Chapter 1
Derpy still couldn’t believe she was finally here. She stood in line to gain entry into the Manehatten stadium which was hosting the latest and biggest ‘Equestria Air Show’ with special guest stars: The Wonderbolts! It was all too surreal, she had been to air shows before but never one starring the Wonderbolts, the closest thing to a performance was when they had appeared as judges at the Best Young Flier competition in Cloudsdale two years ago and even then, they hadn’t been able to do much of a routine on account that the main members had been knocked unconscious trying to save her friend Rarity.
The line moved forward gradually with Derpy getting more excited the closer she got. She looked around at the various stalls selling merchandise and snacks. Suddenly there was a blur of blue as something landed in front of her startling her. She looked down to see a Wonderbolt plush toy at her feet. Derpy bent down and picked it up, looking at it in her front hoof, it was a Soarin’ plush toy she had seen them being sold at a few stalls along with toy versions of the team members. She felt a small nudge on her side and turned to face a small colt with his head held low and hoof pawing the ground nervously.
“‘Scuse me, miss.” The small colt said nervously. “Can I have my Soarin’ back? I’m sorry if I hit you with it.” Derpy smiled and handed the foal his toy.
“Sure, here you go. It’s fine you didn’t hit me.” The foal slowly took the doll and quickly hurried back to his parents.
Derpy watched him as he galloped to his father and started playing with his doll again. He would throw the toy Soarin’ up in the air and watch as it flew upwards, almost as if it was actually soaring, before crashing to the ground again. Derpy watched as the toy repeatedly fell to the ground, each time in a position that would look very unnatural on a real life pony.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the annoyed looking stallion behind her who pointed out that whilst she had been daydreaming, the line had moved along. Derpy smiled nervously at the stallion and trotted closer to the ticket attendant who was giving out free t-shirts to the first 200 entrants. She retrieved her ticket from her bag that was hanging around her neck and held it tightly before presenting it to the attendant pony.
“That’s great, thanks.” The orange mare smiled checking the ticket. “Pegasus, right?” She glanced at Derpy’s wings before turning around and grabbing a t-shirt from a box labelled ‘Pegasus’. “Enjoy the show.” The ticket pony beamed before taking the ticket from the stallion behind her.
Derpy trotted into the busy corridor leading to the standing area. She unfurled the garment and looked at it. It had a picture of Spitfire flying downwards at great speed, a lightning trail stretching out behind her. ‘The 180° Nosedive’ it read, putting extra emphasis on the ‘180°’. She took her bag off and put the t-shirt on, poking her wings through the holes in the back. Returning her bag around her neck she walked along the corridor and reached the main standing area, noting the deafening noise made by the crowd. She reached into her bad and took out some ear plugs, placing one in each ear, before flying upwards to get a good spot.
She looked around hopefully before noticing a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-coloured mane and tail hovering slightly above the ground. Beside her stood Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. They were in quite a good position, about six or seven rows from the main stage. She glided over to them before setting down on the ground beside Rainbow Dash and tapping her on the back. The cyan pegasus whipped round, her face breaking into a grin when she saw Derpy.
“DERPY! HI!” Rainbow Dash yelled before giving her a slight hug. “I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE COMING!” Derpy nodded in response.
“ARE YOU KIDDING?” The wall-eyed pegasus replied. “I LOVE THE WONDERBOLTS! THIS SHOW IS GONNA ROCK!” Rainbow nodded in agreement.
“HELL TO THE YEAH! HEY GUYS,” Rainbow motioned to the other ponies. “LOOK WHO IT IS!” The other five ponies looked and waved at Derpy, smiling.
Derpy noticed that Rainbow was wearing the same t-shirt as her, Applejack and Pinkie were wearing one with Soarin’ showing his ‘Thunderclap’ move and Twilight was wearing one with The Wonderbolt’s logo surrounded in fire. Fluttershy wasn’t wearing anything and was cowering behind Twilight in response to riotous noise surrounding her and Rarity was wearing a fashionable mauve scarf and purple ear muffs. The rest had ear plugs. Rainbow Dash was visibly trembling with excitement.
“C’MON GUYS! START THE SHOW ALREADY!”
Soarin’ had picked the worst time to get a headache. It felt like somepony had bucked him in the head. Repeatedly. And hard. He groaned and rubbed his temples with his fore hooves.
“Two minutes guys, two minutes.” Some pony with a clipboard reminded them.
Ugh why did he have to get sick just now, this was they’re biggest show to date, no expense had been spared and here he was feeling like crap. Spitfire walked up to him and nudged him gently.
“Hey, Soarin’? Feeling okay?”
“Yeah,” he lied looking up at his team mate, smiling. “Feeling great!” Spitfire eyed him suspiciously.
“You sure?” She asked. “You can sit it out if you want, that’s why we have substitutes.” Soarin’ grumbled internally. There was no way he was sitting on the bench while some newbie went out and performed his routines. No, he wasn’t about to let the team down.
“I’m fine, really.” He smiled standing up. “C’mon, let’s rock this joint.”
Derpy wished they would start the show. She looked up at the stage nervously. It was essentially a massive a frame of metal scaffolding that looked like an empty square. It was huge, taller than the tallest building in Ponyville, and then some. Filling the blank space in between was a giant blue curtain with the Wonderbolts logo in the middle.
Stationed around the edges of the stage were cylinders that would probably launch fireworks upwards into the sky. Derpy looked closer at the many metal cylinders. They didn’t seem to be secured to the stage or anything, just standing loosely. Suddenly a big red beach ball hit her in the back of the head. Derpy turned around to see it floating away from her back into the crowd.
“I AM SO PSYCHED FOR THIS SHOW, IT’S GONNA BE KILLER!” The stallion next to her yelled. Derpy looked at him, he was a yellow unicorn with a maroon mane. His words somehow unsettled her.
“WANNA KNOW WHAT MY FAVOURITE MOVE IS?” Rainbow Dash suddenly called out the grey pegasus snapping her from her worried haze. “THE THUNDERING INFERNO!”
“WELL, AH QUITE LIKE IT WHEN THEY SPELL OUT STUFF IN LIGHTNIN’ CLOUDS!” Applejack shouted.
Suddenly a gust of wind came from nowhere and chilled Derpy to the very bone. Despite being in a crowd of literally thousands, she felt very alone. And very afraid. She looked back up to the stage, her previous excitement waning. Her eyes surveyed the scaffolding looking quickly from the spotlights at the top to the left-hand side of the support. Was it…swaying slightly? The filler music gradually faded announcing the beginning of the performance. Derpy frowned worriedly.
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
Spitfire looked at her stallion team mate shaking his head slightly.
“Ready?” She asked. The stallion’s grin was slightly weak.
“As I’ll ever be.”
The stage curtain began to part.
“Fillies and gentle-colts. Foals of all ages. It’s time. For. THE WONDERBOLTS!”
The audience roared with applause and cheers as fireworks lit the stage, the sparks spraying upwards. The Wonderbolts shot up from the stage and each individual member held a pose. Then they grouped into a five-pony formation and flew off in the direction opposite of the stage. Together they flew upside down and back to the stadium, their speed ever increasing.
Soarin’ was really struggling to maintain his concentration and speed. His head throbbed worse than ever. His vision began to blur as they approached the stadium.
“M-my head…” He groaned. “Feel faint…think I’m gonna pass…” The rest of his speech faded as he lost consciousness. His body went limp as he started to dive towards the stage.
Derpy watched as the Wonderbolts flew back towards them. She looked at each individual in awe until her eyes fell on Soarin’. His flying was slightly more uncertain than the others. Suddenly he dropped out of the sky altogether. He shot towards the stage as the crowd began to gasp and cry out in shock. Rainbow Dash’s face turned from euphoric to a look of utter horror. The crowd could do nothing but watch as Soarin’s form flew at terrifying speeds right into the base of the left-hand side of the scaffolding.
The whole structure shook with impact. The scaffolding stood there swaying slightly before the base crumpled altogether causing the entire left stand to break away from the top of the stage. It slowly fell towards the crowd. The audience screamed as metal rushed towards them. There was a loud impact as it hit the ground along with the horrific sight of blood spraying upwards. The crowd went into a frenzy of terror. Pegasi instantly flew upwards in a bid to escape. Derpy and the other ponies instantly fled.
The vibrations from the collapse of the scaffolding shook the entire stage causing a lot of the fireworks launchers to topple over. Unfortunately it was at this time that another set of fireworks shot outwards from them. Some flew into the crowd and exploded setting many pony alight or killing them instantly. One particular set flew straight ahead skimming across the top of the crowd and impacting at the bottom of the wooden stands above the main entrance and exit.
The wood instantly caught fire, the blaze quickly spreading through the rest of the supports. The timber creaked and groaned, weakening at an alarming rate. Ponies were pouring in through the exit in a desperate attempt to save their lives. Other ponies were trampled under the crowd, many dying under the combined weight and force. Suddenly the whole stands collapsed burying the fleeing ponies in an avalanche of timber and spectators. The main and biggest exit had been cut off.
Spitfire was unaware of what was transpiring below. Her eyes were closed in concentration and had thought that the sudden noise and explosions was due to the fireworks and the audience’s general show of appreciation. She was about to pull off her Lightning Trail Blaze and didn’t have time to polish her ego by taking in the crowd’s adoration. She built up speed and unleashed her energy, trails of dark cloud fuelled with lightning streaked out behind her. Smiling, she opened her eyes just in time to see a fleeing pegasus fly up in front of her. She swerved out of the way but wasn’t quick enough. Spitfire clipped one of the blue pegasus’ wings taking it clean off. The pegasus screamed and plummeted back down to the ground whereas she veered off towards the stage, her lightning trail still following behind her.
Spitfire shot through the open stage area and into the backstage area. She closed her eyes bracing for impact aiming for, what she thought was a thick wall. She tore through the weak plasterboard and collided with the generator controlling the lights and firework mechanisms. Her head caved in and her neck snapped, internally decapitating her. The lightning trail quickly caught up to her and struck the generator, overloading it with powerful electricity. The generator began to whir quicker as lightning continued to strike it before finally exploding violently.
Rainbow Dash was scanning the panicked crowd for one of her friends. All she could see were blurs of colour as ponies of every shade rushed in every direction. Rainbow then noticed a familiar orange earth pony with a blonde mane. Her usual brown Stetson was missing. Rainbow swooped down and quickly picked up Applejack carrying her upwards.
“APPLEJACK HOLD ON!”
Rainbow lifted the earth pony away from the mass confusion below nearing the stage. Suddenly a massive explosion erupted from backstage. Debris flew upwards violently. Rainbow Dash was about to fly higher when several pieces of shrapnel hit her at once. A sharp piece of shrapnel pierced her chest while sheet metal sliced halfway through her body. She was propelled backwards, blood spraying out behind her, while Applejack was launched forwards towards the stage.
Applejack fell violently against the hard surface her hind leg breaking on impact. She cried out in pain. At that same moment another set of fireworks launched with one set flying up towards the scaffolding above housing the spotlights. The fireworks exploded on impact shaking and weakening the structure more. One of the spotlight’s connections severed and it fell towards the stage. Applejack opened her eyes to see where she had landed just in time to scream as she saw the equipment plummet towards her. The spotlight landed on her head instantly silencing and obliterating it, sending blood, bone and brain matter spraying across the stage floor.
Fluttershy was running terrified through the crowds, completely lost and scared out of her mind. Looking back for her friends she saw her wings and remembered that she could simply fly up and see them. She began to take off when an earth stallion latched onto one of her hind legs.
“PLEASE! SAVE ME!”
Fluttershy tried to gain a higher altitude when yet another pony grabbed onto her other hind leg. Surprised and overwhelmed by this new burden she fell to the ground. Almost instantly she was disregarded by the rest of the crowd and stumbled deeper into the wave of scared ponies. She was being crushed by the amount of ponies fleeing. One stepped on her right hoof breaking it, another on her chest winding her. All she could do was utter an almost inaudible scream before she felt a hoof step on her neck crushing it and instantly killing her.
Fires spread throughout the stands causing more to collapse onto the horde of escaping ponies. Rarity was unused to the treatment of being pushed and struck by flailing hooves. This may be a get out or die situation but there was no excuse to hit ponies out of the way. She forced her way towards one of the smaller exits marked clearly with a big metal sign being held up on two cables one of which was slightly on fire. She was nearly there, she was nearly free of this hell. If only she could find her other friends, perhaps they had already left and were waiting for her outside worrying about her.
As she ran her fashionable scarf was whirling behind her in the rush. She passed some large pieces of metal embedded in the wall next to her and her scarf snagged on them. Rarity was immediately pulled backwards by this sudden obstruction and turned to see her garment tangled in the mess of metal. She whined in fear and annoyance and struggled to remove the scarf from the debris standing directly beneath the heavy sign. Unable to free the cloth from the metal she hastily tried to undo it from her neck when she heard a loud snap above her. Rarity looked up to see the large sign swing towards her. She let out a small gasp before the object connected with her head removing it swiftly from the rest of her body. Her body stayed standing for a second more before slumping against the wall slowly moving down the concrete. The scarf floated to the ground, some of its colour changed from a light mauve to a deep red.
Derpy had flown to the nearest exit and tried to land in the sea of ponies ramming themselves through the small opening. Normally the exit corridor was calm and really only had room for two single-file lines. However, in the panic of the event, the hallway was packed with attendants trying to get to safety. Derpy forced her way into the crowd and noticed that Twilight and Pinkie Pie were in front of her.
“Are you guys okay?” Derpy called. Twilight whipped around to see the familiar wall-eyed pegasus. She nodded in response.
“Yeah, but we have to get out of here now! In incidents like these, more ponies are killed from the stampede than anything else!” Derpy noticed that Pinkie was crying softly, her normally poofy mane was completely flat. Twilight was comforting her as they shuffled along. “It’s gonna be okay Pinkie. We’ll get out fine and the others will be safe.”
Suddenly there was a muffled noise from somewhere above them shaking the whole corridor.
“What was that?” Derpy asked worriedly. Twilight frowned.
“Sounded like some sort of explosion, it came from above us.”
Derpy looked up at the ceiling dust falling onto her face as she did. She rubbed her eyes free of dirt and looked back up. A small crack had appeared above them and another crack then materialised next to it. The crack snaked along the ceiling creating more and covering almost the entire area of the corridor. A large chunk of concrete fell near the exit crushing two ponies.
“THE ROOF’S CAVING!” Somepony yelled. “EVERYPONY BACK OUT NOW!”
The crowd instantly panicked again and forced the whole group backwards. More and more chunks fell from above. Pinkie was crying heavily and Twilight’s eyes were watering.
“We’re gonna be okay Pinkie, we’re gonna be…” Twilight was cut short as a slab of ceiling fell on the pink pony crushing her. Twilight looked at the pile of rubble in utter shock. A small pool of blood oozed out from underneath it.
“PINKIE!” The purple unicorn yelled before another explosion racked the floor above causing more of the roof to collapse. Derpy could do nothing as she watched Twilight become entombed by falling debris.
Derpy fled, tears falling from her mismatched eyes as she tried to escape. It had to be a dream. Any minute she’d wake up at home, in her bed. She heard the sound of concrete breaking away before feeling the full force of it crashing down on her.