Chapter 2: We’re Leaving
Twilight, Shining Armor, and Applejack rushed up the stairs to the reception room, where everypony was talking among themselves and gazing out the floor-to-ceiling windows. The jazz music was no longer playing, and a few of the guests were asking if there was a radio anywhere in the penthouse. They all sounded worried, confused, and even frightened, but at the moment neither Twilight nor Shining Armor could figure out why.
“Applejack, what’s going on?” Twilight demanded. She wasn’t the only one asking questions.
“Did you see it? Did you see it?”
“What happened?”
“Oh my goodness!”
Applejack unceremoniously pushed a pair of guests out of the way, clearing a space in front of the window. She then pointed out at the cityscape. “Look.”
Twilight and Shining Armor looked together at where Applejack was pointing, and their eyes widened in shock and horror. In the distance, a huge plume of dirty black smoke billowed from downtown, right next to the Hoofson River. It couldn’t have been more than a few miles south of the hotel. Twilight could see a few smaller structures by the waterfront already enveloped in flames, and the smoke plume was enormous, rising higher than all of the skyscrapers in Manehattan.
Shining Armor blinked, trying to process what he was seeing. Twilight, still confused, turned back to Applejack.
“AJ, what is that?”
“Ah dunno,” Applejack replied, staring out the window uneasily. “Ah didn’t see what happened. Ah just heard the bang an’ felt the shakin’. Then ah saw the smoke. Y’all think it was an earthquake?”
“No,” Shining Armor said. “Earthquakes don’t go boom. Where’s the Mayor?”
“He left,” a partygoer said. “Him and his advisors. He didn’t know what was going on either.”
“Then what the heck—”
“Hey guys! We found it!”
Everypony turned around to see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Rarity was holding a radio. As they set it on the counter and turned it on, the room grew silent as they all gathered around to listen. Rainbow Dash fiddled with the knobs and dials, trying to get it to play something other than static. Finally, a voice came through the speaker.
“...Manehattan News Radio. Current time is 10:27. Breaking news out of Lower Manehattan, where unconfirmed reports of a massive explosion are pouring in. Witnesses say that about ten minutes ago, a fireball of unknown origin erupted at the edge of Buttery Park City. There are no confirmed reports of casualties at this time. Police and firefighters urge all citizens to remain calm, and that anypony near the site of the explosion should evacuate and stay away from the river. We’ll have more details available as they develop…”
“An explosion?” Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, no…”
“I saw it, I saw it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, giggling. “It was humongous! Like a dragon belch!”
“Pinkie, this isn’t funny!” Twilight snapped. “Ponies could be hurt out there!”
“Did anypony see what might have caused it?” Shining Armor asked.
They all shook their heads. “Then what the heck do we do?” Applejack piped up. “We can’t just stay here!”
“Why n-not?” Fluttershy said quietly, trying to avoid eye contact. “It’s p-probably safer here.”
They argued among themselves as the other partygoers began to grow restless. Some just got up and left, while others tried to send magic messages or letters to their friends and loved ones.
“Shhh!” somepony scolded as the news report came back on. They all stopped talking and began to listen.
“...an update on the events currently unfolding in Lower Manehattan. The Manehattan Fire & Rescue Agency released a statement moments ago that at least ten have been confirmed dead in the Buttery Park City explosion. The MFRA declined to comment on the possible cause of the incident. Meanwhile, Manehattan Harbor has been closed by order of the Department of Transportation. A spokespony from the DOT also confirmed that Manehattan airspace is now restricted. Until further notice, all non-authorized pegasi flying above the island will be detained and subject to possible penalty.”
“What?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed angrily, slamming the countertop with her hoof. “They made the whole island into a no-fly zone? They can’t do that!”
“They can in a time of emergency,” Shining Armor replied. “It’s probably because they don’t want anypony flying into that smoke and fire.”
“Oh please. I’ve flown into the middle of tornadoes! I can handle a measly little—”
Suddenly the room shook again, this time more violently. The overhead lamps swung and flickered out, momentarily throwing the room into darkness. Partygoers cried out in surprise and fear as paintings fell from the walls and dust fell free from the rafters. After a few seconds, the lights came back on and the shaking stopped. Rainbow Dash looked around.
“All right, just what the heck is going on here?” She ran over to the window as the other ponies tried to remain calm.
“Somethin’ ain’t right,” Applejack said, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. “There’s somethin’ goin’ on. Ah don’t think we should stay here.”
“But where else can we go?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Rarity snootily huffed. “I can tell you one thing. I am not abandoning the safety of this penthouse to run about on the dirty streets in the middle of the night simply because of an accident that happened miles from here!”
At this, Shining Armor’s face tightened in anger. “Are you serious?! There are ponies dying out there! There are foals and mares and stallions probably scared out of their minds running on those dirty streets! And my wife is—”
His anger turned to horror as the realization slowly sank in. “Oh no. Cadance…”
The radio started buzzing with static as the newscaster tried to speak through the distortion. “...seem to be having...difficulties…”
“What? What’s it saying?!”
“Quiet!”
“...reports of...major...coming from…”
Then, just as the newscaster’s voice faded entirely into white noise, the room began to tremble once more. Confusion among the party guests finally turned to panic as they rushed to exit the building, piling into the elevator or fleeing down the stairs as the lights continued to flicker and the rumbling noise grew louder and louder. When the shaking finally stopped, the penthouse was a mess, and all but empty of partygoers. As they tried to get their bearings, Rainbow Dash gasped.
“Guys! Guys, did you see that? Did you see that?”
Twilight coughed as cloud of dust billowed around her. “What? What is it, Dash?”
“I saw something, I saw something! Something was moving, Twilight!”
“Huh?!”
“I...I...I gotta check it out. I know I saw something there! Hang on, I’m going to the roof!”
“Wait, Rainbow Dash! Stop!”
But the pegasus would not listen, instead zipping over to the stairwell and making her way to the roof of the hotel. Shining Armor groaned.
“Damn it!”
“Hey! Watch your language, Shining Armor!”
“C’mon, everypony!” Twilight called as she raced to the stairwell. After a moment’s hesitation, they all followed suit, leaving the disheveled penthouse behind.
* * *
Twilight burst open the access door and looked around. The rooftop was huge, and she was momentarily taken aback by the smell of smoke in the air and the sound of a cacophony of sirens in the distance.
Applejack pointed. “There!” Sure enough, Rainbow Dash was hovering by the edge of the roof, gazing out at the southern tip of the city. They ran over to her, their hooves clopping loudly on the concrete.
“Rainbow Dash, get down from there!” Twilight demanded angrily. “We have to go!”
“Hang on! I know I saw something!”
“So what?!” Applejack yelled. “We gotta get outta here ’fore another quake sends this whole buildin’ down!”
“No, you don’t get it! Something...was moving! Among the buildings! I saw it just before the lights went out!”
“Your eyes were most likely playing tricks,” Rarity said. “What exactly did you see?”
“It was big,” Rainbow Dash replied, slowly returning to the ground. “Really big. And it was moving. That’s all I could see.”
A moment of silence, and then Rarity scoffed. “Oh my. Somepony call the presses.”
“Girls!” Twilight snapped. “This is no laughing matter, for crying out loud!”
“She’s right,” Shining Armor agreed. “We need to go. We need to find Cadance and we need to get out of here. Rainbow Dash…”
“But I saw…”
“I don’t care what you saw!” he shouted, causing Fluttershy to jump in surprise. “We’ve got to go before—”
BOOM!
Everypony gasped and stared in horror as a huge ball of fire rose from the middle of downtown Manehattan. This explosion was even larger than the first, sending out shockwaves that nearly knocked the ponies to the ground. The sky lit up as flames bloomed like flowers over the city. While stunned by the sheer size of the fireball, Twilight noticed that it was nowhere near Buttery Park City, but looked like it was closer to Tribucka. What could have—
“Oh my gosh, LOOK OUT!”
They all looked up to see what they thought at first were shooting stars, before realizing that they were, in fact, pieces of flaming debris flung from the explosion—and they were heading right for the hotel.
“MOVE!” Shining Armor screamed. “MOVE, NOW! MOVE!”
They all scrambled to the door as fiery rubble smashed down around them, knocking them off their hooves and sending them tumbling down the stairs. The fire alarm began to ring as the debris continued to smash into the hotel, knocking the ponies down once more. The lights in the stairwell flickered, threatening to go out and plunge them into total darkness.
Shining Armor gasped heavily, trying to regain his breath as he sat up and rubbed his sore haunch. “Anypony hurt?”
As he looked up he blinked and coughed, realizing that the stairwell had filled with smoke. Coughing and half-blind, he covered his nose and mouth with the sleeve of his battered suit jacket and slowly moved forward, trying to use magic in order to clear the smoke away.
“...uhhh…”
“Twily!” Shining Armor ran to his sister at the bottom of the stairs, who was trying to stand up. “Twily, are you okay?”
“Yeah...I think so…” She shook her head free of dust and coughed. “Where...Where are the others?”
Shining Armor looked around, but could barely see through the smoke or hear over the ringing alarms. “I don’t know...I can’t see…”
“Down here!” yelled a familiar voice from below.
“Applejack?!” Twilight cried, also using her magic to try to get rid of the smoke.
“Yeah, we’re okay! Shaken up, but okay! We’re down another level, musta fallen farther than we thought! Y’all good up there?”
“We’re fine,” Shining Armor called out. “We’re coming down.”
“Be careful!”
“Is everypony with you?” Twilight yelled. “I can barely see through this smoke.”
“We’re all here, Twilight!” yelled out Rainbow Dash. “We’re all okay!”
“Fluttershy? Rarity? Pinkie Pie?”
“They’re fine!” Applejack shouted. “Fluttershy’s just really shaken up. Rarity an’ Pinkie Pie are tryin’ to keep her calm down here! But we’ve got to hurry! Ah think this buildin’ is startin’ to fall apart!”
“We’re coming, we’re coming! Hold on!”
They carefully made their way down the staircase. The building rumbled again as Twilight’s senses seemed to overload. But she kept going, refusing to stop until she saw her friend through the smoke.
“Twilight! Shinin’ Armor!” Applejack cried, giving them quick hugs of relief. “Thank goodness. C’mon, we gotta go.”
“Uh, Applejack?” Rainbow Dash suddenly said from one flight down. “Something’s blocking the stairwell! I think the wall collapsed!”
“Ah, ponyfeathers,” Applejack cursed to herself. “Wait a minute…” She went over to the exit door and pushed it open. It led back to the penthouse. “In here, everypony!”
They all gathered themselves and piled into the penthouse, trying to remain on their hooves as the building continued to shake. It was completely deserted. Portions of the ceiling had fallen, and debris was strewn all across the floor. Looking out the windows, they could still see the massive fires raging through lower Manehattan, as well as the smoke and light of flames and coming from somewhere in the lower floors of the hotel.
Shining Armor sat on the couch, burying his head in his hooves. “Son of a parasprite. What the heck is going on?”
“Those poor ponies…”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. Everything will be all right.”
“No it won’t!” Rainbow Dash cried. “We’re stuck in a burning building with no way out. The stairwell’s blocked. We’re trapped.”
Fluttershy squeaked in fear, but Shining Armor stood up. “Don’t say that. There’s always a way. Maybe there’s another stairwell, or an emergency exit—”
“Perhaps the elevator?” Rarity inquired. “It’s right there!”
“Are ya serious?” Applejack said crossly. “Ah ain’t gettin’ in no elevator when the whole buildin’ is on fire!”
“But it may not be!”
“I think Applejack is right,” Rainbow Dash said. “The elevator’s probably too dangerous to use now. But we need to make the decision quickly.”
Another rumble in the distance, and then something else: a strange bellow, like that of a guttural whale, echoing off the buildings of the Manehattan skyline.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash gasped. “There it is again! Between those two—”
“Enough, Dash!” Twilight snapped, startling everybody. “We’ve no time for that. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“But the elevator…”
“Forget the elevator,” Shining Armor said, standing up. “There’s another stairwell on the other side of the penthouse. We can use that. C’mon!”
It took a few minutes to finally collect themselves, but they eventually all ran together to the second emergency stairwell, tucked downstairs at the far end of the hall, just opposite the master bedroom. They found it was much less smoky, and began their long descent without further hesitation.
* * *
“What floor are we on now?”
Applejack huffed, her mane matted with dust and sweat. She wiped her brow with her hat. “Tenth, ah think.”
“I don’t know...if I can...go on...anymore…” Rarity swooned.
“We’re almost there, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said, using her wings to clear away the smoke in front of them. “Just hang in there.”
Suddenly Fluttershy, who had been near the back of the group, cried out as she slipped and fell down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom. She began to cry as Twilight and Shining Armor rushed to her aid, with the rest of the group not far behind.
“Fluttershy! Are you all right?”
Though tears glittered on her face, she nodded. “Yes, I th-think so. Please...let’s just go…”
“Just a little bit more, Fluttershy,” Applejack said comfortingly, offering her a helping hoof. “C’mon, sugarcube.”
Sniffling, Fluttershy took her friend’s hoof and stood up, just as the building rumbled again.
“Damn it,” Shining Armor cursed. “We can’t keep stopping.”
“Right,” Twilight agreed. “Let’s get moving.”
After several agonizing minutes, they finally reached the ground floor. Pinkie Pie bounced with joy as they ran into the wrecked lobby. “We’re free! We’re free! We’re gonna be okay!”
But then, just as they were running across the marble, a loud cracking noise stopped them in their tracks. The sound came from above them, and as they looked up, they gasped. The ceiling was collapsing. Giant chunks of flaming steel and stone fell and slammed into the floor, knocking all of them off their hooves again. Screaming, their covered their heads as fiery debris rained down all around them, kicking up even more dust and smoke that filled their lungs and eyes. It was over in a few seconds, but as they shook their manes free of dust and coughed away the smoke in their throats, they heard an even worse sound: Rainbow Dash’s screams of pain.
“Rainbow Dash!” they yelled in unison, running to her. They gasped in horror as they saw that a large chunk of ceiling had landed on top of her, pinning her underneath. She was bleeding from her forehead and struggling to get out, all the while moaning and screaming from sheer agony.
“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cried. “Oh my goodness!”
“Hang on!” Twilight yelled, positioning herself in front the wreckage. “We’ll get you out of there! Shining Armor, help me!”
Her brother nodded, and they both cast beams of levitation magic from their horns. The magic combined and enveloped the chunk of ceiling, raising it into the air. Grunting and gritting their teeth, Twilight and Shining Armor managed to float the rubble far enough out of the way, dropping it next to the information kiosk. They panted as the magic dissipated, swiping sweat from their foreheads. The others encircled Rainbow Dash, wide-eyed in fear.
“Rainbow Dash…”
Her body was bruised and beaten, and blood dripped from open gashes on her back, but that was not the worst of it. She weakly raised her head. “I can’t...feel my wings…”
Sure enough, her wings were bent and broken, snapped like twigs and pointing at disjointed, awkward angles. The feathers were stained with blood, and bits of skin had been sheared off the base of her back, exposing parts of her sinewy wing muscles.
“Oh, Dashie…”
Shining Armor gingerly stepped over the wreckage around her and removed his suit jacket. “Can you move, Rainbow Dash?”
She winced in pain as dirty tears dripped from her eyes. “Yeah...my legs...yeah. But...my wings…”
“You’re hurt. We’ve got to get you to a hospital.”
“Can you...use magic...or something?”
Twilight and Shining Armor gazed forlornly at each other. “We don’t know any healing spells. We never learned those. Rarity, did you?”
Rarity shook her head. Rainbow Dash groaned. “Oh...it hurts...so bad…”
“I know, Dashie, I know,” Twilight said comfortingly, kneeling down by her brother. “We’re gonna get you out of here, and we’re gonna get you help. I promise.”
Shining Armor carefully tore off bits of his suit jacket and wrapped them around the bleeding cuts. “Here, this should help—”
Rainbow Dash screamed in pain as Shining Armor’s hoof brushed her wing.
“Oh, jeez, I’m sorry!” Shining Armor exclaimed. “Here...can you stand?”
After a few moments, Rainbow Dash slowly got up on her hooves. “Yeah…”
“Here, ah got ya, sugarcube,” Applejack said, propping Rainbow Dash up and holding onto her. “Just take it nice ’n easy.”
Rainbow Dash coughed, then gave a weak smile as she gently pushed Applejack away. “I think I’ll be okay. Thanks.”
“Ya sure?”
The pegasus nodded slowly, just as the building rumbled again. Shining Armor looked up. “Let’s go, before the ceiling caves in completely.”
* * *
Outside the hotel, the streets were a mess. Police and fire vehicles flashed their lights and blared their sirens loudly as they tried to get through the massive crowds that blocked their path. Ponies were screaming, running, and flying away from the fires. Overturned carriages littered the intersection on which the Trotsford Hotel stood. Above them, a whirring helicopter buzzed over their heads, on its way to the scene of the explosion.
“Oooh, a helicopter!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, her high voice barely audible over the sound of panicking ponies all around them. “I’ve never seen one of those up close before!”
“C’mon!” Shining Armor yelled, hurrying to the sidewalk. The others followed suit, with Rainbow Dash limping behind. But they realized there was little they could do. The emergency vehicles had finally pushed through the crowds, and dozens of police ponies were trying to restore order. One of them stood on top of a police carriage and yelled through a megaphone, but his words were drowned out by a sudden, horrifying sound. Everypony froze as the sound echoed through the streets and rattled the windowpanes of the adjacent buildings. It wasn’t an explosion, but rather a roar, low and booming like some demonic whale call. It was the same sound Twilight and the others had heard back in the penthouse.
“What...was that?” Applejack asked, her voice quivering.
The air grew deathly still. The emergency vehicles had moved off, their sirens now far in the distance. All the ponies who had been running for their lives were now standing listlessly in the street, not sure of what to do. But they were then frightened by another roar, this one high-pitched and harsh like sharp claws on steel. The ground began to rumble, and some of the ponies began to run again, but it was still relatively quiet. The streets were emptier, but they could all still hear the sounds of sirens, screams, and whirring helicopter blades.
Another roar, closer and louder. More ponies began to run, but Twilight, Shining Armor, and the rest of their group remained standing on the sidewalk just outside the hotel. Pinkie Pie turned around and suddenly gasped, and the others followed. They saw that the hotel’s facade had been nearly gouged out by the debris of the explosion. The once-beautiful Trotsford Hotel was now a burning wreck.
“Oh my goodness,” Fluttershy stammered.
“What do we do?” Rarity asked frantically.
Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by another roar, this one even closer. Then another sound met their ears; a strange whirring noise, like something spinning through the—
“LOOK OUT!”
SMASH!
They all looked up in time just to see a huge, misshapen object obliterate the side of an apartment building just down the road, causing another mini-fireball. The object then careened off the building and slammed to the ground, skidding down the road with an ear-piercing screech. Everypony screamed and manage to duck out of the way, just in time as the massive object slid to a halt right in front of Twilight and the group.
The air grew deafeningly silent. For a moment, nopony moved. They stepped forward, trying to process what they were seeing, trying to comprehend. But the harder they thought, the harder it became to believe what it was they were seeing. The other ponies around them stopped panicking and also approached, transfixed in horror and wonder. They were speechless. They couldn’t believe it. They couldn’t begin to fathom what it was that lay before their very eyes.
The head of the Statue of Freedom.
It stared at them with its lifeless metal eyes. Looking down momentarily, they saw the copper wiring and jagged edges of its neck. It had been torn clean off the statue’s body—the body that stood on Freedom Island, miles away from where its head now rested. Twilight vaguely recalled her conversation with the mayor earlier that night. Yesterday the statue had turned one hundred years old. And now...its head. Lying in the street. Staring at them. Why? Her thoughts were crashing into one another like waves. She didn’t know. She just didn’t know.
As everypony in the street stood frozen in terror and awe, Shining Armor swallowed his fear, turned to the rest of his group, and spoke.
“We’re leaving.”