//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Fish in a Tunnel 
// Story: Terminus 
// by BaroqueNexus 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3: Fish in a Tunnel


“Look, all ah’m saying is we should head to mah aunt an’ uncle’s place! It ain’t too far!” 
They were walking briskly among a sea of frightened ponies, trying to make themselves heard over all the commotion. Above them, a helicopter shined its spotlight on the streets as the pilot spoke through a megaphone, telling them to keep calm. 
“No!” Shining Armor shouted. “We’ve got to find her. We’ve got to find Cadance!” 
“What?” Pinkie Pie yelled. 
“I said we have to find Cadance!” 
“Ah can’t hear you!” 
“What did you say?” 
“What?” 
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Shining Armor muttered to himself. Spying an empty alleyway, he motioned for the others to follow him as they pushed through the crowd. They entered the alleyway and tried to catch their breath. Thankfully it was quieter here, and Twilight spoke up. 
“Okay, so what do we do?”
“Find Cadance,” Shining Armor said sternly. 
“She could be anywhere, though!” Applejack protested. “Ah mean, ah ain’t sayin’ we shouldn’t look fer her, but ah don’t think we’re gonna find her with all this stuff goin’ on!”
“Applejack is right," Rarity agreed. "Didn’t you hear the pilot? He said to go to the Horseland Tunnel!” 
“But ah wanna make sure mah aunt an’ uncle are okay. If we could get to their apartment…” 
“Rainbow Dash can barely walk, Applejack! We need to get her medical attention.”
“Shouldn’t we help Shining Armor find Cadance, though?” 
“We must get off the island!” 
They began to argue among themselves, and Shining Armor stepped away, leaning against a dumpster as he tried to calm down. Fluttershy broke away from her friends and approached him. 
“Mr. Shining Armor? Are you okay?” 
Shining Armor looked up, his eyes bloodshot with exhaustion. “Not really, Fluttershy. My wife’s missing, everypony’s panicking, the Statue of Freedom…” He sighed. “No, not really.” 
Frowning sadly, Fluttershy placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Me neither. But can we all be not okay together? Maybe then we’ll be okay.” 
At this, Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile. He stood up, wiping sweat from his brow. Outside of the alley, ponies were still moving en masse toward the Horseland Tunnel. Despite his fears and doubts, he knew that he had to keep the rest of the girls safe. He turned once more to the little yellow pegasus.
“All right, Fluttershy. Let’s be not okay together.” 
Fluttershy smiled softly, happy to have helped. However the others were still arguing. 
“...just need to follow the directions!”
“What about Cadance?” 
“What about mah aunt an’ uncle?”
“Quiet, all of you!” Shining Armor shouted. “Listen up. We’ll head for the Horseland Tunnel.”
“But what about Cadance?” Twilight asked. “Can’t you contact her with that communication spell?” 
“I already tried that,” he sighed. “Several times. She hasn’t answered.”
Twilight gasped. “But...what does that mean?” 
“She’s fine, Twilight,” Shining Armor said sternly. “She’ll meet us at the tunnel. I know she couldn’t have gone far from the hotel, and since the tunnel seems to be the closest evacuation point, I know she’ll head there.” 
“Ya know for sure?” Applejack asked. 
“Yes. I know for sure.” 
Twilight knew that this was untrue, that her brother was just as doubtful as everypony else of Cadance’s fate. But they had no choice. They had to get off the island. 
“We must hurry,” Rarity exclaimed. “Who knows what madness will happen next?”


* * *


“Attention all citizens. A citywide evacuation is in effect. Proceed quickly and calmly to the nearest designated evac point. Police and MFRA officials will be waiting at the evac point to assist all injured ponies. Remain calm and proceed with caution.” 
“He’s been saying that for the past half-hour,” Rainbow Dash shouted, looking up at the helicopter. “I think we get it now.” 
“Yeah,” Applejack agreed, turning to her friend as they walked. “Y’alright, sugarcube?” 
Rainbow Dash winced and looked forlornly back at her broken wings. “I think so. For now. It still hurts.” 
“Least you can walk on yer own now.” 
“Yeah, I guess.” 
“Don’t worry, Rainbow. There’ll be medics at th’ tunnel to help ya. We’ll get there fine.” 
The rest of them walked in silence among the crowds that choked the streets. They barely spoke, as the noise had gotten so loud that it seemed pointless to try and have a conversation now. Thankfully, by that time they had reached the edge of the island, with the Hoofson River to their right. Police officers directed them south in the direction of the tunnel, and a sense of relief washed over the group.
“We’re almost there!” Rarity yelled happily. 
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “Woo-hoo!” 
However, not everypony was as elated. Shining Armor kept scanning the crowds to see if Cadance had made it, but with the sheer amount of ponies around him, along with the poor light and loud noise, it was nearly impossible to concentrate. He had attempted to contact her again via communication spell, to no avail. As he neared the tunnel with no sign of Cadance anywhere, he looked about ready to cry. 
At last they reached the mouth of the Horseland Tunnel, which was swarming with evacuees and emergency officials. Applejack started toward the nearest medical tent with Rainbow Dash, but they found that the mob of ponies flocking toward the tunnel entrance was too thick to push through. She cursed loudly as a stallion stood on top of a scaffold and yelled through a megaphone. 
“Remain calm, everypony! The situation is under control!” 
“Hey, Shining Armor,” Twilight piped up, “isn’t that—”
“Yeah,” he replied, his eyes widening in realization. “QDF.” 
Sure enough, the stallion with the megaphone was clad in black combat fatigues and armor bearing the insignia of the Equestria Defense Force, or QDF, as it was more commonly referred to. He carried with him a weapon that Shining Armor recognized as an MCR-42, a carbine rifle that harnessed unicorn magic and processed it into lethal and nonlethal ammunition. These types of weapons were heavily restricted throughout Equestria, and only special military forces such as the QDF were allowed to carry them. Even the Canterlot Royal Guard had nothing but spears and horns, something Shining Armor always found quite aggravating. But if Equestria’s finest military force had been deployed in Manehattan, armed to the teeth with restricted weaponry…
Shining Armor gulped. This was worse than he thought. Much, much worse. 
“Make your way into the tunnel in an orderly and calm fashion,” the QDF soldier continued. “Remember, no panicking!”
“Ah can’t get to th’ medical tent!” Applejack cried, holding onto Rainbow Dash. “There’s too many o’ them!” 
“Son of a…” Shining Armor began. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any time left. We’ve got to go. Now!” 
“But—”
“Now!” 
Everypony jumped a little. Shining Armor gritted his teeth and motioned his head toward the tunnel. “I’m sorry, everypony. But we don’t have time. We can get Rainbow Dash help when we get across the tunnel. The QDF and MFRA are bound to have some kind of emergency center set up in New Jockey.”
“But Rainbow needs—” 
“No…” Rainbow Dash moaned. “It’s fine. I’ll be alright.” 
“Ya sure, sugarcube?” 
“Yes.” 
“Then that’s settled,” Shining Armor said flatly. “We’re going now.” 
Twilight gave her brother a scathing look, but he ignored it. He knew their number one priority was to get off the island. Something bad was happening, something that warranted a full-fledged military response. He would have questioned one of the QDF soldiers had the massive crowd of escaping ponies not impeded him. So they all had little choice but to enter the Horseland Tunnel, descending into the cold and dark, scared out of their minds.


* * *


“Emergency. A citywide evacuation is in effect. Please proceed to the nearest designated evac point. This is not a drill. Emergency. A citywide evacuation is in effect…” 
The warning played in a loop on a mobile loudspeaker, echoing up and down the tunnel. It was nearly drowned out by the uncomfortable mutterings of the ponies that briskly walked through the tunnel, desperate to get to the other side. 
“This isn’t good,” Shining Armor said, frustrated as he bumped against dozens of other mares and stallions. 
“What do you mean?” Twilight spoke up. “We’re getting out of here.” 
“I know that, but the way everypony is choking the tunnel like this…” 
“Yeah?” 
“If one pony panics, then everypony panics. We’d all be trapped like fish in a barrel.” 
“More like fish in a tunnel!” Pinkie Pie giggled. Everypony else looked at her with great annoyance. She smiled sheepishly and kept walking. At that moment a large group of zebras, all wearing foreign garb, surged forward and rudely pushed through the crowd. The others tried to protest, but the zebras did not listen as they cut through the sea of ponies, babbling on in strange tongues as they went. Pinkie Pie cried out as she was practically carried away by the striped mob.
“Pinkie!” Twilight cried. 
“It’s okay!” Pinkie Pie yelled back, kicking off one of the zebras and landing on the side of the tunnel, only to be swallowed up by the rest of the agitated crowd. “I...now...” 
“What?” Twilight yelled back.
“We can’t hear ya, Pinkie!” Applejack shouted, much to the annoyance of the ponies surrounding her. 
“I’m okay! Okay!” Pinkie bellowed, bobbing up and down in the crowd a long way away from them. 
“We gotta get to her,” Applejack said to the others. “We gotta stick together!”
“Yeah, let’s—”
Suddenly, Shining Armor jerked. He stumbled and grabbed his forehead as his horn glowed green. Twilight rushed to his side.
“Shining Armor? What’s going—”
Then, from out of a nowhere, a magical screen appeared in front of them, startling several ponies around them. It was an instant communication spell. A strange scraping noise echoed from the screen as it floated in midair, flickering in and out of existence. The screen showed nothing but gray and white static. Shining Armor opened his eyes and gasped as a familiar voice came from above.
“Shining...Armor…”
Even with the distortion, it was clear who was speaking. 
“Cadance!” Shining Armor shouted. “Cadance, are you okay? Where are you?” 
“...help...Bridleway…” 
“Bridleway? Where on Bridleway, sweetheart? We’re in the Horseland Tunnel. Are you safe?”
“...I...move...help…”
“What? Cadance, you need to speak up!” 
Twilight looked from left to right. “There’s too much interference!” 
“I know that, Twily!” Shining Armor yelled angrily before turning back to the blank screen. “Cadance, I can’t see you! Where are you?” 
More static and scraping. A full minute passed before Cadance spoke again. 
“...trolley...Bridleway...help...I…” 
“Trolley? Bridleway? Honey, you need to—”
The screen disappeared in a flash, and suddenly the tunnel began to shake. Everypony stopped and looked around worriedly. The police urged them to keep going as the shaking stopped. Rainbow Dash lifted her head weakly. 
“Guys...what was that?” 
“Ah don’t know,” Applejack said, just as Shining Armor turned around sharply and began to push his way through the crowd.
“Shining Armor!” Twilight yelled. “What are you doing?” 
“We can’t stop!” cried Rarity. “We must keep going!”
“Where’s Pinkie Pie?”
“She’s up ahead, but ah can’t see her!”
“Pinkie!”
“Shining Armor!”
Despite his best efforts, Shining Armor could not break through the mass of ponies that filled the tunnel. Twilight managed to pull him to the side of the road. 
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked indignantly.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Shining Armor growled. “I’m saving my wife!” 
“But we can’t go back!” Rarity said. “We must keep—”
“Hey, guys!” cried a shrilly voice farther down the tunnel. “Guuuys!”
Applejack whipped her head around. “That’s Pinkie Pie!”
Sure enough, Pinkie Pie bobbed in and out of sight down the road, trying to get through the crowd. For the first time that night, she seemed genuinely scared. But the others could not get to her, and Twilight could barely hold onto her brother as he tried to break away. 
“No, Twily, let go of me!” he screamed angrily. “I have to find her!”
“We will, Shining Armor! But let’s get out of here first, before something bad happens again!”
As she finished her sentence, the tunnel shook once more—then began to collapse. Everypony gasped as the ceiling crumbled and the walls began to crack open. Thousands of gallons of river water cascaded and crashed into the tunnel. Something roared loudly, but whether it was the roar of the water or something else, nopony knew. 
For a fraction of a second, everypony froze as steel, concrete, and water flooded the tunnel. 
Then the panic began. The crowds surged backward, tumbling over one another and screaming in terror. Some tried to fly and were struck down by falling debris. Others were swept away by the cascading water. Another roar ripped through the tunnel. The water was fast approaching. 
“GO!” Shining Armor yelled at the top of his lungs. “GO, GO, GO! RUN!” 
They galloped at lightning speed back the way they came, desperately trying to avoid the fallen ponies and rubble of the tunnel. Stallions and mares were tripping over each other. Some were trampled underhoof. 
“Where’s Pinkie Pie?! Rainbow Dash?!”
“Keep moving! GO!” 
“I can’t...I can’t…”
“Just run!”
Everypony was screaming, flailing. It was madness. Everything was failing. Everything was—
“Hey, look!”
Rarity pointed at the mass of panicking ponies as a navy-blue stallion broke through and galloped toward them. On his back was an unconscious Rainbow Dash, bleeding from a gash on her head. The stallion was dressed in a police uniform, and motioned frantically at the rest of the group.
“Don’t just stand there!” the stallion shouted. “MOVE!”
Without further hesitation, they all pushed and fought their way through the fleeing crowds as the tunnel collapsed around them. Finally, just when it seemed that they weren’t going to make it, the mouth of the tunnel came into view. Gasping, they galloped and burst into the nighttime air. Behind them, the tunnel finally stopped collapsing as water spilled onto the streets. Dozens of ponies screamed and cried and ran in all directions. Twilight and the others broke away from the crowd into an empty alley, where the police officer was waiting for them. Rainbow Dash was laying next to a dumpster, still unconscious. The officer was trying to catch his breath. 
Twilight slowly limped to him, gasping with relief. “Thank you...sir…” 
The officer smiled mirthlessly. “My pleasure. I saw her on the ground and picked her up before the tunnel collapsed. Those other ponies…” 
His words trailed off as he frowned. Shining Armor stepped forward. “Thank you, officer.”
“Blu Badge,” the stallion said, extending a hoof. “Happy to help.”
They stood around awkwardly for a moment as the chaos in the streets began to slowly die down. Applejack shivered.
“What the heck was that all about? Why’d th’ tunnel collapse?”
“I don’t know,” Blu Badge replied, dusting off his uniform. “But there’s got to be ponies trapped down there.”
“Wait a minute,” Fluttershy said suddenly. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?”
They all looked around suddenly for their pink, bouncy friend, but she was nowhere to be found. 
“Oh no,” Twilight gasped. “Oh no, oh no, oh no…” 
“No, she could be okay,” Applejack said worriedly. “She might’ve gotten out. She could…”
She trailed off as her eyes grew wide as saucers.
“I saw her farther up the tunnel,” Fluttershy said, dirty tears running down her cheeks. “When it collapsed...she disappeared…”
They all looked back at the remains of the tunnel, now completely sealed off by water and debris. The realization slowly washed over them, and they sank to their knees and onto each other’s shoulders, weeping. Shining Armor sat on his rump with a stunned expression on his face as Blu Badge looked around nervously, unsure of what to do. An orchestra of sirens and screams filled the night, but all they could hear was the sound of each other’s sobbing and the slow lapping of waves.