The sun rose over the School of Friendship. Gallus and Sandbar were both sitting cozily in their own beds, that was until they heard the sound of a bell. The colt jumped awake while the griffon just groaned.
“Great,” Gallus groaned, “It’s Friday.”
“So, don’t worry, we’ll just have one more day before the weekend,” Sandbar said. “Let’s get some breakfast.”
The two headed to the cafeteria where breakfast was being served. Gallus got a tray with a small bottle of milk and a bowl of cereal. Walking to one of the tables, he wasn’t looking where he was going and accidentally bumped into another griffon.
“Sorry, Gall,” the griffon apologized. “Not fully awake yet.”
“That’s okay, Garry,” Gallus yawned, “I understand.” He then turned to Ditto, who’s also not fully awake. “Mornin’ Ditto.”
He then walked towards the table. Sitting at one of the tables, he poured the remaining amount of milk in his glass into his bowl of cereal.
“You think anything new is going to happen today?” He asked Sandbar.
“I don’t know,” Sandbar replied. “Maybe we should ask the girls.”
“Ask us what?” Ocellus asked. She and the other three girls had shown up, albeit, still tired.
“Oh, hey girls, we’re just trying to……find something new,” Gallus said.
“Yona don’t want any excitement,” Yona stated. “Yaks like to calm down.”
"Yona's right," Ocellus agreed. "I don't think any creature wants any kind of threat trying to get them."
The girls got their trays and sat down with the boys and ate when they heard Starlight talk over the speakers.
"Good morning every creature," the headmare said through the speakers, "I hope you're waking up as you still have time to sign up for a special after school activity, ‘The Running of the Leaves’. If you want to find out more about this, you can check the signup sheet on the bulletin board. That is all."
"We get to try out for that this year?" Silverstream asked with excitement.
"Sounds like it," Sandbar said.
"Yona can't wait to show that yaks can help get rid of leaves," Yona declared. In typical yak fashion, she started stomping in excitement. This caused many of the students' plates, bowls, and drinks to shake and spill.
"Yona!" Smolder cried. The yak stopped stomping and looked at the mess she made.
"Sorry."
"And here I thought bumping into Garry was a bad start," Gallus groaned. A good amount of his cereal was spilled, still, he did his best to enjoy it.
The first class was with Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be excited. Well, more the usual. "I've got good news for every creature," the pink pony said, "We're having a half-day." This made several of the students cheer with delight. "To celebrate this, I think we work together on a snow cake."
"Snow cake?" Yona questioned.
"It's a cake in the shape of a snowflake along with some cupcakes. I thought I'd do this because winter's around the corner." Out from under her desk, Pinkie pulled out a wooden spoon, two mixing bowls, a cookbook, a cake tray, a bunch of ingredients. "Now, who wants to help first?"
Sandbar, Ocellus, and some of the other students helped measure ingredients for the snow cake, while Gallus and the other half worked on the cupcakes.
"Hey Pate,” Sandbar asked Pate, “are you going to sign up for the ‘Running of the Leaves’? It’s going to be exciting."
"Hmmm……Probably," Pate said. “Shimmy, what about you?”
“Maybe I will,” the cheerleading mare replied. “because it makes me feel good to get some exercise.”
“I bet a couple of the yaks are joining in,” Ocellus said.
“Yona certainly will,” Sandbar said.
“How could we not feel that shaking?” Lighthoof asked. She poured out some flour but she accidentally bumped some eggs off the counter. This caused them to fall on the floor and crack open, splattering on her hooves. “Oh no!”
“What’s wrong?” Shimmy asked. She looked down and saw the eggs on her friend. “Oh right, allergic to eggs.”
Quickly thinking, she grabbed Lighthoof’s bag and took out her EpiPen and jabbed it into her friend’s arm.
“Thanks, Shimmy.”
“Professor Pinkie, can we be excused for a while?”
“Whatever you need to do,” Pinkie said. She saw what happened. The two cheerleaders left the classroom and headed to the nurse’s office.
“Hope Lighthoof okay,” Yona said.
“Yeah, allergies are scary,” Silverstream said. The hippogriff poured in some yeast into the cupcakes batter and started mixing it up.
A few minutes later, the cupcake and snow cake batter was finished and both were placed into the oven.
“Alrighty,” Pinkie said. “You’re all dismissed. I’ll keep an eye on these pastries.” The students left the classroom and headed to their own things.
“You think Lighthoof will be okay?” Sandbar asked.
“She only got a little bit of egg on her,” Smolder stated. “I didn’t see her have a reaction, so it’s likely she’s fine.”
“Hope so,” Ocellus said.
The six walked down the hall until they came to the bulletin board. Some students already signed up and there was plenty of room for more. Yona and Silverstream signed themselves up and Smolder grabbed the pen as she looked at her friends.
“You guys are going to join?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Sandbar replied. “I’m not all that athletic.”
“And I prefer flying,” Gallus admitted.
“Suit yourself,” Smolder said. She signed up and walked off.
They stopped when they heard a loud boom. The six ran back to the classroom and saw Pinkie Pie at the edge of the room. She was hiding under one of the tables, presumably from the batter that exploded from the oven.
“What happened?” Ocellus asked.
“I think something went wrong with the recipe,” Pinkie said. She came out of hiding and walked over to the ingredients to see what went wrong. She looked in the yeast and gasped. “Hold up, how much yeast did you guys use?”
Silverstream then remembered something. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I wasn’t focusing and poured in too much when Lighthoof left.”
“I understand. Hopefully, we still salvage the cake.”
“I’ll help clean up. I-I-I’ll get a mop.” The hippogriff flew off to get some equipment to clean up.
Due to this, Silverstream was late for her next class. Her friends would have to start Rarity’s class without her. “Now Pinkie was supposed to hand out some math test, but I’m guessing she got excited about the event today,” Rarity explained, “well lucky for you, I remembered.”
“Yeah, you did,” Gallus said without enthusiasm. All the students were handed a piece of paper with some math questions on it.
“It’s nothing new. Just a couple of review questions. Now, as for my lessons, I’m afraid I don’t have anything fancy.”
“That’s good to hear,” Gallus mumbled. He looked at some of the problems and saw some that just confused him. “Crud.” He tried to whisper to Sandbar, who tried to pay attention.
“Gallus, I’m not sharing answers with you,” the colt whispered.
“Look, I’m pretty clueless here.”
“Ocellus and I told you to study.”
Suddenly, Silverstream burst through the door. “Sorry I’m late,” she panted.
“Silver, where were you?” Rarity asked.
“I was helping Professor Pinkie with a mess I made.”
“Well, if that’s the case, please take this paper and answer the questions.” The hippogriff did as her teacher said and sat with her friends.
While Rarity was distracted, Gallus tried to take a peek at Smolder’s paper. However, the dragoness saw what he was doing and glared him in the eye. “My bad,” the griffon said.
“You’re lucky you're my friend,” Smolder whispered.
After a while, the students all handed in their tests. “How friends think they do?” Yona asked.
“I bet you all did better than me,” Silverstream sighed.
“You didn’t have to look at any other creature’s papers,” Smolder said. She looked over to Gallus, who tried to play innocent.
“Didn’t we tell you to study?” Ocellus asked.
“Yeah, well... I had a lot on my mind,” Gallus remarked.
“Since we’re having a half-day, how many classes do we have left?” Sandbar asked.
“I’m not sure,” Ocellus admitted. “Maybe the school day will end after lunch. I’ll check with Headmare Starlight real quick.” The changeling flew off to head to the office, leaving her friends behind.
Lunch had a special set of meals. Spaghetti, rice, and anything that could be made into a sandwich.
“The chef really went all out,” Sandbar said.
“No kidding,” Gallus commented. He was still waiting for Tanz to finish picking out his meal.
“Could you... Move please?” the griffon asked.
“Wait for your turn, Garry,” the drake replied.
“Tanz, we’re not the only ones who’re waiting,” Sandbar said. A large line was forming behind the boys, every creature in it was getting impatient. When Tanz was finally done Gallus wasted no time getting his lunch.
“Spaghetti,” he said. “Now if only we had some meat.” He and Sandbar walked to their table and saw Ocellus flying up to them. “Found any information?”
“Yep,” the changeling replied. “Right after lunch, those who’ve signed up are going to be a part of the ‘Running of the Leaves’.”
“Okay, aside from the girls,” Sandbar said, “Who else has signed up?”
“Beats me. I haven't checked it since Smolder and the others signed up.”
“I can bet that Trud will join in,” Smolder guessed. She, Yona, and Silverstream sat down with the boys after getting some food.
“I can’t wait to see the leaves fall,” Silverstream cooed. “I wonder if I’ll be able to crunch some under my feet.”
“That sound is satisfying,” Sandbar agreed.
“Yaks will show ponies they can make leaves fall like the best,” Yona said.
“What does that even mean?” Gallus questioned under his breath.
Ocellus came back with her tray of food. “I kind of wish I could sign up,” she said. “The list seemed to be gone when I went by the board.”
“Oh,” Gallus said. “Good to know.” Tarsi flew over Gallus to get to her table, but she accidentally spilled her tray. This caused the griffon to get covered in spaghetti, bread, vegetables, and some soda.
“Shoot! Sorry Gallus,” the changeling gasped, “didn’t mean to do it.”
“...It’s fine,” the griffon sighed. He started wiping himself off and grumbled.
“This isn’t your day, is it?” Sandbar asked.
“What do you think?” Gallus asked sarcastically. He brushed off some spaghetti with a groan.
After lunch, the students that sign up for the Running of the Leaves headed towards the starting line. Gallus and Sandbar followed their friends. Even though they didn't sign up, they could still watch.
"Yona getting excited!" Yona declared. She was so thrilled, she didn't watch where she was going, tripped over a right, and crashed into two mares.
"Ugh. Smash crushed by a yak is still better than an allergy," said a familiar voice.
"Lighthoof?" Silverstream questioned. "You're okay!"
"Partly." The two mares were helped up and carried on towards the starting line. "My mom's getting me another EpiPen. Do you know how expensive those things are?"
"How much exactly?" Smolder asked.
"About forty-five bits," Shimmy answered.
"Seriously?" Silverstream questioned.
"Sadly, yes," Lighthoof sighed.
"At least you're okay," Sandbar stated.
"That's true."
The eight made to the starting line, where a bunch of ponies, yaks, and other creatures were stretching. There was a table with some water bottles on it to give runners something to drink.
"Good, you're here," Applebloom said. "Take these." She handed the girls all a piece of paper, each one with a different number on them.
"What papers for?" Yona asked.
"They're probably to help tell who's who," Sandbar guessed.
"Don't know how you could mix a yak or a griffon up," Gallus said.
"Welp, whatever they're for," Smolder said, "We're still going to show them what we can do." The girls started stretching before the running started.
“Oh, there you are,” Rarity said. She walked up to the students with a bag on her back. “I was wanting to wait after lunch, but you left before I can give you this.” She pulled out papers of their math test and showed how they did.
Ocellus was proud of her A+, while Gallus was disappointed by his F. “You really should pay more attention next time,” the changeling said to the griffon.
“Shut up,” Gallus groaned.
A whistle was heard to single to everyone that the running was about to start. All the participants lined up and started running. “Alright, good luck girls!” Sandbar cheered. “Wish I signed up with them.”
Gallus wasn’t listening to his friend, he was distracted by something else. He could see two pegasi fillies messing around with a thunder cloud. “Where are their parents?” he questioned. He wouldn’t get an answer as one of the colts kicked the cloud too hard and it went flying down the track.
“Uh oh!”
“That’s not good,” Sandbar commented. He and his griffon friend chased after the cloud.
Rainbow Dash was flying overhead to make sure no creature was causing any trouble. She could see the storm cloud flying through the air with the colt and griffon following behind.
“What are you two doing?” the rainbow maned mare asked.
“Chasing that cloud,” Gallus stated.
Rainbow Dash saw what they meant, and got into action. “I’m on it.”
Dash flew over to catch it but once she touched it, the cloud let out a bolt of lightning. It hit one of the trees, causing it to catch fire. “Oh, crud.” She tried to use the cloud to rain on the fire, but the fire had already spread to the leaves on the branches.
Soon the trees were on fire, and it would take more than one cloud to put all of this out. While Dash couldn’t put it out on her own, she could at least warn the runners. She flew back and stopped them in their tracks. They didn’t have to wait long for an answer as they could see the smoke and fire rising.
They ran back the way they came as the sound of a ticking clock could be heard. “Gallus do you hear that?” Sandbar asked. Before there could be an answer, there was a bright flash of light.
๑
The sound of a bell woke Gallus and Sandbar up from their beds. Once they stood up, they looked around confused. “Weren’t we just at the Running of the Leaves?” the colt asked.
“Yeah, we were,” Gallus said. “Maybe it was just some weird dream. What happened in yours?”
“I saw a thunder cloud fly down the track of the racecourse. I heard some thunder, the trees all caught fire, and then I heard a clock ticking.”
“You too?” The two got out of bed and looked at each other. “You don’t think the Spirit of Harmony was sending a message, do you?”
“Maybe. Though, I think she would make her message a bit more clear. Let’s think about this over breakfast.” They headed to the cafeteria and got their breakfast. Gallus got milk and cereal, again, and walked to a table where he bumped into Garry, again.
“Sorry, Gall,” Garry apologized. “Not fully awake yet.”
“Y... Yeah. Me neither,” Gallus replied. He and Sandbar carried on to their table and sat down. “That happened again.”
“Garry bumping into you?” Sandbar questioned. “I’m getting a sense of Deja Vu. Maybe we should ask the girls.”
“Ask us what?” Ocellus asked. She and the other three girls had shown up, albeit, still tired.
“Oh, good. Listen, did you have any weird dreams last night?”
“Well,” Yona said. “Yona have weird dream about cotton candy sheep chasing yak.”
“That’s not what we had in mind,” Gallus said. The girl then got their trays as they could hear Headmare Starlight over the speakers.
"Good morning every creature," the headmare said. "I hope you're waking up as you still have time to sign up for a special after school activity. The ‘Running of the Leaves’. If you want to find out more about this, you can check the signup sheet on the bulletin board. That is all."
“I think we’ve done this before,” Sandbar said.
“What are you talking about?” Smolder questioned. “That event’s today.” The boys both looked at each other and their confusion increased.
“That’s weird,” Sandbar said. Gallus nodded.
After breakfast, they went to Pinkie Pie’s classroom.
"I've got good news for every creature," Pinkie Pie said, "We're having a half-day." This made several of the students cheer with delight. "To celebrate this, I think we work together on a snow cake."
Gallus and Sandbar looked in confusion as they had to ask questions. “What’s going on here?” the griffon questioned.
“It’s like everything just restarted,” the colt replied with a shrug. They walked over to two different stations which were the same as before. “So... Pate. Did you sign up for the running of the leaves?”
“Hmmm… Not yet,” the changeling replied. “But I will. Shimmy, what about you?”
“Maybe I will,” the cheerleading mare replied. “Because it makes me feel good to get some exercise.”
“I bet a couple of the yaks are joining in,” Ocellus said. Sandbar didn’t say anything else as he was having a hard time believing what he was hearing.
Lighthoof poured out some flour but she accidentally bumped some eggs off the counter. This caused them to fall on the floor and crack open, splattering on her hooves. “Oh no!”
“What’s wrong?” Shimmy asked. She looked down and saw the eggs on her friend. “Oh right, allergic to eggs.”
Quickly thinking, she grabbed Lighthoof’s bag and took out her EpiPen and jabbed it into her friend’s arm.
“Thanks, Shimmy.”
“Professor Pinkie, can we be excused?”
“Whatever you need to do,” Pinkie said. She saw what happened. The two cheerleaders left the classroom and headed to the nurse’s office.
“Hope Lighthoof okay,” Yona said.
“Yeah, allergies are scary,” Silverstream said. Gallus was just as surprised as Sandbar, neither one of them noticed the amount of yeast Silverstream poured into the batter.
When they left, they followed their friends to the bulletin. Yona and Silverstream signed themselves up and Smolder grabbed the pen as she looked at her friends.
“You guys are going to join?” she asked.
“Um...” Sandbar stuttered as he didn’t know what to say.
“It’s just a yes or no question,” Smolder stated. She signed herself up and couldn’t help looking at the boys’ confused faces. “What are you guys thinking about?”
“I swear we’ve been through this before.”
“Did you guys sleep well last night?” Ocellus asked.
“I’m pretty sure we have,” Gallus spoke. “Also, Silver, how much yeast did you put into the cake batter?” The hippogriff thought for a minute she suddenly realized her mistake. It was too late to fix it as a loud “BOOM!” could be heard. “Too late.”
“Not again,” Sandbar sighed. They ran back to the classroom to find the classroom filled with batter.
“What happened?” Ocellus asked.
“I think something went wrong with the recipe,” Pinkie said. She came out of hiding and walked over to the ingredients to see what went wrong. She looked in the yeast and gasped. “Hold up, how much yeast did you guys use?”
Silverstream then remembered something. “I’m sorry,” she sighed. “I wasn’t focusing and poured in too much when Lighthoof left.”
“It’s okay, Silver,” Sandbar reassured. “We’ll just get some cleaning supplies and sort this out.”
“But... We’ll miss our next class.”
“We’ll make up for lost time.” He walked down the hall with his friend, who started cheering up as they went to get the supplies.
Rarity’s class was just the same as before. This time, Gallus tried looking at his classmate’s papers to see if he could find any answers. However, Pate caught him in the act just as Sandbar and Silverstream ran in. The two late students were given their test and sat down with their friends.
“I think that went faster than last time,” Sandbar whispered to the griffon. He could see Gallus had a guilty look on his face. “Did you try and copy off some creature’s paper again?”
“...I’d be lying if I said ‘no’,” Gallus chuckled.
“If you get into trouble, then that’s your fault.”
“Hey, we’re living through the same day twice, might as well take full advantage of it.” The colt didn’t reply and just started his test. The griffon tried to take another look at his classmates’ paper but his teacher caught him.
“Gallus!” Rarity cried. “Eyes on your own paper!”
“Yes, Miss Rarity,” Gallus spluttered. He looked down at his test and started writing his own answers. Some of the students giggled, including Sandbar.
“Shut up,” Gallus grumbled.
“You really tried to cheat,” Ocellus said sounding a little disappointed. “Did you even study?” Gallus didn’t answer and just flew ahead to get his lunch. Tanz was still in line as the griffon flew up.
“Ugh, come on,” Gallus groaned. “Just pick a dish and move on!” Tanz just ignored him and continued at his pace and picked out a salad that had a few gems in it. Gallus was happy to finally have his meal and sat down.
“Okay,” Sandbar said. “Did you see who else signed up for the Running of the Leaves?”
“Beats me. I haven't checked it since Smolder and the others signed up.”
“I can bet that Trud will join in,” Smolder guessed. She, Yona, and Silverstream sat down with the boys after getting some food.
“I can’t wait to see the leaves fall,” Silverstream cooed. “I wonder if I’ll be able to crunch some under my feet.”
Gallus didn’t say anything during this until Tarsi accidentally split her food tray on him. The griffon let out a frustrated groan. “Shoot! Sorry Gallus,” the changeling gasped. The griffon didn’t reply and went to go sit at another table and get himself cleaned up. Sandbar decided to join him and talk in private.
“Sorry, gotta go.” He said to the girls, joining Gallus.
“The whole day is repeating,” he commented.
“You don’t say?” Gallus responded annoyed. Sandbar handed him a couple of napkins. The griffon started wiping the spaghetti sauce off of him, though his fur and feathers still had a few stains.
“Can’t wait for this to be over.” He was too angry to think about this, as Sandbar wondered if all of this happened again, would the last event happen too?
When they got to the Running of the Leaves, all the participants were stretching. Sandbar decided to look around for two colts. He then found the thunder clouds just as two young pegasi flew up to it. They both decided it would be fun to play with it.
“Hey, you two!” Sandbar cried. “Stop messing with that thundercloud, you might get into trouble.”
The earth pony simply got two raspberries in response. He looked over to Gallus and had just received his test results back. The griffon smiled as he looked towards Ocellus. “Hey, Ocellus,” he said, “Could I just look at...?”
“Gallus, I need some help.” The griffon took a quick glance at the changeling’s paper and then raced over to the earth pony. Sandbar pointed to the colts and the cloud, which the griffon flew up to.
“Okay, play time’s over,” Gallus asserted. He pushed the two back, who swiftly bit his talons.
“OW! You little twerps!” The colts swooped past him and flew away with the cloud just as the running started. As for a laugh, one of the little pegasi decided to kick the cloud, which made a bolt of lightning hit a tree, setting it ablaze.
“Give me that!” Rainbow Dash ordered. She was horrified by the spreading fire. Thinking fast, she grabbed the two colts and flew back to warn the runners.
Gallus managed to fly back to Sandbar. “Those two bit me,” he explained.
“Seriously?” Sandbar questioned. Suddenly, they began to hear the ticking of a clock again. “Uh oh.”
๑
The two woke up back in their beds.
“Again?” Gallus questioned.
“We have to figure out what’s going on,” Sandbar said. The two ran down the hall towards the Principal's office. Starlight was walking in drinking her morning coffee when they arrived.
“Good morning,” the headmare said. “The cafeteria is the other way.”
“We know, but we’ve been living through the same day twice.”
Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“We’re not making this up, Headmare” Gallus stated, then whispered to his pony friend, “How can we prove it to her?”
“We... Um...” Sandbar stuttered as he didn’t really have an answer. “We’ll try and find something. Let's go.”
He and Gallus walked the other way to head to the cafeteria. Gallus didn’t bump into Garry this time which made him happy, but they still had a problem to fix.
“Morning,” Ocellus said to the boys.
“Hey, Yona,” Gallus spoke, “Did you have a weird dream last night?”
“Yes,” Yona said a little surprised. “Yo...”
“You dreamt you were being chased by a sheep made of cotton candy, weren’t you?”
Now Yona was agape. “How friend know?”
“Because we’ve been through this before,” Sandbar answered. “Gallus and I are stuck living through the same day over and over again.”
“Seriously?” Smolder questioned.
“Yona don’t see how else Gallus know dream,” Yona said. “Yona believe.”
“How did this happen?” Ocellus asked.
“That’s what we want to know,” Gallus responded.
“Just explain the events you’ve been through,” Ocellus said. “Maybe we could try and prevent everything that happened.” The boys agreed and explained to their friends what happened during their redos. “Okay, it starts like this……” Sandbar started.
In Pinkie’s class, Sandbar and Ocellus were both part of the same group as Lighthoof. When the eggs nearly rolled off the table, the changeling pulled her fellow cheerleader back to avoid the splatter. “Whoa, thanks Celly,” the mare said.
“No problem,” the changeling replied. Silverstream also made sure that she didn’t pour in too much yeast. This way it wouldn’t explode in the oven. Now nobody would need to stick around to clean up be late for class.
Speaking of class, every creature was on time for their math tests. Gallus actually managed to do better this time to past notes. And lunch went off without a hitch either. No spills on students this time.
Finally, the Running of the Leaves was about to start. And this time, Rainbow Dash was told about the colts and the clouds. She disposed of the thunder cloud, so the two young pegasi had nothing to play with.
“Okay, I think everything is okay now,” Sandbar said.
“Are you sure that all of these things are going to make things go back to normal?” Gallus questioned.
“Well, there isn’t going to be fire this time.” The participants started running and the boys stood back and watched. They were just about to enjoy their rest until they heard some ticking. “Oh-”
๑
The two woke up again in their beds. “-Crud.”
“Okay, so those aren’t the problem,” Gallus commented. The two got up and ran to their friends’ dorms. Ocellus and Yona slowly woke up after they barged in.
“Guys?” Ocellus questioned. “What...?”
“Yona dreamt of a cotton candy sheep,” Sandbar spoke.
“...How Sandbar know?” the yak questioned.
“We’re stuck in a time loop!” Gallus explained. “We tried fixing everything that went wrong. Lighthoof’s allergic reaction, the cake explosion, the fire, everything!”
“Okay, Gallus,” Sandbar said, “You need to calm down.”
“...Yona confused,” Yona admitted.
“Me too,” Ocellus added.
“We’ll explain at breakfast,” Sandbar said.
They left the dorm and headed to the cafeteria. They explained everything they knew about the predicament.
“If you can live through the same day over and over,” Smolder said, “Who comes first in the running of the leaves?”
“We don’t know. We get sent back before it gets halfway.” Sandbar said.
“So, how do we fix it?” Silverstream asked.
“We tried fixing everything that went wrong, but we still got sent back.”
“Did you two do anything weird before this all started?” Ocellus asked. The boys both thought for a minute. Gallus then remembered one thing but he knew he couldn’t tell his friends about this.
“Everything seemed to be normal,” Sandbar responded.
“Yeah, I didn’t see anything either,” Gallus added.
“Then we better figure this out fast,” Ocellus commented. “We won’t remember anything from our last try.”
“Why don’t we tell Headmare Starlight?” Silverstream suggested.
“We didn’t have any proof.”
“If she hears this from all six of us, she’s gotta believe,” Smolder said. She got up from her table and walked out of the room. Knowing what she was doing, her friends followed behind.
Starlight was just setting things up in her office as the six students arrived. “Good morning,” the unicorn said. “What seems to be the problem?"
"Gallus and Sandbar stuck in time loop," Yona answered.
"...What?"
"It's not something they would make up for no reason," Ocellus commented.
"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Of course you wouldn't," Gallus remarked. "You didn't remember the first time we told you without proof, why would you believe us the second time."
"Principal Starlight," Sandbar said, "They're right. We're not making this up and we don't know how to fix it." Starlight could see the concern look on the colt's face.
"Okay," she said, "If you're serious about this, I'll contact Princess Twilight about this."
"Thank you," Sandbar said. He and his friends left the office, leaving a worried principal to write a letter.
"You think they'll be able to fix this?" Sandbar asked Gallus.
"I hope so," Gallus replied. "I'm getting tired of the same lunch and breakfast."
"Same here." He looked over to Lighthoof and pushed her back before she could have egg yolk splatter on her.
“Thanks,” the cheerleader said. She backed away from the yolks.
Gallus looked over to a distracted Silverstream, stopping her from pouring too much yeast into the mix. “Oh, thanks, Gallus.”
After that, they walked into the hall and found they were back at the bulletin board. Smolder and Silverstream signed up and Smolder held the pen out to Sandbar. “You wanna sign up?” the dragoness asked.
The colt thought for a second before nodding. “Yeah,” Sandbar said. “Maybe if we keep doing things differently, we’ll get out of this loop.” He quickly signed up and handed the pen to Gallus. “We just have to make sure that those fillies don’t start that fire.”
“Wait, what fire?” Ocellus questioned.
“We’ll explain later,” Gallus replied after he signed up. “You sure this is going to work?”
“I’m willing to try everything at this point,” Sandbar admitted. He decided to walk back to Starlight’s office to see if she made any progress. “Headmare Starlight...”
“Sandbar,” the unicorn replied, “I was just about to call you. I sent the letter and she should reply soon.” On cue, some smoke and spark flew through the window and a scroll appeared on the desk. “Well, what do you know, right on time.” She opened the scroll to see what was written.
Dear Starlight,
I’ve seen this kind of problem before. From what I heard from Sunset, the Time Twirler was destroyed so I have no idea what’s causing this. If Sandbar and Gallus are the only ones who aren't affected by whatever’s causing this. They’re going to have to remind you every single time we fail to stop this. Have them keep mental notes about the events that happen.
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle.
Starlight took a deep breath. “This is pretty serious,” she commented.
“What do we do?” Sandbar asked.
“Well, if you are the only two that remember what happened, you’ll have to go around Ponyville and search for anything out of the ordinary.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, but I need something to tell you if we get sent back.”
“About that...” The headmare felt embarrassed as she whispered something to the colt. “Just tell me that if you get sent back to the beginning.”
“Got it.” Sandbar ran out of the office to find Gallus.
“This is great,” the griffon replied. “We don’t have to do school at all.”
“Gallus, I know you’ve always wanted to do this, we need to focus,” Sandbar said. “We have to find out what’s causing all of this.”
“I think you and I both know one thing that could be doing that.” The colt nodded and they both headed towards the Everfree Forest.
After getting a shovel, they dug up the pocket watch. It appeared to be broken. “This thing looked fine when we buried it.” Sandbar said, looking at the watch which is now rusty.
“Yeah. Don’t think some creature dug it up.”
“Well, how do we get this thing to turn off?” They didn’t want to touch the watch’s crown to remember their misadventure.
“Let’s just smash it.”
“I mean... That does sound logical.” They placed the watch on the ground and smashed it with the shovel.
“And problem solved.”
“That felt... Too easy. Let’s head back and see if this fixes anything.” The boys left the forest and went back to school.
At lunch, things were going on as usual. Though, Gallus managed to avoid Tarsi dropping her food on him. “Sorry,” the changeling apologized.
“It’s fine,” Gallus stated. The changeling flew back to get some more food as the griffon simply brushed the spilled meal to the side.
“You sure this is going to work?” Sandbar whispered.
“Trust me. Once you get rid of the source, the problem will dry up.”
“If you say so.” Their meal carried on as normal until it was time for the ‘Running of the Leaves’.
They managed to stop the colts playing with the thunder cloud, making sure that the fire didn’t start.
“You ready to race?” Smolder asked.
“You bet,” Gallus smirked.
Sandbar was still feeling a little nervous. The participants ran off, causing many leaves to fall off. As Sandbar wasn’t the most athletic pony, it didn’t take long for him to fall behind. Ocellus slowed down to talk to him.
“Are you feeling okay?” the changeling asked.
“Just fine,” the colt replied. “Just... This is going to be a long run.”
“Yeah. Best to save your strength.” They carried at a speed just enough to keep up, but not too much so they would be left exhausted. Just then, some ticking started to be heard.
“Huh?”
“That’s impossible!” Gallus cried.
๑
The colt and griffon shot awake back in their beds. “Come on!” Gallus groaned.
“We need to tell Headmare Starlight,” Sandbar said. He got up and ran down the hall towards the office.
“Morning, Sand...” Starlight spoke before Sandbar whispered something into her ear. “...How did you know that?”
“Let me explain.”
One explanation and a bit of digging later, Gallus and Sandbar recovered the pocket watch. They didn’t destroy this time, instead, they brought it back to their dorm. “Destroying it didn’t work,” Sandbar sighed. “What do we do now?”
“Maybe there’s someone else doing this,” Gallus suggested. “maybe a unicorn could be trying a time travel spell.”
“I heard that doesn’t quite work like that. I heard Headmare Starlight and Princess Twilight traveled through time once, and they needed a scroll in order to travel through time.”
“Then I don’t know what else to do.” He tossed the watch onto the bottom bunk in frustration. “It seems like nothing we do matters now.” Just then, the gears in the griffon’s mind started turning. While Sandbar took a look at the watch, Gallus flew out of the room.
“Oh boy. I better stop him.” He picked up the watch and followed his friend close behind. He followed Gallus towards the cafeteria, where he took some juice and an energy bar. Once he did that, he headed towards the exit.
“Where are you going?” Ocellus asked.
“Take a guess,” replied Gallus. He flew out of the room while taking a sip of his juice. Sandbar grabbed some toast and ran after him.
“Where are you going?” Sandbar asked, muffled by the toast in his mouth.
“If we can’t change this, I might as well take advantage of this.” He picked up the pace and left the school behind.
Sandbar chewed his toast and swallowed before talking more. “We’re going to get into trouble.”
“Not if we make the redo.”
“Don’t you want to fix this?”
“I do, but I don’t know how. And you know who told us not to spoil the future.” Sandbar slowed down and stopped before he took a look at the pocket watch. He barely knew how it worked and it and he didn’t know how to stop this. Not to mention, telling his friends about this could cause some complicated problems.
Gallus made it to the arcade and started playing shooting some hoops. When he was done with that, he headed over to one of the arcade machines. He looked over to an empty spot labeled ”Coming soon, Mega Pony Z.” “Yeah, right,” Gallus chuckled.
He inserted a coin in a machine titled, ”Island Quest.” The earth pony on the screen started running as a bar above her started going down. Gallus made her jump and snatch some fruit, making the bar go back up. He then saw a turtle but he couldn’t stop in time, hit the turtle, and his character died.
“Stupid controls,” he complained. “Why are these things so loose?” Gallus tried again when he heard something in the background.
“Mom, can’t we stop here,” wined a young voice.
“No, your sister has been practicing for this,” said a mare. Gallus looked over to see a pegasus colt with a mare that looked to be his mother.
“Okay, now to stop this kid,” Gallus said under his breath.
“It’ll be very nice if we go and watch her compete,” the mare said. The colt just crossed his hooves and pouted. “Don’t give me that attitude young stallion.” The two walked off with Gallus carefully following behind.
“Excuse me,” the griffon said. The two ponies looked back and saw him.
“Oh, aren’t you one of those special students?” the mare asked.
“Yes. I’ve been given word that some thunder clouds have been seen around some areas where they could be dangerous.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I haven’t seen a lot myself, just keep a lookout.”
“Of course.” She looked over to her son and saw he had a schemish face. “Don’t even think about it.” The two ponies walked away as Gallus returned to the arcade.
He was about to start another game, but he felt something pulling him back. It wasn’t anything physical, it was some sort of thought. He and Sandbar were the only ones who kept living through the same day over and over again. Gallus was wanting to enjoy this, but Sandbar didn’t seem to like it.
The griffon let out a sigh. “I have to do what’s right,” Gallus spoke. He flew away from the arcade and back to the school.
Sandbar was signing up for Running of the Leaves as a certain griffon flew in. “What are you doing here?” the colt asked.
“Guilt pushed me back here,” Gallus replied. “I want to take full advantage of this, but two things are holding me back. I know this will get dull real fast, and two, I know you don’t want to be stuck in this.”
“Thanks, Gallus.” He took the pocket watch out of his bag. “Should we tell them about this?”
“Only once.” The two slowly slipped away towards Starlight's office.
Starlight was minding her own business until the boys came in. They showed her the pocket watch. “Where did you find this watch?” she asked.
The boys looked at each other before Sandbar answered her question. “It’s a special kind,” he replied. “Gallus and I accidentally used this to travel through time.”
“Time travel?”
“We’re not making this up,” Gallus stated. “We both saw our future selves, as well as our friends. We haven’t told anyone about this because of... time paradoxes.”
Starlight was speechless by this. “...I see,” she commented. She stood up and walked in front of them. “Hold tight.” With that, she teleported the three of them away.
They warped outside Canterlot Castle, startling the guards. “We’re here to talk to Princess Twilight,” Starlight informed. Knowing who Starlight was, they let her and the boys inside.
They walked into the throne room where Twilight was waiting. “Starlight, what’s wrong?” the alicorn asked. “Why are Sandbar and Gallus here?”
“Long story,” Gallus said. “To sum it up, we’re stuck in a time loop. We’re living through the same day over and over.”
“And we think this watch is the reason it’s all happening,” Sandbar said, showing the said object. Twilight walked over to take a closer look at the odd watch.
“Where did you find this?” the princess asked.
“It was just buried near the Everfree Forest,” Sandbar answered. “We have no idea where it came from.” Twilight and Starlight looked at each other before they teleported away with the boys to the castle. They appeared next to the map and set the watch on it.
“Do you still remember that spell from when I was still a villain?” Starlight asked.
“A little bit,” Twilight replied. “If the boys are the only ones who remember this, we’ll only have one shot with this before we have to be reminded.” The boy looked at the map and the watch.
“Let’s hope this works.” They both started working their magic and zapped the map. Gallus and Sandbar stepped back, not wanting to get too close. The watch started making loud ticking noises.
“Is that bad?” Sandbar questioned. He got an answer from when the watch started levitating upwards.
It then glows again.
๑
Gallus and Sandbar woke up in their beds once again. They looked around and looked at each other for a while.
“Did we do it?” Gallus asked him.
“I don’t know,” Sandbar replied, getting out of his bed, “We’ll find out.”
So once again, they started off with breakfast, Gallus got a bottle of milk and a bowl of cereal. He didn’t bump into Garry this time but greeted him good morning. Then, off to Pinkie Pie’s classroom to bake snow cakes, and again, Lighthoof accidentally bumped some eggs and Gallus caught them, and Sandbar prevented Silverstream from pouring too much yeast. Then in Rarity’s class, after handing out the papers, Gallus was able to answer everything without cheating. Next during lunchtime, Gallus dodged the food that Tarsi accidentally spilled.
And here we are, The Running of the Leaves. Gallus and Sandbar again saw the two fillies playing with a thundercloud, and told Professor Dash to tell them to stop messing around.
“Okay, we’re now in this scene again,” Sandbar said to his griffon friend, “let’s hope the tick shall not be heard.”
“We’ll see.”
They weren’t participating this time, instead, they’re spectating. The whistle was blown and all of the participants started running. Leaves began to fall from the tree. So far, Gallus and Sandbar haven’t heard a tick after the participants left the scene. They knew it was finally over.
“I didn’t hear a tick,” Sandbar exclaimed.
“Me too,” Gallus added.
“We did it!” They cheered and gave each other a high-five and a hug.
“Oh finally, I’m glad it’s over,” Gallus said, being relieved.
“Now the problem’s fixed, we can finally go on our own day.”
After a while, they’re still waiting for the participants to be seen. Gallus started to feel worried about that watch, he thought that because it’s finally gone, doesn’t mean it completely did, it could be somewhere else.
“What’s wrong, Gallus,” Sandbar asked.
“Oh nothing,” he replied, “It’s just that……I don’t know…I have a feeling that this pocket watch we found might also affect some creature else. I don’t know where’d it go, it could be somewhere else. I hope that it’ll not happen again for someone who already found it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, patting his shoulder, “At least you did the right thing.”
“You’re right. Thanks, buddy.” They hugged tightly.
Then they heard footsteps from the distance, which means they’re coming close to the finish line. The other spectators started to cheer for them, including the two bros.
Smolder was the first one to cross the finish line, followed by Yona, Ocellus, and the others who made it before her.
The event was finally over, Sandbar and Gallus walked towards them and congratulated the girls for joining.
It’s just another day for the students.
Author's Note
Thanks again for Gregoryco123 for helping with the ending and proofreading.
