The Time Thief

by Reading4HalfMyLife

Loop 11

"Astral! You got your cutie mark!" Apple Jam was jumping for joy, and Astral smiled, amused by her friends enthusiasm. Astral had asked to walk to school with Jam and Butterscotch. It wasn't like she could avoid them forever or anything.

Butterscotch got so close his muzzle was practically touching her flank. "What does it mean?" He asked leaning away to look at her.

"My talent is my magic and my fast reaction times" Astral said, nodding her head proudly and puffing out her chest. However, seeing her friends confused looks, she sighed. "My talent is using my magic," she said, and watched as their faces cleared up.

"Oh!" Jam and Butterscotch said in unison, nodding in unison.

"Well, I can't wait till I get my cutie mark. I bet it will be awesome!" Jam said, staring up at the sky with a dreamy expression as they started walking to school. Astral smiled sadly as she stared at her best friends.

---

"Bye guys!" Astral waved goodbye to her friends and started trotting home. Standing in front of the class and telling them (the abridged version) of how she got her cutie mark had been nerve wracking, but not as anxiety inducing as it had been. Thankfully, her mom had returned from Canterlot. She waited for her to stop gushing about her cutie mark, before handing her the note.

"What the-!" Twilight stared at the note before rubbing her forehead wearily. Astral held out all notes she and Twilight's past self had written over the course of the loops. Twilight recognized some of it as her own writing.

"My cutie mark stayed with me through the loops. Does that mean I'm ageing?" That thought bothered her more than anything else; growing older while everypony else stayed the same.

Twilight must of have seen the fear on her face, as she hesitated before nodding sadly. "Yes, it looks that way. Eiter that, or the loop is letting you keep your cutie mark for some reason."

Astral shuddered and headed up to find her spellbooks. She wanted to practice some spells.

---

If she had any doubt Jam was a persuasive pony, then today knocked any of said doubts out of the park. The farmfilly had begged Astral to show some of her magic tricks, and the unicorn had broke under the pressure of Jam's puppy eyes.

Now, she, Jam and Butterscotch were back in the clearing in the Everfree. The weather was nice and sunny. Actually, everyday in the loops was nice and sunny, it was annoying.

"Go Astral!" Jam said, waving her hooves like she was a cheerleader. Both she and Butterscotch were a couple of feet back to avoid any backlash from spells.

Astral bit her lip and shifted awkwardly. It would be really embarrassing if she screwed this up right now . . .

Trying not to focus on that, she chose to instead close her eyes and concentrate. A light aura surrounded her horn as she cast her spells. Deciding to start of easy, she used telekinesis, a normal enough thing for a unicorn to do. She was surprised to find how easy it was to lift her two friends, although she almost dropped Jam when she squeaked in surprise, they felt very light in her magic.

She felt her mane start to bristle with the mana in the air as the lowered the temperature enough to freeze the moisture in the air, creating snow. It wasn't on par with a weather spell, but it would have to do. She dropped both Jam and Butterscotch back onto the ground as gently as she could.

Ignoring their shouts of delight, Astral instead decided to try out reverse illumination. Almost instantly, the clearing turned pitch black. Her horn gained a second glow as she also pulled out an illumination spell before turning everything back.

Astral sat back on her haunches, panting as her friends glomped her. "That-was-awesome!" Jam squealed, shaking the unicorn back and forth. "I can't believe you know all that!"

"I can do more," Astral admitted sheepishly. "Smokescreen, Sound, Water, Ice, Fire-"

"Fire!" Jam interrupted, squishing Astral's cheeks between her hooves. "Ooh! Show us, show us!"

"Uh, I don't think I should do it right now," she scuffed the ground carefully. "I don't want to accidentally burn this place down-"

"Just a small one," Jam begged. "And you can put it out with your water spell."

Astral hesitated. She didn't want to tell them she hadn't mastered the fire spell yet, especially after she said she knew how to do it. Instead, she just nodded and bent her head, concentrating.

Before Jam and Butters enraptured eyes, small sparks came out of her horn, dropping onto the ground. Astral grit her teeth as she imagined a small fire . . only for an inferno to explode from her horn. The force of the fire actually sent her flying backwards for several feet, slamming into a tree and being knocked unconscious.

"Astral!" She heard her friends screams as they tried to reach her. But the fire cut them off from her, and it was only growing. Her muscles felt like liquid, and her thoughts sluggish, but she was aware of the tree she had slammed into catching fire and the branch that fell from the fire that was pinning her down.

If she could just use her magic. . . she attempted to reach her magic reserves but nothing. The smoke was making everything hazy for her. She was sure she was in pain, but she couldn't feel anything. She was dying, she knew it, but felt nothing. She closed her eyes.

Astral Plane's death was a peaceful, just like going to sleep, and that was all one could ask for.

---

Around Equestria, ponies on the outside began to feel weird. It started as a slight dizziness, only to grow into nausea and pain as the began to glow brightly. And then, all ponies that were outside, turned into nothingness. Screams rang through the skies.

And then Astral Plane woke up.

Comments

[Twilight Connor]

Odd that Astral is connected to the universe in such a way. Why, I wonder? And how?

[Reading4HalfMyLife]

9046383
Oh! You're a friendship is witchcraft fan! I love that series!