Sweetie checked her kitten calendar that was hanging on her wall. It was three days until the dreaded solar eclipse. Three days until that moment the Royal Sisters destroy civilization and then kill themselves. In those three days she planned to warn everypony in town about the cataclysm, as she had done the week prior. That is unless Apple Bloom and Scootaloo would stop following her everywhere she went with their video camera.
“Welcome back to another exciting episode of The Sky is Falling! Starring Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom announced to an imaginary audience. “Tell us what you’re about to do today, the viewers at home really wanna know!”
“It’s none of your business!” Sweetie said. “And get that camera out of my face! I’ve got a job to do!”
Scootaloo jumped in front of Sweetie with a microphone on her hoof and asked, “What do you have to say about the apocalypse that’s gonna happen on Thursday? Is there any chance for survival for ponykind?”
“Cut it out!” Sweetie yelled, and shoved the microphone away from her. She grabbed a stack of folded paper from her desk and headed out the door in a huff, with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo right on her tail.
“Whatcha got on your hooves there?” Apple Bloom asked while having the having the camera focused on the stack of papers. Sweetie Belle hid them as best as she could under her arm, and gave a nasty look at Apple Bloom. “Is it about the solar eclipse that’s supposed to end the world?”
“Why do you care?”
“It’s for the ratings.”
Sweetie tried to get away from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo by quickening her pace, but no matter what she did they were always one step ahead of her. She momentarily lost her motor skills when she approached the knob to the front door. Sweetie Belle frantically tried to twist it when the two fillies cornered her with their camera. “Where are you going in such a hurry?” Scootaloo asked, “We still got some questions to ask you.”
“Will you leave me alone?” Sweetie screamed. She jumped out of the house and into the street, and became a dot on the horizon, leaving a cloud of dust behind her. Rarity emerged from the other room where she had witness the ordeal. “Girls, I don’t think this is working,” she said. “I think it would be best if we let this sort out on its own.”
“No way Rarity,” Apple Bloom said, “we’re gonna keep bugging her until she comes to her senses, even if it takes us until the end of time… no pun intended.”
“But Sweetie Belle can get overly sensitive about these things,” Rarity warned. “What would happen if she has a nervous breakdown? Oh I’m so worried.”
“Don’t worry about it Rarity,” Scootaloo replied, “we don’t do anything too drastic or cruel. We’re not Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.” Rarity put some thought on what Scootaloo had said. She knew they would never do anything malicious to her little sister, but Rarity feared that they might go a little too far in this effort to help Sweetie Belle. She was unsure of whether she made the right decision to allow Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to do this.
“All I ask is that you do this as an act of compassion, not of cruelty. Do you understand,” Rarity asked.
“We promise,” the two fillies said. They geared up their camera and microphone and dashed out the door to catch up with Sweetie Belle. Rarity stayed behind, feeling that somehow, and someway, the situation is going to get worse.
Sweetie stood next to a stop sign by the intersection, giving pamphlets to random passersby that had information about the apocalypse on Thursday. As each pedestrian were given the pamphlet an unsettling feeling of confusion and anxiety was filling the air.
“Wait a minute,” a pony said, “the world is going to end on Thursday?”
“Yes it is,” Sweetie Belle answered. “It’s going to happen during the solar eclipse.” The pony scratched his head in a quizzical manner, then said, “I don’t think that normally happens during an eclipse.”
“I can prove it!” Sweetie shouted, “I had this vision in my sleep where I was on a hill, and the moon came closer and closer, and them boom! The moon hit the earth!”
“What is that girl talking about?” a mare asked. A crowd of ponies gathered around Sweetie as she was making her observations about the doomsday eclipse. Many were just as confused as the stallion she was talking to. “Little girl, I don’t think you know much about astronomy,” another pony said. “I think you were just imagining things.”
“But the world is really going to end on Thursday! I know it’s true!”
Sweetie was about to stand on her soapbox and preach the message of doomsday, until two familiar fillies shoved their way through the growing crowd. Apple Bloom held her video camera over her face and Scootaloo carried her microphone. “Oh great, we didn’t miss anything,” Apple Bloom said.
“I think Sweetie is about to say something very important,” Scootaloo gleefully commented.
“Not you two!” Sweetie step down from her soapbox and ran off as fast as she could, leaving the crowd in a state of bewilderment. “Wait, tell us about the impending doom!” Scootaloo shouted, but Sweetie pretended that she could not hear them, and ran until she became a speck in the distance. “Wow, I never knew Sweetie was a fast runner.”
Meanwhile, at the Pseudohistory Network, the big network executives sat on each side of their long table and discussed possibilities of future programming and the latest trends that is currently popular among television viewers.
“Alright, on to business,” Big Wig said. He was a short, stout, and tan pony with a short white mane. “How are we doing with Snow Plowers?”
“It’s leading the ratings by 9.0%” Number Cruncher said, “With more than 60% of the population tuning in every Sunday night?”
“Good. How about the leads on our continuous Thrift Store Pirates marathons?”
“Still going strong as we speak,” Sunny Jay replied, “It’s our second highest rated show on the network.”
“Excellent. How are plans for the weekend looking?”
A nicely dressed stallion named Belfort gave Big Wig a villainous smile, and with a smirk he said, “Everything is going as planned. From Friday morning to Sunday evening, we will be running a weekend long marathon of any program that has something to do with the end of the world, the majority will be that of Doomsday Ponies. There is no doubt that End-Times Weekend will be our highest achievement.”
“Good work Belfort,” Big Wig said. “I like the way we run things here. Now, let’s take a moment to laugh in a sinister manner.” Follow his lead, all the executives in the room laughed devilishly, proud of what their network had become. All except for one. “Velvet Cake, what is the meaning of this? Why aren’t you laughing fiendishly like the rest of us?” Big Wig asked.
Velvet Cake, a young mare with glasses and a mane of velvet red, looked down at her notes in shame. However, as more time passed, Velvet knew she had to say something. She raised her head to look at Big Wig and the other executives. “I don’t like what we’re doing,” she said.
“What?”
“I don’t like what this network has become.”
“What in blazes are you talking about?”
“What do you mean?” Velvet asked accusingly. “Look at what you’re doing here! Snow Plowers, Thrift Store Pirates, The End of the World! What connection do they have with history? A long time ago, the Pseudohistory Network used to be called The History Network! We used to air educational and informational programming! We used to air shows about ancient empires, all the wars Equestria have fought, movements and revolutions that forever changed our society, and now we are reduced to producing shows about ponies plowing snow, paranoid ponies who believe civilization will collapse at any moment, and slackers with nothing better to do than to dress like pirates and harass thrift store shoppers! I’m even ashamed that we’re having events like End of the World Weekend! Who cares about the end of the world? We’ll all be dead when all that stuff happens! Look, some of our shows might be at their peak now, but for years we have been losing viewers because of stuff like this! We have to get back to our roots as an educational channel! We have to make changes so ponies can take this network seriously! History, and I mean real history, is one the most important subjects in the world, and we have an obligation to support enlightenment over ignorance!”
Big Wig, as well as his crew of executives, had their lower jaws dropped until they touched the ground. To Velvet it felt as though the entire planet ceased to rotate for that one moment to speak her mind. The feeling was as powerful as it was eerie. Big Wig picked up his jaw and came back to his senses. He gave Velvet a stern look, and said, “Well, I appreciate that you wanted to say your piece about the state of our network. However, it is with a very heavy heart that I must fire you for doing so. Well… goodbye.” Big Wig pressed a red button on his desk, and rocket exhaust appeared on Velvet’s chair. The chair launched her from the executive room until it broke through the glass ceiling, into parts unknown.
“Such a shame… she had a delicious mane, too.”
Another pony entered the room, who was younger than the executives and much slimmer. He held a clipboard with his magic, and announced to the occupants, “You guys aren’t going to believe this, but I found a story about a filly going around town preparing for the end of the world!”
“You have? Where?” Big Wig asked.
“Ponyville! This filly’s name is a… Sweetie Belle, I think, but she’s nuts! She thinks the world is going to end on the day of the solar eclipse!”
“That’s brilliant! She could be part of End of the World Weekend! Everypony, get a camera crew and march down to Ponyville this instant!”
Sweetie navigated herself through the aisles of the grocery store. On her shopping cart was a mountain of canned food such as beans and vegetables. She held a list with her other hoof, to review the items that she would need for the end of all things.
“Grocery shopping I see,” Scootaloo said. Sweetie groaned and acted like she did not noticed them, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo would not back down. “I see a lot of canned food in your cart. Planning on eating them anytime soon?” Sweetie huffed and walked at a faster pace, but the two fillies were right behind her.
“Aren’t you going to answer our questions?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Leave me alone!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m busy here!”
“But you still have to answer our questions,” Scootaloo said. She held the microphone close to Sweetie’s mouth but she was quick to push it away.
“No I don’t!” she yelled. “You’re just going to ask stupid questions anyway!”
“I think we have some legitimate concerns,” Apple Bloom said. “Like what are ya gonna do once the apocalypse wipes all of ponykind out.” Sweetie grew frustrated every second, and turned to another direction, already feeling that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were going to follow her no matter what. Once she turned the corner to another aisle, she saw another camera in front of her face.
“Is everything set?” Belfort asked.
“Yep, the filly came just in time,” the camerapony said.
“Good. Look at her, with her cart full of canned food. I tell you this stuff is just pure gold!” Sweetie wanted to run away, but she was unable to move. Belfort was trying to get the camera close to Sweetie’s face, until her two friends intervene.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Scootaloo asked. “This is our turf! Go find your own!”
“Sorry kid, but my assistant and I are part of a big major television network, and we cannot and will not yield to the likes of you,” Belfort said.
“Oh really?” Apple Bloom said in an ironic manner. “Which big network are ya from?”
“The Pseudohistory Network. Maybe you’ve heard of us.”
“Yeah, we heard of you,” Scootaloo said. “You have shows that have nothing to do with history, and when you do it’s not actual history.”
“That is a fact that we are proud of.” While the fillies were arguing with the television executive, Sweetie Belle seized the opportunity to crawl away from the situation before any of them noticed that she was gone.
“Wait, where did that little filly go?” Belfort asked.
“Ya probably scared her off with all your viewership, ratings, and stockholders mumbo-jumbo,” Apple Bloom said.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her! This is going to be the Pseudohistory Network’s biggest event as of yet! Come on camerapony, we have a job to do!”
“... I have a name,” Lens Flare said.
“I’m sure you do.”
It was only a day before the dreaded solar eclipse, and now Sweetie Belle had two problems she had to deal with - Apple Bloom and Scootaloo mocking her hysteria while the network executive took advantage of it. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to run for her, unless she locked herself forever in her room, but even then they will find ways of intruding her privacy.
Not only did Belfort did everything in his power to make sure he and Lens Flare captured every single awkward moment of Sweetie Belle with their expensive camera, they also created merchandise to be sold at the solar eclipse, almost of them were selling like hotcakes. T-shirts, mugs, and other accessories with Sweetie’s face appeared in every store display. In fact, Big Wig was so impressed at the progress Belfort was showing that he decided that the Pseudohistory Network should host a live “End of Civilization” event during the solar eclipse, in which Sweetie Belle would be the star.
However, things were not looking well in the Belle household. When Rarity was working in Carousel Boutiquette, she was startled by a commotion at the front door. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo once again argued with Belfort and his camerapony over who gets to have time with Sweetie Belle. Rarity managed to drive Belfort and Lens Flare out of her shop in order to give Sweetie a chance to run inside her room.
“What on earth is going on here?” Rarity screamed. “Well?”
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were hesitant to answer her. They could see the anger unfurl in her eyes. Not wanting to waste another moment testing the fashionista’s patience, Apple Bloom stepped forward and answered, “You know how we were going to record Sweetie Belle so she can get out of her end of the world phase?”
“Yes.”
“Well… somehow… a major TV network is in town who want a piece of the action.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Some pony from the Pseudohistory Network is giving us a hard time,” Scootaloo added. “He wants to use Sweetie Belle for their end of the world thing they’re doing.”
“Why? She’s only a child!”
“Heck if I know…”
Rarity, her head steaming, marched to the top floor of her shop into Sweetie’s room. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo wanted to follow, but Apple Bloom paused when she was on the first step. She gazed at Scootaloo, and said, “You think we done the right thing?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s probably our fault those TV guys are making a circus out of Sweetie Belle. She was right, we’re supposed to look out for each other, and look what we caused.”
“Apple Bloom, we only did this to help her,” Scootaloo said. “Those TV ponies are only doing this for themselves.”
“Still… I wish we could’ve found a better way…”
“Sweetie Belle, are you in there?” Rarity asked. She knocked on the door several times before she received “I’m not here!” as an answer. “Sweetie, I know you’re in there! This entire situation has gone far enough! Can you please let me in so I speak with you?” There was silence between the sisters as Rarity patiently waited for the door to open. The bedroom door was opened steadily by Sweetie, whose mane was in a complete mess. In fact, Sweetie did not look well at all. She had bags under her eyes, and her room looked like a tornado had broke through. There was such an unpleasant odor that Rarity had to put a laundry pin on her snout. “Oh my, how dreadful. Oh my goodness, Sweetie Belle what is the meaning of all this?”
“I… I don’t know anymore,” Sweetie said. “This whole solar eclipse thing is bumming me out… and I just want… I just want to…” Sweetie fell face down on the floor and broke into a loud sob. As tears rolled from her eyes, Rarity saw Belfort and Lens Flare behind a window. She used to magic to close the curtain, then she knelt down to comfort her broken sister.
“Sweetie… Sweetie, look at me,” she said. Rarity wiped the tears from Sweetie with a nearby box of tissues. With a soft voice she asked, “Why is all of this happening? I have absolutely no memory of this kind of behavior from you.”
“... I had a dream that you and I were sitting on a hill, and the moon hit the earth,” Sweetie answered as she wiped the remaining mucus with her tissue. “I thought it was vision, and when Miss Cheerilee told about the eclipse on Thursday I got scared.”
“Sweetie that was just a silly dream, not a vision. I’ve seen plenty of solar eclipse in my days and I can assure you nothing terrible happens, and I am certain nothing terrible will happen on this one.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Trust me, I know.”
As Rarity wiped Sweetie’s face clean of tears and snot, she levitated a hairbrush and comb and fixed her mane until it returned to its regular shape. “Sweetie Belle, it hurts me so much when you act like this,” she said. “I know there are things about life and the universe that remain unknown to us, but I never want to see you live in constant fear. You are one of the bravest fillies I have a ever seen, and I am proud to call you my sister.” Rarity pulled her sister in for a hug, and in that moment all of the fears, troubles, and anxieties have vanished. Sweetie felt whole again, and so did Rarity.
“This stuff is gold!” a male voice said. To their surprise, Belfort and Lens Flare found a way into Sweetie’s room. “The audience just eat stuff like this up! This is going the Pseudohistory Network’s highest rated event we ever had!”
“Oh will you two just leave!” Rarity shouted. “How dare you take advantage of a little filly? And for what, just so ponies can watch your idiotic TV channel? You should be ashamed of yourselves!”
“Lady, we’re in the reality TV business. Taking advantage of other ponies’ misery for ratings is what we do, and we do it indiscriminately,” Belfort said. “Lens Flare, get a wide angle shot of those two hugging.”
Her face growing red with rage, Rarity’s magic captured Belfort and Lens Flare, and she cast them out of Sweetie’s room and out of the Carousel Boutiquette. They picked themselves off of the mud and found that Rarity had locked the doors, not before Apple Bloom and Scootaloo blew raspberries at them.
“Serves them right,” Apple Bloom said. She and Scootaloo began to laugh until Sweetie Belle emerged downstairs with a look of distraught. Without saying a word, the three fillies darted their eyes back and forth awkwardly. “Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said. “I’m sorry we caused ya so much trouble. Looking back now, I wish we took things more seriously with you.”
“And I’m sorry too,” Scootaloo said. “I feel so awful about all this. Can you ever forgive us?”
“... I forgive you,” Sweetie said. “And I’m sorry for letting my fear almost ruin our friendship. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
“Maybe it’s because of you watching all of those horror films for three weeks,” Rarity said. “I’ve told you those movies will give you nightmares, Sweetie Belle.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Sweetie chuckled.
“Crusaders, let’s vow to always take each other’s problems seriously, no matter how silly it may sound,” Apple Bloom announced.
“And let’s make sure Sweetie Belle doesn’t watch too many scary movies,” Scootaloo added. The Crusaders laughed and giggled, and hoof bumped each other. Rarity looked on with an approving smile, happy that this situation was behind them now. All was well.
The day of the solar eclipse had come. Miss Cheerilee decided that the class was going to spend the remainder of the day outside so they can view and talk about it. Everypony brought with them blankets and sunglasses, also snacks to eat for the occasion. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle sat together on a blanket, as neither of them could hold the excitement for what is about to come.
“I can’t believe it, this is going to out first solar eclipse,” Scootaloo said. “This is going to be awesome!”
“I can’t wait!” Sweetie Belle said.
“The sky is going to get pretty dark soon,” Apple Bloom said. “Ya sure you can handle it?”
“I’m sure,” said Sweetie.
As the bright blue sky grew darker and darker, Miss Cheerilee told the children to put on their sunglasses led them into a countdown. As the numbers decreased, the sun was being blocked by a dark shadow. When the moon finally crossed paths with the earth, the children cried in a joyful noise. The sky was dark blue and sun was no longer visible, save for the halo around the moon. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle said nothing, but watched with wonder and awe for a few moments when noon became evening.