//------------------------------// // They just explode and die // Story: They just explode and die // by Broadway Sweetie Belle //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie happily bounced up and down as Rainbow Dash flew above her down the street to the library. They were meeting up with the rest of their friends at Twilight’s house, and once everypony was together, they’d all go out for brunch. “I hope we don’t go to a fancy restaurant like last time,” Rainbow said. “For small salads, they sure cost a lot.” Pinkie Pie continued to bounce. “Rarity got to choose last time. So now it’s Twilight’s turn, I think?” “Good, she always picks something simple; that way everpony will be happy.” The mares arrived at the library; the others were already waiting outside. Just seconds after Pinkie and Dash showed up, Twilight came out of the library, smiling brightly at her friends. “Hi girls; are you all hungry?” “Darn tootin’! Ah could eat a whole wheat field right about now!” Applejack said. “I wouldn’t quite put it in those words, but I could eat an extensive meal as well,” Rarity replied. “I-I’m looking forward to brunch,” Fluttershy muttered. “Less talk, more walk. So, tell us where we’re going to eat?” Rainbow Dash asked eagerly. Twilight smiled. “Alright, my choice for brunch is—” Twilight suddenly exploded in a flash of light and a shower of sparkles. The mares’ immediate reactions were to scream. Nothing remained of Twilight, except for a black smear on the ground where she once stood. The mares continued to shriek as they stared unbelieving at the remains of what just occurred. “Oh my Celestia, w-what happened to Twilight?” Rarity stuttered. “She… she just blew up!” Rainbow Dash cried. “Oh… poor Twilight,” Fluttershy whimpered, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. “N-now hold on y’all, Ah know this looks bad. But I’m sure there is a rational explanation to why Twilight just—” Applejack exploded in an orange blast, sending a gust of wind into the faces of the remaining mares. The four ponies screamed even louder than before. “Not Applejack, too?!” Rarity screeched. “W-why is this happening?” She began to sob. Fluttershy cried even harder, pawing at the black ash that was left of Applejack. “Ok, everypony, listen up!” Rainbow Dash yelled, “I know this is the worst time for me to be telling you to pull yourselves together, but we have a crisis on our hooves here.” The other mares gave their full attention to Rainbow Dash, despite their continued tears. “Now, we just have to take a deep breath and figure out what we’re gonna do next,” Rainbow lowered her voice to a calm level. “Does anypony have any idea of what we should do?” Nopony spoke for a moment. Rainbow Dash put on a composed and serious face, but inside she was also holding back tears. After a minute of silence, Rarity sniffed, and took a weary breath. “Well… we could try-” Rarity burst into a white blaze, this one the loudest of the three. As before, Pinkie and Fluttershy squawked. But Rainbow Dash just stood there, paralyzed, her lip quivering. “Ok, new plan… we PANIC!” They all lost it. The three remaining ponies ran, not knowing what to do; they just began running towards the middle of town. They charged down the street to the busiest part of town, where ponies were shopping, eating out, and just having a good time. That is, until Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy came running in, screaming their heads off. They stopped in the middle of the square, getting the town ponies’ attentions quickly. At last, the three mares took a break from screaming to catch their breath. For a brief moment, silence filled the air, until one of the town ponies surrounding the mares spoke up. “Hey, what’s your problem?” she asked a bit rudely. Rainbow was the one to reply, blurting out, “You’ve gotta help us. Our friends just exploded for no reason!” Everything was quiet again, and then the town ponies suddenly began laughing. “Stop laughing!!!” Pinkie Pie bawled. Immediately, everypony went silent. If Pinkie Pie was this upset, then this was serious. “Oh, come on, Rainbow Dash, you can’t expect us to actually believe that your friends just exploded for no reason,” The local candy shop owner, Bon Bon, said. “I know… I know, but we have to do something, we—” Just then, Rainbow Dash had an idea. “We should write to Princess Celestia, she’ll know what to do. I hope.” “Whoa there, Dash, is it really that important to get Celestia involved?” Bon Bon asked. “The princess is a very busy pony and shouldn’t be disturbed over some silly little-” Rainbow Dash flew right up to the earth pony’s face before she could finish. “This isn’t a joke! This is serious! My friends just died, and you think this is a JOKE!?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Look, up at Canterlot!” A pony cried out. The ponies followed his hoof towards the distant capital. Rainbow Dash was thunderstruck at the sight of the city; it appeared to be under an intense bombing. It couldn’t be a coincidence; the same thing must be happening in Canterlot, too. Just when the horrified ponies believed it couldn’t get worse, the unthinkable happened. An explosion erupted from Canterlot castle, so massive that it completely absorbed the city itself. The explosion rose up to form a mushroom-like cloud; a yellow fiery haze, just as blinding as the sun. Rainbow Dash fell to her knees. Her mind was paralyzed; she couldn’t hear the terrified cries of the ponies around her. “Canterlot has been attacked!” “What are we gonna do? Who could have done this?” “I-it must have been the Changelings, it only makes sense!” Bon Bon yelled over the roar of the crowd. The confectioner’s cries got Rainbow’s attention. “No… NO!” Rainbow shouted. The ponies settled down a little bit, pausing briefly in their hysterics to listen. “It’s not an attack by Changelings. Don’t you see, they all just exploded like I’ve been telling you!” Her statement caused many of the townsfolk to raise their voices in protest. Bon Bon approached Rainbow Dash. “Now, you listen to me. I think I speak for all of us when I say that you are on very thin ice right now, Rainbow! Canterlot has been attacked, and you use that as evidence for your stupid little joke?” Rainbow Dash remained silent. It was no use unless they saw it happen in front of them. “Ponies don’t just explode for no reason, Dash! You can’t prove that to any one of us! This is—” A huge explosion went off just in the middle of the crowd, the detonation wave knocking some ponies off their hooves and onto their backs. As the dust settled, Bon Bon opened her eyes to see a large black smear where Fluttershy once stood. “No! Not Fluttershy, too!” Pinkie Pie yelled. Bon Bon looked petrified. She stumbled backwards and looked to her friend with a horrified expression. “L-Lyra, did you see that? She-she just exploded, Lyra!” Lyra, on the other hoof, didn’t seem particularly terrified at all; in fact, she seemed annoyed by her friend’s reaction. “Oh, ok, so you’ll believe ponies can explode for no reason when you see it. But you won't believe in any creature such as humans when—” Lyra exploded in a mint-green flame. Bon Bon covered her face before thrown back and tumbled across the ground. Once the blast passed and the town ponies stopped screaming, there was nothing left but silence. Bon Bon opened her eyes again and didn’t see her friend where she once stood, she was speechless. Bon Bon walked up to the pile of ashes that was left of her friend, her jaw hung loosely. “Lyra…? LYR—” Bon Bon exploded, her death causing everypony to lose their minds. Ponies started to explode randomly; nopony knew who would be next, so they just started running in all directions. This quickly proved futile as ponies continued to blow up for no discernable reason. Rainbow Dash could do nothing but watch the ponies explode. Nopony was safe. This is the end, Rainbow thought. We’re all doomed. She closed her eyes and allowed her body to relax. She lay there on her knees, waiting for whatever it was that was doing this to take her and end her misery. Suddenly, Rainbow felt a tug on her mane. She turned around to see Pinkie Pie pulling on her mane. “Come on, we gotta go, Dashie!” Her voice was almost canceled out by the screams and explosions still surrounding them. Rainbow Dash didn’t budge. She sighed and asked, “What’s the point, Pinkie? We’re all gonna die anyways; there’s nothing we can do to stop it. It’s hopeless.” Pinkie Pie gave Dash a glare, and then smacked her across the face. “Ouch! Why’d you hit me?” Pinkie lifted Rainbow Dash off the ground and onto her hooves. “What happened to the Dash that I used to know? Because you sure aren’t her! The Dashie I knew would never leave her friends behind. She could clear the skies in ten seconds flat, she could perform a Sonic Rainboom,” Pinkie got so close to Rainbow that their noses touched. “And most importantly, she was fearless and would never give up, even if it were the worst. Possible. THING!” Dash sniffed. She stepped back to restore some space between her and Pinkie, and let out another sigh before giving her remaining friend a bittersweet smile. “Thanks, I needed a little pick-me-up.” Pinkie returned the smile. “That’s what friends do.” Just then, a few explosions went off near the two; the blasts were getting bigger and more powerful. “We’ve got to get out of here, NOW!” The noise was so loud, Pinkie’s words were nearly drowned out. “I know, but where do we go?!” “Anywhere is better than here. Come on!” They took off running in one direction, not hesitating or allowing their eyes to drift off the path under their hooves. All around them, ponies were exploding more and more frequently; it was like the fourth of July in Ponyville. Some poor ponies tried to hide in their houses. Mere seconds later, the roofs began to burst off the buildings. A pegasus attempted to outfly the blasts; he went off like a rocket. No matter what anypony did, they would end in the same way as the others. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie savored every single struggling breath they took, fearing it could be their last. They came to a cross in the street, pausing to determine which way to go. “Let’s go left. Come on, Pinkie!” “R-R-R-Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie froze and clenched her stomach. Rainbow turned to see her last friend in pain, and the worst came to mind. “No... no, Pinkie!” Pinkie started to grunt in pain and began to sweat like she was heating up. “This is it for me. Goodbye, Dashie.” “Pinkie!” Rainbow cried. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH—” A small fart burst out. Pinkie was so staggered she blushed from embarrassment. “Oops, just gas, hehe, false alar-” She suddenly blew up like a party cannon, exploding into a festive array of colorful confetti. Rainbow gasped, running into the confetti pile and gathering a few ribbons in her hooves. She stared at the little pieces of colorful paper, all that remained of her best friend. Rainbow clenched her hoofs; she couldn’t hold her emotions in check any longer. All her anger, fear, sorrow, and frustration were released in one single outburst. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” She howled to the sky. Rainbow collapsed in the pile of confetti, curled up in a ball, and started stroking her tail while she shivered. Explosions could still be heard from all around, which only made Rainbow feel even worse. She couldn’t take it any longer; she only wanted it to end. “No more… please, just let it end. For the love of Celestia, I can’t take it anymore!” Rainbow Dash shut her eyes tightly, hoping this was just a nightmare. Memories rolled on through her mind: her first flying lessons, the day she got her cutie mark, her acceptance to the Wonderbolts Academy, and all the good times she had with her friends, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Oh Celestia, why? The last of her memory goes by, and then… silence. However, the lack of noise wasn’t her death wish; she was perfectly fine. Rainbow slowly peeked her eyes open to make sure she was still in Ponyville, and not in the afterlife. She opened her eyes fully and lifted her head up. Could it have been a bad dream? No, she still laid in the remnants of her friend. Her ears perked up to the sound of birds chirping; no blasts or explosions, just the rustling of leaves as the wind blew. It was all so peaceful, yet she didn’t understand why she had survived while everypony else disintegrated, left as ash in the wind. Rainbow thought long and hard. “Maybe…maybe this was meant to happen,” she said to herself. It was the only thing she could think of that made sense. “I… I think I should leave Ponyville, leave Equestria, even. Maybe the answers are out in the world; I just have to take the first step to finding my meaning.” Rainbow looked to the sky. A clear blue awaited over her like it was calling her to fly, to live, to prosper in its wonders. The clouds would be her shelter till the end of her journey. She would not touch the ground until she was no longer on her homeland; it would just bring back the memories, some good, but also a reminder of the horrors she had seen just minutes ago. Rainbow slowly got back on her hooves, and brushed the confetti out of her mane. With a deep sigh she said, “This is it. This is my true destiny, to find who I really am.” Rainbow unfolded her wings and bent her knees. “Well, here goes nothing—” She erupted into an atomic rainbow explosion. Everything within a fifty-mile radius was completely vaporised by the blast. The explosion rose high to the clouds, blooming into a multicolor, mushroom-shaped cloud. ~~~~ “And that’s how Equestria ends.” Pinkie Pie finished her story. The six friends all sat in a circle in the library listening to Pinkie’s prophecy. Everypony stared with bizarre expressions on their faces except for Rainbow Dash, who looked about ready to burst out laughing. She promptly did. “Bahahahahahah! Pinkie,” Rainbow hiccupped, “That is absolutely the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard.” She fell on her back, kicking the air with her hooves. “Oh, my sides, I can’t stop–bahahah!” Twilight and Rarity, on the other hoof, glanced at each other then back at Pinkie. “Well, that was an… interesting story.” Twilight gave Rarity a look. “Hmm? Oh, yeah, quite… exaggerated, so to say.” Pinkie shook her head. “No, it’s not a story, it’s really gonna happen!” Twilight covered her face with her hoof and sighed. “Pinkie, there are three reasons why that’s not going to happen. One: Ponies can’t explode without reason. There’s no logic behind it. Two: You have no proof that this will happen. And three—” Twilight exploded, her friends exploding one after the other; ponies outside exploded, the ponies in town exploded, the ponies all across Equestria exploded; the ponies all around the world exploded in that one moment. The blasts could be seen from orbit, looking like tiny firecrackers. This is how the pony race went extinct. From this day, no one has been able to understand why they exploded. The fact of the matter is that they just explode and die. The End