//------------------------------//
// Earthquake 
// Story: A Certain Happening. 
// by Sasquatch1812 
//------------------------------//


The earth rolled beneath my feet. Ponies screamed as the waves of ground jolted us up and down. Splash screamed, her eyes wide with terror. 

“Head for the open.” I told her, staggering on my feet. “Remember the plan.” My words were emphasized, by the crash of a falling building and the scream of panicked and injured ponies. “Go!” 

I made sure she and Aura were headed in a good direction before heading for the buildings. The ground rocked and swayed; fissures opened and closed with grinding thuds. The Six fought on, despite the devastation around them. Hooves, teeth and magic all being used. I tried to yell some sense into them but they weren't listening. I tried to tell them that what they were experiencing was part of the problem, but they weren't listening. That they were adding to the problem irked me, as did the fact that they weren't helping help others, but I knew what it was now, and, to a certain extent, I could understand why their friendship had broken down as it had. I suppose I could have gotten more fully involved in trying to break up the fight, but I wasn't going to try and break up a horse fight. I'm sorry, but I had more pressing things to do. I would regret not trying, later. But... Yeah. I made a few mistakes that day. I did what I could, I did what I thought was the right thing to do, but...  It will haunt me that so many died. Could I have done more? Most likely. Could I have done better? I'm sure I could have, somewhere.

Houses were collapsing, ponies were being trapped and others were running around, wild-eyed in panic. Suddenly Splash was beside me. “Come!” she yelled over the thundering noise of the moving earth. “Follow me, everyone. Follow me. Remember what we planned."

It took a little more than that, but a group headed after her, foals running everywhere and mothers running frantically after foals, who saw their mothers running after them and ran faster. I went to work freeing ponies from wrecked houses and other buildings. The barn I'd been sleeping in collapsed with a crash. I heaved on roofs and clawed at the remains of walls. Some ponies were dead, others badly wounded. Some couldn't walk. Splash came back again and, as much as I wished her away, I was glad she was there. Her eyes were wild, showing the whites around them but she was trying. We loaded one badly injured pony onto a door, made up some straps and she lugged it out, staggering and slipping over the still-rolling earth. I nearly hugged her when she came back with another couple of ponies. 

I carried what I could, but I was glad to have help. I could lift beams while Splash or the others dragged injured ponies from the rubble. By now I knew that this was no ordinary earthquake. No earthquake I'd ever heard of went on for this long. 

Suddenly a pegasus flew over. “Canterlot's gone!” he wailed. “The towers of Canterlot have fallen! Manehattan is in ruins! Death is everywhere!” I looked around what remained of Ponyville. There wasn't much left of this place, either. I saw Canter Berrie  heaving on a foal's tail in an attempt to pull it out of a fissure. She staggered and nearly fell in but, recovering, she gave a frantic heave and drew it out just before the fissure closed again. It wasn't her foal, I noticed, and I hoped hers was safe. Most of the houses had been destroyed by now, as had other various buildings. I was finding it harder and harder to keep my feet. 

I thought of what the pegasus had said. Yeah. That stood to reason. The delicate towers of Canterlot wouldn't stand if they were getting anything near what we were here. Nor would any building. This wasn't a normal earthquake, Equestria was being destroyed. 

I nearly swore. I'd been looking for a sign, but I wasn't the only one who could look. I tried several times to get the pegasus' attention but it took a brick past his nose to do the trick when my yelling didn't. “Look around you.” I shouted up to him. “Look for..." Inspiration and my brain collided. "Look for a bright beam of light.”

He flew upwards, although I noticed it didn't seem easy for him, and I watched as he twisted around. Then he stopped. “I see it. I see it.” he called down to me.

“Which direction?”

He pointed with a hoof and I knew. I suppose I should have guessed, but it would have been useless or worse for me to have gone running off in any direction. The beam of light was in the direction of the clearing where I'd talked with Celestia before.

I turned to Splash, who was suddenly beside me. “Help if you can, but get clear if you can't. The whole of Equestria is destroying itself. I've got to try to stop it.”

“But how?” She asked, obviously holding in her terror.

“By stopping the trouble at it's source." I looked down at her then, suddenly,  I squatted down, cupped my hand under her chin and, completely on impulse, kissed her nose, causing her to blush to the roots of her mane. “Take care, Splash. Be careful, please. I've lost friends already. I don't want to lose you, too.”

Before she could answer that, I turned and raced off. The heaving earth made it difficult to run. Great fissures were opening up. Equestria was, as I said, tearing itself apart. Literally. I could only hope I was right. And I could only hope I wasn't too late. I'd been told that I had held the fate of Equestria in my hands. My big, clumsy hands. It was a worry.

As I ran—or, more correctly, staggered—towards the spot in Everfree Forest where I'd met Celestia before, I knew what had happened. I knew why Equestria was in the state it was in. It wasn't just the fact that Celestia, or the sun had been cast away from Equestria, it was something different. Very different, but rather related.      

Suddenly Discord was beside me and the way smoothed out. Even he looked haggard. “I can do this, no more. My powers are almost gone." He seemed stunned that such a thing could happen. he seemed amazed as he looked around. “I used to be able to change reality, but I now I can't even change this!” It was obvious to me that he was using an incredible amount of his remaining strength just to smooth out the way beneath my feet. Around us the whole world seemed surreal. Trees swayed and fell, huge roots tearing themselves out of the ground. We ran, he and I, towards the light that was growing brighter and brighter. “I can't go into the light.” he told me, gasping for breath. “Only you can.” Well, why not. I did wish, however, that I knew what the hell I was doing. But there was no time left for thoughts like that. "Do what you can for the others" I yelled as Discord came to a sudden halt and I leaped into the light.