Sweetie Belle was disturbed by the images that transmitted from the television, but darn it all if she was not so curious to know what happens next. She quivered in the dark, the sights and sounds of the late-night movie becoming more vivid and clear. The screaming, the bloodied ponies lying motionless on the street, the fire falling from the sky, a massive tidal wave washing away great cities, the earth cracking open and the poor unfortunate souls that fallen into the abyss. Whenever Sweetie tried to look away, her eyes always took a little peek at the next scene.
“Sweetie Belle,” a voice said from the hallway. Acting on instinct, the filly yelped and hid behind the couch. “Sweetie Belle, I know you’re behind there,” the feminine voice said again. It belonged to her older sister, Rarity. “Why are you up so late? It’s past your bedtime.”
“Just five more minutes,” stammered Sweetie Belle. Rarity took note of the movie Sweetie was watching. On the television was a large city, with ponies running in a frenzy from what appeared to be an asteroid from the sky.
“Sweetie Belle, I don’t think you should be watching this anymore,” said Rarity. Her magic captured the remote control and she turned off the TV. “Scary movies like these will give you nightmares.”
“No they won’t,” Sweetie protested weakly. She emerged from behind the couch with frightened eyes.
“Yes they will. Now let’s skidaddle up those stairs and tuck yourself into bed, you have a full day of school in the morning.”
Sweetie did as she was told, and ascending into the top floor with each baby step she took. The hallway was dimly lit, and she was not sure if she could make it to her bedroom without going into a terror-induced fit. As Sweetie Belle ascended to the top floor, the movie continued to play in her head. Like a music video, she saw a series of images that flash one after another. The horrible disasters and the terrified ponies made her whimper.
After struggling to travel through the dark hallway, Sweetie Belle was finally safe in her own bed. However, she could not make herself fall asleep. Her room was almost pitch black, the only light coming from the street lamps and the moon. Everything was silent, which made her uneasy than she was before.
“It’s only a movie,” she said to herself. “It’s only a movie. Disasters like that can’t happen in real life. Even if they did, Princess Celestia and Luna can handle it. I hope.” With no way to put herself to sleep, Sweetie had to choose the only option available. She began to count imaginary sheep jumping over her head. “1… 2… 3… 4…”
… Sweetie Belle had no memory of how she got here, but the only thought on her mind was finding a way out. She found her in the center of a destroyed city. Fire was everywhere, and the sky was as red as blood. There was no possible sign of life anywhere.
“Hello,” she called out, “is there anypony here?” No response was given, so she had to search for help on her own. Sweetie turned her head at every direction, not sure of where she was going. As long as she walked through the apocalyptic city, the buildings grew dark and ominous. A sudden noise from a pile of debris grabbed her attention, and she prepared herself for whatever it was that was hiding. “Hello? Who’s there? Please don’t hurt me!” The debris pile dismantled itself, revealing an injured stallion.
“...Help… me,” the stallion pleaded. Sweetie Belle ran to him and struggle to remove the remaining debris that was crushing him.
“Don’t worry sir, I’ll get you out! Just hold…” The ground shook underneath them. Sweetie was knocked from her legs into the ground. The earthquake intensified, and around her the buildings crumbled and collapsed. Sweetie was surprised to see ponies out of nowhere running for their lives. Her heart stopped beating when the earth under her legs split opened and the poor stallion fell in.
The earthquake made it difficult for Sweetie to stand on her legs. Once she was on her hooves, she took advantage of the opportunity to run. She outran the other ponies, looking around her surroundings for any imminent disaster. Behind her, what sounded like waves crashing was heard. Her pupils shrinked when she learned the horrible truth - a tidal wave was covering the city with water. Tears streamed from her eyes while she increased her speed. On the direction where she was running, a giant ball of fire was descending from the red sky.
“What’s happening?” Sweetie screamed to herself. She ran aimlessly around the city along with the other ponies looking for shelter. To her dismay she entered a dead end. She was cornered by the oncoming tsunami and the fireball from the sky. Sweetie Belle watched as the two elemental disasters collided with her…
… Sweetie Belle’s screamed herself out of bed. She panted heavily and her heart was pumping blood at an alarming rate. Her hooves were sweating, as was herself. The light of the morning sun was beaming from her window into her room.
“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity called from the other side of the door, “are you alright, darling?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sweetie said through her panting.
“That’s good to hear. Well, it’s time to get ready, you don’t want to be late for school.” Sweetie Belle climbed out of bed and opened her window. The sky was blue complete with puffy white clouds, and the ponies outside had smiles on their faces.
“It was just a dream,” she said. “A really terrible dream.”
Sweetie Belle stood at the intersection while she waited for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. The dream was still fresh in her mind. Looking up at the sky she feared that any minute, the sun will disappear and the peaceful blue will turn into rageful red. Worst of all, no matter how many smiling ponies were outside, she only saw them running from an earthquake, or a tidal wave, or a tornado, or any kind of horrible disaster.
“I knew I shouldn’t have watched that movie last night,” she said. “Why couldn’t I watched something else, like the Powerpuff Ponies?” She felt a small object hit her head. Sweetie shrieked and ran for cover and curled in the fetal position.
“Sweetie Belle, are you alright?” a familiar voice asked. She looked up and saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo standing over her. “What are you doing down there?” asked Scootaloo.
“I’m trying to protect my head!” Sweetie answered.
“From an acorn?” Apple Bloom asked. Sweetie look at the ground and she saw an acorn on the spot where she was standing. A lone squirrel climbed down from a tree to retrieve it, not before giving Sweetie Belle an apologetic shrug. “What’s wrong with ya, Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked. “You look like you hadn’t had a good night's rest.”
“I don’t know. I was watching this scary movie last night that was about about the world coming to an end because of all these crazy disasters. Then I had a dream last night that I was in the movie.”
“Whoa. Maybe you shouldn’t watch that movie again,” Scootaloo said.
“That’s what Rarity said.”
“Why were you watching that?” asked Apple Bloom, “I thought you hated scary movies.”
“I thought I did too, but I got bored so I decided to watch it,” said Sweetie. “I didn’t know it was going to be that scary.”
“Well, the important thing is that the world ain’t coming to an end anytime soon,” Apple Bloom said. “Come on girls, let’s get to school.”
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had a conversation about what they did last night, while Sweetie remained silent. She tried to push the images of the movie and the dream out of her mind, but everything she saw reminds her of at least one aspect of both of them. To her left, she saw a billboard being displayed by a pegasus that said “THE END IS NEAR--” Sweetie gasped and turned her eyes away. If only she had looked a little longer, Sweetie would have realized the billboard actually said “THE END IS NEAR, SALE ENDS MAY 10!” To her right, she saw a teenage pony on a skateboard listening to a boombox. It was loud enough for Sweetie to hear the words, “Possible Tornado Warning--” If only the teenager had not sped away so quickly, Sweetie would have learn that “Possible Tornado Warning” was the new hit song from that popular rock band.
“Sweetie Belle, you’ve been quiet all this time,” Apple Bloom said. “What’s the matter?”
“Um, girls,” Sweetie Belle said. “Do you ever get the feeling that the whole world is out to get you?”
“That’s it, Sweetie Belle. No more scary movies for you,” Apple Bloom said. “They can really mess with your head. I can see why Applejack hates those things.”
Every colt and filly sat at their desks once the schoolbell ranged. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo took their usual seats on a row across from each other. Sweetie kept her eyes at the window, making sure nothing out of the ordinary would disrupt her school day. She was wondering why there was a film projector in the middle of the classroom.
“Okay class, settle down,” Miss Cheerilee said as cheerful as she could ever be. “I hope all of you had a nice weekend, because we have so much to talk about.” She grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard. “I believe today would be a great day to talk about the Universe!”
Scootaloo raised her arm and said, “The universe? Like astronomy and stuff?”
“Absolutely, Scootaloo,” Cheerilee said. “Yesterday, I was watching Science Channel and they were having a marathon of Professor Cosmos, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn about the wonders of outer space.”
“Outer space?” Sweetie Belle whispered to herself. Immediately, she was reminded of the giant asteroid approaching earth from the movie last night.
Miss Cheerilee pulled down a white screen in front of the blackboard and had one of her students dim the lights. “Today we are going to watch a film about astronomy, but play very close attention, because we’re going to have an intelligent discussion about it afterwards.”
The room was in total darkness and Miss Cheerilee switched on the projector. The class was introduced to stunning visuals of planets, stars, galaxies, and finally, earth. “Welcome to An Adventure Across the Stars,” the announcer said, “with your host, Professor Cosmos.”
A blue unicorn stallion appeared on the screen. He had a black mane, and wore a tan suit jacket with a white turtleneck. This was Professor Cosmos. “Since the dawn of civilization, ponykind had always looked up at the stars and wonder,” he said. “How did we get here? Where did all began? How is it going to end?” Sweetie Belle bit her lip when she heard that last question. “Come with me as travel billions and billions of years from the birth of the universe, to its inevitable end…”
As the film continued, Sweetie Belle waited anxiously for the end. It was worse than the movie she was watching last night. Professor Cosmos spent the entire last half of the film explaining the possible ways the universe could cease to exist. What made it frightening than the movie was that those were scientific theories.
“Although largely dismissed, astronomers believe a black hole could put an end to all life on earth,” Professor Cosmos said, followed by a quick animation of a black hole swallowing the earth like a vacuum. “Rogue black holes could be found anywhere in space, however it is unlikely one would enter our solar system.”
Sweetie Belle whimpered like a puppy when Professor Cosmos filled her head with more possible end of the world scenarios.
“Finally, the most widely accepted fate of the universe by astronomers everywhere is the Big Crunch. The Big Crunch is the Big Bang’s somewhat evil twin - whereas the Big Bang is the expansion of matter from a singularity, the metric expansion of the universe eventually reverses and the universe recollapse, ultimately ending as a black hole singularity.”
Sweetie Belle could not believe what she was hearing. How could anything of this be true, she thought to herself. She felt a hole inside her stomach and she did not feel too good.
“That’s all the time we have for today,” Professor Cosmos said. “Remember, our journey is not over yet. Keep watching the stars.”
The film ended and the classroom was filled with light again, however some of the students had to avert their eyes because the brightness burned their retinas. On the other hoof, Sweetie looked as though she had seen a ghost.
“That was a very informative film,” Miss Cheerilee said. “Can anypony tell me what they have learned?”
Apple Bloom raised her arm and said, “I learned that universe began around 13.82 billion years ago from the Big Bang.”
“Very good, Apple Bloom,” Cheerilee responded. She picked up a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard, while saying, “According to the Big Bang theory, the universe was contained in a single point, which expanded from its dense and hot state and continues to expand to this day. Anypony else?”
While the students were busy answering Miss Cheerilee’s questions, Sweetie Belle was in a daze. She stared blankly at the window to her side, thinking about how small ponykind is in the grand scheme of things, so insignificantly small that tomorrow morning they would all be wiped off the face of the earth and the universe would not notice.
The students were released when they heard the sound of the last bell that afternoon. Amidst the crowd of happy colts and fillies there was a distraught little unicorn, not sure of what to do with the new information given to her.
“You know, class was actually pretty fun,” Scootaloo said. “How come we don’t do things like that more often?”
“I don’t know. I can’t even remember half of the things we learn most of time,” said Apple Bloom.
While they were talking to each other, Sweetie Belle gasped in horror as a black hole entered the atmosphere. Nothing escaped from its strong gravitational pull, not even light. She saw trees, houses, buildings, mountains, and horrifyingly enough, other ponies disintegrate into tiny pieces as they were all caught up by the black hole’s gravity. The blue sky itself turned black. Sweetie Belle grabbed a lamp post and held on for dear life.
“Sweetie Belle, help us!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom screamed, but it was too late. They were gone to the point of no return.
“Don’t take me!” Sweetie screamed. “Don’t take me!”
“... Take you where?” Apple Bloom asked. Sweetie Belle returned to reality and found herself gripping to a lamp post. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom gave each other confused glances. “Sweetie Belle, what the heck is wrong with you? You’re acting crazier than a rattlesnake on Taco Tuesday.”
“I… I don’t know,” answered Sweetie Belle.
“Then maybe you should go home and get some rest,” said Apple Bloom, “I don’t think today is a great day for crusading.”
“No, I can still do some crusading with you guys. I just need a glass of water, that’s all.”
“I think Apple Bloom’s right,” added Scootaloo. “You’ve been acting weird all day. We can go crusading some other time.”
“Sweetie Belle, there you are,” Rarity called out. She came from the other side of the street, carrying five paper bags with her magic. “I was doing some much needed shopping for my new fashion project when I found you. How was school?”
“School was fine,” Sweetie said.
“We learned about space, gravity, the Big Bang and all that other stuff,” Scootaloo said. “I’m surprised we haven’t talked about that before.”
“Interesting. Well, I don’t want to disturb your time with your little friends. I will see you at home Sweetie Belle.”
“That’s okay, Miss Rarity,” said Apple Bloom, “We were just thinking about resting for today.”
“But Apple Bloom,” Sweetie protested, but Apple Bloom was quick to stop her from saying anything else.
“We felt tired from all of the learning we did today, and we decided to take the rest of the day off.”
“Yeah, learning about the universe can give you a massive brain fuse,” Scootaloo added. “In fact, I never knew how big it was until now. I feel so small.”
“Oh… Now that you’ve mentioned it, I do need quite a bit of help with my new clothing line. Since you girls aren’t doing anything, do you mind if I take Sweetie Belle with me?”
“Of course you can,” Apple Bloom said. “She’s your sister.”
“Apple Bloom, I--” Sweetie began to say, but her body was already enveloped by magic before she could say anything else.
“Come along, Sweetie Belle. We have much to do today,” Rarity said. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo watched as Rarity carried her young sister back to their home. Scootaloo felt a twinge of guilt just as Sweetie’s face formed a sad frown.
“You think we did the right thing?” Scootaloo asked.
“Of course we’ve done the right thing,” answered Apple Bloom. “You saw how Sweetie was acting today, didn’t you? We’re doing her a favor, and by tomorrow morning she’ll be as right as rain.”
“Okay… Apple Bloom, what does crazier than a rattlesnake on Taco Tuesday mean?”