0-0-0-0-0

“Rise and shine, Sweetie Belle!”

The porcelain unicorn groaned as she rolled out of bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. And she had been having such a good dream, too. Something about yarn and caramel. She yawned heavily, eventually trudging downstairs to the friendly scent of her sister’s cooking filling the air. At least she had free breakfast to look forward to.

“Are you coming down for breakfast, or do you really want to be late for school again?”

“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying,” Sweetie Belle’s voice cracked as she dragged herself tiredly downstairs. She hated when her voice did that.

“Saddlebags?”

“Check.”

“Breakfast?” Rarity asked.

“Chwff,” Sweetie Belle said through a mouthful of toast.

“Hurry up, then!” Rarity tutted her out the door, shaking her head. She swore, sometimes the filly wouldn’t even get out of bed if she didn’t have to.

0-0-0-0-0

“Are you sure that’s how it works?”

“Positive,” Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically. “Supermare takes a face full of Kryptonite, and she’s down like that!”

“Nuh-uh!” Apple Bloom scowled as she walked alongside her, the chirping of birds filling the air as they continued their slow trek towards the schoolhouse. “Batmare didn’t have that problem!”

“Because Batmare isn’t Supermare. Duh.”

Sweetie Belle trudged between her friends, doing her best to block them out. Just how long could anypony carry on for that long, anyway? They must have been continuing their ‘argument’ for nearly the entire walk to the schoolhouse, and at the rate they were going, they weren’t likely to even make it on time.

Meaning more disappointment from Miss Cheerilee.

And extra homework.

And worst of all, loads of flak from Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara.

Sweetie Belle shuddered unnoticably between her friends.

She was fairly certain that the spoiled brat was an escapee from Tartarus.

Either that, or she was thrown out.

Sweetie Belle was relatively distracted by her latest epiphany when she saw an enormous meteor plunging through the atmosphere.

“... Well, that was unexpected.”

0-0-0-0-0

When confronting life head on, one occasionally finds oneself facing an ultimatum.

For example, the conundrum of whether or not to continue quietly on to yet another day of school, or investigate a meteor landing nearby.

It did not take long for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to each come to a similar conclusion, at around the same time.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle oohed and ahhed over the glistering stony sphere, careful to avoid the scorched earth near the borders of the Everfree Forest as they treaded nearer to it. The pony sized, dimly orange glowing rock was covered with craterous pockmarks, each one leaking light a little more brightly. They were basked with a warm glow as they curiously drew closer, eyes wide with wonder and interest.

“What do you think it is?” Sweetie Belle asked in a voice barely above a whisper, entranced by the hypnotic sheen of the object.

“I think it might be a fallin’ star,” Apple Bloom pondered aloud, trotting around to the opposite side of the meteor.

“Wouldn’t that be felled star?” Scootaloo corrected her, poking at the meteor as Apple Bloom slapped her hoof away.

“I don’t think we oughta be touching this,” she said carefully, eyeing the glowing meteor cautiously.

“What are you, chicken?” Sweetie Belle giggled. “Since when are you the new Scoots?”

“Hey!” Scootaloo scowled at the unicorn.

Apple Bloom frowned at them both, unsettled. “I mean it, girls. I don’t like th’ looks of this thing.”

“I think Apple Bloom might have a point,” Scootaloo said. “We should totally get some of the grown-ups to check this out; and when they do, we’ll be in the newspapers for sure!”

“Hey, yeah!” Sweetie Belle perked up. “Sweetie and friends find fallen star – that’ll make a great headline!”

“That’s about – hey, hang on jus’ a second,” the earth pony furrowed her brows, pushing her bow back a bit to keep her mane out of her eyes. “I was the first one here, shouldn’t it be ‘Apple Bloom and friends’?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Scootaloo threw up her hooves, completely oblivious to the fact that the meteor was steadily glowing brighter. “First off, I called dibs!”

“Nuh-uh!” Sweetie Belle contradicted her, a steadily growing ginger glow creeping behind her. “You didn’t say anything!”

“Yeah, huh!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Uh, girls?”

“Yeah, huh!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah, huh!”

“Girls?”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Hit the deck!” Apple Bloom shrieked as the meteor ripped down the center, shrapnel bursting forth in a magmatic eruption. No sooner had the words left her lips than the force of the explosion blasted the Cutie Mark Crusaders with an enormous shockwave, a golden fire spiraling upwards as the plume of molten flame engulfed them all.

0-0-0-0-0

“ –om. Apple Bloom?”

“Whuzzat?” Apple Bloom sat up with a start, rubbing her aching head. Her eyes flickered about the field near the Everfree Forest, desperately searching for her friends. It wasn’t until she actually turned her head that she saw them standing upside down, along with the rest of Equestria.

At least, until she righted herself, and Equestria turned right side up again.

“WE’RE ALIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!” Scootaloo screamed in joy, slapping her chest and legs as if to make sure that they were all still really there. She promptly began kissing the dirt in rapturous ecstasy. “I’m so glad to see you again, ground! I promise I’ll never leave you again!”

Scootaloo promptly began spitting out dirt, because it tasted… well, like dirt.

Sweetie Belle gave her friend an odd look, but turned back to Apple Bloom to help her stand properly. She did so slightly woozily, but was equally surprised to discover that they still had all of their limbs. Shockingly, they bore not a single scratch or scrape, no burn marks or soot; nothing at all to insinuate that the trio had recently experienced an enormous blast face-first.

“Anypony want to tell me what the hay just happened?” Sweetie Belle gawked, hardly able to believe the situation herself. They seemed to have been thrown quite a distance, and the meteor was nowhere to be seen.

“If’n I wore pants, I’d need to change ‘em, that’s what happened,” Apple Bloom stated in shock.

As it turned out, she was in for a lot more surprises that day.

Author's Note

So.
This is a thing now.
Huh.