//------------------------------// // Arguments, Confusion, and an Unexpected Reuinion // Story: The 4th Wall // by PegasisterFireboom //------------------------------// All Sweetie Belle could see was black. She wasn't sure if her eyes were closed or open. They seemed closed, but when she blinked, she knew they were open. Sweetie Belle sniffed the air and gagged at the terrible smell. It smelled about as bad as burning tar and rotten cottage cheese. Sweetie held her nose in anguish and swirled her head around, looking for her friends. Suddenly, her eyes seemed to find some light and the world lit up in front of her. The ground was covered in hard sand and rocks. There was no other life form except for Sweetie Belle and her two friends next to her. The 3 fillies had no idea what color the sky was, for it seemed like a dust storm was occurring thousands of feet above them. This storm seemed to go on for miles too, while they couldn't feel the dust, they did find it irritating. Sweetie Belle squinted, trying to see into the distance. The ground seemed completely flat for miles on end and not a single hill or village protruded on the horizon. Not a single noise disrupted the silence except for the faint whirling of the wind above. The fillies were too intrigued by their surroundings that they could not say a word. However, this didn't last long for, as I just explained, there was not much going on. "Where are we?" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo whirled around to see that Applebloom was the one that uttered the first words spoken. Scootaloo shrugged her shoulders and Sweetie Belle hung her head in shame. "This is all my fault. If I wasn't for me getting that book this would've never happened. I'm a bad filly." Sweetie Belle stated. She slumped onto the ground and stared at her hooves in depression. "By hay it is! Now that we are here we will never get home!" Scootaloo yelled. Sweetie's eyes started to tear up as Scootaloo continued tearing her out. "I mean, if you knew your sister didn't approve of that, why did you take it?! By Celestia, that's not ignorance! That's stupidity! You should know better then that!" Scootaloo continued her rant. Tears started running down Sweetie's face and she buried it into the sand like an ostrich. "And, don't even get me started on the fact that you-" Scootaloo was cut off by Applebloom shoving her. Applebloom stared at her with an intent look. "Sweetie, it aint your fault. By Celestia I think its Rarity's fault here." Applebloom consoled Sweetie, stroking her on her back. Sweetie Belle lifted her head from the ground and looked at Applebloom with "Thanks There" written all over her face. "Y-You really think so?" Sweetie Belle sniffled. Applebloom nodded. "Well, she was the one that overreacted..." Applebloom reassured. Sweetie Belle giggled and sat up. Her eyes then opened wide at the landscape around her, for she had forgotten the situation they were in. "But... where are we?" Sweetie Belle asked. She picked up a small rock from underneath her and examined it. However, a rumbling in her stomach made her drop it and clutch her hungry body. "Ugh.... I am starving!" Sweetie moaned. Scootaloo nodded. She too had realized how hungry she was. Applebloom looked at her two starving friends. Unlike them, she actually had breakfast so she wasn't hungry. But, she knew that she would get hungry any time now. "Come on! At the very least lets try and find some food somewhere" Applebloom lifted her hungry unicorn friend onto her back. She had done work like this before so she was prepared. Applebloom and Scootaloo trudged along, following where their instincts took them. Both of them knew that this would be a long trip... It had been hours, or at least it felt like it, since the Cutie Mark Crusaders started their crusade across this strange plain. None of the landscape had changed one bit. The sky looked the same and not a single hill protruded the horizon. Applebloom's knees felt like they were going to give out any moment. On her back, a sleeping Sweetie Belle was on it. Her marshmallow colored body would move up and down from the hoof-steps of her carrier and her slow breathing. Scootaloo was ahead of the other two crusaders, scoping out the landscape for anything interesting. They had not yet found any food, the closest thing they found was a dead rat. ("At least something used to live here." Scootaloo had said.). Since Scootaloo was the one who found it (and was the only one brave enough to eat it) she ate it and was a bit more energized. However, she was only a bit. Considering they found the rat early on on their crusade, she was getting tired, very fast. In the distance, Scootaloo caught something that caught her interest. It was only for a second, but the sky to the right of her distorted. Scootaloo motioned the area and the trio walked over there. In the area, there were a trio of skeletons on the ground. The skeletons were about the size of all three of them. One was a pegasus, the other a unicorn, and another an earth pony. "Wow! Does this place see the future or something?" Scootaloo joked. However, she was the only one who laughed. Applebloom held a look of disgust on her face and Sweetie Belle held herself from crying. "Hey, I'm trying to make this a bit more enjoyable." Scootaloo defended her harsh remark. "Well, you absolutely failed at that. If ya'll gonna make us feel better, at least say we are gonna get outta this alive!" Applebloom stated. Scootaloo scoffed and continued walking. "Well, I'm sorry, okay? I thought something was here but... it seems like there isn't-" Scootaloo started, but was interrupted by her running into an obstacle. She looked up, but didn't see anything there. She felt in front of her and wore a look of awe. Nothing was in front of her but yet... something was there. She ran her hoof across it. The invisible... thing... felt like glass or something else. Whatever it was, it felt solid. "Feel this, Applebloom." Scootaloo suggested. The yellow earth pony walked over and touched the invisible wall. She jerked back when she felt it. Sweetie Belle felt the jerk and fell of of her friend's back. Of course, like any sensible pony, she was annoyed about her comfy rest being disrupted. "Hey! What happened?" Sweetie Belle asked. She slowly walked up to where Applebloom was. She banged into it and stumbled backwards. Then, she too started to feel the invisible wall. "W-What is this?" Sweetie Belle asked, while continuing to feel the wall, She never got an answer and looked down to see Scootaloo staring at a particular part of the wall. She had her ear on the invisible surface. Sweetie Belle stumbled over to her pegasus friend (she was still woozy from her nap). She felt her way to the wall again and put her ear up to it. She heard a loud humming coming from it. It was like some kind of intro for some kind of show. Maybe Trixie's but... who knows? The humming got louder and louder and soon, it sounded as if the humming was coming from right in front of her. By now, all three of the Crusaders were up against the wall. Sweetie Belle stepped back a fair distance, afraid for what might happen next. She waited many long seconds, waiting for something to happen. The two others looked back and smiled. "The hummin' is gone now. What's ya problem?" Applebloom asked. She cocked her head slightly to the side. "I-I have a feeling... that... something is going to happen. Be careful you two." Sweetie warned. Applebloom amd Scootaloo grunted. Scootaloo walked up to the the worried filly. "You're being parinoid. Nothing's gonna happen!" Scootaloo reassured. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to see what other tunes are going on in this wall." Scootaloo walked back to the wall. However, when she tried slamming her hoof back on the invisible wall. However, Scootaloo pulled away quickly. Something was going to happen. Something she nor the other two crusaders would ever expect. It happened in an instant. As soon as Scootaloo pulled away, the wall exploded. Glass and other particles flew out of the wall. The highest flying ones joined with the sandstorm raging above but most of them scattered across the plain. The explosion ended as quickly as it started. Across the ground, the particles lay, jutting and sharp. Sweetie Belle got up and looked at the after-math. She was the furthest away from the wall so she was injured the least. She whirled around, looking for her two friends. However, she didn't see them. She called out their name multiple times but she didn't get an answer. Then, something caught her eye. The wall... was open. The wall was still not visible, however the part that exploded, was now visible. Or at least, Sweetie Belle thought it was. The wall had a big hole in it now. Inside the wall, was black. It looked as if an artist painted a big black blob on the wall. Suddenly, a pink bow appeared from inside it. Sweetie Belle's heart flew, for she knew that was Applebloom. "Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle ran to the blob. Applebloom popped up from behind the wall. She smiled and waved at Sweetie Belle. "Heya! Come on in!" Applebloom waved her in. Sweetie hesitated, but ultimately jumped in. She looked around and what she saw, amazed her. The inside of the wall was entirely black. There was nothing in it. The only living beings in the wall were her and Applebloom. Sweetie Belle whirled to her right to see Scootaloo, looking like she had just come out of a war-zone, slowly walking towards her. Sweetie smiled, knowing that everything would be fine now. "Sweetie? Where is this place? Why is it here? How did we get in here?" Scootaloo rambled out all of her questions. However, she was stopped by Applebloom poking her on the shoulder. "Guys... look over there..." Applebloom pointed to her left. On the front wall, slightly to the left, there was a huge portal. It looked like the blob that brought them there, but different. This one was much bigger and the inside wasn't black. From where the trio were standing, they could see a slight blue glow. The sounds of a bustling metropolis echoed in the blank blackness. "This is so weird!" Scootaloo held her head in confusion. "We're leaving! We don't have any business here!" Scootaloo turned to leave through the portal in which they came from, but she stopped. The way that they had come in had vanished, and now the three crusaders were trapped. "Horse-Apples!" Scootaloo cursed. She scanned the area for any hole, but she didn't see any. She sat down, befuddled. "Shoot, now what are we going to do?" Sweetie Belle asked the group, only to be answered by the sound of silence. "I don't know... All I know is that we are never getting out of-" Applebloom started, only to be cut of by the sound of hooves, slowly trotting their way. At first it was faint, but the clopping soon got louder and louder. The Crusaders slowly moved backwards and backwards, only to be stopped by some type of wall behind them. The three of them gasped and tried pushing against the wall. Finally, the figure emerged from the shadows. "Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo? What are you guys doing here?" The Crusaders slowly turned their head around to reveal that the pony was... "PINKIE PIE?!"