The Sky is Falling!

by Matthew Penn

You May Panic Now

The students were let out for recess by Miss Cheerilee, and they could not have been any happier. The colts and fillies forgot about what they have learned and enjoyed the twenty minutes they had under the bright afternoon sun, playing games and enjoying each other’s company.

All except for Sweetie Belle.

She stood in the center of the schoolyard, her mind dwelling on what was about to come next week - a solar eclipse that will be visible throughout Equestria. What was she supposed to do? How can she ever hope to save her friends and family? More importantly, how will she going to find a way to survive? Immersed in her thoughts, she did not noticed that a white, spherical object was flying to her head.

“Watch out!” somepony yelled. Finally brought back to reality, Sweetie screamed and ran for cover. Fortunately, the soccer ball missed her head by an inch. As Scootaloo went to retrieve the ball, she found Sweetie cowering like a shell-shocked soldier in a battlefield. “Sweetie Belle, I don’t think that’s how you play soccer,” she said.

“But it was coming right at me!” Sweetie shrieked.

“I know… that’s why you’re the goalie.”

“Well… maybe I don’t want to play anymore!” Sweetie stood up and ran elsewhere. Scootaloo glanced back at Apple Bloom, who was just as confused as she was. The two friends decided to cut their soccer game short to check on Sweetie Belle. They found her sitting underneath a tree, in the shaded part away from the sun.

“Sweetie Belle, what the heck is wrong with you?” Scootaloo asked.

“Nothing. I just want to be alone.”

“Is it because you’re not good at soccer?” asked Scootaloo again. “It’s okay, nopony is good at everything.”

“It’s not that!”

“Then what is it?” Apple Bloom asked. “We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what’s wrong.”

“I don’t want to tell you,” said Sweetie, “you’re just going to laugh at me!”

“No we’re not, honest! Sweetie Belle, we are your friends! You can tell us anything,” Apple Bloom said.Sweetie said nothing, and had her back turned to them the entire time, arms crossed on her chest. “Sweetie Belle, please talk to us.” She was not sure if she really wanted to talk to Apple Bloom about her true feelings, but Sweetie could not recall anytime her friends had made fun of her for her fear. She sighed quietly and turned to face her two best friends.

“... I’m scared about the solar eclipse that’s suppose to happen,” Sweetie said.

“You are? Why?” asked Scootaloo.

“Because… I think something really bad is going to happen.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other, then back at Sweetie.

“You can’t be serious,” Apple Bloom said.

“What do you mean?”

“Sweetie, Miss Cheerilee said that a solar eclipse is a normal astronomical event,” Scootaloo explained. “It happens all the time, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“But… but I had this dream yesterday about something crashing into the earth,” Sweetie said with fear in her eyes. “It was horrible, and I think it’s going to come true!” She stood on her legs and proclaimed with a loud voice, “The world will end next Thursday!”

Apple Bloom facehoofed herself and marched toward Sweetie. She put her yellow hooves on her shoulders, and replied, “Sweetie, this is what happens when ya watch too much of those disaster movies! You start seeing things and having nightmares!”

Sweetie swiped Apple Bloom’s arms off of her. “Listen to me, we have to warn everypony about this! We have to make shelters, gather all the animals, and store lots of food! We have to survive this!”

“Sweetie Belle, get a hold of yourself!” Apple Bloom said. “You’re in way over your head about all this, and I’m worried.”

“Please guys, help me!” Sweetie pleaded. Apple Bloom backed away and join Scootaloo at her side.

“I don’t think we can,” Apple Bloom said. Sweetie’s heart felt like it was split in two. She slumped on the ground with her head lowered. She picked her head up, and stood firm on her legs, with fire in her eyes.

“I thought we were the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” she said. “I thought we agreed to help each other out during the bad times! I thought we had each other’s back! Sad to see I was completely wrong!”

“Sweetie, what are you talking about?” Apple Bloom asked.

“You all think I’m just stupid, do you?” Sweetie asked accusingly. “You guys are just waiting for the right moment to laugh at me! Well guess what? I’m going to have the last laugh when the world ends!”

“Nopony’s laughing at you!” Scootaloo said. “We just want to help!”

“Too bad! Good riddance to the both of you! I’m going home! See you when the world ends!” Sweetie shoved Apple Bloom and Scootaloo out of her way and marched to an unknown location, leaving Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shocked and stunned.

“... But school’s not even out yet,” Scootaloo said.

Class was back in session and Miss Cheerilee resumed her thoughtful lecture of the wonders of the universe. Most of the students were paying attention, especially Scootaloo, whose fascination with the cosmos intensified. She wrote down every word Cheerilee said into her notebook, which was decorated with stickers of planets, galaxies, and constellations.

However, Sweetie Belle was doodling on a piece of paper. While Cheerilee lectured, the little unicorn drew crude pictures of the upcoming solar eclipse. She drew the moon crossing paths with earth’s orbit, followed by a comic sequence of the moon colliding with the earth. At the bottom of the paper, she wrote in capital letters “THE END?”

The end is near, she thought to herself. If my friends can’t see it, I’m sure what else I can do...

“Next, we’re going to talk about earth’s orbit,” Cheerilee announced. “Does anypony know how it long it takes for the earth to make a complete a revolution around the sun?” Everypony was hesitant to answer her question, or just did not care, until Scootaloo slowly raised her arm.

“A year?”

“Very good! It takes the earth only a year to revolve around the sun,” Cheerilee said. Scootaloo sat back with a smile on her face, finally having fun learning a subject she actually enjoyed.

As the lecture continued, Sweetie continued to draw. She drew herself in an underground shelter with her favorite things - animals, toys, and her sister - while the surface world was obliterated by the moon. She even created plans of survival for herself and Rarity, and left her two friends out of the equation. Sweetie hoped that before Thursday they will come to their senses, but is unlikely that would happen.

The last hour of class came to an end, and Miss Cheerilee released her students for the day. Sweetie Belle climbed out of her seat with and joined the others with an emotionless face. Once she was outside, Sweetie gazed at the ponies enjoying the remainder of the afternoon. She wanted to stand in the middle of the street and warn everypony of the approaching doomsday.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle, can we talk for a minute,” Apple Bloom said. Sweetie glared at her two friends, which made them uneasy. “We just wanna talk with ya about this whole end of the world thing.”

“Are you going to tell me that I’m crazy?” Sweetie asked accusingly.

“No, I just don’t want this to ruin our friendship, that’s all.”

“Why do you even care? You probably think I’m some lunatic! ”

“I don’t think that,” Apple Bloom said. “What I’m actually saying is that I’m just worried about you. You’ve been thinking that the sky is falling for several days now, and it’s giving me the creeps.”

“So you do think I’m crazy!”

“What?”

“Sweetie Belle, can’t you listen to us for one second?” Scootaloo asked.

“I’ll show all of you that I am right! I’ll show everypony that the moon is going to crash into the earth and kill all life! Then we’ll see who has the last laugh!” Sweetie ran away from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Both ponies were taken aback by what she had said. Scootaloo scratch her head and said, “I hope she doesn’t hurt herself.”

“We got to show her that the world ain’t gonna end,” Apple Bloom said, “and it’s all just in her imagination.”

“But how?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo followed Sweetie home undetected, hoping to find out and maybe resolve their friend’s fear of a cosmic-related disaster.

Sweetie Belle marched inside Carousel Boutique unannounced, surprising Rarity while she was filling an order she received earlier today, as well as catching up with her work. “Sweetie, back so soon?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m back,” Sweetie said in a grumpy tone. She dropped her backpack on the floor and marched upstairs, and not once had she made eye contact with Rarity.

“Is everything alright, darling? Is there anything I can do?” Rarity asked.

“I’m fine,” Sweetie yelled from upstairs. The last thing Rarity heard was the door being slammed shut. Rarity exhaled softly and carried on with her work. Afterward, there was some knocks at the door. Rarity was momentarily called from her work to answer the door.

“Hi Rarity,” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo said.

“Oh. What are you two doing here?” Rarity asked.

“We’re here to see Sweetie Belle, is she home?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sweetie Belle’s in her room right now, but I don’t think she…” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo let themselves in before Rarity could finish what she had to say. They ascended to the top floor and scanned the halls for Sweetie Belle’s room.

Once they found the Sweetie’s room, Apple Bloom knocked on the door gently. “Sweetie, are ya in there?” she asked.

“What do you want?” Sweetie asked from behind the door.

“We thought about what ya said, and we think yer right, and we want to know if there’s anything we can do to help.”

“We do?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom kicked her leg.

Feeling suspicious, Sweetie opened the door a few inches to see a smiling Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in front of her.

“Really?” Sweetie asked.

“Oh yeah, we realized now that a solar eclipse will absolutely destroy the earth and such,” Apple Bloom answered. “and we figured that you had some plan for survival.”

Sweetie Belle cocked an eyebrow at Apple Bloom, who held on to her smile. Meanwhile, Scootaloo shift her eyes from Apple Bloom to Sweetie Belle, anticipating what will happen next. Sweetie let the door open wide, still glaring at Apple Bloom with suspicious eyes. “So… what do ya say?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Do you think I’m dumb,” Sweetie asked.

“What? No, of course not.”

“I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work! You’re trying to steal my plans for survival for when the moon crashes into the earth!”

“No, I… wait, what?”

“Well, you’re not going to get them! From now on, it’s everypony for herself! Goodbye!’ With that, she slammed the door on them. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stood in front of the door for a few minutes before they traveled downstairs.

“So much for that,” Scootaloo said.

Rarity was at her desk when Scootaloo and Apple Bloom headed for the front door. Much to her surprise, their visit lasted much shorter than she had expected. “Girls, where are you going?” she asked.

“We’re going home, bye Rarity,” Apple Bloom said.

“Did anything happen?”

“No, nothing at all.”

“Except that Sweetie Belle has gone nuts,” Scootaloo mumbled. She received another kick to the leg from Apple Bloom. “Ow! What did I say?”

“We wish we could stay, but we gotta get going. See ya, Rarity,” Apple Bloom said. She shoved Scootaloo and herself out the door. However, magic enveloped them and brought them back in front of Rarity, who did not look amused.

“I know something must have happened,” she said. “Sweetie has been acting weird these past few days. Does it have anything to do with you?”

The fillies were hesitant to answer her question, but they knew they were not going anywhere if Rarity wanted something from them. Apple Bloom sighed and began to speak. “Well… Sweetie’s been thinking that the world is about to come to an end when the solar eclipse happens on Thursday. We tried to help her, but she kicked us out of her room.”

“We didn’t even go into her to begin with,” Scootaloo added.

“Do I need to kick ya again?”

“My word! So that is what this is about? I’ve told her those scary movies will give her nightmares,” Rarity said.

“Not only that, our class watched a movie about outer space,” Scootaloo said. “But it was for educational purposes… which reminds me, I gotta make that diorama about the formation of the solar system.”

“...Diamond Tiara was right, you are a nerd,” Apple Bloom commented.

“We prefer to be called Eggheads.”

“That’s even worse.”

“It doesn’t matter! Why, I’m going to have a talk with Sweetie Belle this instant,” Rarity said. She released the fillies from her magic and marched upstairs straight to Sweetie’s bedroom door.

“Should we watch?” Scootaloo asked.

“No we can’t watch! It will be awkward! I rather we just leave now.”

Sweetie Belle was at her desk, with the blinds closed, her room completely shrouded in darkness. She drew step-by-step instructions for herself for what to do when the apocalypse had passed. She figured she would have to store enough food and water to last her until goodness knows how long how many years. She was interrupted from her work when she heard loud knocks on her door.

“Sweetie, may I talk with you for a moment?” Rarity asked. “It’s very important.” Sweetie climbed out of her chair and opened the door. “Sweetie Belle, what is going on with you? You’ve been acting strange lately.”

“... I’m planning,” she replied.

“Planning? Planning for what?”

“... For the solar eclipse on Thursday.”

“Oh yes, I have heard about that. It’s supposed to be really beautiful. The reason why I’m here is because your friends told me that… you believe the world is going to end. That’s not true, is it?”

“The moon is going to crash into the earth and there is nothing we can do about it,” Sweetie said. “The only thing we can do is survive, and hope for the best.”

Rarity let what Sweetie said register in her mind. Then she laughed, and said, “That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. For a minute I thought you were serious.”

“It is true! I had a vision about the whole thing! You and me were sitting on a hill, and the moon was moving toward us!” Sweetie said. “It’s going to happen!”

Rarity stopped laughing when she looked at Sweetie’s worried face, and she put her hoof on her chin. “I’m might not know a lot about astronomy, but I do know for a fact that it’s impossible for the moon to do that. If you’re this worried, why won’t write a letter to Princess Luna?”

“That’s the thing! She’s not going to listen to me! She’s planning to kill her sister and destroy the earth!”

Rarity returned downstairs with a blank expression on her face. She noticed that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were still here, but she returned to her desk and continued with her work. The fillies slowly approached the silent mare.

“So how did it go?” Apple Bloom asked.

“You girls are right, she is crazy,” Rarity said.

“See? Told you,” Scootaloo said. She was ready to protect herself from Apple Bloom’s physical attack, but none came. She relaxed her body.

“What did you do?” asked Apple Bloom.

“I couldn’t do anything! She really believes the world is going to end, and nothing I can say will convince her otherwise!”

“I wish there was a way to show her how crazy she is,” Apple Bloom said.

“Yeah, it kind of reminds of that show on the Pseudo History Network, Doomsday Ponies,” Scootaloo said.

“The what?”

“It’s this show that has ponies preparing for the end of the world. The build shelters, store weapons, foods, and other stuff. It’s funny and sad at the same time, but mostly stupid. But hey, reality TV.”

“That’s it! We can get a camera and record everything Sweetie Belle does, show it to her, and then she’ll realized how crazy she’s been acting,” Apple Bloom said. “It’s pure genius!”

“I will not allow you to bully my little sister that way,” Rarity scolded. “Shame on you two! The nerve that you could do such a thing to a little filly!”

“Rarity, it’s either this or watching Sweetie carry a sign around that says THE END IS NEAR! REPENT! for the rest of her life,” Apple Bloom said.

“... You have permission to record my sister.”

Comments

[Sea_Swirl]

lol love it cant wait for the next chapter

[Asdera3485]

Why do I get the feeling that Sweetie will end up looking like Twilight did when she did the want it need it spell

[OmniFox]

Sweetie's gone full Twilght!