The Day Everything Changed

by Replach

Chapter 8: Breaking News

Author's Note:

No Angel & Star POV for this chapter.

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11:00 AM

Crimson Moon continued to watch the burning Crystaller Building as she filmed the people reacting around her. She'd lost track of where she was, but she felt miles away. In reality, she was standing on a corner about a half-furlong from the tower, but the buildings in Manehattan had a reputation of distance illusion; that is, they made short distances seem further than they really were.

"My company occupies all the floors that got hit in the first blast," one stallion had told her. "I haven't been able to get through, but I was only there six months ago. My office is now up in Manefair."

"What company?" Crimson asked him.

"Almacs Solutions, Inc." he replied. "They're on floors 78-82."

Crimson heard another stallion cry out as he ran up the street, "We've got to get out of here!"

The other stallion seemed to heed his advice, turning around and trotting away, albeit calmly.

Crimson turned back to see a mare backing away from the scene in tears, staring up at the tower in disbelief.

"I can't believe this happened again!" she exclaimed. "I'm so devastated!"

Crimson put down her camera, still filming, and gave the mare a hug, letting her sob into her shoulder.

"I have a lot of friends that work in there," the mare told her as she turned away. "I really hope they're okay!"

"I hope so, too," Crimson called after her. "Stay safe, OK?"

For now, all Crimson could do was follow her own advice. This situation was getting out of control, and she was starting to wonder if that tower was going to hold.

"I don't think there's any way you'd be able to get those fires out," one stallion told another. "Even if they get the lower fire out, how are you going to get to the higher one?"

"Exactly," the other replied. "What can you do, you know?"

"Did both of them go off at the same time?" a mare asked one of the stallions.

"No, the higher one went off first," he answered. "The lower one just went off about an hour ago."

"Whoever put the bomb there is smart," the mare commented. "Nopony would expect it early in the morning. Late enough that everypony is at work, but early enough that they would've had to put it there last night. Really smart."

Crimson thought this mare was crazy. For one, the bomb story hadn't even been confirmed yet, and if it were a bomb, this mare was starting to sound like she was the one who made it.

"This is a strange world," another mare exclaimed, "where ponies will attack other ponies for no reason other than their differences."

Crimson knew that was a cold, hard fact. Many of the attacks these days were from differences in viewpoints. A few weeks ago, she'd even heard on the radio's news report of a unicorn murdering an earth pony in Bronclyn, just because they were different races! The world around her was getting scarier, and this attack was just another snowball in the avalanche.

A stallion was starting to freak out behind Crimson, so she turned around, but didn't focus the camera on him. She'd learned with her camera that some ponies didn't like being filmed, all for their own reasons. One had even nearly smashed her camera on the pavement a few months ago, just because he happened to walk in front of the shot she had of the Bronclyn Bridge. That just added to her scary world theory.

"Do you know how many people are dead?" The stallion yelled at who Crimson believed was his friend. "Do you know how many fucking ponies are dead?!?"

Crimson winced in response to the stallion's language. Surprisingly, he was one of the first ponies out of all that she'd filmed today to swear. Most of the time, you couldn't even go 2 blocks without hearing swear words left and right.

She decided to walk away, so that his expletive-filled freak-out wouldn't take up her film. She found a spot where a group of ponies were listening to a radio report.

"...given the large scale of this tragedy," a newscaster stated, "one has to wonder how the fire department is going to deal with both of those fires in such a confined space--"

"Sorry to interrupt, Script," another stopped him, "but we just got a new report in. It is an official statement from the Manehattan Police Department..."

The stallions around Crimson told everypony to quiet down, as the news reporter gave the statement that Crimson had dreaded to hear, but everyone basically knew:

"The Manehattan Police have just confirmed to local news stations, that the first blast from today's tragedy... is believed to be from a bomb or other explosive device...."

Several ponies gasped in horror around Crimson as the reporter went on. "They have not confirmed what the 2nd blast was. They say it is still being determined, but I will repeat: The Manehattan Police have confirmed that the first blast was caused by an explosive device...."

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11:14 AM

Firestorm stepped back outside from the command post and was almost immediately met by a sergeant.

"Firestorm!" he yelled over the noise, "I need you to clear out the roof of a building 3 blocks north of here. There are a lot of ponies up there, and they're in danger if this building comes down!" He pointed out the location of the building on his map. It was the 16-story Foal Seasons Hotel, one of the premier hotels in Manehattan.

"I'm on it!" she replied, flying up above the command building. You could easily see the hotel, as it was taller than most other buildings, but shorter than the main skyscrapers of Manehattan. Firestorm spotted it quickly, and flew with incredible speed towards it.

As she got to the building, she could count 8 ponies on the roof, one filming with his video camera. That makes two of you today, she thought to herself.

"Hey guys," she told them calmly. "Sorry to break up your party, but I've been told that this building needs to be cleared out. I need you guys to come downstairs with me."

A few younger stallions groaned in disappointment, but lucky for her, all of them followed her orders, and followed her to the elevator.

"Was the 2nd blast a bomb, ma'am?" another young stallion asked Firestorm.

She replied bluntly, "We don't even know if the first one was a bomb." That was a lie. It had been confirmed over the radio just a few moments ago that the first blast was believed to be from a bomb. The 2nd, however, they were still trying to determine. Firestorm didn't want a panic to spread. The last thing the police needed to deal with today was a stampede.

"12-Sierra to 72-Uniform, do you copy?" That was the sergeant that Firestorm had talked to, calling her on the radio.

"Go ahead 12-Sierra!" she called back.

"Are you still clearing the roof out?"

"I'm coming down the elevator now!" Firestorm replied. "We're about to get out."

"Copy that," the sergeant responded. "When you get done, Shiny Cloud's been looking for you."

"10-4," Firestorm acknowledged. "Over and out."

The elevator opened, and Firestorm allowed the stallions to get out first. As she galloped out of the building, one asked her, "Where do we go?"

"Just head uptown," she told him. "That's the safest thing you can do."

Firestorm spread her wings and took flight once again, headed back to the tower. It looked like it was going to come down any second, but she knew the fire crews were almost to the 2nd blast zone. Either way, the tower was probably done for. It was just a matter of when it was coming down.