The Time Thief

by Reading4HalfMyLife

Loop 20

Astral screamed.

But not in fear, or pain, or even anger. It was a shout of frustration as she once again danced out of the way of her Uncle Shining's Shards. Weeks of training at agility and karate had made her more nimble, but even though she now had three Shards she was still woefully unprepared to fight her uncle, let alone the Princesses.

Shining's twelve Shards reformed to make his sword, Sentinel, a very sharp glowing blade that Astral just managed to deflect with her Shards, the effort sending her skidding backwards against the slick floor.

She had yet to pick out a name for her Blade, nothing seemed to fit, but she turned her Shards into it anyways, a curved light purple blade that she used to try and get past Shining's guard.

No use, the stallion quickly sidestepped, and divided Sentinel back into twelve shards, and sent them all at Astral from all sides. Sending out a quick thank you to Pinkie, Astral jumped, twisting midair to land safely on all four hooves and sent all her shards at him.

She was surprised when he pulled up a shield; he never had to do that before. She was improving!

Astral didn't have time to bask in this however, she rolled out of the way to avoid the Shards, leaping to her hooves and throwing herself backwards, hooves skittering awkwardly as she tried to concentrate.

Now an Intermediate, Astral had learned how to undo spells. It was, she had learned, kind of like undoing a knot, you had to tug on several strings, but if you tugged on the wrong one you would just end up tightening the knot itself. Hard enough on it's own, but she also had to dodge several Blades at the same time.

She dove just as Shining's shield shattered like glass, rolling under a horizontal Shard swipe from him and stabbing upwards, but Shining just sidestepped easily, and recalled Sentinel.

Astral was laying on her back, stomach and throat exposed with Shining's Blade pointed directly at her jugular. She went cross eyed from staring at it, and Shining sighed before pulling his niece up.

"You need to learn how to multitask, I could of have slit your throat when you were taking down my shield."

"Yes sir."

"And you have to be more aware of your surroundings! You keep going into things half-assed, and it'll get you killed."

"Yes sir."

Shining sighed once more, heavier this time. "Have you put any more thought into your Blades name?"

Astral looked down at the floor. "I tried, but nothing seems to fit" she said, ears flopping down.

"Well, please try and decide. Naming your Blade can go a long way into bonding with it."

"Yes sir."

"Let's take it from the top."

---

It was a thoroughly battered and beaten Astral that stumbled out of the arena. Why she had willingly chosen to spend her week getting thrown around like a rag doll, then getting verbally humiliated was beyond her.

But hey, at least there's a spa, she thought, brightening. Maybe that could help-

"Sparkles?"

Astral froze. She had a lot of nicknames in her life; Astral, Assie, Trail, Plane, but none of them made her respond the same way she did to Sparkles. It made her want to punch the owner of the voice and then hug him.

Instead she turned to face him. "Moonie?" She asked, expression torn between joy, disbelief and disapproval.

Because, standing in front of her, in all his hybrid glory, was Eclipse, Discord and Luna's arrogant, loud and eternally up to no good son. Who also happened to be one of Astral's best friends.

"Sparkles!" He repeated, floating up to meet her. ("'Cause Eclipse doesn't do walking.) "What are you doing here?" He asked, pale blue eyes like moons.

"Training" Astral shrugged, and Eclipse tilted his head, confused. "Bladecasting and fencing" she elaborated, and Eclipse's smile grew sly.

"Going to stab some bullies? If you want, I can just turn their manes into spaghetti or something."

"Nah I'm good. I'm done with training anyways, and it feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

---

They were in the Canterlot Gardens, with Astral laying down on the soft grass while Eclipse stretched out on one of the branches above when he noticed it. "Sparkles, you got a cutie mark!"

"Huh?" Astral twisted her head around on reflex. "Oh, yeah, that."

"Well, don't keep me waiting!" Eclipse eagerly scrambled down the tree to land beside her. "What happened?"

Astral replayed the story to Eclipse, making sure to leave out details about the loop she is in. When it was over, she waited for the usual congratulations. Instead what she got was "are you okay?"

She blinked at her friend, confused. "What?"

"I would think you would be jumping around with a giant grin on your face. Instead you're just sitting there, telling the story like your Maud frickin' Pie."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Wanna bet?"

Astral turned to look at him. Prince Eclipse, son of Luna and Discord. Pale blue fur with zebra backlegs and fluffy front paws. The crescent moon birthmark on his chest, the dragon tail and the antlers that were no bigger than buds on his head completed his look.

Here was the son of not one but two reformed villains, who was the very definition of mix and match. When he was three months old, he had gotten a cold, and ripped a hole in reality. When he was five he teleported through space to another dimension to find a cookie. When he was ten, he made all toothpaste taste like soap. He lived and breathed weird.

If anyone were to believe her, it would be him.

It took a while, but Eclipse was oddly quiet throughout the whole thing, nodding along as she explained what was happening. When she had done, he just said "huh."

"Huh? That's all you got?" She demanded, incredulous.

"Well, you're clearly telling the truth, you aren't this creative." She scowled and he smirked, before frowning. "I can try and see if I can do anything" he suggested, and Astral brightened up.

"Really?" Eclipse was one of the most powerful creatures she had ever met.

In response, he summoned magic from his core, and the air began to charge with energy, humming from the power behind it. Eclipse's blue eyes glowed pure white as the dark grey fluff on his chest gained pinpricks of lights. His short, slicked back mane began to wave in a wind that only it could feel.

Around them, thin little strings began to appear, all leading into Astral Plane's chest. The humming in the air grew even louder as Eclipse's front paws began to glow a pale blue. As he snapped one of them, the hum grew to a screech, and his magic exploded out in an explosion of chaos magic.

Astral blinked rapidly to try and get the tears out of her eyes. Chaos Magic tasted fruity. She saw a disappointed Eclipse, sitting there, shoulders slumped. "Didn't work?" She asked and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry Sparkles, it's just . . too weird."

"Weird? Weird how?"

"Like, my magic just slides off of whatever is going on with you. It's so subtle that it's barely noticeable, but it's still very powerful magic, much too powerful fore me to undo" he looked miserable. "I'm sorry."

Astral sighed, rubbing her eyes wearily. "It's not your fault" she said, and the two descended into silence.

"I can't help you with the time loops, but I can help you with Bladecasting" he said at last. "Mom taught me a couple of tricks that will help you out."

Astral leaned against him, their version of a hug. "I would like that."

---

Eclipse puffed himself up- literally, the fluff on his chest fluffed up, as he began his lecture. He was standing on his hind legs, jabbing one paw into the air as he spoke.

"Bladecasting is much more than just levitating magic around; it's an art in and of itself. The Blades are made from your magic, and as such are extensions of yourself. This is why nopony else can levitate them, they belong to you and you alone. The first thing you need to do is stop seeing your Shards as objects and instead see them as a part of yourself. Your soul. The first step to do this is to name it."

Astral pondered over it, trying to think of something that was fitting. All the words that came to her had to do with brutality or just seemed to offensive. She didn't want to use it to hurt somepony, she wanted it for self defense.

Defense . .

"Aegis" she blurted out. Eclipse raised his eyebrows, not understanding. "It means to support or defend somepony" she explained.

Eclipse nodded, pleased. "Good. It's a fitting name, and it will help you bond with your Blade."

They worked with the Blade, bonding it to Astral's very being. When they were done, the difference was obvious. She didn't have to concentrate on Aegis as much anymore, and it now felt like she had gained a new limb. It responded to her intent rather than her magic or mind.

They went over the basics again, and this time, tears actually sprang up in Astral's eyes from the beauty of it all. All anypony else saw was a little unicorn dancing with three bobbing Shards.

Author's Note:

I like the name Sentinel for Shining Armour's Blade, but I'm not too sure about Astral. I chose Aegis, since that was the only one I liked.

I need to improve on writing fight scenes.

I have wanted to introduce Eclipse for a while now, so there you go, a dimension jumping asshole who loves to mess with others. Oddly enough, he and Astral are best friends, the met through all the boring meetings they had to sit through. Lip is three years older than Assie

Comments

[Duckgame4life]

Because, standing in front of her, in all his hybrid glory, was Eclipse, Discord and Luna's arrogant, loud and eternally up to no good son.

Im sorry, i almost positive that said LUNA & DISCORD,
*looks again*
Oh it did, thats a ship I'd never thought I'd see

[Reading4HalfMyLife]

9116129
Yeah, I know, I just like shipping crazy characters with sane ones and then this happened.

Lunacord and Pinkiecord are the only two I ship with Dizzy.

They have a daughter too; Anarchy, sweet kid

[Loveless]

If their son can't do it. Maybe you should ask Discord instead, Astral...

[Reading4HalfMyLife]

9114008
Ah, don' worry, Astral will be completely traumatized, in one loop at least she's going to go on a rampage, but that's later on in the story.

I have so many big ideas, that it's hard to find little ones for filler.