Launch Detected

No. No. No! This can't be! It's OK. It's just a drill, right? Right? No. There's too many missiles for it to be a drill. This is the real thing. All of Sweetiebelle's nightmares played in a rapid succession. Her worst fears, spilled out right in front of her like orange juice when the glass shattered on the floor. Except that glass was about to be the planet.

   "M-Miss Cheerilee? T-this is a drill... Right?" She knew the answer already. It was a big fat "no". Cheerliee didn't answer her. "This is a drill, right?" This time, Cheerilee answered her.

   "S-Sweetiebelle..." She somehow said, fear choking her like a rope around her neck. "G-go down to the shelter. On the side of the schoolhouse. Remember when you were in the Foal Free Press and were making copies of the newspaper? You were in that room underground. We will use that as a bunker."

   "B-bunker? Under the school? No! I need my sister!" Sweetiebelle began to run off. She wanted to be with her sister.

   "No! You won't make it to your home! It's too far away! We only have a few minutes before the missiles arrive!" Cheerilee dashed to Sweetiebelle and took her tail in her mouth. It took some doing, but she was able to stop her from getting away. She pulled Sweetiebelle to the shelter and led her inside. "Sweetiebelle. This is the only way to survive. It's too late to go home. The missiles could come at any moment. You know they will. Remember the M.A.D. principle? Well... It's real now..." She told her, sadness clear in her voice. Sweetiebelle stopped struggling.

   "OK," Sweetiebelle surrendered. Cheerilee returned to her other students on the surface, still watching the now heavily clouded sky. It began to rain with occasional cracks of lightning. The missiles have gone over the clouds now and the smoke trails were connecting the clouds to the ground.

   "OK, students. We need to get down into the shelter right now..." She began crying again, as the fillies and colts slowly made their way into the bunker. They were terrified, but could only walk slow. They were too scared to run. Once everypony was down in the shelter, Cheerilee closed the bunker doors and lit a few lanterns and hung them on the ceiling across the room. That gave them light.

   "OK, everypony. We need to turn on the radio now so we know what's going on. It's obvious that there are..." She gulped and got choked up again. She sat down on a nearby crate and began bawling her eyes out. This was not going to be easy. Everypony needed to pitch in if they wanted to survive. Soon, a few other fillies and colts began crying. Sweetiebelle was one of them, but she found a radio and activated it. There was only static as of yet. "Thank you, Sweetiebelle." Cheerilee sniveled. Nopony had ever seen Cheerilee cry before. Soon, a signal was found.

"I-is this thing on? Hello? Hello, everypony. This is Thunderlane, reporting from the capital city of Canterlot."

Thunderlane? You mean... Rumble's brother? Rumble made his way to the radio, clearly more scared than when he came into the shelter.

"So... As we all know... A few minutes ago, Equestrian Aerospace Defense Command got several thousand launch detections from within FGR's territory, as well as international waters. So we retaliated with greater force. We only have about a minute before the missile arrives in Canterlot..." Ponies everywhere in Canterlot were screaming in fear, along with the occasional gunshot or explosion caused by the Canterlot Peacekeeper Guards. "Everypony is destroying the streets here in Canterlot. Nothing is going to be the same again all over the pl-" The sirens began to blare in Canterlot, heard by everypony over the radio. "The sirens! They've all gone off. The missiles will hit in a few seconds..." He began breathing loudly, clearly scared that he was about to die. "...Rumble."

   Rumble's ears perked up and trotted closer to the radio.

   "Y-yes, brother?" It was like he was having a conversation with him. The last conversation he would ever have with his brother.

"I-I want you to survive. Do whatever it takes. Just survive. Stay in shelter..." He began crying. "...Be good, Rumble... I love you..."

   "I love you too, brother..." Rumble's tears began to come.

"Goodbye, Rumble."

   The radio then gave a loud, ear-piercing ring for a few seconds, and then, quiet static. Canterlot just got hit. Then, the blast wave came. Canterlot was about twenty kilometers away from Ponyville, so it took a few seconds for the shockwave travelling at the speed of sound to hit. The bunker of the schoolhouse began to shake violently, while objects stacked up were getting toppled over and then breaking. Fillies and colts were screaming and crying. After the shaking stopped, there were only two ponies left crying. Rumble, because his brother just died. Diamond Tiara was crying as well, but from an injury. The blast wave had knocked her into the printing press.

   "Oh my gosh! Diamond Tiara, are you OK?" Cheerilee asked, full of fear that Diamond Tiara impacted the printer with her head and didn't make it. Between gasps and loud sobs, Diamond Tiara answered.

   "No... Not... OK. I'm b-bleeding from my head." It was clear that she was seriously hurt.

   "Oh my gosh! Somepony get the first aid kit! Now!" Sweetiebelle was the one to bring it over because it landed on her. "Thank you, Sweetiebelle. Now if you will just give it to me..." Cheerilee saw Sweetiebelle working away at sewing the wound in Diamond Tiara's head back up. She wasn't screaming anymore, so she must have used the anesthetic correctly. Then, she bandaged it up, just like a real doctor would do. She apparently had a knack for medical work...

Maybe I'll get my Cute Mark for this... Sweetiebelle giggled to herself, but nothing came. Oh well. Not exactly the highest priority in this situation...

   "Wow... Thanks, Sweetiebelle. If it weren't for you..." Diamond Tiara was actually thanking Sweetiebelle for once.

   "Hey, It's really no problem. I don't want to see anypony dea-" She was thanked again with a hug from Diamond Tiara. A hug? From my "Greatest Enemy in the World?" Weird. She began blushing. She didn't know why. Maybe because she liked helping? Stop blushing, Sweetiebelle! Why are you blushing! Just stop! She couldn't stop blushing though. Radiation does some crazy things...