The Day Everything Changed

by Replach

Chapter 3: Helpless

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10:00 AM

Crimson Moon could finally see the tower through the gaps of the other buildings around her. The cloud of smoke was now drifting over her, but she could feel the wind changing directions, so there was a chance that the smoke would start to head west instead of north. She turned a corner, and found herself staring right up at the hole from the blast. She found her way through a crowd of ponies on a street corner, then turned her camera on. As she started to film again, she pointed it towards an oncoming fire engine, pulled by a group of firefighters. A big white 14 was displayed on the side, on the door of one of the hose storage spaces. The firefighters turned down a side street and stopped just past the corner, where they unlatched themselves, and began to put on their gear. No room for one more at the base? Crimson thought.

As she turned her camera back towards the burning tower, she could hear chatter from the ponies around her:

"I heard that it was a bomb, but nobody's saying anything."

"It had to have been a bomb! Look at how big the hole is!"

"Can you imagine the ponies that are up there? They must be going crazy right now!"

"I know I'd be trying to find a way out of there!"

Crimson crossed the side street to find a better view for her camera. As she passed the firefighters, a voice on one's radio crackled, "Dispatch to Squad 17, we have 100 civilians trapped on the 70th floor. They reportedly have a lot of smoke coming in through the doors. They want to know if they should evacuate or stay put."

Another voice chimed in, "Tell them to stay put. We're coming up on the 2nd floor, and there's already smoke in the hallway."

"They're doing the best they can," Dispatch replied, "but they're starting to break windows with chairs up there."

"That's alright," the 2nd voice, presumably the leader of Squad 17, responded. "Breaking the windows helps to let the smoke out of the building. Tell them to stay back from the windows though. We don't want any of them falling."

Crimson had to walk away. She couldn't bear listening to the radio. She knew that the ponies up there were going to do anything they could to get out of there. For pegasi, it was easy; they could just fly away. Crimson had even seen a couple doing so. However, unicorns & earth ponies couldn't fly. They pretty much had 2 choices; stay in the building, and risk burning to death or choking on the smoke, or jump from the building, and almost certainly die, granted that nopony rescued them in midair. And Crimson had yet to see that happen.

Crimson ran down the side street, and turned another corner. From this viewpoint, she could only see the Brass Head on top, and barely at that. So much smoke was coming out of the building, that the Head was almost completely shrouded. Crimson watched a pair of teenagers running towards the building in front of her. They seemed to know where they were going, so she decided to follow them.

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10:04 AM

Shining Star and Fallen Angel were so close to the building that they could smell the smoke coming out, even though they were still several blocks away. They stopped on a corner to let a medical carriage pass, then crossed the street.

"One more block, and we'll stop there," Angel said to Star. They were getting really close to Bridleway, which would be filled with onlookers. However, that street led straight to the building, which meant they'd be able to get as close to it as they could before the police blockade stopped them.

As they reached the corner, a group of ponies ran past them, one screaming, another with tears falling down their face.

"Why are they running away?" Star asked Angel.

"Gee, I don't know," he replied sarcastically. "Maybe they'd rather be safe than sorry?" Behind them, a dark red unicorn began to film on her camera. Angel took notice, and whispered to Star, "You see that? When those become more affordable, that's all anyone will do."

"I'm not so sure of--" she started to reply, but was cut off by several ponies screaming.

"Look!" Angel yelled. "Someone's falling!"

Sure enough, as Star looked up, she could see the silhouette of a pony falling from the tower. The shadow disappeared behind another building, but an audible BANG could be heard. Star could only turn away, as Angel shook his head in disbelief. The unicorn with the camera ran past them to the sidewalk ahead, and sat down on the pavement, pointing her camera upwards at the building. Angel tried to follow her, but was stopped by a police officer.

"Sir, I can't let you past here," the officer told him sternly.

"What about her?" Angel yelled, pointing at the mare with the camera.

"I'll deal with her, but you need to get back first."

Angel complied, frustrated, as he stepped away from the orange pegasus, who then turned around and started to march over to the mare. Before the officer reached her, however, another pony cried out, "Look! Another pony's falling!"

The officer looked up as another silhouette appeared. As Angel & Star watched in surprise, the officer spread her wings and took off towards it!

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10:13 AM

Firestorm was positioned on one of the busiest streets in Southern Manehattan. Crowd control on this, out of all the streets, was going to be really tough. Luckily, Shiny Cloud, her partner and best friend in the force, was right next to her, so her anxiety wasn't as bad as it could be. Even so, it was the most stress she'd ever been under in her life; the most notable building in Manehattan had exploded, and was going up in flames before her very eyes. She didn't stare at the building most of the time; just an occasional glance upwards and behind her. She had to focus on the street, where more and more ponies were starting to gather.

Soon enough, however, she had to break her almost statue-like stance when a group of adolescents crossed her path. The first, a red unicorn, sat down on the sidewalk behind her, filming with one of those new cameras. The other two didn't seem to have a set destination, however, so she moved towards the stallion.

"Sir, I can't let you past here," she said assertively. She wasn't going to let anyone get to the building except for emergency personnel.

"What about her?" the stallion yelled back, pointing at the unicorn on the pavement.

"I'll deal with her, but you need to get back first." Great. Now she had to get rid of the mare, too.

As the stallion stepped away, Firestorm turned around and started trotting over to the unicorn. As she did, however, she heard screams from the crowd behind her. "Look!" A mare cried out, "Another pony's falling!"

The officer looked up as a silhouette appeared against the glass of the building. She had heard the screams of the crowd many times already, as it seemed one pony after another had jumped from the building to escape the flames. She knew their choice was tough, but she couldn't stand working crowd control, while seemingly nopony tried to save the free-fallers. Lucky for her, she was a pegasus, who had done competitive flying before her career as an officer began. And this time, enough was enough.

Firestorm spread her wings, leaped up, and took off towards the building. From her judgement, she had barely enough of a window to get to the falling pony before time ran out. She was flying as fast as she could, but she still wasn't sure it would be enough.

It was more than enough. She met the pony about 15 stories up. She wrapped her forelegs around their torso and shot upwards to avoid slamming headlong into a glass window. Gotcha! she thought. Now to find somewhere to safely land. Firestorm gazed over the many possibilities. She wanted to be far away from the danger, but not too far from where she was supposed to be positioned. She spotted a clear space on the street, not even a block from her crowd control spot. Perfect.

She slowed to a glide, and started her descent to the sidewalk below. She made sure to land as soft as possible -- no point to risk injury to either her or her passenger -- and set the pony, a young, cream-colored unicorn mare with a yellow-shaded mane & tail, down onto the pavement beside her.

"Are you alright?" Firestorm asked her.

"I'm fine," the mare replied, keeping her forelegs wrapped around Firestorm in a thankful embrace. It seemed she didn't exactly want to let go, and Firestorm couldn't blame her. "Thank you so much!"

Firestorm could hear the crowd behind her, cheering and whistling. However, the first pony she saw when she looked back was Shiny Cloud-- and he didn't seem to be as happy as the crowd was.

"What the hell was that, Firestorm!?" he almost screamed at her. "You could've seriously hurt yourself!"

"Hey, I knew the risk," Firestorm said calmly, hoping it would soothe her partner. "I saw a chance and I took it!"

"You're supposed to be on crowd control, not a rescue mission! Get back to your position, NOW!" Cloud yelled, giving Firestorm a shove.

"Hey!" the mare called from behind Cloud. "If it weren't for her, I'd be dead right now; the least you could do is give her credit for it!"

Shiny Cloud flashed a death glare at the mare, some of his anger still burning in his eyes, but Firestorm could tell he was considering her words carefully. They both knew that Cloud could go off on Firestorm if she even attempted to do something dangerous. He liked to look out for his new partner, but sometimes in his frightened anger, he'd get a bit too carried away with his emotions. Firestorm hoped that he wouldn't say anything hurtful to the mare, either.

Unfortunately, his response would have to wait. A large BOOM echoed through the sky, followed by the crowd on the corner screaming, several taking off down the street. As Cloud sprinted down to the corner, Firestorm took a faster route, flying up to the roof of the building behind her. As she reached the top, her eyes went wide, and she gasped, both front hooves covering her muzzle. She was face to face with the most horrifying sight that she had ever seen in her life.

Another fireball was erupting from the building, debris raining down on the streets below.