A little loopy.

by FaelaArts

L72

“Everything is a circle,” she muttered to herself. Closing her eyes, Sweetie was struck once more by her situation. Every day was a circle of hours, every hour was a circle of minutes, and seconds coming inside that. Maybe she had been fooling herself from the beginning, thinking that time had been passing normally.

“I mean, was there any point in my life even when I wasn’t stuck in this loop?” Slumping back on her bed, looking to the ceiling, she blew some air on her hair, watching it flop slightly. Glancing to the window, she watched the clouds roll by. In roughly five minutes, one shaped like a dinosaur was going to be bucked out of existence.

“I wake up, I sleep, I searched for my Mark, I never got my Mark, I die, I come back to life. Everything circles like it’s some sick joke.” Laughing, Sweetie placed her arm over her eyes, a bittersweet smile on her face.

“But wasn’t it always that way? Maybe I’ve just been fooling myself. Would I have gotten bored with life eventually too?” The question lingered, and she scowled. The reason being with the Crusaders had been fun was because they rarely did the same thing twice. It was exciting, fun, new.

“Who knows, it’s not like I can change my fate now.” Rolling onto her side, she lowered her arm and looked back toward the window. The cloud was gone without any warning. Covering her head with her pillow, her ears flickered down and she gritted her teeth.

“He’s the same. They circle just as he does, these thoughts. I want to see him, even if he won’t remember that we were getting really close. His feelings won’t change, but mine will. It hurts, seeing his cheerful smile, why does he smile? I don’t want to look at it, it hurts to see him so peaceful.” For some reason, her pillow was feeling slightly damp on her face.

“I want to, but I don’t, but I want to, but I don’t-”
’-but I want to, but I don’t-’ Circling around as they were, she curled into a ball and hugged herself tight. Magic grabbing her blanket, she pulled it over herself, feeling its slight warmth. Eventually, she stood up on her bed, and looked out the window, placing a hoof on the glass as she leaned toward it. It was closed, no reason to leave it open without Philomena.

“Please,” she pleaded, leaning her forehead against the cool glass, tears streaming down her face. As her horn touched the glass, she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to keep back sobs as her shoulders shuddered.

“Please, give me something. One thing that I can use to prove to myself that this isn’t futile. One pony who looks at me and knows what is happening to this place. One look at the future to prove that this isn’t all life is. Please, just give me this. Please!” Sweetie was shouting now. There was a knocking at her door. Ponies outside were looking up at her.

“Help me,” she sobbed, opening her eyes to look to the sky.

“Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Rarity, please help.” Shaking as she was, she was having trouble keeping her hoof on the glass. Clenching down hard on her teeth, she glared to the sky, voice raising to new heights.

“Don’t go! Don’t say tomorrow! Don’t, please!” Closing her eyes, she sobbed onto the window. Slumping, she heard the banging as someone tried to break down the door. They’d find it impossible, Sweetie was holding it closed.

“But you will,” she whispered, opening her eyes and looking down into the small space between her bed and the wall. Tears slowly dripped from her face, and she watched them fall down it.

“Cause tomorrow still exists for you.” Pulling the blanket around herself again, Sweetie huddled in its semi-darkness.

“And I’m going to have to accept that,” she spoke after a moment, eyes half closing. Sighing, she turned over, and wiped her nose.

“I think it’s time I leave. At least for a while.” Standing up, Sweetie looked to her discarded saddlebag, and the various items that had exploded out of it at the start of the loop. Sweetie hadn’t had the presence of mind to unpack it after-Sweetie cringed away from the thought.

“Alright, I’ll change myself to an adult so I can carry more. Rarity won’t mind me borrowing her saddlebags. That, plus the ‘increase bag size’ spell means I should have plenty of room for both the camping equipment and my notes. I’ll take the Battle-tastic Spellbook so I can practice that last one, and the rest I’ll just say goodbye to.” Glancing to the pile of books she was leaving behind, Sweetie nodded.

“After all, if I need them I can just grab them another loop.” Smiling, Sweetie nodded to herself, looking to her list of things she could still do for fun. Up first was a trip to the Canterlot Archives. While she had a nice array of spells, Sweetie wanted to grab some more battle spells, along with possibly an even stronger shield spell.

“After that, I’ll see if I can figure out what’s going on with my Cutie Mark.” Glancing down to it, it was somewhat normal for once. But Sweetie could still see the strange star shape almost visible underneath. Breathing in, Sweetie glanced toward her bed, and turned toward the door. There was the sound of even harder banging.

It was time to go, Sweetie didn’t want to stick around and face her panicked sister. Concentrating, she teleported out just as her magic faded on the door, causing it to explode inward. Rarity looked around frantically, and her worry only got worse as she saw the kidnapping note left on the bed.

Meanwhile, Rarity's saddlebags casually vanished from her room, and a tall pony with bobbing curls headed for the train to Canterlot. With it being Thursday, and Rarity leaving her alone for some reason, she hadn't bothered to ask why, Sweetie needed to get there before sundown so she could find a hotel to spend the night.

‘I think I’ll spend Friday 'earning' some spending money so I can go shopping once I’m done in Canterlot.’ Cheered by the thought, she swished her tail, humming a single note.

Author's Note:

28
Twelve

Comments

[DJPurple3]

Dang...
Why can I only slap that like button once?!

[the other sans]

But wasn’t it always the way
feeling it’s slight warmth

1. That.
2. Its.

So now we have two numbers... 28 signifies the 100th loop sure but Twelve? I think it signifies her finally breaking under repeated pressure. Loop 84 is when she goes ballistic. I would say almost quite literally. She already robbed a bank. Twice. One with music, the other without. But battle spells now? She's going to have alot of moments of failure to remember her plan for Equestria domination.

[Crystal Moose]

Earning some money. Lol.

[Twilight_Shimmer]

I wanna slap the shit outta whatever entity (i suspect starswirl ) that has trapped Sweetie in this loop

[Nitrous Rainbows]

6031473 You Only Like Once

YOLO

[drone_r0m-3]

Twelve: The number of chapters until Sweetie Bot Sweetie Belle starts telling us how "her mind is going, she can feel it" and singing Daisy.

[Maxes Altho]

Screw the bad touch loop, THIS is the darkest moment.

[Rub3mixr]

I'm beginning to feel like this story really isn't going anywhere. I get that its based on a time loop so yes everything is likely to be repetitive. but whats bugging me is that every option that has been tried to escape the loop seems to have been tried, so all thats left is to watch Sweetie Bell go stark raving mad. I can't see how thats much of an end game.

[enamis]

I'll admit I'm lost... maybe kinda' sorta' skipped the last few chapters. Anyone have a TL;DR for me?

[Treforce]

6032720
Sweetie went on a date with snails... it went great, and now she is sad due to reset deleting the date from snails memory.

[MustacheMerlin]

It just keeps getting darker and darker. Isn't it beautiful? I think dusk is falling on Sweetie's sanity.

[DarkPinkie]

6032720 Um, there is a TL;DR chapter at the end of the story itself that gets updated constantly. Confuseld chapter ahoy.

[Bambi]

Of course she would be going crazy, it has been a year since she could enjoy a weekend. Can you imagine going through your weekday routine without a break for a whole year (loop 72 day 5 is day number 365). Only makes sense that she'd want to leave for a while.
On a side note, once you realize that she has to be looping for close to 2 years and 9 months, Twilights statement about 200 loops before going to the human world seems even crueller.

[ErrorDisplayingUsername]

6032554
I think the loops end at 100.

[ozzyozborn7]

She finally begins to wander and explore past the reaches of ponyville. Sweetie's probably thinking "WOOOOOOOO EXPLORE". Good chapter, I can see the loop is beginning to really degrade her emotions and sanity a bit.

[LGHeart]

6032554
There is one last thing that Sweetie could do to stop the looping. She'll have to face the 'loop master' the pony that put her in this situation to begin with.

[AnnonyMouse]

6031572 Rob another bank maybe? hehe

[Shawn99]

6032242

When exactly was this loop again?

[Flowey the Flower]

She's losing it...

I'm going half-mad myself not knowing why she is trapped in the darn thing.

[Twilight Writer]

Wait... 28 plus 12 equals 40. And 40 has a 4 in it! And 4 has a 3 in it! Leaving 1 thing left. What is it? Is the three a clue? Yes... it means...

FNAF 4 CONFIRMED!!!! Wait... shoot! We already knew that. What else could 1 3 mean?

[RowanSkie]

I think 28 before Loop 100.
Twelve is maybe 12 more days to keep her sanity and stay safe in the loops

Because, well, you know.

[Leonzilla]

6039106 check the index.

6031542 she has already ruled equestria for a week, she has no reason to conquer it now except perhaps the pleasure in the ancient activity of conquering.

~Leonzilla

[TheGreatEater]

“Please, give me something. One thing that I can use to prove to myself that this isn’t futile. One person who looks at me and knows what is happening to this place. One look at the future to prove that this isn’t all life is. Please, just give me this. Please!” Sweetie was shouting now. There was a knocking at her door. Ponies outside were looking up at her.

Someone
___________________

So she takes the Spell book, but she utterly leaves the egg behind she was tasked to take care of? Or is that always with her?

[theportalmasters]

TWO#now!?!?!wow.

[Circut Breaker]

(The cube ticks down to 28, and now a dark green "12" appears on the cube as well. Three numbers? This is getting confusing.)