Naturally, the first thing these curious and shaken ponies did was crowd onto the balcony. Most ponies were only treated to the see the back of each other's heads, but everyone up front had were agape in shock. The Hooflyn Bridge, a landmark of Manehatten, was simply….gone. Maybe they could've expected some rubble sticking out of the ocean, a few supports breaking the surface, but instead it was simply empty, with absolutely no sign of it ever being there aside from the roads that abruptly ended on either side.

And so while the shocked partygoers were silent from disbelief, the scene below was one of absolute chaos. Terrified mares huddled in groups in a desperate attempt to know what happened, colts wandering aimlessly, and fillies against their parents, weeping in fear. Very few had actually seen what had happened, as the witnesses were destroyed with the bridge.

The colts and mares on the balcony sullenly stepped back into the room. They turned on the television in hopes of getting more information on the subject. Obviously, the first news channel they turned to, "Diamond Dog News" (one infamous for it's biased behavior), had dropped its recent stories about Hoofman Cain's reported sex abuse charges to be the one with the greatest knowledge of the situation at hand during the massive media scramble to report exactly what had happened.

Everypony, even the half-insane Pinkie Pie, were quiet went the newscolt John Trot took to air.

"According to our news team in south Manehatten, there have been unconfirmed reports that the Hooflyn Bridge has collapsed into the Flankson River. We would like to remind our viewers at home that these are, once again, unconfirmed reports and may be overbl-…..Uh huh……yes…..And you're sure?…..Alright. Folks, we have a Pegasus team live above the former site of the Hooflyn Bridge. We're switching to them now."

"Ah, thank you Jon. As you can tell, we're circling above the Flankson river right now. There appears to be mass panic and absolutely no law enforcement at the scene. We must wonder who thought to call the newsroom before calling the police? Many ponies, apparently.

Anyway, camera colt, mind moving the camera to the scene of the bridge collapse? Yeah, thanks. Alright, so as you can most obviously see, the entire bridge, supports and all, has collapsed straight into the water.  Being a Saturday night, the bridge was most likely crowded with ponies crossing. But we are in no way qualified to estimate the casualties, so we'll leave that to when official investigators are able to contact us. And it appears here that the police brigade has just begun to arrive. Oh! There! In the water! It appears a small fishing vessel is picking up something. Zoom in, will you? Yes, there are some survivors! Maybe a half a dozen or so ponies are splashing around down there! Poor things probably have no idea how to swim.

Ah, so we'll keep you covered Jon. Back to y-"

A chorus of moans and complaints were hurled out when Apple Jack shut off the picture tube.

"Now listen 'ere 'errypony, rather than' sittin' round on our rumps and watchin' this like a bunch of no good lazy scarecrows, how 'bout we mosey on out and see if anypony needs our help?" AJ looked at the group with a disappointed expression, angry at their lack of compassion.

Rainbow Dash punched the air with both hooves. "Yeah! I agree with AJ here! Why are we sitting around like this when we can be out there showing our awesomeness? Moon, I'm a wonder bolt! I should've been out there the second I saw what happened! All of us should!"

Twilight sighed. She was not happy with the way this was going. "Well, I'm glad you're all ready to help and everything, but shouldn't we stay out of the way of the police and fire brigade? Y'know, the PROFFESSIONALS?"

The murmur of agreement amongst the room caused Rainbow Dash to sulk in embarrassment.

It only took a second for the full gravity of what was happening to sink in.

"Why, this must truly be awful! A city of this class surely has ponies driving around in the streets in their carriages! My, could you imagine how horrendous it would be to be trapped inside one of those wooden coffins, with every breath you take threatening to be your last? Or the poor ponies who pull those carriages! To be chained onto this sinking death trap, your body slowly floating to the bottom, struggling to free yourself of the metal claws of mortality? How tragic, how terrifying, how-" Rarity suddenly got a mouthful of hoof from the orange country pony.

"Enough, Rarity! We have enough trouble jumpin' around this room without y'all causin' an uproar! Jus' every pony calm down!"

Twilight Sparkle nodded at AJ. "Right. It's just a bridge collapse. Things like this aren't that rare. It's not like we are in any immediate danger."

Rarity's eyes turned towards the bookworm. "Just a bridge collapse? JUST a bridge collapse? Why, dear Twilight Sparkle, how could you be so uncompassionate? Poor fillies might have lost their parents, and you call this just a bridge collapse?"

An heated argument began in the room among everypony, not allowing each individual to speak their rounds. Instead, it was a mass jumble of insults and incorrect points, with logic and civility being thrown out the window like a foul colt's garbage.

Fluttershy nervously backed away from the rumble, right into a lamp, which toppled onto the floor with a crash.

The argument ceased at once, and everypony turned their heads towards the biggest disaster of all: a broken twelve bit lamp.

"Now look what you did, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash scowled at the shivering yellow mare while picking up the pieces of her friend's former lighting tool.

"I'm sorry…it's just…." Fluttershy squeaked and shyly turned away from the group.

Berry Punch put her waning, drunken hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Just what?"

She turned back to the mob. "I cannot stand it! This horrible, horrible things has happened, and we're just arguing? We're just going to sit here and yell at each other? We could go outside and see if someone needs help, like Apple Jack suggested! Or we could turn back on the TV and keep updated on the story! But no, you guys just have to fight! Like always! It's despicable! It's just so d-"

Fluttershy's meaningful speech was completely and utterly ruined by an extremely loud explosion. This time, though, rather than the Equestrians running to the balcony, the party poured into the hallway and down the long concrete steps. A mass horde of stumbling, half-drunken ponies streamed into the street, beyond curious but frantic to see what the jaw-dropping noise was coming from.

The sight was much more jaw dropping than the noise.

The Alicorn State Building was burning.

There was absolute discord in the street as hundreds of shaken onlookers stared at the building. From several locations, mostly from the back, smoke flowed freely into the dark night sky. Barely visible Pegasi were leaping from windows in the building, many carrying a companion or two to safety. Behind the skyscraper was invisible the all of the ponies, but it appeared that thousands were fleeing from the north side of the tower.

Terror was visible in everypony's face. The building could be heard buckling and groaning from where they were, only a half a dozen or so blocks* from the tower. Rainbow Dash uselessly flew in a circle, panicked, screaming "Oh my gosh oh my gosh,!" Rarity had fainted onto the ground, but the only pony who noticed was Fluttershy. Fluttershy, tears streaming down her face, managed to gather the strength and will to pick up Rarity and move her onto the sidewalk, where should would be out of the way of fire carriages and police patrol.

Lyra and Octavia had completely lost their images of superiority, and despite their intense rivalry held onto each other, much to the dismay and offense of their much more supportive friends.

And, most depressing of all, Pinkie Pie's mane slowly deflated to a boring, completely flat style, as she watched one of the greatest buildings in all of Equestria, only matched by the towers in Dubai**, burn away into cinders and ash.

The whole group simply watched, unable to move from shock.

And then it happened.

The tower gave a sudden pop, and the whole upper half lurched forward in an almost impossible manner. In a way only a bomb or…."natural" force could muster, beyond the abilities of a raging inferno. The bottom half of the tower caved in as the upper section tore into the ground, destroying dozens of rescue vehicles and fleeing ponies. But while this may have been frightening and horrible in itself, the worst came when huge cloud of dust barreled straight towards the hundreds of frantic ponies, out in the open and vulnerable.

Mass hysteria took in and the hundreds in the streets raced into buildings, hoping for the walls of the building to aid in their survival. Our focus group shoved and pushed dozens of others in a wild fight for a place in the nearby bakery, but it was all in vane. It was far too late now to enter any shelter.

The smoke demon tore straight into Rainbow Dash's friends and herself, scattering them across the road.