had somepony who was with her, looping. Blinking, she smiled honestly for the first time since Monday. Of course she had somepony with her. That somepony might not be looping, but her heart was as golden as the sun. It didn’t matter if Rarity was looping or not, her sister would always be there if she needed a hug.
Oh how she loved her sister.