Chapter One: Seismic Cataclysm
Three nights before Hearth’s Warming, all appeared normal in Ponyville. Outside, a gentle wind swirled, rattling mailboxes and tree branches as it left a misty buildup on ponies’ windows. High in the sky, the Moon lit up the night, a deep blue offset by hundreds of gentle twinkling lights. A white blanket covered the town; from every rooftop and awning, fluffy snow dripped toward the ground, forming small hills at each doorstep. Ponies would certainly have to shovel their way outside the next morning, like they had for the past month.
Pinkie Pie lay in bed, her gaze focused on the Moon while she held a cup of hot cocoa in her hooves, a fluffy pink coat draped across her shoulders. From her lap, Gummy yawned and blinked his large purple eyes, a custom-made coat draped over his back.
“I know, Gummy. I really should try to sleep. But the sky is so pretty tonight, and Missus Cake’s cocoa is so hoof-licking delicious!” Pinkie inhaled the thick, aromatic scent of choc-hazelnut milk and let her tongue loll from her mouth. “So what if we have a bazillion Hearth’s Warming cakes to make tomorrow? That doesn’t mean I can’t sit up and appreciate the first clear night Ponyville’s had for two weeks.”
She took another sip of cocoa. “I think tonight might be the most peaceful night we’ve had in a lo-o-oh-oh-oh-who-o-ohwhoa!”
Pinkie vibrated vigorously on the spot, her blanket and Gummy both falling off the bed. Cocoa splashed out of her cup while she fought to keep her grip on it.
A sound like an industrial-sized vacuum cleaner filled the room as she let out a loud, drawn-out gasp. “Oh my twitchy twitch-a-twitch! There’s a real doozy coming, Gummy, and it’s way bigger than the one I got when Twilight believed in my doozies!”
Ignoring the dark stain spreading across her bedsheet, she set her cup on her dresser, picked Gummy up, and tucked him into her mane. She reached under her bed and felt around, soon extracting a megaphone from among her many balls, musical instruments, and Celestia-knew-what-else.
Megaphone in hoof, Pinkie zipped toward the neighboring room, gently opened the door, and zipped up to the bed. She lowered her head to the source of the room’s snores: Carrot Cake’s wide open mouth.
“Mister Cake, wake up!”
Pinkie reached up and shook Carrot’s shoulders, only for him to snort and turn his head the other way. The snoring resumed.
“Please wake up, Mister Cake—it’s really important!” She tried again, eliciting a break in the snoring as Carrot grunted and then groaned. He looked at her with a half-raised eyelid.
“Goo’ness, Pinkie Pie. Whass… m-matter with you?” He let out a long yawn. “Long day t’morrow. Go back to sleep.” He smacked his lips together a few times and closed his eyes again.
Pinkie threw her hooves into the air with an exasperated sigh then brought her left leg down, holding the megaphone in front of her mouth. She stepped back, pressed in the button, and yelled, “Wake up, both of you!”
Both Cakes screamed and leapt up into the center of the bed, wrapping their forelegs around each other tightly.
“Pinkie! What in Equestria did you do that for?” Cup Cake asked, clutching her chest as her breath came in rapid gasps. “We only just went to sleep.”
“Is it the twins? Did something happen to them?” Carrot looked to the foal monitor on the bedside table. “I don’t hear either of them crying. What’s so important, Pinkie?”
“Oh, I don’t know that yet.”
“What?” both Cakes yelled, their eyes bulging.
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie said. “But you have to believe me. I just had—” her body shuddered violently again “—a-a-aa-ahh-ahhh r-r-re-ee-a-al doozy of a twitch before, and I think everypony’s in great danger!”
Cup and Carrot looked at each other, nodded, and turned back to Pinkie. “We trust you, Pinkie,” Carrot said. “What do you want us to do?”
“Get Pound and Pumpkin and meet me in Town Square as quick as you can.” Pinkie shot toward the door, Gummy swinging from her mane as he gripped it with his harmless jaws. “I’ve gotta warn everypony else!”
* * * * *
Rarity put a hoof to the base of her horn and groaned, a loud crash from upstairs disrupting her focus.
“Urgh. That’s the fourth time this hour… Sweetie Belle!”
“Sorry!”
Rarity shook her head and returned to her sewing machine. “Never again, Rarity,” she mumbled over the whirring thread. “Never agree to host a Crusader sleepover when you have a project due!”
She winced as yet another crash sounded from above; the new dress’ stitching went in completely wrong and backed up some of the fabric. Growling through gritted teeth, she switched off her machine and proceeded to remove the unruly thread with her magic.
“Sweetie Belle! You and your friends come downstairs this instant!”
Three sets of hooves clopped down the stairs. Rarity turned to see Sweetie gazing down, scuffing a hoof on the floor as Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked to the left and right respectively.
“All right, girls. What’s your grand plan this time?” Rarity let out a dainty snort before raising an eyebrow. “Cutie Mark Crusader room-destroyers?”
“Naw, that was last week, Miss Rarity,” Apple Bloom drawled with a nervous grin.
Rarity blinked. “Of course it was. I assume that was why Sweetie came home grumbling two days ago that you were grounded?” She shook her head while rethreading her needle.
“Eeyup! Applejack and Big Mac sure were sore with me!” Apple Bloom winced at the memory.
“So what were you doing up there then?”
“Ummmm...” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head. “Cutie Mark Crusader Equestrians, yay?”
Rarity paused, the garment still hanging in midair as she focused her attention on the three nervous fillies. “Do correct me if I’ve misinterpreted somehow... but are you attempting to receive your cutie marks simply by being a citizen of our fine country?”
Scootaloo giggled. “Nah, that’d be silly, Miss Rarity!”
“Indeed it would, lest we would all have the same cutie mark, ’twere that simple. All right, girls—explain this one to me?”
“Twilight told us about it in our last ‘Twilight Time’ session. In that other world she went to a while back, they have an actual sport call ‘Equestrian’,” Sweetie said. “It involves the, um… creatures of that world riding on ponies’ backs, both of them jumping over poles and stuff.”
“Oh, is that all?” Rarity sighed, finished removing the misplaced stitching, and then fed the fabric back into her machine’s waiting jaws. “You do realise you could have just asked Applejack about being a rodeo pony? I’m certain that she would be quite happy to show you the ropes, so to speak. Outside,” she stressed, machine whirring again, “where that behaviour belongs.”
“Fiiiiine.”
The Crusaders groaned together. “I thought it was a good idea,” Scootaloo mumbled as they slunk back upstairs.
“Don’t get too down, girls!” Rarity called after them. “You can still keep trying to get your cutie marks in, I don’t know, the quiet game or some such thing!”
Another groan.
Rarity rolled her eyes and let out a rather unladylike snort. Those fillies. Still at it as always. The stitching having obeyed her the second time, she set about manually threading a small cache of sequins onto the pre-dyed cotton dress. She had been working on it for over a week—just one of many Hearth’s Warming gifts for her friends—and it was the last one left. This one was for Twilight, the fabric studded with sequins yet still black as ink; but when light hit the sequins just right, they would twinkle like stars in the midnight sky.
Fashionable yet functional—something warm to wear at night, but also stylish if she needs to go out. Lovely, if I do say so myself.
She cringed and flinched as she heard a loud shout, snapping her already-stretched patience.
“Sweetie Belle!”
“That wasn’t me!” Sweetie yelled from upstairs. “That came from outside!”
Eyebrows narrowed, Rarity grabbed a scrap of leftover cloth with her aura and walked over to the boutique window. She breathed onto the glass, wiped away the frost, and peered out onto the street.
“Wake up, Ponyville! Everyone outside! Meet me in Town Square! Move your flanks!”
“Pinkie Pie?” Rarity’s eyes widened. “What in Equestria is that crazy mare doing?”
A series of rapid thumps was all the warning she had before twelve little hooves rushed to the door.
“Girls, what—”
“You heard Pinkie!” Sweetie said. “Everypony outside, now!”
Before Rarity could blink, Sweetie grasped the door handle and pulled. Wind and ice rushed in while the Crusaders dove into the mild storm head first.
“Girls, wait! You can’t just rush out into the—” she sighed as they leapt through the door “—cold.” She shook her head then cupped her hooves to her mouth. “Come back here, girls! At least put something on—wha ha haaa!”
Rarity stumbled, catching herself on the side of the door as the ground rumbled beneath her hooves. She grasped it for dear life, struggling to regain her balance. She heard crashing and shattering behind her, the entire boutique shaking. Her eyes widened as she turned and witnessed several rolls of fabric, delicate crafting instruments, and several pieces of pottery fall from their shelves to the floor.
Pinkie’s voice continued to call through the wind: “This is not a drill, Ponyville! Get out here—save yourselves!”
“Oh my stars…”
Wasting no more time, Rarity followed the Crusaders into the middle of Ponyville Square, wobbling and tripping as she went. By way of a quick count, she guessed about half the townsponies had stumbled out into the cold. More crashing filled the air as houses filled with personal effects emptied their shelves’ contents onto the floor: plates, cups, photographs…
Pinkie never stopped yelling into her megaphone as the congregation swelled. Ponies everywhere slipped around on the vibrating, icy ground. Foals held onto their parents, who in turn held onto each other as the ground trembled. Pegasi hovered above the others, some electing to lift and hold others off the ground.
“Rarity! Pinkie!”
Rarity looked up at Rainbow’s voice as she and Fluttershy flew in from the west, carrying Applejack and Granny Smith between them. Twilight brought up the rear, Big McIntosh floating in a purple sphere next to her while Spike rode on her back. “Is everypony okay?” Rainbow asked. “How’s Scootaloo?”
“Apple Bloom, where are ya?” Applejack called. “Rainbow, put me down. I gotta find my sister.”
“We’re all fine, girls,” Rarity said, pointing to the Crusaders as they huddled up together next to Pinkie. “They were straight out the door as soon as Pinkie started yelling. Why, I don’t think I’ve seen my sister move so fast before.”
Twilight landed gracefully next to the Crusaders and dropped Mac off; the Apples all held each other tightly, snow continuing to blow around. “Just keep calm, everypony!” she said. “Stay close to each other, and don’t panic—this will all be over soon!”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the rumbling stopped. Ponies everywhere stood up, slowly releasing each other and looking around. The crashing stopped as shelving steadied inside every dwelling. Roofs lay newly uncovered by snow, most of it having been shaken off into giant clumps at the front of every house.
A hush descended upon the town as all eyes turned to Pinkie Pie, who had finally stopped yelling and wobbling about the square. She stood still, panting as she took in everypony’s faces.
“Pinkie Pie…” Twilight landed next to her. “You knew this was happening, didn’t you?”
“I sure did, Twilight!” Pinkie flailed her hooves above her head. “It’s the biggest doozy of a doozy ever! I just knew I had to get everypony outside to safety, even though I also knew it would make most of them grumpy grumpersons.”
“Well, it is fairly chilly outside right now,” Twilight said, her gaze roving over the shivering ponies. “I’m sure they appreciate it though… somewhat. That was some earthquake, huh?”
Pinkie opened her mouth to respond, but her words were lost in a shuddering, jilted mess as her entire body spasmed violently again.
“Another one?”
Twilight and friends rushed to Pinkie’s side and tried to quell her shaking, instead all ending up joining her.
“Y-y-ya m-mean th-that was-s-sn’t th-tha d-d-dooz-y be-bef-fore?” Applejack stuttered through clenched teeth.
A deafening roar engulfed Ponyville as a flash of red pierced through the swirling white wind. Everypony covered their ears.
“Goodness! Everypony, look!”
Ponyville turned as one at Fluttershy’s cry. Over in the distant east, a red plume shot into the sky. Billowing black clouds blotted out the stars. Other red specks dotted the night while they fell. Ponies screamed as a large fissure shot through the centre of town, many hopping away from the widening crack. The ground rumbled again, ponies falling over and shaking along with it.
“Every pegasus, grab a unicorn!” Twilight bellowed. “Every unicorn, grab an earth pony with your magic! Let’s get everypony off the ground, now—go, go, go!”
More crashing resumed as the very foundations of Ponyville shook. Bricks and pavers fell. Roofing collapsed. Windows shattered, sending glass shards flying about. Wooden doors split and swung open, hanging on what remained of their hinges.
Twilight cast her gaze around, holding Lyra in her hooves, who in turn held onto her friend Sweetie Drops with her magic. “Is everypony off the ground?” she cried over the chaotic din. “Yes? Okay!” Her horn lit up; a purple sphere encased all of Ponyville’s citizens while their town crumbled around them.
Minutes later, the tranquil moonlight beamed down upon a shattered, vastly different Ponyville: only Town Hall, the Carousel Boutique, and Twilight’s castle remained standing.
“Is… is it over?” Apple Bloom asked as Twilight lowered her back to the ground.
“It’s over, all right,” Applejack said. She removed her hat and bowed her head. “Our home… it’s…
“Gone.”