Film Reel simply stood there, letting the works sink in, slowly processing what the mint pony standing in front of her had just said.

"W-what?" was the only thing she could eek out of her mouth.

Lyra's face was stern and solid, and her glaring yellow eyes burned with fear and passion. There was something about that expression that let Film Reel know that this was not just some ridiculous joke. This was real, and Lyra was 100 percent sure about this. She had never made that face before. Lyra was a lighthearted pony most of the time, who always loved to prank her family and friends. What was going on?

"I said, we're all doomed, Filmy. Bonny doesn't believe me. She just says, 'Ly Ly, you're insane. Stop conspiring like this.' She doesn't get it!"

"What are you talking about?!"

The unicorn only sighed, and suddenly her tight frown loosened and her fiery eyes dimmed. "I bet you don't believe me either. But I swear it. The world is ending, and we have to tell the Princess! We have to tell somepony."

"I didn't say I don't believe you." Film Reel whinnied, trying her best to remain calm. " I just want to know the motive behind your theory."

Hope sparked inside Lyra, and anypony could tell by her voice, which had turned promptly to a nervous stutter. "Y-you do?! Ok, Ok..." She began. "So, I first began to worry that something was wrong last week. The week that ponies started to go missing." She gestured to the crumpled mess of paper on the desk. On one thin, torn piece of newspaper, there was a concerning headline. "5 PONIES GONE THIS WEEK," It said, with the small subtitle stating that the police had found no signs of them since the disappearance. 5 glistening, full color photos stood out on the page; one, a black pony with a burnt salmon mane, the next, a tall stallion with dimples and freckles whom she recognized as Snails, the third, a blue pegasus with a dark blue mane, the fourth smudged and unrecognizable, and the fifth, a snazzy looking crystal pony with a pink mane reminiscent of Bon Bon's. Film Reel narrowed her eyes.

"The article states that they simply disappeared! No evidence, no DNA, no nothing! It was perplexing, but at first, I thought nothing of it." Lyra said. Her face was scrunched up in deep thought. "I kept looking into it, and apparently, the ponies were found to have fallen into these deep white pits, where they were just erased forever. Or it least that's my theory. One pony was even witnessed falling into one," She continued, swiping up another news article. "The rescue ponies dived in after the pony with a rope around their waists, but when they pulled it back up, The rope was snapped and there was nothing visible in the hole. Apparently these holes have been popping up everywhere outside of Canterlot and Ponyville. They're simply nothing! And they eat up whatever goes inside them. It's very peculiar, if you ask me.

"This is leading me to believe that the world is ending. My idea is that the holes will soon devour everypony and everything. We will be gone, erased from time and space, gone into oblivion, dead and forgotten..." Her banter slowly faded into troubled rambling. She began to sweat and clutched her head in her hooves. Film Reel dove forward to help her, touching her foreleg tentatively.

"Lyra! You're trembling! Relax!"

The unicorn was convulsing, curled up in a tight ball, resting her forehead on her thighs. "We're all going to die, and everything we cared about will be gone! And soon it will be too late! We have to tell someone, Film Reel." She said, choking on silent tears.

"I realize that you are worried, and I really truly believe you, but there is no need for you to freak out like this! We'll talk to the princess, she'll know, she will!"

Lyra was still sobbing quietly. "You don't understand. There is only one thing that this can mean! Our world is disappearing! Why? Because we aren't real! We're colorful dreams in the eyes of children! We're meaningless playthings designed by the very creatures that destroyed us! We are not alive! WE ARE FICTION!"

Crouching next to her friend, Film Reel looked up at the rambling mess of a pony before her. "Calm down," The ebony pegasus said soothingly, trying to keep herself from bursting out into an insane fit as well. "You're not making any sense anymore." She reached up to touch Lyra's tense shoulder, only to be swatted away viciously. The unicorns sobs slowed to a stop, then she slowly sat up, tears coating her face.

"I'm sorry," She sniffled. "I got ahead of myself. What I'm trying to say is that there's something wrong with this world of ours. I can tell it. It's just...a feeling. We always do what we are told. We have no choices; have you noticed that? Whatever Celestia says, we MUST do. We can do nothing else. This is because...because we aren't real. We live in a story book. And when the last page says, 'The end,' It's the end for us. Truly. There is no use for us any longer. We are gone."

A shiver raced down Film Reel's spine, making her wings tremble. "I understand...now..." Tears threatened to slip down her face as she thought of everypony she had ever cared about being lost forever. "So we're... in a story right now?"

"Yes." Lyra sighed, seemingly relaxed. "But... I don't know what to do."

"You were right. We need to tell Celestia. If she knows of this, she is not showing any concern for us."

Lyra looked up, that same ambitious look filling her eyes and brimming over the edges in the remnants of tears. "Pack your bags, we have to go to Canterlot. NOW."

Author's Note

That sure was a fast chapter.
And a short chapter.
Lyra's emotion: WELL THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.
IK i will need to edit this >.<