"How the hay do I know if this is on or not? Uh, Spike, get ov- wait, what does this light mean? Uh, guys, will somepony help me? Hey, Rarity, you're good with techy stuff- no, you're not? Well, any idea what this light means? Does anypony know how to work this thing?"
A young sounding male voice spoke from behind the filly. "Uh, Twilight, I think that light means it's on."
Twilight was visibly pleased by this. She smiled, then flipped the camera around and pointed it upside down at a baby dragon.
"Thanks Spike! I'm not very... oops," She moved the camera to its correct angle. "Not very good with cameras, heh."
Twilight, along with her camera, moved about the hallway, till she came to a door. Placing her hoof on it, the unicorn pushed open the door and looked into a large room, filled to the brim with ponies.
Some occupied themselves with conversation or dancing, while others seemed mesmerized by the enormous table full of food, filling plates with as many exotic items as possible.
A cyan hued Pegasus walked towards the Twilight.
"There you guys are! Geez, for a second I thought my best friends were gonna bail on the party! Where were you?"
A southern accent, out of the recording device's view, spoke up. "Sorry sugarcube, we was just pickin' up your gift, and traffic was slower than harvestin' a whole nest ah chickens."
'Sugarcube' laughed. "Uh, Applejack, that doesn't make any sense. Whatever, I'm just siked you guys are here! This farewell party is so awesome!"
"We certainly couldn't have let you go off without a goodbye, darling! It would be terribly rude!" A white unicorn stepped forward and gave Sugarcube a little nose to nose rub. "We'll miss you so much, Rainbow!"
"You guys are acting like I'll be gone forever! I'll still be able to visit weekly!"
The southern pony smiled. "But Rainbow, y'all be gone for days on end when yous goes on a tour! 'Course we're sad to see you go!"
Rainbow smirked. "As you would say Applejack, 'well shucks'. Anyway, get on inside. The sound is leaking out with the door open and all, and Vinyl's tenants won't like that.
Four friends of the Rainbow one stepped into the room, which turned to six as Twilight turned around, giving the camera sight of an obviously nervous yellow Pegasus, and a pink pony with the opposite demeanor. The camera was shoved down for a second as the purple unicorn removed her coat and hung it on a nearby pole.
"A bit chilly out there. Wow Pinkie Pie, your parties are always awesome, but this one tops them all. How did you convince Vinyl to let you use her place?"
Pinkie Pie bounced in front of the camera, her attention fixed on a DJ pony.
"Well, me and Vinyl like knew each other and stuff and I introduced her to Rainbow and they became good friends and stuff and we hung out sometimes so when Rainbow told us we decided we totally needed to have the awesomest party in all history of everything so we got to work and I simply EMPTIED by pockets and oh my god Twilight we spent weeks secretly planning and handing out invitations and stuff and it was so much work and-"
"OKAY! I get it Pinkie! Ha! Now, I should probably get around and socialize a bit."
Twilight shut off the camera, and walked on towards a group of guests.
Twilight walked over to a green unicorn, camera in hand, which was enjoying a snack with another pony. "Hey, Lyra, Bon-Bon! I'm doing some testimonials for Rainbow Dash, you guys wanna say something? Maybe good luck with the Wonderbolts?"
Lyra turned towards Twilight, annoyed that her meal was being interrupted. "Yeah, I guess."
The mare cleared her throat and looked right into the camera: "Hey Rainbow! Just a little good luck from me and Bon-Bon! I hope everything goes well with you and the Wonderbolts. We'll miss you in Ponyville; you were simply the BEST weather patrolwoman of all time."
Twilight walked away from the two, knowing they wanted their privacy. Fluttershy passed in front of the camera, and Twilight called for her.
"Oh, um, yes Twilight?" The mare turned around to face Twilight.
"I was wondering if you had a few words for Rainbow! You know, a goodbye?"
"Oh dear. Um, yes. Dash, we'll miss you as whole lot. I mean, you were so helpful with herding the animals and all. But, I don't mean to worry you! I'll do just fine. It's just, you are so great. Oh, what will we do without you? I mean, don't feel guilty or anything, that won't be good. It's just, I love you. As-as sisters, not that way."
Twilight gave a short laugh, and patted Fluttershy on the head. The Pegasus continued on her way, and Twilight Sparkle decided to find another interviewee.
She turned to center room, where a variety of flamboyantly colored ponies danced around. A cliché disco ball hung overhead, and the place was dimly lit by a half dozen red, green and blue lights. The famous (Or in some cases infamous, though that is another story) Vinyl Scratch stood atop a large stage, mixing beats from hip-hop artists. While one pony, Octavia, seemed upset with the music choice, the others appeared perfectly content.
Twilight did not want to interrupt of the dancers, as she herself earlier had found how fun it was, so instead she found a certain pink pony, having a conversation with the clutzy Derpy Hooves.
"Hey, uh, Pinkie. I don't mean to interrupt you, but-"
Before Twilight could finish her sentence, a low, loud grow shook the room. SO hard, in fact, Vinyl's records were stopped. Everypony stopped what they were doing, and aside from a few sirens and some outdoor screams, an eerie quiet filled the room.
The door from where Scootaloo and Sweetie were waiting for their friend Apple Bloom opened, and a shaken filly broke the silence.
"What was that?"
-
Naturally, the first thing these curious and shaken ponies did was crowd onto the balcony. Most ponies were only treated to the see the back of each other's heads, but everyone up front had were agape in shock. The Hooflyn Bridge, a landmark of Manehatten, was simply….gone. Maybe they could've expected some rubble sticking out of the ocean, a few supports breaking the surface, but instead it was simply empty, with absolutely no sign of it ever being there aside from the roads that abruptly ended on either side.
And so while the shocked partygoers were silent from disbelief, the scene below was one of absolute chaos. Terrified mares huddled in groups in a desperate attempt to know what happened, colts wandering aimlessly, and fillies against their parents, weeping in fear. Very few had actually seen what had happened, as the witnesses were destroyed with the bridge.
The colts and mares on the balcony sullenly stepped back into the room. They turned on the television in hopes of getting more information on the subject. Obviously, the first news channel they turned to, "Diamond Dog News" (one infamous for it's biased behavior), had dropped its recent stories about Hoofman Cain's reported sex abuse charges to be the one with the greatest knowledge of the situation at hand during the massive media scramble to report exactly what had happened.
Everypony, even the half-insane Pinkie Pie, were quiet went the newscolt John Trot took to air.
"According to our news team in south Manehatten, there have been unconfirmed reports that the Hooflyn Bridge has collapsed into the Flankson River. We would like to remind our viewers at home that these are, once again, unconfirmed reports and may be overbl-…..Uh huh……yes…..And you're sure?…..Alright. Folks, we have a Pegasus team live above the former site of the Hooflyn Bridge. We're switching to them now."
"Ah, thank you Jon. As you can tell, we're circling above the Flankson river right now. There appears to be mass panic and absolutely no law enforcement at the scene. We must wonder who thought to call the newsroom before calling the police? Many ponies, apparently.
Anyway, camera colt, mind moving the camera to the scene of the bridge collapse? Yeah, thanks. Alright, so as you can most obviously see, the entire bridge, supports and all, has collapsed straight into the water. Being a Saturday night, the bridge was most likely crowded with ponies crossing. But we are in no way qualified to estimate the casualties, so we'll leave that to when official investigators are able to contact us. And it appears here that the police brigade has just begun to arrive. Oh! There! In the water! It appears a small fishing vessel is picking up something. Zoom in, will you? Yes, there are some survivors! Maybe a half a dozen or so ponies are splashing around down there! Poor things probably have no idea how to swim.
Ah, so we'll keep you covered Jon. Back to y-"
A chorus of moans and complaints were hurled out when Apple Jack shut off the picture tube.
"Now listen 'ere 'errypony, rather than' sittin' round on our rumps and watchin' this like a bunch of no good lazy scarecrows, how 'bout we mosey on out and see if anypony needs our help?" AJ looked at the group with a disappointed expression, angry at their lack of compassion.
Rainbow Dash punched the air with both hooves. "Yeah! I agree with AJ here! Why are we sitting around like this when we can be out there showing our awesomeness? Moon, I'm a wonder bolt! I should've been out there the second I saw what happened! All of us should!"
Twilight sighed. She was not happy with the way this was going. "Well, I'm glad you're all ready to help and everything, but shouldn't we stay out of the way of the police and fire brigade? Y'know, the PROFFESSIONALS?"
The murmur of agreement amongst the room caused Rainbow Dash to sulk in embarrassment.
It only took a second for the full gravity of what was happening to sink in.
"Why, this must truly be awful! A city of this class surely has ponies driving around in the streets in their carriages! My, could you imagine how horrendous it would be to be trapped inside one of those wooden coffins, with every breath you take threatening to be your last? Or the poor ponies who pull those carriages! To be chained onto this sinking death trap, your body slowly floating to the bottom, struggling to free yourself of the metal claws of mortality? How tragic, how terrifying, how-" Rarity suddenly got a mouthful of hoof from the orange country pony.
"Enough, Rarity! We have enough trouble jumpin' around this room without y'all causin' an uproar! Jus' every pony calm down!"
Twilight Sparkle nodded at AJ. "Right. It's just a bridge collapse. Things like this aren't that rare. It's not like we are in any immediate danger."
Rarity's eyes turned towards the bookworm. "Just a bridge collapse? JUST a bridge collapse? Why, dear Twilight Sparkle, how could you be so uncompassionate? Poor fillies might have lost their parents, and you call this just a bridge collapse?"
An heated argument began in the room among everypony, not allowing each individual to speak their rounds. Instead, it was a mass jumble of insults and incorrect points, with logic and civility being thrown out the window like a foul colt's garbage.
Fluttershy nervously backed away from the rumble, right into a lamp, which toppled onto the floor with a crash.
The argument ceased at once, and everypony turned their heads towards the biggest disaster of all: a broken twelve bit lamp.
"Now look what you did, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash scowled at the shivering yellow mare while picking up the pieces of her friend's former lighting tool.
"I'm sorry…it's just…." Fluttershy squeaked and shyly turned away from the group.
Berry Punch put her waning, drunken hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Just what?"
She turned back to the mob. "I cannot stand it! This horrible, horrible things has happened, and we're just arguing? We're just going to sit here and yell at each other? We could go outside and see if someone needs help, like Apple Jack suggested! Or we could turn back on the TV and keep updated on the story! But no, you guys just have to fight! Like always! It's despicable! It's just so d-"
Fluttershy's meaningful speech was completely and utterly ruined by an extremely loud explosion. This time, though, rather than the Equestrians running to the balcony, the party poured into the hallway and down the long concrete steps. A mass horde of stumbling, half-drunken ponies streamed into the street, beyond curious but frantic to see what the jaw-dropping noise was coming from.
The sight was much more jaw dropping than the noise.
The Alicorn State Building was burning.
There was absolute discord in the street as hundreds of shaken onlookers stared at the building. From several locations, mostly from the back, smoke flowed freely into the dark night sky. Barely visible Pegasi were leaping from windows in the building, many carrying a companion or two to safety. Behind the skyscraper was invisible the all of the ponies, but it appeared that thousands were fleeing from the north side of the tower.
Terror was visible in everypony's face. The building could be heard buckling and groaning from where they were, only a half a dozen or so blocks* from the tower. Rainbow Dash uselessly flew in a circle, panicked, screaming "Oh my gosh oh my gosh,!" Rarity had fainted onto the ground, but the only pony who noticed was Fluttershy. Fluttershy, tears streaming down her face, managed to gather the strength and will to pick up Rarity and move her onto the sidewalk, where should would be out of the way of fire carriages and police patrol.
Lyra and Octavia had completely lost their images of superiority, and despite their intense rivalry held onto each other, much to the dismay and offense of their much more supportive friends.
And, most depressing of all, Pinkie Pie's mane slowly deflated to a boring, completely flat style, as she watched one of the greatest buildings in all of Equestria, only matched by the towers in Dubai**, burn away into cinders and ash.
The whole group simply watched, unable to move from shock.
And then it happened.
The tower gave a sudden pop, and the whole upper half lurched forward in an almost impossible manner. In a way only a bomb or…."natural" force could muster, beyond the abilities of a raging inferno. The bottom half of the tower caved in as the upper section tore into the ground, destroying dozens of rescue vehicles and fleeing ponies. But while this may have been frightening and horrible in itself, the worst came when huge cloud of dust barreled straight towards the hundreds of frantic ponies, out in the open and vulnerable.
Mass hysteria took in and the hundreds in the streets raced into buildings, hoping for the walls of the building to aid in their survival. Our focus group shoved and pushed dozens of others in a wild fight for a place in the nearby bakery, but it was all in vane. It was far too late now to enter any shelter.
The smoke demon tore straight into Rainbow Dash's friends and herself, scattering them across the road.
